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 THE 
 ORESTEIAN TRILOGY 
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 CHOEiPHOROE 
 EUMENIDES 
 
THE ORESTEIA- 
 OF AESCHYLUS 
 
 M 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO 
 ENGLISH PROSE BY 
 
 LEWIS CAMPBELL 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 I 
 
 Slpetljuen anti Co- 
 
 18 BURY STREET, W.C. 
 LONDON 
 
 1893 
 
7SS 
 oEc 
 
 1*93 
 
 Edinburgh : T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty. 
 

 MAIN 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 T AVING already published an Aeschylus in English 
 A A Verse with Messrs. Kegan Paul, Triibner and 
 Co., I should probably not have made the present 
 attempt had it not been demanded from me. But 
 ' Poscimur,' as Horace found, is a word of power. 
 And it remains so even where, as in this case, neither 
 Muse nor Lyre is called in aid. Being asked, and 
 having time at my disposal, I did not like to refuse. 
 And having 'tried both ways/ I find that each has 
 its own advantage. If Verse comes nearer to the 
 Spirit, Prose generally though by no means always 
 keeps closer to the Words ; and both forms between 
 them may be said to hammer out some partial 
 approximation to the great original. 
 
 A few preliminary pages have been added, that 
 the English reader may be placed at the outset in 
 a better position for appreciating the Poet's main 
 intention. 
 
 When not otherwise noted, it may be assumed that 
 
 272780 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 Paley's text has been followed. But Wecklein's text 
 and commentary have been consulted throughout ; 
 and some of the emendations which he admits have 
 been adopted. These are referred to in the brief 
 Notes appended to this volume. In some disputed 
 places, where I have departed from my previous 
 rendering, I would not be understood to dogmatize 
 either way. This vacillation is the expression of a 
 doubt. 
 
 LEWIS CAMPBELL. 
 
 Kirnan, St. Andrews, 
 July ibth, 1892. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THE ORESTEIAN TRILOGY- 
 OUTLINE OF THE ACTION 
 INTRODUCTION 
 AGAMEMNON . 
 CHOEPHOROE . 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 NOTES 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ix 
 
 1 i 
 
 59 
 
 101 - 
 
 143 
 
OUTLINE OF THE ACTION 
 
 I. AGAMEMNON 
 
 CLYTEMNESTRA has resolved to murder her hus- 
 band, Agamemnon, in revenge for the death 
 of their daughter Iphigeneia, whom he had sacrificed at 
 the outset of the Trojan expedition. In this design 
 she is aided by Aegisthus, who owes a grudge to the 
 house of Atreus, on account of his father, Thyestes. 
 She has set a watchman to look out for the beacon-fire 
 by which the fall of Troy was to be announced. The 
 fire is seen, and Clytemnestra makes great demonstra- 
 tion of joy. The Elders are doubtful until the Herald 
 appears and announces the arrival of the King. Cly-_ 
 temnestra receives her husband with a dissembling 
 speech, and induces him to enter his palace, like an 
 Eastern conqueror, over a path strewn with purple 
 robes. Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, whom he 
 has brought home with him, then prophesies of his 
 impending fate, and her own. A shriek is heard 
 from within, and while the Elders are hesitating, 
 
x OUTLINE OF THE ACTION 
 
 Clytemnestra suddenly appears and avows the murder. 
 The Elders remonstrate with her, a nd lament over the 
 King . Clyt emnest ra_then further declares her secret 
 union with Aegisthus, who at last shows himself, 
 accompanied by his guards. A conflict appears im- 
 minent, but Clytemnestra deprecates further violence 
 and the play is ended. 
 
 II. CHOEPHOROE 
 
 Eight years have elapsed, and Orestes, the son of 
 Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who has spent his 
 youth in Phocis, in the neighbourhood of Delphi, now 
 returns with Pylades, commissioned by Apollo to 
 avenge his father. At the same moment, Electra, 
 his sister, has been sent by Clytemnestra with offerings 
 to the grave of Agamemnon, in consequence of a 
 warning dream. She is accompanied by the Trojan 
 captive women, who have been attached to the palace 
 since the return of Agamemnon. 
 
 Electra pours the libation. They chant over it, 
 and the recognition of brother and sister follows. 
 Orestes, Electra, and the Chorus then combine in a 
 prolonged invocation to the spirit of Agamemnon, and 
 to the powers of the lower world. Orestes, with his 
 resolution thus confirmed, prepares to act, and the 
 scene changes to before the palace. Or estes^ in dis- 
 guise, with Pylades, knocks at the_door. When it is 
 
OUTLINE OF THE ACTION xi 
 
 opened, Clytemnestra comes forth and receives from 
 the supposed stranger the news of her son's death. 
 She utt ers words of grief, perhaps not al together 
 feigned, but soon recovers her composure, and gives 
 orders for the entertainment of the ' men from Phocis.' 
 Aegisthus, who is from home, is sent for. He goes in 
 hastily to ascertain the truth of the tidings. Presently 
 his cry is heard, and Clytemnestra is loudly called for. 
 She enters and divines the truth.^Whereupon she calls 
 imperiously for a workman's axe. But there is no time 
 to fetch it, for Orestes is discovered with the dead 
 body of Aegisthus beside him. The encounter of son 
 and mother is brief and decisive. She is slain behind 
 the scene. 
 
 Orestes re-enters, and in self-defence displays the 
 blood-stained web in which Agamemnon had been 
 overpowered. g Bu t presently he is aware of the 
 presence of his mother s Furies. They are as yet 
 invisible to all but him, but they effectually drive him 
 forth. He flies for sanctuary to Delphi. 
 
 III. EUMENIDES 
 
 Orestes has found his way to the holy place at 
 Delphi, but has been pursued by the Furies, and all 
 but overtaken. On entering th etemple. howe ver, 
 his pursuers have fallen asleep. But Clytemnestra' s 
 
 ghost awakens them. Apollo then appears aricT 
 
xii OUTLINE OF THE ACTION 
 
 chases them forth, having previously assured Orestes 
 of his protection. 
 
 After this prelude, the scene is changed to Athens. 
 A long time has intervened, during which the Furies 
 have been hunting their victim. But his cause is 
 now ready for decision. He clings to the image of 
 Athena, and his accusers threaten him in vain. Athena 
 herself comes and hears their accusations and his plea. 
 She institutes the court of Areopa gus to try the case. 
 Apollo appears in evidence on Orestes' side. The 
 votes are equal, and Athena gives her casting vote for 
 Orestes, who in the joy of his acquittal promises that the 
 league between Athens and Argos shall be inviolable. 
 T he resentm ent of the Furies at first appears inexor- 
 able, and they threa ten all manner of evil to the 
 Athenian land. But Athena reasons with them, and 
 they are at last pacified, and induced to take up their 
 abode beneath the Areopagus, not now as the Furies 
 (Erin yes), but as Gentle Powers (Eumenides). A 
 great torchlight procession of the converted Furies 
 and their attendants, the Councillors of the Areopagus, 
 and others, concludes the Trilogy. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ' O dark Erinys, dreadful is thy power.' Seven against Thebes. 
 
 THE three dramas of which an Aeschylean Trilogy 
 is composed are not to be regarded merely as 
 acts of a single drama; yet neither has any one of 
 them, taken apart, the completeness which belongs 
 to Tragedy in its perfection. In point of fact, they 
 were represented continuously, and probably on the 
 same day. And while other poets appear to have 
 been contented with slight or arbitrary links of con- 
 nection between the pieces which they brought out for 
 competition, it is manifest that Aeschylus preferred to 
 avail himself of the triple 1 performance to develop 
 the full proportions of one great subject. Of this 
 unique form of dramatic art, the plays here translated 
 afford the only extant specimen. Each of them is 
 so great in itself as frequently to have become the 
 subject of separate treatment. 
 
 Editions and translations of the Agamemnon as a 
 single play are too numerous to be mentioned here. 
 
 1 Quadruple, if the Satyric Drama is included. 
 
 xiii 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 The Choephoroe of the late Professor Conington 
 (much more elaborate than his Agamemnon) is an 
 admirable example of the scholarly treatment of a 
 difficult and important text, 1 and K. O. Miiller's 
 edition of the Eumenides may be said to mark an 
 epoch in the higher region of classical interpretation 
 and criticism. More recently it has become usual to 
 take the whole Trilogy together, as in the present 
 volume. 2 
 
 The O resteia, as it is g enerally called, first appeared 
 at Athens in the year 357 b.c~ within three yea; 
 t he date assigned by tra dition to the poet's death in 
 S icily. More obviously than is the case with most 
 great tragic poems, both the . choice of the Fable, and 
 in some points the treatment of it, have reference to 
 the circumstances of the time in which the dramas 
 were produced. 
 
 The close alliance between At hens and_Argos, 
 cemented by their common jealousy of Sparta, had 
 been concluded four years previously (36 1 b.c.), and 
 was in full vigour. The building of the long walls 
 between Athens and the Piraeus in 458 b.c. marks a 
 culminating point in Athenian patriotism, and it was 
 
 1 His appointment to the Latin Chair at Oxford may have pre- 
 vented the continuation of the work. 
 
 2 To treat the Agamemnon separately would be like concluding 
 a representation of Macbeth with the Banquet Scene. 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 immediately followed by the Spartan invasion of 
 Phocis, which was at least impending when the 
 Oresteia appeared. 1 The vindication of the Argive 
 hero, Orestes, by Athena and her Areopagus, with the 
 assistance of Apollo, God of Delphi, had therefore a 
 special interest for the Athenians at the moment, and 
 was not without national significance. 
 
