Ion, as
though he would do him great honour; but he dropped into it the deadly
drop. Only no man saw the thing that he did. But when they were all
about to drink, some one spake an evil word to his neighbour, and Ion
heard it, and having full knowledge of augury, held it to be of ill
omen, and bade them fill another bowl; and that every one should pour
out upon the ground that which was in his cup. And on this there came
down a flight of doves, for such dwelt in the temple of Apollo without
fear, and sipped of the wine that had been poured forth. And all the
rest drank and suffered no harm; but that which had settled where the
youth Ion had poured out from his cup shook and reeled and screamed
aloud, and so died, being sorely rent with the pangs of death. And when
the youth saw this he cried, "Who is it that hath plotted my death? Tell
me, old man, for thou gavest me the cup." And he leapt over the table
and laid hands on him. And at last the old man, being sorely pressed,
unfolded the whole matter. Then Ion gathered all the Princes of Delphi
together, and told them that the strange woman, the daughter of
Erechtheus, had plotted his death by poison. And the sentence of the
Princes was that she should be cast down from the rock on which their
city was built, because she had sought to slay with poison the minister
of the god.

Then one who had seen the whole matter from the beginning to the end,
ran with all speed and told it to the Queen; and she, when she heard it,
and that the officers of the people were coming to lay hands on her,
fled to the altar of Apollo, and sat upon it in the place whereon the
sacrifice was laid; for they that flee to the altar are sacred, and it
is a sin against the god if any man touch them. But in a short space
came Ion with a troop of armed men, breathing out threats and fury
against the Queen. And when he saw her he said, "What a viper is this
that thou hast brought forth, land of Attica! Worse is she than the drop
of Gorgon's blood wherewith she would have slain me. Seize her that she
may be thrown from the rock. 'Tis well for me that I set not foot in her
house in Athens; for then had she caught me in a net, and I had surely
died. But now the altar of Apollo shall not save her."

And he bade the men drag her from the holy place. But even as he spake
came in the Pythia, the priestess. And when Ion had greeted her, asking
her whether she knew how this woman had sought to slay him, she ans