|
Him and these fellow-farers at his side; | 800 |
Give them such guest-right as beseems our halls; | |
I bid thee do as thou shalt answer for it. | |
And I unto the prince who rules our home | |
Will tell the tale, and, since we lack not friends, | 804 |
With them will counsel how this hap to bear.[Exit Clytemnestra. | |
|
CHORUS
So be it done | |
Sisterservants, when draws nigh | |
Time for us aloud to cry, | 808 |
Orestes and his victory? | |
|
O holy earth and holy tomb | |
Over the gravepit heaped on high, | |
Where low doth Agamemnon lie, | 812 |
The king of ships, the armys lord! | |
Now is the hourgive ear and come, | |
For now doth Craft her aid afford, | |
And Hermes, guard of shades in hell, | 816 |
Stands oer their strife, to sentinel | |
The dooming of the sword. | |
I wot the stranger worketh woe within | |
For lo! I see come forth, suffused with tears, | 820 |
Orestes nurse. What ho, Kilissathou | |
Beyond the doors? Where goest thou? Methinks | |
Some grief unbidden walketh at thy side.[Enter Kilissa, a nurse. | |
|
KILISSA
My mistress bids me, with what speed I may, | 824 |
Call in Ægisthus to the stranger guests, | |
That he may come, and standing face to face, | |
A man with men, may thus more clearly learn | |
This rumour new. Thus speaking, to her slaves | 828 |
She hid beneath the glance of fictive grief | |
Laughter for what is wroughtto her desire | |
Too well; but ill, ill, ill besets the house, | |
Brought by the tale these guests have told so clear. | 832 |
And he, God wot, will gladden all his heart | |
Hearing this rumour. Woe and well-a-day! | |
The bitter mingled cup of ancient woes, | |
Hard to be borne, that here in Atreus house | 836 |
Befel, was grievous to mine inmost heart, | |
But never yet did I endure such pain. | |
All else I bore with set soul patiently; | |
But nowalack, alack!Orestes dear, | 840 |
The dayand night-long travail of my soul! | |
Whom from his mothers womb, a new-born child, | |
I clasped and cherished! Many a time and oft | |
Toilsome and profitless my service was, | 844 |
When his shrill outcry called me from my couch! | |
For the young child, before the sense is born, | |
Hath but a dumb things life, must needs be nursed | |
As its own nature bids. The swaddled thing | 848 |
Hath nought of speech, whateer discomfort come | |
Hunger or thirst or lower weakling need, | |
For the babes stomach works its own relief. | |
Which knowing well before, yet oft surprised, | 852 |
Twas mine to cleanse the swaddling clothespoor I | |
Was nurse to tend and fuller to make white; | |
Two works in one, two handicrafts I took, | |
When in mine arms the father laid the boy. | 856 |
And now hes deadalack and welladay! | |
Yet must I go to him whose wrongful power | |
Pollutes this housefair tidings these to him! | |
|
CHORUS
Say then with what array she bids him come? | 860 |
|
KILISSA
What sayst thou! Speak more clearly for mine ear. | |
|
CHORUS
Bids she bring henchmen, or to come alone? | |
|
KILISSA
She bids him bring a spear-armed body-guard. | |
|
CHORUS
Nay, tell not that unto our loathed lord, | 864 |
But speed to him, put on the mien of joy, | |
Say, Come along, fear nought, the news is good: | |
A bearer can tell straight a twisted tale. | |
|
KILISSA
Does then thy mind in this new tale find joy? | 868 |
|
CHORUS
What if Zeus bid our ill wind veer to fair? | |
|
KILISSA
And how? the homes hope with Orestes dies. | |
|
CHORUS
Not yeta seer, though feeble, this might see. | |
|
KILISSA
What sayst thou? Knowst thou aught this tale belying? | 872 |
|
CHORUS
Go, tell the news to him, perform thine hest, | |
What the gods will, themselves can well provide. | |
|
KILISSA
Well, I will go, herein obeying thee; | |
And luck fall fair, with favour sent from heaven. [Exit. | 876 |
|
CHORUS
Zeus, sire of them who on Olympus dwell, | |
Hear thou, O hear my prayer! | |
Grant to my rightful lords to prosper well | |
Even as their zeal is fair! | 880 |
For right, for right goes up aloud my cry | |
