The Libation Bearers

CHOEPHORI DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. ORESTES. CHORUS OF CAPTIVE WOMEN. ELECTRA. CLYTEMNESTRA. ÆGISTHOS. PYLADES. NURSE. ATTENDANT. [SCENE.-The royal palace in ARGOS, as in the previous tragedy. The tomb of AGAMEMNON is seen in the orchestra. ORESTES and PYLADES enter in the garb of travellers. They approach the tomb. ORESTES ascends the steps.] CHOEPHORI.* ORESTES THEE, shade-escorting Hermes, I invoke, In Hades guardian of my royal sire,— To me, thy suppliant, be saviour thou, My firm ally, for to this land I come Exile no more ;-on this sepulchral mound Father I call thee,-hearken to my cry!— * * * * * A primal lock, as nurture-gift, I vowed To Inachos, and now this second lock, Grief's token, Father, I devote to thee,- For, absent from thy funeral obsequies, I could not then as mourner weep thy death, Nor speed with outstretched hand thy royal bicr. [The Chorus, arrayed in mourning costume, come forth from the palace. ELECTRA closes the procession.]

But who are these? What means this female train

Conspicuous, in the sable garb of woe?

What may their doleful ministry import?

Doth some new sorrow fall upon our house?

Or do I deem aright that to my sire

They bear libations,-soothings for the dead?

It must be so, for lo, methinks I see,

Steering this way, Electra, my dear sister,

Signal by depth of woe. Oh, grant me, Zeus,

To venge my father's death;-be thou to me

Ally propitious!-Now, my Pylades,

Stand we apart, that I may clearly learn

What may import this suppliant female train.

[They conceal themselves. [While the Chorus encircle the tomb, they sing the following Ode.] Chorus STROPHE I. Sent from the palace, forth I tread, Libations bearing to the dead, With hands swift-clapped and shrill, a doleful train. Marred is my cheek with many a gory stain, Nail-ploughed the new-cut furrows bleed, The while on sateless cries my heart doth feed. Rending my flaxen-tissued vest, With smileless passion, uncontrolled, Grief doth my sorrow-stricken breast Dismantle of the garment's decent fold. ANTISTROPHE I. For thrilling, ay hair-bristling Fear, In Atreus' home dream-prophet-seer, Breathing forth rage in sleep,—at dead of night From the recesses of these royal halls, Rang out a cry of wild affright That heavy on the women's chambers falls. And dream-interpreters proclaim Pledged to the truth, in Heaven's name, That unavenged 'neath earth, the slain Against their slayers wrathfully complain. STROPHE II. Such graceless grace, against the threatened ill Devising cure, (oh fostering earth!) The godless woman sends me to fulfil. To speak the words prescribed I dread; For ah! when blood hath once been shed, Falling to earth, what ransom can be paid? Woe for the sorrow-stricken hearth, The home in ruin laid! By mortals still abhorr'd a cloud, To sunless darkness wed, Doth through the master's fall the dwelling shroud. ANTISTROPHE II. The majesty invincible of old, Matchless, supreme, who filled the ear Of faithful lieges, and their heart controlled, Standeth aloof;-Fear reigneth now, For to Prosperity men bow, Which they as God, ay more than God, revere. But Justice' stroke some swift doth whelm In light who dwell elate ;- While woes from Darkness' glimmering realm †Lingering on others wait;- Others sheer Night enshrouds in blackest fate. STROPHE III. When nurturing earth is blood-drenched, lo Fixed is for aye the vengeance-crying gore ;— And he who shed it, paying Atè's score, †Doth burgeon out in all-entangling woe. ANTISTROPHE III. The bridal couch if man profane, †Hopeless is cure; though in one common flood, To purify the hand defiled by blood, All streams commingling flow, they flow in vain. EPODE. But for myself, through Heaven's command, The captured city's doom I share ;- Led hither from my native land, 'Tis mine the menial's lot to bear. Their acts, whose will my fortune sways, Just or unjust, I needs must praise: †Beneath my vest grief's anguished throes Shrouding, I quell my bitter hate;- While numbed in heart by secret woes, Of my true lords I weep the hapless fate. ELECTRA Ye captive women, ye who tend this home, Since ye are present to escort with me These lustral rites, your counsel now I crave. How, while I pour these off'rings on the tomb, Speak friendly words? and how invoke my Sire? Shall I declare that from a loving wife To her dear lord I bear them? from my mother? My courage fails, nor know I what to speak, Pouring libations on my father's tomb. Or shall I pray, as holy wont enjoins, That to the senders of these chaplets, he Requital may accord, ay! meed of ill. Or, with no mark of honour, silently, For so my father perished, shall I pour These offerings, potion to be drunk by earth, Then, tossing o'er my head the lustral urn, (As one who loathed refuse forth has cast,) With eyes averted, back retrace my steps? Be ye partakers in my counsel, friends, For in this house one common hate we share. Through fear hide not the feelings of your heart; For what is destined waits alike the free And him o'ermastered by another's hand;- If ye have aught more wise to urge, say on. Chorus Thy father's tomb revering as an altar, Since thou commandest, I will speak my thoughts. ELECTRA As thou my father's tomb reverest, speak. Chorus Pour, and high claims uplift for friendly hearts. ELECTRA Among his friends whom thus may I address? Chorus First name thyself and whoso hates Ægisthos. ELECTRA Then for myself and thee pour I this prayer. Chorus Hearing my words, do thou interpret them. ELECTRA Whom else to number with this friendly band? Chorus Think of Orestes though an exile still. ELECTRA 'Tis well,-not vainly hast thou prompted me. Chorus Now for the guilty,—mindful of his death,— ELECTRA What shall I say? unskilled, instruct me thou. Chorus Pray that to them may come or god, or mortal,- ELECTRA As judge or as avenger meanest thou? Chorus Say plainly, who shall death with death requite. ELECTRA May I the gods thus pray nor impious be? Chorus How not requite an enemy with ill? ELECTRA Of powers above the earth and powers below Herald supreme, escorter of the shades, Hermes, now summon to attend my prayer The guardians of my father's house, dread powers, Throned in the nether world, and mother Earth, Who all things bringeth forth, who fosters all, And doth of all receive again the germ. And I, libations pouring to the dead, Thus pray, my Sire invoking;-" Pity me, And dear Orestes pity;-how shall we Rule in our palace-home? for sold, alas! By her who bare us, we as outcasts stray; While, for Ægisthos, 'complice in thy death, Her lord she bartered ;-slavish is my lot, Orestes exiled from his wealth, the while Revel the twain, exulting in thy fall. That home Orestes may at length return, By glad success escorted, I implore. Give ear, my father, and vouchsafe to me A spirit than my mother's chaster far, And hands more pure. For us these orisons; But for thy foes, may thine avenger come, And those be justly slain who slaughtered thee. Thus intermingled with my pious prayer, For them an evil utterance I pour. To us upsend these blessings from below, With gods, and Earth, and Justice conquest-crowned." Over such prayers, libations, lo! I pour. Yours be it now, lifting the solemn wail, To crown with dole the pean of the dead. [While the Chorus sings the following Ode, ELECTRA ascends the steps of the tomb, and pours the libation.] Chorus STROPHE. †Drop ye for the dead Tears with pattering sound; Lustral rain is shed O'er the hallowed mound, From the pure which screeneth bale, While the powers of Evil quail. Hear, O master, at thy tomb, Whispered sounds from sorrow's murky gloom. ANTISTROPHE. Now in measured flow Tune the notes of woe! When will warrior brave, †(War-god strong to save Houses in the dust laid low,) Hurl the spear, from hornèd bow Wing the arrow's deadly flight, Or wield the hilted brand in closing fight? ELECTRA

These earth-drained off'rings hath my sire received.

