OR. There is none; the living have no tomb. 1220 El. What sayest thou, boy? Or. Nothing that is not true.
El. The man is alive? Or. If there be life in me.
El. What? Art thou he? Or. Look at this signet, once our father's, and judge if I speak truth.
El. O blissful day! Or. Blissful, in very deed!
El. Is this thy voice? Or. Let no other voice reply.
El. Do I hold thee in my arms?
Or. As mayest thou hold me always!
El. Ah, dear friends and fellow-citizens, behold Orestes here, who was feigned dead, and now, by that feigning hath come safely home!
Ch. We see him, daughter; and for this happy for- 1230 l tune a tear of joy trickles from our eyes.
El. Offspring of him whom I loved best, thou hast str. come even now, thou hast come, and found and seen her whom thy heart desired!
Or. I am with thee; — but keep silence for a while.
El. What meanest thou?
Or. 'Tis better to be silent, lest some one within should hear. El. Nay, by ever-virgin Artemis, I will never stoop to fear women, stay-at-homes, vain burdens of 1240 the ground!
Or. Yet remember that in women, too, dwells the spirit of battle; thou hast had good proof of that I ween.
El. Alas! ah me! Thou hast reminded me of my sorrow, one which, from its nature, cannot be veiled, cannot be done away with, cannot forget! 1250 Or. I know this also; but when occasion prompts, then will be the moment to recall those deeds.
El. Each moment of all time, as it comes, would ant. be meet occasion for these my just complaints; scarcely ^ now have I had my lips set free.
Or. I grant it; therefore guard thy freedom. El, What must I do?
Or. When the season serves not, do not wish to speak too much. 1260 El. Nay, who could fitly exchange speech for suchv silence, when thou hast appeared? For now I have seen thy face, beyond all thought and hope!
Or. Thou sawest it, when the gods moved me to come...El. Thou hast told me of a grace above the first, if a god hath indeed brought thee to our house; I ac- 1270 knowledge therein the work of heaven.
■j OR. I am loth, indeed, to curb thy gladness, but yet this excess of joy moves my fear.
ep. El. O thou who, after many a year, hast deigned thus to gladden mine eyes by thy return, do not, now that thou hast seen me in all my woe — OR. What is thy prayer?
El. — do not rob me of the comfort of thy face; do not force me to forego it!
Or. I should be wroth, indeed, if I saw* another attempt it. 1280 El. My prayer is granted? Or. Canst thou doubt?
El. Ah, friends, I heard a voice that I could never have hoped to hear; nor could I have restrained my emotion in silence, and without a cry, when I heard it.
Ah me! But now I have thee; thou art come to me with the light of that dear countenance, which never, even in sorrow, could I forget. Or. Spare all superfluous words; tell me not of w our mother's wickedness, or how Aegisthus drains the 1290 wealth of our father's house by lavish luxury or aim- less waste; for the story would not suffer thee to keep due limit. Tell me rather that which will serve our present need, — where we must show ourselves, or wait in ambush, that this our coming may confound the triumph of our foes.
And look that our mother read not thy secret in thy radiant face, when we twain have advanced into the house, but make lament, as for the feigned disaster; for when we have prospered, then there will be leisure to rejoice and exult in freedom.
El. Nay, brother, as it pleases thee, so shall be 1300 my conduct also; for all my joy is a gift from thee, and not mine own. Nor would I consent to win a great good for myself at the cost of the least pain to thee; for so should I ill serve the divine power that befriends us now.
But thou knowest how matters stand here, I doubt not: thou must have heard that Aegisthus is from home, but our mother within; — and fear not that she will ever see my face lit up with smiles; for mine old 1310 hatred of her hath sunk into my heart; and, since I have beheld thee, for very joy I shall never cease to weep. How indeed should I cease, who have seen thee come home this day, first as dead, and then in life? "jStrangely hast thou wrought on me; so that, if my father should return alive, I should no longer doubt my senses, but should believe that I saw him. Now, therefore, that thou hast come to me so wondrously, command me as thou wilt; for, had I been alone, 1320 I should have achieved one of two things, — a noble deliverance, or a noble death.
Or. Thou hadst best be silent; for I hear some one within preparing to go forth.
EL. {to ORESTES and PYLADES). Enter, sirs; especi- ally as ye bring that which no one could repulse from these doors, though he receive it without joy.
