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Orestes

CHORUS.The great happiness, and the valor high sounding throughout Greece, and by the channels of the Simois, has again withdrawn from the fortune of the Atridæ, as of old, from the ancient calamity of the house, when the strife of the golden lamb[20] arose among the descendants of Tantalus; most shocking feasts, and the slaughter of noble children; from whence murder responsive to murder fails not to attend on the two sons of Atreus. What seems good is not good, to gash the parents' skin with a fierce hand, and brandish the sword black-stained with blood in the sunbeams. But, on the other hand, to act wickedly[21] is mad impiety, and the folly of evil-minded men. But the wretched daughter of Tyndarus in the fear of death shrieked out, "My son, thou darest impious deeds, killing thy mother; do not, attending to the gratification of thy father, kindle an everlasting disgrace." What malady, or what tears, or what pity on earth is greater, than to imbrue one's hand in a mother's blood? What a deed, what a deed having performed, does the son of Agamemnon rave with madness, a prey to the Eumenides, marked for death, giddy with his rolling eyes! O wretched on account of his mother, when though seeing the breast bared from the robe of golden texture, he stabbed the mother in retaliation for the father's sufferings. ELECTRA, CHORUS. ELEC. Ye virgins, has the wretched Orestes, overcome with heaven-inflicted madness, rushed any where from this house? CHOR. By no means; but he is gone to the Argive people, to undergo the trial proposed regarding life, by which you must either live or die. ELEC. Alas me! what thing has he done? but who persuaded him? CHOR. Pylades.—But this messenger seems soon about to inform us of what has passed there concerning thy brother. MESSENGER, ELECTRA, CHORUS. MESS. O wretched hapless daughter of the chief Agamemnon, revered Electra, hear the unfortunate words which I am come to bring. ELEC. Alas! alas! we are undone; this thou signifiest by thy speech. For thou comest, as it seems, a messenger of woes. MESS. It has been carried by the vote of the Pelasgians, that thy brother and thou must die this day. ELEC. Ah me! the expected event has come, which long since fearing, I pined away with lamentations on account of what was in prospect.—But what was the debate? What arguments among the Argives condemned us, and confirmed our sentence of death? Tell me, old man, whether by the hand raised to stone me, or by the sword must I breathe out my soul, having this calamity in common with my brother? MESS. I chanced indeed to be entering the gates from the country, anxious to hear both what regarded thee, and what regarded Orestes; for at all times I had a favorable inclination toward thy father: and thy house fed me, poor indeed, but noble in my conduct toward friends. But I see the crowd going and sitting down on an eminence; where they say Danaus first collected the people to a common council, when he suffered punishment at the hands of Ægyptus. But seeing this concourse, I asked one of the citizens, "What new thing is stirring in Argos? Has any message from hostile powers roused the city of the Danaids?" But he said, "Seest thou not this Orestes walking near us, who is about to run in the contest of life and death?" But I see an unexpected sight, which oh that I had never seen! Pylades and thy brother walking together, the one indeed broken with sickness, but the other, like a brother, sympathizing with his friend, tending his weakened state with fostering care. But when the assembly of the Argives was full, a herald stood forth and said, "Who wishes to speak on the question, whether it is right that Orestes, who has killed his mother, should die, or not?" And on this Talthybius rises, who, in conjunction with thy father, laid waste the Phrygians. But he spoke words of divided import, being the constant slave of those in power; struck with admiration indeed at thy father, but not commending thy brother (speciously mixing up words of bad import), because he laid down no good laws toward his parents: but he was continually casting a smiling glance on Ægisthus's friends. For such is this kind; heralds always dance attendance on the prosperous; but that man is their friend, whoever may chance to have power in the state, and to be in office. But next to him prince Diomed harangued; he indeed was for suffering them to kill neither thee nor thy brother, but bid them observe piety by punishing you with banishment. But some indeed murmured their assent, that he spoke well, but others praised him not.[22] And after him rises up some man, intemperate in speech, powerful in boldness, an Argive, yet not an Argive,[23] forced upon us, relying both on the tumult, and on ignorant boldness, prompt by persuasion to involve them in some mischief. (For when a man, sweet in words, holding bad sentiments, persuades the multitude, it is a great evil to the city. But as many as always advise good things with understanding, although not at the present moment, eventually are of service to the state: but the intelligent leader ought to look to this, for the case is the same with the man who speaks words, and the man who approves them.) Who said, that they ought to kill Orestes and thee by stoning. But Tyndarus was privily making up such sort of speeches for him who wished your death to speak. But another man stood up, and spoke in opposition to him, in form indeed not made to catch the eye; but a man endued with the qualities of a man, rarely polluting the city, and the circle of the forum; one who farmed his own land,[24] which class of persons[25] alone preserve the country, but prudent, and wishing the tenor of his conduct to be in unison with his words, uncorrupted, one that had conformed to a