Parodos
Captains heart-set on war to wage!
230
His ministrants, vows done, the father bade —
Kid-like, above the altar, swathed in pall,
Take her — lift high, and have no fear at all,
Head-downward, and the fair mouth’s guard
And frontage hold, — press hard
235
From utterance a curse against the House
By dint of bit-violence bridling speech.
And as to ground her saffron-vest she shed,
She smote the sacrificers all and each
240
With arrow sweet and piteous,
From the eye only sped, —
Significant of will to use a word,
Just as in pictures: since, full many a time,
In her sire’s guest-hall, by the well-heaped board
Had she made music, — lovingly with chime
Of her chaste voice, that unpolluted thing,
245
Honoured the third libation, — paian that should bring
Good fortune to the sire she loved so well.
What followed — those things I nor saw nor tell.
