Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/373

Rh He brought report that his own eyes had seen

The prince, in chase after a swimming stag,

Swept down a chasm rifted in the cliff

Which hangs o'er the Stymphahan Lake, and drown'd.

ARCAS.

Ah me! with what a foot doth treason post,

While loyalty, with all her speed, is slow!

Another tale, I trow, thy messenger

For the King's private ear reserves, like this

In one thing only, that the prince is dead.

THE CHORUS.

And how then runs this true and private tale?

ARCAS.

As much to the King's wish, more to his shame,

This young Arcadian noble, guard and mate

To Æpytus, the king seduced with gold,

And had him at the prince's side in leash,

Ready to slip on his unconscious prey.

He on a hunting party two days since,

Among the forests on Cyllenê's side,

Perform'd good service for his bloody wage;

Our prince, and the good Laias, whom his ward

Had in a father's place, he basely murder'd.

'Tis so, 'tis so, alas, for see the proof:

Uncle and nephew disappear; their death

Is charged against this stripling; agents, fee'd

To ply 'twixt the Messenian king and him,

Come forth, denounce the traffic and the traitor.

Seized, he escapes—and next I find him here.

Take this for true, the other tale for feign'd.