For know thou well, whichever course thou take,

*Must pay in war the debt that Justice claims,

Lay well to heart these edicts, wise and true,

King. Well then have I thought o'er it. To this point

Our ship's course drives. Fierce war we needs must risk

Either with these (pointing to the Gods) or those. Set fast and firm

Is this as is the ship tight wedged in stocks;

And without trouble there's no issue out.

For wealth indeed, were our homes spoiled of that,

There might come other, thanks to Zeus the Giver,

More than the loss, and filling up the freight;

And if the tongue should aim its adverse darts,

Baleful and over-stimulant of wrath,

There might be words those words to heal and soothe.

But how to blot the guilt of kindred blood,

This needs a great atonement—many victims

Falling to many Gods—to heal the woe.

*I take my part, and turn aside from strife;

And I far rather would be ignorant

Than wise, forecasting evil. May the end,

Against my judgment, show itself as good!

Chor. Hear, then, the last of all our pleas for pity.

King. I hear; speak on. It shall not 'scape my heed.

Chor. Girdles I have, and zones that bind my robes.

King. Such things are fitting for a woman's state.

Chor. With these then, know, as good and rare device....

King. Nay, speak. What word is this thou'lt utter now?

Chor. Unless thou giv'st our band thy plighted word....

King. What wilt thou do with this device of girdles?

Chor. With tablets new these sculptures we'll adorn.

King. Thou speak'st a riddle. Make thy meaning plain.

Chor. Upon these Gods we'll hang ourselves at once.

King. I hear a word which pierces to the heart.

Chor. Thou see'st our meaning. Eyes full clear I've given.

King. Lo then! in many ways sore troubles come.

A host of evils rushes like a flood;

A sea of woe none traverse, fathomless,

This have I entered; haven there is none.

For if I fail to do this work for you,

Thou tellest of defilement unsurpassed;^[238]

And if for thee against Ægyptos' sons,

Thy kindred, I before my city's walls

In conflict stand, how can there fail to be

A bitter loss, to stain the earth with blood

Of man for woman's sake? And yet I needs

Must fear the wrath of Zeus, the suppliant's God;

That dread is mightiest with the sons of men.

Thou, then, O aged father of these maidens!

Taking forthwith these branches in thine arms,

Lay them on other altars of the Gods

Our country worships, that the citizens

May all behold this token of thy coming,

And about me let no rash speech be dropped;

For 'tis a people prompt to blame their rulers.

And then perchance some one beholding them,

And pitying, may wax wrathful 'gainst the outrage

Of that male troop, and with more kindly will

The people look on you; for evermore

Men all wish well unto the weaker side.

Dan. This boon is counted by us of great price,

To find a patron proved so merciful.

And thou, send with us guides to lead us on,

And tell us how before their shrines to find

The altars of the Gods that guard the State,

*And holy places columned round about;

And safety for us, as the town we traverse.

Not of like fashion is our features' stamp;

For Neilos rears not race like Inachos.^[239]

Take heed lest rashness lead to bloodshed here;

Ere now, unknowing, men have slain their friends.

King (to Attendants). Go then, my men; full well the stranger speaks;

And lead him where the city's altars stand,

The seats of Gods; and see ye talk not much

To passers-by as ye this traveller lead,

A suppliant at the altar-hearth of Gods.

Chor. Thou speak'st to him; and may he go as bidden!

But what shall I do? What hope giv'st thou me?

King. Leave here those boughs, the token of your grief.

Chor. Lo! here I leave them at thy beck and word.

King. Now turn thy steps towards this open lawn.

Chor. What shelter gives a lawn unconsecrate?^[240]

King. We will not yield thee up to birds of prey.

Chor. Nay, but to foes far worse than fiercest dragons.

King. Good words should come from those who good have heard.

Chor. No wonder they wax hot whom fear enthrals.

King. But dread is still for rulers all unmeet.

Chor. Do thou then cheer our soul by words and deeds.

King. Nay, no long time thy sire will leave thee lorn;

And I, all people of the land convening,

Will the great mass persuade to kindly words;

And I will teach thy father what to say.

Wherefore remain and ask our country's Gods,

With suppliant prayers, to grant thy soul's desire,

And I will go in furtherance of thy wish:

Sweet Suasion follow us, and Fortune good! [Exit

And Power most mighty of the mightiest!

Drive thou far off the wantonness of men,

And in the pool of darkling purple hue

Plunge thou the woe that comes in swarthy barque.

Of one whom Thou did'st love in time of old,

Who did'st on Io lay thy mystic touch.

Of consecrated land the habitants,

And from this land by lineage high descended.

