                                     410 BC
                                    ORESTES
                                  by Euripides
                         translated by E. P. Coleridge
    CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
  ELECTRA, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
  HELEN, wife of MENELAUS
  CHORUS OF ARGIVE MAIDENS
  ORESTES, brother of ELECTRA
  MENELAUS, brother of Agamemnon; King of Argos
  PYLADES, friend Of ORESTES
  MESSENGER, formerly servant of Agamemnon
  HERMIONE, daughter of MENELAUS and HELEN
  A PHRYGIAN EUNUCH, in HELEN'S retinue
  APOLLO
  TYNDAREUS, father of Clytemnestra
  Attendants




    (SCENE:-Before the royal palace at Argos. It is the sixth day
    after the murder of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. ELECTRA is
    discovered alone. ORESTES lies sleeping on a couch in the
    background.)

  ELECTRA
    THERE is naught so terrible to describe, be it physical pain or
heaven-sent affliction, that man's nature may not have to bear the
burden of it. Tantalus, they say, once so prosperous,-and I am not now
taunting him with his misfortunes,-Tantalus, the reputed son of
Zeus, hangs suspended in mid air, quailing at the crag which looms
above his head; paying this penalty, they say, for the shameful
weakness he displayed in failing to keep a bridle on his lips, when
admitted by gods, though he was but mortal, to share the honours of
their feasts like one of them.
    He it was that begat Pelops, the father of Atreus, for whom the
goddess, when she had carded her wool, spun a web of strife, even to
the making of war with his own brother Thyestes. But why need I repeat
that hideous tale?
    Well, Atreus slew Thyestes' children and feasted him on them;
but,-passing over intermediate events-from Atreus and Aerope of
Crete sprang Agamemnon, that famous chief,-if his was really fame,-and
Menelaus. Now it was this Menelaus who married Helen, Heaven's
abhorrence; while his brother, King Agamemnon, took Clytemnestra to
wife, name of note in Hellas, and we three daughters were his issue,
Chrysothemis, Iphigenia, and myself Electra; also a son Orestes; all
of that one accursed mother, who slew her lord, after snaring him in a
robe that had no outlet. Her reason a maiden's lips may not declare,
and so leave that unexplained for the world to guess at. What need for
me to charge Phoebus with wrong-doing, though he instigated Orestes to
slay his own mother, a deed that few approved; still it was his
obedience to the god that made him slay her; I, too, feebly as a woman
would, shared in the deed of blood, as did Pylades who helped us to
bring it about.
    After this my poor Orestes fell sick of a cruel wasting disease;
upon his couch he lies prostrated, and it is his mother's blood that
goads him into frenzied fits; this I say, from dread of naming those
goddesses, whose terrors are chasing him before them,-even the
Eumenides. 'Tis now the sixth day since the body of his murdered
mother was committed to the cleansing fire; since then no food has
passed his lips, nor hath he washed his skin; but wrapped in his cloak
he weeps in his lucid moments, whenever the fever leaves him; other
whiles he bounds headlong from his couch, as colt when it is loosed
from the yoke. Moreover, this city of Argos has decreed that no man
give us shelter at his fireside or speak to matricides like us; yea,
and this is the fateful day on which Argos will decide our sentence,
whether we are both to die by stoning, or to whet the steel and plunge
it in our necks. There is, 'tis true, one hope of escape still left
us; Menelaus has landed from Troy; his fleet now crowds the haven of
Nauplia where he is come to anchor, returned at last from Troy after
ceaseless wanderings; but Helen, that "lady of sorrows," as she styles
herself, hath he sent on to our palace, carefully waiting for the
night, lest any of those parents whose sons were slain beneath the
