Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/402

364 O brother, thou hast conquer'd; yet, I fear!

Son! with a doubting heart thy mother yields;

May it turn happier than my doubts portend!

LAIAS.

Meantime on thee the task of silence only

Shall be imposed; to us shall be the deed.

Now, not another word, but to our act!

Nephew! thy friends are sounded, and prove true.

Thy father's murderer, in the public place,

Performs, this noon, a solemn sacrifice;

Be with him—choose the moment—strike thy blow!

If prudence counsels thee to go unarm'd,

The sacrificer's axe will serve thy turn.

To me and the Messenians leave the rest,

With the Gods' aid—and, if they give but aid

As our just cause deserves, I do not fear.

THE CHORUS.

O Son and Mother,

Whom the Gods o'ershadow

In dangerous trial,

With certainty of favor!

As erst they shadow'd

Your race's founders

From irretrievable woe;

When the seed of Lycaon

Lay forlorn, lay outcast,

Callisto and her Boy.

What deep-grass'd meadow

At the meeting valleys—

Where clear-flowing Ladon,