Athena.
Ye city-guardians do ye hear aright
What thus she promises. For great the might 910
Erinys wields—dread brood of night—
Alike with Hades and the Olympian Powers;
O'er men confessed and absolute her reign,
To some she giveth song, and some she dowers
With life, tear-blinded, marred by pain.
Chorus. Strophe II.
Here may there fall no man-destroying blight!
And ye, great Powers, o'er marriage who preside,
In wedlock bands each lovely maid unite;—
Ye too, dread sisters, to ourselves allied, 920
Awful dispensers of the Right,
In every human home confessed,
In every age made manifest,
By righteous visitations;—aye revered,
And, everywhere, of deities most feared.
Athena.
While thus ye ratify with friendly zeal
These blessings to my country, I rejoice,
And love Persuasion's eye, who moved my voice
To soothe these stern refusers, passion-stung. 930
But Zeus hath conquered, swayer of the tongue,
God of the Forum. Triumphs now for aye
In noble benefits our rivalry.