Enter the PAEDAGOGUS. Pae. Foolish and senseless children! Are ye weary of your lives, or was there no wit born in you, that ye 1330 see not how ye stand, not on the brink, but in the very midst of deadly perils? Nay, had I not kept watch this long while at these doors, your plans would have been in the house before yourselves; but, as it is, my care shielded you from that. Now have done with this long discourse, these insatiate cries of joy, and pass within; for in such deeds delay is evil, and 'tis well to make an end.
Or. What, then, will be my prospects when I enter? 1340 Pae. Good; for thou art secured from recognition.
Or. Thou hast reported me, I presume, as dead?
PAE. Know that here thou art numbered with the shades.
Or. Do they rejoice, then, at these tidings? Or what say they?
Pae. I will tell thee at the end; meanwhile, all is well for us on their part, — even that which is not well.
El. Who is this, brother? I pray thee, tell me. Or. Dost thou not perceive? El. I cannot guess.
Or. Knowest thou not the man to whose hands thou gavest me once?
El. What man? How sayest thou?
Or. By whose hands, through thy forethought, I was secretly conveyed forth to Phocian soil. 1350 El. Is this he in whom, alone of many, I found a true ally of old, when our sire was slain?
Or. 'Tis he; question me no further.
El. O joyous day! O sole preserver of Agamem- non's house, how hast thou come? Art thou he indeed, who didst save my brother and myself from many sorrows? O dearest hands; O messenger whose feet were kindly servants! How couldst thou be with me so long, and remain unknown, nor give a ray of light, but afflict me by fables, while possessed of truths most 1360 sweet? Hail, father, — for 'tis a father that I seem to behold! All hail, — and know that I have hated thee,,i and loved thee, in one day, as never man before!
Pae. Enough, methinks; as for the story of the past, many are the circling nights, and days as many, which shall show it thee, Electra, in its fulness.
{To Orestes and Py lades.) But this is my counsel to you twain, who stand there — now is the time to act; now Clytaemnestra is alone, — no man is now within: but, if ye pause, consider that ye will have to fight, not 1370 with the inmates alone, but with other foes more numerous and better skilled.
Or. Pylades, this our task seems no longer to crave many words, but rather that we should enter the house forthwith, — first adoring the shrines of my father's gods, who keep these gates.
[ORESTES and Pylades enter the house, followed by the Paedagogus.— Electra remains outside.
El. O King Apollo! graciously hear them, and hear me besides, who so oft have come before thine altar with such gifts as my devout hand could bring! And now, O Lycean Apollo, with such vows as I can 1380 make, I pray thee, I supplicate, I implore, grant us thy benignant aid in these designs, and show men how impiety is rewarded by the gods!
[Electra enters the house.
Ch. Behold how Ares moves onward, breathing deadly vengeance, against which none may strive! Even now the pursuers of dark guilt have passed beneath yon roof, the hounds which none may flee. Therefore the vision of my soul shall not long tarry 1390 in suspense.
The champion of the spirits infernal is ushered with stealthy feet into the house, the ancestral palace of his sire, bearing keen-edged death in his hands; and Hermes, son of Maia, who hath shrouded the guile in darkness, leads him forward, even to the end, and delays no more.
[Enter ELECTRA from the house.
str. El. Ah, dearest friends, in a moment the men will do the deed; — but wait in silence.
I4-0C Ch. How is it? — what do they now? 14°° El. She is decking the urn for burial, and those two stand close to her.
Ch. And why hast thou sped forth?
EL. To guard against Aegisthus entering before we are aware.
Clytaemnestra (within). Alas! Woe for the house forsaken of friends and filled with murderers!
EL. A cry goes up within: — hear ye not, friends?
Ch. I heard, ah me, sounds dire to hear, and shuddered!
Clyt. (within). O hapless that I am! — Aegisthus, where, where art thou?
El. Hark, once more a voice resounds! CLYT. (within). My son, my son, have pity on thy 1410 mother!
El. Thou hadst none for him, nor for the father that begat him.
Ch. Ill-fated realm and race, now the fate that hath pursued thee day by day is dying, — is dying!
CLYT. (within). Oh, I am smitten!
El. Smite, if thou canst, once more!
Clyt. (within). Ah, woe is me again!
El. Would that the woe were for Aegisthus too!
Ch. The curses are at work; the buried live; blood flows for blood, drained from the slayers by those who 1420 died of yore.
[Enter Orestes and Pylades from the house.
Behold, they come! That red hand reeks with sacri- ant. fice to Ares; nor can I blame the deed.
