Sacred Texts
Classics
Sophocles
Electra
By Sophocles
Translated by R. C. Jebb
Boston, J. Allyn [1873]
Dramatis Personae
ORESTES, son of Agamemnon and CLYTEMNESTRA
ELECTRA, sister of ORESTES
CHRYSOTHEMIS, sister of ORESTES
AN OLD MAN, formerly the PAEDAGOGUS or Attendant Of ORESTES
CLYTEMNESTRA
AEGISTHUS
CHORUS OF WOMEN OF MYCENAE
Mute Persons
PYLADES, son of Strophius, King of Crisa, the friend Of
ORESTES.
A handmaid of CLYTEMNESTRA. Two attendants of ORESTES
At Mycenae, before the palace of the Pelopidae. It is morning and
the new-risen sun is bright. The PAEDAGOGUS enters on the left of
the spectators, accompanied by the two youths, ORESTES and
PYLADES.
PAEDAGOGUS Son of him who led our hosts at Troy of old, son of Agamemnon!-
now thou mayest behold with thine eyes all that thy soul hath desired
so long. There is the ancient Argos of thy yearning,- that hallowed
scene whence the gadfly drove the daughter of Inachus; and there,
Orestes, is the Lycean Agora, named from the wolf-slaying god; there,
on the left, Hera's famous temple; and in this place to which we have
come, deem that thou seest Mycenae rich in gold, with the house of
the Pelopidae there, so often stained with bloodshed; whence I carried
thee of yore, from the slaying of thy father, as thy kinswoman, thy
sister, charged me; and saved thee, and reared thee up to manhood,
to be the avenger of thy murdered sire.
Now, therefore, Orestes, and thou, best of friends, Pylades, our plans
must be laid quickly; for lo, already the sun's bright ray is waking
the songs of the birds into clearness, and the dark night of stars
is spent. Before, then, anyone comes forth from the house, take counsel;
seeing that the time allows not of delay, but is full ripe for deeds.
ORESTES True friend and follower, how well dost thou prove thy loyalty
to our house! As a steed of generous race, though old, loses not courage
in danger, but pricks his ear, even so thou urgest us forward, and
art foremost in our support. I will tell thee, then, what I have determined;
listen closely to my words, and correct me, if I miss the mark in
aught.
When I went to the Pythian oracle, to learn how I might avenge my
father on his murderers, Phoebus gave me the response which thou art
now to hear:- that alone, and by stealth, without aid of arms or numbers,
I should snatch the righteous vengeance of my hand. Since, then, the
god spake to us on this wise, thou must go into yonder house, when
opportunity gives thee entrance, and learn all that is passing there,
so that thou mayest report to us from sure knowledge. Thine age, and
the lapse of time, will prevent them from recognising thee; they will
never suspect who thou art, with that silvered hair. Let thy tale
be that thou art a Phocian stranger, sent by Phanoteus; for he is
the greatest of their allies. Tell them, and confirm it with thine
oath, that Orestes hath perished by a fatal chance,- hurled at the
Pythian games from his rapid chariot; be that the substance of thy
story.
We, meanwhile, will first crown my father's tomb, as the god enjoined,
with drink-offerings and the luxuriant tribute of severed hair; then
come back, bearing in our hands an urn of shapely bronze,-now hidden
in the brushwood, as I think thou knowest,- so to gladden them with
the false tidings that this my body is no more, but has been consumed
with fire and turned to ashes. Why should the omen trouble me, when
by a feigned death I find life indeed, and win renown? I trow, no
word is ill-omened, if fraught with gain. Often ere now have I seen
wise men die in vain report; then, when they return home, they are
held in more abiding honour: as I trust that from this rumour I also
shall emerge in radiant life, and yet shine like a star upon my foes.
O my fatherland, and ye gods of the land, receive me with good fortune
in this journey,- and ye also, halls of my fathers, for I come with
divine mandate to cleanse you righteously; send me not dishonoured
from the land, but grant that I may rule over my possessions, and
restore my house!
Enough;- be it now thy care, old man, to go and heed thy task; and
we twain will go forth; for so occasion bids, chief ruler of every
enterprise for men.
ELECTRA (within) Ah me, ah me!
PAEDAGOGUS Hark, my son,- from the doors, methought, came the sound
of some handmaid moaning within.
ORESTES Can it be the hapless Electra? Shall we stay here, and listen
to her laments?
PAEDAGOGUS No, no: before all else, let us seek to obey the command
of Loxias, and thence make a fair beginning, by pouring libations
to thy sire; that brings victory within our grasp, and gives us the
mastery in all that we do. (Exeunt PAEDAGOGUS on the spectators'
left, ORESTES and PYLADES the right.- Enter ELECTRA, from the house.
She is meanly clad.)
ELECTRA (chanting, systema)
O thou pure sunlight, and thou air, earth's canopy, how often have
ye heard the strains of my lament, the wild blows dealt against this
bleeding breast, when dark night fails! And my wretched couch in yonder
house of woe knows well, ere now, how I keep the watches of the night,-
how often I bewail my hapless sire; to whom deadly Ares gave not of
his gifts in a strange land, but my mother, and her mate Aegisthus,
cleft his head with murderous axe, as woodmen fell an oak. And for
this no plaint bursts from any lip save mine, when thou, my father,
hath died a death so cruel and so piteous!
(antisystema)
But never will I cease from dirge and sore lament, while I look on
the trembling rays of the bright stars, or on this light of day; but
like the nightingale, slayer of her offspring, I will wail without
ceasing, and cry aloud to all, here, at the doors of my father.
O home of Hades and Persephone! O Hermes of the shades! potent Curse,
and ye, dread daughters of the gods, Erinyes,- Ye who behold when
a life is reft by violence, when a bed is dishonoured by stealth,-
come, help me, avenge the murder of my sire,- and send to me my brother;
for I have no more the strength to bear up alone against the load
of grief that weighs me down. (As ELECTRA finishes her lament, (the
CHORUS OF WOMEN OF MYCENAE enter. The following) lines between ELECTRA
and the CHORUS are chanted responsively.)
CHORUS (strophe 1)
Ah, Electra, child of a wretched mother, why art thou ever pining
thus in ceaseless lament for Agamemnon, who long ago was wickedly
ensnared by thy false mother's wiles, and betrayed to death by dastardly
hand? Perish the author of that deed, if I may utter such prayer!
ELECTRA Ah, noble-hearted maidens, ye have come to soothe my woes.
I know and feel it, it escapes me not; but I cannot leave this task
undone, or cease from mourning for my hapless sire. Ah, friends whose
love responds to mine in every mood, leave me to rave thus,- Oh leave
me, I entreat you!
CHORUS (antistrophe 1)
But never by laments or prayers shalt thou recall thy sire from that
lake of Hades to which all must pass. Nay, thine is a fatal course
of grief, passing ever from due bounds into a cureless sorrow; wherein
there is no deliverance from evils. Say, wherefore art thou enamoured
of misery?
ELECTRA Foolish is the child who forgets a parent's piteous death.
No, dearer to my soul is the mourner that laments for Itys, Itys,
evermore, that bird distraught with grief, the messenger of Zeus.
Ah, queen of sorrow, Niobe, thee I deem divine,- thee, who evermore
weepest in thy rocky tomb!
CHORUS (strophe 2)
Not to thee alone of mortals, my daughter, hath come any sorrow which
thou bearest less calmly than those within, thy kinswomen and sisters,
Chrysothemis and Iphianassa,I who still live,- as he, too, lives,
sorrowing in a secluded youth, yet happy in that this famous realm
of Mycenae shall one day welcome him to his heritage, when the kindly
guidance of Zeus shall have brought him to this land, Orestes.
ELECTRA Yes, I wait for him with unwearied longing, as I move on
my sad path from day to day, unwed and childless, bathed in tears,
bearing that endless doom of woe; but he forgets all that he has suffered
and heard. What message comes to me, that is not belied? He is ever
yearning to be with us, but, though he yearns, he never resolves.
CHORUS (antistrophe 2)
Courage, my daughter, courage; great still in heaven is Zeus, who
sees and governs all: leave thy bitter quarrel to him; forget not
thy foes, but refrain from excess of wrath against them; for Time
is god who makes rough ways smooth. Not heedless is the son of Agamemnon,
who dwells by Crisa's pastoral shore; not heedless is the god who
reigns by Acheron.
ELECTRA Nay, the best part of life hath passed away from me in hopelessness,
and I have no strength left; I, who am pining away without children,-
whom no loving champion shields,- but, like some despised alien, I
serve in the halls of my father, clad in this mean garb, and standing
at a meagre board.
