_Thyestes:_ O ye seas, Hemmed round by curving shores, give ear to this! Hear too, ye gods, wherever ye have fled. 1070 Ye lords of hades, hear; hear, O ye lands; And Night, all black and heavy with the pall Of Tartarus, attend unto my cry; For I am left to thee, and thou alone Doth look in pity on my wretchedness, Thou, too, forsaken of the friendly stars; For I will raise no wicked prayers to thee, Naught for myself implore--what could I ask? 1075 For you, ye heavenly gods, be all my prayers. O thou, almighty ruler of the sky, Who sitt'st as lord upon the throne of heaven, Enwrap the universe in dismal clouds, Incite the winds to war on every side, And let thy thunders crash from pole to pole; 1080 Not with such lesser bolts as thou dost use Against the guiltless homes of common men, But those which overthrew the triple mass Of heaped-up mountains, and those giant forms, Themselves like mountains huge: such arms employ; Hurl down such fires. Avenge the banished day; 1085 With thy consuming flames supply the light Which has been snatched from out the darkened heaven. Select us both as objects of thy wrath; Or if not both, then me; aim thou at me. With that three-forkéd bolt of thine transfix 1090 My guilty breast. If I would give my sons To burning and to fitting burial, I must myself be burned. But if my prayers Do not with heaven prevail, and if no god Aims at the impious his fatal shaft; Then may eternal night brood o'er the earth, And hide these boundless crimes in endless shade. If thou, O sun, dost to thy purpose hold, 1095 And cease to shine, I supplicate no more. _Atreus:_ Now do I praise my handiwork indeed; Now have I gained the palm of victory. My deed had failed entirely of its aim, Didst thou not suffer thus. Now may I trust That those I call my sons are truly so, And faith that once my marriage bed was pure Has come again. _Thyestes:_ What was my children's sin? 1100 _Atreus:_ Because they were thy children. _Thyestes:_ But to think That children to the father-- _Atreus:_ That indeed, I do confess it, gives me greatest joy: That thou art well assured they were thy sons. _Thyestes:_ I call upon the gods of innocence-- _Atreus:_ Why not upon the gods of marriage call? _Thyestes:_ Why dost thou seek to punish crime with crime?