Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/279

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That they may compass with cleansed hands the altar."
But spake Orestes, "In pure river-streams
It was but now we purified ourselves.
If strangers may with citizens sacrifice, 795
Ready we are, nor say thee nay, O King."
So made they end of parley 'twixt the twain.^[1]
Then, laying down their spears, the tyrant's guards,
His thralls, all set their hands unto the work.
Some brought the bowl of slaughter,^[2] some the maunds:^[3] 800
The fire some kindled, and the caldrons set
Over the hearths: with tumult rang the roofs.
Then took thy mother's paramour the meal,
And thus spake, on the altars casting it:
"Nymphs of the Rocks, vouchsafe me oft, with her, 805
Mine home-mate Tyndareus' child, to sacrifice,
As now, blest, and my foes in like ill case."
Thee and Orestes meant he; but my lord
Reversed the prayer, low-murmuring, even to win
Ancestral halls. Aegisthus from the maund 810
Took the straight blade, the calf's hair shore therewith,
And on the pure flame with his right hand cast;
Then, when his thralls heaved shoulder-high the calf,
Severed the throat, and to thy brother spake:
"Herein, men boast, Thessalians take their pride, 815
In deftly quartering the slaughtered bull,
And taming steeds. Take thou the steel, O guest,

1. Weil's interpretation. Paley, "So did they commune from the rest apart": Keene, "Such speech they spake in hearing of us all."
2. The bowl to receive the victim's blood.
3. The baskets that held the sacred barley-meal and the sacrificial knife.