CHORUS (strophe 3)
Piteous was the voice heard at his return, and piteous, as thy sire
lay on the festal couch, when the straight, swift blow was dealt him
with the blade of bronze. Guile was the plotter, Lust the slayer,
dread parents of a dreadful shape; whether it was mortal that wrought
therein, or god.
ELECTRA O that bitter day, bitter beyond all that have come to me;
O that night, O the horrors of that unutterable feast, the ruthless
deathstrokes that my father saw from the hands of twain, who took
my life captive by treachery, who doomed me to woe! May the great
god of Olympus give them sufferings in requital, and never may their
splendour bring them joy, who have done such deeds!
CHORUS (antistrophe 3)
Be advised to say no more; canst thou not see what conduct it is
which already plunges thee so cruelly in self-made miseries? Thou
hast greatly aggravated thy troubles, ever breeding wars with thy
sullen soul; but such strife should not be pushed to a conflict with
the strong.
ELECTRA I have been forced to it,- forced by dread causes; I know
my own passion, it escapes me not; but, seeing that the causes are
so dire, will never curb these frenzied plaints, while life is in
me. Who indeed, ye kindly sisterhood, who that thinks aright, would
deem that any word of solace could avail me? Forbear, forbear, my
comforters! Such ills must be numbered with those which have no cure;
I can never know a respite from my sorrows, or a limit to this wailing.
CHORUS (epode)
At least it is in love, like a true-hearted mother, that I dissuade
thee from adding misery to miseries.
ELECTRA But what measure is there in my wretchedness? Say, how can
it be right to neglect the dead? Was that impiety ever born in mortal?
Never may I have praise of such; never when my lot is cast in pleasant
places, may I cling to selfish ease, or dishonour my sire by restraining
the wings of shrill lamentation!
For if the hapless dead is to lie in dust and nothingness, while the
slayers pay not with blood for blood, all regard for man, all fear
of heaven, will vanish from the earth.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS I came, my child, in zeal for thy welfare no
less than for mine own; but if I speak not well, then be it as thou
wilt; for we will follow thee.
ELECTRA I am ashamed, my friends, if ye deem me too impatient for
my oft complaining; but, since a hard constraint forces me to this,
bear with me. How indeed could any woman of noble nature refrain,
who saw the calamities of a father's house, as I see them by day and
night continually, not fading, but in the summer of their strength?
I, who, first, from the mother that bore me have found bitter enmity;
next, in mine own home I dwell with my father's murderers; they rule
over me, and with them it rests to give or to withhold what I need.
And then think what manner of days I pass, when I see Aegisthus sitting
on my father's throne, wearing the robes which he wore, and pouring
libations at the hearth where he slew my sire; and when I see the
outrage that crowns all, the murderer in our father's bed at our wretched
mother's side, if mother she should be called, who is his wife; but
so hardened is she that she lives with that accursed one, fearing
no Erinys; nay, as if exulting in her deeds, having found the day
on which she treacherously slew my father of old, she keeps it with
dance and song, and month by month sacrifices sheep to the gods who
have wrought her deliverance.
But I, hapless one, beholding it, weep and pine in the house, and
bewail the unholy feast named after my sire,- weep to myself alone;
since I may not even indulge my grief to the full measure of my yearning.
For this woman, in professions so noble, loudly upbraids me with such
taunts as these: 'Impious and hateful girl, hast thou alone lost a
father, and is there no other mourner in the world? An evil doom be
thine, and may the gods infernal give thee no riddance from thy present
laments.'
Thus she insults; save when any one brings her word that Orestes is
coming: then, infuriated, she comes up to me, and cries;- 'Hast not
thou brought this upon me? Is not this deed thine, who didst steal
Orestes from my hands, and privily convey him forth? Yet be sure that
thou shalt have thy due reward.' So she shrieks; and, aiding her,
the renowned spouse at her side is vehement in the same strain,- that
abject dastard, that utter pest, who fights his battles with the help
of women. But I, looking ever for Orestes to come and end these woes,
languish in my misery. Always intending to strike a blow, he has worn
out every hope that I could conceive. In such a case, then, friends,
there is no room for moderation or for reverence; in sooth, the stress
of ills leaves no choice but to follow evil ways.
LEADER Say, is Aegisthus near while thou speakest thus, or absent
from home?
ELECTRA Absent, certainly; do not think that I should have come to
the doors, if he had been near; but just now he is afield.
LEADER Might I converse with thee more freely, if this is so?
ELECTRA He is not here, so put thy question; what wouldst thou?
LEADER I ask thee, then, what sayest thou of thy brother? Will he
come soon, or is he delaying? I fain would know.
ELECTRA He promises to come; but he never fulfils the promise.
LEADER Yea, a man will pause on the verge of a great work.
ELECTRA And yet I saved him without pausing.
LEADER Courage; he is too noble to fail his friends.
ELECTRA I believe it; or I should not have lived so long.
LEADER Say no more now; for I see thy sister coming from the house,
Chrysothemis, daughter of the same sire and mother, with sepulchral
gifts in her hands, such as are given to those in the world below.
(CHRYSOTHEMIS enters from the palace. She is richly dressed.)
CHRYSOTHEMIS Why, sister, hast thou come forth once more to declaim
thus at the public doors? Why wilt thou not learn with any lapse of
time to desist from vain indulgence of idle wrath? Yet this I know,-
that I myself am- grieved at our plight; indeed, could I find the
strength, I would show what love I bear them. But now, in these troubled
waters, 'tis best, methinks, to shorten sail; I care not to seem active,
without the power to hurt. And would that thine own conduct were the
same! Nevertheless, right is on the side of thy choice, not of that
which I advise; but if I am to live in freedom, our rulers must be
obeyed in all things.
ELECTRA Strange indeed, that thou, the daughter of such a sire as
thine, shouldst forget him, and think only of thy mother! All thy
admonitions to me have been taught by her; no word is thine own. Then
take thy choice,- to be imprudent; or prudent, but forgetful of thy
friends: thou, who hast just said that, couldst thou find the strength,
thou wouldst show thy hatred of them; yet, when I am doing my utmost
to avenge my sire, thou givest no aid, but seekest to turn thy sister
from her deed.
Does not this crown our miseries with cowardice? For tell me,- Or
let me tell thee,- what I should gain by ceasing from these laments?
Do not live?- miserably, I know, yet well enough for me. And I vex
them, thus rendering honour to the dead, if pleasure can be felt in
that world. But thou, who tellest me of thy hatred, hatest in word
alone, while in deeds thou art with the slayers of thy sire. I, then,
would never yield to them, though I were promised the gifts which
now make thee proud; thine be the richly-spread table and the life
of luxury. For me, be it food enough that I do not wound mine own
conscience; I covet not such privilege as thine,- nor wouldst thou,
wert thou wise. But now, when thou mightest be called daughter of
the noblest father among men, be called the child of thy mother; so
shall thy baseness be most widely seen, in betrayal of thy dead sire
and of thy kindred.
LEADER No angry word, I entreat! For both of you there is good in
what is urged,- if thou, Electra, wouldst learn to profit by her counsel,
and she, again, by thine.
CHRYSOTHEMIS For my part, friends, I am not wholly unused to her
discourse; nor should I have touched upon this theme, had I not heard
that she was threatened with a dread doom, which shall restrain her
from her long-drawn laments.
ELECTRA Come, declare it then, this terror! If thou canst tell me
of aught worse than my present lot, I will resist no more.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Indeed, I will tell thee all that I know. They purpose,
if thou wilt not cease from these laments, to send thee where thou
shalt never look upon the sunlight, but pass thy days in a dungeon
beyond the borders of this land, there to chant thy dreary strain.
Bethink thee, then, and do not blame me hereafter, when the blow hath
fallen; now is the time to be wise.
ELECTRA Have they indeed resolved to treat me thus?
CHRYSOTHEMIS Assuredly, whenever Aegisthus comes home.
ELECTRA If that be all, then may he arrive with speed!
CHRYSOTHEMIS Misguided one! what dire prayer is this?
ELECTRA That he may come, if he hath any such intent.
CHRYSOTHEMIS That thou mayst suffer- what? Where are thy wits?
ELECTRA That I may fly as far as may be from you all.
CHRYSOTHEMIS But hast thou no care for thy present life?
ELECTRA Aye, my life is marvellously fair.
CHRYSOTHEMIS It might be, couldst thou only learn prudence.
ELECTRA Do not teach me to betray my friends.
CHRYSOTHEMIS I do not,- but to bend before the strong.
ELECTRA Thine be such flattery: those are not my ways.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Tis well, however, not to fall by folly.
ELECTRA I will fall, if need be, in the cause of my sire.