[She perceives the lock of hair laid by ORESTES.]

Ha! this new argument now ponder ye.

Chorus

What meanest thou? Boundeth my heart with fear?

ELECTRA

Laid on the tomb this lock of hair I see.

Chorus

Shorn from what man, or what deep-girdled maid?

ELECTRA

Who here will guess may easily divine.

Chorus

Although the elder, I from thee would learn.

ELECTRA

There is but one who could have shorn this hair.

Chorus

True, foes are they who with the lock should mourn.

ELECTRA

And certes, it is very like in hue.

Chorus

Like to what tresses? That I fain would learn.

ELECTRA

In sooth it hath the colour of mine own.

Chorus

Then should it be Orestes' stealthy gift?

ELECTRA

The semblance of his clust'ring locks it bears.

Chorus

But hither how could he have dared to come?

ELECTRA

He this shorn lock hath sent to grace his sire.

Chorus Not less bewept by me what now thou sayest, If, living, he may never tread this land. ELECTRA Rolls o'er my heart a surge of bitterness, Smitten am I as with a piercing shaft; And from these eyes, while gazing on this lock, The thirsty drops of sorrow's wintry flood Flow unrestrained. For how may I conceive That other of the townsmen owns this hair? And certes, she who slew him sheared it not, My mother, all unworthy of the name, Who towards her children bears a godless mind. Though not with full assurance may I call This off'ring his, dearest of mortal men, Orestes,-still, hope fawns upon my heart. Alas!— Oh had it, herald-like, a friendly voice, So I by doubt no more should be distraught. Then had it clearly counselled me this lock To loathe, if severed from a foeman's head, Or else, akin to me, had shared my grief, Gracing this tomb, an honour to my sire.

* The libation-pourers.