 The tale recalls the glories as well as the horrors of 
 the dimly remembered period when Argos and not 
 Sparta had been the mistress of the Peloponnese ; and 
 Argos had recently asserted herself effectively, at 
 least within the valley of Argolis, by crushing the 
 ancient powers of Mycenae and Tiryns. The extinction 
 of Mycenae took place in 468 B.C., and this fact helps 
 to account for the suppression by Aeschylus even of 
 the name of what in Homer's time was the legendary 
 home of Agamemnon. Sophocles, in this and other 
 respects, reverts to the Epic form of legend, but the 
 boldness of Aeschylus was no doubt excused by the 
 coincidence of his innovation with political exi- 
 gencies. 
 
 In the Odyssey, as in later Greek writings, Menelaus 
 
 i On a matter of internal politics, the status of the Areopagus, 
 the poet evidently feels strongly, as was natural in a Salaminian 
 warrior, but authorities are too much divided to enable us to speak 
 with confidence of the phase which the question had assumed at 
 this particular time. 
 
xvi , INTRODUCTION 
 
 lives and reigns at Sparta ; but in the Oresteian trilogy 
 Sparta as well as Mycenae is throughout ignored, and 
 in the Agamemnon the two sons of Atreus are 
 imagined as having jointly ruled in Argos until the 
 time of the expedition to Troy. ItTs~"fn the palace of 
 the Pelopidae in Argos (not in My cenae, as in the 
 EUctra of Sophocles) that the banquet of Thyestes 
 had taken place. It was there (and not in Sparta) 
 that Paris had been entertained, and from thence, not 
 from Gythium, he and Helen had sailed forth. ,From 
 thence also they had been pursued by the avenging 
 navy, levied and led by the two joint kings, who, from 
 their palace in Argos, as sole centre, are supposed to 
 have dominated Hellas. 
 
 But while this alteration of the legend was rendered 
 possible by external circumstances, it had for the poet 
 an interest of a different kind. Under his treatment 
 it is distinctly conducive to dramatic unity and to tragic 
 effect. The city of Argos becomes the metropolis of 
 an imperia l realm. The two sons of Atreus, lea gued 
 in power and mind, and married to the two daughters 
 of Leda, are supposed there to have reigned and feasted 
 gloriously, while past horrors were forgotten, and the 
 paean that rang forth after th e third libation in the 
 crowded banquet-hall was graced by the virgin voice 
 of Iphigeneia. The child Orestes gave the elder 
 sovereign assurance of succession. 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 But the flight of Helen, and the summons to the 
 war for reclaiming her, had altered the face of things, 
 and C lytemnestra remained the only royal person o f 
 full years in the great silent house. The delay at 
 Aulis followed, and the unnatural sacrifice. Helen 
 had passively deserted Menelaus for the love of Paris. 
 But the alienation of Clytemnestra from his brother 
 was a passion of different strain, the revenge of an 
 outraged mother, fierce, irreclaimable, and unquench- 
 able. As she brooded over it in those horror-breathing 
 rooms, the creeping blood-feud of the son of Thyestes 
 found its opportunity, and warmed into full life. 
 Aegisthus secret ly returned^ combined in a. g uilty 
 le ague, an d complotted with the Queen. She reserved 
 the act of vengeance for her own right hand, but she 
 reliedjupon the adulterer's support, and he supplied 
 the weapon. 1 
 
 Th ose intimately acquainted with tfre , househ old, the 
 Watchm en and the Elders, although they can have no 
 certain know ledge^ojLwhat j sljiqJl. a vowed, are full of 
 dark une asi ness in a nticipating th e return of the King. 
 One hope remai ns to them ^As the b rothers had gone 
 forth toge ther, the y are exp ected to return tog ether. 
 And the victorious army would surely be faithful to its 
 chief. But this hope is crushed. Agamemnon returns, 
 
 1 See Wecklein's commentary on Cho. ion ; also an article by 
 the present writer in the American Journal of Philology \ i. 4 (1880). 
 
 b 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 indeed, but unaccompanied, except by the few fol- 
 lowers who were with him in his single ship, including 
 Talthybius the herald. The host has been scattered 
 by a tempest ; Menelaus, for anything that is known, 
 may be no more. 1 Aegi sthus and the band of law less 
 resolutes who form_hi s bodyguard may therefore feel 
 secure of overmastering the immediate followers of 
 Agamemnon who come with him from Troy. And the 
 Elders, who have remained at home, even tho^ 
 them whose loyalty is unquestionable, are old and 
 feeble. 
 
 To what extent are the Elders firmly loyal ? The 
 chorus of a Gr eek drama are apt to be regard ed as 
 h omog eneous the exponents of one spirit . But in 
 Aeschylus this is not so always. The Danaides at the 
 end of the Suppliant JVojneti are not unanimous, for a 
 
 \ voice is heard inclining to Hypermnestra's part ; and in 
 Seven against Thebes one half-chorus joins with 
 Antigone, the other with Ismene. The divergen ce 
 in the A gamemnon comes out when the King's two - 
 
 \ voice 
 
 old death-shriek has been heard. The vacillation of 
 he old men at this critical moment may be variously 
 explained. ^The hesitation natural to age may account 
 1 Dr much. The feeling, of which many signs had[ pre- 
 viously been given, that something in the State and 
 
 i For some hints of the situation developed here see Homer, 
 Odyssey iv. 514 f. 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 palace was unsound, the fear of precipitating by un- 
 timely action the revolution which is imagined as almost 
 ripe, may also be reckoned as concurrent motives. 
 The spell under which all lay who had listened to 
 Cassandra might be held responsible for everything; 
 but in Greek tragedy (as will be presently seen), while 
 the s upernatural is all-pervading, hum an motives are 
 alway^j3resen_Qo. No merely magical effect is ever 
 admitted. 
 
 It is to be observed that, while the majority of the 
 council, at least, express themselves as eager to do 
 something, there is a minority of four who, without 
 ope nly dissenting, act as a drag upon the re st (11. 
 1358-1361, and 1366-1369). Nothing could be more 
 natural than that in a Greek council there should be 
 an element of lukewarmness, if not of disloyalty. 
 These speakers are not to be credited with the out- 
 spoken reproaches afterwards cast at Clytemnestra, or 
 with the open resistance offered to Aegisthus. It 
 would be an anachronism to treat every utterance of 
 a chorus in Aeschylus as if it were dramatically in 
 keeping; but the points which have been observed 
 may suffice to justify, or at least to make intelligible, 
 certain inequalities of tone on the part of the Elders 
 in the earlier portion of the play, such as jhe m ix- 
 ture of outward deferens with disrespectful frinfri 
 towards Clytemnestra, and the combination of sincere 
 
xx INTRODUCTION 
 
 regard for Agamemnon with unsparing criticism of 
 h is actions. 1 
 
 It is unnecessary to make each individual choreutes 
 a person in the drama ; enoug h to say that the Chorus 
 is weak, timorous, mistrustful ; not one in spirit, and 
 therefo re incapa ble of unit ed action, although their 
 leadersj w hen fir ed at length by the outrage that has 
 been committed , show some sparks of affection and 
 loyal indignation. 
 
 The Watchman, like the Chorus-l eader, is deeply 
 loyal to Agamemnon, but full of uneasiness and fear of 
 Clytemnestra, of whose will he is the unquestioning 
 instrument. Agamemnon and Aegisthus are both pro- 
 minent figures, but the poet has not spent on either 
 of them the power of characterisation which is so 
 manifest in the person of Clytemnestra. It may be 
 s aid, however, without paradox, that the absence of 
 dramatic colouring has in both cases a dramatic effect. 
 There is a coldness that may be felt in the meeting of 
 f\ J the King and Queen. Her speech, at once so fulsome 
 and so frigid, his a nswer, formal, self- contained, falling 
 back on commonplaces, yet not concealing the taint of 
 egotism and pride, are equally appropriate to the 
 situation. His death moves horror more than pi ty ; it 
 is Cassandra of whom the Chorus say, ' I commiserate 
 
 1 This much may be conceded to Dr. Verrall's suggestion of an 
 Aegisthean faction of * Conspirators. ' 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 this more than the other.' Aegisthus is tre at ed ligh tly J 
 
 and with conte mpt. He is a man of s tr aw, whose > "*] 
 
 r ecital of the story of Thyestes completes the account V = 
 
 of antecedent circumstances. 
 
 T he Herald, as such persons o ften do in Aeschylus, 
 
 contribute s much to the d evelopm ent of the action. 
 
 4r His entrance delays that of Agamemnon, an d holds 
 
 * 1 - J\ 
 
 the audience in suspense .^ His efforts to be cheerful /yC 
 
 in conversing with the Chorus only increase thejjjather- ) 
 
 ing atmosphere of gloom. His description of the 
 
 discomforts of the siege and the loss of friends, by 
 
 which victory had been dearly won, has for its climax 
 
 the vivid picture of the storm by which the victorious 
 
 company was parted, and Agamemnon was separated 
 
 from his brother. 
 
 The central interest of the Agamemnon turns, of 
 
 course, upon the person of Clytemnestra, whose crime 
 
 and its avowal form the crisis or culminating point. 
 