CHRYSOTHEMIS But our father, I know, pardons me for this.
ELECTRA It is for cowards to find peace in such maxims.
CHRYSOTHEMIS So thou wilt not hearken, and take my counsel?
ELECTRA No, verily; long may be it before I am so foolish.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Then I will go forth upon mine errand.
ELECTRA And whither goest thou? To whom bearest thou these offerings?
CHRYSOTHEMIS Our mother sends me with funeral libations for our sire.
ELECTRA How sayest thou? For her deadliest foe?
CHRYSOTHEMIS Slain by her own hand- so thou wouldest say.
ELECTRA What friend hath persuaded her? Whose wish was this?
CHRYSOTHEMIS The cause, I think, was some dread vision of the night.
ELECTRA Gods of our house! be ye with me- now at last!
CHRYSOTHEMIS Dost thou find any encouragement in this terror?
ELECTRA If thou wouldst tell me the vision, then I could answer.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Nay, I can tell but little of the story.
ELECTRA Tell what thou canst; a little word hath often marred, or
made, men's fortunes.
CHRYSOTHEMIS 'Tis said that she beheld our sire, restored to the
sunlight, at her side once more; then he took the sceptre,- Once his
own, but now borne by Aegisthus,- and planted it at the hearth; and
thence a fruitful bough sprang upward, wherewith the whole land of
Mycenae was overshadowed. Such was the tale that I heard told by one
who was present when she declared her dream to the Sun-god. More than
this I know not,- save that she sent me by reason of that fear. So
by the- gods of our house I beseech thee, hearken to me, and be not
ruined by folly! For if thou repel me now, thou wilt come back to
seek me in thy trouble.
ELECTRA Nay, dear sister, let none of these things in thy hands touch
the tomb; for neither custom nor piety allows thee to dedicate gifts
or bring libations to our sire from a hateful wife. No- to the winds
with them or bury them deep in the earth, where none of them shall
ever come near his place of rest; but, when she dies, let her find
these treasures laid up for her below.
And were she not the most hardened of all women, she would never have
sought to pour these offerings of enmity on the grave of him whom
she slew. Think now if it is likely that the dead in the tomb should
take these honours kindly at her hand, who ruthlessly slew him, like
a foeman, and mangled him, and, for ablution, wiped off the blood-stains
on his head? Canst thou believe that these things which thou bringest
will absolve her of the murder?
It is not possible. No, cast these things aside; give him rather a
lock cut from thine own tresses, and on my part, hapless that I am,-scant
gifts these, but my best,- this hair, not glossy with unguents, and
this girdle, decked with no rich ornament. Then fall down and pray
that he himself may come in kindness from the world below, to aid
us against our foes; and that the young Orestes may live to set his
foot upon his foes in victorious might, that henceforth we may crown
our father's tomb with wealthier hands than those which grace it now.
I think, indeed, I think that he also had some part in sending her
these appalling dreams; still, sister, do this service, to help thyself,
and me, and him, that most beloved of all men, who rests in the realm
of Hades, thy sire and mine.
LEADER The maiden counsels piously; and thou, friend, wilt do her
bidding, if- thou art wise.
CHRYSOTHEMIS I will. When a duty is clear, reason forbids that two
voices should contend, and claims the hastening of the deed. Only,
when I attempt this task, aid me with your silence, I entreat you,
my friends; for, should my mother hear of it, methinks I shall yet
have cause to rue my venture. (CHRYSOTHEMIS departs, to take the
offerings to Agamemnon's grave.)
CHORUS (singing, strophe)
If I am not an erring seer and one who fails in wisdom, justice,
that hath sent the presage, will come, triumphant in her righteous
strength,- will come ere long, my child, to avenge. There is courage
in my heart, through those new tidings of the dream that breathes
comfort. Not forgetful is thy sire, the lord of Hellas; not forgetful
is the two-edged axe of bronze that struck the blow of old, and slew
him with foul cruelty.
(antistrophe)
The Erinys of untiring feet, who is lurking in her dread ambush,
will come, as with the march and with the might of a great host. For
wicked ones have been fired with passion that hurried them to a forbidden
bed, to accursed bridals, to a marriage stained with guilt of blood.
Therefore am I sure that the portent will not fail to bring woe upon
the partners in crime. Verily mortals cannot read the future in fearful
dreams or oracles, if this vision of the night find not due fulfilment.
(epode)
O chariot-race of Pelops long ago, source of many a sorrow, what
weary troubles hast thou brought upon this land! For since Myrtilus
sank to rest beneath the waves, when a fatal and cruel hand hurled
him to destruction out of the golden car, this house was never yet
free from misery and violence. (CLYTEMNESTRA enters from the palace.)
CLYTEMNESTRA At large once more, it seems, thou rangest,- for Aegisthus
is not here, who always kept thee at least from passing the gates,
to shame thy friends. But now, since he is absent, thou takest no
heed of me, though thou hast said of me oft-times, and to many, that
I am a bold and lawless tyrant, who insults thee and thine. I am guilty
of no insolence; I do but return the taunts that I often hear from
thee.
Thy father- this is thy constant pretext- was slain by me. Yes, by
me- I know it well; it admits of no denial; for justice slew him,
and not I alone,- justice, whom it became thee to support, hadst thou
been right-minded; seeing that this father of thine, whom thou art
ever lamenting, was the one man of the Greeks who had the heart to
sacrifice thy sister to the gods- he, the father, who had not shared
the mother's pangs.
Come, tell me now, wherefore, or to please whom, did he sacrifice
her? To please the Argives, thou wilt say? Nay, they had no right
to slay my daughter. Or if, forsooth, it was to screen his brother
Menelaus that he slew my child, was he not to pay me the penalty for
that? Had not Menelaus two children, who should in fairness have been
taken before my daughter, as sprung from the sire and mother who had
caused that voyage? Or had Hades some strange desire to feast on my
offspring, rather than on hers? Or had that accursed father lost all
tenderness for the children of my womb, while he was tender to the
children of Menelaus? Was not that the part of a callous and perverse
parent? I think so, though differ from thy judgment; and so would
say the dead, if she could speak. For myself, then, I view the past
without dismay; but if thou deemest me perverse, see that thine own
judgment is just, before thou blame thy neighbour.
ELECTRA This time thou canst not say that I have done anything to
provoke such words from thee. But, if thou wilt give me leave, I fain
would declare the truth, in the cause alike of my dead sire and of
my sister.
CLYTEMNESTRA Indeed, thou hast my leave; and didst thou always address
me in such a tone, thou wouldst be heard without pain.
ELECTRA Then I will speak. Thou sayest that thou hast slain my father.
What word could bring thee deeper shame than that, whether the deed
was just or not? But I must tell thee that thy deed was not just;
no, thou wert drawn on to it by the wooing of the base man who is
now thy spouse.
Ask the huntress Artemis what sin she punished when she stayed the
frequent winds at Aulis; or I will tell thee; for we may not learn
from her. My father- so I have heard- was once disporting himself
in the grove of the goddess, when his footfall startled a dappled
and antlered stag; he shot it, and chanced to utter a certain boast
concerning its slaughter. Wroth thereat, the daughter of Leto detained
the Greeks, that, in quittance for the wild creature's life, my father
should yield up the life of his own child. Thus it befell that she
was sacrificed; since the fleet had no other release, homeward or
to Troy; and for that cause, under sore constraint and with sore reluctance,
at last he slew her- not for the sake of Menelaus.
But grant- for I will take thine own plea- grant that the motive of
his deed was to benefit his brother;- was that a reason for his dying
by thy hand? Under what law? See that, in making such a law for men,
thou make not trouble and remorse for thyself; for, if we are to take
blood for blood, thou wouldst be the first to die, didst thou meet
with thy desert.
But look if thy pretext is not false. For tell me, if thou wilt, wherefore
thou art now doing the most shameless deeds of all,- dwelling as wife
with that blood-guilty one, who first helped thee to slay my sire,
and bearing children to him, while thou hast cast out the earlier-born,
the stainless offspring of a stainless marriage. How can I praise
these things? Or wilt thou say that this, too, is thy vengeance for
thy daughter? Nay, shameful plea, if so thou plead; 'tis not well
to wed an enemy for a daughter's sake.
But indeed I may not even counsel thee,- who shriekest that I revile
my mother; and truly I think that to me thou art less a mother than
mistress; so wretched is the life that I live, ever beset with miseries
by thee and by thy partner. And that other, who scarce escaped thy
hand, the hapless Orestes, is wearing out his ill-starred days in
exile. Often hast thou charged me with rearing him to punish thy crime;
and I would have done so, if I could, thou mayst be sure:-for that
matter, denounce me to all, as disloyal, if thou wilt, or petulant,
or impudent; for if I am accomplished in such ways, methinks I am
no unworthy child of thee.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS I see that she breathes forth anger; but whether
justice be with her, for this she seems to care no longer.