Chorus But let us call upon the gods, who know In what dire storms, like sailors, we are whirled; Since if by them our safety is ordained, From tiny seed may spring a mighty stock. [ELECTRA, descending the steps of the tomb.] ELECTRA And lo, these traces-yet another sign; Footprints that tally with my own;—and see, Two diverse outlines are impressed, his own, And also of some fellow-wayfarer. The impress of this foot, from heel to toe, Thus measured, hath the symmetry of mine. Travails my heart-disordered is my wit. [ORESTES approaching her.] ORESTES Acknowledging to Heaven thy prayers fulfilled, Pray that the further issue may be blest. ELECTRA What have I won by favour of the gods? ORESTES Him to behold for whom thou long hast prayed. ELECTRA How knowest thou for whom I raised the prayer? ORESTES I know Orestes in thy heart enshrined. ELECTRA And say wherein are now my prayers fulfilled? ORESTES Myself am he;-seck none than me more dear. ELECTRA Stranger, around me wouldst thou weave some snare? ORESTES Myself against myself would then contrive. ELECTRA Wouldest thou mock at my calamity? ORESTES At mine own grief I mocked, mocked I at thine. ELECTRA Art thou Orestes? Thou to whom I speak? ORESTES Myself thou seest, and discernest not; Yet gazing on this lock of mourning hair, And in my footprints marking well my track, Thy fluttered thoughts did paint me to thine eye. This lock, thy brother's, like in hue to thine, Mark well, applying it whence it was shorn; Mark too this garment, by thy shuttle wrought, Scenes of the chase, embroidered by thy hand. Be calm,-through joy lose not thy self-control; For deadly are, I know, those near in blood. ELECTRA Oh! cherished darling of thy father's house, Hope of our race, thou precious seed, long wept, Trusting in thy strong arm thou shalt regain Thy natal home. O fondly loved, in whom Centre four dear affections; for perforce, Thee I must hail as father, and on thee Love for my mother, justly hated, falls; And for my sister, pitilessly slain. My faithful brother hast thou ever been, My pride, my awe;-only may Justice, Strength, With Zeus supreme, third Saviour, aid thy cause. ORESTES Zeus, Zeus, beholder be thou of these woes;- Mark the young brood, reft of their eagle-sire, Who perished in the folds, the snaky toils Of direful serpent;-orphaned they endure The pangs of hunger; not yet strong of wing To carry to the nest the eagle's prey. So mayest thou behold us twain, myself, And her, Electra, offspring sire-bereft, Thus doomed to common exile from our home. ELECTRA And if of sire, who greatly honoured thee With many a sacrifice, thou slay the brood, Whence, from like hand, wilt festive gifts obtain? As none, if thou the eaglets slay, henceforth To mortals will thy trusty omens bear; So, if all withered, ne'er this royal stock On sacrificial days shall aid thy shrine. Provide; from low estate to greatness lift A house which verily now prostrate seems. Chorus Oh children, Saviours of your father's hearth, Forbear, lest some one should o'erhear your words And all, with gossip-loving tongue, rehearse To those in power; whom dead I fain would see Blazing 'mid spirting pine-wood's pitchy brands. ORESTES Of Loxias the mighty oracle Will not betray me; He to this emprize Hounded me on,-against my inmost reins Denouncing freezing curses, should I not Requite the authors of my father's death. Stript bare and goaded on by forfeiture, He bade me slay them as my sire they slew, Declaring I should else atonement make With my own life and many grievous woes. First evils dire, from earth that spring, he showed, Soothing to hostile powers; naming these plagues,— A leprous canker, cleaving to the flesh, That eats with rancorous tooth the vital strength, And through disease blanches the youthful locks; Next of the Furies other dread assaults He pictured, springing from my father's blood. For the dark shafts of those beneath the earth, (The slain who cry for vengeance to their kin,) With frenzy wild, and groundless fear at night, Disturb and harass his distracted soul, Who clearly in the darkness Phobos sees To knit his brow. Thus from the town they chase The wretch all mangled with the brazen scourge. Moreover to such caitiff is denied Or festal cup to share, or solemn pledge, While from the altars, him, a father's wrath Unseen excludes ;-him may no host receive To cleanse, with purifying rite, from guilt;— Till, friendless and dishonoured, dies the wretch, The shrivelled prey of all-destructive doom; Such oracles I needs must trust; and e'en Mistrustful were I, vengeance must be wrought; For many divers promptings mingle here;— The god's command, heart-sorrow for my sire, And indigence hard-pressing: never then Should citizens, of mortals most renowned, Who, with heroic spirit, wasted Troy, Be slaves of women twain. For, sooth, his soul Is womanish, as trial quick may tell. Chorus Ye mighty Fates, end ye the great emprize, As Right, with Heaven's high sanction, hath decreed ;- " Let tongue of Hatred pay back tongue of Hate;" Thus with her mighty utt'rance Justice cries, Due penalty exacting for each deed. " Let murder on the murderous stroke await!”— "Doer of wrong must suffer."-This sage lore, Tradition utters, trebly hoar. ORESTES STROPHE I. What can I, Sire unblest, Prayerfully sing, Thee from thy couch of rest Hither to wing? Lo! in that drear confine, Darkness is day! Welcome to Atreus' line, Pour we the lay! Chorus STROPHE II. My son, the wasting jaws of fire Quell not the spirit of the dead, Full late he manifests his ire.- When mourned is he whose blood is shed, The slayer is revealed. In time, For slaughtered parents, righteous cry Of orphans, raised unceasingly, Availeth to search out the hidden crime. ELECTRA ANTISTROPHE I. In turn, my tearful strain, O Father, hear! Hark how thy children twain Chant anthems drear! Exiles beside thy tomb, Sad, suppliant pair ;— No hope relieves our gloom, Triumphs despair. Chorus STROPHE. And yet, should so the god ordain, Hereafter, gladder notes shall sound;- Instead of this funereal strain In palace-halls shall ring amain A pæan to the dear one newly found. ORESTES STROPHE III. Oh haddest thou, 'neath Ilion's walls, But perished, by some Lycian spear Transfixed, my father, to thy halls Glory bequeathing, while thy proud career A lustre o'er the path had shed Which now in gloom thy children tread; Beyond the wave, by numbers reared, a mound, No burthen to thy house, thou then hadst found. Chorus ANTISTROPHE II. Dear to the dear ones in the fight Who perished nobly, thou hadst lain,— With majesty arrayed, and might, A king in Pluto's gloomy reign, Serving the great ones who command In Hades. For in upper day King was he over kings, whose hand The fatal sceptre wields which men obey. ELECTRA ANTISTROPHE III. Nay, what the need 'neath Ilion's wall With other victims of the spear, Father, for thee in death to fall, And near Scamander grace a foreign bier? Oh rather might the murderous twain Themselves have met their death-blow, slain †By kindred hands, so from afar the tale Had reached thine ear, shielded thyself from bale. Chorus [MESODE.] Richer, my child, thy words than gold;- Bliss Hyperborean they excel. †It may not be! Of scourge twofold The clang resounds.-Already dwell 'Neath earth your champions; they who hold Loathed empire here have hands unclean.- On children falls the pang most keen. ELECTRA STROPHE IV. Like dart thy word of dread, Piercing mine ear, hath sped. Zeus, Zeus, upsending from below Late thine avenging blow,— Upon man's daring, crafty deed, †To parents thou dost deal their righteous meed. Chorus STROPHE V. Mine be it, in exultant strain, To celebrate the howl of pain From caitiff smitten to the death, From woman yielding up her breath! †For why conceal the frenzied throes That shake my troubled soul? There blows At my heart's prow a tempest dire ;- 'Tis rancour's breath, 'tis vengeful ire. ORESTES ANTISTROPHE IV. Oh that, with arm of might Great Zeus, who guards the right, †Woe, woe, would strike the guilty pair! Come peace to this domain ! Just meed may the unjust obtain ! Earth, and ye powers of Hades, hear my prayer. Chorus ANTISTROPHE. For law it is, when on the plain Blood hath been shed, new blood must fall. Carnage doth to the Fury call; Avenger of the earlier slain, She comes, new Ruin leading in her train. ELECTRA STROPHE VI. Earth, and ye powers who rule below, †Behold, and ye dread curses of the slain, Behold us, outcast, miserable twain, Poor remnant of the Atridæ;-whither go? Oh! sov'reign Zeus, what refuge from our woe? Chorus ANTISTROPHE V. Throbbeth my woman's heart with fear, The while thy dirge assails mine ear; At one time hopeful courage wanes, And darkness o'er my inmost reins Broods, as I list the doleful sound; †Then once again my changeful heart, With hope elate, bids grief depart, And fair the prospect smileth round. ORESTES ANTISTROPHE VI. Can grief by flattery be subdued, Or soothed by fawning? No, to quell the pain By parent's hate engendered, charms are vain; Like savage wolf that ravens for its food, Tameless from birth is sorrow's torturing brood. Chorus STROPHE VII. With Arian beat I strike my breast; My outstretched hands in wild unrest, With Kissian mourner's rhythmic woe, In quick succession,—to and fro, Shower from all quarters blow on blow; While with the hurly rings amain My battered head and my distracted brain. ELECTRA Cruel, all-daring, Mother, woe! Alas, as foeman buries foe, A king, no trusty liegemen near, Thy wedded lord without a tear, Thou hadst the heart unwailed to send below. ORESTES STROPHE VIII. All the dishonour thou hast shown: Therefore shall she our Sire's disgrace atone, Far as the gods prevail, Far as my hands avail; Then may I perish when she lieth prone! Chorus ANTISTROPHE VIII. Maimed was he;-let this whet thy hate; And with like outrage him she did entomb, That for thy life his fate Might be too sore a weight. Such was thy Father's ignominious doom! ELECTRA ANTISTROPHE VII. Our Father's lot thy words proclaim; While I, despised, a thing of nought, Shut out like vicious cur with shame, Forgot to smile; alone, I sought Solace in weeping,-anguish-fraught. Hearing the tale my lips impart, Grave it, my brother, on thy inmost heart. Chorus Piercing thine ear, oh may my word Find access to the depths within! True is the tale. Thy spirit gird To hear what yet thou hast not heard! Now, with undaunted heart the strife begin. ORESTES STROPHE IX. Thine aid, O Father, to thy dear ones lend! ELECTRA Weeping sad tears, my voice with his I blend. Chorus Our prayers, in concert, to the shades descend; Give ear, and rising to the day Against our foes join thou the fray. ORESTES ANTISTROPHE IX. Ares shall cope with Ares,-Right with Right. ELECTRA Ye gods, give righteous judgment in the fight. Chorus Hearing your prayers, I tremble: hid in night, Tarries from Eld the doom of Fate; Invoked it cometh, sure, though late. ORESTES and ELECTRA STROPHE X. Oh curse that in our house doth reign! Discordant Atè's murd'rous blow! Alas intolerable pain! Alas for cureless woe! Chorus ANTISTROPHE X. No foreign aid can bring relief; No! from yourselves the cure must flow. 'Tis blood must staunch your household grief. So chant the gods below. Chorus-Leader Hear, blessed powers; Beneath the earth our orisons attend! And with aspèct benign, Succour and conquest to the children send! ORESTES My Father, in no kingly fashion slain, To me, thy suppliant, grant to sway thy house. ELECTRA I too, my Father, need thy gracious aid, To flee, when wrought is base Ægisthos' doom, ORESTES So mortal men to thee shall dedicate The solemn banquet;-else, unhonoured thou, When grateful reek rich off'rings to the dead. ELECTRA Nuptial libations of my heritage I too will bring from the paternal home, And chief in honour will this tomb adorn. ORESTES O Earth, my sire upsend to watch the fray. ELECTRA O Proserpine, grant beautiful success! ORESTES Think, Father, of the bath that reaved thy life. ELECTRA Think of the net in which they tangled thee. ORESTES In shackles, not of brass, wast thou ensnared. ELECTRA Basely enveloped in the treacherous folds. ORESTES Art thou not roused by these reproaches, Sire? ELECTRA Dost thou not lift erect thine honoured head? ORESTES Either send Justice, ally to thy friends, Or give them in like grasp thy foes to hold, If thou, o'erthrown, wouldst victor be in turn. ELECTRA And hearken, Father, this my last appeal; Behold thy fledglings nestled on thy tomb; Pity thy progeny of either sex, Nor Pelops' remnant seed exterminate; For in their life thou livest, even in death. For children are as voices that prolong The dead man's fame; like corks they float the net, The flaxen line upbearing from the deep. Thyself art saved, if thou dost grant our prayer. Chorus Unblamed in sooth have ye your speech prolonged, Due to his tomb and unlamented fate. But since to action now thy soul is braced, To work forthwith! and in the god confide. ORESTES So be it! yet not out of course I ask What mean these off'rings? By what motive swayed, Seeks she too late to med'cine cureless bale? For to the dead, who heeds it not, she sends A sorry tribute ;—I divine it not! Her crime o'ertops the gift;—for should we pour Earth's treasures to atone for one man's blood, Vain were the toil;-so runs the ancient saw. But if thou knowest answer to my prayer. Chorus That can I, son, for I was there ;-by dreams, And troublous terrors of the night appalled, The godless woman sent these sacred rites. ORESTES Heard ye the dream, and truly can rehearse? Chorus She, as herself relates, a dragon bare. ORESTES And what the scope, the issue, of the dream? Chorus In swathing-clothes she moored it as a child. ORESTES What nurture might the new-born horror crave? Chorus She, in her dream, herself held forth the breast. ORESTES How by the pest the nipple then unscathed? Chorus With nurture-milk it sucked the clotted blood. ORESTES Not vain the dream but by her husband sent;- Chorus In terorr shrieked she, waking up from sleep, And many torches, in the darkness quenched, Gleamed through the palace in our mistress' aid; Libations to the tomb forthwith she sends Devising for her woe a sovereign cure. ORESTES I to this earth and to my father's tomb Pray that this dream be consummate in me. And as I read it, sooth, it tallies well. For if the snake, quitting the self-same womb, Was girded straightway with my swathing-clothes, And, gaping round the breast that nourished me, Sucked with my nurture-milk the clotted blood, While she in terror, at the portent shrieked ;— Needs must it be, that she who reared the pest A forceful death must die. I, dragon-like, Myself shall slay her, as this dream declares.— As augur of these portents thee I choose. Chorus So let it be! But now direct thy friends, These how to act, or those aloof to bide. ORESTES Hear then, in brief;— Sister, go thou within; But you I counsel to conceal my plans. For as with guile an honoured man they slew, Themselves with guile shall be entrapped, and die In the same toils, foretold by Loxias, Apollo Lord, no faithless seer of yore.— For I, equipped for travel, with this man, With Pylades, will reach the outer gate; I as a stranger;-he as ransom-friend ;- Familiar both with the Parnassian speech, The tongue of Phocis we will imitate. And if no friendly warder, on the plea That by dire evils is the house possessed, Will give us entrance, we without will bide, Until some passer guess our plight, and say, "If that Ægisthos knoweth, being at home, Why 'gainst the suppliant doth he shut the door?" If, passing then the threshold of the gates, Him I discover on my father's seat,- Or should he meet me face to face, and set His eyes on me, ere he can speak the word, "Whence is this stranger?"—I will lay him dead, Spitting his body round my nimble steel. The Fury thus, of gore insatiate, Shall blood untempered quaff, third, crowning draught. [To ELECTRA.] Go thou,-keep watchful guard within the house, That all, well ordered, fitly may combine. [To the Chorus.] To you a tongue of wisdom I commend, To speak in season, or from speech refrain.- [To PYLADES.] And for the rest let this man look to it, When in the strife of swords this arm hath won. [Exeunt ORESTES and PYLADES. ELECTRA enters the palace.] Chorus STROPHE I. Full many a horror drear And ghastly, Earth doth rear;- With direful monsters teems encircling Ocean; Meteors, with threatening sheen, Hang heaven and earth between ;— The tempest's wrath still raves with wild commotion; These, and dire wingèd things, and things that crawl, Thou mayst describe them all. ANTISTROPHE I. But man's audacious might What words can paint aright, Or woman's daring spirit who may tell? Her passion's frenzied throes, Co-mates of mortal woes? For love unlovely, when its evil spell 'Mong brutes or men the feebler sex befools, Conjugial bands o'errules. STROPHE II. Let him confirm the truth I sing, Whose thoughts soar not on Folly's wing, Knowing full well what Thestios' daughter planned*;— Her fiery plot, child-murdering; Wretched, who burnt her son's coeval brand. Born with him when he cried First from the mother's womb;- Like-aged with him it died, When dawned his day of doom. ANTISTROPHE II. Needs must we loathe another dame, The bloody Scylla, known to fame,* Who lured by Minos' gifts of fine-wrought gold, Neck-gear from Crete,-devoid of shame, Nisos her sire, a friend to foemen, sold. Deep-breathing, free from care, In slumber while he lay, Ruthless she cut th' immortal hair : And Hermes seized his prey. STROPHE III. But since these direful woes have burst, †Untimely, into song:- Be the foul wedlock too accursed, That doth this palace wrong.— And cursed be the plot that snared (By woman's brain devised,) The armed chief who foemen scared, Whom faithful lieges prized. Dear is to me the unstained hearth, and dear In woman's hand the unaudacious spear. ANTISTROPHE III. But first of woes in every clime, The Lemnian is deplored ;—* And still the most detested crime As Lemnian is abhorred. Branded with infamy by men, The impious disappear; For whom the righteous gods condemn, No mortal dares revere.— The lore which thus we chant in choral strain, Say ye, doth Reason at her bar arraign? STROPHE IV. Right through the lungs doth Justice' hand Drive home the bitter steel; †For all must perish who withstand Her mandates, and with reckless heel, Trample high Jove's command. ANTISTROPHE IV. Firm based is Justice; Fate of yore Forged weapon for the blow; Deep-souled Erinys doth restore Th' avenger to his home, and, lo! He pays the bloody score. [Enter ORESTES and PYLADES, with Attendants, all in the garb of travellers.] ORESTES [Knocking at the gate.] Boy, hear the knocking, at the outer gate;- Who is within? Hola! Again I call.- For the third time I crave a parley here, If that Ægisthos heeds the stranger's rights. Attendant Well, well, I hear. Who art thou, friend, and whence? ORESTES Me to the rulers of this house announce, For unto them, bearer of news, I come. Haste, for Night's dusky car rolls on apace, And time it is for weary traveller Anchor to drop in hospitable home. Let one in trust, a woman bearing rule, Come forth; yet more decorous were a man. For when by bashfulness the tongue is swayed Darkened is speech ;—boldly man speaks to man, And tells his message forth without reserve. [Exit Attendant.] [CLYTEMNESTRA comes forth from the palace with Attendants.] CLYTEMNESTRA Speak, strangers, what your need? for here is found Whate'er beseemeth royal halls like these ;— Warm baths, the easeful couch that charmeth toil, And fair regard from justice-beaming eyes. But if your mission here doth counsel crave, 'Tis men's concern:-we will inform them straight. ORESTES From Phocis I, a Daulian, stranger here.- What time my home I left, for Argos bound, Starting on foot, with baggage self-equipped, A man to me unknown, as I to him, Met me, inquired my route and told me his. Strophios, the Phocian, as in talk I learned. "Stranger," he said, "since Argos is thy goal, Say to the parents,”—strictly mark my words,—— "Dead is Orestes;-grave it on thy mind;- Whether the counsel of his friends prevail To bring him home, or give him sepulture, Alien for aye;-bear thou their mandates back; For now the brazen urn doth shroud from sight The ashes of the hero duly wept." Such words I heard, and tell thee;—if to those Who here bear rule I speak, kin to the dead, I know not;-but 'tis meet his sire should know. ELECTRA Woe's me! Then are we utterly undone! O household Fury, hard to grapple with, Alas how many, seemingly secure, Thy ruthless arrow hitteth from afar, While wretched me thou hast stript bare of friends. And now, Orestes, who, by lucky chance, His foot from ruin's slough had well-nigh freed, Cancels by death our cherished hope, sole cure Of the ill revelry that reigneth here. ORESTES With hosts so richly dowered I fain had sought Acquaintance and kind cheer, as messenger Bearing more welcome tidings; for what bond More friendly than of stranger to his hosts? Yet not to consummate to friends a charge So weighty deemed I an impiety, After assent and pledges of good-will. CLYTEMNESTRA Worthy regard not less shalt thou receive; Nor have the less fair welcome to this house. Another all the same had brought thy news. But time it is that strangers who have spent The day in travel should their strength recruit. [To an Attendant.] To the men's chambers usher him as guest, His escort too, and fellow-traveller. There be they tended as befits this house. Do ye my will as who must give account. Ourselves will to the rulers of this house Impart the tidings, and not poor in friends, We will take counsel touching this mischance.

