Screening the mansion from the dog-star's ray. 940
So now, returning to thy household hearth,
As warmth in winter doth thy presence show.
And when Zeus breweth from the acrid grape
Rich wine, then coolness thro' the halls is shed,
Where, crowner of the home, the husband dwells.
Zeus, Zeus, all-crowner, my petitions crown:
Thine be the care of that which crown thou wilt.
[Exeunt Clytemnestra and Agamemnon into the palace.]
Chorus. Strophe I.
Whence this dread portent, that untired
Before my bodeful spirit floats? 950
Wherefore, unbidden and unhired,
Waken these dark prophetic notes?
Why sits not on my bosom's throne
The direful presage to disown
As riddling dream, assurance strong?
Time's youth hath flown
Since the stern-cables from the boats
Were flung, what time the ship-borne host
Marched on to Ilion from the sandy coast.
Antistrophe I.
After long absence their return 960
With self-informing eyes I learn;
Yet in its depths my soul, self-taught,
Chanteth Erinys' lyreless strains;
My hopes, of courage reft, depart;
Not vainly throb my inmost reins;