blameless mode of living; he proposed to crown Orestes the son of Agamemnon,[25a] who was willing to avenge his father by slaying a wicked and unholy woman, who took this out of the power of men, and would no one have been the cause of arming the hand for war, nor undertaking an expedition, leaving his home, if those who are left destroy what is intrusted to their charge in the house, disgracing their husbands' beds. And to right-minded men at least he appeared to speak well: and none spoke besides, but thy brother advanced and said, "O inhabitants of the land of Inachus, avenging you no less than my father, I slew my mother, for if the murder of men shall become licensed to women, ye no longer can escape dying, or ye must be slaves to your wives. But ye do the contrary to what ye ought to do. For now she that was false to the bed of my father is dead; but if ye do indeed slay me, the law has lost its force, and no man can escape dying, forasmuch as there will be no lack of this audacity." But he persuaded not the people, though appearing to speak well. But that villain, who spoke among the multitude, overcomes him, he that harangued for the killing of thy brother and thee. But scarcely did the wretched Orestes persuade them that he might not die by stoning; but he promised that this day he would quit his life by self-slaughter together with thee:—but Pylades is conducting him from the council, weeping: but his friends accompany him bewailing him, pitying him; but he is coming a sad spectacle to thee, and a wretched sight. But prepare the sword, or the noose for thy neck, for thou must die, but thy nobleness of birth hath profited thee nothing, nor the Pythian Phœbus who sits on the tripod, but hath destroyed thee. CHOR. O unhappy virgin! how art thou dumb, casting thy muffled countenance toward the ground, as though about to run into a strain of groans and lamentations! ELEC. I begin the lament, O land of Greece, digging my white nail into my cheek, sad bleeding woe, and dashing my head, which[26] the lovely[27] goddess of the manes beneath the earth has to her share. And let the Cyclopian land[28] howl, applying the steel to their head cropped of hair over the calamity of our house. This pity, this pity, proceeds for those who are about to die, who once were the princes of Greece. For it is gone, it is gone, the entire race of the children of Pelops has perished, and the happiness which once resided in these blest abodes. Envy from heaven has now seized it, and the harsh decree of blood in the state. Alas! alas! O race of mortals that endure for a day, full of tears, full of troubles, behold how contrary to expectation fate comes. But in the long lapse of time each different man receives by turns his different sufferings.[29] But the whole race of mortals is unstable and uncertain. Oh! could I go to that rock stretched from Olympus in its loftiness midst heaven and earth by golden chains, that mass of clay borne round with rapid revolutions, that in my plaints I might cry out to my ancient father Tantalus; who begat the progenitors of my family, who saw calamities, what time in the pursuing of steeds, Pelops in his car drawn by four horses perpetrated, as he drove, the murder of Myrtilus, by casting him into the sea, hurling him down to the surge of the ocean, as he guided his car on the shore of the briny sea by Geræstus foaming with its white billows. Whence the baleful curse came on my house since, by the agency of Maia's son,[30] there appeared the pernicious, pernicious prodigy of the golden-fleeced lamb, a birth which took place among the flocks of the warlike Atreus. On which both Discord drove back the winged chariot of the sun, directing it from the path of heaven leading to the west toward Aurora borne on her single horse.[31] And Jupiter drove back the course of the seven moving Pleiads another way: and from that period[32] he sends deaths in succession to deaths, and "the feast of Thyestes," so named from Thyestes. And the bed of the Cretan Ærope deceitful in a deceitful marriage has come as a finishing stroke on me and my father, to the miserable destruction of our family. CHOR. But see, thy brother is advancing, condemned by the vote of death, and Pylades the most faithful of all, a man like a brother, supporting the enfeebled limbs of Orestes, walking by his side[33] with the foot of tender solicitude. ELECTRA, ORESTES, PYLADES, CHORUS. ELEC. Alas me! for I bewail thee, my brother, seeing thee before the tomb, and before the pyre of thy departed shade: alas me! again and again, how am I bereft of my senses, seeing with my eyes the very last sight of thee. ORES. Wilt thou not in silence, ceasing from womanish groans, make up thy mind to what is decreed? These things indeed are lamentable, but yet we must bear our present fate. ELEC. And how can I be silent? We wretched no longer are permitted to view this light of the God. ORES. Do not thou kill me; I, the unhappy, have died enough already under the hands of the Argives; but pass over our present ills. ELEC. O Orestes! oh wretched in thy youth, and thy fate, and thy untimely death, then oughtest thou to live, when thou art no more. ORES. Do not by the Gods throw cowardice around me, bringing the remembrance of my woes so as to cause tears. ELEC. We shall die; it is not possible not to groan our misfortunes; for the dear life is a cause of pity to all mortals. ORES. This is the day appointed for us! but we must either fit the suspended noose, or whet the sword with our hand. ELEC. Do thou then kill me, my brother; let none of the Argives kill me, putting a contumely on the offspring of Agamemnon. ORES. I have enough of thy mother's blood, but thee I will not slay; but die by thine own hand in whatever manner thou wilt. ELEC. These things shall be; I will not be deserted by thy