walls of Troy, might see her if she went by day, and set to stoning
her. Within she sits, weeping for her sister and the calamities of her
family, and yet she hath still some solace in her woe; for Hermione,
the child she left at home in the hour she sailed for Troys-the maid
whom Menelaus brought from Sparta and entrusted to my mother's
keeping,-is still a cause of joy to her and a reason to forget her
sorrows.
    I, meantime, am watching each approach, against the moment I see
Menelaus arriving; for unless we find some safety there, we have but
feeble anchor to ride on otherwise.
    A helpless thing, an unlucky house!
                                      (HELEN enters from the palace.)
  HELEN
    Daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, hapless Electra, too
long now left a maid unwed! how is it with thee and thy brother,
this ill-starred Orestes who slew his mother! Speak; for referring the
sin as I do to Phoebus, I incur no pollution by letting thee accost
me; and yet am truly sorry for the fate of my sister Clytenmestra,
on whom I ne'er set eyes after I was driven by heaven-sent frenzy to
sail on my disastrous voyage to Ilium; but now that I am parted from
her I bewail our misfortunes.
  ELECTRA
    Prithee, Helen, why should I speak of that which thine own eyes
can see the son of Agamemnon in his misery?
    Beside his wretched corpse I sit, a sleepless sentinel; for corpse
he is, so faint his breath; not that I reproach him with his
sufferings; but thou art highly blest and thy husband too, and ye
are come upon us in the hour of adversity.
  HELEN
    How long hath he been laid thus upon his couch?
  ELECTRA
    Ever since he spilt his mother's blood-.
  HELEN
    Unhappy wretch! unhappy mother! what a death she died!
  ELECTRA
    Unhappy enough to succumb to his misery.
  HELEN
    Prithee, maiden, wilt hear me a moment?
  ELECTRA
    Aye, with such small leisure as this watching o'er a brother
leaves.
  HELEN
    Wilt go for me to my sister's tomb?
  ELECTRA
    Wouldst have me seek my mother's tomb? And why?
  HELEN
    To carry an offering of hair and a libation from me.
  ELECTRA
    Art forbidden then to go to the tombs of those thou lovest?
  HELEN
    Nay, but I am ashamed to show myself in Argos.
  ELECTRA
    A late repentance surely for one who left her home so shamefully
then.
  HELEN
    Thou hast told the truth, but thy telling is not kind to me.
  ELECTRA
    What is this supposed modesty before the eyes of Mycenae that
possesses thee?
  HELEN
    I am afraid of the fathers of those who lie dead beneath the walls
of Ilium.
  ELECTRA
    Good cause for fear; thy name is on every tongue in Argos.
  HELEN
    Then free me of my fear and grant me this boon.
  ELECTRA
    I could not bear to face my mother's grave.
  HELEN
    And yet 'twere shame indeed to send these offerings by a servant's
hand.
  ELECTRA
    Then why not send thy daughter Hermione?
  HELEN
    'Tis not seemly for a tender maid to make her way amongst a crowd.
  ELECTRA
    And yet she would thus be repaying her dead foster-mother's care.
  HELEN
    True; thou hast convinced me, maiden. Yes, I will send my
daughter; for thou art right. (Calling) Hermione, my child, come forth
before the palace; (HERMIONE and attendants come out of the palace.)
take these libations and these tresses of mine in thy hands, and go
pour round Clytemnestra's tomb a mingled cup of honey, milk, and
frothing wine; then stand upon the heaped-up grave, and proclaim
therefrom, "Helen, thy sister, sends thee these libations as her gift,
fearing herself to approach thy tomb from terror of the Argive mob";
and bid her harbour kindly thoughts towards me and thee and my
husband; towards these two wretched sufferers, too, whom Heaven hath
afflicted. Likewise promise that I will pay in full whatever funeral
gifts are due from me to a sister. Now go, my child, and tarry not;
and soon as thou hast made the offering at the tomb, bethink thee of
thy return.

