| |
| Pass to each free man’s heart, by day and night | 800 |
| Enjoining, Thou shalt do no unjust thing, | |
| So long as law stands as it stood of old | |
| Unmarred by civic change. Look you, the spring | |
| Is pure; but foul it once with influx vile | 804 |
| And muddy clay, and none can drink thereof. | |
| Therefore, O citizens, I bid ye bow | |
| In awe to this command, Let no man live | |
| Uncurbed by law nor curbed by tyranny; | 808 |
| Nor banish ye the monarchy of Awe | |
| Beyond the walls; untouched by fear divine, | |
| No man doth justice in the world of men. | |
| Therefore in purity and holy dread | 812 |
| Stand and revere; so shall ye have and hold | |
| A saving bulwark of the state and land, | |
| Such as no man hath ever elsewhere known, | |
| Nor in far Scythia, nor in Pelops’ realm. | 816 |
| Thus I ordain it now, a council-court | |
| Pure and unsullied by the lust of gain, | |
| Sacred and swift to vengeance, wakeful ever | |
| To champion men who sleep, the country’s guard. | 820 |
| Thus have I spoken, thus to mine own clan | |
| Commended it for ever. Ye who judge, | |
| Arise, take each his vote, mete out the right, | |
| Your oath revering. Lo, my word is said. [The twelve judges come forward, one by one, to the urns of decision; the first votes; as each of the others follows, the Chorus and Apollo speak alternately. | 824 |
| |
CHORUS
I rede ye well, beware! nor put to shame, | |
| In aught, this grievous company of hell. | |
| |
APOLLO
I too would warn you, fear mine oracles— | |
| From Zeus they are,—nor make them void of fruit. | 828 |
| |
CHORUS
Presumptuous is thy claim blood-guilt to judge, | |
| And false henceforth thine oracles shall be. | |
| |
APOLLO
Failed then the counsels of my sire, when turned | |
| Ixion, first of slayers, to his side? | 832 |
| |
CHORUS
These are but words; but I, if justice fail me, | |
| Will haunt this land in grim and deadly deed. | |
| |
APOLLO
Scorn of the younger and the elder gods | |
| Art thou: ’tis I that shall prevail anon. | 836 |
| |
CHORUS
Thus didst thou too of old in Pheres’ halls, | |
| O’erreaching Fate to make a mortal deathless, | |
| |
APOLLO
Was it not well my worshipper to aid, | |
| Then most of all when hardest was the need? | 840 |
| |
CHORUS
I say thou didst annul the lots of life, | |
| Cheating with wine the deities of eld. | |
| |
APOLLO
I say thou shalt anon, thy pleadings foiled, | |
| Spit venom vainly on thine enemies. | 844 |
| |
CHORUS
Since this young god o’errides mine ancient right, | |
| I tarry but to claim your law, not knowing | |
| If wrath of mine shall blast your state or spare. | |
| |
ATHENA
Mine is the right to add the final vote, | 848 |
| And I award it to Orestes’ cause. | |
| For me no mother bore within her womb, | |
| And, save for wedlock evermore eschewed, | |
| I vouch myself the champion of the man, | 852 |
| Not of the woman, yea, with all my soul,— | |
| In heart, as birth, a father’s child alone. | |
| Thus will I not too heinously regard | |
| A woman’s death who did her husband slay, | 856 |
| The guardian of her home; and if the votes | |
| Equal do fall, Orestes shall prevail. | |
| Ye of the judges who are named thereto, | |
| Swiftly shake forth the lots from either urn. [Two judges come forward, one to each urn. | 860 |
| |
ORESTES
O bright Apollo, what shall be the end? | |
| |
CHORUS
O Night, dark mother mine, dost mark these things? | |
| |
ORESTES
Now shall my doom be life or strangling cords. | |
| |
CHORUS
And mine, lost honour or a wider sway. | 864 |
| |
APOLLO
O stranger judges, sum aright the count | |
| Of votes cast forth, and, parting them, take heed | |
| Ye err not in decision. The default | |
| Of one vote only bringeth ruin deep; | 868 |
| One, cast aright, doth stablish house and home. | |
| |
ATHENA
Behold, this man is free from guilt of blood, | |
| For half the votes condemn him, half set free! | |
| |
ORESTES
O Pallas, light and safety of my home, | 872 |
| Thou, thou hast given me back to dwell once more | |
