CHORUS. May the same That sent us hither kindly now receive us! DANAUS. Here's Hermes likewise, as Greece knows the god.[n17] CHORUS. Be he my herald, heralding the free! DANAUS. This common altar of these mighty gods Adore: within these holy precincts lodged, Pure doves from hawks of kindred plumage fleeing, Foes of your blood, polluters of your race. Can bird eat bird and be an holy thing?[n18] Can man be pure, from an unwilling father Robbing unwilling brides? Who does these deeds Will find no refuge from lewd guilt in Hades; For there, as we have heard, another Jove Holds final judgment on the guilty shades. But now be ready. Here await their coming; May the gods grant a victory to our prayers! [_Enter_ KING. KING. Whom speak we here? Whence come? Certes no Greeks. Your tire rich-flaunting with barbaric pride Bespeaks you strangers. Argos knows you not, Nor any part of Greece. Strange surely 'tis That all unheralded, unattended all, And of no host the acknowledged guest, unfearing Ye tread this land.[n19] If these boughs, woolly-wreathed, That grace the altars of the Agonian gods Speak what to Greeks they should speak, ye are suppliants. Thus much I see: what more remains to guess I spare; yourselves have tongues to speak the truth. CHORUS. That we are strangers is most true; but whom See we in thee? a citizen? a priest? A temple warder with his sacred wand? The ruler of the state? {227} KING. Speak with a fearless tongue, and plainly. I Of old earth-born Palæcthon am the son,[n20] My name Pelasgus, ruler of this land; And fathered with my name the men who reap Earth's fruits beneath my sway are called Pelasgi; And all the land where Algos flows, and Strymon,[n21] Toward the westering sun my sceptre holds. My kingdom the Perrhæbians bound, and those Beyond high Pindus, by Pæonia, and The Dodonéan heights; the briny wave Completes the circling line; within these bounds I rule; but here, where now thy foot is planted, The land is Apia, from a wise physician Of hoary date so called. He, from Naupactus, Apollo's son, by double right, physician And prophet both,[n22] crossed to this coast, and freed it By holy purifyings, from the plague Of man-destroying monsters, which the ground With ancient taint of blood polluted bore. This plague his virtue medicinal healed, That we no more unfriendly fellowship Hold with the dragon-brood. Such worthy service With thankful heart the Argive land received, And Apis lives remembered in her prayers. Of this from me assured, now let me hear Your whence, and what your purpose. Briefly speak; This people hates much phrase. CHORUS. Our tale is short. We by descent are Argives, from the seed Of the heifer sprung, whose womb was blest in bearing; And this in every word we can confirm By manifest proofs.