* The story of Meleager, as related by Phoenix to Achilles (Il. ix. 529), is fundamentally opposed to that of the later poets. In Homer nothing is heard of the fatal brand. Meleager had, in some unfortunate fray, killed his mother's brother; upon which his mother solemnly cursed him, and prayed to Pluto and Persephone for his death. At this he was so indignant (or so paralysed for battle by believing in the curse), that he refused to defend his native city, Calydon, at a critical moment, and was only at last prevailed on by his wife to take arms and save it. Here the story ends in Homer; though he says that the Fury who stalks in darkness heard the mother's curse. According to the later poets, Meleager had slain seven brothers of his mother. At his birth she had been informed by the Fates that he would live until a certain log of wood then burning on the hearth was consumed. On this she snatched it off, extinguished it, and kept it carefully in a chest. But now, in rage for the loss of so many brothers, she threw it into the fire, and forthwith her son perished. * Nisos, king of Megara, is said to have had on his head a certain purple lock, upon which, according to the words of an oracle, his life depended. Scylla, his daughter, knew it, and bribed by a golden necklace, the gift of Minos, king of Crete, she cut the fatal lock, and thus caused her father's death. * Herodotus, after relating how the Lemnian women had been put to death by their husbands, adds, " From this crime, and that which the women perpetrated before this, who, with the assistance of Thoas, killed their own husbands, all cruel actions are wont to be called Lemnian throughout Greece.”— (vi. 138.)

