Cast
Electra
Helen
Chorus of Argive women
Orestes
Menelaus
Tyndareus, father of Helen and Clytemnestra
Pylades
Messenger
Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen
Phrygian slave
Apollo
Before the royal palace at Argos. It is the sixth day after the murder
of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Electra is discovered
alone. Orestes lies sleeping on a couch in the background.
Electra
There is nothing so terrible to describe, or suffering, or heaven-sent
affliction, that human nature may not have to bear the
burden of it. The blessed Tantalus--and I am not now taunting him with
his misfortunes-- [5] Tantalus, the reputed son of
Zeus, flies in the air, quailing at the rock which looms above his head;
paying this penalty, they say, for the shameful
weakness he displayed in failing to keep a bridle on his lips, when admitted
by gods, though he was a man, [10] to share
the honors of their feasts like one of them. He begot Pelops, the father
of Atreus, for whom the goddess, when she had
carded her wool, spun a web of strife--to make war with his own brother
Thyestes. But why need I retrace that hideous
tale? [15] Well, Atreus slew Thyestes' children and feasted him on
them. Atreus, now; I pass over intermediate events;
from Atreus and Aerope of Crete were born the famous Agamemnon, if he really
was famous, and Menelaus. Now
Menelaus married Helen, [20] the gods' abhorrence; while lord Agamemnon
married Clytemnestra, notorious in Hellas;
and we three daughters were born: Chrysothemis, Iphigenia, and myself,
Electra; also a son Orestes; all from that one
accursed mother, [25] who slew her husband, after snaring him in
an inextricable robe. Her reason a maiden's lips may
not declare, and so I leave it unclear for the world to guess at. What
need for me to charge Phoebus with wrong-doing?
Though he persuaded Orestes [30] to slay his own mother, a deed that
few approved. Still it was his obedience to the god
that made him kill her; I had a share in the murder, in so far as a woman
could, [and Pylades, who helped us to bring it
about.]
After this my poor Orestes, wasting away in a cruel disease, [35]
lies fallen on his couch, and it is his mother's blood that
drives him round and round in frenzied fits; I am ashamed to name the goddesses,
whose terrors are chasing him--the
Eumenides. It is now the sixth day [40] since the body of his murdered
mother was committed to the cleansing fire; since
then no food has gone down his throat, nor has he washed his skin; but
wrapped in his cloak he weeps in his lucid
moments, whenever the fever leaves him; [45] at other times he bounds
headlong from his couch, as a colt when it is
loosed from the yoke. This city of Argos has decreed that no man give us
shelter in home or hearth, or speak to matricides
like us; and this is the fateful day on which the Argives will take a vote,
[50] whether we are both to die by stoning. [or to
whet the steel and plunge it in our necks.]
There is, it is true, one hope of escape from death: Menelaus has landed
from Troy; his fleet now crowds the haven of
Nauplia where he has come to anchor on the shore, returned at last from
Troy [55] after ceaseless wanderings; but Helen,
that so-called lady of sorrows, he has sent on to our palace, waiting for
the night, lest any of those parents whose sons died
at Troy might see her if she went by day, and set to stoning her. [60]
Within she sits, weeping for her sister and the
calamities of her family, and yet she has still some solace in her woe;
for Hermione, the child she left at home when she
sailed for Troy, the maid whom Menelaus brought from Sparta [65]
and entrusted to my mother's keeping, is still a cause
of joy to her and a reason to forget her sorrows. I am watching each approach,
until I see Menelaus arriving; for unless we
find some safety from him, we have only a feeble anchor to ride on otherwise.
[70] A helpless thing, an unlucky house!
Helen enters from the palace.
Helen
Daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, unhappy Electra, a maiden for so
long, how is it with you and your brother,
this ill-starred Orestes who slew his mother? [75] For referring
the sin as I do to Phoebus, I incur no pollution by
addressing you; and yet I am truly sorry for the death of my sister Clytemnestra,
whom I never saw after I was driven by
heaven-sent frenzy to sail as I did to Ilium; [80] but now that I
am parted from her, I bewail our misfortunes.
Electra
Helen, why should I speak of that which your own eyes can see? [Agamemnon's
house in misfortune] Beside his wretched
corpse I sit, sleepless--for corpse he is, so faint his breath-- [85]
not that I reproach him with his sufferings; but you are
highly blessed and your husband too. [you have come upon us in the hour
of adversity]
Helen
How long has he lain in this way on the couch?
Electra
Ever since he spilt his mother's blood.
Helen
[90] Unhappy wretch! unhappy mother! what a death she died.
Electra
Unhappy enough to succumb to his misery.
Helen
By the gods, would you hear me a moment, maiden?
Electra
Yes, with such leisure as this watching over a brother leaves.
Helen
Will you go for me to my sister's tomb?
Electra
[95] Would you have me seek my mother's tomb? Why?
Helen
To carry an offering of hair and a libation from me.
Electra
Isn't it right for you to go to the tomb of one you love?
Helen
No, for I am ashamed to show myself in Argos.
Electra
A late repentance surely for one who left her home so shamefully then.
Helen
[100] You have told the truth, but your telling is not kind to me.
Electra
What is this supposed shame before the eyes of Mycenae that possesses you?
Helen
I am afraid of the fathers of those who lie dead at Ilium.
Electra
Good cause for fear; your name is on every tongue in Argos.
Helen
Then free me of my fear and grant me this favor.
Electra
[105] I could not bear to look upon my mother's grave.
Helen
And yet it would be shame indeed for servants to bear these offerings.
Electra
Then why not send your daughter Hermione?
Helen
It is not good for maidens to go into a crowd.
Electra
And yet she would be repaying her dead foster-mother's care.
Helen
[110] You have told the truth and have convinced me, maiden. [Yes,
I will send my daughter for you are right.]
Hermione, my child, come out, before the palace. Hermione
and attendants come out of the palace. Take these libations and
these tresses of mine in your hands, and go pour round Clytemnestra's tomb
[115] a mingled cup of honey, milk, and
frothing wine; then stand upon the heaped-up grave, and say this: “Helen,
your sister, sends you these libations as her gift,
fearing herself to approach your tomb from terror of the Argive mob”
and bid her harbor kindly thoughts [120] towards
me and you and my husband; towards these two wretched sufferers, too, whom
the gods have destroyed. And promise that
I will pay in full whatever funeral gifts are due from me to a sister.
Now go, my child, and hurry; [125] and soon as you
have made the libations at the tomb, think of your return. Helen
goes into the palace as Hermione and her attendants depart
with the offerings.
Electra
O human nature, how great an evil you are in men! and what salvation, too,
to those who have a goodly heritage there. Did
you see how she cut off her hair only at the ends, to preserve its beauty?
She is the same woman as of old. [130] May the
gods hate you! for you have proved the ruin of me and my brother and all
Hellas. Alas! here are my friends once more,
coming to unite their plaintive dirge with mine; they will soon put an
end to my brother's peaceful sleep, and cause my tears
to flow [135] when I see him in frenzy.
[Dearest friends, step softly; not a sound; not a whisper! For though this
kindness of yours is well-meant, rouse him and I
shall rue it.]
The Chorus of Argive Maidens enters quietly.
The following lines between Electra and the Chorus are chanted
responsively.
Chorus
[140] Hush, hush! let your footsteps fall lightly! not a sound!
Electra
Go further from his couch, further, I beseech you!
Chorus
There, I obey.
Electra
[145] Ah, ah! Speak like the breath of a slender reed-pipe, my dear, I pray.
Chorus
See, how soft and low I drop my voice.
Electra
Yes, do so; approach now, softly, softly! [150] Give me an account
of why you have come here. For at last he has lain
down, and sleeps.
Chorus
How is he? You give us an account, my dear; what has happened, what misfortune?
Electra
[155] He is still breathing, but his moans grow feeble.
Chorus
What are you saying? Unhappy Orestes!
Electra
You will kill him, if you disturb him from the sweet sleep he now enjoys.
Chorus
[160] Poor sufferer, for his hateful deeds, inspired by a god!
Electra
Ah, misery! Injustice it was, after all, from an unjust mouth, when Loxias
on the tripod of Themis [165] decreed my
mother's most unnatural murder.
Chorus
Do you see? He stirs beneath his robe!
Electra
Alas! Your noisy words have roused him from his sleep.
Chorus
No, I think he is asleep.
Electra
[170] Leave us, go away from the house! circle back again! cease this noise!
Chorus
He is asleep.
Electra
You are right. O Lady Night, [175] giver of sleep to hard-working
mortals, come from Erebus, come, wing your way to
the palace of Agamemnon. [180] For with misery and woe we are lost,
we are gone. There! that noise again! Be still, be
still, and keep the sound of your voice [185] away from his couch;
let him enjoy his sleep in peace, my dear!
Chorus
Tell me, what end of troubles awaits him.
Electra
Death, death; what else? For he has no desire for food.
Chorus
[190] Then his destiny is already clear.
Electra
Phoebus offered us up for sacrifice, when he ordered the pitiable, unnatural murder of our mother, who killed our father.
Chorus
It was just.
Electra
But it was not well done. [195] You killed and were killed, my mother!
and you have slain a father and your own children;
[200] for we are dead or as good as dead. You are in your grave,
and the greater part of my life is spent in weeping and
wailing, [205] and tears at night; unmarried, childless, I drag out
forever a joyless existence.
Chorus Leader
Electra, you are nearby; see whether your brother has not died without
your knowing it; [210] for I do not like his utter
prostration.
Orestes awaking refreshed
Sweet charm of sleep, savior in sickness, how sweetly you came to me, how
needed! Revered forgetfulness of troubles,
how wise a goddess you are, and invoked by every suffering soul!
[215] Where have I come from? How am I here? For I have lost all previous recollection and remember nothing.
Electra
My dearest, how glad I was to see you fall asleep! Do you want me take you in my arms and lift your body?
Orestes
Take, oh! take me in your arms, and from this sufferer's mouth [220] and eyes wipe off the flakes of foam.