The flowery meadow-land where she was watched,—

Whence Io, by the stinging gadfly driven,

Passing through many tribes of mortal men;

On either side she leaves a continent.^[241]

Right through the Phrygian fields where feed the flocks;

Owned by the Mysians,^[242] and the Lydian plains;

And those of far Pamphylia rushing on,

And Aphrodite's home in wheat o'erflowing.^[243]

And so she cometh, as that herdsman winged

To holy plain all forms of life sustaining,

Which Typhon's monstrous strength has traversed,^[245]

Still maddened with her toil of ignominy,

By torturing stings driven on, great Hera's frenzied slave.

And those who then the lands inhabited,

That filled their soul at that unwonted marvel,

Half heifer, and half form of woman fair:^[247]

Poor Io, wandering in her sore affright,

Driven on, and ever on, by gadfly's maddening sting?

He, even He, for by his sovereign might

That works no ill, was she from evil freed;

She findeth rest, and weeps in floods of tears

She bare a son that grew in faultless growth,

And so the whole land shouts with one accord,

“Lo, a race sprung from him, the Lord of life,

Who else had checked the plagues that Hera sent?”

As such, thou would'st not fail to hit the mark.

Which of the Gods could I with right invoke

He is our Father, author of our life,

The King whose right hand worketh all his will,

Our line's great author, in his counsels deep

Directing all his plans, the great work-master, Zeus.

For not as subject hastening at the beck

Reigns He subordinate to mightier powers;

Nor does He pay his homage from below,

While One sits throned in majesty above;^[249]

To hasten what his teeming mind resolves.

Dan. Be of good cheer, my children. All goes well

With those who dwell here, and the people's voice

Hath passed decrees full, firm, irrevocable.

Chor. Hail, aged sire, that tell'st me right good news!

But say with what intent the vote hath passed,

And on which side the people's hands prevail.

Dan. The Argives have decreed without division,

So that my aged mind grew young again;

For in full congress, with their right hands raised

Rustled the air as they decreed their vote

That we should sojourn in their land as free,

Free from arrest, and with asylum rights;

And that no native here nor foreigner

Should lead us off; and, should he venture force,

That every citizen who gave not help

Dishonoured should be driven to exile forth.

Such counsel giving, the Pelasgian King

Gained their consent, proclaiming that great wrath

Of Zeus the God of suppliants ne'er would let

The city wax in fatness,—warning them

That double guilt^[250] upon the State would come,

Touching at once both guests and citizens,

The food and sustenance of sore disease

That none could heal. And then the Argive host,

Hearing these things, decreed by show of hands,

Not waiting for the herald's proclamation,

So it should be. They heard, indeed, the crowd

Of those Pelasgi, all the winning speech,

The well-turned phrases cunning to persuade;

But it was Zeus that brought the end to pass.

Chor. Come then, come, let us speak for Argives

The praise that comes from the lips of strangers,

*And guide in all to a faultless issue.

Half-Chor. A. Now, now, at last, ye Gods of Zeus begotten,^[251]

Hear, as I pour my prayers upon their race,

That ne'er may this Pelasgic city raise

From out its flames the joyless cry of War,

Pitying this piteous flock, the suppliants of great Zeus.

They did not take their stand with men 'gainst women

Casting dishonour on their plea for help,

*But looked to Him who sees and works from heaven,

*Full hard to war with. Yea, what house could bear

Therefore with altars pure shall they the Gods delight.

Therefore from faces by our boughs o'ershadowed^[253]

Let prayers ascend in emulous eagerness:

Pollute these plains with native carcases;

And ne'er may Aphrodite's paramour,

And let the altars tended by the old

*Blaze with the gifts of men with hoary hairs;

The strangers' God, the one Supreme on high,

And next we pray that ever more and more

And Artemis as Hecate preside^[254]

Let no destroying strife come on, invading

Abide far off from these our citizens,

And that Lykeian king, may He be found

And Zeus, may He, by his supreme decree,

And let the voice that loves with lyre to blend

Go forth from lips of blameless holiness,

*And may the rule in which the people share

Keep the State's functions as in perfect peace,

And to the strangers and the sojourners

May they grant rights that rest on compacts sure,

And the great Gods who o'er this country watch,

May they adore them in the land They guard,

For thus to honour those who gave us life,

This stands as one of three great laws on high,^[256]

Dan. I praise these seemly prayers, dear children mine.

But fear ye not, if I your father speak

Words that are new, and all unlooked-for by you;

For from this station to the suppliant given

I see the ship; too clear to be mistaken

The swelling sails, the bulwark's coverings,

And prow with eyes that scan the onward way,^[257]

But too obedient to the steerman's helm,

Being, as it is, unfriendly. And the men

Who sail in her with swarthy limbs are seen,

In raiment white conspicuous. And I see

Full clear the other ships that come to help;

And this as leader, putting in to shore,

Furling its sails, is rowed with equal stroke.