 Her heroic or daemonic daring, her defiance of 
 
 opinion, and her powe r of dissim ulation, have been 
 exemplified in the prec eding s cenes, while her eager- 
 ness for the approachi ng o pportunity has been indi- 
 cated through the Watch man's spee ch, wh ich opens 
 the play. And the motive of her act is manifest to 
 all who have heard the Chorus telling of the piteous 
 sacrifice of Iphigeneia. Her guilt with Aegisthus is a 
 subsidiary circumstance, and is only glanced at until 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 she herself avows it after the murder. Even then 
 the Elders are slow in speaking of it. But from 
 the beginning of the drama there has been brooding 
 over all minds, save those of the murderess and 
 her unconscious victim, the dim apprehension of 
 some approaching horror : even t he Herald cannot 
 shake off sad presentiments amidst the joy of his 
 return. And the impression thus produced is deepened 
 and intensified by the great scene between the 
 Chorus ancP Cassand ra, w ho supplies the eleme nt of 
 (trf ) j)ity, without which the Agamemnon would be too 
 exclusively a tragedy of terror. She also serves to 
 accentuate the tragic note of Destiny, by connecting 
 the present horrors of the house of Pelops with the 
 past. A ffamemnon ha s appeared together with the 
 captive Princess, has been received with fa wning 
 speeches, which he answers coldly ; and he has finally 
 been prevailed on by the wily importunity of the 
 Queen to enter his own palace in the manner of an 
 East ern potentate , over rich purple carpetings, to 
 the horror of all Greek beholders, to whom such pride 
 appeared certain to provoke the envy of the Gods, as 
 in the case of Pausanias, also the victorious leader of 
 an Hellenic army, it had manifestly led to disaster. 
 Clvte mnestra has come forth for a moment and im- 
 p^ftxitl y summ one d Cassandra , but has left the stage 
 again, professing haste to accomplish some household 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 sacrific e. Then, after long silence, the captive Princess 
 and prophetess utters her warnings, doomed as here- 
 tofore to disbelief. She sees in vision the impending 
 act, with all its circumstances, and her own violent 
 death, which is immediately to follow. Then, after 
 turning away more than once, she goes within the 
 palace. The exit of this most pathetic figure leaves 
 the Proscenium vacant, and while the spectators are 
 yet thrilled with the awe and pity of the great scene, 
 the Chorus chant a few moralising lines. 
 
 Before they have well finished, the King's death- 
 shriek is heard. The council of Elders are amazed, 
 and hesitate. They have just concluded their feeble 
 deliberations, and are going within, when they are 
 suddenly confronted by the commanding figure of the 
 Queen. By a device called the Ekkyclema, peculiar 
 to the Attic stage, she glides forward from the central 
 door of the palace (which is thrown open) on a low 
 platform, with the corpse of Agamemnon beside her. 
 That of Cassandra is also visible in the background. 
 A convention of the theatre enables the spectators to 
 imagine that the scene is within the house. Aga- 
 memnon is still enveloped in the blood-stained web 
 with which he had been entangled, and his body leans 
 against the side of the bath. Cly temnestra probab ly 
 s till holds the weapon with which she slew him not 
 an axe, as is frequently supposed, but ' the sword of 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 Aegisthus/ as is expressly stated in the Cho'ephoroc, 
 line 101 1. 1 This marks emphatically her relation to 
 the man, and the nature of his complicity in the plot. 
 He does not come upon the scene, however, until the 
 Queen has gloried in her deed to the Argive Elders, 
 who remonstrate feebly, but on the whole are loyal to 
 the King. Aegisthus has his guards in readiness, an d a 
 conflic t is imminent ; but Clytemnestra has had enough 
 of bloodshed, and appeases the strife. She alone, at 
 this moment, is fully conscious of the situation. 
 
 An interval of at least e ipftt Y Pf> ISirii vl ^ < '* >hn int ' n11 
 of_ihe_Arame?n?ion from t hat of t he Choephoroe, so 
 named from the Chorus, who carry the libations which, 
 at the bidding of Clytemnestra, Electra, the surviving 
 daughter of Agamemnon, is to pour upon his grave. 
 He had been buried with his fathers ; but, as Clytem- 
 nestra had threatened, had been denied all funeral 
 rites. Nay, more : to render his ghost more helpless 
 she had mangled his remains. And for these eight 
 years his tomb had continued without due honours. 
 But in the preceding night a terrific dream had visited 
 
 1 See above, p. xv, note* The notion of the axe in Sophocles 
 and elsewhere is probably derived from the Homeric phrase, wad 
 re Kariicrave fiovv iirl (parry, perhaps also from Cho. 889, where 
 Clytemnestra calls for a labourer's axe, wherewith to defend her- 
 self against her son. See the Frontispiece to this volume. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 the guilty Queen. She dreamt that she had a serpent 
 for her child, and the soothsayers declared that the 
 dream was caused by the wrath of Agamemnon. She 
 therefore s ends the libation by the only hands from 
 whic h the dead man is likely to receive it kindly. 
 
 Electra is a pathetic figure, by nature womanly and 
 gentle, but emb ittered by long oppres sion, distracted 
 with doubt and with the discouragement oT hope 
 deferred. She p o urs the libation but her prayer is 
 for the return of her brother, w ithout whom she is 
 powerless. Unknown to her, he is standing near. 
 As told in the Agamemnon, he had grown up in Phocis, 
 under the care of Strophius. But the hour of ven- 
 geance is now at hand, and Apollo has sent him on his 
 dreadful mission. He is accompanied by P^lades^thfi 
 soil of Strophius and companion of his youth. Before 
 all else they visit the tomb of Agamemnon ; and the 
 curl, which Orestes cuts off and offers there, leads the 
 way for the simple, but most touching, recognition 
 scene. 
 
 T he C horus consists of Trojan captive women, who, 
 
 with Cassandra, had accompanied Agamemnon on his 
 
 return, and are retained as household slaves of Aegisthus 
 
 - - t - i '' 
 
 and Clytemnestra. While cherishing a faithful and 
 
 fierce loyalty towards their murdered lord, they fulfil 
 
 a twofold function, both as dramatis personae and as 
 
 loralisirig the situation. As before remarked, it wouTcl 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 be an error of interpretation to force a harmony 
 between these different aspects of their part. In some 
 of their religious utterances they are simply a mouth- 
 piece for the poet, and in their formal capacity (or as 
 sharers of the lustral waters of the hearth) they 
 lament the deaths of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, 
 which they have eagerly desired. But as human 
 beings they contribute a necessary link to the main 
 action, which, apart from them, would seem improbable 
 and repulsive. They supply the element of savage 
 vindictiveness, born of cruel servitude, which is alien 
 fr om the person of Electr a, as conceived by Aesjchylu s, 
 and gives felt and t angible support to the attemp t of 
 t he youth Orest es. He has much need of such wild 
 sympathy, besides the sacred frie ndship of Pyladex to 
 nerve his arm for the unnatural stroke to which he is 
 commanded by Apullo. 
 
 This is the purpose of the great ' Commatic ' sce ne 
 if it shoul d not r ather be called a religious service, 
 or litany to the.ilead i n which Oreste s, Electra,, and 
 the several members of the Chorus invoke the spirit of 
 Agamemnon to be present and give aid to his avenger. 
 
 If this passage appears inordinately long in propor- 
 tion to the compass of the play, it should be measured 
 rather in comparison with the whole Trilogy ; and it 
 is actually shorter than the Cassandra scene, which 
 occupies the corresponding place of the Agamemnon. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 leading up as either does to the catastrophe. It 
 belongs to a class of supernatural effects which, like 
 the witch-scenes in Macbeth, are apt to be uncon- 
 vincing to the modern reader. But, if by an effort of 
 imagination we have once realised the gloom of the 
 situation and the horror of the impending act, the 
 skill of the poet in thus indicating the extent of the 
 revulsion by which the son is moved to execute justice 
 upon his mother will be entirely vindicated. 
 
 In the Choephoroe, Aegisthus is first slain and put out 
 of the way. The hand of Orestes is thus already imbrued 
 with blood not kindred to him, before he comes to the 
 final act of unnatural violence. Moreover, the lament 
 of Clytemnestra over her paramour, whom she really 
 loves, constitutes an immediate provocation which 
 makes the deed of matricide more possible. There 
 still remains the most moving appeal of all : the son 
 hesitates at the sight of his mother s breast. But 
 Pylades (the Delphian devotee) is at hand, and recalls 
 to him- the divine injunction of Apollo . From this 
 point onward he is resolute. The intrepid woman, 
 who if time had been allowed her would ere this have 
 felled her child with an axe, now threatens him with 
 a mother's curse. But the thought of his father s 
 curse prevails with him until the deed is accomplished. 
 The mother's Furies are in reserve, and do not yet 
 appal him. Thus the crisis of the whole Trilogy is 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 reached, the point which, in a Shakespearian drama, 
 would have concluded the third act. The change and 
 the conclusion are still to come ; and (paradoxical as it 
 may seem) the conclusion of this greatest of tragic 
 productions is a happy one. Towards the end of the 
 Chucphoroe the light is already breaking, but the 
 clouds come down again before the close of this, the 
 second play. Orestes at once assumes the attitude 
 of self-defence, not against the sympathising Chorus, 
 nor against his fellow-citizens whom he has delivered 
 from the yoke of tyranny, but against the law of 
 domestic harmony which he has outwardly broken. 
 For the moment he pleads in vain. His mother's 
 Furies are upon him, and pursue him forth. And it 
 may be remarked here, parenthetically, what extra- 
 ordinary histrionic powers must have been required in 
 the actor of the part of Orestes at this juncture. To 
 see the Furies who were still invisible to others, and 
 make the whole concourse of spectators feel that he 
 sees them, and'to express in thrilling tones the conse- 
 quent emotions, is an effort that might well task the 
 most splendid of tragic powers. 1 
 
