Chor. O Goddess Earth, that reignest on the hills,[1]
Giver of food to all;
Mother of Zeus himself,
Who dwellest where the full Pactolos rolls[2]
Its streams o'er golden sands;
There also, dreaded Mother, I invoked thee,
When all the scorn of the Atreidæ fell
On him who standeth here,
When they his father's weapons gave away
(O Holy One, who sittest on thy car,400
On lions fierce that slay the mighty bulls!)
To Lartios' son a glory and a prize.
Phil. 'Twould seem that you have hither sailed, my friends,
With sorrow's friendship-token, and with mine
Your voice accords, so that I see these deeds
Are by the Atreidæ and Odysseus done:
For well I know that he with that glib tongue
Leaves no base speech or subtlety untouched,
From which nought right shall in the issue spring.
At this I marvel not, but much to think410
The elder Aias should have seen and borne it.
Neop. He was not living, friend. Had he but lived,
I had not then been plundered of these things.
Phil. What say'st thou? Is he also dead and gone?
Neop. Think thou of him as seeing light no more.
Phil. Ah, wretched me! That son to Tydeus born,
That child of Sisyphos that Lartios bought,[3]
- ↑ The Goddess, Earth (Ge) is here, as in the later form of Greek mythology, identified (1.) with the Cretan Rhea, the mother of Zeus, and (2.) with the Phrygian Kybele, riding on her lions, the Goddess of the land where the Atreidæ had done their wrong.
- ↑ The Pactolos flowed from Mount Tmolos, the head-quarters of the worship of Kybele.
- ↑ See note on Aias, 188.
