_Chor._ Ah ah! ye younger Gods! Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days, And robbed me of my prey. And I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath, Upon this land, ha! ha! Will venom, venom from my heart let fall, In vengeance for my grief, A dropping which shall smite 780 The earth with barrenness! And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plain Down-swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence. Shall I then wail and groan? Or what else shall I do? Shall I become a woe intolerable Unto these men for wrongs I have endured? Great, very great are they, Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed, Born both to shame and woe! _Athena._ Ye are not left unhonoured; be not hot In wrath, ye Goddesses, to mar man's land, I too, yes I, trust Zeus. Need I say more? 790 I only of the high Gods know the keys Of chambers where the sealed-up thunder lies; But that I have no need of. List to me, Nor cast upon the earth thy rash tongue's fruit, That brings to all things failure and distress; Lull thou the bitter storm of that dark surge, As dwelling with me, honoured and revered; And thou with first-fruits of this wide champaign, Offerings for children's birth and wedlock-rites, Shall praise these words of mine for evermore. 800 _Chor._ That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie! That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity,[537] Should now in this land dwell, Dishonoured, deemed a plague! I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath. Oh, Earth! fie on it! fie! What pang is this that thrills through all my breast? Hear thou, O mother Night, Hear thou my vehement wrath! For lo! deceits that none can wrestle with Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods, And made a thing of nought.