 1 K. O. MUller insists that the Furies are seen by the spectators, 
 though not by the Chorus. He also thinks that the Chorus in the 
 Eumenides are invisible to the Areopagites, etc These are over- 
 refinements. But it may be granted that, although the Furies in 
 the Choephoroe are not yet visible on the scene, they are really 
 approaching, and are not mere creations of Orestes' fancy. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 The impression so far left on the spectator's mind is 
 one of horror, mingled with pity. These emotions do 
 not all at once subside. But yet the key-note of the 
 concluding drama is ev<f>rjp,ia religious peace. This is 
 disturbed, but not finally overcome, by the threatening 
 attitude of the Erinyes, who now at last assume a 
 bodily shape. It is no doubt partly owing to the 
 genius of Aeschylus that Athens was in later times 
 regarded as the chief centre of the worship of these 
 Powers, although we find several traces of it, possibly 
 more ancient, in other parts of Hellas. Their shrine 
 on the Areopagus was of historical interest, in that 
 the assassination of Cylon and his fellows by the 
 Alcmaeonidae, so fruitful in consequences, had stained 
 that altar. The obscure question of the origin of this 
 particular ritual need not be touched on here. The 
 elements that entered into it in the time of Aeschylus 
 are well stated in a few pregnant words of K. O. 
 Miiller's famous Dissertation : 
 
 1 Although indeed of itself the Erinys, that feeling 
 of deep affront, is of a divine nature, the Erinys first 
 acquired a noted and extensive cultus, and altogether 
 more reality and personality, from the conception of 
 both the great terrestrial and infernal deities, from 
 whom come life and prosperity, as well as ruin and 
 death, to mankind, as offended and angry beings, 
 wherever mortal deeds have violated those sacred and 
 
xxx INTRODUCTION 
 
 eternal laws of nature ' ( 86). Miiller has also pointed 
 out that the duty of avenging blood, devolving on the 
 nearest kinsman, while belonging essentially to the 
 infancy of political life, and maintaining its existence 
 'more among isolated hordes of rude mountaineers 
 than among the more numerous and intermixed in- 
 habitants of the plain/ had notwithstanding become 
 firmly embedded in Attic law, and was 'still en- 
 twined in the most intimate union with all that was 
 deemed sacred and venerable.' But 'the State had 
 now assumed the office of mediator, and as such, upon 
 the application of the relatives, it either took the charge 
 of inflicting vengeance entirely off their hands, or 
 else assigned certain means and limits for its execu- 
 tion* (45). 
 
 From this amal gam of custom T ritual, tn^itinn, and 
 legal ordinance, Aeschylus takes occasion to read his 
 fellow-citizens the lesson of Equity versus bare Revenge, 
 o roi 1 'mercy season ing justice Exulting in the union 
 of order and freedom, of reverence and boldness, and 
 of the virtues of war and peace in the same community, 
 he seeks to stamp with a religious sanction the prin- 
 ciples to which he attributes his country's glories. 
 And here, as in the Prometheus, he develops a 
 religious conc eption in the form of an im agined 
 contrast between an earlier and a later dispensa tion. 
 The reciprocal horrors of the never-ending blood-feud 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxi 
 
 are stayed by the wisdom of Athena, and the judicial 
 impartiality of her court of Areopagus. ^Apollo, the 
 God of Light, thus prevails against the powers of dark- 
 ness ; or, rather, these last are transformed to instru- 
 t ments of blessing, by remaining in the land to warn 
 the people of the majesty of those eternal laws, whose 
 violation caused the previous confusion. 
 
 Dramatically, the Eumenides takes up and continues 
 the unfinished threads of the two preceding dramas. 
 ^-At the close of the Cho'ephoroe the Chorus speak of 
 the ma tricide of Orestes as a ' third storm ' which had 
 swept over the house, the two former being th e 
 banquet of Thyestes and the murder of Agamemnon . 
 It is observable that the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, which 
 
 supplied the actual human motive for Clytemnestra's 
 crime, is not referred to either here or in the prophecy 
 of Cassandra. The Erinys of Thyestes, then, overtakes 
 Agamemnon, the Erinys of Agamemnon overtakes 
 Clytemnestra, and his mother s Erinyes now pursue 
 Orestes. Will these successive waves of action and 
 reaction ever come to an end ? or, in the words of the 
 Chorus, ' whither will the sway of fate lead forth the 
 issue ? ' That doubt, at the opening of the Eumenides, 
 is still impending over the scene. The mind of the 
 spectator is thenceforth carried up into a higher region, 
 in which the mortal business which has thrilled him 
 becomes subordinated to the conflict of supernal 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 powers, while the local centre of interest is transferred 
 from Argos to the sacred hill of Athens. Clyteranestra 
 was the principal figure in the Agamemnon, Orestes in 
 the Choephoroc ; but i n the co ncluding pl ay the pa rt 
 of ^protagonist is assum ed by the Fu ries them selves, 
 who no w have ta ken visible shape. The drama thus 
 reverts to the earlier mode, in which, as in, the 
 Suppliant Women, and in the Persians, the action 
 turned upon the fate of the Chorus; and the work 
 also ranks with those supernatural dramas in which 
 divine persons have a share in the dialogue. 
 
 The singular argument by which Apollo pleads the 
 cause of Orestes, reverting to a point of view which in 
 the time of Aeschylus must have been already archaic, 
 belongs to a strain of reasoning which has often 
 characterised ecclesiastical or sacred courts. Such 
 pleadings are apt to preserve, as flies in amber, relics 
 of forgotten controversies, in this case descending from 
 a time when tribal differences between those who, like 
 the Lycians (Herod, i. 172), traced their genealogy 
 through the mother, and those amongst whom the 
 patriarchal system prevailed, were not yet finally 
 adjusted. Athena's preference for the father appertains 
 to the same order of thought. 
 
 The Goddess's casting vote, given by anticipation in 
 favour of Orestes, has been the occasion of some un- 
 necessary discussion. A fairly constant tradition shows 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxiii 
 
 that when the voting in a criminal suit happened to be 
 equal, the verdict was one of acquittal. Aeschylus, fol- 
 lowed by other authorities, refers this custom to the ima- 
 gined casting vote of Athena. According to Pollux viii. 
 90, quoted by Wecklein, 1 the Archon Basileus not only 
 presided in his sacred character at the court of Areo- 
 pagus, but, laying aside his crown, sometimes gave the 
 casting vote, in this representing the Divine judg- 
 ment. In the light of these traditions, against which 
 Lucian's fancies are of little weight, the action of 
 Athena in the Eumenides is clearly intelligible. The 
 councillors vote one by one during the altercation be- 
 tween Apollo and the Furies (11. 714-736). Athena 
 also, probably, takes up a voting-pebble ; but, as her 
 vote is not given secretly, it would be futile for her to 
 place it in the balloting-urn ; it matters not if there 
 were one, two, or several; nor by what mark the 
 ballots were distinguished. It is enough that she 
 declares openly that he"r vote, or voting-ball, is given 
 for Orestes. Then, between lines 745 and 754, the 
 ballots are turned out, distinguished, and separated, 
 and the numbers (or the pebbles themselves) are pre- 
 sented to Athena. The human votes prove equal ; and 
 the Goddess, in accordance with her previous statement, 
 pronounces the verdict of acquittal. 
 
 1 This is confirmed by the Aristotelian Constitution of Athens, 
 57. See also Eur. Iph. T. 1470 ff. 
 
 c 
 
xxxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 The Eumenides concludes with a magnificent Spectacle, 
 giving the note of triumph, which contrasts with the 
 glo om of the Agamemnon, and c ompletes the Trilo gy. 
 After a formal prayer, which it was needless to record 
 in the text of the play, Athena marshals the pro- 
 cession, in which the torchbearing attendants lead, 
 followed by the twelve Areopagites and the fifteen 
 Choreuiae, no longer Erinyes and powers of darkness, 
 but Eumenides, 'gentle powers,' not for that reason 
 less revered as Semnae (dread, or awful). 
 
 When the Agamemnon, Choephoroe, and Eumenides 
 are regarded as a single production, it Jjecomes more 
 than ever manifest how little the genius of Aeschylus 
 was hampered by the so-called Aristotelian unities of 
 time and place. The action of the Agamemnon, 
 indeed, requires no change of scene beyond what is 
 provided for through the Ekkyclema ; _although the 
 spectators are carried in imagin ation to Il ium, to the 
 camp at Aulis, an d to t he hi gh seas. But with re- 
 spect to the Choephoroe one of two things must be 
 supposed. Either, according to K. O. Midler's hypo- 
 thesis, which has lately been revived and emphasised 
 by Dr. Dorpfeld in connection with his own theories, 
 the tomb of Agamemnon was represented by the 
 Thymele, decorated for the occasion with images of 
 Hermes and other gods; or there are two distinct 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxv 
 
 scenes, one before the tomb of Agamemnon, and one 
 in front of the palace gate from line 649 to the end 
 of the play. In the former case the action from line 
 1 to line 582 must take place in the orchestra, the 
 palace front being practically left in the background, 
 whereas, on Orestes' second entrance, he and Pylades 
 move directly to the gate, which becomes now the 
 central point the tomb in the foreground, although 
 still visible, no longer forming part of the scene. 
 