CLYTEMNESTRA (to the CHORUS) And what manner of care do I need to
use against her, who hath thus insulted a mother, and this at her
ripe age? Thinkest thou not that she would go forward to any deed,
without shame?
ELECTRA Now be assured that I do feel shame for this, though thou
believe it not; I know that my behaviour is unseemly, and becomes
me ill. But then the enmity on thy part, and thy treatment, compel
me in mine own despite to do thus; for base deeds are taught by base.
CLYTEMNESTRA Thou brazen one! Truly I and my sayings and my deeds
give thee too much matter for words.
ELECTRA The words are thine, not mine; for thine is the action; and
the acts find the utterance.
CLYTEMNESTRA Now by our lady Artemis, thou shalt not fail to pay
for this boldness, so soon as Aegisthus returns.
ELECTRA Lo, thou art transported by anger, after granting me free
speech, aid hast no patience to listen.
CLYTEMNESTRA Now wilt thou not hush thy clamour, or even suffer me
to sacrifice, when I have permitted thee to speak unchecked?
ELECTRA I hinder not,- begin thy rites, I pray thee; and blame not
my voice, for I shall say no more.
CLYTEMNESTRA Raise then, my handmaid, the offerings of many fruits,
that I may uplift my prayers to this our king, for deliverance from
my present fears. Lend now a gracious ear, O Phoebus our defender,
to my words, though they be dark; for I speak not among friends, nor
is it meet to unfold my whole thought to the light, while she stands
near me, lest with her malice and her garrulous cry she spread some
rash rumour throughout the town: but hear me thus, since on this wise
I must speak.
That vision which I saw last night in doubtful dreams- if it hath
come for my good, grant, Lycean king, that it be fulfilled; but if
for harm, then let it recoil upon my foes. And if any are plotting
to hurl me by treachery from the high estate which now is mine, permit
them not; rather vouch. safe that, still living thus unscathed, I
may bear sway over the house of the Atreidae and this realm, sharing
prosperous days with the friends who share them now, and with those
of my children from whom no enmity or bitterness pursues me.
O Lycean Apollo, graciously hear these prayers, and grant them to
us all, even as we ask! For the rest, though I be silent, I deem that
thou, a god, must know it; all things, surely, are seen by the sons
of Zeus. (The PAEDAGOGUS enters.)
PAEDAGOGUS Ladies, might a stranger crave to know if this be the
palace of the king Aegisthus?
LEADER It is, sir; thou thyself hast guessed aright.
PAEDAGOGUS And am I right in surmising that this lady is his consort?
She is of queenly aspect.
LEADER Assuredly; thou art in the presence of the queen.
PAEDAGOGUS Hail, royal lady! I bring glad tidings to thee and to
Aegisthus, from friend.
CLYTEMNESTRA I welcome the omen; but I would fain know from thee,
first, who may have sent thee.
PAEDAGOGUS Phanoteus the Phocian, on a weighty mission.
CLYTEMNESTRA What is it, sir? Tell me: coming from a friend, thou
wilt bring, I know; a kindly message.
PAEDAGOGUS Orestes is dead; that is the sum.
ELECTRA Oh, miserable that I am! I am lost this day!
CLYTEMNESTRA What sayest thou, friend, what sayest thou?- listen
not to her!
PAEDAGOGUS I said, and say again- Orestes is dead.
ELECTRA I am lost, hapless one, I am undone!
CLYTEMNESTRA (to ELECTRA) See thou to thine own concerns.- But do
thou, sir, tell me exactly,-how did he perish?
PAEDAGOGUS I was sent for that purpose, and will tell thee all. Having
gone to the renowned festival, the pride of Greece, for the Delphian
games, when he heard the loud summons to the foot-race which was first
to be decided, he entered the lists, a brilliant form, a wonder in
the eyes of all there; and, having finished his course at the point
where it began, he went out with the glorious meed of victory. To
speak briefly, where there is much to tell, I know not the man whose
deeds and triumphs have matched his; but one thing thou must know;
in all the contests that the judges announced, he bore away the prize;
and men deemed him happy, as oft as the herald proclaimed him an Argive,
by name Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who once gathered the famous armament
of Greece.
Thus far, 'twas well; but, when a god sends harm, not even the strong
man can escape. For, on another day, when chariots were to try their
speed at sunrise, he entered, with many charioteers. One was an Achaean,
one from Sparta, two masters of yoked cars were Libyans; Orestes,
driving Thessalian mares, came fifth among them; the sixth from Aetolia,
with chestnut colts; a Magnesian was the seventh; the eighth, with
white horses, was of Aenian stock; the ninth, from Athens, built of
gods; there was a Boeotian too, making the tenth chariot.
They took their stations where the appointed umpires placed them by
lot and ranged the cars; then, at the sound of the brazen trump, they
started. All shouted to their horses, and shook the reins in their
hands; the whole course was filled with the noise of rattling chariots;
the dust flew upward; and all, in a confused throng, plied their goads
unsparingly, each of them striving to pass the wheels and the snorting
steeds of his rivals; for alike at their backs and at their rolling
wheels the breath of the horses foamed and smote.
Orestes, driving close to the pillar at either end of the course,
almost grazed it with his wheel each time, and, giving rein to the
trace-horse on the right, checked the horse on the inner side. Hitherto,
all the chariots had escaped overthrow; but presently the Aenian's
hard-mouthed colts ran away, and, swerving, as they passed from the
sixth into the seventh round, dashed their foreheads against the team
of the Barcaean. Other mishaps followed the first, shock on shock
and crash on crash, till the whole race-ground of Crisa was strewn
with the wreck of the chariots.
Seeing this, the wary charioteer from Athens drew aside and paused,
allowing the billow of chariots, surging in mid course, to go by.
Orestes was driving last, keeping his horses behind,- for his trust
was in the end; but when he saw that the Athenian was alone left in,
he sent a shrill cry ringing through the ears of his swift colts,
and gave chase. Team was brought level with team, and so they raced,-first
one man, then the other. showing his head in front of the chariots.
Hitherto the ill-fated Orestes had passed safely through every round,
steadfast in his steadfast car; at last, slackening his left rein
while the horse was turning, unawares he struck the edge of the pillar;
he broke the axle-box in twain; he was thrown over the chariot-rail;
he was caught in the shapely reins; and, as he fell on the ground,
his colts were scattered into the middle of the course.
But when the people saw him fallen from the car, a cry of pity went
up for the youth, who had done such deeds and was meeting such a doom,-
now dashed to earth, now tossed feet uppermost to the sky,- till the
charioteers, with difficulty checking the career of his horses, loosed
him, so covered with blood that no friend who saw it would have known
the hapless corpse. Straightway they burned it on a pyre; and chosen
men of Phocis are bringing in a small urn of bronze the sad dust of
that mighty form, to find due burial in his fatherland.
Such is my story,- grievous to hear, if words can grieve; but for
us, who beheld, the greatest of sorrows that these eyes have seen.
LEADER Alas, alas Now, methinks, the stock of our ancient masters
hath utterly perished, root and branch.
CLYTEMNESTRA O Zeus, what shall I call these tidings,- glad tidings?
Or dire, but gainful? 'Tis a bitter lot, when mine own calamities
make the safety of my life.
PAEDAGOGUS Why art thou so downcast, lady, at this news?
CLYTEMNESTRA There is a strange power in motherhood; a mother may
be wronged, but she never learns to hate her child.
PAEDAGOGUS Then it seems that we have come in vain.
CLYTEMNESTRA Nay, not in vain; how canst thou say 'in vain,' when
thou hast brought an sure proofs of his death?- His, who sprang from
mine own life, yet, forsaking me who had suckled and reared him, became
an exile and an alien; and, after he went out of this land, he saw
me no more; but, charging me with the murder of his sire, he uttered
dread threats against me; so that neither by night nor by day could
sweet sleep cover mine eyes, but from moment to moment I lived in
fear of death. Now, however-since this day I am rid of terror from
him, and from this girl,- that worse plague who shared my home, while
still she drained my very life-blood,-now, methinks, for aught that
she can threaten, I shall pass my days in peace.
ELECTRA Ah, woe is me! Now, indeed, Orestes, thy fortune may be lamented,
when it is thus with thee, and thou art mocked by this thy mother!
Is it not well?
CLYTEMNESTRA Not with thee; but his state is well.
ELECTRA Hear, Nemesis of him who hath lately died!
CLYTEMNESTRA She hath heard who should be heard, and hath ordained
well.
