The Agamemnon of Aeschylus | Page 9

upon
his knees and kisses the Earth, and salutes each Altar in turn._
HERALD.
Land of my fathers! Argos! Am I here ...
Home, home at this tenth shining of the year,

And all Hope's anchors broken save this one!
For scarcely dared I dream, here in
mine own
Argos at last to fold me to my rest....
But now--All Hail, O Earth! O
Sunlight blest!
And Zeus Most High!
[_Checking himself as he sees the altar of Apollo._
And thou, O Pythian Lord;
No more on us be thy swift arrows poured!
Beside
Scamander well we learned how true
Thy hate is. Oh, as thou art Healer too,
Heal us!
As thou art Saviour of the Lost,
Save also us, Apollo, being so tossed
With tempest! ...
All ye Daemons of the Pale!
And Hermes! Hermes, mine own guardian, hail!
Herald
beloved, to whom all heralds bow....
Ye Blessèd Dead that sent us, receive now
In
love your children whom the spear hath spared.
O House of Kings, O roof-tree
thrice-endeared,
O solemn thrones! O gods that face the sun!
Now, now, if ever in the
days foregone,
After these many years, with eyes that burn,
Give hail and glory to
your King's return!
For Agamemnon cometh! A great light
Cometh to men and gods
out of the night.
Grand greeting give him--aye, it need be grand--
Who, God's
avenging mattock in his hand,
Hath wrecked Troy's towers and digged her soil beneath,

Till her gods' houses, they are things of death;
Her altars waste, and blasted every
seed
Whence life might rise! So perfect is his deed,
So dire the yoke on Ilion he hath
cast,

The first Atreides, King of Kings at last,
And happy among men! To whom we
give
Honour most high above all things that live.
For Paris nor his guilty land can
score
The deed they wrought above the pain they bore.
"Spoiler and thief," he heard
God's judgement pass;
Whereby he lost his plunder, and like grass
Mowed down his
father's house and all his land;
And Troy pays twofold for the sin she planned.
LEADER.
Be glad, thou Herald of the Greek from Troy!
HERALD.
So glad, I am ready, if God will, to die!

LEADER.
Did love of this land work thee such distress?
HERALD.
The tears stand in mine eyes for happiness.
LEADER.
Sweet sorrow was it, then, that on you fell.
HERALD.
How sweet? I cannot read thy parable.
LEADER.
To pine again for them that loved you true.
HERALD.
Did ye then pine for us, as we for you?
LEADER.
The whole land's heart was dark, and groaned for thee.
HERALD.
Dark? For what cause? Why should such darkness be?
LEADER.
Silence in wrong is our best medicine here.
HERALD.
Your kings were gone. What others need you fear?
LEADER.
'Tis past! Like thee now, I could gladly die.
HERALD.
Even so! 'Tis past, and all is victory.
And, for our life in those long years, there were

Doubtless some grievous days, and some were fair.
Who but a god goes woundless all
his way?....
Oh, could I tell the sick toil of the day,
The evil nights, scant decks

ill-blanketed;
The rage and cursing when our daily bread
Came not! And then on land
'twas worse than all.
Our quarters close beneath the enemy's wall;
And rain--and from
the ground the river dew--Wet,
always wet! Into our clothes it grew,
Plague-like, and
bred foul beasts in every hair.
Would I could tell how ghastly midwinter
Stole down
from Ida till the birds dropped dead!
Or the still heat, when on his noonday bed
The
breathless blue sea sank without a wave!....
Why think of it? They are past and in the
grave,
All those long troubles. For I think the slain
Care little if they sleep or rise
again;
And we, the living, wherefore should we ache
With counting all our lost ones,
till we wake
The old malignant fortunes? If Good-bye
Comes from their side, Why,
let them go, say I.
Surely for us, who live, good doth prevail
Unchallenged, with no
wavering of the scale;
Wherefore we vaunt unto these shining skies,
As wide o'er sea
and land our glory flies:
"By men of Argolis who conquered Troy,
These spoils, a
memory and an ancient joy,
Are nailed in the gods' houses throughout Greece."

Which whoso readeth shall with praise increase
Our land, our kings, and God's grace
manifold
Which made these marvels be.--My tale is told.
LEADER.
Indeed thou conquerest me. Men say, the light
In old men's eyes yet serves to learn
aright.
But Clytemnestra and the House should hear
These tidings first, though I their
health may share.
[_During the last words_ CLYTEMNESTRA _has entered from the Palace_.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Long since I lifted up my voice in joy,
When the first messenger from flaming Troy

Spake through the dark of sack and overthrow.
And mockers chid me: "Because
beacons show
On the hills, must Troy be fallen? Quickly born
Are women's hopes!"
Aye, many did me scorn;
Yet gave I sacrifice; and by my word
Through all the city
our woman's cry was heard,

Lifted in blessing round the seats of God,
And slumbrous
incense o'er the altars glowed
In fragrance.
And for thee, what need to