| In that my fatherland, amerced of which | |
| I wandered; now shall Grecian lips say this, | |
| The man is Argive once again, and dwells | 876 |
| Again within his father’s wealthy hall, | |
| By Pallas saved, by Loxias, and by Him, | |
| The great third saviour, Zeus omnipotent— | |
| Who thus in pity for my father’s fate | 880 |
| Doth pluck me from my doom, beholding these, | |
| Confederates of my mother. Lo, I pass | |
| To mine own home, but proffering this vow | |
| Unto thy land and people: Nevermore, | 884 |
| Thro’ all the manifold years of Time to be, | |
| Shall any chieftain of mine Argive land | |
| Bear hitherward his spears for fight arrayed. | |
| For we, though lapped in earth we then shall lie, | 888 |
| By thwart adversities will work our will | |
| On them who shall transgress this oath of mine, | |
| Paths of despair and journeyings ill-starred | |
| For them ordaining, till their task they rue. | 892 |
| But if this oath be rightly kept, to them | |
| Will we, the dead, be full of grace, the while | |
| With loyal league they honour Pallas’ town. | |
| And now farewell, thou and thy city’s folk— | 896 |
| Firm be thine arms’ grasp, closing with thy foes, | |
| And, strong to save, bring victory to thy spear. [Exit Orestes, with Apollo. | |
| |
CHORUS
Woe on you, younger gods! the ancient right | |
| Ye have o’erridden, rent it from my hands. | 900 |
| |
| I am dishonoured of you, thrust to scorn! | |
| But heavily my wrath | |
| Shall on this land fling forth the drops that blast and burn. | |
| Venom of vengeance, that shall work such scathe | 904 |
| As I have suffered; where that dew shall fall, | |
| Shall leafless blight arise. | |
| Wasting Earth’s offspring,—Justice, hear my call!— | |
| And thorough all the land in deadly wise | 908 |
| Shall scatter venom, to exude again | |
| In pestilence of men. | |
| What cry avails me now, what deed of blood, | |
| Unto this land what dark despite? | 912 |
| Alack, alack, forlorn | |
| Are we, a bitter injury have borne! | |
| Alack, O sisters, O dishonoured brood | |
| Of mother Night! | 916 |
| |
ATHENA
Nay, bow ye to my words, chafe not nor moan: | |
| Ye are not worsted nor disgraced; behold, | |
| With balanced vote the cause had issue fair, | |
| Nor in the end did aught dishonour thee. | 920 |
| But thus the will of Zeus shone clearly forth, | |
| And his own prophet—god avouched the same, | |
| Orestes slew: his slaying is atoned. | |
| Therefore I pray you, not upon this land | 924 |
| Shoot forth the dart of vengeance; be appeased, | |
| Nor blast the land with blight, nor loose thereon | |
| Drops of eternal venom, direful darts | |
| Wasting and marring nature’s seed of growth. | 928 |
| For I, the queen of Athens’ sacred right, | |
| Do pledge to you a holy sanctuary | |
| Deep in the heart of this my land, made just | |
| By your indwelling presence, while ye sit | 932 |
| Hard by your sacred shrines that gleam with oil | |
| Of sacrifice, and by this folk adored. | |
| |
CHORUS
Woe on you, younger gods! the ancient right | |
| Ye have o’erridden, rent it from my hands. | 936 |
| |
| I am dishonoured of you, thrust to scorn! | |
| But heavily my wrath | |
| Shall on this land fling forth the drops that blast and burn. | |
| Venom of vengeance, that shall work such scathe | 940 |
| As I have suffered; where that dew shall fall, | |
| Shall leafless blight arise. | |
| Wasting Earth’s offspring,—Justice, hear my call!— | |
| And thorough all the land in deadly wise | 944 |
| Shall scatter venom, to exude again | |
| In pestilence of men. | |
| What cry avails me now, what deed of blood, | |
| Unto this land what dark despite? | 948 |
| Alack, alack, forlorn | |
| Are we, a bitter injury have borne! | |
| Alack, O sisters, O dishonoured brood | |
| Of mother Night! | 952 |
| |
ATHENA
Dishonoured are ye not; turn not, I pray, | |
| As goddesses your swelling wrath on men, | |
| Nor make the friendly earth despiteful to them. | |
