Pylades with thy brother moving on;880
This, sickness-palsied, with down-drooping head;
That, as a brother, in his friend's affliction
Afflicted, tending like a nurse the sick.
When now the Argive gathering was full,
A herald rose and cried: "Who fain would speak885
Whether Orestes ought to live or die
For matricide?" Talthybius thereupon
Rose, helper of thy sire when Troy was sacked.
He spake—subservient ever to the strong—
Half-heartedly, extolling high thy sire,890
But praising not thy brother; intertwined
Fair words and foul—that he laid down a law
Right ill for parents: so was glancing still
With flattering eye upon Aegisthus' friends.
Such is the herald tribe: lightly they skip895
To fortune's minions' side: their friend is he
Who in a state hath power and beareth rule.
Next after him prince Diomedes spake.
Thee nor thy brother would he have them slay,
But exile you, of reverence to the Gods.900
Then murmured some that good his counsel was;
Some praised it not. Thereafter rose up one
Of tongue unbridled, stout in impudence,
An Argive, yet no Argive, thrust on us:[1]
In bluster and coarse-grained fluency confident,905
Still plausible to trap the folk in mischief:
For when an evil heart with winning tongue
Persuades the crowd, ill is it for the state:
Whoso with understanding counsel well
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