Zeus, aid him, stand anigh! | |
|
Into his fathers hall he goes | |
To smite his fathers foes. | 884 |
Bid him prevail! by thee on throne of triumph set, | |
Twice, yea and thrice with joy shall acquit the debt. | |
|
Bethink thee, the young steed, the orphan foal | |
Of sire beloved by thee, unto the car | 888 |
Of doom is harnessed fast. | |
Guide him aright, plant firm a lasting goal, | |
Speed thou his pace,O that no chance may mar | |
The homeward course, the last! | 892 |
|
And ye who dwell within the inner chamber | |
Where shines the stored joy of gold | |
Gods of one heart, O hear ye, and remember; | |
Up and avenge the blood shed forth of old, | 896 |
With sudden rightful blow; | |
Then let the old curse die, nor be renewed | |
With progeny of blood, | |
Once more, and not again, be latter guilt laid low! | 900 |
|
O thou who dwellst in Delphis mighty cave, | |
Grant us to see this home once more restored | |
Unto its rightful lord! | |
Let it look forth, from veils of death, with joyous eye | 904 |
Unto the dawning light of liberty; | |
And Hermes, Maias child, lend hand to save, | |
Willing the right, and guide | |
Our state with Fortunes breeze adown the favouring tide. | 908 |
Whateer in darkness hidden lies, | |
He utters at his will; | |
He at his will throws darkness on our eye, | |
By night and eke by day inscrutable. | 912 |
|
Then, then shall wealth atone | |
The ills that here were done. | |
Then, then will we unbind, | |
Fling free on wafting wind | 916 |
Of joy, the womans voice that waileth now | |
In piercing accents for a chief laid low; | |
And this our songs shall be | |
Hail to the commonwealth restored! | 920 |
Hail to the freedom won to me! | |
All hail! for doom hath passed from him, my wellloved lord! | |
|
And thou, O child, when Time and Chance agree, | |
Up to the deed that for thy sire is done! | 924 |
And if she wail unto thee, Spare, O son | |
Cry, Aid, O fatherand achieve the deed, | |
The horror of mans tongue, the gods great need! | |
Hold in thy breast such heart as Perseus had, | 928 |
The bitter woe work forth, | |
Appease the summons of the dead, | |
The wrath of friends on earth; | |
Yea, set within a sign of blood and doom, | 932 |
And do to utter death him that pollutes thy home. [Enter Ægisthus. | |
|
ÆGISTHUS
Hither and not unsummoned have I come; | |
For a new rumour, borne by stranger men | |
Arriving hither, hath attained mine ears. | 936 |
Of hap unwished-for, even Orestes death. | |
This were new sorrow, a blood-bolters load | |
Laid on the house that doth already bow | |
Beneath a former wound that festers deep. | 940 |
Dare I opine these words have truth and life? | |
Or are they tales, of womans terror born, | |
That fly in the void air, and die disproved? | |
Canst thou tell aught, and prove it to my soul? | 944 |
|
CHORUS
What we have heard, we heard; go thou within | |
Thyself to ask the strangers of their tale. | |
Strengthless are tidings, thro another heard; | |
Question is his to whom the tale is brought. | 948 |
|
ÆGISTHUS
I too will meet and test the messenger, | |
Whether himself stood witness of the death | |
Or tells it merely from dim rumour learnt: | |
None shall cheat me, whose soul hath watchful eyes. [Exit. | 952 |
|
CHORUS
Zeus, Zeus! what word to me is given? | |
What cry or prayer, invoking heaven, | |
Shall first by me be uttered? | |
What speech of craftnor all revealing, | 956 |
Nor all too warily concealing | |
Ending my speech, shall aid the deed? | |
For lo! in readiness is laid | |
The dark emprise, the rending blade; | 960 |
Blood-dropping daggers shall achieve | |
The dateless doom of Atreus name, | |
Orkindling torch and joyful flame | |
In sign of new-won liberty | 964 |
Once more Orestes shall retrieve | |
His fathers wealth, and throned on high, | |
Shall hold the citys fealty. | |
So mighty is the grasp whereby, | 968 |
Heaven-holpen, he shall trip and throw | |
Unseconded, a double foe. | |
