Stood forth, and up and down he swayed his head,
And groaned and groaned again with quivering hands,
Frenzy-distraught, and shouted hunter-like:
"Pylades, seest thou her?—dost mark not her,285
Yon Hades-dragon, lusting for my death,
Her hideous vipers gaping upon me?
And yon third, breathing fire and slaughter forth,
Flaps wings—my mother in her arms she holds—
Ha, now to a rock-mass changed!—to hurl her down!290
Ah! she will slay me! Whither can I fly?"
We could not see these shapes: his fancy changed
Lowing of kine and barking of the dogs
To howlings which the Fiends sent forth, he said.[1]
We, cowering low, as men that looked to die,295
Sat hushed. With sudden hand he drew his sword,
And like a lion rushed amidst the kine,
Smote with the steel their flanks, pierced through their ribs,—
Deeming that thus he beat the Erinnyes back,—
So that the sea-brine blossomed with blood-foam.300
Thereat each man, soon as he marked the herds
Harried and falling slain, 'gan arm himself,
Blowing on conchs and gathering dwellers-round;
For we accounted herdmen all too weak
- ↑ Both text and sense of 288—294 are much disputed. The following rendering is based on other readings and interpretations:
"And this, whose robes waft fire and slaughter forth,
Flaps towards yon craggy height her wings:—she holds
My mother in her arms, to hurl her down!
Ah! she will slay me!—whither can I fly?"
Yet ever his fancy changed, for now he feigned
Lowing of kine and barking as of dogs—
Such howlings as the Fiends send forth, men say.
