Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/317

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That rule is insecure.
Atreus: ⁠But purity,
Faith, piety, are private virtues all;
With kings, their will is law.
Attendant: ⁠Oh, count it wrong
To harm thy brother, though he basest be.
Atreus: ⁠Whatever may not lawfully be done 220
To brothers, may with perfect right be done
To him. What is there left me now unstained
By crime of his? Where has he failed to sin?
My wife has he debauched, my kingdom stolen,
The ancient emblem of our dynasty
By fraud obtained, and all our royal house
By that same fraud in dire confusion plunged.
There is a flock within our royal stalls, 225
Rich fleeced and nobly bred, and with the flock
A ram, their leader, wondrous, magical;
For from his body thickly hangs a fleece
Of fine-spun gold, with which the new-crowned kings
Of Pelops' line are wont t' adorn their scepters.
Who owns the ram is king, for with his fate 230
The fortunes of our noble house are linked.
This sacred ram in safety feeds apart
Within a mead whose fateful bounds are fenced
By stony walls, and kept with gate of stone.
Him, greatly daring, did my brother steal,
Perfidious, with my wife in secret league 235
Of crime. And this has been the fountain spring
Of all my woes; throughout my kingdom's length
Have I a trembling exile wandered long,
And found no place of safety from his snares;
My wife has he defiled, my subjects' faith
And loyalty destroyed, my house o'erthrown,
All ties of kinship broken, and nothing left 240
Of which I may be sure save only this—
My brother's enmity. Why do I stand
In stupid inactivity? At length
Bestir thyself, and gird thy courage up.
Think thou on Pelops and on Tantalus;