ORESTES O Earth, my sire upsend to watch the fray. ELECTRA O Proserpine, grant beautiful success! ORESTES Think, Father, of the bath that reaved thy life. ELECTRA Think of the net in which they tangled thee. ORESTES In shackles, not of brass, wast thou ensnared. ELECTRA Basely enveloped in the treacherous folds. ORESTES Art thou not roused by these reproaches, Sire? ELECTRA Dost thou not lift erect thine honoured head? ORESTES Either send Justice, ally to thy friends, Or give them in like grasp thy foes to hold, If thou, o'erthrown, wouldst victor be in turn. ELECTRA And hearken, Father, this my last appeal; Behold thy fledglings nestled on thy tomb; Pity thy progeny of either sex, Nor Pelops' remnant seed exterminate; For in their life thou livest, even in death. For children are as voices that prolong The dead man's fame; like corks they float the net, The flaxen line upbearing from the deep. Thyself art saved, if thou dost grant our prayer. Chorus Unblamed in sooth have ye your speech prolonged, Due to his tomb and unlamented fate. But since to action now thy soul is braced, To work forthwith! and in the god confide. ORESTES So be it! yet not out of course I ask What mean these off'rings? By what motive swayed, Seeks she too late to med'cine cureless bale? For to the dead, who heeds it not, she sends A sorry tribute ;—I divine it not! Her crime o'ertops the gift;—for should we pour Earth's treasures to atone for one man's blood, Vain were the toil;-so runs the ancient saw. But if thou knowest answer to my prayer. Chorus That can I, son, for I was there ;-by dreams, And troublous terrors of the night appalled, The godless woman sent these sacred rites. ORESTES Heard ye the dream, and truly can rehearse? Chorus She, as herself relates, a dragon bare. ORESTES And what the scope, the issue, of the dream? Chorus In swathing-clothes she moored it as a child. ORESTES What nurture might the new-born horror crave? Chorus She, in her dream, herself held forth the breast. ORESTES How by the pest the nipple then unscathed? Chorus With nurture-milk it sucked the clotted blood. ORESTES Not vain the dream but by her husband sent;- Chorus In terorr shrieked she, waking up from sleep, And many torches, in the darkness quenched, Gleamed through the palace in our mistress' aid; Libations to the tomb forthwith she sends Devising for her woe a sovereign cure. ORESTES I to this earth and to my father's tomb Pray that this dream be consummate in me. And as I read it, sooth, it tallies well. For if the snake, quitting the self-same womb, Was girded straightway with my swathing-clothes, And, gaping round the breast that nourished me, Sucked with my nurture-milk the clotted blood, While she in terror, at the portent shrieked ;— Needs must it be, that she who reared the pest A forceful death must die. I, dragon-like, Myself shall slay her, as this dream declares.— As augur of these portents thee I choose. Chorus So let it be! But now direct thy friends, These how to act, or those aloof to bide. ORESTES Hear then, in brief;— Sister, go thou within; But you I counsel to conceal my plans. For as with guile an honoured man they slew, Themselves with guile shall be entrapped, and die In the same toils, foretold by Loxias, Apollo Lord, no faithless seer of yore.— For I, equipped for travel, with this man, With Pylades, will reach the outer gate; I as a stranger;-he as ransom-friend ;- Familiar both with the Parnassian speech, The tongue of Phocis we will imitate. And if no friendly warder, on the plea That by dire evils is the house possessed, Will give us entrance, we without will bide, Until some passer guess our plight, and say, "If that Ægisthos knoweth, being at home, Why 'gainst the suppliant doth he shut the door?" If, passing then the threshold of the gates, Him I discover on my father's seat,- Or should he meet me face to face, and set His eyes on me, ere he can speak the word, "Whence is this stranger?"—I will lay him dead, Spitting his body round my nimble steel. The Fury thus, of gore insatiate, Shall blood untempered quaff, third, crowning draught. [To ELECTRA.] Go thou,-keep watchful guard within the house, That all, well ordered, fitly may combine. [To the Chorus.] To you a tongue of wisdom I commend, To speak in season, or from speech refrain.- [To PYLADES.] And for the rest let this man look to it, When in the strife of swords this arm hath won. [Exeunt ORESTES and PYLADES. ELECTRA enters the palace.] Chorus STROPHE I. Full many a horror drear And ghastly, Earth doth rear;- With direful monsters teems encircling Ocean; Meteors, with threatening sheen, Hang heaven and earth between ;— The tempest's wrath still raves with wild commotion; These, and dire wingèd things, and things that crawl, Thou mayst describe them all. ANTISTROPHE I. But man's audacious might What words can paint aright, Or woman's daring spirit who may tell? Her passion's frenzied throes, Co-mates of mortal woes? For love unlovely, when its evil spell 'Mong brutes or men the feebler sex befools, Conjugial bands o'errules. STROPHE II. Let him confirm the truth I sing, Whose thoughts soar not on Folly's wing, Knowing full well what Thestios' daughter planned*;— Her fiery plot, child-murdering; Wretched, who burnt her son's coeval brand. Born with him when he cried First from the mother's womb;- Like-aged with him it died, When dawned his day of doom. ANTISTROPHE II. Needs must we loathe another dame, The bloody Scylla, known to fame,* Who lured by Minos' gifts of fine-wrought gold, Neck-gear from Crete,-devoid of shame, Nisos her sire, a friend to foemen, sold. Deep-breathing, free from care, In slumber while he lay, Ruthless she cut th' immortal hair : And Hermes seized his prey. STROPHE III. But since these direful woes have burst, †Untimely, into song:- Be the foul wedlock too accursed, That doth this palace wrong.— And cursed be the plot that snared (By woman's brain devised,) The armed chief who foemen scared, Whom faithful lieges prized. Dear is to me the unstained hearth, and dear In woman's hand the unaudacious spear. ANTISTROPHE III. But first of woes in every clime, The Lemnian is deplored ;—* And still the most detested crime As Lemnian is abhorred. Branded with infamy by men, The impious disappear; For whom the righteous gods condemn, No mortal dares revere.— The lore which thus we chant in choral strain, Say ye, doth Reason at her bar arraign? STROPHE IV. Right through the lungs doth Justice' hand Drive home the bitter steel; †For all must perish who withstand Her mandates, and with reckless heel, Trample high Jove's command. ANTISTROPHE IV. Firm based is Justice; Fate of yore Forged weapon for the blow; Deep-souled Erinys doth restore Th' avenger to his home, and, lo! He pays the bloody score. [Enter ORESTES and PYLADES, with Attendants, all in the garb of travellers.] ORESTES [Knocking at the gate.] Boy, hear the knocking, at the outer gate;- Who is within? Hola! Again I call.- For the third time I crave a parley here, If that Ægisthos heeds the stranger's rights. Attendant Well, well, I hear. Who art thou, friend, and whence? ORESTES Me to the rulers of this house announce, For unto them, bearer of news, I come. Haste, for Night's dusky car rolls on apace, And time it is for weary traveller Anchor to drop in hospitable home. Let one in trust, a woman bearing rule, Come forth; yet more decorous were a man. For when by bashfulness the tongue is swayed Darkened is speech ;—boldly man speaks to man, And tells his message forth without reserve. [Exit Attendant.] [CLYTEMNESTRA comes forth from the palace with Attendants.] CLYTEMNESTRA Speak, strangers, what your need? for here is found Whate'er beseemeth royal halls like these ;— Warm baths, the easeful couch that charmeth toil, And fair regard from justice-beaming eyes. But if your mission here doth counsel crave, 'Tis men's concern:-we will inform them straight. ORESTES From Phocis I, a Daulian, stranger here.- What time my home I left, for Argos bound, Starting on foot, with baggage self-equipped, A man to me unknown, as I to him, Met me, inquired my route and told me his. Strophios, the Phocian, as in talk I learned. "Stranger," he said, "since Argos is thy goal, Say to the parents,”—strictly mark my words,—— "Dead is Orestes;-grave it on thy mind;- Whether the counsel of his friends prevail To bring him home, or give him sepulture, Alien for aye;-bear thou their mandates back; For now the brazen urn doth shroud from sight The ashes of the hero duly wept." Such words I heard, and tell thee;—if to those Who here bear rule I speak, kin to the dead, I know not;-but 'tis meet his sire should know. ELECTRA Woe's me! Then are we utterly undone! O household Fury, hard to grapple with, Alas how many, seemingly secure, Thy ruthless arrow hitteth from afar, While wretched me thou hast stript bare of friends. And now, Orestes, who, by lucky chance, His foot from ruin's slough had well-nigh freed, Cancels by death our cherished hope, sole cure Of the ill revelry that reigneth here. ORESTES With hosts so richly dowered I fain had sought Acquaintance and kind cheer, as messenger Bearing more welcome tidings; for what bond More friendly than of stranger to his hosts? Yet not to consummate to friends a charge So weighty deemed I an impiety, After assent and pledges of good-will. CLYTEMNESTRA Worthy regard not less shalt thou receive; Nor have the less fair welcome to this house. Another all the same had brought thy news. But time it is that strangers who have spent The day in travel should their strength recruit. [To an Attendant.] To the men's chambers usher him as guest, His escort too, and fellow-traveller. There be they tended as befits this house. Do ye my will as who must give account. Ourselves will to the rulers of this house Impart the tidings, and not poor in friends, We will take counsel touching this mischance. [Exeunt all except the Chorus.] Chorus Dear handmaidens! Sisters dear! When, oh when, full voiced and clear, Shall we, for Orestes' sake, Loud the joyous Paan wake? Hallowed Earth! Oh shrine revered! Funeral barrow high upreared, O'er the naval hero-king, Now give ear, deliv'rance bring! Strikes the hour;-persuasive Guile Enters now the lists. The while Hermes leads to watch the fight Of murd'rous swords and subtle wile, †Erinys, brood of Night. [Enter KILISSA, the Nurse, weeping.] Chorus-Leader This stranger, as it seems, is causing bale, For I behold Orestes' nurse in tears; Where wendest thou, Kilissa, past the gates? Sorrow, I trow, unbidden goes with thee. Nurse My mistress bade me summon with all speed Ægisthos to the strangers, that he may More clearly learn, as man from man, this tale Newly announced. Before the menial train, She, at the tidings by these strangers brought, 'Neath mournful eyes a lurking smile hath veiled, Exulting in events joyous for her, But to this house with direst issue fraught;— But he no doubt will in his soul rejoice, Hearing the tale. Alas! unhappy me! How did the ancient troubles, hard to bear, Whose blended horror darkened Atreus' house, With anguish pierce my heart! But ne'er before, Have I a sorrow like to this endured. All other ills I patiently have borne, But dear Orestes, darling of my soul, Whom from his mother's womb I fondly reared, Whose piercing summons waked me up at night, And for whose sake full many a fruitless toil I bore ungrudging;-for like lamb unweaned, The witless infant we perforce must rear According to its mood;-how otherwise! For while in swathing-clothes no voice it hath, When pressed by hunger, thirst, or nature's call, But wilful is each tender organ's play. Such wants presaging, ay, and oft deceived, As cleanser of his swaddling bands, I ween, Fuller and nurse had common duty there. I thus installed in double handicraft, The young Orestes for his father reared. Oh wretched me to hear that he is dead; But now I go, the spoiler of this house To seek ;-right gladly will he learn the tale. Chorus

