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Then did the king, the elder, speak this clear.
"Heavy the fate, indeed, -- to disobey!
Yet heavy if my child I slay,
The adornment of my household: with the tide
Of virgin-slaughter, at the altar-side,
A father's hands defiling: which the way
Without its evils, say?
How shall I turn fleet-fugitive,
Failing of duty to allies?
Since for a wind-abating sacrifice
And virgin blood, -- 't is right they strive,
Nay, madden with desire.
Well may it work them -- this that they require! "
The Poetical Works of Robert Browning, volume 13. Robert Browning. London. Smith, Elder, and Co. 1889.
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