sword;[34] but I wish to clasp my hands around thy neck. ORES. Thou enjoyest a vain gratification, if this be an enjoyment, to throw thy hands around those who are hard at death's door. ELEC. Oh thou most dear! oh thou that hast the desirable and most sweet name, and one soul with thy sister! ORES. Thou wilt melt me; and still I wish to answer thee in the endearment of encircling arms, for why am I any longer ashamed? O bosom of my sister, O dear object of my caresses, these embraces are allowed to us miserable beings instead of children and the bridal bed. ELEC. Alas! How can the same sword (if this request be lawful) kill us, and one tomb wrought of cedar receive us? ORES. This would be most sweet; but thou seest how destitute we are, in respect to being able to share our sepulture. ELEC. Did not Menelaus speak in behalf of thee, taking a decided part against thy death, the base man, the deserter of my father? [Note [G].] ORES. He showed it not even in his countenance, but keeping his hopes on the sceptre, he was cautious how he saved his friends. But let be, he will die acting in a manner nobly, and most worthily of Agamemnon. And I indeed will show my high descent to the city, striking home to my heart with the sword; but thee, on the other hand, it behooveth to act in concert with my bold attempts. But do thou, Pylades, be the umpire of our death, and well compose the bodies of us when dead, and bury us together, bearing us to our father's tomb. And farewell—but I am going to the deed, as thou seest. PYL. Hold. This one thing indeed first I bring in charge against thee—Dost thou think that I can wish to live when thou diest?[35] ORES. For how does it concern thee to die with me? PYL. Dost ask? But how does it to live without thy company? ORES. Thou didst not slay my mother, as I did, a wretch. PYL. With thee I did at least; I ought also to suffer these things in common with thee. ORES. Take thyself back to thy father, do not die with me. For thou indeed hast a city (but I no longer have), and the mansion of thy father, and a great harbor of wealth. But thou art frustrated in thy marriage with this unhappy virgin, whom I betrothed to thee, revering thy friendship. Nevertheless do thou, contracting other nuptials, be a blest father, but the connection between me and thee no longer subsists, But thou, O darling name of my converse, farewell, be happy, for this is not allowed me, but it is to thee; for we, the dead, are deprived of happiness. PYL. Surely thou art wide astray from my purposes. Nor may the fruitful plain receive my blood, nor the bright air, if ever I betraying thee, having freed myself, forsake thee; for I committed the slaughter with thee (I will not deny it), and I planned all things, for which now thou sufferest vengeance. Die then I must with thee and her together, for her, whose marriage I have courted, I consider as my wife; for what good excuse ever shall I give, going to the Delphian land to the citadel of the Phocians, I, who was present with you, your friend, before indeed you were unfortunate, but now, when you are unfortunate, am no longer thy friend? It is not possible —but these things are my care also. But since we are about to die, let us come to a common conference, how Menelaus may be involved in our calamity. ORES. O thou dearest man: for would I see this and die. PYL. Be persuaded then, but defer the slaughtering sword. ORES. I will defer, if any how I can avenge myself on my enemy. PYL. Be silent then, for I have but small confidence in women. ORES. Do not at all fear these, for they are friends that are present. PYL. Let us kill Helen, which will cause great grief to Menelaus. ORES. How? for the will is here, if it can be done with glory. PYL. Stabbing her; but she is lurking in thy house. ORES. Yes indeed, and is putting her seal on all my effects. PYL. But she shall seal no more, having Pluto for her bridegroom. ORES. And how can this be? for she has a train of barbarian attendants. PYL. Whom? for I would be afraid of no Phrygian. ORES. Such men as should preside over mirrors and scents. PYL. For has she brought hither her Trojan fineries? ORES. Oh yes! so that Greece is but a cottage for her. PYL. A race of slaves is a mere nothing against a race that will not be slaves. ORES. In good truth, this if I could achieve, I shrink not from two deaths. PYL. But neither do I indeed, if I could revenge thee at least. ORES. Disclose thy purpose, and go through it as thou sayest. PYL. We will enter then the house, as men about to die. ORES. Thus far I comprehend, but the rest I do not comprehend. PYL. We will make our lamentation to her of the things we suffer. ORES. So that she shall weep, though joyed within her heart. PYL. And the same things will be for us to do afterward, which she does then. ORES. Then how shall we finish the contest? PYL. We will wear our swords concealed beneath our robes. ORES. But what slaughter can there be before her attendants? PYL. We will bolt them out, scattered in different parts of the house. ORES. And him that is not silent we must kill. PYL. Then the circumstances of the moment will point out what steps to take. ORES. To kill Helen, I understand the sign. PYL. Thou seest: but hear on what honorable principles I meditate it. For, if we draw our sword on a more modest woman, the murder will blot our names with infamy. But in the present instance, she shall suffer vengeance for the whole of Greece, whose fathers she slew, and made the brides bereaved of their spouses; there shall be a shout, and they will kindle up fire to the Gods, praying for many blessings to fall to thee and me, inasmuch as we shed the blood of a wicked woman. But thou shalt not be called the matricide, when thou hast slain her, but dropping this name thou shalt arrive at better things, being styled the slayer