 The change from Delphi to the Athenian Acropolis 
 at Eum. 234, however it was managed in representa- 
 tion, is too obvious not to have been acknowledged. 
 But it has been treated as wholly exceptional. It is 
 so less in kind than in degree, and might probably be 
 paralleled from other plays now lost to us. 
 
 The lapse of time, extending to months or years, 
 which is imagined to intervene in the Eumenides be- 
 tween the proem or induction and the main body of 
 the drama, is much more remarkable, and may well be 
 supposed to have been unique. There are two reasons 
 for it. The first and more important is the depth of 
 blood-guiltiness which Orestes has incurred. .^ Time 
 the consoler is also the purifier, according to the .7/1] 
 weighty line {Eum. 286) : ' Time purges all things, 
 growing old together with them.' .^The other reason 
 is more external. While Athens and her patron- 
 goddess claimed to have had the last word in the trial 
 
 ) 
 
xxxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 of O restes, there wer e many other shrin es in Hell as of 
 whose ritual and legend his cause formed an important 
 part. T o render the se their due the poet has recourse 
 to the fiction that the matricide had been chased over 
 the habitable world from c ity to city, and on arriving 
 at each new hearth had found a different purifier. 
 
 The flight of Athena from Sigeum to Athens, be- 
 tween lines 298 and 400, is regarded as miraculous, 
 indeed, but is still to be measured by time. Even 
 granting her steeds to be swifter than the Furies, who 
 compared their own velocity to that of a ship (line 251), 
 the most literal reader who accepts this incident need 
 not be so much offended, as some have been, by the 
 speed of Agamemnon, for whose voyage 473 lines 
 (Agam. 23-496) have been allowed, and not only 100 
 as here. The first play of a trilogy necessarily contains 
 some account of antecedent circumstances, which, in 
 the Or esteian leg end, are more than usually numerous 
 and co mplex . The immediate cause of the action lies 
 ten years back, and has been preceded by a chain of 
 horrors to which the whole bears reference. Hence 
 the more than epic discursiveness of the choral business 
 in the earlier half of the play, which may appear dis- 
 proportionate, unless considered with reference to the 
 whole Trilogy. And where the survey of times is so 
 wide-sweeping, it is not unnatural that days should 
 shrink to hours, or that the 'unity of time ' should, 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxvii 
 
 as Paley remarks, be somewhat brusquely disregarded. 
 In the interval be tween the appearance of the be acon^ 
 light and the entrance of the King there has been 
 time at Argos for much searching of hearts and for 
 an extended colloquy. All this conceals from the^*> 
 
 rr* 
 
 spectators the improbability of the swift passage, 
 And the_aglua.l coming ^_Agaj^mnmi_is_furthej:-jIe- 
 
 layed by the narration of the herald. In the Chocphoroe, 
 although the action is, comparatively speaking, con- 
 tinuous, it is observable that many things happen 
 after more than one reference has been made to the 
 immediate coming on of night. All this is quite in 
 keeping with the simplicity of antique art and the 
 primitive conventions of the stage, and would never 
 have been questioned but for the observation of 
 Aristotle, who, truly enough, speaks of the general 
 tendency of Tragedy to confine the action within one 
 revolution of the sun. 
 
 The idea of Fate has often been regarded as the 
 Central Motive in Greek Tragedy. And it would be 
 idle to deny that the chief persons are continually 
 represented as subject to an inscrutable and irresistible 
 destiny. The language which conveys this notion is 
 by no means consistent, but whether as the decree of 
 Zeus, or the act of Moira, or as both combined, this 
 element is always present, and overrules the action. 
 
xxxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is the dark background, which throws the moving 
 figures into relief. But that does not exhaust the in- 
 terest of the machinery. There is something else. 
 In Aeschylus even more than in Sophocles the power 
 of Fate is mysteriously associated with Justice, and 
 (however contradictory this may appear) is not exclu- 
 sive of human volition. The poet had in fact a con- 
 troversy with the dark tradition that was interwoven 
 with the material with which he worked. He was not 
 satisfied, as Herodotus appears to have been, with the 
 bare assumption that an individual was born to misery, 
 that evil was ' bound ' to happen to him. Our poet 
 had looked more deeply into human things. He saw 
 clearly that conduct is the cardinal point. Nor is he 
 contented with indorsing the superstitious feeling that 
 high prosperity ' comes before a fall.' His peculiar 
 message, declared by him with a vividness not to be 
 paralleled except from Hebrew prophecy, is I that sin 
 brings retribution, and that justice alone insures true 
 happiness for families and individuals. ^Prosperity i s 
 dangerous, because it tem pts men to transgre ss. The 
 work that ' stands for ever and ever ' is that which is 
 ( done in truth and equity.' Where Aeschylus had 
 learned that lesson it would be hard to say. Echoes 
 from early philosophers may have pointed to it. Medi- 
 tation on life and death, encouraged by the Mysteries, 
 may have deepened it. As it was, he found the 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxix 
 
 confirmation of it in the events of contemporary history, 
 and read it into the old legends on which he worked. 
 The ' Erinys ' was the personification of certain crude 
 anticipations of this his central idea. But in order to 
 convey the thought of Aeschylus, the f wild justice' 
 represented by the Erinys required to be purified and 
 civilised by the imagined influence of Athena. 
 
 Sin causes retrib ution, then ; but what is ( S in ' ? It 
 is the transgression of those laws which have a Divin e 
 sanction, and which form the most essential bonds of 
 human so ciety . Most prominent amongst these are 
 the rules which guard the sacredness of the family and 
 inculcate conjugal fidelity and filial piety. ^AU life is 
 precious in the sight of t he Gods, bu Fthe gui lt of 
 every criminal or violent act is indefinitely deepened 
 by nearnes s of kindred. Respect for the suppliant 
 and for the stranger, above all when he has been the 
 giver of hospitality, also stands high in the scale of 
 religious duty. In the application of religious laws as 
 thus conceived there are occasional survivals of strange 
 inconsistency, and even barbarity. But these excep- 
 tions take little from the nobleness of the main out- 
 lines. Nor do the y diminish the importance of the 
 fact that in the drama of Aeschylus a doctrine of 
 restoration is set over against the doctrine of recom- 
 pense for sin. 
 
AGAMEMNON 
 
PERSONS OF THE DRAMA 
 
 Watchman. 
 
 Chorus of 15 Argive Elders. 
 
 Clytemnestra. lt?A>tA *** 
 
 Herald. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Cassandra, the daughter of Priam. 
 
 Aegisthus. 
 
 SCENE 
 
 Argos : before the Palace of the Pe/opidae. 
 
AGAMEMNON 
 
 THE Watchman (above). Pray heaven I may be 
 released from this weary task of year-long 
 watching 1 ! Couched here upon the Atreidae's roof, 
 dog-like, reposing on my arm, I have come to know 
 by heart the nightly assemblage of the stars, the 
 wanings and the risings of those constellations, bright 
 potentates that, glittering in Ether, bring on for man- 
 kind their summers and their winter-seasons. And 
 now I am watching for the flame-token, that fiery 
 ray which is to bring from the Trojan land the 
 rumour and report of overthrow. 10 
 
 While thus, night after night, I keep my homeless, 
 dew-moistened bed, not visited by dreams : for Fear 
 usurps the place of Sleep beside me, so that I cannot 
 close my eyelids fast in slumber : then, if I think to 
 sing or hum a tune, preparing such medicine to charm 
 off sleep, I groan instead and weep over the disaster 
 of this household, not managed, as erewhile it was, 
 in the best way. But now I pray for a blessed release 20 
 from my labours through the sudden shining amidst 
 darkness of the beacon-light, the bringer of glad 
 tidings. [The light appears. 
 
AGAMEMNON 
 
 All hail, thou torch of Night, that makest for us the 
 light as of a better day, and givest signal for the set- 
 ting up of many a choir in Argos, to hail with song and 
 dance this great intelligence. 
 Sola, Sold ! 
 
 Thus loudly I proclaim it to Agamemnon's Queen, 
 that she arise with haste and speedily raise within the 
 palace an auspicious joyful cry, to welcome this light. 
 
 30 For taken is the city of Troy ; so yonder beacon 
 brightly tells us. Nay, I myself will dance for pre- 
 lude. I '11 score my master's luck as having had a 
 happy throw. This beacon-game has turned op for us 
 three sixes ! Well, let him come ! and may it be 
 mine to hold in this my hand the dear hand of our 
 kind master ! Of what remains, I speak not. A 
 ton's weight 2 is on my tongue. The house, if it could 
 find a voice, might tell a true story. I, if I can help 
 it, will not confess my knowledge, except to those 
 who know. [Exit. 
 
