Enough that Argive and Cadmean came
To the issue: blood so shed hath power to cleanse.
But death of brothers, each by a brother’s hand,
That were a stain no time could purify.
Finally, the doctrine of the ancestral curse is applied to the guilt of fratricide[107] in the lines:
What charm may purge the guilt
Of blood so foully spilt?
Whose hands shall bathe them? Oh! unhappy store
Of fresh woes for this House, blent with the woes before!