             (HELEN goes into the palace as HERMIONE and
              her attendants depart with the offerings.)

  ELECTRA
    O human nature, what a grievous curse thou art in this world!
and what salvation, too, to those who have a goodly heritage therein!
    Did ye mark how she cut off her hair only at the ends, careful
to preserve its beauty? 'Tis the same woman as of old. May Heaven's
hate pursue thee! for thou hast proved the ruin of me and my poor
brother and all Hellas.
    Alack! here are my friends once more, coming to unite their
plaintive dirge with mine; they will soon put an end to my brother's
peaceful sleep and cause my tears to flow when I see his frenzied fit.

    (The CHORUS OF ARGIVE MAIDENS enters quietly. The following lines
     between ELECTRA and the CHORUS are chanted responsively.)

    Good friends, step softly; not a sound; not a whisper! for
though this kindness is well-meant, rouse him and I shall rue it.
  CHORUS
    Hush! hush! let your footsteps fall lightly! not a sound! not
whisper!
  ELECTRA
    Further, further from his couch! I beseech ye.
  CHORUS
    There! there! I obey.
  ELECTRA
    Hush! hush! good friend, I pray. Soft as the breath of slender
reedy pipe be thy every accent!
  CHORUS
    Hark, how soft and low I drop my voice!
  ELECTRA
    Yes, lower thy voice e'en thus; approach now, softly, softly! Tell
me what reason ye had for coming at all. 'Tis so long since he laid
him down to sleep.
  CHORUS
    How is it with him? Impart thy news, dear lady. Is it weal or
woe I am to tell?
  ELECTRA
    He is still alive, but his moans grow feeble.
  CHORUS
    What sayest thou? (Turning to ORESTES) Poor wretch!
  ELECTRA
    Awake him from the deep sweet slumber he is now enjoying and
thou wilt cause his death.
  CHORUS
    Ah, poor sufferer! victim of Heaven's vengeful hate!
  ELECTRA
    Ah, misery! It seems it was a wicked utterance by a wicked god
delivered, the day that Loxias from his seat upon the tripod of Themis
decreed my mother's most unnatural murder.
  CHORUS
    He stirs beneath his robe! Dost see?
  ELECTRA
    Alas! I do; thy noisy words have roused him from his sleep.
  CHORUS
    Nay, methinks he slumbers still.
  ELECTRA
    Begone! quit the house! retrace thy footsteps! a truce to this
din!
  CHORUS
    He sleeps. Thou art right.
  ELECTRA
    O Night, majestic queen, giver of sleep to toiling men, rise
from the abyss of Erebus and wing thy way to the palace of
Agamemnon! For beneath our load of misery and woe we sink, aye, sink
oppressed.
    There! (To the CHORUS) that noise again! Be still and keep that
high-pitched voice of thine away from his couch; suffer him to enjoy
his sleep in peace!
  CHORUS
    Tell me, what end awaits his troubles?
  ELECTRA
    Death, death; what else? for he does not even miss his food.
  CHORUS
    Why, then his doom is full in view.
  ELECTRA
    Phoebus marked us out as his victims by imposing a foul
unnatural task, even the shedding of the blood of our mother, who slew
our sire.
  CHORUS
    'Twas just, but 'twas not well.
  ELECTRA
    Dead, dead, O mother mine! and thou hast slain a father and
these the children of thy womb; for we are dead or as the dead. Yes,
thou art in thy grave, and more than half my life is spent in
weeping and wailing and midnight lamentations; oh, look on me! a
maid unwed, unblest with babes, I drag out a joyless existence as if
for ever.
  LEADER OF THE CHORUS
    My daughter Electra, from thy near station there see whether thy
brother hath not passed away without thy knowing it; for I like not
his utter prostration.
  ORESTES (awaking refreshed)
    Sweet charm of sleep! saviour in sickness! how dear to me thy
coming was! how needed! All hail, majestic power, oblivion of woe! How
wise this goddess is, how earnestly invoked by every suffering soul!
(Addressing ELECTRA) Whence came I hither? How is it I am here? for
I have lost all previous recollection and remember nothing.
  ELECTRA
    Dearest brother, how glad I was to see thee fall asleep! Wouldst
have me take thee in my arms and lift thy body?
  ORESTES
    Take, oh! take me in thy arms, and from this sufferer's mouth
and eyes wipe off the flakes of foam.
  ELECTRA
    Ah! 'tis a service I love; nor do I scorn with sister's hand to
tend a brother's limbs.
  ORESTES
    Prop me up, thy side to mine; brush the matted hair from off my
face, for I see but dimly.
  ELECTRA
    Ah, poor head! how squalid are thy locks become! How wild thy look
from remaining so long uncleansed!
  ORESTES
    Lay me once more upon the couch; when my fit leaves me, I am all
unnerved, unstrung.
  ELECTRA (as she lays him down)
    Welcome to the sick man is his couch, for painful though it be