| I too have Zeus for champion—’tis enough— | 956 |
| I only of all goddesses do know | |
| To ope the chamber where his thunderbolts | |
| Lie stored and sealed; but here is no such need. | |
| Nay, be appeased, nor cast upon the ground | 960 |
| The malice of thy tongue, to blast the world; | |
| Calm thou thy bitter wrath’s black inward surge, | |
| For high shall be thine honour, set beside me | |
| For ever in this land, whose fertile lap | 964 |
| Shall pour its teeming firstfruits unto you, | |
| Gifts for fair childbirth and for wedlock’s crown: | |
| Thus honoured, praise my spoken pledge for aye. | |
| |
CHORUS
I, I dishonoured in this earth to dwell,— | 968 |
| Ancient of days and wisdom! I breathe forth | |
| Poison and breath of frenzied ire. O Earth, | |
| Woe, woe for thee, for me! | |
| From side to side what pains be these that thrill? | 972 |
| Hearken, O mother Night, my wrath, mine agony! | |
| Whom from mine ancient rights the gods have thrust, | |
| And brought me to the dust— | |
| Woe, woe is me!—with craft invincible. | 976 |
| |
ATHENA
Older art thou than I, and I will bear | |
| With this thy fury. Know, although thou be | |
| More wise in ancient wisdom, yet have I | |
| From Zeus no scanted measure of the same, | 980 |
| Wherefore take heed unto this prophecy— | |
| If to another land of alien men | |
| Ye go, too late shall ye feel longing deep | |
| For mine. The rolling tides of time bring round | 984 |
| A day of brighter glory for this town; | |
| And thou, enshrined in honour by the halls | |
| Where dwelt Erechtheus, shalt a worship win | |
| From men and from the train of womankind, | 988 |
| Greater than any tribe elsewhere shall pay. | |
| Cast thou not therefore on this soil of mine | |
| Whetstones that sharpen souls to bloodshedding, | |
| The burning goads of youthful hearts, made hot | 992 |
| With frenzy of the spirit, not of wine. | |
| Nor pluck as ’twere the heart from cocks that strive, | |
| To set it in the breasts of citizens | |
| Of mine, a war-god’s spirit, keen for fight, | 996 |
| Made stern against their country and their kin. | |
| The man who grievously doth lust for fame, | |
| War, full, immitigable, let him wage | |
| Against the stranger; but of kindred birds | 1000 |
| I hold the challenge hateful. Such the boon | |
| I proffer thee—within this land of lands, | |
| Most loved of gods, with me to show and share | |
| Fair mercy, gratitude and grace as fair. | 1004 |
| |
CHORUS
I, I dishonoured in this earth to dwell,— | |
| Ancient of days and wisdom! I breathe forth | |
| Poison and breath of frenzied ire. O Earth, | |
| Woe, woe for thee, for me! | 1008 |
| From side to side what pains be these that thrill? | |
| Hearken, O mother Night, my wrath, mine agony! | |
| Whom from mine ancient rights the gods have thrust, | |
| And brought me to the dust— | 1012 |
| Woe, woe is me!—with craft invincible. | |
| |
ATHENA
I will not weary of soft words to thee, | |
| That never mayst thou say, Behold me spurned, | |
| An elder by a younger deity, | 1016 |
| And from this land rejected and forlorn, | |
| Unhonoured by the men who dwell therein. | |
| But, if Persuasion’s grace be sacred to thee, | |
| Soft in the soothing accents of my tongue, | 1020 |
| Tarry, I pray thee; yet, if go thou wilt, | |
| Not rightfully wilt thou on this my town | |
| Sway down the scale that beareth wrath and teen | |
| Or wasting plague upon this folk. ’Tis thine, | 1024 |
| If so thou wilt, inheritress to be | |
| Of this my land, its utmost grace to win. | |
| |
CHORUS
O queen, what refuge dost thou promise me? | |
| |
ATHENA
Refuge untouched by bale: take thou my boon. | 1028 |
| |
CHORUS
What, if I take it, shall mine honour be? | |
| |
ATHENA
No house shall prosper without grace of thine. | |
| |
CHORUS
Canst thou achieve and grant such power to me? | |
| |
ATHENA
Yea, for my hand shall bless thy worshippers. | 1032 |
| |
CHORUS
And wilt thou pledge me this for time eterne? | |
| |
ATHENA
Yea: none can bid me pledge beyond my power. | |
