Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/346

He shall make for her maids a lamenting,
And the queen of Priam shall moan, 780
And the daughter of Zeus shall know
In that day, and the flood shall flow
Of Helen's tears of repenting,
Who hath left her husband lone.

Over me, over mine, may there loom—
No, not in the third generation—
Never such shadow of doom
As shall haunt each gold-decked bride
Of the Lydian, the Phrygian, nation,
As, communing their looms beside,
They shall murmur fearful-eyed,
"Ah, who on the braids of my shining hair 790
Clenching his grip till my tears down shower,
Me from my perishing country shall tear
As one plucketh a flower?—
For thy sake, child of the swan arch-necked,
If credence-worthy the story be
That Leda bare to a winged bird thee,
When Zeus with its plumes had his changed form decked,
Or whether in scrolls of minstrelsy
Such tales unto mortals hath Fable brought,
Told out of season, and all for nought." 800

Enter Achilles.

Where is Achaia's battle-chief hereby?
What henchman will bear word that Peleus' son,
Achilles, at his gates is seeking him?
This tarrying here falls not alike on all;