My locks all wet with the dews,
Keepsake of Troïa the sad.1210
Antistroph. II.
Till now against terrors of night,
And sharp arrows a bulwark and stay,
Was Aias, the mighty and strong:
Now he, too, a victim is gone
To the God that ruleth in gloom;
What joy remaineth for me?
Would I were there, where the rock,
Thick-wooded and washed by the waves,
Hangs o'er the face of the deep,
Under Sunion's broad jutting peak,1220
That there we might hail, once again,
Athens, the holy, the blest.[1]
Enter Teucros.
Teu. Lo! I have hastened, seeing our general come,
Our Agamemnon, speeding on his way,
And plain it is he comes to speak hard words.
Enter Agamemnon.
Agam. They tell me that thou darest fearful words
To vent against us with impunity,
Thou, yes, e'en thou, of captive mistress born;
A noble mother truly can'st thou boast,
That thou dost speak so loftily, and walk
On tip-toe proudly, who, being nought, dost strive1230
For him who is as nothing, and dost swear
We did not come to rule the host or fleet,
- ↑ The words point to what every hearer of the play must have been familiar with. As a homeward ship rounded the point of Sunion, the Acropolis was seen in the distance, and all on board offered their prayers to the two national deities, Athena and Poseidon, whose shrines stood on the promontory.