to take thereto, yet is it necessary.
  ORESTES
    Set me upright once again, turn me round; it is their helplessness
makes the sick so hard to please.
  ELECTRA
    Wilt put thy feet upon the ground and take a step at last?
Change is always pleasant.
  ORESTES
    That will I; for that has a semblance of health; and that seeming,
though it be far from the reality, is preferable to this.
  ELECTRA
    Hear me then, O brother mine, while yet the avenging fiends permit
thee to use thy senses.
  ORESTES
    Hast news to tell? so it be good, thou dost me a kindness; but
if it tend to my hurt, lo! I have sorrow enough.
  ELECTRA
    Menelaus, thy father's brother, is arrived; in Nauplia his fleet
lies at anchor.
  ORESTES
    Ha! is he come to cast a ray of light upon our gloom, a man of our
own kin who owes our sire a debt of gratitude?
  ELECTRA
    Yes, he is come, and is bringing Helen with him from the walls
of Troy; accept this as a sure proof of what I say.
  ORESTES
    Had he returned alone in safety, he were more to be envied; for if
he is bringing his wife with him, he is bringing a load of evil.
  ELECTRA
    Tyndareus begat a race of daughters notorious for the shame they
earned, infamous throughout Hellas.
  ORESTES
    Be thou then different from that evil brood, for well thou mayest,
and that not only in profession, but also in heart.
  ELECTRA
    Ah! brother, thine eye is growing wild, and in a moment art thou
passing from thy recent saneness back to frenzy.
  ORESTES (starting up wildly)
    Mother, I implore thee! let not loose on me those maidens with
their bloodshot eyes and snaky hair. Ha! see, see where they
approach to leap upon me!
  ELECTRA
    Lie still, poor sufferer, on thy couch; thine eye sees none of the
things which thy fancy paints so clear.
  ORESTES
    O Phoebus! they will kill me, yon hounds of hell, death's
priestesses with glaring eyes, terrific goddesses.
  ELECTRA
    I will not let thee go; but with arms twined round thee will
prevent thy piteous tossing to and fro.
  ORESTES
    Loose me! thou art one of those fiends that plague me, and art
gripping me by the waist to hurl my body into Tartarus.
  ELECTRA
    Woe is me! what succour can I find, seeing that we have Heaven's
forces set against us?
  ORESTES
    Give me my horn-tipped bow, Apollo's gift, wherewith that god
declared that I should defend myself against these goddesses, if
ever they sought to scare me with wild transports of madness.
    A mortal hand will wound one of these goddesses, unless she vanish
from my sight. Do ye not heed me, or mark the feathered shaft of my
far-shooting bow ready to wing its flight? What! do ye linger still?
Spread your pinions, skim the sky, and blame those oracles of Phoebus.
    Ah! why am I raving, panting, gasping? Whither, oh! whither have
leapt from off my couch? Once more the storm is past; I see a calm.
    Sister, why weepest thou, thy head wrapped in thy robe? I am
ashamed that I should make thee a partner in my sufferings and
distress a maid like thee through sickness of mine. Cease to fret
for my troubles; for though thou didst consent to it, yet 'twas I that
spilt our mother's blood. 'Tis Loxias I blame, for urging me on to
do a deed most damned, encouraging me with words but no real help; for
I am sure that, had I asked my father to his face whether I was to
slay my mother, he would have implored me oft and earnestly by this
beard never to plunge a murderer's sword into my mother's breast,
since he would not thereby regain his life, whilst I, poor wretch,
should be doomed to drain this cup of sorrow.
    E'en as it is, dear sister, unveil thy face and cease to weep,
despite our abject misery; and whensoe'er thou seest me give way to
despair, be it thine to calm and soothe the terrors and distorted
fancies of my brain; likewise when sorrow comes to thee, I must be
at thy side and give the words of comfort; for to help our friends
like this is a gracious task.
    Seek thy chamber now, poor sister; lie down and close awhile thy
sleepless eyes; take food and bathe thy body; for if thou leave me
or fall sick from nursing me, my doom is sealed; for thou art the only
champion I now have, by all the rest deserted, as thou seest.
  ELECTRA
    I leave thee! never! With thee I am resolved to live and die;
for 'tis the same; if thou diest, what can I, a woman, do? How shall I
escape alone, reft of brother, sire, and friends?
    Still if it be thy pleasure, I must do thy bidding. But lay thee
down upon thy couch, and pay not too great heed to the terrors and
alarms that scare thee from thy rest; lie still upon thy pallet bed;
for e'en though one be not sick but only fancy it, this is a source of
weariness and perplexity to mortals.

