It must be so. But now I turned it back,
At last initiate in its mystic secret,
And filled with pride and recklessness I called,
“A god! Even so! And each pays penance due!”
Then hot-foot set upon them. Horror-struck,
As though I bore within my hands the thunder
And at my side new modes of death in thousands,
They scarce retained the heart and strength for flight.
But I was on their heels as though compelled
To act the vicar in the Furies’ office,