Ho for the victory! [A loud cry within. | |
|
VOICE OF ÆGISTHUS
Help, help, alas! | 972 |
|
CHORUS
Ho there, ho! how ist within? | |
Ist done? ist over? Stand we here aloof | |
While it is wrought, that guiltless we may seem | |
Of this dark deed; with death is strife fulfilled.[Enter a slave. | 976 |
|
SLAVE
O woe, O woe, my lord is done to death! | |
Woe, woe, and again, Ægisthus gone! | |
Hasten, fling wide the doors, unloose the bolts | |
Of the queens chamber. O for some young strength | 980 |
To match the need! but aid availeth nought | |
To him laid low for ever. Help, help, help! | |
Sure to deaf ears I shout, and call in vain | |
To slumber ineffectual. What ho! | 984 |
The queen! how fareth Clytemnestras self? | |
Her neck too, hers, is close upon the steel, | |
And soon shall sink, hewn thro as justice wills. [Enter Clytemnestra. | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
What ails thee, raising this ado for us? | 988 |
|
SLAVE
I say the dead are come to slay the living. | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Alack, I read thy riddles all to clear | |
We slew by craft and by like craft shall die. | |
Swift, bring the axe that slew my lord of old; | 992 |
Ill know anon or death or victory | |
So stands the curse, so I confront it here. [Enter Orestes, his sword dropping with blood. | |
|
ORESTES
Thee too I seek: for him whats done will serve. | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Woe, woe! Ægisthus, spouse and champion, slain! | 996 |
|
ORESTES
What, lovst the man? then in his grave lie down, | |
Be his in death, desert him nevermore! | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Stay, child, and fear to strike, O son, this breast | |
Pillowed thine head full oft, while, drowsed with sleep, | 1000 |
Thy toothless mouth drew mothers milk from me. | |
|
ORESTES
Can I my mother spare? speak, Pylades. | |
|
PYLADES
Where then would fall the hest Apollo gave | |
At Delphi, where the solemn compact sworn? | 1004 |
Choose thou the hate of all men, not of gods. | |
|
ORESTES
Thou dost prevail; I hold thy counsel good. [To Clytemnestra. | |
Follow; I will to slay thee at his side. | |
With him whom in his life thou lovedst more | 1008 |
Than Agamemnon, sleep in death, the meed | |
For hate where love, and love where hate was due! | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
I nursed thee young; must I forego mine eld? | |
|
ORESTES
Thou slewst my father; shalt thou dwell with me? | 1012 |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Fate bore a share in these things, O my child! | |
|
ORESTES
Fate also doth provide this doom for thee. | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Beware, O child, a parents dying curse. | |
|
ORESTES
A parent who did cast me out to ill! | 1016 |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Not cast thee out, but to a friendly home. | |
|
ORESTES
Born free, I was by twofold bargain sold. | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Where then the price that I received for thee? | |
|
ORESTES
The price of shame; I taunt thee not more plainly. | 1020 |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Nay, but recount thy fathers lewdness too. | |
|
ORESTES
keeping, chide not him who toils without. | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Tis hard for wives to live as widows, child. | |
|
ORESTES
The absent husband toils for them at home. | 1024 |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Thou growest fain to slay thy mother, child. | |
|
ORESTES
Nay, tis thyself wilt slay thyself, not I. | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Beware thy mothers vengeful hounds from hell. | |
|
ORESTES
How shall I scape my fathers, sparing thee? | 1028 |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Living, I cry as to a tomb, unheard. | |
|
ORESTES
My fathers fate ordains this doom for thee. | |
|
CLYTEMNESTRA
Ah, me! this snake it was I bore and nursed. | |
|