of the havoc-dealing Helen. It never, never were right that Menelaus should be prosperous, and that thy father, and thou, and thy sister should die, and thy mother; (this I forbear, for it is not decorous to mention;) and that he should seize thy house, having recovered his bride by the means of Agamemnon's valor. For may I live no longer, if I draw not my black sword upon her. But if then we do not compass the murder of Helen, having fired the palace we will die, for we shall have glory, succeeding in one of these two things, nobly dying, or nobly rescued. CHOR. The daughter of Tyndarus is an object of detestation to all women, being one that has given rise to scandal against the sex. ORES. Alas! There is no better thing than a real friend, not riches, not kingdoms; but the popular applause becomes a thing of no account to receive in exchange for a generous friend. For thou contrivedst the destruction that befell Ægisthus, and wast close to me in my dangers. But now again thou givest me to revenge me on mine enemies, and art not out of the way—but I will leave off praising thee, since there is some burden even in this "to be praised to excess." But I altogether in a state of death, wish to do something to my foes and die, that I may in turn destroy those who betrayed me, and those may groan who also made me unhappy. I am the son of Agamemnon, who ruled over Greece by general consent; no tyrant, but yet he had the power as it were of a God, whom I will not disgrace, suffering a slavish death, but breathe out my soul in freedom, but on Menelaus will I revenge me. For if we could gain this one thing, we should be prosperous, if from any chance safety should come unhoped for on the slayers then, not the slain: this I pray for. For what I wish is sweet to delight the mind without fear of cost, though with but fleeting words uttered through the mouth. ELEC. I, O brother, think that this very thing brings safety to thee, and thy friend, and in the third place to me. ORES. Thou meanest the providence of the Gods: but where is this? for I know that there is understanding in thy mind. ELEC. Hear me then, and thou too give thy attention. ORES. Speak, since the existing prospect of good affords some pleasure. ELEC. Art thou acquainted with the daughter of Helen? Thou knowest her of whom I ask. ORES. I know her, Hermione, whom my mother brought up. ELEC. She is gone to Clytæmnestra's tomb. ORES. For what purpose? what hope dost thou suggest? ELEC. To pour libations on the tomb in behalf of her mother. ORES. And what is this, thou hast told me of, that regards our safety? ELEC. Seize her as a pledge as she is coming back. ORES. What remedy for the three friends is this thou sayest? ELEC. When Helen is dead, if Menelaus does any harm to thee or Pylades, or me (for this firm of friendship is all one), say that thou wilt kill Hermione; but thou oughtest to draw thy sword, and hold it to the neck of the virgin. And if indeed Menelaus save thee, anxious that the virgin may not die; when he sees Helen's corse weltering in blood, give back the virgin for her father to enjoy; but should he, not governing his angry temper, slay thee, do thou also plunge the sword into the virgin's neck, and I think that he, though at first he come to us very big, will after a season soften his heart; for neither is he brave nor valiant: this is the fortress of our safety that I have; my arguments on the subject have been spoken. ORES. O thou that hast indeed the mind of a man, but a form among women beautiful, to what a degree art thou more worthy of life than death! Pylades, wilt thou miserably be disappointed of such a woman, or dwelling with her obtain this happy marriage? PYL. For would it could be so! and she could come to the city of the Phocians meeting with her deserts in splendid nuptials! ORES. But when will Hermione come to the house? Since for the rest thou saidst most admirably, if we could succeed in taking the whelp of the impious father. ELEC. Even now I guess that she must be near the house, for with this supposition the space itself of the time coincides. ORES. It is well; do thou therefore, my sister Electra, waiting before the house, meet the arrival of the virgin. And watch, lest any one, either some ally, or the brother of my father, should be beforehand with us coming to the palace: and make some noise toward the house, either knocking at the doors, or sending thy voice within. But let us, O Pylades (for thou undertakest this labor with me), entering in, arm our hands with the sword to one last attempt. O my father, that inhabitest the realms of gloomy night, Orestes thy son invokes thee to come a succor to thy suppliants; for on thy account I wretched suffer unjustly, and am betrayed by thy brother, myself having acted justly: whose wife I wish to take and destroy; but be thou our accomplice in this affair. ELEC. O father, come then, if beneath the earth thou hearest thy children calling, who die for thee. PYL. O thou relation[36] of my father, give ear, O Agamemnon, to my prayers also, preserve thy children. ORES. I slew my mother. PYL. But I directed the sword. ELEC. But I at least incited you, and freed you from delay. ORES. Succoring thee, my father. ELEC. Neither did I forsake thee. PYL. Wilt thou not therefore, hearing these things that are brought against thee,[37] defend thy children? ORES. I pour libations on thee with my tears. ELEC. And I with lamentations. PYL. Cease, and let us haste forth to the work, for if prayers penetrate under the earth, he hears; but, O Jove our ancestor, and thou revered deity of justice, grant us to succeed, him, and myself, and this virgin, for over us three friends one hazard, one cause impends, either for all to live, or all to die! ELECTRA, CHORUS. ELEC. O dear Mycenian virgins, who have the first place at the