Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/251

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O noble spirit! from what princely stock

Hast thou sprung, thou so loyal to thy friends!

Even such be he that of my father's house

Is left alive! For, stranger, brotherless

I too am not, save that I see him not.

Since thou wilt have it so, him will I send

Bearing the letter: thou wilt die. Ah, deep

This thy strange yearning unto death must be!

Whose shall be that dread deed, my sacrifice?

Mine; for this office hold I of the Goddess.

A task, O maid, unenviable, unblest.

Bowed 'neath necessity, I must submit.

A woman, with the priest's knife slay'st thou men?

Nay, on thine hair I shed but lustral spray.

The slayer, who?—if I may ask thee this.