_Orest._ O father, sire ill-starred, What deed or word could I Waft from afar to thee, Where thy couch holds thee now, 310 *To be a light with dark commensurate? Alike, in either case, The wail that tells their praise is welcome gift To those Atreidæ, guardians of our house. STROPHE II _Chor._ My child, my child, the mighty jaws of fire[422] Bind not the mood and spirit of the dead! But e'en when that is past he shows his wrath. When he that dies is wailed, The murderer stands revealed: 320 The righteous cry for parents that begat, To fullest utterance roused, Searches the whole truth out. ANTISTROPHE I _Elect._ Hear then, O father, now Our tearful griefs in turn; From us thy children twain The funeral wail ascends; And we, as suppliants and as exiles too, Find shelter at thy tomb. What of all this is good, what void of ills? 330 Is not this now a woe invincible? _Chor._ Yet, even yet, from evils such as these, God, if He will, may bring more pleasant strains: And for the dirge we utter by the tomb, A pæan in the royal house may raise Welcome to new-found friend. STROPHE III _Orest._ Had'st thou beneath the walls Of Ilion, O my sire, Been slain by Lykian foe,[423] Pierced through and through with spear, Leaving high fame at home, 340 And laying strong and sure *Thy children's paths in life, Then had'st thou had as thine Far off across the sea A mound of earth heaped high, To all thy kith and kin endurable. ANTISTROPHE II _Chor._ Yea, and as friend with friends That nobly died, he then Had dwelt in high estate A sovereign ruler, held Of all in reverence, High in their train who rule Supreme in that dark world; 350 For he, too, while he lived, As monarch ruled o'er those Whose hands the sceptre held That mortal men obey.[424] ANTISTROPHE III _Elect._ Not even 'neath the walls Of Troïa, O my sire, With those the spear hath slain, Would I have had thee lie By fair Scamandros' stream: No, this my prayer shall be That those who slew thee fall, *By their own kin struck down, 360 That one might hear far off, Untried by woes like this, The fate that brings inevitable death.