Pelasgian seat of the Argives;— CHOR. What voice art thou uttering, my respected mistress? for this appellation awaits thee in the city of the Danaids. ELEC. Arrange yourselves, some of you in this beaten way, and some there, in that other path, to guard the house. CHOR. But on what account dost thou command this, tell me, my friend. ELEC. Fear possesses me, lest any one being in the palace, on account of this murderous deed, should contrive evils on evils. SEMICHOR. Go, let us hasten, I indeed will guard this path, that tends toward where the sun flings his first rays. SEMICHOR. And I indeed this, which leads toward the west. ELEC. Now turn the glances of your eyes around in every position, now here, now there, then take some other view. CHOR. We are, as thou commandest. ELEC. Now roll your eyelids over your pupils, glance them every way through your ringlets. SEMICHOR. Is this any one here appearing in the path?—Who is this rustic that is standing about thy palace? ELEC. We are undone then, my friends; he will immediately show to the enemy the lurking beasts of prey armed with their swords. SEMICHOR. Be not afraid, the path is clear, which thou thinkest not. ELEC. But what?—does all with you remain secure? Give me some good report, whether the space before the hall be empty? SEMICHOR. All here at least is well, but look to thy province, for no one of the Danaids is approaching toward us. SEMICHOR. Thy report agrees with mine, for neither is there a disturbance here. ELEC. Come now,—I will listen at the door: why do ye delay, ye that are within, to sacrifice the victim, now that ye are in quiet?—They hear not: Alas me! wretched in misery! Are the swords then struck dumb at her beauty? Perhaps some Argive in arms rushing in with the foot of succor will approach the palace.—Now watch more carefully; it is no contest that admits delay; but turn your eyes some this way, and some that. CHOR. I turn each different way, looking about on all sides. HELEN. (within) Oh! Pelasgian Argos! I am miserably slain! ELEC. Heard ye? The men are employing their head in the murder.—It is the shriek of Helen, as I may conjecture. SEMICHOR. O eternal might of Jove, come to assist my friends in every way. HEL. Menelaus, I die! But thou art at hand, and dost not help me! ELEC. Kill, strike, slay, plunging with your hands the two double-edged swords into the deserter of her father, the deserter of her husband, who destroyed numbers of the Grecians perishing by the spear at the river, whence tears fell into conjunction with tears, fell on account of the iron weapons around the whirlpools of Scamander. CHOR. Be still, be still: I heard the sound of some one coming along the path around the palace. ELEC. O most dear women, in the midst of the slaughter behold Hermione is present; let us cease from our clamor, for she comes about to fall into the meshes of our toils. A goodly prey will she be, if she be taken. Again to your stations with a calm countenance, and with a color that shall not give evidence of what has been done. I too will preserve a pensive cast of countenance, as though perfectly unacquainted with what has happened. HERMIONE, ELECTRA, CHORUS. ELEC. O virgin, art thou come from crowning Clytæmnestra's tomb, and pouring libations to her manes? HERM. I am come, having obtained her good services; but some terror has come upon me, on account of the noise in the palace, which I hear being a far distance off the house. ELEC. But why? There have happened to us things worthy of groans. HERM. Speak good words; but what news dost thou tell me? ELEC. It has been decreed by this land, that Orestes and I die. HERM. No, I hope not so; you, who are my relations. ELEC. It is fixed; but we stand under the yoke of necessity. HERM. Was the noise then in the house on this account? ELEC. For falling down a suppliant at the knees of Helen, he cries out— HERM. Who? for I know no more, except thou tellest me. ELEC. The wretched Orestes, that he may not die, and in behalf of me. HERM. For a just reason then the house lamented. ELEC. For on what other account should one rather cry out? But come, and join in supplication with thy friends, falling down before thy mother, the supremely blest, that Menelaus will not see us perish. But, O thou, that receivedst thy education at the hands of my mother, pity us, and alleviate our sufferings. Come hither to the trial; but I will lead the way, for thou alone hast the ends of our preservation. HERM. Behold I direct my footstep toward the house. Be preserved, as far as lies in me. ELEC. O ye in the house, my dear warriors, will ye not take your prey? HERM. Alas me! who are these I see? ORES. (advancing) Thou must be silent; for thou art come to preserve us, not thyself. ELEC. Hold her, hold her; and pointing a sword to her neck be silent, that Menelaus may know, that having found men, not Phrygian cowards, he has treated them in a manner he should treat cowards. What ho! what ho! my friends, make a noise, a noise, and shout before the palace, that the murder that is perpetrated spread not a dread alarm among the Argives, so that they run to assist to the king's palace, before I plainly see the slaughtered Helen lying weltering in her blood within the house, or else we hear the report from some of her attendants. For part of the havoc I know, and part not accurately. CHOR. With justice came the vengeance of the Gods on Helen. For she filled the whole of Greece with tears on account of the ruthless, ruthless Idean Paris, who brought the Grecian state to Ilium. But be silent, for the bolts of the royal mansion resound, for some one of the Phrygians comes forth, from whom we shall hear of the affairs within the house, in what state they are. PHRYGIAN, CHORUS. PHRY. I have escaped from death by the Argive sword in these barbaric slippers, climbing over the cedar beams of the bed and the Doric triglyphs, by the flight of a barbarian.