| |
CHORUS
Lo, I desist from wrath, appeased by thee. | |
| |
ATHENA
Then in the land’s heart shalt thou win thee friends. | 1036 |
| |
CHORUS
What chant dost bid me raise, to greet the land? | |
| |
ATHENA
Such as aspires towards a victory | |
| Unrued by any: chants from breast of earth, | |
| From wave, from sky; and let the wild winds’ breath | 1040 |
| Pass with soft sunlight o’er the lap of land,— | |
| Strong wax the fruits of earth, fair teem the kine, | |
| Unfailing, for my town’s prosperity, | |
| And constant be the growth of mortal seed. | 1044 |
| But more and more root out the impious, | |
| For as a gardener fosters what he sows, | |
| So foster I this race, whom righteousness | |
| Doth fend from sorrow. Such the proffered boon. | 1048 |
| But I, if wars must be, and their loud clash | |
| And carnage, for my town, will ne’er endure | |
| That aught but victory shall crown her fame. | |
| |
CHORUS
Lo, I accept it; at her very side | 1052 |
| Doth Pallas bid me dwell: | |
| I will not wrong the city of her pride, | |
| Which even Almighty Zeus and Ares hold | |
| Heaven’s earthly citadel, | 1056 |
| Loved home of Grecian gods, the young, the old, | |
| The sanctuary divine, | |
| The shield of every shrine! | |
| For Athens I say forth a gracious prophecy,— | 1060 |
| The glory of the sunlight and the skies | |
| Shall bid from earth arise | |
| Warm wavelets of new life and glad prosperity. | |
| |
ATHENA
Behold, with gracious heart well pleased | 1064 |
| I for my citizens do grant | |
| Fulfilment of this covenant: | |
| And here, their wrath at length appeased, | |
| These mighty deities shall stay, | 1068 |
| For theirs it is by right to sway | |
| The lot that rules our mortal day, | |
| And he who hath not inly felt | |
| Their stern decree, ere long on him, | 1072 |
| Not knowing why and whence, the grim | |
| Life-crushing blow is dealt. | |
| The father’s sin upon the child | |
| Descends, and sin is silent death, | 1076 |
| And leads him on the downward path, | |
| By stealth beguiled, | |
| Unto the Furies: though his state | |
| On earth were high, and loud his boast, | 1080 |
| Victim of silent ire and hate | |
| He dwells among the Lost. | |
| |
CHORUS
To my blessing now give ear.— | |
| Scorching blight nor singèd air | 1084 |
| Never blast thine olives fair! | |
| Drouth, that wasteth bud and plant, | |
| Keep to thine own place. Avaunt, | |
| Famine fell, and come not hither | 1088 |
| Stealthily to waste and wither! | |
| Let the land, in season due, | |
| Twice her waxing fruits renew; | |
| Teem the kine in double measure; | 1092 |
| Rich in new god-given treasure; | |
| Here let men the powers adore | |
| For sudden gifts unhoped before! | |
| |
ATHENA
O hearken, warders of the wall | 1096 |
| That guards mine Athens, what a dower | |
| Is unto her ordained and given! | |
| For mighty is the Furies’ power, | |
| And deep-revered in courts of heaven | 1000 |
| And realms of hell; and clear to all | |
| They weave thy doom, mortality! | |
| And some in joy and peace shall sing; | |
| But unto other some they bring | 1104 |
| Sad life and tear-dimmed eye. | |
| |
CHORUS
And far away I ban thee and remove, | |
| Untimely death of youths too soon brought low! | |
| And to each maid, O gods, when time is come for love, | 1108 |
| Grant ye a warrior’s heart, a wedded life to know. | |
| Ye too, O Fates, children of mother Night, | |
| Whose children too are we, O goddesses | |
| Of just award, of all by sacred right | 1112 |
| Queens, who in time and in eternity | |
| Do rule, a present power for righteousness, | |
| Honoured beyond all gods, hear ye and grant my cry! | |
| |
ATHENA
And I too, I with joy am fain, | 1116 |
| Hearing your voice this gift ordain | |
| Unto my hand. High thanks be thine, | |
| Persuasion, who with eyes divine | |
| Into my tongue didst look thy strength, | 1120 |
| To bend and to appease at length | |
| Those who would not be comforted. | |
| Zeus, king of parley, doth prevail, | |