Electra
There! The service is sweet, and I do not refuse to tend a brother's limbs with a sister's hand.
Orestes
Prop me up, your side to mine; brush the matted hair from my face, for I see dimly.
Electra
[225] Ah, poor head, how dirty your hair! How savage you look, remaining so long unwashed!
Orestes
Put me once more upon the couch; whenever the madness leaves me, I am unnerved and weak.
Electra
There! His couch is welcome to the sick man, [230] a painful possession, but a necessary one.
Orestes
Set me upright once again, turn my body round; it is their helplessness that makes the sick so hard to please.
Electra
Will you set your feet upon the ground and take a step at last? Change is always pleasant.
Orestes
[235] Oh, yes; for that has a semblance of health; and the semblance is preferable, though it is far from the truth.
Electra
Hear me now, my brother, while the Furies permit you to use your senses.
Orestes
You have news to tell; if it is good, you do me a kindness; [240] but if it tends to my hurt, I have suffered enough.
Electra
Menelaus, your father's brother, has come; his ships are moored in Nauplia.
Orestes
What did you say? Has he come to be a light in our troubles, a man of our own family, who owes gratitude to our father?
Electra
[245] He has come, and is bringing Helen from the walls of Troy--accept this as proof of what I say.
Orestes
If he had returned alone in safety, he would be more enviable; but if he is bringing his wife, he has come with great evil.
Electra
Tyndareus begot a race of daughters notorious for blame, [250] infamous throughout Hellas.
Orestes
Then you be different from that evil brood, for you can be; and not only in words, but also in heart.
Electra
Ah! brother, your eye is growing wild, and in a moment you are turning mad again, when you were just now sane.
Orestes starting up wildly
[255] Mother, I implore you! Do not shake at me those maidens with
their bloodshot eyes and snaky hair. Here they are,
close by, to leap on me!
Electra
Lie still, poor sufferer, on your couch; your eye sees nothing, you only imagine that you recognize them.
Orestes
[260] O Phoebus! they will kill me, the hounds of hell, death's priestesses with glaring eyes, the dreadful goddesses.
Electra
I will not let you go; but with arms twined round you, I will prevent your piteous leaping.
Orestes
Let me go! you are one of my Furies, [265] and are gripping me by the waist to hurl me into Tartarus!
Electra
Alas for me! What aid can I find, when we have Heaven's forces set against us?
Orestes
Give me my horn-tipped bow, Apollo's gift, with which he told me to ward
off the goddesses, [270] if ever they sought to
scare me with wild transports of madness. A mortal hand will wound one
of them, unless she departs from my sight. Don't
you hear me? Don't you see the feathered arrows springing out from my far-shooting
bow? [275] What! Do you linger
still? Mount the sky on your wings, and blame those oracles of Phoebus.
Ah! why am I raving, gasping? Where, oh!
where have I leapt, from my couch? Once more the storm is past, I see a
calm.
[280] Sister, why do you weep, your head wrapped in your robe?
I am ashamed that I should make you a partner in my
sufferings and distress a maiden like you through my sickness. Do not waste
away over my troubles; for though you
consented to it, yet I was the one that spilled [285] our mother's
blood. I blame Loxias, for urging me on to do a deed
most unholy, encouraging me with words but not in deed. I believe that,
if I had asked my father to his face whether I must
slay my mother, [290] he would have strongly entreated me, by this
beard, never to plunge a sword into her throat, since
he would not regain his life, and I, poor wretch, would accomplish such
evil! And now, my sister, unveil your face [295]
and cease to weep, despite our misery. Whenever you see me give way to
despair, it is for you to calm and soothe the
terrors and distorted fancies of my brain. Whenever sorrow comes to you,
I must be at your side and give you comforting
advice; [300] for to help our friends like this is noble. Go in the
house now, my poor sister; lie down and close your
sleepless eyes; take food and bathe your body. For if you leave me or fall
sick from nursing me, [305] I am lost. You are
my only ally; I am deserted by all the rest, as you see.
Electra
I will not leave you; with you I will choose to live and die; for it is
the same: if you die, what shall I, a woman, do? How
shall I escape alone, [310] with no brother, or father, or friends?
Still, if you think it right, I must do your bidding. But lie
down upon your couch, and do not pay too great heed to the terrors and
alarm that scare you from your rest; lie still upon
your pallet. For even if you are not sick, but only think you are, [315]
this brings weariness and perplexity to mortals.
Electra enters the palace, as Orestes lies back upon
his couch.
Chorus
Ah! ah! you goddesses swiftly careering on your wings, whose lot it is
to hold a revel, not with Bacchic rites, [320] in
tears and groans; you black-skinned avenging spirits, that dart along the
spacious air, exacting a penalty for blood, a
penalty for murder, I beg you, I beg you! [325] Allow the son of
Agamemnon to forget his wild whirling frenzy. Alas for
the toils which you, poor wretch, strove after to your ruin, when you heard
the voice from the tripod, proclaimed by
Phoebus, [330] at his sanctuary, where the hollows are called the
navel of the earth.
O Zeus! What pity, what deadly struggle is here, [335] hurrying
you on, the wretch on whom some avenging fiend is heaping
tears upon tears, bringing to the house your mother's blood, which drives
you raving mad? [340] Great prosperity is not
secure among mortals. I lament, I lament! But some divine power, shaking
it to and fro like the sail of a swift ship, plunges it
deep in the waves of grievous affliction, violent and deadly as the waves
of the sea. [345] For what other family must I still
revere, rather than the one from a divine marriage, from Tantalus.
Chorus Leader
And see, a king draws near, lord Menelaus; from his magnificence it is
plain to see [350] that he belongs to the blood of the
Tantalids. All hail! you that set out with a thousand ships to Asia's land;
good fortune is your friend, [355] for you have
accomplished, with divine aid, all that you prayed for.
Menelaus and his retinue enter.
Menelaus
O my home, some joy I feel to see you again on my return from Troy, but
I also grieve at the sight; for never have I seen
another house more closely encircled by dire affliction. [360] For
I learned Agamemnon's fate and the death he died at his
wife's hands, as I was trying to put in at Malea; when the sailors' prophet,
the truthful god Glaucus, Nereus' seer, brought the
news to me from the waves; [365] he stationed himself in full view
and told me this: “Menelaus, your brother lies dead,
plunged in a fatal bath, the last his wife will ever give him.” My sailors
and I wept greatly at his words. When I arrived at
Nauplia, [370] my wife already on the point of starting here, I was
expecting to give a fond embrace to Orestes,
Agamemnon's son, and his mother, thinking that they were doing well, when
I heard from a sailor the unholy murder of
Tyndareus' child.
[375] And now tell me, young ladies, where to find the son of Agamemnon,
who dared such evil. For he was a baby in
Clytemnestra's arms when I left my home to go to Troy, so that I would
not recognize him if I saw him.
Orestes
staggering towards him from the couch.
[380] Menelaus, I am Orestes, whom you are asking about. I will of
my own accord inform you of my sufferings. But as my
first portion, I clasp your knees as a suppliant, giving you prayers from
the mouth of one without the suppliant's bough; save
me, for you have come at the crisis of my troubles.
Menelaus
[385] O gods, what do I see? What living corpse greets my sight?
Orestes
You are right; I am dead through misery, though I still gaze upon the light.
Menelaus
How savage the look your unkempt hair gives you, poor wretch!
Orestes
It is not my looks, but my deeds that torture me.
Menelaus
Your tearless eyes glare dreadfully!
Orestes
[390] My body is gone, though my name has not deserted me.
Menelaus
Unsightly apparition, so different from what I expected!
Orestes
Here I am, the murderer of my wretched mother.
Menelaus
I have heard, spare your words; evils should be seldom spoken.
Orestes
I will be sparing; but the deity is lavish of woe to me.
Menelaus
[395] What ails you? what is your deadly sickness?
Orestes
My conscience; I know that I am guilty of a dreadful crime.
Menelaus
What do you mean? Wisdom is shown in clarity, not in obscurity.
Orestes
Grief especially has ruined me--
Menelaus
Yes, she is a dreadful goddess, yet are there cures for her.
Orestes
[400] And fits of madness, the vengeance of a mother's blood.
Menelaus
When did your madness begin? Which day was it?
Orestes
On the day I was heaping the mound over my poor mother's grave.
Menelaus
When you were in the house, or watching by the pyre?
Orestes
As I was waiting by night to gather up her bones.
Menelaus
[405] Was any one else there, to help you rise?
Orestes
Pylades who shared with me the bloody deed, my mother's murder.
Menelaus
You are sick from phantom shapes; what sort?
Orestes
I seemed to see three maidens, black as night.
Menelaus
I know whom you mean, but I do not want to name them.
Orestes
[410] Yes, for they are revered; you were well-informed, to avoid naming them.
Menelaus
Are these the ones that drive you to frenzy, with the curse of kindred blood?
Orestes
Oh! the torment I endure from their pursuit!
Menelaus
It is not strange, if those who have done dreadful things should suffer them.
Orestes
But I have a way to recover from these troubles.
Menelaus
[415] Do not speak of death; that is not wise.
Orestes
It is Phoebus, who commanded me to kill my mother.
Menelaus
Showing a strange ignorance of what is fair and right.
Orestes
We are slaves to the gods, whatever those gods are.
Menelaus
And does Loxias not help your affliction?
Orestes
[420] He will in time; this is the nature of gods.
Menelaus
How long is it since your mother breathed her last?
Orestes
This is the sixth day; her funeral pyre is still warm.
Menelaus
How soon the goddesses arrived to avenge your mother's blood!
Orestes
I am not clever, but I am by nature a true friend to my friends.
Menelaus
[425] Does your father give you any help at all, for your avenging him?
Orestes
Not yet; I call delay the equal of inaction.
Menelaus
How do you stand in the city after that deed of yours?
Orestes
I am so hated that no one will speak to me.
