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THE DAY OF RETRIBUTION.
115
Ulysses is but the instrument of the divine justice. Like Moses or Joshua, he is but the passionless executor of the wrath of heaven; while, still to continue the parallel, the merciless character of the retribution takes its colour from the ferocity of the age. When the aged Eurycleia, who as yet alone of the women of the household knows the secret of his return, comes down and sees the floor strewn with the bloody corpses, she is about to raise a shout of triumph. But the king checks her:—
"Nurse, with a mute heart this my vengeance hail!
Not holy is it o'er the slain to boast.
These Heaven and their own crimes have brought to bale;
Since of all strangers, from earth's every coast,
No man was honoured of this godless host,
Nor good nor evil, whosoe'er they knew—
And with their souls they pay the fatal cost."
Not holy is it o'er the slain to boast.
These Heaven and their own crimes have brought to bale;
Since of all strangers, from earth's every coast,
No man was honoured of this godless host,
Nor good nor evil, whosoe'er they knew—
And with their souls they pay the fatal cost."
