Suppliant Maidens and Other Plays by Aeschylus
page 26 of 249 (10%)
page 26 of 249 (10%)
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Lastly, adore this altar consecrate
To many lesser gods in one; then crouch On holy ground, a flock of doves that flee, Scared by no alien hawks, a kin not kind, Hateful, and fain of love more hateful still. Foul is the bird that rends another bird, And foul the men who hale unwilling maids, From sire unwilling, to the bridal bed. Never on earth, nor in the lower world, Shall lewdness such as theirs escape the ban: There too, if men say right, a God there is Who upon dead men turns their sin to doom, To final doom. Take heed, draw hitherward, That from this hap your safety ye may win. [_Enter the_ KING OF ARGOS. THE KING OF ARGOS Speak--of what land are ye? No Grecian band Is this to whom I speak, with Eastern robes And wrappings richly dight: no Argive maid, No woman in all Greece such garb doth wear. This too gives marvel, how unto this land, Unheralded, unfriended, without guide, And without fear, ye came? yet wands I see, True sign of suppliance, by you laid down On shrines of these our gods of festival. No land but Greece can read such signs aright. Much else there is, conjecture well might guess, But let words teach the man who stands to hear. |
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