ANTISTROPHE II And let the altars tended by the old *Blaze with the gifts of men with hoary hairs; So may the State live on In full prosperity! Let them great Zeus adore, The strangers' God, the one Supreme on high, By venerable law Ordering the course of fate. And next we pray that ever more and more Earth may her tribute bear, And Artemis as Hecate preside[254] O'er woman's travail-pangs. 660 STROPHE III Let no destroying strife come on, invading This city to lay waste, Setting in fierce array War, with its fruit of tears, Lyreless and danceless all, And cry of people's wrath; And may the swarm of plagues, Loathly and foul to see, Abide far off from these our citizens, And that Lykeian king, may He be found Benignant to our youth![255] ANTISTROPHE III And Zeus, may He, by his supreme decree, 670 Make the earth yield her fruits Through all the seasons round, And grant a plenteous brood Of herds that roam the fields! May Heaven all good gifts pour, And may the voice of song Ascend o'er altar shrines, Unmarred by sounds of ill! And let the voice that loves with lyre to blend Go forth from lips of blameless holiness, In accents of great joy! STROPHE IV *And may the rule in which the people share Keep the State's functions as in perfect peace, E'en that which sways the crowd, *Which sways the commonwealth, 680 By counsels wise and good; And to the strangers and the sojourners May they grant rights that rest on compacts sure, Ere War is roused to arms, So that no trouble come! ANTISTROPHE IV And the great Gods who o'er this country watch, May they adore them in the land They guard, With rites of sacrifice, And troops with laurel boughs, As did our sires of old! For thus to honour those who gave us life, This stands as one of three great laws on high,[256] Written as fixed and firm, The laws of Right revered.