Us the suppliant band, swift-oared

Hither sailing, from the seven mouths

Of the fat fine-sanded Nile![n2]

From the land that fringes Syria,

Land divine, in flight we came,

Not by public vote forth-driven,

Not by taint of blood divorced

From our native state,[f3] but chastely

Our abhorrent foot withdrawing

From impure ungodly wedlock