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SCENE FROM THE EUMENDIES.
Enter Chorus.]
CHORUS.
Hold! here are traces of the man we seek.—
Keep the directions of our silent guide.
For, as keen hounds pursue a wounded fawn,
We track our victim by the dripping blood.
Long have our labours been: each spot of earth
We have explored; and hither o'er the sea
Urged on the close chase in our wingless flight.
And he we seek, lurks somewhere hereabouts;
For the rank smell of human blood laughs up,
And tells me of the hidden murderer.
Search, search, on every side
Sisters, search with me;
Let not the Matricide
Hence unpunished flee!
CHORUS.
Hold! here are traces of the man we seek.—
Keep the directions of our silent guide.
For, as keen hounds pursue a wounded fawn,
We track our victim by the dripping blood.
Long have our labours been: each spot of earth
We have explored; and hither o'er the sea
Urged on the close chase in our wingless flight.
And he we seek, lurks somewhere hereabouts;
For the rank smell of human blood laughs up,
And tells me of the hidden murderer.
Search, search, on every side
Sisters, search with me;
Let not the Matricide
Hence unpunished flee!
Lo, where he stands!—See, sanctuary he gains,
And, clinging to the sacred shrine,
Demands acquittal of his crime.—
That may not be. Still on the earth the stains
Of the Mother's blood he shed,
Not to be recalled, are spread,
Still oozing into the polluted plains.
And, clinging to the sacred shrine,
Demands acquittal of his crime.—
That may not be. Still on the earth the stains
Of the Mother's blood he shed,
Not to be recalled, are spread,
Still oozing into the polluted plains.
Now suffering thou in recompence must give.
From thy warm limbs, e'en while thou yet dost live
From thy warm limbs, e'en while thou yet dost live