ELECTRA Insult us, for this is the time of thy triumph.
CLYTEMNESTRA Then will not Orestes and thou silence me?
ELECTRA We are silenced; much less should we silence thee.
CLYTEMNESTRA Thy coming, sir, would deserve large recompense, if
thou hast hushed her clamorous tongue.
PAEDAGOGUS Then I may take my leave, if all is well.
CLYTEMNESTRA Not so; thy welcome would then be unworthy of me, and
of the ally who sent thee. Nay, come thou in; and leave her without,
to make loud lament for herself and for her friends. (CLYTEMNESTRA
and the PAEDAGOGUS enter the palace.)
ELECTRA How think ye? Was there not grief and anguish there, wondrous
weeping and wailing of that miserable mother, for the son who perished
by such a fate? Nay, she left us with a laugh! Ah, woe is me! Dearest
Orestes, how is my life quenched by thy death! Thou hast torn away
with the from my heart the only hopes which still were mine,- that
thou wouldst live to return some day, an avenger of thy sire, and
of me unhappy. But now- whither shall I turn? I am alone, bereft of
thee, as of my father.
Henceforth I must be a slave again among those whom most I hate, my
father's murderers. Is it not well with me? But never, at least, henceforward,
will I enter the house to dwell with them; nay, at these gates I will
lay me down, and here, without a friend, my days shall wither. Therefore,
if any in the house be wroth, let them slay me; for 'tis a grace,
if I die, but if I live, a pain; I desire life no more. (The following
lines between ELECTRA and the CHORUS are chanted responsively.)
CHORUS (strophe 1)
Where are the thunderbolts of Zeus, or where is the bright Sun, if
they look upon these things, and brand them not, but rest?
ELECTRA Woe, woe, ah me, ah me!
CHORUS O daughter, why weepest thou?
ELECTRA (with hands outstretched to heaven) Alas!
CHORUS Utter no rash cry!
ELECTRA Thou wilt break my heart!
CHORUS How meanest thou?
ELECTRA If thou suggest a hope concerning those who have surely passed
to the realm below, thou wilt trample yet more upon my misery.
CHORUS (antistrophe 1)
Nay, I know how, ensnared by a woman for a chain of gold, the prince
Amphiaraus found a grave; and now beneath the earth-
ELECTRA Ah me, ah me!
CHORUS -he reigns in fulness of force.
ELECTRA Alas!
CHORUS Alas indeed! for the murderess-
ELECTRA Was slain.
CHORUS Yea.
ELECTRA I know it, I know it; for a champion arose to avenge the
mourning dead; but to me no champion remains; for he who yet was left
hath been snatched away.
CHORUS (strophe 2)
Hapless art thou, and hapless is thy lot!
ELECTRA Well know I that, too well,- I, whose life is a torrent of
woes dread and dark, a torrent that surges through all the months!
CHORUS We have seen the course of thy sorrow.
ELECTRA Cease, then, to divert me from it, when no more-
CHORUS How sayest thou?
ELECTRA -when no more can I have the comfort of hope from a brother,
the seed of the same noble sire.
CHORUS (antistrophe 2)
For all men it is appointed to die.
ELECTRA What, to die as that ill-starred one died, amid the tramp
of racing steeds, entangled in the reins that dragged him?
CHORUS Cruel was his doom, beyond thought!
ELECTRA Yea, surely; when in foreign soil, without ministry of my
hands,-
CHORUS Alas!
ELECTRA -he is buried, ungraced by me with sepulture or with tears.
(CHRYSOTHEMIS enters in excitement.)
CHRYSOTHEMIS Joy wings my feet, dear sister, not careful of seemliness,
if I come with speed; for I bring joyful news, to relieve thy long
sufferings and sorrows.
ELECTRA And whence couldst thou find help for my woes, whereof no
cure can be imagined?
CHRYSOTHEMIS Orestes is with us,- know this from my lips, in living
presence, as surely as thou seest me here.
ELECTRA What, art thou mad, poor girl? Art thou laughing at my sorrows,
and thine own?
CHRYSOTHEMIS Nay, by our father's hearth, I speak not in mockery;
I tell thee that he is with us indeed.
ELECTRA Ah, woe is me! And from whom hast thou heard this tale, which
thou believest so lightly?
CHRYSOTHEMIS I believe it on mine own knowledge, not on hearsay;
I have seen clear proofs.
ELECTRA What hast thou seen, poor girl, to warrant thy belief? Whither,
wonder hast thou turned thine eyes, that thou art fevered with this
baneful fire?
CHRYSOTHEMIS Then, for the gods' love, listen, that thou mayest know
my story, before deciding whether I am sane or foolish.
ELECTRA Speak on, then, if thou findest pleasure in speaking.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Well, thou shalt hear all that I have seen. When I came
to our father's ancient tomb, I saw that streams of milk had lately
flowed from the top of the mound, and that his sepulchre was encircled
with garlands of all flowers that blow. I was astonished at the sight,
and peered about, lest haply some one should be close to my side.
But when I perceived that all the place was in stillness, I crept
nearer to the tomb; and on the mound's edge I saw a lock of hair,
freshly severed.
And the moment that I saw it, ah me, a familiar image rushed upon
my soul, telling me that there I beheld a token of him whom most I
love, Orestes. Then I took it in my hands, and uttered no ill-omened
word, but the tears of joy straightway filled mine eyes. And I know
well, as knew then, that this fair tribute has come from none but
him. Whose part else was that, save mine and thine? And I did it not,
I know,- nor thou; how shouldst thou?- when thou canst not leave this
house, even to worship the gods, but at thy peril. Nor, again, does
our mother's heart incline to do such deeds, nor could she have so
done without our knowledge.
No, these offerings are from Orestes! Come, dear sister, courage!
No mortal life is attended by a changeless fortune. Ours was once
gloomy; but this day, perchance, will seal the promise of much good.
ELECTRA Alas for thy folly! How I have been pitying thee!
CHRYSOTHEMIS What, are not my tidings welcome?
ELECTRA Thou knowest not whither or into what dreams thou wanderest.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Should I not know what mine own eyes have seen?
ELECTRA He is dead, poor girl; and thy hopes in that deliverer are
gone: look not to him.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Woe, woe is me! From whom hast thou heard this?
ELECTRA From the man who was present when he perished.
CHRYSOTHEMIS And where is he? Wonder steals over my mind.
ELECTRA He is within, a guest not unpleasing to our mother.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Ah, woe is me! Whose, then, can have been those ample
offerings to our father's tomb?
ELECTRA Most likely, I think, some one brought those gifts in memory
of the dead Orestes.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Oh, hapless that I am! And I was bringing such news
in joyous haste, ignorant, it seems, how dire was our plight; but
now that I have come, I find fresh sorrows added to the old!
ELECTRA So stands thy case; yet, if thou wilt hearken to me, thou
wilt lighten the load of our present trouble.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Can I ever raise the dead to life?
ELECTRA I meant not that; I am not so foolish.
CHRYSOTHEMIS What biddest thou, then, for which my strength avails?
ELECTRA That thou be brave in doing what I enjoin.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Nay, if any good can be done, I will not refuse,
ELECTRA Remember, nothing succeeds without toil.
CHRYSOTHEMIS I know it, and will share thy burden with all my power.
ELECTRA Hear, then, how I am resolved to act. As for the support
of friends, thou thyself must know that we have none; Hades hath taken
our friends away. and we two are left alone. I, so long as I heard
that my brother still lived and prospered, had hopes that he would
yet come to avenge the murder of our sire. But now that he is no more,
I look next to thee, not to flinch from aiding me thy sister to slay
our father's murderer, Aegisthus:- I must have no secret from thee
more.
How long art thou to wait inactive? What hope is left standing, to
which thine eyes can turn? Thou hast to complain that thou art robbed
of thy father's heritage; thou hast to mourn that thus far thy life
is fading without nuptial song or wedded love. Nay, and do not hope
that such joys will ever be thine; Aegisthus is not so ill-advised
as ever to permit that children should spring from thee or me for
his own sure destruction. But if thou wilt follow my counsels, first
thou wilt win praise of piety from our dead sire below, and from our
brother too; next, thou shalt be called free henceforth, as thou wert
born, and shalt find worthy bridals; for noble natures draw the gaze
of all.
Then seest thou not what fair fame thou wilt win for thyself and for
me, by hearkening to my word? What citizen or stranger, when he sees
us, will not greet us with praises such as these?- 'Behold these two
sisters, my friends, who saved their father's house; who, when their
foes were firmly planted of yore, took their lives in their hands
and stood forth as avengers of blood! Worthy of love are these twain,
worthy of reverence from all; at festivals, and wherever the folk
are assembled, let these be honoured of all men for their prowess.'
