d like rain!

LEADER.

'Tis but the dumb beasts at the altar slain.

CASSANDRA.

And vapours from a charnel-house ... See there!

LEADER.

'Tis Tyrian incense clouding in the air.

CASSANDRA (_recovering herself again_).

So be it!--I will go, in yonder room
To weep mine own and Agamemnon's doom.
May death be all! Strangers, I am no bird
That pipeth trembling at a thicket stirred
By the empty wind. Bear witness on that day
When woman for this woman's life shall pay,
And man for man ill-mated low shall lie:
I ask this boon, as being about to die.

LEADER.

Alas, I pity thee thy mystic fate!

CASSANDRA.

One word, one dirge-song would I utter yet
O'er mine own corpse. To this last shining Sun
I pray that, when the Avenger's work is done,
His enemies may remember this thing too,
This little thing, the woman slave they slew!

O world of men, farewell! A painted show
Is all thy glory; and when life is low
The touch of a wet sponge out-blotteth all.
Oh, sadder this than any proud man's fall! [_She goes into the House._

CHORUS.

Great Fortune is an hungry thing,
And filleth no heart anywhere,
Though men with fingers menacing
Point at the great house, none will dare,
When Fortune knocks, to bar the door
Proclaiming: "Come thou here no more!"
Lo, to this man the Gods have given
Great Ilion in the dust to tread
And home return, emblazed of heaven;
If it is writ, he too shall go
Through blood for blood spilt long ago;
If he too, dying for the dead,
Should crown the deaths of alien years,
What mortal afar off, who hears,
Shall boast him Fortune's Child, and led
Above the eternal tide of tears? [_A sudden Cry from within._

VOICE.

Ho! Treason in the house! I am wounded: slain.

LEADER.

Hush! In the castle! 'Twas a cry
Of some man wounded mortally.

VOICE.

Ah God, another! I am stricken again.

LEADER.

I think the deed is done. It was the King
Who groaned.... Stand close, and think if anything....

[_The Old Men gather together under the shock, and debate confusedly._

ELDER B.

I give you straight my judgement. Summon all
The citizens to rescue. Sound a call!

ELDER C.

No, no! Burst in at once without a word!
In, and convict them by their dripping sword!

ELDER D.

Yes; that or something like it. Quick, I say,
Be doing! 'Tis a time for no delay.

ELDER E.

We have time to think. This opening ... They have planned
Some scheme to make ens