Menelaus
Have your hands not even been cleaned of blood, according to custom?
Orestes
[430] No, for wherever I go, the door is shut against me.
Menelaus
Which citizens are driving you from the land?
Orestes
Oeax, who refers to my father his reason for hating Troy.
Menelaus
I understand; he is avenging on you the blood of Palamedes.
Orestes
That was nothing to do with me; yet I am destroyed for three reasons.
Menelaus
[435] Who else? Some of the friends of Aegisthus, I suppose?
Orestes
They insult me, and the city listens to them now.
Menelaus
Will the city allow you to keep the scepter of Agamemnon?
Orestes
How, seeing that they will not allow me to remain alive?
Menelaus
What is their method? Can you tell me plainly?
Orestes
[440] A vote will be taken against us today.
Menelaus
To leave the city? Or to die, or not to die?
Orestes
Death by stoning at the hands of the citizens.
Menelaus
Then why not cross the border and try to escape?
Orestes
Because we are encircled by men fully armed.
Menelaus
[445] Private foes or Argive troops?
Orestes
All the citizens, so that I may die; it is shortly told.
Menelaus
Poor wretch! you have arrived at the extremity of woe.
Orestes
In you I have hopes of escape from my troubles. But since you have come
with good fortune, [450] share with your
friends, who are wretched, your prosperity; do not hold aside that goodness
for yourself alone; but partake of troubles in
your turn, and so pay back my father's kindness to those who have a claim
on you. For such friends as desert us in
adversity [455] are friends in name but not in deed.
Chorus Leader
And here is Tyndareus, the Spartan, struggling with aged step, clad in
black robes, with his hair cut short in mourning for
his daughter.
Orestes
Menelaus, I am ruined. See, Tyndareus [460] approaches us, the man
of all others I most shrink from facing, because of
the deed I have done. For he nursed me when I was small, and lavished on
me many a fond caress, carrying me about in
his arms as the son of Agamemnon; and so did Leda; [465] for they
both honored me no less than the Dioscuri. Ah me!
my wretched heart and soul, it was a sorry return I made them! What darkness
can I find for my face? What cloud can I
spread before me in my efforts to escape the old man's eye?
Tyndareus and his attendants enter.
Tyndareus
[470] Where, where may I see Menelaus, my daughter's husband? For
as I was pouring libations on Clytemnestra's grave
I heard that he had come to Nauplia with his wife, safe home again after
many years. Lead me to him; for I want to
approach him [475] and clasp his hand, as a friend whom at last I
see again.
Menelaus
Hail, old man, rival of Zeus for a bride!
Tyndareus
All hail to you, Menelaus, my kinsman!
Ah! What an evil it is to be ignorant of the future! There is that matricide
before the house, a viper darting venomous
flashes from his eyes, whom I loathe. [480] Menelaus, are you speaking
to that godless wretch?
Menelaus
And why not? He is the son of one whom I loved.
Tyndareus
This is his son, this creature here?
Menelaus
Yes, his son; if he is in misfortune, he ought to be honored.
Tyndareus
[485] You have been so long among barbarians that you have become one of them.
Menelaus
Always to honor one's kin is a custom in Hellas.
Tyndareus
And another custom is to yield a willing deference to the laws.
Menelaus
The wise hold that everything which depends on necessity is a slave.
Tyndareus
Keep that wisdom for yourself; I will not have it.
Menelaus
[490] Yes, for you are angry, and also old age is not wise.
Tyndareus
What does a dispute about foolishness have to do with him? If right and
wrong are clear to all, who was ever more
senseless than this man, because he never weighed the justice of the case,
[495] nor appealed to the universal law of
Hellas? For when Agamemnon breathed his last [struck on his head by my
daughter] a most foul deed, which I will never
defend, [500] he should have brought a charge against his mother
and inflicted a holy penalty for bloodshed, banishing her
from his house; thus he would have gained moderation instead of calamity,
keeping strictly to the law and showing his
piety as well. As it is, he has come into the same fate as his mother.
[505] for though he had just cause for thinking her a
wicked woman, he has become more wicked by murdering her.
Tyndareus
I will ask you, Menelaus, just one question. If a man's wedded wife should
kill him, and his son in turn will kill his
mother in revenge; [510] next the avenger's son to expiate this murder
will commit another: where will the chain of horrors
end? Our forefathers settled these matters the right way. They forbade
any one with blood upon his hands to appear in their
sight or cross their path; [515] but they purified him by exile,
they did not kill him in revenge. Otherwise someone, by
taking the pollution last upon his hands, is always going to be liable
to have his own blood shed. Now I hate wicked
women, especially my daughter who killed her husband; [520] Helen,
too, your own wife, I will never commend, nor
would I even speak to her; and I do not envy you a voyage to Troy for a
worthless woman. But the law I will defend with
all my might, to put an end to this brutal spirit of murder, [525]
which is always the ruin of countries and cities alike.
Turning to Orestes Wretch! Had you no heart when your mother was
baring her breast in her appeal to you? I, who did not
see that awful deed, weep unhappy tears from my old eyes. [530] One
thing at least agrees with what I say: you are hated
by the gods, and you pay atonement for your mother by your fits of madness
and terror. Why do I need to hear from other
witnesses what I can see for myself? Therefore, Menelaus, take heed; [535]
do not oppose the gods in your wish to help
this man; but leave him to be stoned to death by the citizens, or do not
set foot on Spartan land. My daughter is dead, and
rightly; but it should not have been his hand that slew her. [540]
In all except my daughters I have been a happy man; there
I am not blessed.
Chorus Leader
He is enviable, who is fortunate in his children, and does not bring hazardous
notoriety on himself.
Orestes
Old man, I am afraid to speak before you, [545] in a matter where
I am sure to grieve you to the heart. I am unholy
because I killed my mother, I know it, yet holy on another count, because
I avenged my father. Only let your years, which
frighten me from speaking, set no barrier in the path of my words, [550]
and I will go forward; but now I fear your gray
hairs.
What ought I to have done? Set one thing against another. My father begot
me; your daughter gave me birth, being the field
that received the seed from another; for without a father no child would
ever be born. [555] So I reasoned that I ought to
stand by the author of my being rather than the woman who undertook to
rear me. Now your daughter--I am ashamed to
call her mother--came to a man's bed in a private and unchaste wedding;
I speak against myself when I speak [560] badly
of her, yet I will speak. Aegisthus was her secret husband in the home;
I killed him, and I sacrificed my mother, an unholy
crime, no doubt, but done to avenge my father.
Now, as regards the reasons for which I deserve to be stoned as you threatened,
[565] hear the service I am conferring on
all Hellas. For if women become so bold as to murder their husbands, taking
refuge in their children, hunting down pity
with the breast, they would think nothing of destroying their husbands
[570] on any charge whatsoever. But I, by a
horrible crime, as you boast it to be, have put an end to this custom.
I hated my mother and killed her justly. She was false
to her husband when he was gone from his home to fight for all Hellas at
the head of its armies, [575] and she did not
keep his bed undefiled; and when her sin had found her out, she did not
impose punishment on herself, but, to avoid
paying the penalty to her husband, punished my father by death. By the
gods! it is not a good time for me to mention the
gods, [580] when defending the charge of murder; but if I consented
by my silence to my mother's conduct, what would
the murdered man have done to me? Would he not now in hatred be tormenting
me with the Furies? Or does my mother
have goddesses as allies, but he does not, in his deeper wrong? [585]
You, yes! you, old man, have been my ruin by
begetting a wicked daughter; for it was owing to her audacious deed that
I lost my father and became my mother's
murderer. You see, Telemachus did not kill the wife of Odysseus, because
she did not marry husband upon husband,
[590] but the marriage-bed remained untainted in her home.
And you see Apollo, who makes the navel of the earth his home, dispensing
to mortals unerring prophecies, whom we
obey in all he says; I killed my mother in obedience to him. [595]
Find him guilty of the crime, slay him; his was the sin,
not mine. What ought I to have done? or is the god not competent to expiate
the pollution when I refer it to him? Where
then should anyone flee, if he will not rescue me from death after giving
his commands? [600] Do not say that the deed
was done badly, but unfortunately for the ones who did it. A blessed life
those mortals lead who make wise marriages; but
those for whom it does not fall out well are unfortunate both in and out
of doors.
Chorus Leader
[605] Women by nature always meddle in the doings of men, with unfortunate results.
Tyndareus
Since you are so bold and suppress nothing, but answer me back in such
a way as to vex my heart, you will lead me to go
to greater lengths in procuring your execution; [610] and I shall
regard this as a fine addition to my labors in coming here
to adorn my daughter's grave. Yes, I will go to the chosen band of Argives
and set the city, willing or not, on you and
your sister, to pay the penalty of stoning. [615] She deserves to
die even more than you, for it was she who embittered
you against your mother, always carrying tales to your ear to increase
your hate the more, announcing dreams from
Agamemnon, and Aegisthus' bed, [620] may the gods in Hades loathe
it! for even here on earth it was bitter; till she set the
house ablaze with fires never kindled by Hephaestus.
Menelaus, I tell you this, and I will do it, too: if you then consider
my hatred or our marriage connection of any account, do
not ward off this man's doom in defiance of the gods, [625] but leave
him to be stoned to death by the citizens, or do not
set foot on Spartan land. Remember you have been told all this, and do
not choose the ungodly as friends, pushing aside
the more righteous. Servants, lead me from this house. Tyndareus
and his attendants depart.
Orestes
[630] Go, so that the remainder of my speech may come to this man
without interruption, free from your old age.
Menelaus, why are you pacing round and round in thought, going back and
forth, in a dilemma?
Menelaus
Let me alone! When I think it over, [635] I am perplexed to know where to turn in these events.
Orestes
Do not come to a final decision now, but after first hearing what I have to say, then make up your mind.
Menelaus
Good advice! Speak. There are times when silence would be better than speech,
and the reverse also.
