ATHENA. The show of justice, not fair Justice self, Thou lovest. CHORUS. HOW? Speak--thou so rich in wisdom. ATHENA. Oaths are no proof, to make the wrong the right. CHORUS. Prove thou. A true and righteous judgment judge. ATHENA. I shall be judge, betwixt this man and thee To speak the doom. CHORUS. Even thou. Thy worthy deeds Give thee the worth in this high strife to judge. ATHENA. Now, stranger, 'tis thy part to speak. Whence come, Thy lineage what, and what thy fortunes, say, And then refute this charge against thee brought. For well I note the sacredness about thee, That marks the suppliant who atonement seeks, In old Ixíon's guise;[n35] and thou hast fled {156} For refuge, to my holy altar clinging. Answer me this, and plainly tell thy tale. ORESTES. Sovran Athena, first from these last words A cause of much concernment be removed. I seek for no atonement; no pollution Cleaves to thy sacred image from my touch. Of this receive a proof. Thou know'st a murderer Being unatoned a voiceless penance bears, Till, from the hand of friendly man, the blood Of a young beast from lusty veins hath sprent him, Cleansing from guiltiness. These sacred rites Have been performed: the blood of beasts hath sprent me, The lucent lymph hath purged the filthy stain. For this enough. As for my race, I am An Argive born: and for my father, he Was Agamemnon, king of men, by whom The chosen admiral of the masted fleet, The ancient city of famous Priam thou Didst sheer uncity.[n36] Sad was his return; For, with dark-bosomed guile, my mother killed him, Snared in the meshes of a tangled net, And of the bloody deed the bath was witness. I then, returning to my father's house After long exile--I confess the deed-- Slew her who bore me, a dear father's murder With murder quitting. The blame--what blame may be-- I share with Loxias, who fore-augured griefs To goad my heart if, by my fault, such guilt Should go unpunished. I have spoken. Thou What I have done, if justly or unjustly, Decide. Thy doom, howe'er it fall, contents me.