Thus will every one speak of us, so that in life and in death our
glory shall not fail.
Come, dear sister, hearken! Work with thy sire, share the burden of
thy brother, win rest from woes for me and for thyself,- mindful of
this, that an ignoble life brings shame upon the noble.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS In such case as this, forethought is helpful
for those who speak and those who hear.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Yea, and before she spake, my friends, were she blest
with a sound mind, she would have remembered caution, as she doth
not remember it.
Now whither canst thou have turned thine eyes, that thou art arming
thyself with such rashness, and calling me to aid thee? Seest thou
not, thou art a woman, not a man, and no match for thine adversaries
in strength? And their fortune prospers day by day, while ours is
ebbing and coming to nought. Who, then, plotting to vanquish a foe
so strong, shall escape without suffering deadly scathe? See that
we change not our evil plight to worse, if any one hears these words.
It brings us no relief or benefit, if, after winning fair fame, we
die an ignominious death; for mere death is not the bitterest, but
rather when one who wants to die cannot obtain even that boon.
Nay, I beseech thee, before we are utterly destroyed, and leave our
house desolate, restrain thy rage! I will take care that thy words
remain secret and harmless; and learn thou the prudence, at last though
late, of yielding, when so helpless, to thy rulers.
LEADER Hearken; there is no better gain for mortals to win than foresight
and a prudent mind.
ELECTRA Thou hast said nothing unlooked-for; I well knew that thou
wouldst reject what I proffered. Well! I must do this deed with mine
own hand, and alone; for assuredly I will not leave it void.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Alas! Would thou hadst been so purposed on the day of
our father's death! What mightst thou not have wrought?
ELECTRA My nature was the same then, but my mind less ripe.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Strive to keep such a mind through all thy life.
ELECTRA These counsels mean that thou wilt not share my deed.
CHRYSOTHEMIS No; for the venture is likely to bring disaster.
ELECTRA I admire thy prudence; thy cowardice I hate.
CHRYSOTHEMIS I will listen not less calmly when thou praise me.
ELECTRA Never fear to suffer that from me.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Time enough in the future to decide that.
ELECTRA Begone; there is no power to help in thee.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Not so; but in thee, no mind to learn.
ELECTRA Go, declare all this to thy mother!
CHRYSOTHEMIS But, again, I do not hate thee with such a hate.
ELECTRA Yet know at least to what dishonour thou bringest me.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Dishonour, no! I am only thinking of thy good.
ELECTRA Am I bound, then, to follow thy rule of right?
CHRYSOTHEMIS When thou art wise, then thou shalt be our guide.
ELECTRA Sad, that one who speaks so well should speak amiss!
CHRYSOTHEMIS Thou hast well described the fault to which thou cleavest.
ELECTRA How? Dost thou not think that I speak with justice?
CHRYSOTHEMIS But sometimes justice itself is fraught with harm.
ELECTRA I care not to live by such a law.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Well, if thou must do this, thou wilt praise me yet.
ELECTRA And do it I will, no whit dismayed by thee.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Is this so indeed? Wilt thou not change thy counsels?
ELECTRA No, for nothing is more hateful than bad counsel.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Thou seemest to agree with nothing that I urge.
ELECTRA My resolve is not new, but long since fixed.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Then I will go; thou canst not be brought to approve
my words, nor to commend thy conduct.
ELECTRA Nay, go within; never will I follow thee, however much thou
mayst desire it; it were great folly even to attempt an idle quest.
CHRYSOTHEMIS Nay, if thou art wise in thine own eyes, be such wisdom
thine; by and by, when thou standest in evil plight, thou wilt praise
my words. (CHRYSOTHEMIS goes into the palace.)
CHORUS (singing, strophe 1)
When we see the birds of the air, with sure instinct, careful to
nourish those who give them life and nurture, why do not we pay these
debts in like measure? Nay, by the lightning-flash of Zeus, by Themis
throned in heaven, it is not long till sin brings sorrow.
Voice that comest to the dead beneath the earth, send a piteous cry,
I pray thee, to the son of Atreus in that world, a joyless message
of dishonour;
(antistrophe 1)
tell him that the fortunes of his house are now distempered; while,
among his children, strife of sister with sister hath broken the harmony
of loving days. Electra, forsaken, braves the storm alone; she bewails
alway, hapless one, her father's fate, like the nightingale unwearied
in lament; she recks not of death, but is ready to leave the sunlight,
could she but quell the two Furies of her house. Who shall match such
noble child of noble sire?
(strophe 2)
No generous soul deigns, by a base life, to cloud a fair repute,
and leave a name inglorious; as thou, too, O my daughter, hast chosen
to mourn all thy days with those that mourn, and hast spurned dishonour,
that thou mightest win at once a twofold praise, as wise, and as the
best of daughters.
(antistrophe 2)
May I yet see thy life raised in might and wealth above thy foes,
even as now it is humbled beneath their hand! For I have found thee
in no prosperous estate; and yet, for observance of nature's highest
laws, winning the noblest renown, by thy piety towards Zeus. (ORESTES
enters, with PYLADES and two attendants, one of them carrying a funeral
urn.)
ORESTES Ladies, have we been directed aright, and are we on the right
path to our goal?
LEADER OF THE CHORUS And what seekest thou? With what desire hast
thou come?
ORESTES I have been searching for the home of Aegisthus.
LEADER Well, thou hast found it; and thy guide is blameless.
ORESTES Which of you, then, will tell those within that our company,
long desired, hath arrived?
LEADER This maiden,- if the nearest should announce it.
ORESTES I pray thee, mistress, make it known in the house that certain
men of Phocis seek Aegisthus.
ELECTRA Ah, woe is me! Surely ye are not bringing the visible proofs
of that rumour which we heard?
ORESTES I know nothing of thy 'rumour'; but the aged Strophius charged
me with tidings of Orestes.
ELECTRA What are they, sir? Ah, how I thrill with fear!
ORESTES He is dead; and in a small urn, as thou seest, we bring the
scanty relics home.
ELECTRA Ah me unhappy! There, at last, before mine eyes, I see that
woful burden in your hands
ORESTES If thy tears are for aught which Orestes hath suffered, know
that yonder vessel holds his dust.
ELECTRA Ah, sir, allow me, then, I implore thee, if this urn indeed
contains him, to take it in my hands,- that I may weep and wail, not
for these ashes alone, but for myself and for all our house therewith!
ORESTES (to the attendants) Bring it and give it her, whoe'er she
be; for she who begs this boon must be one who wished him no evil,
but a friend, or haply a kinswoman in blood. (The urn is placed in
ELECTRA'S hands.)
ELECTRA Ah, memorial of him whom I loved best on earth! Ah, Orestes,
whose life hath no relic left save this,- how far from the hopes with
which I sent thee forth is the manner in which I receive thee back!
Now I carry thy poor dust in my hands; but thou wert radiant, my child,
when I sped the forth from home! Would that I had yielded up my breath,
ere, with these hands, I stole thee away, and sent thee to a strange
land, and rescued the from death; that so thou mightest have been
stricken down on that self-same day, and had thy portion in the tomb
of thy sire!
But now, an exile from home and fatherland, thou hast perished miserably,
far from thy sister; woe is me, these loving hands have not washed
or decked thy corpse, nor taken up, as was meet, their sad burden
from the flaming pyre. No! at the hands of strangers, hapless one,
thou hast had those rites, and so art come to us, a little dust in
a narrow urn.
Ah, woe is me for my nursing long ago, so vain, that I oft bestowed
on thee with loving toil I For thou wast never thy mother's darling
so much as mine; nor was any in the house thy nurse but I; and by
thee I was ever called 'sister.' But now all this hath vanished in
a day, with thy death; like a whirlwind, thou hast swept all away
with thee. Our father is gone; I am dead in regard to thee; thou thyself
hast perished: our foes exult; that mother, who is none, is mad with
joy,- she of whom thou didst oft send me secret messages, thy heralds,
saying that thou thyself wouldst appear as an avenger. But our evil
fortune. thine and mine, hath reft all that away, and hath sent thee
forth unto me thus,- no more the form that I loved so well, but ashes
and an idle shade.
Ah me, ah me! O piteous dust! Alas, thou dear one, sent on a dire
journey, how hast undone me,- undone me indeed, O brother mine!
Therefore take me to this thy home, me who am as nothing, to thy nothingness,
that I may dwell with thee henceforth below; for when thou wert on
earth, we shared alike; and now I fain would die, that I may not be
parted from thee in the grave. For I see that the dead have rest from
pain.