Orestes
[640] I will speak now. A long statement has advantages over a short
one and is more intelligible to hear. Give me nothing
of your own, Menelaus, but repay what you received from my father. I am
not speaking of possessions; if you save my
life, [645] you will save my dearest possession.
I have done wrong; I ought to have a little wrong-doing from you to requite
that evil, for my father Agamemnon also did
wrong in gathering the Hellenes and going to Ilium, not that he had sinned
himself, [650] but he was trying to find a cure
for the sin and wrong-doing of your wife. So this is one thing you are
bound to pay me back. For he really gave his life, as
friends should, toiling hard in battle with you, so that you might have
your wife again. [655] Pay back to me the same
thing you got there. For one day exert yourself, on my behalf standing
up in my defense, not ten full years.
As for what Aulis took, the sacrifice of my sister, I let you have that;
do not kill Hermione. [660] For in my present plight,
you must have an advantage over me and I must pardon it. But give to my
miserable father my life and the life of my sister,
a maiden so long; for by my death I shall leave my father's house without
an heir.
[665] You will say it is impossible. That's the point; friends are
bound to help friends in trouble. But when fortune gives
of its best, what need of friends? For the god's help is enough of itself
when he is willing to give it. All Hellas believes that
you love your wife, [670] and I am not saying this to flatter or
wheedle you; by her I implore you. Ah me, my misery! to
what have I come! Well? I must suffer, for I am making this appeal on behalf
of my whole family. O my uncle, my father's
own brother! Imagine that the dead man in his grave [675] is listening,
that his spirit is hovering over you and saying what
I say, this much for tears and groans and misfortunes. I have spoken and
I have begged for my safety, hunting what all
seek, not myself alone.
Chorus Leader
[680] I, too, though I am only a woman, beseech you to help those
who need it; for you have the power.
Menelaus
Orestes, you are a man for whom I have a deep regard, and I want to take
part in your troubles; it is a duty, too, to help
relatives bear their ills, [685] by dying or killing enemies, if
god gives the power to do so. I wish I had that power granted
me by the gods. For I have come destitute of allies, after my long weary
wanderings, [690] with the small strength of my
surviving friends. We should never get the better of Pelasgian Argos by
fighting; if we should prevail by soothing
speeches, we will come to some hope there. For how can you win a great
cause by small [695] [:efforts? It is foolish even
to wish it.]
For when the people fall into a vigorous fury, they are as hard to quench
as a raging fire; but if you gently slacken your
hold and yield a little to their tension, cautiously watching your opportunity,
[700] they may possibly calm down; if their
gusts abate, you may obtain whatever you want from them easily. They have
pity, and a hot temper too, an invaluable
quality if you watch it closely. So for you I will go and try to persuade
Tyndareus [705] and the city to moderation. A ship
also dips if its sheet is hauled too taut, but rights itself again if it
is let go. The god hates excessive eagerness, and the
citizens do also; I must save you, I don't deny it, [710] by cleverness,
not by violence against those who are stronger. I
could not do it by strength, as you perhaps imagine; for it is not easy
to triumph single-handed over the troubles that beset
you. I would never have tried to bring the Argive land over to softness;
[715] but it is necessary. [for the wise to be slaves
to fortune.] Menelaus and his retinue depart.
Orestes
O you that have no use, except to lead an army in a woman's cause! O worst
of men in your friends' defense, [720] do
you turn your back on me and flee, the deeds of Agamemnon lost and gone?
After all, father, you had no friends in
adversity. Alas! I am betrayed; no longer do I have any hope of finding
a refuge where I may escape the death-sentence of
Argos; for this man was my haven of safety.
[725] But I see Pylades, the best of friends, coming at a run from
Phocis--a pleasant sight! A man who can be trusted in
troubles is a better sight than a calm to sailors.
Pylades enters alone.
Pylades
I have come through the city quickly, as I should, [730] having heard
and myself clearly seen the citizens assembling,
against you and your sister, to kill you at once. What is happening? How
is it with you? How are you doing, my best of
comrades, friends and kin? For you are all these to me.
Orestes
I am ruined, to make plain to you my troubles in brief.
Pylades
[735] You must destroy me also; for friends have all in common.
Orestes
Menelaus is the worst of men to me and my sister.
Pylades
It is natural for the husband of an evil woman to become evil.
Orestes
He no more repaid me by coming here, than if he had never come.
Pylades
Oh, has he really arrived in this land?
Orestes
[740] He took a long time, but he was very soon detected as evil to his friends.
Pylades
And did he bring his wife, the worst of women, with him on his ship?
Orestes
It was not he who brought her here, but she who brought him.
Pylades
Where is she, the one woman who proved the ruin of so many Achaeans?
Orestes
In my house; if, that is, I ought to call it mine.
Pylades
[745] And what did you say to your father's brother?
Orestes
Not to see me and my sister killed by the citizens.
Pylades
By the gods! What did he say to that? I would like know this.
Orestes
He was cautious, the usual policy of ignoble friends.
Pylades
What excuse did he advance? When I have learned that, I know everything.
Orestes
[750] There was a new arrival, the father who begot those noble daughters.
Pylades
You mean Tyndareus; he was angry with you, perhaps, for his daughter's sake?
Orestes
You understand. And Menelaus preferred the family relationship with him to that with my father.
Pylades
He did not have the courage to share your troubles, when he was here?
Orestes
No, for he was not born a warrior, though strong among women!
Pylades
[755] Your case is desperate, it seems, and you must die.
Orestes
The citizens must give their vote about us on the murder.
Pylades
And what is that to decide? Tell me, for I am alarmed.
Orestes
Our life or death; a brief speech on a large subject.
Pylades
Leave the palace with your sister now and try to escape.
Orestes
[760] Don't you see? We are being watched by guards on every side.
Pylades
I saw that the streets of the city were secured with armed men.
Orestes
We are as closely beleaguered as a city by its foes.
Pylades
Ask me now of my state; for I too am ruined.
Orestes
By whom? This would be a further trouble to add to mine.
Pylades
[765] Strophius, my father, in a fit of anger, has banished me from his house.
Orestes
Bringing against you a private charge, or one in which the citizens share?
Pylades
He says it is an unholy crime to have helped you slay your mother.
Orestes
Alas! It seems my troubles will cause you grief as well.
Pylades
I am not like Menelaus in character; this must be endured.
Orestes
[770] Are you not afraid that Argos will desire your death as well as mine?
Pylades
I am not theirs to punish; I belong to Phocis.
Orestes
A terrible thing is the mob, whenever it has villains to lead it.
Pylades
But with honest leaders its counsels are always honest.
Orestes
Very well; we must consult together.
Pylades
About what necessity?
Orestes
[775] Suppose I go and tell the citizens--
Pylades
That your action was just?
Orestes
In avenging my father?
Pylades
I am afraid they would be glad to catch you.
Orestes
Well, am I to crouch in fear and die without a word?
Pylades
That is cowardly.
Orestes
How then should I act?
Pylades
Suppose you stay here, what means of safety do you have?
Orestes
I have none.
Pylades
And if you go, is there any hope of escaping your troubles?
Orestes
[780] There might be, possibly.
Pylades
Then that is better than staying.
Orestes
Then I will go.
Pylades
At least you die in this way, you will die more honorably.
Orestes
You are right; in this way I escape cowardice.
Pylades
Better than by staying.
Orestes
After all, my action was just.
Pylades
Pray that this may be the only view they take.
Orestes
Some one or two might pity me--
Pylades
Yes, your noble birth is a great point.
Orestes
[785] Resenting my father's death.
Pylades
That is all quite clear.
Orestes
I must go, for to die ignobly is a coward's part.
Pylades
Well said.
Orestes
Shall we tell my sister?
Pylades
God forbid!
Orestes
True, there might be tears.
Pylades
That would be a grave omen.
Orestes
Yes, silence is clearly better.
Pylades
And you will gain time.
Orestes
[790] There is only one obstacle in my way.
Pylades
What fresh objection now?
Orestes
I am afraid the goddesses will prevent me by madness.
Pylades
But I will take care of you.
Orestes
It is annoying to have to touch a sick man.
Pylades
Not to me, when it is you.
Orestes
Beware of becoming a partner in my madness.
Pylades
Let that pass.
Orestes
You will not hesitate?
Pylades
No, for hesitation is a grave ill among friends.
Orestes
[795] On then, pilot of my course!
Pylades
A service I am glad to render.
Orestes
And guide me to my father's tomb.
Pylades
For what purpose?
Orestes
That I may appeal to him to save me.
Pylades
Yes, that is the proper way.
Orestes
May I not see my mother's grave!
Pylades
No; she was an enemy. But hasten, so that the vote of Argos may not catch
you first, [800] supporting those limbs, slow
from sickness, on mine; for I will carry you through the town, thinking
little of the mob and unashamed. For how shall I
prove my friendship, if not by helping you in sore distress?
Orestes
Ah! the old saying again, “get friends, not relations only.” [805]
For a man who fuses into your ways, though he is an
outsider, is better for a man to possess as a friend than a whole host
of relations. Orestes and Pylades go out
Chorus
The great prosperity and the prowess, proudly boasted throughout Hellas
and by the streams of Simois, [810] went back
again from good fortune for the Atreidae long ago, from an old misfortune
to their house, when strife came to the sons of
Tantalus over a golden ram, to end in most pitiable banqueting and [815]
the slaughter of high-born children; and this is
why murder exchanges for murder, through blood, and does not leave the
two Atreidae.
What seemed good was not good, [820] to cut a mother's flesh
with ruthless hand and show the sword stained black with
blood to the sun's bright beams; “to commit a noble crime” is an impious,
subtle, malignant madness! [825] The wretched
daughter of Tyndareus in terror of death screamed to him: “My son, this
is unholy, your bold attempt upon your mother's life;
do not, while honoring your father, [830] fasten on yourself an eternity
of shame.”