 40 Chorus of Argive Elders {entering). We are now in 
 the tenth year since Priam's noble adversary, lord 
 Menelaus, and Agamemnon too, firm yoke-fellows 
 indued by Zeus with twofold royalty, twin-throned, 
 twin-sceptred, led forth from hence their Argive levy 
 of a thousand ships to aid the army, shouting war from 
 
 50 angry hearts, as eagles 3 do, that swerving from the 
 homeward path in pain for their young, fly circling 
 aloft their eyrie, on oarlike pinions, having lost the 
 watchful cares they had spent over their brood. /Then 
 
 / one aloft, be it Apollo, or Pan, or Zeus, hearing that 
 
AGAMEMNON 5 
 
 bird-note, the shrill complaint of those their joint 
 tenants of the sky, sends, for after-punishment of the 
 wrong-doers, an Erinys-power. J , 
 
 Even so against Paris the supreme Lord of Hospi- 60 
 tality sent Atreus' sons. His purpose was in the 
 contention for a fickle woman to cause the Danai and 
 Trojans likewise many wrestling-bouts wearying the 
 limbs, while knees should press the dust, and spear- 
 shafts should be snapped in the onset. And now the 
 3 conflict stands even where it stands. But it shall 
 end where fate hath determined it. Neither by after 
 sacrifice or libation, nor by tears, shall the sinner cajole 
 their relentless 4 wrath, whose sacrifices need no fire. 7 
 
 But we were left out of that day's levy by reason of 
 our unregarded aged frames, and stay behind support- 
 ing upon staves our feeble childlike steps. /For as the 
 youngling in whose breast the sap of life springs freshly 
 is no better than the aged, since no valour is there ; 
 so extreme old age, whose fading leaf is ready to fall, 80^ 
 moves in a three-footed way, and, no more valiant than 
 a child, moves vaguely like a dream in daylight.) 
 
 Now, Clytemnestra, Tyndareus' daughter, what 
 new thing is befallen ? what tidings hast thou, Queen? 
 On what intelligence do thy missives kindle sacrifices 
 around ? The altars of all Gods that dwell in our city 
 are ablaze with offerings ; Gods of the earth and sky, 90 
 of field and market. As high as heaven on every side 
 the flame ascends, fed cunningly by the pure unguent, 
 whose mild persuasive promptings cannot deceive 
 the caked perfume from the royal closet 5 . 
 
6 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Speak what of this thou canst, and mayest lawfully 
 tell, and so bring healing for this care, which, as it is, 
 
 ioo one while fills the mind with misery : another while 
 Hope shining from the sacrifices with a kindly ray, 
 bids back the never-satisfied thought of heart-devour- 
 ing sorrow. 
 
 [The Chorus, now ranged in the orchestra, chant 
 the following strain. 
 I have full power to sing the triumphantly aus- 
 picious departure of the men of valour. Still doth 
 heavenly influence inspire my song, still doth mine age 
 furnish me with might to tell how the twin-throned 
 
 no Sovereignty of the'Achaeans, the rulers, one in mind, 
 of Hellas' youth, were sped with vengeful spear- 
 armed hands towards the Teucrian country by an 
 ominous warlike bird. It was the King of birds, ap- 
 pearing to the Kings of the fleet, two birds, one 
 black, one backed with white. Fast by the man- 
 sion they appeared, on the spear-hand, conspicuously 
 perched, devouring a pregnant hare and her full brood, 
 
 120 whose course was ended ere begun. Say, Woe, woe, 
 woe ! ' But let good auspices prevail ! 
 
 The heedful prophet of the army, when he looked 
 on the two warlike sons of Atreus with their differing 
 strain, perceived in the hare-devourers the chiefs in 
 command, and spake thus, interpreting the sigD : 
 1 This expedition doth at length make booty of Priam's 
 
 13 town and Fate shall ravage with hands of violence 
 all the riches of the towers once crammed with public 
 stores. Only, may no divine dislike prematurely dash 
 
AGAMEMNON 7 
 
 with gloom the great curb of Troy, to wit, the em- 
 battled army. For holy Artemis hath a grudge at the 
 house, at her sire's winged hounds that make a 
 sacrifice of the cowering thing in her eaning-time 
 together with her young. She abhors the eagles' ban- 
 quet. Say, " Woe, woe, woe ! " But let good auspices 
 prevail ! 
 
 ' The Lovely Goddess, although so kind to the tender 140 
 cubs of ravenous lions and unweaned younglings of all 
 field-roving beasts of chase, consents 6 to ratify the 
 happy fulfilment of the sign. The omens are favour- 
 able, but not unmixed with bane. To Apollo, god 
 of healing, I pray, that she prepare not against the 
 Dana'i some delaying, ship-baffling adverse gales, 150 
 in her eagerness for a new sacrifice, unprecedented, 
 preluding no feast, worker of strife within the home, 
 annihilating wifely awe. Who keepeth house for him, 
 awaiting his return ? Wrath, unforgetting, child- 
 avenging, couched in dark ambush, and preparing the 
 counter spring.' 
 
 So rang the voice of Calchas, telling, together with 
 great good, of fatal consequence attending the royal 
 house from the ominous birds. In symphony where- 
 with, say, ' Woe, woe, woe ! ' But let good auspices 
 prevail ! 
 
 Zeus ! howsoever he be named ; assuming this to 160 
 be the name that pleases him, I so address him. 
 Scanning all powers, and weighing them together with 
 my need, I find none other on whom to cast with full 
 assurance the burden of vain cares save Zeus alone. 
 
8 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Not he that aforetime was the Mighty One, abound- 
 
 170 ing with all-daring violence, shall even be named, since 
 his day is over. And he that rose up afterward, he too 
 is gone, for he hath found his vanquisher. But they 
 who call on Zeus with a zealous mind, and celebrate 
 his victories, shall attain wisdom to the height, Zeus 
 who hath paved a way for human thought, by ordain- 
 ing this firm law He learns, who suffers.' In sleep 
 
 180 there steals before the heart the pain of remembered 
 grief, and submission comes to men who thought not 
 of it. For this one ought to thank the Powers, who 
 man resistlessly the dread rowing-bench above. 
 
 That day the elder admiral of the Achaean navy, 
 blaming in nowise the soothsayer, but joining with the 
 blast of adverse fortune, (what time the Achaean host 
 were afflicted with stress of weather draining their 
 
 190 stores, as they held the coast over against Chalcis in 
 the tide-washed region of resounding Aulis : For a 
 tempest had come from Strymon-mouth fraught with 
 evil tarriance, with famine, with ill roadsteads, mis- 
 guiding mariners, unsparing alike of hulls and cordage, 
 which battered and defaced that flower of Argive 
 chivalry, redoubling the loss of time through wear and 
 tear 7 : When thereupon the prophet had enounced a 
 remedy for the sore storm, that to the chiefs was still 
 
 2co more grievous, when he brought Artemis again to 
 mind, whereat the Atreidae struck their staves upon 
 the ground and could not refrain from tears :) Even 
 then the elder chieftain spake and said : ' A cruel fate 
 were mine should I disobey ; but not less cruel will it 
 
AGAMEMNON 9 
 
 be if I must slay my child, the worship of my home, 
 and stain a father's hand on the altar-step with streams 210 
 of virgin blood. Each course is full of misery. How 
 should I break league and prove a defaulter from the 
 fleet ? It is but right that they should vehemently rage 
 for the maiden s death, the sacrifice that is to stay the 
 storm. May all end well ! ' 
 
 So when his neck had received the collar of Neces- 
 sity, his spirit breathed an impious counterblast, im- 220 
 pure, unholy, so that from that time forth his thoughts 
 were turned to an unfaltering course of crime. The 
 first blow 8 of calamity is rife with base suggestions, and 
 through wretched infatuation makes mortals strangely 
 bold. He, anyway, became his daughter's sacrificer, in 
 aid of a woman-vindicating war, and for the inaugura- 
 tion of that voyage. Her prayers, her cries of 'Father!' 
 her tender maidenhood, went for nothing with the 230 
 Councillors who were bent on war. Her father, after 
 prayer, gave signal to the ministering priests unshrink- 
 ingly to seize and lift her, as if she were a kid, above 
 the altar, with the head forward, letting her garment 
 fall, and to set a guard upon her lips, restraining the 
 cry that might bring a curse upon her house, with the 
 enforced dumbness of the compelling gag. Then as 
 she shed to the ground her saffron robe, she smote 
 each one of her sacrificers from her eyes with a pity- 240 
 imploring glance, looking the while, as in a picture, 
 like one desiring to speak since oftentimes in her 
 father's hospitable halls she had sung to them, and 
 with pure virgin voice had kindly graced the hymn 9 
 
10 AGAMEMNON 
 
 accompanying the third libation, that prayed for 
 prosperity to her dear sire. 
 
 What followed next I saw not and I speak not of it : 
 The soothsaying craft of Calchas was not belied. 
 250 There are those who shall know of what is coming, 
 when they suffer it through the award of justice. But 
 farewell at once to listening for it ere it come, since 
 come it will even though you hear. To hearken be- 
 forehand is only to anticipate sorrow 10 . Clear and 
 unmistakable it will arrive, dawning with the beams of 
 day. Howbeit, may the sequel be propitious and 
 answerable to the desires of this, the sole bulwark left 
 to garrison the Apian land. 
 
 Enter Clytemnestra. 
 
 Leader of the Chorus. Clytemnestra, we are come 
 hither, bringing homage for thy majesty. The prince's 
 260 wife should have due honour when the man's seat is 
 empty. Our loyalty would gladly hear whether the 
 sacrifices thou art ordaining are prompted by some 
 happy tidings thou hast received, and attended with 
 good hopes, or not. But if thou still keepest silence 
 we shall not murmur. 
 
 Clyt. There is a proverb that says, 'Let the 
 Morning bring good tidings from the Night, her mother.' 
 Ye are to learn what is beyond your hopes, and will 
 delight your ears. The Argives have taken the city 
 of Priam. 
 