LEADER Bethink thee, Electra, thou art the child of mortal sire,
and mortal was Orestes; therefore grieve not too much. This is a debt
which all of us must pay.
ORESTES Alas, what shall I say? What words can serve me at this pass?
I can restrain my lips no longer!
ELECTRA What hath troubled thee? Why didst thou say that?
ORESTES Is this the form of the illustrious Electra that I behold?
ELECTRA It is; and very grievous is her plight.
ORESTES Alas, then, for this miserable fortune!
ELECTRA Surely, sir, thy lament is not for me?
ORESTES O form cruelly, godlessly misused!
ELECTRA Those ill-omened words, sir, fit no one better than me.
ORESTES Alas for thy life, unwedded and all unblest!
ELECTRA Why this steadfast gaze, stranger, and these laments?
ORESTES How ignorant was I, then, of mine own sorrows!
ELECTRA By what that hath been said hast thou perceived this?
ORESTES By seeing thy sufferings, so many and so great.
ELECTRA And yet thou seest but a few of my woes.
ORESTES Could any be more painful to behold?
ELECTRA This, that I share the dwelling of the murderers.
ORESTES Whose murderers? Where lies the guilt at which thou hintest?
ELECTRA My father's;- and then I am their slave perforce.
ORESTES Who is it that subjects thee to this constraint?
ELECTRA A mother-in name, but no mother in her deeds.
ORESTES How doth she oppress thee? With violence or with hardship?
ELECTRA With violence, and hardships, and all manner of ill.
ORESTES And is there none to succour, or to hinder?
ELECTRA None. I had one; and thou hast shown me his ashes.
ORESTES Hapless girl, how this sight hath stirred my pity!
ELECTRA Know, then, that thou art the first who ever pitied me.
ORESTES No other visitor hath ever shared thy pain.
ELECTRA Surely thou art not some unknown kinsman?
ORESTES I would answer, if these were friends who hear us.
ELECTRA Oh, they are friends; thou canst speak without mistrust.
ORESTES Give up this urn, then, and thou shalt be told all.
ELECTRA Nay, I beseech thee be not so cruel to me, sir!
ORESTES Do as I say, and never fear to do amiss.
ELECTRA I conjure thee, rob me not of my chief treasure!
ORESTES Thou must not keep it.
ELECTRA Ah woe is me for thee, Orestes, if I am not to give thee
burial
ORESTES Hush!-no such word!-Thou hast no right to lament.
ELECTRA No right to lament for my dead brother?
ORESTES It is not meet for thee to speak of him thus.
ELECTRA Am I so dishonoured of the dead?
ORESTES Dishonoured of none:- but this is not thy part.
ELECTRA Yes, if these are the ashes of Orestes that I hold.
ORESTES They are not; a fiction dothed them with his name. (He gently
takes the urn from her.)
ELECTRA And where is that unhappy one's tomb?
ORESTES There is none; the living have no tomb.
ELECTRA What sayest thou, boy?
ORESTES Nothing that is not true.
ELECTRA The man is alive?
ORESTES If there be life in me.
ELECTRA What? Art thou he?
ORESTES Look at this signet, once our father's, and judge if I speak
truth.
ELECTRA O blissful day!
ORESTES Blissful, in very deed!
ELECTRA Is this thy voice?
ORESTES Let no other voice reply.
ELECTRA Do I hold thee in my arms?
ORESTES As mayest thou hold me always!
ELECTRA Ah, dear friends and fellow-citizens, behold Orestes here,
who was feigned dead, and now, by that feigning hath come safely home!
LEADER We see him, daughter; and for this happy fortune a tear of
joy trickles from our eyes. (The following lines between ORESTES
and ELECTRA are chanted responsively.)
ELECTRA (strophe)
Offspring of him whom I loved best, thou hast come even now, thou
hast come, and found and seen her whom thy heart desired!
ORESTES I am with thee;- but keep silence for a while.
ELECTRA What meanest thou?
ORESTES 'Tis better to be silent, lest some one within should hear.
ELECTRA Nay, by ever-virgin Artemis, I will never stoop to fear women,
stay-at-homes, vain burdens of the ground!
ORESTES Yet remember that in women, too, dwells the spirit of battle;
thou hast had good proof of that, I ween.
ELECTRA Alas! ah me! Thou hast reminded me of my sorrow, one which,
from its nature, cannot be veiled, cannot be done away with, cannot
forget!
ORESTES I know this also; but when occasion prompts, then will be
the moment to recall those deeds.
ELECTRA (antistrophe)
Each moment of all time, as it comes, would be meet occasion for
these my just complaints; scarcely now have I had my lips set free.
ORESTES I grant it; therefore guard thy freedom.
ELECTRA What must I do?
ORESTES When the season serves not, do not wish to speak too much.
ELECTRA Nay, who could fitly exchange speech for such silence, when
thou hast appeared? For now I have seen thy face, beyond all thought
and hope!
ORESTES Thou sawest it, when the gods moved me to come....
ELECTRA Thou hast told me of a grace above the first, if a god hath
indeed brought thee to our house; I acknowledge therein the work of
heaven.
ORESTES I am loth, indeed, to curb thy gladness, but yet this excess
of joy moves my fear.
ELECTRA (epode)
O thou who, after many a year, hast deigned thus to gladden mine
eyes by thy return, do not, now that thou hast seen me in all my woe-
ORESTES What is thy prayer?
ELECTRA -do not rob me of the comfort of thy face; do not force me
to forego it!
ORESTES I should be wroth, indeed, if I saw another attempt it.
ELECTRA My prayer is granted?
ORESTES Canst thou doubt?
ELECTRA Ah, friends, I heard a voice that I could never have hoped
to hear; nor could I have restrained my emotion in silence, and without
cry, when I heard it.
Ah me! But now I have thee; thou art come to me with the light of
that dear countenance, which never, even in sorrow, could I forget.
(The chant is concluded.)
ORESTES Spare all superfluous words; tell me not of our mother's
wickedness, or how Aegisthus drains the wealth of our father's house
by lavish luxury or aimless waste; for the story would not suffer
thee to keep due limit. Tell me rather that which will serve our present
need,- where we must show ourselves, or wait in ambush, that this
our coming may confound the triumph of our foes.
And look that our mother read not thy secret in thy radiant face,
when we twain have advanced into the house, but make lament, as for
the feigned disaster; for when we have prospered, then there will
be leisure to rejoice and exult in freedom.
ELECTRA Nay, brother, as it pleases thee, so shall be my conduct
also; for all my joy is a gift from thee, and not mine own. Nor would
I consent to win great good for myself at the cost of the least pain
to thee; for so should I ill serve the divine power that befriends
us now.
But thou knowest how matters stand here, I doubt not: thou must have
beard that Aegisthus is from home, but our mother within;- and fear
not that she will ever see my face lit up with smiles; for mine old
hatred of her hath sunk into my heart; and, since I have beheld thee,
for very joy I shall never cease to weep. How indeed should I cease,
who have seen thee come home this day, first as dead, and then in
life? Strangely hast thou wrought on me; so that, if my father should
return alive, I should no longer doubt my senses, but should believe
that I saw him. Now, therefore, that thou hast come to me so wondrously,
command me as thou wilt; for, had I been alone, I should have achieved
one of two things,- a noble deliverance, or a noble death.
ORESTES Thou hadst best be silent; for I hear some one within preparing
to go forth.
ELECTRA (to ORESTES AND PYLADES) Enter, sirs; especially as ye bring
that which no one could repulse from these doors, though he receive
it without joy. (The PAEDAGOGUS enters from the palace.)
PAEDAGOGUS Foolish and senseless children! Are ye weary of your lives,
or was there no wit born in you, that ye see not how ye stand, not
on the brink, but in the very midst of deadly perils? Nay, had I not
kept watch this long while at these doors, your plans would have been
in the house before yourselves; but, as it is, my care shielded you
from that. Now have done with this long discourse, these insatiate
cries of joy, and pass within; for in such deeds delay is evil, and
'tis well to make an end.
ORESTES What, then, will be my prospects when I enter?
PAEDAGOGUS Good; for thou art secured from recognition.
ORESTES Thou hast reported me, I presume, as dead?
PAEDAGOGUS Know that here thou art numbered with the shades.
ORESTES Do they rejoice, then, at these tidings? Or what say they?
PAEDAGOGUS I will tell thee at the end; meanwhile, all is well for
us on their party-even that which is not well.
ELECTRA Who is this, brother? I pray thee, tell me.
ORESTES Dost thou not perceive?
ELECTRA I cannot guess.
ORESTES Knowest thou not the man to whose hands thou gavest me once?
ELECTRA What man? How sayest thou?