And how equipped doth she then bid him come?

Nurse

How? Speak again that I may clearly know.

Chorus

Whether with body-guards, or all alone?

Nurse

Spear-bearing followers she bids him bring.

Chorus Bear not this message to our hateful lord. But with all speed do thou with cheerful mien Bid him approach, that fearless he may hear; For crooked word the messenger makes straight. Nurse

How! art thou sound in mind with news so sad?

Chorus

But haply Zeus a change-wind may vouchsafe.

Nurse

Nay, with Orestes vanished all our hopes.

Chorus

Not yet! Dull prophet might interpret here.

Nurse

What! knowest aught beyond what hath been told?

Chorus Go, bear thy message. Do as we enjoin, What the gods purpose, that will they effect. Nurse Be it, I go and will obey thy words, Fair be the issue by the gift of Heaven! [Exit.] Chorus STROPHE I. Sire of Olympian gods, thy suppliant calls! Oh waft propitious Fortune to these halls! Dispensing justice with omniscient might, †Bless thou my longing sight! This boon I crave! Guard him, great Zeus, and save! STROPHE II. Him, in these halls ancestral, place Before his foeman ;-bring them face to face! Him if thou lift to greatness, Power divine, Requital double, triple, shall be thine. ANTISTROPHE I. Of him whom thou didst love behold the son Orphaned, a colt harnessed in sorrow's trace; †Set thou a limit to his toilsome race! Grant him his course to run, With steps firm planted, and well-ordered pace! STROPHE III. You too, frequenting the recess †Of wealth-rejoicing homes, I now address; Hear, ye consentient Gods! Through bloody deed Retributive, wash out the gore, Dread heirloom from those slain of yore. Let murder in this palace cease to breed, When paid the bloody score! MESODE. Thou tenant of the cave,-great Spirit, Give to the hero to inherit His halls ancestral;-may his eyes, Fearless and bright, Peer freely forth from sorrow's veilèd night. ANTISTROPHE III. †May Maia's son, well-versed in guile, Upon the righteous cause propitious smile! Dark words and subtle speaking, he by night Men's eyes o'ercloudeth, nor by day More manifest his secret way. Yet many a deed, in darkness veiled awhile, By him is brought to light. STROPHE IV. The work achieved, we'll chant the glorious ode; Our woman's strain, Propitious, with the mourners' stringed refrain, Shall ransom this abode. †Then shall we own the sway of righteous laws, While Atè from our friends her curse withdraws. ANTISTROPHE II. When the fierce business must be done, When in thine ear she whimpers forth, "My Son;" Steeling thy heart, recall thy slaughtered sire, †And cónsummate unblamed the vengeance dire. ANTISTROPHE IV. With heart of Perseus steadfast in thy breast, For the dear love Of friends below the earth, and friends above, †Complete the sacrifice;— Within the house plant thou grim Death,-dire guest,- And let the murderer forfeit murder's price. [Enter ÆGISTHOS.] ÆGISTHOS Not uninvoked I come, but hither called;- For strangers, as I learn, are here arrived, Bearers of news, unwelcome to our ears,- Orestes' death, which, charged upon this house, From former wound still ulcerate and sore, To me a burden were, dripping with fear. But say, these tidings must I hold for true, Or rumours deem them, coined by women's fears, That aimless cleave the air, and aimless die? Knowest thou aught that may my mind assure? Chorus We have but heard: go thou thyself within. Question these strangers ;—second-hand reports Avail not as to hear the tale oneself. ÆGISTHOS Fain would I see the messenger and learn Whether himself was present at the death, Or if from blind report this tale he heard; A wakeful mind he will not soon deceive. [Exit into the palace.] Chorus Zeus, great Zeus, how frame my cry Thine aid to win? How, invoking thee on high, My strain begin? For anon with murderous blow, Either shall the gory blade Atreus' royal house o'erthrow,— Prone in dust for ever laid,— Or in Freedom's sacred name, Kindling fire and holy light, Shall the rightful heir reclaim †Wealth and crown,-his twofold right. Sole against the tyrant pair, To such deadly grapple hies Agamemnon's godlike heir;- None to follow if he dies!* Crown, oh crown, the great emprize! ÆGISTHOS [Behind the scene.] Alas, woe's me! Alas! Chorus Hark! Hark! again! How is't? What's wrought within? Stand we aloof while Slaughter does her work, Lest we as partners in the deed appear: For now achieved the issue is of strife. [The Chorus retire to the further side of the tomb.] Servant [Rushing out of the palace.] Oh woe! oh grievous woe! our master's slain; Yet once again, and for the third time, woe. Ægisthos is no more. With utmost speed [He knocks at the door of the women's palace.] With crowbars from the hinges heave the doors; The women's rooms unclose ;-strength need we here, Not for the slain; what booteth aid to him? Alas! alas! what, shout I to the deaf, Or clamour vainly in dull sleepers' ears? What doeth Clytemnestra? Where is she? Her neck it seems toucheth the razor's edge; Herself, ere long shall perish, justly slain. CLYTEMNESTRA [Enters hurriedly, unattended.] What is't? What tumult raise ye in the house? Servant The dead, I tell you, now the living slays. CLYTEMNESTRA Alas! of these dark words the sense I catch; Through guile we perish, as through guile we slew. A deadly axe reach hither ;— [Exit Servant.]

