The Hymns of Orpheus · 74 of 91

To the Furies.

LXIX. TO THE FURIES. The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. HEAR me, illustrious Furies, mighty nam’d,

Terrific pow’rs, for prudent counsel fam’d;

Holy and pure, from Jove terrestrial born

And Proserpine, whom lovely locks adorn:

Whose piercing sight, with vision unconfin’d, 5

Surveys the deeds of all the impious kind:

On Fate attendant, punishing the race

(With wrath severe) of deeds unjust and base.

Dark-colour’d queens, whose glittering eyes, are bright

With dreadful, radiant, life-destroying, light: 10

Eternal rulers, terrible and strong,

To whom revenge, and tortures dire belong;

Fatal and horrid to the human sight,

With snaky tresses wand’ring in the night;

Either approach, and in these rites rejoice, 15

For ye, I call, with holy, suppliant voice.