| And ye and I will strive nor fail, | 1124 |
| That good may stand in evil’s stead, | |
| And lasting bliss for bale. | |
| |
CHORUS
And nevermore these walls within | |
| Shall echo fierce sedition’s din, | 1128 |
| Unslaked with blood and crime; | |
| The thirsty dust shall nevermore | |
| Suck up the darkly streaming gore | |
| Of civic boils, shed out in wrath | 1132 |
| And vengeance, crying death for death! | |
| But man with man and state with state | |
| Shall vow The pledge of common hate | |
| And common friendship, that for man | 1136 |
| Hath oft made blessing out of ban, | |
| Be ours unto all time. | |
| |
ATHENA
Skill they, or not, the path to find | |
| Of favouring speech and presage kind? | 1140 |
| Yea, even from these, who, grim and stern, | |
| Glared anger upon you of old, | |
| O citizens, ye now shall earn | |
| A recompense right manifold. | 1144 |
| Deck them aright, extol them high, | |
| Be loyal to their loyalty, | |
| And ye shall make your town and land | |
| Sure, propped on Justice’ saving hand, | 1148 |
| And Fame’s eternity. | |
| |
CHORUS
Hail ye, all hail! and yet again, all hail, | |
| O Athens, happy in a weal secured! | |
| O ye who sit by Zeus’ right hand, nor fail | 1152 |
| Of wisdom set among you and assured, | |
| Loved of the well-loved Goddess-Maid! the King | |
| Of gods doth reverence you, beneath her guarding wing. | |
| |
ATHENA
All hail unto each honoured guest! | 1156 |
| Whom to the chambers of your rest | |
| ’Tis mine to lead, and to provide | |
| The hallowed torch, the guard and guide. | |
| Pass down, the while these altars glow | 1160 |
| With sacred fire, to earth below | |
| And your appointed shrine. | |
| There dwelling, from the land restrain | |
| The force of fate, the breath of bane, | 1164 |
| But waft on us the gift and gain | |
| Of Victory divine! | |
| And ye, the men of Cranaos’ seed, | |
| I bid you now with reverence lead | 1168 |
| These alien powers that thus are made | |
| Athenian evermore. To you | |
| Fair be their will henceforth, to do | |
| Whate’er may bless and aid! | 1172 |
| |
CHORUS
Hail to you all! hail yet again, | |
| All who love Athens, gods and men, | |
| Adoring her as Pallas’ home! | |
| And while ye reverence what ye grant— | 1176 |
| My sacred shrine and hidden haunt— | |
| Blameless and blissful be your doom! | |
| |
ATHENA
Once more I praise the promise of your vows, | |
| And now I bid the golden torches’ glow | 1180 |
| Pass down before you to the hidden depth | |
| Of earth, by mine own sacred servants borne, | |
| My loyal guards of statue and of shrine. | |
| Come forth, O flower of Theseus’ Attic land, | 1184 |
| O glorious band of children and of wives, | |
| And ye, O train of matrons crowned with eld! | |
| Deck you with festal robes of scarlet dye | |
| In honour of this day: O gleaming torch, | 1188 |
| Lead onward, that these gracious powers of earth | |
| Henceforth be seen to bless the life of men. [Athena leads the procession downwards into the Cave of the Furies, under Areopagus: as they go, the escort of women and children chant aloud. | |
| |
CHANT
With loyalty we lead you; proudly go, | |
| Night’s childless children, to your home below! | 1192 |
| (O citizens, awhile from words forbear!) | |
| To darkness’ deep primeval lair, | |
| Far in Earth’s bosom, downward fare, | |
| Adored with prayer and sacrifice | 1196 |
| (O citizens, forbear your cries!) | |
| Pass hitherward, ye powers of Dread, | |
| With all your former wrath allayed, | |
| Into the heart of this loved land; | 1200 |
| With joy unto your temple wend, | |
| The while upon your steps attend | |
| The flames that fed upon the brand— | |
| (Now, now ring out your chant, your joy’s acclaim!) | 1204 |
| Behind them, as they downward fare, | |
| Let holy hands libations bear, | |
| And torches’ sacred flame. | |
| All-seeing Zeus and Fate come down | 1208 |
| To battle fair for Pallas’ town! | |
| Ring out your chant, ring out your joy’s acclaim! [Exeunt omnes. | |
| |
