11, 12. There thou shalt see in durance drear,
'Gainst god or guest or parents dear, 260
Like thee who sinned, receiving their due meed.
13, 14. For Hades, ruler of the nether sphere,
Exactest auditor of human kind,
Graved on the tablet of his mind
Doth every trespass read.
Orestes.
To me, long disciplined in woe, are known
Divers lustrations; when to speak I know,
When to be silent; but in present need
By sapient teacher I was charged to speak.
The blood now sleepeth, fading from my hand; 270
Washed clean away the matricidal stain;
For while yet fresh, by rites of slaughter'd swine,
At Phœbos' altar it was duly purged;—
Tedious the tale, were I to reckon o'er
How many fared with me nor suffered harm.
Time, waxing old, doth all things purify;
Now, with pure lip, I piously invoke
Athena, of this region queen, to come,
My pleader: so she weaponless shall earn
Myself, my realm, and all the Argive host, 280
Honestly true, allies for evermore.
But whether on the Libyan plain, beside
Her natal Triton wave, she stand erect,
Or sit, with foot enveloped, to her friends
Dispensing aid;—or on Phlegraian fields,
Like warlike leader, marshal her array,—