    (ELECTRA enters the palace, as ORESTES lies back upon his couch.)

  CHORUS (singing)

                                                              strophe

    Ah! ye goddesses terrific, swiftly careering on outspread pinions,
whose lot it is 'mid tears and groans to hold revel not with Bacchic
rites; ye avenging spirits swarthy-hued, that dart along the
spacious firmament, exacting a penalty for blood, a penalty for
murder, to you I make my suppliant prayer: suffer the son of Agamemnon
to forget his wild whirling frenzy!
    Ah, woe for the troublous task! which thou, poor wretch, didst
strive to compass to thy ruin, listening to the voice prophetic,
proclaimed aloud by Phoebus from the tripod throughout his
sanctuary, where is a secret spot they call "the navel of the earth."

                                                          antistrophe

    O Zeus! What pity will be shown? what deadly struggle is here at
hand, hurrying thee on o'er thy path of woe, a victim on whom some
fiend is heaping tribulation, by bringing on thy house thy mother's
bloodshed which drives thee raving mad? I weep for thee, for thee I
weep.
    Great prosperity abideth not amongst mankind; but some power
divine, shaking it to and fro like the sail of a swift galley, plunges
it deep in the waves of grievous affliction, boisterous and deadly
as the waves of the sea. For what new family am I henceforth to honour
by preference other than that which sprung from a marriage divine,
even from Tantalus?
    Behold a king draws near, prince Menelaus! From his magnificence
'tis plain to see that he is a scion of the race of Tantalus.
    All hail! thou that didst sail with a thousand ships to Asia's
strand, and by Heaven's help accomplish all thy heart's desire, making
good-fortune a friend to thyself.
                                    (MENELAUS and his retinue enter.)
  MENELAUS
    All hail, my home! Some joy I feel on seeing thee again on my
return from Troy, some sorrow too the sight recalls; for never yet
have I beheld a house more closely encircled by the net of dire
affliction.
    Concerning Agamemnon's fate and the awful death he died at his
wife's hands I learnt as I was trying to put in at Malea, when the
sailors' seer from out the waves, unerring Glaucus, Nereus' spokesman,
brought the news to me; for he stationed himself in full view by our
ship and thus addressed me. "Yonder, Menelaus, lies thy brother slain,
plunged in a fatal bath, the last his wife will ever give him";
filling high the cup of tears for me and my brave crew. Arrived at
Nauplia, my wife already, on the point of starting hither, I was
dreaming of folding Orestes, Agamemnon's son, and his mother in a fond
embrace, as if 'twere well with them, when I heard a mariner relate
the murder of the daughter of Tyndareus. Tell me then, good girls,
where to find the son of Agamemnon, the daring author of that
fearful crime; for he was but a babe in Clytemnestra's arms that day I
left my home to go to Troy, so that I should not recognize him, e'en
were I to see him.
  ORESTES (staggering towards him from the couch)
    Behold the object of thy inquiry, Menelaus; this is Orestes. To
the will I of mine own accord relate my sufferings. But as the prelude
to my speech I clasp thy knees in suppliant wise, seeking thus to
tie to thee the prayer of lips that lack the suppliant's bough; save
me, for thou art arrived at the very crisis of my trouble.
  MENELAUS
    Ye gods! what do I see? what death's-head greets my sight?
  ORESTES
    Thou art right; I am dead through misery, though I still gaze upon
the sun.
  MENELAUS
    How wild the look thy unkempt hair gives thee, poor wretch!
  ORESTES
    'Tis not my looks, but my deeds that torture me.
  MENELAUS
    How terribly thy tearless eyeballs glare!
  ORESTES
    My body is vanished and gone, though my name hath not yet deserted
me.
  MENELAUS
    Unsightly apparition, so different from what I expected!
  ORESTES
    In me behold a man that hath slain his hapless mother.
  MENELAUS
    I have heard all; be chary of thy tale of woe.
  ORESTES
    I will; but the deity is lavish of woe to me.
  MENELAUS
    What ails thee? what is thy deadly sickness?
  ORESTES
    My conscience; I know that I am guilty of an awful crime.
  MENELAUS
    Explain thyself; wisdom is shown in clearness, not in obscurity.
  ORESTES
    'Tis grief that is my chief complaint.
  MENELAUS
    True; she is a goddess dire; yet are there cures for her.
  ORESTES
    Mad transports too, and the vengeance due to a mother's blood.
  MENELAUS
    When did thy fit begin? which day was it?
  ORESTES
    On the day I was heaping the mound o'er my poor mother's grave,
  MENELAUS
    When thou wast in the house, or watching by the pyre?
  ORESTES
    As I was waiting by night to gather up her bones.
  CHORUS
    What news, slave of Helen, creature from Ida?
  PHRYGIAN
    Ah me for Ilium, for Ilium, the city of Phrygia, and for Ida's
holy hill with fruitful soil! in foreign accents hear me raise a
plaintive strain over thee, whose ruin luckless Helen caused,-that
lovely child whom Leda bore to a feathered swan, to be a curse to
Apollo's towers of polished stone. Ah! well-a-day! woe to Dardania for
the wailings wrung from it by the steeds that bought his minion
Ganymede for Zeus.
  CHORUS
    Tell us plainly exactly what happened in the house, for till now
have been guessing at what I do not clearly understand.
  PHRYGIAN
    "Ah, for Linus! woe is him!" That is what barbarians say in
their eastern tongue as a prelude to the dirge of death, whene'er
royal blood is spilt upon the ground by deadly iron blades.
    To tell thee exactly what happened: there came into the palace two
lion-like men of Hellas, twins in nature; your famous chief was sire
of one, 'twas said; the other was the son of Strophius; a crafty knave
was he, like to Odysseus, subtle, silent, but staunch to his
friends, daring enough for any valiant deed, versed in war and
blood-thirsty as a serpent. Ruin seize him for his quiet plotting, the
villain!
    In they came, their eyes bedimmed with tears, and took their seats
in all humility near the chair of the lady whom Paris the archer
once wedded, one on this side, one on that, to right and left, with
weapons on them; and both threw their suppliant arms round the knees