What affliction on earth surpasses this? What calls for keener grief
or pity, than to shed with your hand a mother's blood? Oh!
what a dreadful crime he committed, [835] and now is raving mad,
a prey to the Furies, whirling blood with racing eyes, the
son of Agamemnon! O the wretch! when [840] he saw a mother's bosom
over her robe of golden weave, and yet he made her
his victim, in recompense for his father's sufferings.
Electra comes out of the palace.
Electra
Women, has my poor Orestes left the house, [845] mastered by the heaven-sent madness?
Chorus Leader
Not at all; he has gone to the Argive people to stand the appointed trial for his life, in which he and you must live or die.
Electra
Oh! Why did he do it? Who persuaded him?
Chorus Leader
[850] Pylades; but this messenger will no doubt soon tell us what happened to your brother there.
A messenger, formerly a servant of Agamemnon, enters.
Messenger
Wretched, unhappy daughter of the general Agamemnon, my lady Electra, hear the sad tidings I bring you.
Electra
[855] Alas! we are ruined; your words show it; you have clearly come with tidings of woe.
Messenger
The Pelasgians have decided by vote that you, poor lady, and your brother are to die this day.
Electra
Alas! my expectation has come to pass; I have long feared this, [860]
and have been wasting away in mourning for what was
sure to happen. But what was the trial, what was said by the Argives, to
condemn us and ratify our death? Tell me, old friend;
must I die by stoning or the sword? [865] For I share my brother's
misfortunes.
Messenger
I had just come from the country and was entering the gates, needing to
learn what was decided about you and Orestes, for
I was always well disposed to your father when he was alive, and it was
your house that reared me, [870] poor indeed, yet
loyal in the service of friends. I saw a crowd going and taking their seats
on the height, where they say Danaus first
gathered his people for a meeting, making amends to Aegyptus. So, when
I saw the throng, I asked a citizen: [875] “What
news in Argos? Tidings of the enemy haven't ruffled the city of Danaus,
have they?” But he said: “Don't you see Orestes
there, on his way to he tried for his life?”
I saw an unexpected sight, which I wish I had not seen, [880] Pylades
and your brother approaching together, the one
with his head down, weakened by sickness; the other sharing his friend's
sorrow like a brother, tending his illness with
constant care. Now when the Argives were fully gathered, [885] a
herald rose and said: “Who wishes to give his opinion
whether Orestes should be slain or not for the murder of his mother?”
Then up stood Talthybius, who helped your father
sack the Phrygians. He spoke out of both sides of his mouth, a mere tool
of those in power as he always is, [890]
expressing high admiration for your father, but not praising your brother,
urging his crooked sentiments in specious
words, that it would establish laws as to parents that are not good; and
all the while he was darting lively glances at the
friends of Aegisthus. [895] Such is that tribe; heralds always trip
across to the lucky side; the one who has power in the
city or a post in the government is their friend.
After him lord Diomedes made a speech; he said they should not kill
you and your brother, [900] but keep clear of guilt by
punishing you with exile. Some roared out that his words were good, but
others disapproved. Next stood up a fellow, who
cannot close his lips; one whose impudence is his strength; an Argive,
but not of Argos, forced on us; [905] confident in
bluster and ignorant free speech, and plausible enough to involve them
in some mischief sooner or later; [for whenever a
man with a pleasing trick of speech, but of unsound principles, persuades
the mob, it is a serious evil to the state; but those
who give sound and sensible advice on all occasions, [910] if not
immediately useful to the state, yet prove so afterwards.
And this is the way in which to regard a party leader; for the position
is much the same in the case of an orator and a man in
office.] He was for stoning you and Orestes to death, [915] but it
was Tyndareus who kept suggesting arguments of this
kind to him as he urged the death of both of you.
Another then stood up and said the opposite; he was not handsome in appearance,
but a brave man, rarely coming in
contact with the town or the circle in the market-place; [920] a
farmer--and they are the only ones who preserve our
land--but clever, and eager to grapple with the arguments, his character
without a blemish, his walk in life beyond
reproach. He said that they should crown Orestes, the son of Agamemnon,
for showing his willingness to avenge a father
[925] by the murder of a wicked and godless woman who would prevent
men from taking up arms and going on foreign
service, if those who remain behind destroy households by corrupting men's
wives. [930] To the better sort, at least, his
word carried conviction.
No one spoke after him. Then your brother came forward and said: “You
dwellers in the land of Inachus! [Pelasgians in
ancient times, and later Danaids] I helped you no less than my father [935]
when I slew my mother; for if the murder of
men by women is to be sanctioned, then the sooner you die, the better,
or you must become the slaves of women; and that
will be doing the very reverse of what you should. As it is, she who betrayed
my father's bed [940] has died, but if you
take my life, the law becomes relaxed, and the sooner each one of you dies,
the better; for it will never be daring at any rate
that they will lack.”
Yet, for all he seemed to speak well, he did not persuade the assembly;
but that villain who spoke in favor of slaying you
and your brother [945] gained his point by appealing to the mob.
Poor Orestes scarcely persuaded them not to kill him by
stoning, promising to die by his own hand, with you, on this day. Pylades,
in tears, is now bringing him from the
conclave; [950] and his friends bear him company, with wailing and
lamentation; so he comes, a bitter sight and piteous
vision. Make ready the sword or prepare the noose for your neck, for you
must leave the light; your noble birth [955]
availed you nothing, nor did Phoebus from his seat on the tripod at Delphi;
he was your undoing. The messenger
withdraws.
[Chorus Leader
Ah, hapless maiden! How silent you are, your face covered and bent to the
ground, as if about to dash upon a course of
lamentation and wailing.]
Electra
[960] O Pelasgia, I take up the dirge, doing bloody outrage on my
cheeks with white nail, and beating on my head; these
are the portion of Persephone, fair young goddess of the nether world.
[965] Let the Cyclopian land break forth into
wailing for the sorrows of our house, laying the steel upon the head to
crop it close. This is the piteous, piteous strain that
goes up for those who are about to die, [970] once the battle-leaders
of Hellas.
It has gone, it has gone, and is lost, all the race of Pelops, and
the glory that crowned their happy home once; the envy of
heaven seized them and that cruel [975] murdering vote among the
citizens. Oh, oh! you tribes of short-lived men, full of
tears, full of suffering, see how fate runs counter to your hopes! All
receive in turn their different [980] troubles in length of
time; and the whole of mortal life is uncertain.
Oh! to reach that rock which hangs suspended midway between earth and
heaven, that fragment from Olympus, which swings
on chains of gold, so that I may utter my lament [985] to Tantalus,
my forefather, who begot the ancestors of my house. They
saw infatuate ruin, the chase of winged steeds, when Pelops in four-horse
chariot [990] drove over the sea, hurling the body
of murdered Myrtilus into the ocean swell, after his race near Geraestus'
strand, foam-flecked from the tossing sea. [995]
From this came a woeful curse upon my house, brought to birth among the
sheep by the son of Maia, when there appeared a
baleful, baleful portent of a lamb with golden fleece, [1000] for
Atreus, breeder of horses; from which Strife changed the
course of the sun's winged chariot, fitting the westward path of the sky
towards the single horse of Dawn; [1005] and Zeus
diverted the career of the seven Pleiads into a new track and exchanged
. . . death for death: both the banquet to which
Thyestes gave his name, and the treacherous love of Cretan Aerope, [1010]
in her treacherous marriage; but the crowning
woe has come on me and on my father by the bitter constraints of our house.
Chorus Leader
Look, here comes your brother, condemned to die, and with him Pylades,
most loyal of friends, [1015] true as a brother,
guiding his feeble steps, his yoke-fellow, pacing carefully.
Orestes and Pylades enter.
Electra
Alas! I weep to see you stand before the tomb, my brother, face to face
with the funeral pyre. [1020] Alas, again! as I take my
last look at you, my senses leave me.
Orestes
Be silent! an end to womanish lamenting! resign yourself to your fate.
It is piteous, but nevertheless [you must bear the
present fate.]
Electra
[1025] How can I be silent, when we poor sufferers are no longer to gaze upon the sun-god's light?
Orestes
Oh! spare me that death! Enough that this unhappy wretch is already slain by Argives; let our present sufferings be.
Electra
Alas for your unhappy youth, Orestes, and for your fated [1030] untimely
death! When you should have lived, you are going
to die.
Orestes
By the gods, do not unman me, bringing me to tears by the recollection of my sorrows.
Electra
We are about to die; it is not possible for me not to grieve over our troubles;
it is a piteous thing for all men to lose life, that is
so sweet.
Orestes
[1035] This is the day appointed for us; we must fit the dangling noose about our necks or whet the sword for use.
Electra
You be the one to kill me, brother, so that no Argive may insult Agamemnon's son by my death.
Orestes
Enough that I have a mother's blood upon me; I will not kill you, [1040] but die by your own hand, however you wish.
Electra
Agreed; I will not be behind you in using the sword; only I long to throw my arms about your neck.
Orestes
Enjoy that empty satisfaction, if embraces have any joy for those who have come so near to death.
Electra
[1045] My dearest, you who have a name that sounds most loved and sweet to your sister, partner in one soul with her!
Orestes
Oh, you will melt my heart! I want to give you back a fond embrace. And
why should such a wretch as I still feel any shame?
Embracing Electra Heart to heart, my sister!
how sweet to me this close embrace! [1050] In place of children and
the marriage
bed [this greeting is all that is possible to us both in our misery].
Electra
Ah! If only the same sword, if it is right, could kill us both, and one coffin of cedar-wood receive us!
Orestes
That would be very sweet; but surely you see [1055] we are too destitute of friends to be allowed to share a tomb.
Electra
Did that coward Menelaus, that traitor to my father, not even speak for you, or make an effort to save your life?
Orestes
He did not even show himself, but, with his hopes centered on the throne,
he was careful not to attempt the rescue of his
friends. [1060] But let us see how we may die a noble death, one
most worthy of Agamemnon. I, for my part, will let the city
see my noble spirit when I plunge the sword to my heart, and you in turn
must imitate my daring.
