Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/298

270 This law ordain: when folk keep festival,

In quittance for thy slaughter one must hold

To a man's throat the sword, and spill the blood

For hallowing and the Goddess' honour's sake.

Thou, Iphigeneia, by the holy stairs

Of Brauron must this Goddess' warden be.

There shalt thou die, and be entombed, and webs

Of all fair vesture shall they offer thee

Which wives who perish in their travail-tide

Leave in their homes. I charge thee, King, to send

Homeward these maids of Hellas from thy land

For their true hearts' sake. I delivered thee

Erstwhile, Orestes, balancing the votes

On Ares' mount; and this shall be a law—

The equal tale of votes acquits the accused.

Now from this land thy sister bear o'ersea,

Agamemnon's son: Thoas, be wroth no more.

Athena, Queen, who hears the words of Gods,

And disobeyeth them, is sense-bereft.

Lo, I against Orestes and his sister

Chafe not, that he hath borne the image hence.

What boots it to defy the mighty Gods?

Let them with Artemis' statue to thy land

Depart, and with fair fortune set it up.

I unto happy Greece will send withal

These maids, according as thine hest enjoins;

Will stay the spear against the strangers raised,

And the ships, Goddess, since it is thy will.

'Tis well: for thee, for Gods, is Fate too strong.