of Helen; whereon her Phrygian servants started to their feet in
wild alarm, each in his terror calling to his fellow, "Beware of
treachery!" To some there seemed no cause, but others thought that the
viper who had slain his mother, was entangling the daughter of
Tyndareus in the toils of his snare.
  CHORUS
    And where wert thou the while? fled long before in terror?
  PHRYGIAN
    It happened that I, in Phrygian style, was wafting the breeze past
Helen's curls with a round feather-fan, stationed before her face; and
she the while, as eastern ladies use, was twisting flax on her distaff
with her fingers, but letting her yarn fall on the floor, for she
was minded to embroider purple raiment as an offering from the
Trojan spoils, a gift for Clytemnestra at her tomb.
    Then to the Spartan maid Orestes spake, "Daughter of Zeus, quit
thy chair and cross the floor to a seat at the old altar of Pelops,
our ancestor, to hear something I have to say." Therewith he led the
way and she followed, little guessing his designs. Meantime his
accomplice, the Phocian miscreant, was off on other business. "Out
of my way! Well, Phrygians always were cowards." So he shut them up in
different parts of the house, some in the stables, others in private
chambers, one here, one there, disposing of them severally at a
distance from their mistress.
  CHORUS
    What happened next?
  PHRYGIAN
    Mother of Ida, mighty parent! Oh! the murderous scenes and lawless
wickedness that I witnessed in the royal palace! They drew forth
swords from under their purple cloaks, each darting his eye all
round him in either direction to see that none was near, and then,
like boars that range the hills, they stood at bay before her, crying,
"Thou must die; it is thy craven husband that will slay thee,
because he betrayed his brother's son to death in Argos." But she with
piercing screams brought down her snow-white arm upon her bosom and
loudly smote on her poor head; then turned her steps in flight, shod
in her golden shoon; but Orestes, outstripping her slippered feet,
clutched his fingers in her hair and bending back her neck on to her
left shoulder was on the point of driving the grim steel into her
throat.
  CHORUS
    Where were those Phrygians in the house to help her then?
  PHRYGIAN
    With a loud cry we battered down the doors and doorposts of the
rooms we had been penned in, by means of bars, and ran to her
assistance from every direction, one arming himself with stones,
another with javelins, a third having a drawn sword; but Pylades
came to meet us, all undaunted, like Hector of Troy or Ajax
triple-plumed, as I saw him on the threshold of Priam's palace; and we
met point to point. But then it became most manifest how inferior we
Phrygians were to the warriors of Hellas in martial prowess. There was
one man flying, another slain, a third wounded, yet another craving
mercy to stave off death; but we escaped under cover of the
darkness: while some were falling, others staggering, and some laid
low in death. And just as her unhappy mother sunk to the ground to
die, came luckless Hermione to the palace; whereon those twain, like
Bacchanals when they drop their wands and seize a mountain-cub, rushed
and seized her; then turned again to the daughter of Zeus to slay her;
but lo! she had vanished from the room, passing right through the
house by magic spells or wizards'arts or heavenly fraud; O Zeus and
earth, O day and night!
    What happened afterwards I know not, for I stole out of the palace
and ran away. So Menelaus went through all his toil and trouble to
recover his wife Helen from Troy to no purpose.
                                   (ORESTES comes out of the palace.)
  LEADER OF THE CHORUS
    Behold another strange sight succeeding its predecessors; I see
Orestes sword in hand before the palace, advancing with excited steps.
  ORESTES
    Where is he who fled from the palace to escape my sword?
  PHRYGIAN (falling at the feet Of ORESTES)
    Before thee I prostrate myself, O prince, and do obeisance in my
foreign way.
  ORESTES
    'Tis not Ilium that is now the scene, but the land of Argos.
  PHRYGIAN
    No matter where, the wise love life more than death.
  ORESTES
    I suppose that shouting of thine was not for Menelaus to come to
the rescue?
  PHRYGIAN
    Oh no! it was to help thee I called out, for thou art more
deserving.
  ORESTES
    Was it a just fate that overtook the daughter of Tyndareus?
  PHRYGIAN
    Most just, though she had had throats to die with.
  ORESTES
    Thy cowardice makes thee glib; these are not thy real sentiments.
  PHRYGIAN
    Why, surely she deserved it for the havoc she made of Hellas as
well as Troy?
  ORESTES
    Swear thou art not saying this to humour me, or I will slay thee.
  PHRYGIAN
    By my life I swear,-an oath likely to be true in my case.
  ORESTES
    Did every Phrygian in Troy show the same terror of steel as thou
dost?
  PHRYGIAN
    Oh, take thy sword away! held so near it throws a horrid gleam
of blood.
  ORESTES
    Art thou afraid of being turned to a stone, as if it were a Gorgon
thou seest?
  PHRYGIAN
    To a stone, no! but to a corpse; that Gorgon's head is not
within my ken.
  ORESTES
    A slave, and so fearful of death, which will release thee from
trouble!
  PHRYGIAN
    Bond or free, every one is glad to gaze upon the light.
  ORESTES
    Well said! thy shrewdness saves thee; go within.
  PHRYGIAN
    Thou wilt not kill me after all?
  ORESTES
    Thou art spared!
  PHRYGIAN
    O gracious words!
  ORESTES
    Come, I shall change my mind-
  PHRYGIAN
    Ill-omened utterance!
  ORESTES
    Thou fool dost think I could endure to plunge my sword in throat
of thine, thou that neither art woman nor amongst men hast any
place? The reason I left the palace was to gag thy noisy tongue; for
Argos is quickly roused, once it hears a cry to the rescue. As for
Menelaus, we are not afraid of measuring swords with him; no! he may
go upon his way proud of the golden ringlets on his shoulders; for if,
to avenge the slaying of Helen, he gathers the Argives and leads
them against the palace, refusing to attempt the rescue of me, my
sister, and Pylades my fellow-conspirator, he shall have two corpses
to behold, his daughter's as well as his wife's.