We shall see

Whether I'm vanquished here, or vanquisher; For to this crisis hath the evil come. [ORESTES and PYLADES come forth from the palace, the door of which remains open.] ORESTES Thee too I seek,-that caitiff hath his due. CLYTEMNESTRA Alas! beloved Ægisthos, art thou dead? ORESTES Dost love this man? With him, in the same tomb, Then shalt thou lie ;-still faithful found in death. CLYTEMNESTRA Hold! hold! my son ;-Revere, my child, this breast From which, a sleeping infant, thou full oft, With toothless gums, thy nurture-milk hast sucked. ORESTES Speak, Pylades;-Through filial reverence, Shall I forbear to shed a mother's blood? PYLADES The Pythian oracles, still unfulfilled, Where are they, and thine own firm-plighted vows? Choose all for foemen rather than the gods. ORESTES Thou hast prevailed; wisely thou promptest me; [To CLYTEMNESTRA.] So follow;-by his side I thee would slay. In life thou didst exalt him o'er my sire; Since him thou lovest, sleep with him in death; Whom thou wast bound to love thou didst abhor. CLYTEMNESTRA I nourished thee;-with thee I would grow old. ORESTES Thou, slayer of my father, dwell with me! CLYTEMNESTRA Fate was, my child, accomplice in these woes. ORESTES And Fate doth now no less thy death ordain. CLYTEMNESTRA Dost thou not reverence thy mother's curse? ORESTES My mother, thou didst cast me forth for woe. CLYTEMNESTRA Not outcast wast thou in a friendly house. ORESTES Sold doubly was I, scion of free sire. CLYTEMNESTRA Where then the price for which I bartered thee? ORESTES It shameth me, in sooth, to charge thee home. CLYTEMNESTRA But tell with mine the errors of thy sire. ORESTES Sitting at home blame not abroad who toils. CLYTEMNESTRA Wretched we women severed from our mates. ORESTES The husband's toil supports the wife at home. CLYTEMNESTRA Thy mother, O my child, art nerved to slay? ORESTES Thyself art guilty of thy death, not I. CLYTEMNESTRA Take heed, beware thy mother's vengeful hounds. ORESTES Those of my sire how 'scape if thee I spare? CLYTEMNESTRA Living, vain moanings to a tomb I pour. ORESTES Ay, for my father's fate doth work thy doom. CLYTEMNESTRA Ah me! this man the snake I bare and reared. ORESTES True prophet was thy dream-engendered fear. Him thou didst slay whom thou shouldst not have slain. So doom unseemly suffer in thy turn. [ORESTES drags his mother into the palace, followed by PYLADES.] Chorus F'en of this pair I weep the twofold woe. But since Orestes hath the bloody height Achieved of dire revenge, one hope remains, Not quenched the eye of Atreus' royal house. STROPHE I. As fell at last on Priam's guilty race The late avenging Fate ;- A twofold lion now, a twofold Mars Treads Atreus' halls elate. Sent from the Pythian shrine By oracle divine, Conquest doth now the fugitive await. STROPHE II. Hail jubilant the house redeemed from bale! The godless pair no more Shall waste its gathered store. Hail, joyous riddance, hail! ANTISTROPHE I. Requital, guileful power, in stratagem Dark-veiled who takes delight, Daughter of Zeus,-Justice yclept by men, Pointing their aim aright,— †Doth, with firm hand, the knife Unsheath for mortal strife; While 'gainst her foes she breathes destruction's blight. STROPHE III. †For Loxias, the king, Who in Parnassian cavern holds his seat, Doth vengeance hither bring, Guilelessly guileful; lame, yet sure her feet. Weighty the saying; Zeus, although divine, No consort is of guilt; needs must we pay Homage to His heaven-ruling sway. Clearly the light doth shine! ANTISTROPHE II. tReft was I of the sun whose sudden ray Did with new joy illume These halls, long sunk in gloom; It gleamed,—then died away. ANTISTROPHE III. †Anon, the cheering light, New kindled, in this house shall shine once more, What time, with lustral rite, From the polluted hearth is purged the gore, And Atè put to flight. With form benign, Fortune, long time an alien, comes to claim Her home, redeemed from shame. Clearly the light doth shine!

* ”Εφεδρος, an antagonist in reserve. The Chorus uses the technical language of wrestlers in the games.

NOTES. CHOEPHORI.

56. For μένει χρονίζοντ᾽ ἄχη βρύει read μένει χρονίζοντας ἄχη, omitting βρύει.

61. For παναρκέτας νόσου βρύειν read παγκαρτέρας νούσου βρύειν.

65. For ἐκ μίας ὁδοῦ I conjecture ἐκ [τρικυ]μίας ὁμοῦ; also omit the prosaic τὸν before χερομυσῆ.

67. For καθαίροντες ἰοῦσαν ἄτην, perhaps καθαίροντες [καθαίρ] ουσιν μάτην.

68-72 and 73-77 to be also antistrophic; but here dwell only on the changes important to a translator.

In 73, for βίαι φερομένων read βίαια φυρωμένων, and in 71, 72 read— [δεῖ] δίκαια, μὴ δίκαια, [μὴ] πρέποντα and for ἀρχαῖς βίου, which is unintelligible, the least correction is ἀρχαῖσί μου; yet I suspect that the poet wrote ἀκριβέσι, "exact in virtue."

