Leader of the Chorus.

Awake! and wake thou her, as I wake thee.

Dost sleep? Arise! shake sleep off; let us see

If of this prelude any part is vain.

[The FURIES start up one after another from their seats, and range themselves upon the stage, right and left of their Leader.

(ant. '.)

Apollo, stern to me, shall never save him,

Nor under earth shall he be free:

Another blood-avenger there shall have him,
And cling unto him after me.

Apollo. Out of my temple! instantly be gone;
Away! quit the prophetical recess,

Lest thou receive a serpent winged and white,
Whizzing in fury from my golden string,
And from the pain thereof disgorge the foam
And clots of gore which thou hast sucked from men.
It is not fit thou shouldst approach this fane;

But go, where eyes are gouged and throats are cut,
And heads chopt off; increase cut off in man
By blotting out its fountains; where they die
By stoning and piecemeal dismemberment,
And where are heard the lamentable sounds,

Half sobs, half screams, that burst from men impaled.
Hear why, enamoured of what festival,
Ye are abomination to the Gods.
But all the fashion of your visage shows
Your nature. It beseemeth such as you

To make your habitation in the cave
Of the blood-lapping lion, not to haunt
This court of oracles, pollution foul
To all those near you.

Hence! ye wandering goats,
That have no keeper; for of such a flock
No God can entertain a friendly thought.

Chor. Now hear me, King Apollo, in my turn.
Thou art not an accomplice in these deeds,
But art the head and front, sole cause of them.
Apollo. How, pray? Speak so far as to answer this.
Chor. Thy oracle commanded him to take-
Apollo. The retribution due his sire. Why not?
Chor. And pledged thee to receive the murderer.
Apollo. I charged him hither to betake himself.
Chor. And dost thou blame us, who escorted him?
Apollo. This holy temple is no place for you.
Chor. But this same charge has been imposed on us.
Apollo. What is this duty? make thy boast of it.
Chor. We hunt the mother-slayers from their homes.
Apollo. What's that? Shall not the husband-slayer come
Under the ban of shedding kindred blood?

The sanctions, then, of Hera, who presides
O'er marriage, and of Zeus are derogate,
Henceforth of none account: thy argument
Doth gentle Cytherea no less wrong,
From whom accrue to men their best delights.
The marriage-bed, the band of natural law
'Twixt man and wife, is greater than an oath,
When justice guards it. If, on some of those
Who slay their kin, thou dost not look in wrath,
Nor dost exact the pains and penalties,

I do deny that thou dost justly hunt
Orestes. For I see thee fierce with him,
But very quiet in the other case.

But Pallas shall take cognizance of this.

Chor. That man, however, I will never leave.

Apollo. Pursue him then, and add more toil to toil.
Chor. Disparage not my province in thy speech.
Apollo. I would not take thy province as a gift.
Chor. For thou art altogether great, they say,
Before the throne of Zeus: his mother's blood
Doth set me on, and justice cries out "aim!"
To my pursuit, and I will hunt him down.

Apollo. And I will aid him, and deliver him.
Among both gods and men the wrath is dread
For a neglected suppliant's injury,

If I should willingly abandon him.

[The scene is shifted from Delphi to Athens, and the temple of Apollo transformed into the temple of ATHENA POLIAS. A considerable interval must be supposed to have elapsed.

And to thy house and image, goddess, come,
And for a final sentence here attend.

[Enter the Conductress of the Chorus, followed by the
Furies in double file: as they advance, they spread
themselves out towards both sides of the Orchestra.
Leader of the Chorus.

Well, here the trail is plain: but follow thou
The dumb Informer-'tis a certain guide.
For, as the hound doth track the wounded fawn,
We trace him by the blood and drops of gore.
But my flank pants with very weariness;
For I have ranged o'er every spot of earth,
And, without wings, have flown across the sea,
No slower than a ship, pursuing him:
And now the wretch is cowering hereabout.

(Epode.)

But thou must give thy living limbs to me,
To suck the marrow out-may I from thee
The odious draught as food receive.

Thee, while alive, I will bereave

Of all thy pith, and take thee downward hence;
This the retributory recompense

Thou art in thy person paying
For thy impious mother-slaying.
And thou shalt see if any other,
To god or stranger, sire or mother,
Hath done despiteous wrong, how he
Must pay the penalty, like thee:
For Hades, underneath the ground,
A strict examiner is found;

And all the deeds of mortal kind

He sees, and writes them in his mind.

Öres. Instructed in misfortunes, I have learned
Many lustrations, and I also know

Both where to speak and where to hold my tongue :
But in this matter I was taught to speak

By a wise teacher; for the blood now sleeps,

My mother's blood, that was upon my hand

'Tis there no more-the stain, washed out, is gone. While fresh, it was removed, at Phoebus' hearth,

By purifying blood of slaughtered swine.

'Twere long for me to tell from first to last
How many I have approached with intercourse

That harmed them not. Time, that grows old with them,
Wears all things out. Now with clean lips I call

Athena, of this land Queen paramount,
To come my helper; so shall she obtain,
And without war, as firm allies for ever,
Myself, my country, and the Argive race.
Whether in Libya by her natal stream-
The stream of Triton-combating on foot,
Or in the battle car, she aids her friends,
Or else, like a field-marshal, she surveys
The old Phlegræan plain-though far away,
By virtue of her godship, she doth hear-

Oh! may she come to free me from these plagues!

Leader of the Chorus. Neither Apollo nor Athena's might
Shall set thee free-they must abandon thee

To perish, knowing not one thought of joy,
Our food till thou hast no blood left-a shade.
Thou dost not answer, but dost scorn our words,
Thou victim reared and set apart for me!
While living thou shalt feed me, nor be slain
On any altar. Hear this binding hymn :-

Night! mother Night! from whom I had my being,

(str. a'.)

(ant, a'.)