[1065] Pylades, be the arbitrator of our slaughter and, when we both
are dead, lay out our bodies decently; carry them to our
father's grave and bury us there with him. Farewell, now; I am leaving
for the deed, as you see.
Pylades
Stop! there is first one point I have to blame you for, [1070] if you thought I would care to live when you are dead.
Orestes
But why are you called on to die with me?
Pylades
Do you ask? What is life to me without your companionship?
Orestes
You did not kill your mother, as I did to my sorrow.
Pylades
At least I helped you; and so I ought to suffer the same penalty.
Orestes
[1075] Surrender to your father, do not die with me. You still have
a city, while I no longer have, and your father's home,
and a great refuge of wealth. You have failed to marry my poor sister,
whom I betrothed to you from a deep regard for
your companionship; [1080] but find another bride and rear a family;
for the marriage-tie which bound us is no more.
Farewell, be happy, my beloved friend; we cannot, but you may; for we,
the dead, are robbed of happiness.
Pylades
[1085] How far you are from grasping what I mean! May the fruitful
earth, the radiant sky refuse to hold my blood, if ever
I turn traitor and desert you when I have freed myself. For I shared in
the murder, which I will not deny, [1090] and also
schemed the whole plot, for which you are now paying the penalty; and so
I ought to die together with you and her. For I
consider her, whom you betrothed to me, as my wife. Whatever shall I say,
when I reach Delphi, the citadel of Phocis,
[1095] if I was your friend before your misfortunes, but ceased to
be your friend, when you were unfortunate? That must
not be; no, this concerns me, too. But since we are to die, let us take
counsel together that Menelaus may share our
misfortune.
Orestes
[1100] Best of friends! if only I could see this before I die.
Pylades
Listen to me, and delay the stroke of the sword.
Orestes
I will, if I may take vengeance on my enemy.
Pylades
Hush now! I have small confidence in women.
Orestes
Have no fear of these; for they are our friends who are here.
Pylades
[1105] Let us kill Helen, a bitter grief to Menelaus.
Orestes
How? I am ready, if there is any chance of success.
Pylades
With our swords; she is hiding in your house.
Orestes
Indeed she is; and already she is putting her seal on everything.
Pylades
No longer, after she is married to Hades.
Orestes
[1110] But how? She has her barbarian attendants.
Pylades
Barbarians indeed! I am not the man to fear any Phrygian.
Orestes
They are only fit to look after mirrors and perfumes!
Pylades
Has she brought Trojan luxury with her here?
Orestes
So much so, that Hellas is too small for her to live in.
Pylades
[1115] The race of slaves is nothing to those who are free.
Orestes
Well, if I can do this deed, I do not shrink from dying twice over.
Pylades
No, nor I either, if it is you I am avenging.
Orestes
Explain the matter, and continue describing your plan.
Pylades
We will enter the house on the pretence of going to our death.
Orestes
[1120] So far I follow you, but not beyond.
Pylades
We will lament our sufferings to her.
Orestes
So that she will shed tears, although her heart is glad.
Pylades
And our condition will be like hers.
Orestes
How shall we proceed next in our contest?
Pylades
[1125] We shall have swords concealed in our cloaks.
Orestes
Will we dispose of her attendants first?
Pylades
We will shut them up in different parts of the house.
Orestes
And whoever refuses to be quiet, we must kill.
Pylades
And then the deed itself shows us where we must exert ourselves.
Oretes
[1130] To kill Helen; I understand that watchword.
Pylades
You have it; now hear how sound my scheme is. If we drew the sword upon
a woman of greater chastity, the murder
would be infamous; but, as it is, she will be punished for the sake of
all Hellas, [1135] whose fathers she slew, whose
children she destroyed, and made widows out of brides. There will be shouts
of joy, and they will kindle the altars of the
gods, invoking on our heads many blessings, because we shed a wicked woman's
blood. [1140] After killing her, you
will not be called “the matricide,” but, resigning that title, you
will succeed to a better, and be called the slayer of Helen the
murderess. It can never, never be right that Menelaus should prosper, and
your father, your sister and you should die,
[1145] and your mother--but I pass that by, for it is not seemly
to mention it--and for him to possess your home, though it
was by Agamemnon's prowess that he got his bride. May I die, if we do not
draw our swords upon her! But if we do not
accomplish Helen's death, [1150] we will set fire to the house and
die. For we will not fail to achieve one distinction, an
honorable death or an honorable escape.
Chorus Leader
The daughter of Tyndareus, who has brought shame on her sex, has justly
earned the hatred of every woman.
Orestes
[1155] Ah! there is nothing better than a trusty friend, neither
wealth nor monarchy; a crowd of people is of no account in
exchange for a noble friend. You were the one who devised the vengeance
against Aegisthus, and stood by me in danger,
[1160] and now again you are offering me a means to punish my foes
and do not stand aside--but I will cease praising
you, for there is something wearisome even in being praised to excess.
Now since in any case I must breathe my last, I
want to do something to my enemies before my death, [1165] so that
I may requite with ruin those who betrayed me, and
so that those who made me suffer may grieve. Yes! I am the son of Agamemnon,
who was considered worthy to rule
Hellas, no tyrant but yet god-like in power; I will not disgrace him [1170]
by submitting to die like a slave; my last breath
shall be free and I will take vengeance on Menelaus. For if we could secure
one object, we would be lucky, if a means of
safety should unexpectedly come our way from somewhere, and we should be
the slayers, not the slain; this is what I pray
for. [1175] This wish of mine is a pleasant dream to cheer the heart,
without cost, by means of the mouth's winged
words.
Electra
I think I have it, brother, a means of safety for you, and for him and thirdly for myself.
Orestes
You mean divine providence. But why do I say that? [1180] Since I know the natural shrewdness of your heart.
Electra
Listen to me now; and you pay attention also.
Orestes
Speak; the prospect of good news holds a certain pleasure.
Electra
You know Helen's daughter? Of course you do.
Orestes
I know her, Hermione, whom my mother reared.
Electra
[1185] She has gone to Clytemnestra's tomb.
Orestes
To do what? What hope are you hinting at?
Electra
She was going to pour a libation over the tomb of our mother.
Orestes
Well, how does what you have said lead to our safety?
Electra
Seize her as a hostage on her way back.
Orestes
[1190] What good can your suggested remedy do us three friends?
Electra
If, after Helen's slaughter, Menelaus tries to do anything to you or to
Pylades and me--for this bond of friendship is wholly
one--say that you will kill Hermione; you must draw your sword and hold
it to the maiden's throat. [1195] If Menelaus,
when he sees Helen fallen in her blood, tries to save you to insure the
girl's life, allow him to take his daughter to his arms;
but if he makes no effort to curb the angry outburst and leaves you to
die, then cut the maiden's throat. [1200] And I think
if he puts in a mighty appearance at first, he will calm down in time;
for he is not bold or brave by nature. That is my line of
defense for our safety. My speech is over.
Orestes
O you that have the spirit of a man, [1205] though your body shows
you to be a woman, how far more worthy you are to
live than to die! Pylades, you will lose such a woman to your sorrow, or
if you live, you will have a blessed marriage.
Pylades
Then may it be so, and may she come to the city of Phocis [1210] with all the honors of a happy wedding.
Orestes
How soon will Hermione return to the palace? All the rest was very well
said, if we succeed in catching this impious
father's cub.
Electra
Well, I expect she is near the house already, [1215] for the length of time agrees exactly.
Orestes
Good; you, Electra, my sister, stay before the palace and await the maiden's
approach; keep watch in case any one,
whether an ally or my father's brother, forestalls us by his entry before
the murder is complete; [1220] and then make a
signal to the house, either by beating on a panel of the door or calling
to us within. Let us enter now and arm ourselves
with swords for the final struggle, [:Pylades, for you share the labor
with me.]
[1225] O father, in your home of gloomy night, your son Orestes calls
you to come to the rescue of the destitute. It is on
your account I am wrongfully suffering, and it is by your brother that
I have been betrayed for doing right; it is his wife I
wish to take [1230] and kill; you be our accomplice for this deed.
Electra
Oh father, come! if within the ground you hear the cry of your children, who are dying for your sake.
Pylades
O kinsman of my father, Agamemnon, hear my prayers also; save your children.
Orestes
[1235] I killed my mother--
Electra
I held the sword--
Pylades
I . . . set them free from fear--
Orestes
To aid you, father.
Electra
Nor did I betray you.
Pylades
Will you not hear these reproaches and rescue your children?
Orestes
With tears I pour you a libation.
Electra
And I with laments.
Pylades
[1240] Cease, and let us set about our business. If prayers really
do pierce the ground, he hears. O Zeus, god of my
fathers, and holy Justice, give success to him and me and her; for there
is one struggle for three friends, and one penalty,
[1245] for all to live or--pay death's account. Orestes
and Pylades enter the palace.
Electra
My dear friends of Mycenae, of foremost rank in Argos, the home of the Pelasgians.
Chorus
What are you saying to us, mistress? [1250] For this honored name is still left for you in the Danaid town.
Electra
Station yourselves, some here along the high road, others there on some other path, to watch the house.
Chorus
But why do you call me to this service? Tell me, my dear.
Electra
[1255] I am afraid that some one, who is stationed at the house for slaughter, may find trouble upon trouble.
First Semi-Chorus
Let us make haste and go on; I will keep careful watch upon this road towards the east.
Second Semi-Chorus
[1260] And I on this one, that leads westward.
Electra
Throw a glance sideways.
Chorus
Here and there, then we are looking back again, [1265] as you tell
us.
Electra
Cast your eyes around, let them see everything, through your tresses.
First Semi-Chorus
Who is that on the road? Who is this [1270] country-man wandering round your house?
Electra
Ah! friends, we are ruined; he will at once reveal to our enemies the armed ambush.
Second Semi-Chorus
Calm your fears; the road is not occupied, as you think, my dear.
Electra
[1275] Well? Is your side still secure? Give me a good report, if the space before the court-yard is deserted.