       (The PHRYGIAN departs as ORESTES re-enters the palace.)

  CHORUS (singing)
    Ah! fortune, fortune! again and yet again the house is entering on
a fearful contest for the race of Atreus.
  FIRST SEMI-CHORUS (chanting)
    What are we to do? carry tidings to the town, or hold our peace?
  SECOND SEMI-CHORUS (chanting)
    It is safer to keep silence, friends.
  FIRST SEMI-CHORUS (chanting)
    Look, look at that sudden rush of smoke to the sky in front of the
palace, telling its tale in advance!
  SECOND SEMI-CHORUS (chanting)
    They are kindling torches to fire the halls of Tantalus; they do
not shrink even from murder.
  CHORUS (singing)
    God holds the issue in his hand, to give to mortal men what end he
will. Some mighty power is his; it was through a vengeful fiend that
this family started on its career of murder, by hurling Myrtilus
from the chariot.
    But lo! I see Menelaus approaching the palace in hot haste; no
doubt he has heard what is happening here. What ho! within,
descendants of Atreus, make haste and secure the doors with bars. A
man in luck is a dangerous adversary for luckless wretches like
thyself, Orestes.

        (ORESTES and PYLADES appear on the roof, holding
         HERMIONE. MENELAUS and his attendants enter.)

  MENELAUS
    Strange news of violent deeds done by a pair of savages,-men I
do not call them,-has brought me hither. What I heard was that my wife
was not killed after all, but had vanished out of sight,-an idle
rumour doubtless, brought to me by some dupe of his own terror; a ruse
perhaps of the matricide to turn the laugh against me.
    Throw wide the palace doors! My orders to my servants are that
they force the doors, that I may rescue my child at any rate from
the hands of the murderers and recover my poor wife's corpse, that
dear partner whose slayers must die with her by my arm.
  ORESTES (from the roof)
    Ho, fellow! Keep thy fingers off those bolts, thou Menelaus, who
vauntest thyself so high; else will I tear off the ancient parapet,
the work of masons, and shatter thy skull with this coping-stone.
The doors are bolted and barred, which will prevent thy entrance to
the palace and thy eagerness to bring aid.
  MENELAUS
    Ha! what now? I see a blaze of torches and men standing at bay
on the house-top yonder, with a sword held at my daughter's throat.
  ORESTES
    Wouldst question me or hear me speak?
  MENELAUS
    Neither; but I suppose I must hear thee.
  ORESTES
    Well, if thou art anxious to know, I intend to slay thy daughter.
  MENELAUS
    After slaying Helen, art thou bent on adding another murder?
  ORESTES
    I would I had compassed that, instead of being duped by the gods!
  MENELAUS
    Dost thou deny having slain her, saying this out of wanton insult?
  ORESTES
    Yes, I do deny it to my sorrow. Would God-
  MENELAUS
    Would God-what? Thou provokest my fears.
  ORESTES
    I had hurled to Hades the pollution of Hellas!
  MENELAUS
    Surrender my wife's dead body, that I may bury her.
  ORESTES
    Ask the gods for her; but thy daughter I will slay.
  MENELAUS
    This matricide is bent on adding murder to murder.
  ORESTES
    This champion of his sire, betrayed by thee to death.
  MENELAUS
    Art thou not content with the stain of the mother's blood which is
on thee?
  ORESTES
    I should not grow tired if I had these wicked women to slay for
ever.
  MENELAUS
    Art thou too, Pylades, a partner in this bloody work?
  ORESTES
    His silence says he is; so my saying it will suffice.
  MENELAUS
    Not without thy ruing it, unless thou take wings and fly.
  ORESTES
    Fly we never will, but will fire the palace.
  MENELAUS
    What! wilt thou destroy the home of thy ancestors?
  ORESTES
    To prevent thee getting it I will, offering this maid in sacrifice
upon its flames.
  MENELAUS
    Kill her, for thou wilt be punished by me for such a murder.
  ORESTES
    Agreed.
  MENELAUS
    No, no! refrain!
  ORESTES
    Silence! thy sufferings are just; endure them.
  MENELAUS
    Pray, is it just that thou shouldst live?
  ORESTES
    And rule a kingdom, yes.
  MENELAUS
    A kingdom-where?
  ORESTES
    Here in Pelasgian Argos.
  MENELAUS
    Thou art so well qualified to handle sacred water!
  ORESTES
    And, pray, why not?
  MENELAUS
    And to slay victims before battle!
  ORESTES
    Well, art thou?
  MENELAUS
    Yes, my hands are clean.
  ORESTES
    But not thy heart.
  MENELAUS
    Who would speak to thee?
  ORESTES
    Every man that loves his father.
  MENELAUS
    And the man who honours his mother?
  ORESTES
    He's a happy man.
  MENELAUS
    Thou didst not honour thine, at any rate.
  ORESTES
    No, for I delight not in your wicked women.
  MENELAUS
    Remove that sword from my daughter's throat.
  ORESTES
    Thou art wrong.
  MENELAUS
    What! wilt slay her?
  ORESTES
