‘Yea, and to this same end did I come with eager speed,
If with me thou wouldst haply devise and prepare some help for our need.
But swear thou by Earth and by Heaven that thou wilt conceal in thine heart
Whatsoever I say unto thee, and wilt bear therein thy part. {700}
By the Blessèd I pray thee, by thine own soul, by thy parents’ name,
That thou see not my sons in torment destroyed by a doom of shame
Horribly: else with my dear-loved sons will I die, and come
A hateful vengeance-spirit to haunt thee from Hades’ home!’
So spake she, and straightway gushed her tears in torrent flow;
And around her knees did she fling her arms in a passion of woe,