First Semi-Chorus
All goes well here; look to your own watch, for no Danaid is approaching us.
Second Semi-Chorus
[1280] Your report agrees with mine; there is no noise here either.
Electra
Well then, I will listen in the gateway.
Chorus
You within the house, why are you delaying to spill your victim's blood,
[1285] now that all is quiet?
Electra spoken
They do not hear; alas for my troubles! Can it be that her beauty has blunted
their swords?
sung
Soon some Argive in full armor, hurrying [1290] to her rescue, will
attack the palace.
spoken
Keep a better look-out; it is not a contest of sitting still; turn about,
some here, some there.
Chorus
sung
[1295] I am looking everywhere in turn along the road.
Helen
within
Oh, Pelasgian Argos! I am being foully murdered.
Chorus
Did you hear? The men have put their hand to the slaughter.
It is Helen screaming, at a guess.
Electra
sung
[1300] O eternal might of Zeus, of Zeus, only come to help my friends!
Helen
within
Menelaus, I am dying, but you do not help me, though you are near.
Electra
sung
Slay her, kill her, destroy her! Stab with your twin double-edged swords
[1305] the woman who left her father, left her
husband, and killed so many of the men of Hellas, slain beside the river-bank,
where tears rained down, by the iron darts
[1310] all round the eddies of Scamander.
Chorus Leader
Hush! hush! I caught the sound of a foot-fall on the road near the house.
Electra
My dearest friends, it is Hermione advancing into the middle of the bloodshed;
let our clamor cease. [1315] For she comes
headlong into the meshes of the net. The prey will be good, if it is caught.
Take up your places again with looks composed
and faces not betraying what has happened; I too will have a gloomy look,
[1320] as if I knew nothing of what has been
done. Hermione enters.
Ah! maiden, have you come from wreathing Clytemnestra's grave and pouring libations to the dead?
Hermione
Yes, I have returned after securing her favor; but I was filled with some
alarm about a cry I heard from the palace [1325] as I
was still at a distance.
Electra
But why? Our present lot gives cause for groans.
Hermione
Oh, don't say so! What is your news?
Electra
Argos has sentenced Orestes and me to death.
Hermione
Oh no! not my own relatives!
Electra
[1330] It is decreed; we have put on the yoke of necessity.
Hermione
Was this the reason of the cry within?
Electra
Yes, a suppliant cried out as he fell at Helen's knees--
Hermione
Who is he? I know nothing more, if you do not tell me.
Electra
Unhappy Orestes, entreating mercy for himself and me.
Hermione
[1335] The house then has good reason to shout.
Electra
What else would make someone entreat more earnestly? But come and throw
yourself before your mother in her prosperity,
join your friends' supplication that Menelaus may not see us die. [1340]
O you that were nursed in my mother's arms, have
pity on us and relieve our pain. Come here to the struggle, and I myself
will be your guide; for you alone have power over our
safety.
Hermione
See, I am hastening to the house; [1345] as far it as rests with me, regard yourselves as safe. Hermione enters the palace.
Electra
Now, friends in the house with swords, seize the prey!
Hermione
within
Oh no! Who are these I see?
Orestes
Silence! You are here for our safety, not yours.
Electra
Hold her, hold her! Point a sword at her throat, [1350] then wait
in silence, that Menelaus may learn that he has found men,
not Phrygian cowards, and he has been treated as cowards deserve. She
enters the palace.
Chorus
Oh, oh, friends! raise a din, a din and shouting before the house, that
the murder when done [1355] may not inspire the
Argives with wild alarm, to make them bring aid to the palace, before I
see for certain that Helen's corpse lies bloody in the
house, or hear the news from one of her attendants; [1360] for I
know a part of the tragedy, of the rest I am not sure.
In justice, retribution from the gods has come to Helen; for she filled
all Hellas with tears, through that accursed, accursed
Paris of Ida, [1365] who drew Hellas to Troy.
Chorus Leader
[But the bolts of the palace-doors rattle; be silent; for one of the Phrygians
is coming out, from whom we will inquire how
it is within.]
The Phrygian Eunuch enters from the palace, expressing the most abject
terror. His lines are sung, in answer to the
Chorus' spoken questions.
Phrygian
I have escaped from death by Argive sword, [1370] in my Asian slippers,
by clambering over the cedar-beams that roof
the porch and the Doric triglyphs, away, away! O Earth, Earth! in barbaric
flight! [1375] Alas! You foreign women, where
can I escape, flying through the clear sky or over the sea, which bull-headed
Ocean rolls about as he circles the world in his
embrace?
Chorus Leader
[1380] What is it, Helen's slave, creature from Ida?
Phrygian
Ilium, Ilium, oh me! city of Phrygia, and Ida's holy hill with fruitful
soil, how I mourn for your destruction [a shrill song]
[1385] with barbarian cry; destroyed through her beauty, born from
a bird, swan-feathered, Leda's cub, hellish Helen! to
be a curse to Apollo's tower of polished stone. Ah! Alas! [1390]
woe to Dardania, its wailing, wailing, for the
horsemanship of Ganymede, bedfellow of Zeus.
Chorus Leader
Tell us clearly each event within the house. [for till now I have been guessing at what I do not clearly understand.]
Phrygian
[1395] Ah, for Linus! Ah, for Linus! That is what barbarians say,
alas, in their eastern tongue as a prelude to death,
whenever royal blood is spilled upon the ground by deadly iron blades.
[1400] To tell you everything in turn, they came
into the house, two twin lions of Hellas; one was called the general's
son; the other was the son of Strophius, a crafty
plotter, like Odysseus, treacherous in silence, [1405] but true to
his friends, bold for the fight, clever in war and a deadly
serpent. Curse him for his quiet plotting, the villain! In they came to
the throne of the wife of Paris the archer, [1410] faces
wet with tears, and took their seats in all humility, one on this side,
one on that, each with weapons. They threw, they
threw their suppliant arms round the knees [1415] of Helen. Her Phrygian
servants sprang up frantic, frantic; they called
to each other in terror that there was treachery. [1420] To some
there seemed no cause, but others thought that the viper
who killed his mother was entangling the daughter of Tyndareus in the snare
of his plot.
Chorus Leader
[1425] And where were you? fled long before in terror?
Phrygian
It happened that I, in Phrygian style, Phrygian, was wafting the breeze,
the breeze by the curls of Helen, Helen, with a
round feathered fan, before her face, [1430] in barbarian style;
and she was twisting flax on her distaff with her fingers,
and letting her yarn fall on the floor, for she wanted to sew with her
flax purple cloth [1435] as adornment for the tomb
from the Trojan spoils, a gift to Clytemnestra. Orestes said to the Spartan
girl: “Daughter of Zeus, get up from your chair
[1440] and come here to the old hearth of Pelops, our ancestor, to
hear something I have to say.” He led her, led her, and
she followed, [1445] no prophet of the future. But his accomplice,
the Phocian villain, was off on other business: “Out of
my way! Well, Phrygians always were cowards.” So he shut them up in different
parts of the house, some in the stables,
others in the halls, [1450] one here, one there, disposing of them
[severally] at a distance from their mistress.
Chorus Leader
What happened next?
Phrygian
Mother of Ida, great, great mother! [1455] Oh! the murderous scenes
and lawless wickedness that I saw, I saw, in the
palace! They drew forth swords from hiding under their purple-bordered
cloaks, each darting his eye a different way, lest
anyone should be near. Like boar of the hills, [1460] they stood
opposite the woman and said: “You will die, you will die;
your cowardly husband is killing you, because he betrayed his brother's
son to death in Argos.” [1465] She screamed, oh,
oh! she screamed, and brought down her white arm upon her breast and beat
her poor head; then turned her
golden-sandalled steps in flight, in flight; but Orestes got before her
in his Mycenean boots and clutched his fingers in her
hair, [1470] and, bending back her neck on to her left shoulder,
was on the point of driving the black sword into her
throat.
Chorus Leader
Where were you Phrygians in the house to help her?
Phrygian
With a loud cry from the house we battered down with bars the doors and
doorposts where we had been, [1475] and ran
to her assistance from every direction, one with stones, another with javelins,
a third with a drawn sword; but Pylades
came to meet us, undaunted, like [1480] Hector of Troy or Ajax triple-plumed,
as I saw him, saw him, in Priam's
gateway; and we met at sword's point. But then it was very clear how the
Phrygians were, [1485] how much less we were
in battle strength to the Hellene might. There was one man gone in flight,
another slain, another wounded, yet another
pleading to stave off death; but we escaped under cover of the darkness;
while some were falling, some were about to fall,
and others were lying dead. [1490] And just as her unhappy mother
sank to the ground to die, the luckless Hermione came
in. Those two, like Bacchantes when they drop the thyrsus for a mountain
cub, rushed and seized her; then turned again to
the daughter of Zeus to slay her; but she had vanished from the room, [1495]
passing right through the house, o Zeus and
Earth and light and night! whether by magic spells or wizards' arts or
heavenly theft. What happened afterwards I do not
know; for I stole out of the palace, a runaway. [1500] So Menelaus
endured his painful, painful suffering to recover his
wife Helen from Troy to no purpose.
Orestes comes out of the palace.
Chorus Leader
And look, here is a strange sight succeeding others; for I see Orestes
sword in hand before the palace, [1505] advancing
with excited steps.
Orestes
Where is the one who fled from the palace to escape my sword?
Phrygian
falling at the feet of Orestes
Before you I prostrate myself, lord, and supplicate you in my foreign way.
Orestes
We are not in Ilium, but the land of Argos.
Phrygian
Everywhere, the wise find life sweeter than death.
Orestes
[1510] I suppose that shouting of yours was not for Menelaus to come to the rescue?
Phrygian
Oh no! it was to help you I called out, for you are more deserving.
Orestes
Did the daughter of Tyndareus die justly, then?
Phrygian
Most justly, even if she had three throats to die with.
Orestes
Your cowardice makes you glib; this is not what you really think.