[38] Thou art gone, thou art gone, O my country, my country! Alas me! whither can I escape, O strangers, flying through the hoary air, or the sea, which the Ocean, with head in shape like a bull's, rolling with his arms encircles the earth? CHOR. But what is the matter, O attendant of Helen, thou man of Ida? PHRY. O Ilion, Ilion! alas me! O thou fertile Phrygian city, thou sacred mount of Ida, how do I lament for thee destroyed, a sad,[39] sad strain for my barbaric voice, on account of that form of the hapless, hapless Helen, born from a bird, the offspring of the beauteous Leda in shape of a swan, the fiend of the splendid Apollonian Pergamus! Alas! Oh! lamentations! lamentations! O wretched Dardania, warlike school[40] of Ganymede, the companion of Jove! CHOR. Relate to us clearly each circumstance that happened in the house, for I do not understand your former account, but merely conjecture. PHRY. Αιλινον, αιλινον, the Barbarians begin the song of death in the language of Asia, Alas! alas! when the blood of kings has been poured on the earth by the ruthless swords of death. There came to the palace (that I may relate each circumstance) two Grecians, lions, of the one the leader of the Grecian host was said to be the father, the other the son of Strophius, a man of dark design; such was Ulysses, secretly treacherous, but faithful to his friends, bold in battle, skilled in war, cruel as the dragon. May he perish for his deep concealed design, the worker of evil! But they having advanced within her chamber, whom the archer Paris had as his wife, their eyes bathed with tears, they sat down in humble mien, one on each side of her, on the right and on the left, armed with swords. And around her knees did they both fling their suppliant hands, around the knees of Helen did they fling them. But the Phrygian attendants sprung up, and fled in amazement: and one called out to another in terror, See, lest there be treachery. To some indeed there appeared no danger; but to others the dragon stained with his mother's blood appeared bent to infold in his closest toils the daughter of Tyndarus. CHOR. But where wert thou then, or hadst thou long before fled through fear? PHRY. After the Phrygian fashion I chanced with the close circle of feathers to be fanning the gale, that sported in the ringlets of Helen, before her cheek, after the barbaric fashion. But she was winding with her fingers the flax round the distaff, but what she had spun she let fall on the ground, desirous of making from the Phrygian spoils a robe of purple as an ornament for the tomb, a gift to Clytæmnestra. But Orestes entreated the Spartan girl; "O daughter of Jove, here, place thy footstep on the ground, rising from thy seat, come to the place of our ancestor Pelops, the ancient altar, that thou mayest hear my words." And he leads her, but she followed, not dreaming of what was about to happen. But his accomplice, the wicked Phocian, attended to other points. "Will ye not depart from out of the way, but are the Phrygians always vile?" and he bolted us out scattered in different parts of the house, some in the stables of the horses, and some in the outhouses, and some here and there, dispersing them some one way, some another, afar from their mistress. CHOR. What calamity took place after this? PHRY. O powerful, powerful Idean mother, alas! alas! the murderous sufferings, and the lawless evils, which I saw, I saw in the royal palace! From beneath their purple robes concealed having their drawn swords in their hands, they turned each his eye on either side, lest any one might chance to be present. But like mountain boars standing over against the lady, they say, "Thou shalt die, thou shalt die! thy vile husband kills thee, having given up the offspring of his brother to die at Argos." But she shrieked out, Ah me! ah me! and throwing her white arm on her breast inflicted on her head miserable blows, and, her feet turned to flight, she stepped, she stepped with her golden sandals; but Orestes thrusting his fingers into her hair, outstripping her flight,[41] bending back her neck over his left shoulder, was about to plunge the black sword into her throat. CHOR. Where then were the Phrygians, who dwell under the same roof, to assist her? PHRY. With a clamor having burst by means of bars the doors and cells where we were waiting, we run to her assistance, each to different parts of the house, one bringing stones, another spears, another having a long-handled sword in his hand. But Pylades came against us, impetuous, like as the Phrygian Hector or Ajax in his triple-crested helmet, whom I saw, I saw at the gates of Priam: but we clashed together the points of our swords: then indeed, then did the Phrygians give clear proof how inferior we were in the force of Mars to the spear of Greece. One indeed turning away, a fugitive, but another wounded, and another deprecating the death that threatened him: but under favor of the darkness we fled: and the corses fell, but some staggered, and some lay prostrate. But the wretched Hermione came to the house at the time when her murdered mother fell to the ground, that unhappy woman that gave her birth. And running upon her as Bacchanals without their thyrsus, as a heifer in the mountains they bore her away in their hands, and again eagerly rushed upon the daughter of Jove to slay her. But she vanished altogether from the chamber through the palace. O Jupiter and O earth, and light, and darkness! or by her enchantments, or by the art of magic, or by the stealth of the Gods. But of what followed I know no farther, for I sped in stealth my foot from the palace. But Menelaus having endured many, many severe toils, has received back from Troy the violated rites of Helen to no