Whom the lot hath doomed to fall unto a king, a thrall
From Ilium chased, the quarry of Achaian hunters' spear,—
Not for lightening of thy pain; nay, a burden have I ta'en
Of heavy tidings, herald of sore anguish unto thee,
For that met is the array of Achaia, and they say
That thy child unto Achilles a sacrifice must be.110
For thou knowest how in sheen of golden armour seen
He stood upon his tomb, and on the ocean-pacing ships
Laid a spell, that none hath sailed,—yea, though the halliards brailed
The sails up to the yards;—and a cry rang from his lips:
"Ho, Danaans! whither now, leaving unredeemed your vow
Of honour to my tomb, and my glory spurned away?"
Then a surge of high contention clashed: the spear-host in dissension120
Was cleft, some crying, "Yield his tomb the victim!"
—others, "Nay!"
Now the King was fervent there that thy daughter they should spare,
For that Agamemnon loveth thy prophet-bacchanal.
But the sons of Theseus twain,[1] Athens' scions, for thy bane
Pleaded both, yet for the victim did their vote at variance fall.
- ↑ Demophon and Akamas, sons of Theseus by Phædra.
