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vv. 949–971
THE EUMENIDES

Athena.

Ye Guardians, hear the word she hath said,
And shall fulfil! Most potent hands
Hath great Erînys, in the lands
Where dwell the deathless and the dead.

And all this world of men declares
Her visible act on right and wrong;
How one man's life she makes a song,
Another's a long mist of tears.


Furies.

Let manhood's glory by no doom
Of death untimely be defiled;
Let life to maidens in their bloom
Bring each a lover and a child.
O whatsoever Gods have power,
And Fates eternal, grant this dower!

Ye Fates, our Mother's Sisterhood,
Assigners true to all that be,
To every house its ill and good,
To every hour its potency.
Righteous participants through all,
Of Gods the most majestical.


Athena.

With joy I hear their prescient song
Touching my land; and much in pride
I praise Persuasion gentle-eyed,
Who guarded well my lips and tongue,


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