purpose. CHOR. And see something strange succeeds to these strange things, for I see Orestes with his sword drawn walking before the palace with agitated step, ORESTES, PHRYGIAN, CHORUS. ORES. Where is he that fled from my sword out of the palace? PHRY. I supplicate thee, O king, falling prostrate before thee after the barbaric fashion. ORES. The case before us is not in Ilium, but the Argive land. PHRY. In every region to live is sweeter than to die, in the opinion of the wise. ORES. Didst thou not raise a cry for Menelaus to come with succor? PHRY. I indeed am present on purpose to assist thee; for thou art the more worthy. ORES. Perished then the daughter of Tyndarus justly? PHRY. Most justly, even had she three lives for vengeance. ORES. With thy tongue dost thou flatter, not having these sentiments within? PHRY. For ought she not? She who utterly destroyed Greece as well as the Phrygians themselves? ORES. Swear, I will kill thee else, that thou art not speaking to curry favor with me. PHRY. By my life have I sworn, which I should wish to hold a sacred oath. ORES. Was the steel thus dreadful to all the Phrygians at Troy also? PHRY. Remove thy sword, for being so near me it gleams horrid slaughter. ORES. Art thou afraid, lest thou shouldest become a rock, as though looking on the Gorgon? PHRY. Lest I should become a corse, but I know not of the Gorgon's head. ORES. Slave as thou art, dost thou fear death, which will rid thee from thy woes? PHRY. Every one, although a man be a slave, rejoices to behold the light. ORES. Thou sayest well; thy understanding; saves thee, but go into the house. PHRY. Thou wilt not kill me then? ORES. Thou art pardoned. PHRY. This is good word thou hast spoken. ORES. Yet we may change our measures. PHRY. But this thou sayest not well. ORES. Thou art a fool, if thou thinkest I could endure to defile me by smiting thy neck, for neither art thou a woman, nor oughtest thou to be ranked among men. But that thou mightest not raise a clamor came I forth out of the house: for Argos, when it has heard a noise, is soon roused, but we have no dread in meeting Menelaus, as far as swords go; but let him come exulting with his golden ringlets flowing over his shoulders, for if he collects the Argives, and brings them against the palace seeking revenge for the death of Helen, and is not willing to let me be in safety, and my sister, and Pylades my accomplice in this affair, he shall see two corses, both the virgin and his wife. CHORUS. Alas! alas! O fate, the house of the Atridæ again falls into another, another fearful struggle. SEMICHOR. What shall we do? shall we carry these tidings to the city, or shall we keep in silence? SEMICHOR. This is the safer plan, my friends. SEMICHOR. Behold before the house, behold this smoke leaping aloft in the air portends something. SEMICHOR. They are lighting the torches, as about to burn down the mansion of Tantalus, nor do they forbear from murder. CHOR. The God rules the events that happen to mortals, whichsoever way he wills. But some vast power by the instigation of the Furies has struck, has struck these palaces to the shedding of blood on account of the fall of Myrtilus from the chariot. But lo! I see Menelaus also here approaching the house with a quick step, having by some means or other perceived the calamity which now is present. Will ye not anticipate him by closing the gates with bolts, O ye children of Atreus, who are in the palace? A man in prosperity is a terrible thing to those in adversity, as now them art in misery, Orestes. MENELAUS below, ORESTES, PYLADES, ELECTRA, HERMIONE above, CHORUS. MEN. I am present, having heard the horrid and atrocious deeds of the two lions, for I call them not men. For I have now heard of my wife, that she died not, but vanished away, this that I heard was empty report, which one deceived by fright related; but these are the artifices of the matricide, and much derision. Open some one the door, my attendants I command to burst open these gates here, that my child at least we may deliver from the hand of these blood-polluted men, and may receive my unhappy, my miserable lady, with whom those murderers of my wife must die by my hand. ORES. What ho there! Touch not these gates with thine hands: to Menelaus I speak, that thou towerest in thy boldness, or with this pinnacle will I crush thy head, having rent down the ancient battlement, the labor of the builders. But the gates are made fast with bolts, which will hinder thee from thy purpose of bringing aid, so that thou canst not pass within the palace. MEN. Ha! what is this? I see the blaze of torches, and these stationed on the battlements, on the height of the palace, and the sword placed over the neck of my daughter to guard her. ORES. Whether is it thy will to question, or to hear me? MEN. I wish neither, but it is necessary, as it seems, to hear thee. ORES. I am about to slay thy daughter if thou wish to know. MEN. Having slain Helen, dost thou perpetrate murder on murder? ORES. For would I had gained my purpose not being deluded, as I was, by the Gods. MEN. Thou hast slain her, and deniest it, and speakest these things to insult me. ORES. It is a denial that gives me pain, for would that— MEN. Thou had done what deed? for thou callest forth alarm. ORES. I had hurled to hell the fury of Greece. MEN. Give back the body of my wife, that I may bury her in a tomb. ORES. Ask her of the Gods; but I will slay thy daughter. MEN. The matricide contrives murder on murder. ORES. The avenger of his father, whom thou gavest up to die. MEN. Was not the blood of thy mother formerly shed sufficient for thee? ORES. I should not be weary of slaying wicked women, were I to slay them forever. MEN. Art thou also, Pylades, a partaker in this murder? ORES. By his silence he assents, but if I speak, it will be