Phrygian
[1515] Why, surely she deserved it, the one who destroyed Hellas and the Phrygians too?
Orestes
Swear you are not saying this to humor me, or I will kill you.
Phrygian
I swear by my life, an oath I would keep!
Orestes
Did every Phrygian in Troy show the same terror of steel as you do?
Phrygian
Take your sword away! Held so near it flashes a dreadful gleam of blood.
Orestes
[1520] Are you afraid of being turned to a stone, as if you had seen a Gorgon?
Phrygian
To a stone, no! but to a corpse; I don't know this Gorgon's head.
Orestes
A slave, and yet you fear death, which will release you from trouble?
Phrygian
Slave or free, every one is glad to gaze upon the light.
Orestes
Well said! Your shrewdness saves you; go inside.
Phrygian
[1525] You will not kill me after all?
Orestes
You are spared.
Phrygian
How well you said that!
Orestes
Now it's time to change my plans.
Phrygian
You didn't say that well!
Orestes
You fool! Do you think I could endure to make your throat bloody? You weren't
born a woman, nor do you belong among
men. The reason I left the palace was to stop your shouting; [1530]
for Argos is quickly roused, once it hears a cry to the
rescue. As for Menelaus, I am not afraid of measuring swords with him;
let him come, proud of the golden ringlets on his
shoulders; for if, to avenge the slaying of Helen, he gathers the Argives
and leads them against the palace, refusing to attempt
the rescue of me, [1535] my sister, and Pylades, my fellow conspirator,
he will have two corpses to behold, his daughter's as
well as his wife's. The Phrygian departs as
Orestes re-enters the palace.
Chorus
Ah, fortune! Again and yet again the house comes to a fearful contest, for the race of Atreus.
What are we to do? Carry tidings to the town? [1540] Or hold our peace? It is safer, friends.
Look, look at that sudden rush of smoke to the sky in front of the palace, telling its tale!
They are kindling torches to fire the halls of Tantalus; nor do they hold back from murder.
[1545] A god determines the end where he wishes, for mortals.
Great is the power; by avenging fiends, this house has fallen, fallen,
through blood, by hurling Myrtilus from the chariot.
Chorus Leader
But look! I see Menelaus approaching the palace [1550] in haste;
no doubt he has heard what is happening here.
Descendants of Atreus within, make haste and secure the doors with bars.
A man in luck is a dangerous adversary for
luckless wretches like you, Orestes.
Orestes and Pylades appear on the roof, holding
Hermione. Menelaus and his attendants enter.
Menelaus
I have come at the report of strange and violent deeds done [1555]
by a pair of lions, men I do not call them. What I heard
was that my wife was not dead, but had vanished out of sight, an idle rumor
which someone fooled by his own fear brought
me. But that is a plot [1560] of the matricide's--ridiculous! Open
the doors! I tell my servants to force the gates, so that I may
rescue my child at any rate from the hands of those blood-stained men and
recover my poor wretched wife, [1565] while the
ones who destroyed her must die at my hands.
Orestes
from the roof.
You there! Keep your hands off those bolts; I mean you, Menelaus, towering
in your audacity! Or I will tear off the ancient
parapet, the work of masons, [1570] and shatter your skull with this
coping-stone. The doors are bolted and barred, which
will prevent your eagerness to bring aid and keep you from entering.
Menelaus
Oh! What is this? I see a blaze of torches and men standing at bay on the
top of the house, [1575] with a sword guarding my
daughter's throat.
Orestes
Would you question me or hear me speak?
Menelaus
Neither; but I suppose I must hear you.
Orestes
I intend to kill your daughter, if you want to know.
Menelaus
After slaying Helen, you will add murder to murder?
Orestes
[1580] Would I had accomplished that, instead of being duped by the gods!
Menelaus
Do you deny having slain her, and say this out of wanton insult?
Orestes
Yes, I do deny it, to my sorrow. If only I had--
Menelaus
Done what? You frighten me!
Orestes
Hurled the pollution of Hellas to Hades!
Menelaus
[1585] Give back my wife's dead body, so that I may bury her.
Orestes
Ask the gods for her; but I will kill your daughter.
Menelaus
This matricide is adding murder to murder.
Orestes
This champion of his father, betrayed by you to death.
Menelaus
Are you not content with the present stain of your mother's blood?
Orestes
[1590] I would not grow tired if I had these wicked women to slay for ever.
Menelaus
Are you too, Pylades, a partner in this bloody work?
Orestes
His silence says he is; let it suffice for me to say it.
Menelaus
You'll say it to your cost, unless you fly away!
Orestes
We will not try to escape; we will set fire to the palace.
Menelaus
[1595] What! will you destroy the home of your ancestors?
Orestes
Yes, so that you don't have it, and I will offer this girl in sacrifice on the fire.
Menelaus
Kill her; and if you do, I will punish you for it.
Orestes
All right, then.
Menelaus
No, no! Don't do it!
Orestes
Silence! Your sufferings are just; endure them.
Menelaus
[1600] Well, is it just that you should live?
Orestes
And rule a kingdom, yes.
Menelaus
A kingdom, where?
Orestes
Here in Pelasgian Argos.
Menelaus
You are so well qualified to handle holy water!
Orestes
And why not?
Menelaus
And to slay victims before battle!
Orestes
Well, are you?
Menelaus
Yes, my hands are clean.
Orestes
But not your heart.
Menelaus
[1605] Who would speak to you?
Orestes
The one who loves his father.
Menelaus
And the one who honors his mother?
Orestes
He was born fortunate.
Menelaus
Not like you!
Orestes
No, for I do not delight in these wicked women.
Menelaus
Remove that sword from my daughter!
Orestes
You are a liar.
Menelaus
Will you kill my daughter?
Orestes
Now you are not a liar!
Menelaus
[1610] Ah me! what shall I do?
Orestes
Go to the Argives and persuade them--
Menelaus
Persuade them what?
Orestes
Not to kill us; entreat the city.
Menelaus
Or you will slay my child?
Orestes
That is correct.
Menelaus
O wretched Helen--
Orestes
Am I not wretched?
Menelaus
I brought you back from Troy to be a victim--
Orestes
If only she had been!
Menelaus
[1615] After innumerable troubles.
Orestes
Except where I was concerned.
Menelaus
I have suffered dreadfully!
Orestes
Yes, for you would not help me then.
Menelaus
You have me.
Orestes
Your own cowardice has you. Calling from the
roof to Electra Fire the palace from beneath,
Electra; and, Pylades, my most
trusty friend, [1620] kindle the parapet of these walls. The
palace is seen to be ablaze.
Menelaus
O Danaid earth! Dwellers in Argos, city of horses, put on your armor and
come to help! For this fellow is forcing his life
from your whole city, though he has caused pollution by shedding his mother's
blood.
Apollo appears from
above with Helen.
Apollo
[1625] Menelaus, calm your anger that has been whetted; I am Phoebus,
the son of Leto, drawing near to call you by
name. And you also, Orestes, who are keeping guard on the girl, sword in
hand, so that you may hear what I have come to
say. Helen, whom all your eagerness [1630] failed to destroy, when
you were seeking to anger Menelaus, [is here as you
see in the enfolding air, rescued from death and not slain by you.] I saved
her and snatched her from beneath your sword at
the bidding of father Zeus, [1635] for she, his child, must be immortal,
and take her seat with Castor and Polydeuces in
the enfolding air, a savior to mariners. Choose another bride and take
her to your home; for the gods by that one's
loveliness [1640] joined Troy and Hellas in battle, causing death
so that they might draw off from the earth the outrage of
unstinting numbers of mortals.
So much for Helen; as for you, Orestes, you must cross the broders of this
land [1645] and dwell for one whole year on
Parrhasian soil, which from your flight shall be called the land of Orestes
by Azanians and Arcadians. And when you
return from there to the city of Athens, undergo your trial by the Avenging
Three for your mother's murder; [1650] the
gods will be arbitrators of your trial, and will take a most righteous
vote on you at the hill of Ares, where you are to win
your case. And it is destined, Orestes, that you will marry Hermione, at
whose neck you are holding your sword; [1655]
Neoptolemus shall never marry her, though he thinks he will; for he is
fated to die by a Delphian sword, when he claims
satisfaction of me for the death of his father Achilles. Give your sister
in marriage to Pylades, to whom you formerly
promised her; the life awaiting him is one of happiness.
[1660] Menelaus, leave Orestes to rule Argos; go and reign over the
Spartan land, keeping it as the dowry of a wife who
till this day never ceased causing you innumerable troubles. I will set
matters straight between Orestes and the citizens,
[1665] for I forced him to murder his mother.
Orestes
Hail, prophetic Loxias, for your oracles! You were not a lying prophet
after all, but a true seer; and yet I was afraid that it
was some fiend I had listened to, when I seemed to hear your voice; [1670]
but all is ending well, and I obey your word.
There! I release Hermione from slaughter and agree to make her my wife
whenever her father gives her.
Menelaus
All hail, Helen, daughter of Zeus! I wish you joy of your home in heaven's
happy courts. [1675] To you, Orestes, I
betroth my daughter, as Phoebus said; being noble yourself, may you have
benefit from a noble wife, and may I also, in
giving her to you.
Apollo
Go now each one to the place appointed by me; reconcile your quarrels.
Menelaus
I must obey.
Orestes
[1680] And so must I; I make a truce with my fate, Menelaus, and
with your oracles, Loxias.
Apollo
Go your ways, and honor Peace, fairest of goddesses; I will bring Helen
to the halls of Zeus, [1685] when I have come to
the sky, bright with stars. There, enthroned beside Hera and Hebe, the
bride of Heracles, she will be honored by men with
libations as a goddess for ever; along with those Zeus-born sons of Tyndareus,
[1690] she will be a guardian of the sea,
for the good of sailors. Apollo and Helen
vanish.
Chorus
Greatly revered Victory, may you occupy my life, and never cease to crown
me!