ORESTES
Ay, right prophetic was thy visioned fear. | 1032 |
Shameful thy deed wasdie the death of shame! [Exit, driving Clytemnestra before him. | |
|
CHORUS
Lo, even for these I mourn, a double death: | |
Yet since Orestes, driven on by doom, | |
Thus crowns the height of murders manifold, | 1036 |
I say, tis well that not in night and death | |
Should sink the eye and light of this our home. | |
|
There came on Priams race and name | |
A vengeance; though it tarried long, | 1040 |
With heavy doom it came. | |
Came, too, on Agamemnons hall | |
A lion-pair, twin swordsmen strong. | |
And last, the heritage doth fall | 1044 |
To him to whom from Pythian cave | |
The god his deepest counsel gave. | |
Cry out, rejoice! our kingly hall | |
Hath scaped from ruinneer again | 1048 |
Its ancient wealth be wasted all | |
By two usurpers, is sin-defiled | |
An evil path of woe and bane! | |
On him who dealt the dastard blow | 1052 |
Comes Craft, Revenges scheming child. | |
And hand in hand with him doth go, | |
Eager for fight, | |
The child of Zeus, whom men below | 1056 |
Call Justice, naming her aright. | |
And on her foes her breath | |
Is as the blast of death; | |
For her the god who dwells in deep recess | 1060 |
Beneath Parnassus brow, | |
Summons with loud acclaim | |
To rise, though late and lame, | |
And come with craft that worketh righteousness. | 1064 |
|
For even oer powers divine this law is strong | |
Thou shalt not serve the wrong. | |
To that which ruleth heaven beseems it that we bow. | |
Lo, freedoms light hath come! | 1068 |
Lo, now is rent away | |
The grim and curbing bit that held us dumb. | |
Up to the light, ye halls! this many a day | |
Too low on earth ye lay. | 1072 |
And Time, the great Accomplisher, | |
Shall cross the threshold, whensoeer | |
He choose with purging hand to cleanse | |
The palace, driving all pollution thence. | 1076 |
And fair the cast of Fortunes die | |
Before our states new lords shall lie, | |
Not as of old, but bringing fairer doom. | |
Lo, freedoms light hath come! [The scene opens, disclosing Orestes standing over the corpses of Ægisthus and Clytemnestra; in one hand he holds his sword, in the other the robe in which Agamemnon was entangled and slain. | 1080 |
|
ORESTES
There lies our countrys twofold tyranny, | |
My fathers slayers, spoilers of my home. | |
Erst were they royal, sitting on the throne,. | |
And loving are they yet,their common fate | 1084 |
Tells the tale truly, shows their trothplight firm. | |
They swore to work mine illstarred fathers death, | |
They swore to die together; tis fulfilled. | |
O ye who stand, this great dooms witnesses, | 1088 |
Behold this too, the dark device which bound | |
My sire unhappy to his death,behold | |
The mesh which trapped his hands, enwound his feet! | |
Stand round, unfold ittis the trammelnet | 1092 |
That wrapped a chieftain; hold it that he see, | |
The fathernot my sire, but he whose eye | |
Is judge of all things, the allseeing Sun! | |
Let him behold my mothers damnèd deed, | 1096 |
Then let him stand, when need shall be to me, | |
Witness that justly I have sought and slain | |
My mother; blameless was Ægisthus doom | |
He died the death law bids adulterers die. | 1000 |
But she who plotted this accursed thing | |
To slay her lord, by whom she bare beneath | |
Her girdle once the burden of her babes, | |
Beloved erewhile, now turned to hateful foes | 1104 |
What deem ye of her? or what venomed thing, | |
Sea-snake or adder, had more power than she | |
To poison with a touch the flesh unscarred? | |
So great her daring, such her impious will. | 1108 |
How name her, if I may not speak a curse? | |
A lion-springe! a lavers swathing cloth, | |
Wrapping a dead man, twining round his feet | |
A net, a trammel, an entangling robe? | 1112 |
Such were the weapon of some strangling thief, | |
The terror of the road, a cut-purse hound | |
With such device full many might he kill, | |
Full oft exult in heat of villainy. | 1116 |