sufficient. MEN. But not with impunity, unless indeed thou fliest on wings. ORES. We will not fly, but will set fire to the palace? MEN. What! wilt thou destroy thy father's mansion? ORES. Yes, that thou mayest not possess it, will I, having stabbed this virgin here over the flames. MEN. Slay her; since having slain thou shalt at least give me satisfaction for these deeds. ORES. It shall be so then. MEN. Alas! on no account do this! ORES. Be silent then; but bear to suffer evil justly. MEN. What! is it just for thee to live? ORES. Yes, and to rule over the land. MEN. What land! ORES. Here, in Pelasgian Argos. MEN. Well wouldst thou touch the sacred lavers! ORES. And pray why not? MEN. And wouldst slaughter the victim before the battle! ORES. And thou wouldst most righteously. MEN. Yes, for I am pure as to my hands. ORES. But not thy heart. MEN. Who would speak to thee? ORES. Whoever loves his father. MEN. And whoever reveres his mother. ORES. —Is happy. MEN. Not thou at least. ORES. For wicked women please me not. MEN. Take away the sword from my daughter. ORES. Thou art false in thy expectations. MEN. But wilt thou kill my daughter? ORES. Thou art no longer false. MEN. Alas me! what shall I do? ORES. Go to the Argives, and persuade them. MEN. With what persuasion? ORES. Beseech the city that we may not die.[41a] MEN. Otherwise ye will slay my daughter? ORES. The thing is so. MEN. O wretched Helen!— ORES. And am I not wretched? MEN. I brought thee hither from the Trojans to be a victim. ORES. For would this were so! MEN. Having endured ten thousand toils. ORES. Except on my account. MEN. I have met with dreadful treatment. ORES. For then, when thou oughtest, thou wert of no assistance. MEN. Thou hast me. ORES. Thou at least hast caught thyself. But, ho there! set fire to the palace, Electra, from beneath: and thou, Pylades, the most true of my friends, light up these battlements of the walls. MEN. O land of the Danai, and inhabitants of warlike Argos, will ye not, ho there! come in arms to my succor? For this man here, having perpetrated the shocking murder of his mother, brings destruction on your whole city, that he may live. APOLLO. Menelaus, cease from thy irritated state of mind; I Phœbus the son of Latona, in thy presence, am addressing thee. Thou too, Orestes, who standest over that damsel with thy sword drawn, that thou mayest know what commands I bring with me. Helen indeed, whom thou minded to destroy, working Menelaus to anger, didst fail of thy purpose, she is here, whom ye see wrapt in the bosom of the sky, preserved, and not slain by thy hands. Her I preserved, and snatched from thy sword, commanded by my father Jove. For being the daughter of Jove, it is right that she should live immortal. And she shall have her seat by Castor and Pollux in the bosom of the sky, the guardian of mariners. But take to thyself another bride, and lead her home, since for the beauty of this woman the Gods brought together the Greeks and Trojans, and caused deaths, that they might draw from off the earth the pride of mortals, who had become an infinite multitude. Thus is it with regard to Helen; but thee, on the other hand, Orestes, it behooveth, having passed beyond the boundaries of this land, to inhabit the Parrhasian plain during the revolution of a year, and it shall be called by a name after thy flight, so that the Azanes and Arcadians shall call it Oresteum: and thence having departed to the city of the Athenians, undergo the charge of shedding thy mother's blood laid by the three Furies. But the Gods the arbiters of the cause shall pass on thee most sacredly their decree on the hill of Mars, in which it behooveth thee to be victorious. But Hermione, to whose neck thou art holding the sword, it is destined for thee, Orestes, to wed, but Neoptolemus, who thinks to marry her, shall never marry her. For it is fated to him to die by the Delphic sword, as he is demanding of me satisfaction for his father Achilles. But to Pylades give thy sister's hand, as thou didst formerly agree, but a happy life now coming on awaits him. But, O Menelaus, suffer Orestes to reign over Argos. But depart and rule over the Spartan land, having it as thy wife's dowry, who exposing thee to numberless evils always was bringing thee to this. But what regards the city I will make all right for him, I, who compelled him to slay his mother. ORES. O Loxian prophet, thou wert not then a false prophet in thine oracles, but a true one. And yet a fear comes upon me, that having heard one of the Furies, I might think that I have been hearing thy voice. But it is well fulfilled, and I will obey thy words. Behold I let go Hermione from slaughter, and approve her alliance, whenever her father shall give her. MEN. O Helen, daughter of Jove, hail! but I bless thee inhabiting the happy mansions of the Gods. But to thee, Orestes, do I betroth my daughter at Phœbus's commands, but illustrious thyself marrying from an illustrious family, be happy, both thou and I who give her. APOL. Now depart each of you whither we have appointed, and dissolve your quarrels. MEN. It is our duty to obey. ORES. I too entertain the same sentiments, and I receive with friendship thee in thy sufferings, O Menelaus, and thy oracles, O Apollo. APOL. Go now, each his own way, honoring the most excellent goddess Peace; but I will convey Helen to the mansions of Jove, passing through the pole of the shining stars, where sitting by Juno, and Hercules's Hebe, a goddess, she shall ever be honored by mortals with libations, in conjunction with the Tyndaridæ, the sons of Jove, presiding over the sea to the benefit of mariners. CHOR. O greatly glorious Victory, mayest thou uphold my life, and cease not from crowning me! <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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