Aeschylus - Agamemnon (Lines 218-246) lyrics

Chorus: And once he slipped his neck in the strap of Fate, his spirit veering black, impure, unholy, once he turned he stopped at nothing, seized with the frenzy blinding driving to outrage - wretched frenzy, cause of all our grief! Yes, he had the heart to sacrifice his daughter, to bless the war that avenged a woman's loss, a bridal rite that sped the men-of-war. 'My father, father!' - she might pray to the winds; no innocence moves her judges mad for war. Her father called his henchmen on, on with a prayer, 'Hoist her over the altar like a yearling, give it all your strength! She's fainting - lift her, sweep her robes around her, but slip this strap in her gentle curving lips... here, gag her hard, a sound will curse the house' - and the bridle chokes her voice... her saffron robes pouring over the sand her glance like arrows showering wounding every murderer through with pity clear as a picture, live, she strains to call their names... I remember often the days with father's guests when over the feast her voice unbroken, pure as the hymn her loving father bearing third libations, sang to Saving Zeus - transfixed with joy, Atreus' offspring throbbing out their love.