Then Athene commanded that the Furies should speak the first, being the accusers.  So they began saying to Orestes, “Answer what we shall ask thee.  Didst thou slay thy mother?”

“I slew her.  This I deny not.”

“How didst thou slay her?”

“I drew my sword, and smote her on the neck.”

“Who counselled thee to this deed?”

“Apollo counselled me; therefore I fear not; also my father shall help me from the tomb.”

“Shall the dead help thee that didst slay thy mother?”

“Yea, for she also had slain her husband.  Say, why did ye not pursue her while she lived?”

“Because she was not akin to him she slew.”

“Not akin? then was I not akin to her.  But do thou bear witness, King Apollo.”

Then said Apollo, “I am a prophet and lie not.  Never have I spoken about man or woman or city save as my Father Zeus gave me to speak.”

Then said the Furies, “How sayest thou? that Zeus gave this command that this man should slay his mother?”

“’Twas even so.  For think how basely this woman slew her husband, his father.  For she smote him not with an arrow, as might some Amazon, but when he was come back from the war, full of honour, in the bath she entangled him, wrapping a robe about him, and so slew him.  Wherefore this man did righteously, taking vengeance for the blood that was shed.  And as for this kinship that ye say is between a man and his mother, hearken to this.  Had Pallas here a mother?  Nay, for no womb bare her, seeing that she came from the head of Zeus her father.”

[Illustration:  The furies departing.]

Then said Athene, “It is enough.  Judges, judge ye this cause, doing justice therein.  But first hear the statute that I make establishing this court.  On this hill did the Amazons in old time build their fortress when they waged war with King Theseus and the men of this land; and hence it is called the hill of Ares, who is the god of war.  And here do I make this as an ordinance for ever, that it may be a bulwark to this land; that judges may sit herein, keen to avenge the wrong, not blinding their eyes with gifts, but doing true judgment and justice between man and man.  And now rise, ye judges, from your place, and take these pebbles in your hand, and vote according to right, not forgetting your oath.”

So the judges rose up from their place and dropped the pebbles into the urns, Apollo on the one side and the Furies on the other urging them with many promises and threats.  And at the last Athene stood up and said, “’Tis for me to give the casting vote; and I give it to Orestes.  For I myself was not born of a mother; wherefore I am on the father’s side.  And I care not to avenge the death of a woman that slew her husband, the ruler of her house.  Now, if the votes be equal, Orestes is free.  Take the pebbles from the urns, ye to whom this office is given.  And see that ye do it justly and well, that no wrong be done.”