 Chor. What dost thou say ? The word escaped me 
 through incredulity. 
 
AGAMEMNON 11 
 
 Clyt. That Troy belongs to the Achaeans. Is that 
 plain ? 
 
 Chor. A joy is stealing over me, summoning up tears. 270 
 
 Clyt. Your eye then proves your heart to be loyal. 
 
 Chor. Hast thou evidence of this report that may 
 be trusted ? 
 
 Clyt. Of course I have unless some god has played 
 us false. 
 
 Chor. Thou regardest, haply, some persuasive vision 
 of a dream ? 
 
 Clyt. My judgement could not be convinced by 
 slumberous fancies. 
 
 Chor. But some chance word that lighted hath 
 elated thee. 
 
 Clyt. Ye flout my wisdom, as if I were a silly girl. 
 
 Chor. How long since, then, hath the city been 
 ransacked ? 
 
 Clyt. I tell you, in the night that even now hath 
 given birth to the day. 
 
 Chor. What newsbringer could arrive so speedily ? 280 
 
 Clyt. Hephaestus, flashing it in brilliant flame from 
 Ida. Fire was the post, and beacon despatched 
 beacon onward hither. First Ida sped the light to the 
 Hermaean bluff of Lemnos : then from that island the 
 spiring flame was taken up by Athos. He reinforced 
 the travelling torch with the blazing pine, that, as with 
 a golden sunrise, overpeered the broad-backed sea, and 
 carried on the tidings to the watch-tower on Macistus' 
 top. Macistus, thoroughly wakeful and alert, per- 290 
 formed his part in the transmission, and his beacon- 
 
12 AGAMEMNON 
 
 fires, far seen over the waters of Euripus, gave signal 
 to the watchmen who were stationed on Messapius. 
 They, when the message came, flashed back and sent 
 it forward, by kindling there a mighty heap of aged 
 heather. The flame was nowise dimmed as yet, but 
 in full strength overleaped the Asopian plain, and with 
 a steady radiance, like the orbed moon, beaming on 
 the forehead of Cithaeron, awakened there a fresh 
 
 300 relay of conduct for the courier fire. The guard there 
 set gave welcome to the far-sent rays and made a 
 greater blaze than those before them ; the glare 
 wherefrom shot over the Gorgopian bay, and arriving 
 at Mount Aegiplanctus, bade fulfil my hest and burn 
 for me the promised bonfire. Accordingly they sped 
 the news, and with liberal hands fed a great beard of 
 flame that rose on high, and glanced beyond the cliff 
 that beetles over the Saronic gulf. It touched the 
 goal ; it struck on steep Arachnae, our close neighbour- 
 
 310 ing hill. And from thence the fire, in lineal sequence 
 from the Idaean flame, was flashed on this habitation of 
 the Atreidae. Such was the torch-race we had ordered 
 and prepared, each course supplied in turn from that 
 preceding it. But the runner first and last was one, 
 and ran from end to end victoriously. Ye hear the 
 proof and fore-appointed token, which my husb and has 
 transmitted to me with true intelligence from Troy. 
 
 Chor. Lady, our thanks to heaven shall be given 
 hereafter. Meanwhile, we would continue to listen 
 wonderingly to thy tale, so thou wouldst speak again. 
 
 320 Clyt. The Achaeans at this hour are masters of 
 
AGAMEMNON 13 
 
 the land of Troy. In yonder town, methinks, there 
 prevails a loud discordant crying. Pour vinegar and 
 oil into the same jar, and you will find them sundered, 
 not kindly blending. So the voices of the captor and 
 of the captured there, tell in different tones of their 
 widely differing fortune. The conquered, clinging to 
 the prostrate bodies of their dear ones, sisters to 
 brothers, wives to their mates, young children to their 
 grey-haired sires, lament the fate of those they loved 
 from a throat no longer free. The conquerors, sharp- 330 
 set by toilsome night-roving after battle, are ranged 
 to break their fast on what the city contains, not by 
 prescription, but as each has drawn his lot in the 
 chance medley. So now they inhabit the Trojans' 
 captive dwellings, having escaped from the frosts and 
 dews of the open field. And, counting themselves 
 happy, they will sleep all night without setting a 
 guard. Now if they reverence well the gods that 
 preside over the conquered land and respect their 
 shrines, they may avoid being taken after taking the 34 
 prey. But let no lust of sacrilegious booty meanwhile 
 invade the army, vanquished by love of gain. For 
 they have yet to measure the return course 11 , and win 
 their way home safely. And though they should 
 withdraw without direct offence against any god, the 
 resentment of the slain may waken, should no cross- 
 accident bar the homeward journey. You hear from 
 me a woman's counsel. May the good prevail, un- 
 questioned and manifest ! Therein I crave the enjoy- 350 
 ment of my many blessings. 
 
14 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Leader of Chor. O Queen, thy speech would 
 become the lips of a wise and temperate man. Now 
 that we have heard from thee those certain proofs, we 
 are ready to address the Gods with due thanksgiving. 
 Past labours have led to a fair and honourable close. 
 
 [Exit Ci.vT. 
 
 Chor. O kingly Zeus, and thou Night, propitious 
 mistress of splendours manifold, that didst hurl over 
 the towers of Troy the close firm meshes of that 
 360 all-encompassing net, that mighty snare of captivity, 
 so that neither grown man nor youngling might rise 
 out of it, or avoid the universal ruin ! With awe I wor- 
 ship Zeus, the friend of hospitality, who hath effected 
 this. Long since he had bent his bow at Paris, with 
 a perfect aim, that neither should the shaft fall short 
 of the mark, nor ineffectually alight beyond the stars. 
 
 From Zeus came the stroke they have experienced. 
 So far one may trace the matter and not fail. They 
 fared as he decreed. There was one who said 
 370 it could not be deemed worthy of Gods to care for 
 mortal doings, when any trampled on the grace of 
 things inviolable. But he was an impious man. 
 
 The truth hath been revealed to the descendants of 
 those whose warrior-spirits were bent on deeds of 
 enormous daring, overpassing justice, when their halls 
 were crammed unduly, beyond what is best. Let that 
 380 be granted ' best/ where sorrow comes not. That 
 shall fully satisfy whoever is wise. For riches afford 
 no shelter to him who, waxing wanton, kicks at the 
 exalted seat of justice, setting her at nought. 
 
AGAMEMNON 15 
 
 But the wretched influence, disastrous birth of 
 brooding infatuation, forces its way till remedies are 
 utterly vain. The harm cannot be hid, but shines with 
 a ruinous gleam. Like spurious metal, the life, being 390 
 brought to the test through friction and contact, shows 
 a dark stain. Boylike, the man runs wilfully in chase 
 of a flying bird, and brings intolerable harm upon his 
 people. Deaf to his prayers, the vindictive gods 
 \ shall overtake the unrighteous one who walks in those 
 ways. 
 
 Even such an one was Paris, who visited the home 400 
 of the Atreidae, and defiled the hospitable board by 
 stealing the wife. She left behind her, for the men of 
 Argos, the hurtling of shields and spears and arming 
 of war-vessels; and taking with her as a dowry the 
 ruin of Troy, stepped lightly through the doorway, 
 meditating unendurable crime : while thus the home- 
 interpreters 12 , deeply groaning, spake : ' Alas, for 410 
 the palace ! Alas, for our chief ! Alas ! for the couch, 
 whither she came lovingly to meet her lord ! He is 
 yonder, silent, dishonoured, unreproaching, the witness 
 of his own irreparable sorrow 13 . Through the longing 
 for her who is beyond the sea, a phantom shall seem 
 to queen it in the hall. The lovely statues there are 
 hated by her lord. In the lack of living glances there 
 is no beauty more.' 
 
 Only in dreams an apparition, bom of grief, brings a 420 
 vain joy. For it is vain, when, just as one thinks to be 
 beholding good, the vision fleets out of his arms with 
 wings that follow hard upon the footsteps of 
 
16 AGAMEMNON 
 
 sleep. Such are the sorrows at the hearth within the 
 home ; and others too there are, that transcend these. 
 And throughout Hellas, whencesoever one went forth 
 
 430 to join that armament, the signs are manifest of heart- 
 rending woe. Much there is that pierces to the quick. 
 They know whom they sped forth, but what returns to 
 each man's home ? Not the person of the warrior, but 
 the urn that holds his ashes. That heavy dust, 
 blackened in the fire, disappointing the desire of tears, 
 
 440 is all that he, the War-god, who traffics in the bodies 
 of men, the grim usurer who sways his balance amidst 
 the hurtling fray, sends back to friends from Ilium. 
 In place of men, he freights with ashes the funeral- 
 vases, easily stowed away. Then they groan out their 
 eulogy over each warrior, saying of one how that he 
 was skilled in fight, and of one that he fell nobly amidst 
 carnage, in the cause of another's wife. These words 
 are muttered in hushed tones, while an indignant 
 
 450 grudge spreads covertly against Atreus' sons, who stand 
 in the forefront of the quarrel. Others, without 
 suffering change, are laid in their manly beauty within 
 Trojan earth, before the enemy's wall. The con- 
 quered land they occupy conceals them. 
 
 Meanwhile the angry murmurs of the citizens are 
 full of danger, meaning nothing less than a people's 
 
 460 curse, which fails not. My anxious thought is look- 
 ing for some dark lurking issue. The eyes of the 
 Gods are ever on the man of blood. He who with- 
 out right is fortunate, is enfeebled late or soon by 
 -. the gloomy Erinys, and finds a dire reverse. He sinks 
 
AGAMEMNON 17 
 
 into an abyss of nothingness, where there is no help 
 for him. 
 
