any of women sleeping, if indeed they could be called women,
that were more hideous than the Gorgons, on which if a man looks he is
turned to stone, or the Harpies, of which they say that they have the
faces of women and the bodies of vultures. Now this man was Orestes, and
the blood that was upon his hands was the blood of his mother
Clytaemnestra, whom he slew, taking vengeance for his father King
Agamemnon, and the women were the Furies, who pursue them that shed the
blood of kindred, and torment them even unto death. But the priestess
when she saw this sight fell down for fear and crawled forth from the
temple. And when she was gone there appeared Apollo himself. Now Apollo
had counselled Orestes that he should slay his mother, and so avenge his
father's blood that had been shed. And now he spake, saying, "Fear not,
I will not betray thee, but will keep to thee to the end. But now thou
must flee from this place; and know that these, the hateful ones, with
whom neither God nor man nor beast consorts, will pursue thee both over
the sea and over the land; but do thou not grow weary or faint, but
haste to the city of Pallas, and sit in the temple of the goddess,
throwing thy arms about the image, and there will I contrive that which
shall loose thee from this guilt."

[Illustration: THE BIRTHDAY GIFTS OF PHOEBUS.]

And when the God had said this, he bade his brother Hermes (for he also
stood near) to guide the man by the way in which he should go.

So Orestes went his way. And straightway, when he was gone, rose up the
spirit of Queen Clytaemnestra, clad in garments of black, and on her neck
was the wound where her son smote her. And the spirit spake to the
Furies, for these were yet fast asleep, saying, "Sleep ye? What profit
is there in them that sleep? Shamefully do ye dishonour me among the
dead; for they whom I slew reproach me, and my cause, though I was slain
by my own son, no one taketh in hand. Do ye not mind with what
sufferings, with what midnight sacrifices upon the hearth in old time I
honoured you, and now, while ye sleep, this wretch hath escaped from the
net."

[Illustration: ORESTES SUPPLIANT TO APOLLO.]

Then they began to stir and rouse themselves, the spirit still goading
them with angry words till they were now fully awake and ready to
pursue. Then there appeared the God Apollo with his silver bow in his
hand, and cried, "Depart from this place, ye accursed ones. Depart with
all speed, lest an