Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/406

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That ever wades through crime to other crime!
With blood we soothe the winds, with blood we war. 170
Nurse: ⁠Yet by that blood a thousand vessels sailed.
Clytemnestra: But not with favoring omens did they sail;
The port of Aulis fairly drave them forth.
So launched in war, he still no better fared.
Smit with a captive's love, unmoved by prayer, 175
He held as spoil the child of Phoebus' priest,
E'en then, as now, a sacred maiden's thrall.
Nor could the stern Achilles bend his will,
Nor he whose eye alone can read the fates
(A faithful seer to us, to captives mild), 180
Nor his pest-smitten camp and gleaming pyres.
When baffled Greece stood tottering to her fall,
This man with passion pined, had time for love,
Thought ever on amours; and, lest his couch
Should be of any Phrygian maid bereft, 185
He lusted for Achilles' beauteous bride,
Nor blushed to tear her from her lover's arms.
Fit foe for Paris! Now new wounds he feels,
And burns, inflamed by mad Cassandra's love.
And, now that Troy is conquered, home he comes, 190
A captive's husband, Priam's son-in-law!
Arise, my soul; no easy task essay;
Be swift to act. What dost thou, sluggish, wait
Till Phrygian rivals wrest thy power away?
Or do thy virgin daughters stay thy hand, 195
Or yet Orestes, image of his sire?
Nay, 'tis for these thy children thou must act,
Lest greater ills befall them; for, behold,
A mad stepmother soon shall call them hers.
Through thine own heart, if so thou must, prepare
To drive the sword, and so slay two in one. 200
Let thy blood flow with his; in slaying, die.
Nurse: ⁠My queen, restrain thyself, check thy wild wrath,
And think how great thy task. Atrides comes
Wild Asia's conqueror and Europe's lord; 205
He leads Troy captive, Phrygia subdued.