145-156. Read ἀπότρεπον for ἀπότροπον, governing accus. ἄχος, and join κεδνῶν with ἀπότρεπον. Then τ' after κεδνῶν must be omitted or changed to γ'. In v. 150 σεβασω is clearly corrupt. We need a tribrach, beginning with two consonants, to support the ε of κλύε. I conjecture σκεπανὰ, “ things covered.” Besides, καναχές, " tinkling as metal,” is an improbable epithet of a tear. The line has no metre. Aldus edited κἀναχες, which suggests to me κἀναχεῖτ'. Ὀλόμενον

is also an unpleasant epithet, especially as joined with ὀλομένῳ δεσπότα. I incline to put ὀλόμενον in brackets.

155. "Αρης in that position cannot be right. I think it should be μάχης. A verb is deficient. One may think of ἐπιπάλλοι μάχης for ἐπιπάλλων ἄρης. In that case ἂν may well be supplied before ἀναλυτήρ, since τίς ἂν with the optative expresses “Oh that!” I further think that χεροῖν παλίντονα ἐν should be κεροῖν παλιντόνοιν, since bows and not arrows are παλίντονα. Perhaps the piece is antistrophic, and some further errors may thus be discerned.

271. τάσδε νῶν.— By all means adopt Hermann's τάσδ' αἰνῶν.

361. The word ὤφελον is essential. We may read πάρος δ' [ὠφελόν γ'] οἱ κτανόντες νιν οὕτω δαμῆναι. if in the strophe, 343, we read τέκνων τ᾽ ἂν κελεύθοις ἐπίστρεπτον ἀιῶ κομίσσας. v.e., τ' ἂν for re, and κομίσσας for κτίσσας, which make good metre.

366. For ὀδυνασαι I think οὐ δύνασαι is far better than δύνασαι.

613. For ἀκαίρως δὲ I suggest Ἀχαιοίς γε, as expressing at least the right syntax and general sense. For ἀπεύχετον by all means read ἀπευκτέον with Blomfield. Next, for σέβας τιων δὲ read σεβαστέον δὲ, and the sentence as a whole will be clear. Only ἐπικότῳ remains corrupt. The emphasis of Clytemnestra's guilt will be marked by δῄοις ὑπερκότῳ, triumphant over the foe;” as in Agam. 795, ὑπερκότους, "triumphant, successful." (Whether the true spelling be ὑπέρκοπος does not here concern us.)

633. A verb is lost, to which παρεκβάντες is nominative, For γὰρ οὐ λὰξ perhaps γὰρ [ὤλεσαν] λὰξ: οὐ makes sheer nonsense. Πατρὸς is also deficient in the antistrophe. For † διμασε αἱμάτων perhaps δόμοισι [τοῖς πατρὸς, χ], αἱμάτων, which will fulfil the metrical conditions.

715. τὸν Νύχιον is not explicable. I think some one has well suggested τὰν Νυχίαν, “ the Fury, Child of Night,” Eumen. 311.

773, 774. Read—δὸς τύχας πλεῖν δόμοις κυρίως, πανσόφῳ σθένει μαιομένα σ' ἰδεῖν διαδικάσαι.

783. For ἐν δρόμῳ προστιθεὶς read κἀν δρόμῳ προστιθείης.

784, 785. Read (as a first approximation)— δὸς οὖν σωζομένου ῥυθμοῦ ποτε διαθεῖν ἔμπεδον ἀνόμενων βημάτων ὄρεγμα.

788. By all means retain νομίζετε.

791. I think λύσασθ' should be λύσαιθ', addressed to the gods.

793. For τὸ δὲ καλῶς κτάμενον read τοῦδε καλῶς κταμένου, or τοῖνδε καλῶς κταμένοιν, and so end the third strophe.

794. εὖ δὸς ἂν ἰδεῖν is certainly corrupt, especially as ἰδεῖν is in the next line. Σὺ δ᾽ ἀμφιεπεῖν . . . is possible, or σὺ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἀμφιεπεῖν. After λαμπρῶς perhaps δὸς is wanting.

799. For ἐπιφορώτατος read ὁ φωριώτατος.

801. For κρύπτ᾽ ἄσκοπον δ' read κρύφα μὲν, εὔσκοπον δ'.

802. For νύκτα πρό τ', . . read νύκτωρ πρὀυμμάτων.

803. For ἐμφανέστερος read with Schutz ἐμφανέστερον. In place of πολλὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα φανεῖ χρήζων, which comes out of place after 800, I think we should have, to close antistrophe 3, πολλά τε δῆλα φανεῖ. The superfluous χρήζων rises out of the error that Apollo, not Mercury, is intended.

805. For τοτε δὴ read τότ' ᾠδὰν, κλυτὸν for πλοῦτον, λύτρον for λυτήριον, and leave σχέθων in 817 unchanged.

811. Read μεθήσομεν πόλει. τὸ δ' εὔνομον ἐμοὶ κέρδος αὔξεται, τοι τὸ δ' εὖ ἐμὸν ἐμὸν κέρδος ἀέξεται.

815. περαίνων. Adopt Blomfield's πέραιν' οὐκ.

820. For προπράσσων χάριτος ὀργὰς λυπρὸς read πρόπραξον χάριν σφαγᾶς λυτῆρος, as at least something possible.

823. φοινίαν, read φόνιον.

824. ἐξαπολλὺς μόρου cannot be right. Perhaps ἐξαπόλλυ ἐν μέρει, “ in turn, in retaliation.”

849. After πολισσονόμους add with Hermann [πλοῦτόν τε δόμων].

935. For ἔθιγε δὲ μάλα, or δὲ μάχα, we need δὲ ξίφους. The scholiast has ἐφήψατο τοῦ ξίφους.

940—947. This third strophe is terribly corrupt. For τάνπερ I propose τάδ' ἄρα; in ἐποχθείαξεν I see ἀπαξιῶν, τὰν έ being written χο in very old style. Τὰν is essential with δολίαν. For βλαπτομέναν I propose βλαψίπουν (pede l'œna claudo); I leave ἐν χρόνοις as it is, but for θεῖσαν ἐποίχεται I conjecture οἷσι μετοίχεται, " fetches in his own tines.” Then 944, κρατεῖται πως should be κρατεῖ τοι λόγος, or φάτις (see Pers., 724; Suppl., 290; Soph. Αj., 978). For τὸ θεῖον παρὰ τὸ read τὸ, θεῖόν περ ὄντα, and add [Δία] after ὑπουργεῖν. Sense and metre are then perfect, except that we may read μὴ οὐκ for μὴ to remedy hiatus. Δὲ after ἄξιον must be retained.

948. The second antistrophe begins μέγαν τ' ἀφηρέθην ψάλιον οἴκων ἄναγε μὰν δόμοις. I propose μέγαν ἀφηρέθην ἅλιον, οἰκίοις | ἀναφανέντ᾽ ἐμοῖς : the Sun being " prosperity from the prince's face.” Next, with Elmsley, χαμαιπετὴς ἔκειτο. But a line is defcient. Perhaps ἀεὶ [καλυφθεὶς σκότῳ], which completes sense and metre.

952. For χρόνος ἀμείψεται perhaps χρόνῳ σκέψεται, or χρόνοις σκέψεται. The verb should at least be a Cretic foot.

954. For μύσος πᾶν ἐλάσῃ I would read μῦσος ἅπαν παραλύσῃ, for metrical reasons, and because of ἀτᾶν ἐλατηρίοις following.

958. For ἰδεῖν ἀκοῦσαι θρεομένοις, perhaps ἰδεῖν ἀκοῦσαί τ' ἐραμένοισιν.

1058. μόχθοι τάλανές τε θυέστου is clearly wrong. One cure is to omit τε θυέστου, regarding θυέστου to be an interpretation, and Te to have been inserted afterwards for the metre. If θυέστου must be retained, we need something like πίνακές (the dishes) for τάλανές; or if τάλαρος, like calathus may mean a dish, τάλαροί will be as plausible.

F. W. N.