gold, thy chattels, Thou
Wert Something; which themselves are nothingness.
Shadows, to clasp a moment ere they cease.
The thing thou art, and not the things thou hast,
Abideth, yea, and bindeth to the last
Thy burden on thee: while all else, ill-won
And sin-companioned, like a flower o'erblown,
Flies on the wind away.
Or didst them find
In women ... Women?... Nay, peace, peace! The blind
Could read thee. Cruel wast thou in thine hour,
Lord of a great king's house, and like a tower
Firm in thy beauty. [_Starting back with a look of loathing_.
Ah, that girl-like face!
God grant, not that, not that, but some plain grace
Of manhood to the man who brings me love:
A father of straight children, that shall move
Swift on the wings of War.

So, get thee gone!
Naught knowing how the great years, rolling on,
Have laid thee bare, and thy long debt full paid.
O vaunt not, if one step be proudly made
In evil, that all Justice is o'ercast:
Vaunt not, ye men of sin, ere at the last
The thin-drawn marge before you glimmereth
Close, and the goal that wheels 'twixt life and death.

LEADER.

Justice is mighty. Passing dark hath been
His sin: and dark the payment of his sin.

ELECTRA (_with a weary sigh, turning from the body_).

Ah me! Go some of you, bear him from sight,
That when my mother come, her eyes may light
On nothing, nothing, till she know the sword....
[_The body is borne into the hut_. PYLADES _goes with it_.

ORESTES (_looking along the road_).

Stay, 'tis a new thing! We have still a word
To speak...

ELECTRA.

What? Not a rescue from the town
Thou seest?

ORESTES.

'Tis my mother comes: my own
Mother, that bare me. [_He takes off his crown_.

ELECTRA (_springing, as it were, to life again, and moving where she can
see the road_).

Straight into the snare!
Aye, there she cometh,--Welcome in thy rare
Chariot! All welcome in thy brave array!

ORESTES.

What would we with our mother? Didst thou say
Kill her?

ELECTRA (_turning on him_).

What? Is it pity? Dost thou fear
To see thy mother's shape?

ORESTES.

'Twas she that bare
My body into life. She gave me suck.
How can I strike her?

ELECTRA.

Strike her as she struck
Our father!

ORESTES (_to himself, brooding_).

Phoebus, God, was all thy mind
Turned unto dar