For lo,
henceforth
in Ares' court we stand,
Who judges not by witness but by war:
No pledge of silver now can bring the cause
To issue: ere this thing end, there must be
Corpse piled on corpse and many lives gasped forth.
Who judges not by witness but by war:
No pledge of silver now can bring the cause
To issue: ere this thing end, there must be
Corpse piled on corpse and many lives gasped forth.
Aeschylus
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
To Hermes, herald's champion, lord of search.
THE KING OF ARGOS
Yea, to a god--yet dost thou wrong the gods!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
The gods that rule by Nilus I revere.
THE KING OF ARGOS
Hear I aright? our Argive gods are nought?
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
The prey is mine, unless force rend it from me.
THE KING OF ARGOS
At thine own peril touch them--'ware, and soon!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
I hear thy speech, no hospitable word.
THE KING OF ARGOS
I am no host for sacrilegious hands.
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
I will go tell this to Aegyptus' sons.
THE KING OF ARGOS
Tell it! my pride will ponder not thy word.
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Yet, that I have my message clear to say
(For it behooves that heralds' words be clear,
Be they or ill or good), how art thou named?
By whom despoiled of this sister-band
Of maidens pass I homeward? --speak and say!
For lo, henceforth in Ares' court we stand,
Who judges not by witness but by war:
No pledge of silver now can bring the cause
To issue: ere this thing end, there must be
Corpse piled on corpse and many lives gasped forth.
THE KING OF ARGOS
What skills it that I tell my name to thee?
Thou and thy mates shall learn it ere the end.
Know that if words unstained by violence
Can change these maidens' choice, then mayest thou,
With full consent of theirs, conduct them hence.
But thus the city with one voice ordained--
_No force shall bear away the maiden band_.
Firmly this word upon the temple wall
Is by a rivet clenched, and shall abide:
Not upon wax inscribed and delible,
Nor upon parchment sealed and stored away. --
Lo, thou hast heard our free mouths speak their will:
Out from our presence--tarry not, but go!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Methinks we stand on some new edge of war:
Be strength and triumph on the young men's side!
THE KING OF ARGOS
Nay but here also shall ye find young men,
Unsodden with the juices oozed from grain. [6]
[_Exit_ HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
But ye, O maids, with your attendants true,
Pass hence with trust into the fenced town,
Ringed with a wide confine of guarding towers.
Therein are many dwellings for such guests
As the State honours; there myself am housed
Within a palace neither scant nor strait.
There dwell ye, if ye will to lodge at ease
In halls well-thronged: yet, if your soul prefer,
Tarry secluded in a separate home.
Choose ye and cull, from these our proffered gifts,
Whiche'er is best and sweetest to your will:
And I and all these citizens whose vote
Stands thus decreed, will your protectors be.
Look not to find elsewhere more loyal guard.
[Footnote: 6: For this curious taunt, strongly illustrative of what
Browning calls "nationality in drinks," see Herodotus, ii. 77.
