Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/177

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That to Tantalus, father of ancient time,
I might shriek with laments wild-ringing;
For of his loins came those sires of our name
Who looked upon that infatuate crime
Wrought when the car-steeds' winged feet chased,
When the four-horsed chariot of Pelops raced990
By the strand, and his hand dashed Myrtilus down
Unto hell, in the swell of the sea to drown,
When the race was o'er
Of the wheels that sped
By the white foam-fringe of the surf-lashed shore
Of Geraistum's head.
For a curse heavy-burdened with mourning
Fell on mine house for the deed,
When Maia's son from his fold^[1]
Brought the lamb of the fleece of gold,
A portent whence ruin was rolled
Upon Atreus, a king's overturning:1000
And the sun-car's wingèd speed
From the ghastly strife turned back,
Changing his westering track
Through the heavens unto where, blush-burning,
Rose Dawn with her single steed.

Lo, Zeus to another star-highway bending
The course of the sailing Pleiads seven!
Lo, death after death in succession unending
By the banquet, named of Thyestes, given,
And by Cretan Aeropê's couch of shame
And treason!—the consummation came1010
Of all, upon me and my father descending
In our house's affliction foredoomed in heaven.

 

1. See note to Electra, l. 699.