El. Orestes, how fare ye? Or. All is well within the house, if Apollo's oracle spake well.
El. The guilty one is dead? Or. Fear no more that thy proud mother will ever put thee to dis- honour.
Ch. Cease; for I see Aegisthus full in view. 1430 El. Rash boys, back, back! Or. Where see ye the man? El. Yonder, at our mercy, he advances from the suburb, full of joy.
Ch. Make with all speed for the vestibule; that, as your first task prospered, so this again may prosper now.
Or. Fear not, — we will perform it. El. Haste, then, whither thou wouldst.
Or. See, I am gone. El. I will look to matters here.
[Exetmt Orestes and Pylades.
Ch. 'Twere well to soothe his ear with some few 1440 words of seeming gentleness, that he may rush blindly upon the struggle with his doom.
Enter AEGISTHUS.
Af.G. Which of you can tell me, where are those Phocian strangers, who, 'tis said, have brought us tidings of Orestes slain in the wreck of his chariot? Thee, thee I ask, yes, thee, in former days so bold, — for methinks it touches thee most nearly; thou best must know, and best canst tell.
El. I know assuredly; else were I a stranger to the fortune of my nearest kinsfolk.
AEG. Where then may be the strangers? Tell me.
EL. Within; they have found a way to the heart of their hostess. J45° AEG. Have they in truth reported him dead? EL. Nay, not reported only; they have shown him.
AEG. Can I, then, see the corpse with mine own eyes?
El. Thou canst, indeed; and 'tis no enviable sight.
AEG. Indeed, thou hast given me a joyful greet- ing, beyond thy wont.
El. Joy be thine, if in these things thou find- est joy.
AEG. Silence, I say, and throw wide the gates, for all Mycenaeans and Argives to behold; that, if any of them were once buoyed on empty hopes from this man, now, seeing him dead, they may receive my curb,, instead of waiting till my chastisement make them wise 1460 perforce!
El. No loyalty is lacking on my part; time hath taught me the prudence of concord with the stronger.
[A shrouded corpse is disclosed. ORESTES and Pylades stand near it.
AEG. 0 Zeus, I behold that which hath not fallen save by the doom of jealous Heaven; but, if Nemesis attend that word, be it unsaid! Take all the covering from the face, that kinship, at least, may receive the tribute of lament from me also. 1470 OR. Lift the veil thyself; not my part this, but thine, to look upon these relics, and to greet them kindly.
Aeg. Tis good counsel, and I will follow it. — {To Electro) But thou — call me Clytaemnestra, if she is within.
Or. Lo, she is near thee: turn not thine eyes elsewhere.
[AEGISTHUS removes the face-cloth from, the corpse.
Aeg. O, what sight is this!
Or. Why so scared? Is the face so strange?
Aeg. Who are the men into whose mid toils I have '■-■ fallen, hapless that I am?
Or. Nay, hast thou not discovered ere now that the dead, as thou miscallest them, are living? 1480 Aeg. Alas, I read the riddle: this can be none but Orestes who speaks to me!
Or. And, though so good a prophet, thou wast deceived so long?
Aeg. Oh lost, undone! Yet suffer me to say one word...El. In heaven's name, my brother, suffer him not to speak further, or to plead at length! When mortals ,/are in the meshes of fate, how can such respite avail one who is to die? No, — slay him forthwith, and cast his corpse to the creatures from whom such as he should have burial, far from our sight! To me, nothing but this can make amends for the woes of 1490 the past.
OR. {to AEGISTHUS). Go in, and quickly; the issue here is not of words, but of thy life.
AEG. Why take me into the house? If this deed be fair, what need of darkness? Why is thy hand not prompt to strike?
Or. Dictate not, but go where thou didst slay my father, that in the same place thou mayest die.
Aeg. Is this dwelling doomed to see all woes of Pelops' line, now, and in time to come?
Or. Thine, at least; trust my prophetic skill so far.
Aeg. The skill thou vauntest belonged not to 1500 thy sire. Or. Thou bandiest words, and our going is de- layed. Move forward! Aeg. Lead thou. Or. Thou must go first. Aeg. Lest I escape thee? Or. No, but that thou mayest not choose how to die; I must not spare thee any bitterness of death. And well it were if this judgment came straightway upon all who dealt in lawless deeds, even the judgment of the sword: so should not wickedness abound.
Ch. O house of Atreus, through how many suffer- ings hast thou come forth at last in freedom, crowned with good by this day's enterprise I 1510 4U