'Tis yours, with mood of calm and steadfast soul,

To face the fact, and not to slight the Gods.

And I will come with friends and advocates;

For herald, it may be, or embassy,

May come, and wish to seize and bear you off,

Grasping their prey. But nought of this shall be;

Fear ye not them. It were well done, however,

If we should linger in our help, this succour

In no wise to forget. Take courage then;

In their own time and at the appointed day,

Whoever slights the Gods shall pay for it.

Chor. I fear, my father, since the swift-winged ships

Are come, and very short the time that's left.

A shuddering anguish makes me sore afraid,

Lest small the profit of my wandering flight.

Dan. My children, since the Argives' vote is passed,

Take courage: they will fight for thee, I know.

Chor. Hateful and wanton are Ægyptos' sons,

Insatiable of conflict, and I speak

To one who knows them. They in timbered ships,

Dark-eyed, have sailed in wrath that hits its mark,

Dan. Yet many they shall find whose arms are tanned

In the full scorching of the noontide heat.^[258]

Chor. Leave me not here alone, I pray thee, father!

Alone, a woman is as nought, and war

Is not for her. Of over-subtle mind,

And subtle counsel in their souls impure,

Like ravens, e'en for altars caring not,—

Dan. That would work well indeed for us, my children,

Should they be foes to Gods as unto thee.

Chor. No reverence for these tridents or the shrines

Of Gods, my father, will restrain their hands:

Full stout of heart, of godless mood unblest,

Fed to the full, and petulant as dogs,

And for the voice of high Gods caring not,—

Dan. Nay, the tale runs that wolves prevail o'er dogs;

And byblos fruit excels not ear of corn.^[259]

Chor. But since their minds are as the minds of brutes,

Restless and vain, we must beware of force.

Dan. Not rapid is the getting under weigh

Of naval squadron, nor their anchoring,

Nor the safe putting into shore with cables.

Nor have the shepherds of swift ships quick trust

In anchor-fastenings, most of all, as now,

When coming to a country havenless;

And when the sun has yielded to the night,

That night brings travail to a pilot wise,

[Though it be calm and all the waves sleep still;]

So neither can this army disembark

Before the ship is safe in anchorage.

And thou beware lest in thy panic fear

Thou slight the Gods whom thou hast called to help.

The city will not blame your messenger,

Old though he be, being young in clear-voiced thought. Exit

Chor. Ah, me! thou land of jutting promontory

What lies before us? Where in Apian land

If still there be dark hiding anywhere?

Or soaring up on high invisible,

Pass out of being with no help from wings!

*E'en so the ill admits not now of flight;

My father's work as watcher brings me low;

And I would fain find noose that bringeth death,

Sooner than that may Hades rule o'er me

Ah, might I find a place in yon high vault,

Where the rain-clouds are passing into snow,

Witness for me of my abysmal fall,

Before the marriage that will pierce my heart

I shrink not from the thought of being the prey

Of dogs and birds that haunt the country round;

Than the worse doom of hated marriage-bed!

What other refuge now remains for me

Prevailing, working freedom out for me:

With glance of wrath against our enemies

With pity look on us thy suppliants,

O Lord of Earth, O Zeus omnipotent!

Pursuing me in many a winding course,

Seek in their frenzied violence to seize:

The force that turns the balance of the scale:

What comes to mortal men apart from Thee?

*Here on the land behold the ravisher

*Ah, may'st thou perish, ravisher, ere thou

*I utter cry of wailing loud and long,

*I see them work the prelude of their crimes,

Haste in your flight for help!

The mighty ones are waxing fat and proud,

By sea and land alike intolerable.

Be thou, O King, our bulwark and defence!

Her. Haste, haste with all your speed unto the barque.

Chor. Tearing of hair, yea, tearing now will come,

Her. Haste, haste ye, to that barque that yonder lies,

Ye wretches, curse on you.

*Lo! they will smite thee, weltering in thy blood,

Her. I bid you cease perforce, the cravings wild

Give up those seats, and hasten to the ship:

I reverence not what this State honoureth.

Behold the stream where graze the goodly kine,

The blood of cattle waxes strong and full!

I keep, old man, my seat, my seat, I say.

Her. Nay, in a ship, a ship them shalt soon go,

Come, come, provoke not evils terrible,

Chor. Ah me! ah me!

Would thou may'st perish with no hand to help,

Where Sarpedonian sand-bank^[261] spreads its length,

Her. Sob thou, and howl, and call upon the Gods:

Thou shalt not 'scape that barque from Ægypt come,

Though thou should'st pour a bitterer strain of grief.