Neer have my house so cursed an indweller | |
Heaven send me, rather, childless to be slain! | |
|
CHORUS
Woe for each desperate deed! | |
Woe for the queen, with shame of life bereft! | 1120 |
And ah, for him who still is left, | |
Madness, dark blossom of a bloody seed! | |
|
ORESTES
Did she the deed or not? this robe gives proof, | |
Imbrued with blood that bathed Ægisthus sword: | 1124 |
Look, how the spurted stain combines with time | |
To blur the many dyes that once adorned | |
Its pattern manifold! I now stand here, | |
Made glad, made sad with blood, exulting, wailing | 1128 |
Hear, O thou woven web that slew my sire! | |
I grieve for deed and death and all my home | |
Victor, pollutions damnèd stain for prize. | |
|
CHORUS
Alas, that none of mortal men | 1132 |
Can pass his life untouched by pain! | |
Behold, one woe is here | |
Another loometh near. | |
|
ORESTES
Hark ye and learnfor what the end shall be | 1136 |
For me I know not: breaking from the curb, | |
My spirit whirls me off, a conquered prey, | |
Borne as a charioteer by steeds distraught | |
Far from the course, and madness in my breast | 1140 |
Burneth to chant its song, and leap, and rave | |
Hark ye and learn, friends, ere my reason goes! | |
I say that rightfully I slew my mother, | |
A thing God-scorned, that foully slew my sire. | 1144 |
And chiefest wizard of the spell that bound me | |
Unto this deed I name the Pythian seer | |
Apollo, who foretold that if I slew, | |
The guilt of murder done should pass from me; | 1148 |
But if I spared, the fate that should be mine | |
I dare not blazon forththe bow of speech | |
Can reach not to the mark, that doom to tell. | |
And now behold me, how with branch and crown | 1152 |
I pass, a suppliant made meet to go | |
Unto Earths midmost shrine, the holy ground | |
Of Loxias, and that renowned light | |
Of ever-burning fire, to scape the doom | 1156 |
Of kindred murder: to no other shrine | |
(So Loxias bade) may I for refuge turn. | |
Bear witness, Argives, in the aftertime, | |
How came on me this dread fatality. | 1160 |
Living, I pass a banished wanderer hence, | |
To leave in death the memory of this cry. | |
|
CHORUS
Nay, but the deed is well; link not thy lips | |
To speech ill-starred, nor vent ill-boding words | 1164 |
Who hast to Argos her full freedom given, | |
Lopping two serpents heads with timely blow. | |
|
ORESTES
Look, look, alas! | |
Handmaidens, seewhat Gorgon shapes throng up, | 1168 |
Dusky their robes and all their hair enwound | |
Snakes coiled with snakesoff, off, I must away! | |
|
CHORUS
Most loyal of all sons unto thy sire, | |
What visions thus distract thee? Hold, abide; | 1172 |
Great was thy victory, and shalt thou fear? | |
|
ORESTES
These are no dreams, void shapes of haunting ill, | |
But clear to sight my mothers hell-hounds come! | |
|
CHORUS
Nay, the fresh bloodshed still imbrues thine hands, | 1176 |
And thence distraction sinks into thy soul. | |
|
ORESTES
O king Apollosee, they swarm and throng | |
Black blood of hatred dripping from their eyes! | |
|
CHORUS
One remedy thou hast; go, touch the shrine | 1180 |
Of Loxias, and rid thee of these woes. | |
|
ORESTES
Ye can behold them not, but I behold them. | |
Up and away! I dare abide no more. [Exit. | |
|
CHORUS
Farewell than as thou mayst,the god thy friend | 1184 |
Guard thee and aid with chances favouring. | |
|
Behold, the storm of woe divine | |
That raves and beats on Atreus line | |
Its great third blast hath blown. | 1188 |
First was Thyestes loathly woe | |
The rueful feast of long ago, | |
On childrens flesh, unknown. | |
And next the kingly chiefs despite, | 1192 |
When he who led the Greeks to fight | |
Was in the bath hewn down. | |
And now the offspring of the race | |
Stands in the third, the saviours place, | 1196 |
To saveor to consume? | |
O whither, ere it be fulfilled, | |
Ere its fierce blast be hushed and stilled, | |
Shall blow the wind of doom? [Exeunt. | 1200 |
|