    Right once more.
  MENELAUS
    Ah me! what can I do?
  ORESTES
    Go to the Argives and persuade them-
  MENELAUS
    To what?
  ORESTES
    Entreat the city that we may not die.
  MENELAUS
    Otherwise, will ye slay my child?
  ORESTES
    That is the alternative.
  MENELAUS
    Alas for thee, Helen!
  ORESTES
    And is it not "alas!" for me?
  MENELAUS
    I brought her back from Troy only for thee to butcher.
  ORESTES
    Would I had!
  MENELAUS
    After troubles innumerable.
  ORESTES
    Except where I was concerned.
  MENELAUS
    Dread treatment mine!
  ORESTES
    The reason being thy refusal to help me then?
  MENELAUS
    Thou hast me.
  ORESTES
    Thy own cowardice has. (Calling from the roof to ELECTRA) Ho
there! fire the palace from beneath, Electra; and, Pylades, my
trusty friend, kindle the parapet of yonder walls. (The palace is seen
to be ablaze.)
  MENELAUS
    Help, help, ye Danai! gird on your harness and come, ye dwellers
in knightly Argos! for here is a fellow trying to wrest his life
from your whole city, though he has caused pollution by shedding his
mother's blood.
                              (APOLLO appears from above with HELEN.)
  APOLLO
    Menelaus, calm thy excited mood; I am Phoebus, the son of
Latona, who draw nigh to call thee by name, and thou no less, Orestes,
who, sword in hand, art keeping guard on yonder maid, that thou
mayst hear what have come to say. Helen, whom all thy eagerness failed
to destroy, when thou wert seeking to anger Menelaus, is here as ye
see in the enfolding air, rescued from death instead of slain by thee.
'Twas I that saved her and snatched her from beneath thy sword at
the bidding of her father Zeus; for she his child must put on
immortality, and take her place with Castor and Polydeuces in the
bosom of the sky, a saviour to mariners. Choose thee then another
bride and take her to thy home, for the gods by means of Helen's
loveliness embroiled Troy and Hellas, causing death thereby, that they
might lighten mother Earth of the outrage done her by the increase
of man's number. Such is Helen's end.
    But as for thee, Orestes, thou must cross the frontier of this
land and dwell for one whole year on Parrhasian soil, which from thy
flight thither shall be called the land of Orestes by Azanians and
Arcadians; and when thou returnest thence to the city of Athens,
submit to be brought to trial by "the Avenging Three" for thy mother's
murder, for the gods will be umpires between you and will pass a
most righteous sentence on thee upon the hill of Ares, where thou
art to win thy case. Likewise, it is ordained, Orestes, that thou
shalt wed Hermione, at whose neck thou art pointing thy sword;
Neoptolemus shall never marry her, though he thinks he will; for his
death is fated to o'ertake him by a Delphian sword, when he claims
satisfaction of me for the death of his father Achilles. Bestow thy
sister's hand on Pylades, to whom thou didst formerly promise her; the
life awaiting him henceforth is one of bliss.
    Menelaus, leave Orestes to rule Argos; go thou and reign oer
Sparta, keeping it as the dowry of a wife, who till this day ne'er
ceased exposing thee to toils innumerable. Between Orestes and the
citizens, I, who forced his mother's murder on him, will bring about a
reconciliation.
  ORESTES
    Hail to thee, prophetic Loxias, for these thy utterances! Thou art
not a lying prophet after all, but a true seer; and yet there came a
dreadful thought into my heart that it was some fiend I had listened
to, when seemed to hear thy voice; but all is ending well, and I
obey thy word. There! I release Hermione from a violent death and
agree to make her my wife whenever her father gives consent.
  MENELAUS
    All hail, Helen, daughter of Zeus! I wish thee joy of thy home
in heaven's happy courts. To thee, Orestes, I betroth my daughter
according to the word of Phoebus, and good luck attend thee, a noble
wooer nobly wived, and me the parent of thy bride!
  APOLLO
    Repair each one to the place appointed by me; reconcile all
strife.
  MENELAUS
    Obedience is a duty.
  ORESTES
    I think thus also, Menelaus; so here I make a truce with sorrow
and with thy oracles, O Loxias.
  APOLLO (chanting)
    Go your ways, and honour Peace, most fair of goddesses; I,
meantime, will escort Helen to the mansions of Zeus, soon as I reach
the star-lit firmament. There, seated side by side with Hera and Hebe,
the bride of Heracles, she shall be honoured by men with
drink-offerings as a goddess for ever, sharing with those Zeus-born
sons of Tyndareus their empire o'er the sea, for the good of mariners.
                                           (APOLLO and HELEN vanish.)
  CHORUS (chanting)
    Hail! majestic Victory, still in thy keeping hold my life and
ne'er withhold the crown!


                                   -THE END-