ORESTES By whose hands, through thy forethought, I was secretly conveyed
forth to Phocian soil.
ELECTRA Is this he in whom, alone of many, I found a true ally of
old, when our sire was slain?
ORESTES 'Tis he; question me no further.
ELECTRA O joyous day! O sole preserver of Agamemnon's house, how
hast thou come? Art thou he indeed, who didst save my brother and
myself from many sorrows? O dearest hands; O messenger whose feet
were kindly servants! How couldst thou be with me so long, and remain
unknown, nor give a ray of light, but afflict me by fables, while
possessed of truths most sweet? Hail, father,- for 'tis a father that
I seem to behold! All hail,- and know that I have hated thee, and
loved thee, in one day, as never man before!
PAEDAGOGUS Enough, methinks; as for the story of the past, many are
the circling nights, and days as many, which shall show it thee, Electra,
in its fulness. (To ORESTES and PYLADES) But this is my counsel
to you twain, who stand there- now is the time to act; now Clytemnestra
is alone,- no man is now within: but, if ye pause, consider that ye
will have to fight, not with the inmates alone, but with other foes
more numerous and better skilled.
ORESTES Pylades, this our task seems no longer to crave many words,
but rather that we should enter the house forthwith,- first adoring
the shrines of my father's gods, who keep these gates. (ORESTES and
PYLADES enter the Palace, followed by the PAEDAGOGUS.- ELECTRA remains
outside.)
ELECTRA O King Apollo! graciously hear them, and hear me besides,
who so oft have come before thine altar with such gifts as my devout
hand could bring! And now, O Lycean Apollo, with such vows as I can
make, I pray thee, I supplicate, I implore, grant us thy benignant
aid in these designs, and show men how impiety is rewarded by the
gods! (ELECTRA enters the palace.)
CHORUS (singing) Behold how Ares moves onward, breathing deadly
vengeance, against which none may strive!
Even now the pursuers of dark guilt have passed beneath yon roof,
the hounds which none may flee. Therefore the vision of my soul shall
not long tarry in suspense.
The champion of the spirits infernal is ushered with stealthy feet
into the house, the ancestral palace of his sire, bearing keen-edged
death in his hands; and Hermes, son of Maia, who hath shrouded the
guile in darkness, leads him forward, even to the end, and delays
no more. (ELECTRA enters from the palace.)
ELECTRA (strophe)
Ah, dearest friends, in a moment the men will do the deed;- but wait
in silence.
CHORUS How is it?- what do they now?
ELECTRA She is decking the urn for burial, and those two stand close
to her
CHORUS And why hast thou sped forth?
ELECTRA To guard against Aegisthus entering before we are aware.
CLYTEMNESTRA (within) Alas! Woe for the house forsaken of friends
and filled with murderers!
ELECTRA A cry goes up within:- hear ye not, friends?
CHORUS I heard, ah me, sounds dire to hear, and shuddered!
CLYTEMNESTRA (within) O hapless that I am!- Aegisthus, where, where
art thou?
ELECTRA Hark, once more a voice resounds I
CLYTEMNESTRA (within) My son, my son, have pity on thy mother!
ELECTRA Thou hadst none for him, nor for the father that begat him.
CHORUS Ill-fated realm and race, now the fate that hath pursued thee
day by day is dying,- is dying!
CLYTEMNESTRA (within) Oh, I am smitten!
ELECTRA Smite, if thou canst, once more!
CLYTEMNESTRA (within) Ah, woe is me again!
ELECTRA Would that the woe were for Aegisthus too!
CHORUS The curses are at work; the buried live; blood flows for blood,
drained from the slayers by those who died of yore. (ORESTES and
PYLADES enter from the palace., antistrophe)
Behold, they come! That red hand reeks with sacrifice to Ares; nor
can I blame the deed.
ELECTRA Orestes, how fare ye?
ORESTES All is well within the house, if Apollo's oracle spake well.
ELECTRA The guilty one is dead?
ORESTES Fear no more that thy proud mother will ever put thee to
dishonour.
CHORUS Cease; for I see Aegisthus full in view.
ELECTRA Rash boys, back, back!
ORESTES Where see ye the man?
ELECTRA Yonder, at our mercy, be advances from the suburb, full of
joy.
CHORUS Make with all speed for the vestibule; that, as your first
task prospered. so this again may prosper now.
ORESTES Fear not,- we will perform it.
ELECTRA Haste, then, whither thou wouldst.
ORESTES See, I am gone.
ELECTRA I will look to matters here. (ORESTES and PYLADES go back
into the palace.)
CHORUS 'Twere well to soothe his ear with some few words of seeming
gentleness, that he may rush blindly upon the struggle with his doom.
(AEGISTHUS enters.)
AEGISTHUS Which of you can tell me, where are those Phocian strangers,
who, 'tis said, have brought us tidings of Orestes slain in the wreck
of his chariot? Thee, thee I ask, yes, thee, in former days so bold,-
for methinks it touches thee most nearly; thou best must know, and
best canst tell.
ELECTRA I know assuredly; else were I a stranger to the fortune of
my nearest kinsfolk.
AEGISTHUS Where then may be the strangers? Tell me.
ELECTRA Within; they have found a way to the heart of their hostess.
AEGISTHUS Have they in truth reported him dead?
ELECTRA Nay, not reported only; they have shown him.
AEGISTHUS Can I, then, see the corpse with mine own eyes?
ELECTRA Thou canst, indeed; and 'tis no enviable sight.
AEGISTHUS Indeed, thou hast given me a joyful greeting, beyond thy
wont.
ELECTRA Joy be thine, if in these things thou findest joy.
AEGISTHUS Silence, I say, and throw wide the gates, for all Mycenaeans
and Argives to behold; that, if any of them were once buoyed on empty
hopes from this man, now, seeing him dead, they may receive my curb,
instead of waiting till my chastisement make them wise perforce!
ELECTRA No loyalty is lacking on my part; time hath taught me the
prudence of concord with the stronger. (The central doors of the
palace are thrown open and a shrouded corpse is disclosed. ORESTES
and PYLADES stand near it.)
AEGISTHUS O Zeus, I behold that which hath not fallen save by the
doom of jealous Heaven; but, if Nemesis attend that word, be it unsaid!
Take all the covering from the face, that kinship, at least, may receive
the tribute of lament from me also.
ORESTES Lift the veil thyself; not my part this, but thine, to look
upon these relics, and to greet them kindly.
AEGISTHUS 'Tis good counsel, and I will follow it.- (To ELECTRA)
But thou-call me Clytemnestra, if she is within.
ORESTES Lo, she is near thee: turn not thine eyes elsewhere. (AEGISTHUS
removes the face-cloth from the corpse.)
AEGISTHUS O, what sight is this!
ORESTES Why so scared? Is the face so strange?
AEGISTHUS Who are the men into whose mid toils I have fallen, hapless
that I am?
ORESTES Nay, hast thou not discovered ere now that the dead, as thou
miscallest them, are living?
AEGISTHUS Alas, I read the riddle: this can be none but Orestes who
speaks to me!
ORESTES And, though so good a prophet, thou wast deceived so long?
AEGISTHUS Oh lost, undone! Yet suffer me to say one word...
ELECTRA In heaven's name, my brother, suffer him not to speak further,
or to plead at length! When mortals are in the meshes of fate, how
can such respite avail one who is to die? No,- slay him forthwith,
and cast his corpse to the creatures from whom such as he should have
burial, far from our sight! To me, nothing but this can make amends
for the woes of the past.
ORESTES (to AEGISTHUS) Go in, and quickly; the issue here is not
of words, but of thy life.
AEGISTHUS Why take me into the house? If this deed be fair, what
need of darkness? Why is thy hand not prompt to strike?
ORESTES Dictate not, but go where thou didst slay my father, that
in the same place thou mayest die.
AEGISTHUS Is this dwelling doomed to see all woes of Pelops' line,
now, and in time to come?
ORESTES Thine, at least; trust my prophetic skill so far.
AEGISTHUS The skill thou vauntest belonged not to thy sire.
ORESTES Thou bandiest words, and our going is delayed. Move forward!
AEGISTHUS Lead thou.
ORESTES Thou must go first.
AEGISTHUS Lest I escape thee?
ORESTES No, but that thou mayest not choose how to die; I must not
spare thee any bitterness of death. And well it were if this judgment
came straight-way upon all who dealt in lawless deeds, even the judgment
of the sword: so should not wickedness abound. (ORESTES and PYLADES
drive AEGISTHUS into the palace.)
CHORUS (singing) O house of Atreus, through how many sufferings
hast thou come forth at last in freedom, crowned with good by this
day's enterprise!
THE END