She, leaving to her countrymen at home Wild din of spear and shield and ships of war, And bringing, as her dower, To Ilion doom of death, Passed very swiftly through the palace gates, Daring what none should dare; And many a wailing cry They raised, the minstrel prophets of the house, "Woe for that kingly home! Woe for that kingly home and for its chiefs! Woe for the marriage-bed and traces left Of wife who loved her lord!" There stands he silent; foully wronged and yet Uttering no word of scorn, In deepest woe perceiving she is gone; And in his yearning love For one beyond the sea, A ghost shall seem to queen it o'er the house; The grace of sculptured forms Is loathed by her lord, And in the penury of life's bright eyes All Aphrodite's charm To utter wreck has gone. {409} _Antistrophe II: back to Altar._ And phantom shades that hover round in dreams Come full of sorrow, bringing vain delight; For vain it is, when one Sees seeming shows of good, And gliding through his hands the dream is gone, After a moment's space, On wings that follow still Upon the path where sleep goes to and fro. Such are the woes at home Upon the altar hearth, and worse than these. But on a wider scale for those who went From Hellas' ancient shore, A sore distress that causeth pain of heart Is seen in every house. Yea, many things there are that touch the quick: For those whom each did send He knoweth; but, instead Of living men, there come to each man's home Funereal urns alone, And ashes of the dead. {425} _Strophe III: change of rhythm, evolutions from Altar to Right._ War is a trafficker; in the rush of battle he holds scales, and for the golden coin you spend on him he sends you back lifeless shapes of men; they sent out men, the loving friends receive back well-smoothed ashes from the funeral pyre. They sing the heroic fall of some--all for another's wife; and some murmur discontent against the sons of Atreus, and some have won a grave in the land they had conquered. {441} _Antistrophe III: evolutions repeated, but from Right back to Altar._