And thou, truest of my friends to me,
Pylades, kindle yonder parapets.1620
Menelaus.
O land of Danaans, folk of knightly Argos,
Up, gird on harness!—unto rescue run!
For lo, this man defieth all your state,
Yet lives,[1] polluted with a mother's blood.
Apollo appears above in the clouds with Helen.
Apollo.
Menelaus, peace to thine infuriate mood:1625
I Phœbus, Leto's son, here call on thee.
Peace thou, Orestes, too, whose sword doth guard
Yon maid, that thou mayst hear the words I bear.
Helen, whose death thou hast essayed, to sting
The heart of Menelaus, yet hast missed,1630
Is here,—whom wrapped in folds of air ye see,—
From death delivered, and not slain of thee.
'Twas I that rescued her, and from thy sword
Snatched her away by Father Zeus' behest;
For, as Zeus' daughter, deathless must she live,1635
And shall by Kastor and Polydeukes sit
In folds of air, the mariners' saviour she.
Take thee a new bride to thine halls, and wed;
Seeing the high Gods by her beauty's lure
Hellenes and Phrygians into conflict drew,1640
And brought to pass deaths, so to lighten earth
Oppressed with over-increase of her sons.
