Aeschylus - Aeschylus - The Eumenides (Lines 96-232) lyrics

Leader: Lord Apollo, now it is your turn to listen. You are no mere accomplice in this crime. You did it all, and all the guilt is yours. Apollo: No, how? Enlarge on that, and only that. Leader: You commanded the guest to k** his mother. Apollo: - Commanded him to avenge his father, what of it? Leader: And then you dared embrace him, fresh from bloodshed. Apollo: Yes, I ordered him on, to my house, for purging. Leader: And we sped him on, and you revile us? Apollo: Indeed, you are not fit to approach this house. Leader: And yet we have our mission and our - Apollo: Authority - you? Sound out your splendid power. Leader: Matricides: we drive them from their houses. Apollo: And what of the wife who strikes her husband down? Leader: That murder would not destroy one's flesh and blood. Apollo: Why, you'd disgrace - obliterate the bonds of Zeus and Hera queen of brides! And the queen of love you'd throw to the winds at a word, disgrace love, the source of mankind's nearest, dearest ties. Marriage of man and wife is Fate itself, stronger than oaths, and Justice guards its life. But if one destroys the other and you relent - no revenge, not a glance in anger - then I say your manhunt of Orestes is unjust. Some things stir your rage, I see. Others, atrocious crimes, lull your will to act. Pallas will oversee this trial. She is one of us. Leader: I will never let that man go free, never. Apollo: Hound him then, and multiply your pains. Leader: Never try to cut my power with your logic. Apollo: I'd never touch it, not as a gift - your power. Leader: Of course, great as you are, they say, throned on high with Zeus. But blood of the mother draws me on - must hunt the man for Justice. Now I'm on his trail! Rushing out, with the furies in full cry. Apollo: And I will defend my suppliant and save him. A terror to gods and men, the outcast's anger, once I fail him, all of my own free will.