y father.

IPH. And what was the reason for her slaying her husband?

OR. Let go the subject of my mother. Nor is it pleasant for you to hear.

IPH. I am silent. But Argos now looks up to thee.

OR. Menelaus rules: I am an exile from my country.

IPH. What, did our uncle abuse our house unprospering?

OR. Not so, but the fear of the Erinnyes drives me from my land.

IPH. For this then wert thou spoken of as being frantic even here on the
shore.

OR. We were beheld not now for the first time in a hapless state.

IPH. I perceive. The Goddesses goaded thee on because of thy mother.

OR. Ay, so as to cast a bloody bit[124] upon me.

IPH. For wherefore didst thou pilot thy foot to this land?

OR. I came, commanded by the oracles of Phoebus--

IPH. To do what thing? Is it one to be spoken of or kept in silence?

OR. I will tell you, but these are the beginning for me of many[125] woes.
After these evil things concerning my mother, on which I keep silence, had
been wrought, I was driven an exile by the pursuits of the Erinnyes, when
Loxias sent my foot[126] to Athens, that I might render satisfaction to the
deities that must not be named. For there is a holy council, that Jove once
on a time instituted for Mars on account of some pollution of his
hands.[127] And coming thither, at first indeed no one of the strangers
received me willingly, as being abhorred by the Gods, but they who had
respect to me, afforded me[128] a stranger's meal at a separate table,
being under the same house roof, and silently devised in respect to me,
unaddressed by them, how I might be separated from their banquet[129] and
cup, and, having filled up a share of wine in a separate vessel, equal for
all, they enjoyed themselves. And I did not think fit to rebuke my guests,
but I grieved in silence, and did not seem to perceive [their conduct,]
deeply groaning, because I was my mother's slayer.[130] But I hear that my
misfortunes have been made a festival at Athens, and that this custom still
remains, that the people of Pallas honor the Libation Vessel.[131] But when
I came to the hill of Mars, and stood in judgment, I indeed occupying one
seat, but the eldest of the Erinnyes the other, having spoken and heard
respecting my mother's death, Phoebus saved me by bearing witness, but
Pallas counted out for me[132] the equal votes with her hand, and I came
off victor in the bloody trial.[133] As many then as sat [in judgment,]
persuaded by the s