Orestes (overcome).
I can no more. . . . Give witness, and reply,
Lord Phoebus, in my stead, if righteously
I slew. . . . I slew: denied it cannot be:
But rightly, or most foully—as thine own
Heart speaks, give judgement, and let all be known.
Apollo.
Ye judges of Athena's Court most high,
I come to speak before you faithfully,
Being God's prophet: therefore truth is mine.
Nor ever spake I from my throne divine
Of man nor woman, land nor city wall,
Save by command of Him who ruleth all,
Zeus, the Olympian Father. Is there Right
Holier than this, I charge ye think, or Might
More mighty? Follow ye the All-Father's will:
If oaths be strong, is Zeus not stronger still?
Leader.
'Twas Zeus, thou tellest, laid this duty large
Upon thy lips? 'Twas Zeus who bade thee charge
This man to avenge his father and cast down,
As nothing worth, his mother's sacred crown?
Apollo.
Are these the same? That a great man, raised high
By royal sceptre, given of God, should die,
And die by a woman’s hand—and not in war
By Amazonian arrow, sped from far, . . .
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