_Attendant:_ Let monarchs learn To choose the right; then all will choose the same. _Atreus:_ When kings are forced to choose the right alone, Their rule is insecure. _Attendant:_ Where is no shame, No thought of righteousness, no piety, 215 No faith, no purity, Oh, then indeed That rule is insecure. _Atreus:_ But purity, Faith, piety, are private virtues all; With kings, their will is law. _Attendant:_ Oh, count it wrong To harm thy brother, though he basest be. _Atreus:_ Whatever may not lawfully be done 220 To brothers, may with perfect right be done To him. What is there left me now unstained By crime of his? Where has he failed to sin? My wife has he debauched, my kingdom stolen, The ancient emblem of our dynasty By fraud obtained, and all our royal house By that same fraud in dire confusion plunged. There is a flock within our royal stalls, 225 Rich fleeced and nobly bred, and with the flock A ram, their leader, wondrous, magical; For from his body thickly hangs a fleece Of fine-spun gold, with which the new-crowned kings Of Pelops' line are wont t' adorn their scepters. Who owns the ram is king, for with his fate 230 The fortunes of our noble house are linked. This sacred ram in safety feeds apart Within a mead whose fateful bounds are fenced By stony walls, and kept with gate of stone. Him, greatly daring, did my brother steal, Perfidious, with my wife in secret league 235 Of crime. And this has been the fountain spring Of all my woes; throughout my kingdom's length Have I a trembling exile wandered long, And found no place of safety from his snares; My wife has he defiled, my subjects' faith And loyalty destroyed, my house o'erthrown, All ties of kinship broken, and nothing left 240 Of which I may be sure save only this-- My brother's enmity. Why do I stand In stupid inactivity? At length Bestir thyself, and gird thy courage up. Think thou on Pelops and on Tantalus; Such deeds as theirs must by my hands be done. [_To_ Attendant.] Tell thou me then how vengeance may be won. _Attendant:_ Drive out his hostile spirit with the sword. 245 _Atreus:_ Thou speakest of the end of punishment, But I the punishment itself desire. Let easy-going rulers slay their foes; In my domain death is a longed-for boon. _Attendant:_ Do pious motives stir thee not at all? _Atreus:_ Away, O Piety, if ever thou Didst dwell within my house, and in thy stead Let come dire furies' cohorts, fiends at war, 250 Megaera holding high in either hand Her flaming torch; for with a mighty rage 'Tis not enough my heart should be inflamed: I fain would be by greater horrors filled.