 Moreover, to be praised exceedingly is a dangerous 
 thing. The lightning from Heaven is hurled at the 470 
 high places 14 . I choose a fortune that is exempt from 
 envy. I would not be the sacker of a town, nor yet 
 would I myself behold my life made subject to 
 another. 
 
 The flame that told of good has darted a swift 
 rumour throughout the city, but whether it be true, 
 who knoweth? or whether there has not been some 
 divine deception ? Who is so childish or so bereft of 
 sense as to let his heart be inflamed by the fire-brought 4 8 
 news, to be vexed thereafter with an altered report ? 
 It beseems a woman's temper to yield assent before 
 proof shown. The pale of woman's judgment is soon 
 encroached on and passed over, so credulous is she. 
 The glory that lies in a woman's voice quickly fades 
 and dies away. 
 V Leader of Chor. Now we shall soon know concern- 
 ing the transmission of the flashing beacon-fires, 490 
 whether they told truly, or, like a dream, this light 
 that came so pleasingly deceived our thought. I see at 
 hand a Herald approaching from the shore. He is over- 
 shadowed with olive-boughs, and the dry dust 15 , own 
 sister and neighbour to damp clay, assures me that he 
 will deliver his message not voicelessly, nor with flame- 
 signals born from the combustion of mountain-wood, 
 but with clear utterance forthwith will tell you either 
 to rejoice the more, or an alternative which I refuse 
 
18 AGAMEMNON 
 
 500 to entertain. Let there be fair corroboration of what 
 promised fairly. 
 
 Chor. Whosoever would unspeak that prayer for 
 this our state, may he himself reap the fruits of his 
 perversity ! 
 
 Enter the Herald, attended. 
 
 Herald. O hallowed ground of Argolis, where my 
 fathers trod, in the light of this tenth year I find thee! 
 This one thing hoped for I obtain, though rudely dis- 
 appointed of so many. I had indeed despaired even 
 of dying upon Argive soil and sharing in the blessed 
 privilege of burial there. Then hail, familiar Earth, 
 familiar Sunlight ! Hail, Zeus, who sittest aloft presid- 
 
 510 ing over this land ! Hail, Pytho's lord ! No longer 
 mayst thou shower on us thy fatal shafts ! We felt 
 enough of thine enmity beside Scamander. Now, lord 
 Apollo, be once more our saviour and our God of 
 healing ! Yea, all the great Gods in their conclave I 
 address 16 , and him in chief whom we heralds worship, 
 Hermes the dear herald, and those heroes of old time 
 whose spirits sent us forth : With kindly welcome re- 
 ceive ye back again this remnant that the war hath left. 
 Dear roofs and palace-halls of our Kings ! dread 
 thrones beside the gateway, and Gods that front the 
 
 520 morning, if ever heretofore ye did so, with looks of festal 
 cheer to-day receive as ye ought our sovereign lord who 
 has been so long away. He comes, Prince Agamem- 
 non comes, bringing a light to illuminate your gloom, 
 a light wherein all who are here participate. Salute 
 
AGAMEMNON 19 
 
 him, all ye people, it is meet ye should, for he hath 
 dug up the Trojan field with the spade of retributive 
 Zeus. Therewith that ground is thoroughly Worked over. 
 
 The altars and the shrines of Gods that were there 
 are no more seen ; all germs of life have been de- 
 stroyed out of the land. 
 
 Such a yoke hath been laid on the proud neck of 
 Troy by Atreus' princely elder son, who is now 530 
 arrived, thus favoured of Heaven, and worthiest to 
 receive homage of all who live this day. Since neither 
 Paris, nor the people, his abettors in crime, may boast 
 that the punishment hath fallen short of the deed. 
 Convicted of theft and robbery too 17 , he hath not only 
 lost his prize, but hath laid low in utter ruin his native 
 country and his paternal home. The sons of Priam 
 have paid twofold for their transgression. 
 
 Leader of Chor. All joy to thee, O herald of the 
 embattled Achaeans ! 
 
 Herald. I do rejoice ; yea, and if Heaven so wills 
 it, I refuse not to die. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Wert thou so exercised with long- 540 
 ing for the land of thy birth ? 
 
 Herald. Yes. Tears are welling up into mine eyes : 
 so glad I am. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Therein thou wert happily diseased. 
 
 Herald. How ? Tell me. Let me understand you. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Being smitten with longing for 
 those who loved you in return. 
 
 Herald. Do you mean that the country here was 
 longing for her army ? 
 
20 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Leader of Chor. From this dark spirit I have heaved 
 many a sigh. 
 
 Herald* Whence came the gloom that lay so 
 heavy upon your souls 18 ? 
 
 Leader of Chor. Silence has long been my remedy 
 against mischance. 
 
 Herald. How mean you ? Had you any one to fear, 
 when your sovereign was abroad ? 
 550 Leader of Chor. So that, to echo your own words, 
 I could have gladly died 19 . 
 
 Herald. I meant it because success has come. 
 Much else, in the long retrospect, is mingled of things 
 smooth and questionable. Who, that is not a got!, 
 passeth the whole of his existence without suffering ? 
 Were I to recount the labours, the rough lodging, 
 the narrow bunks on shipboard, with scant covering, 
 what mourned we not the lack of from day to day 20 ? 
 Our lot on shore was still more dismal. Our bivouac 
 560 was close beneath the enemy's wall ; where rain from 
 above and dews from the open field covered us with 
 drizzling moisture, that ruined our garments beyond 
 remedy, and made our matted hair like that of beasts. 
 Or should I tell you of the eagle-killing storm, with 
 what intolerable force it came forth from the snows of 
 Ida, or of the sweltering heat, when the deep 
 becalmed in his noon-day couch lay slumbering 
 motionless ? W T hy sorrow for past toil or suffering ? 
 past indeed for the dead, who are too weary to care to 
 570 rise again. Why count them over ? They are spent. 
 Or why should the living grieve at froward fortune ? 
 
AGAMEMNON 21 
 
 ' Farewell to calamity/ I say. For us of the host of 
 Argos who remain, advantage outweighs distress, 
 so that, fleeting over land and seas, we may boldly say 
 in presence of this day's sun : 'The Argive armament, 
 having finally conquered Troy, fix up these spoils to 
 the glory of the Hellenic gods, an added brightness 
 to their temples for evermore.' Give ear, O people ; 5 8o 
 and call your country and your generals blessed. So 
 the grace of Zeus, that hath accomplished this, shall 
 win due honour. This, Argives, is my tale at full. 
 
 Chor. Your words prevail with me. I yield belief 
 to them. For the learning of good tidings the old are 
 ever young. And though Clytemnestra and the royal 
 house have naturally the prime interest herein, it is 
 but right that I too should partake in the gain. 
 
 Re-enter Clytemnestra. 
 
 Clyt. I shouted for gladness long ago, when in the 
 night the fiery harbinger came that first told of 
 conquest, of the devastation of Troy. Some one then 590 
 upbraided me and said, ' Giving credence to fire- 
 signals, dost thou believe that at this moment Troy 
 has been overthrown ? How womanlike to be so easily 
 uplifted ! ' Such talk gave me out for a deluded one. 
 But yet I sacrificed. And in female strains a cry of 
 joy was raised in every quarter of the city, while to the 
 auspicious sound, within the holy precinct, they allayed 
 the fragrant flame that consumed the frankincense. 
 You need not inform me more at length. I shall learn 
 all from the very lips of our great lord. But I must 600 
 
22 AGAMEMNON 
 
 haste to receive most royally ray revered husband at 
 his return. (What light to a woman's eyes is sweeter 
 than when she opens the gates for him, her man, whom 
 Heaven had brought safe from the war ?) Report this 
 message to him, that he come quickly, the desire of 
 Argos. And let him find a faithful wife, unaltered as 
 he left her, the watcher of his home, hostile to his 
 enemies, but ever kind to him ; and, for the rest, 
 610 untampered with, a sealed possession, unimpaired in 
 all that length of time. Of joy or guilty converse with 
 another man I am as ignorant as of the craft of the 
 smith 21 . Such is my declaration, given in all 
 sincerity, and it is a boast which a princess need not 
 be ashamed to utter. [Exit, 
 
 Leader of Chor. (to the Herald). That was fairly 
 spoken. Your ears 22 could not fail to interpret 
 clearly. But tell us, herald: it is of Menelaus I would 
 learn : Menelaus, whom this land delights to honour 
 and to obey. Comes he safely to his home along with 
 you? 
 620 Herald. Were I falsely to give a good report, my 
 friends would reap from it only a short-lived joy. 
 
 Chor. Tell truth, then, and may the truth be 
 happy ! When good and true are sundered, it cannot 
 well be hid. 
 
 Herald. He is lost from the Achaean army's ken. 
 His ship and he are vanished. That is the truth. 
 
 Chor. Do you mean that he was seen launching 
 forth from Ilios ? or was he snatched away from the 
 fleet by a storm whose violence affected all ? 
 
AGAMEMNON 23 
 
 Herald. There you have hit the mark, like a first- 
 rate archer. You have expressed, in one short phrase, 
 an immense disaster. 
 
 Chor. But what saith Rumour ? Do other mariners 630 
 report of him as alive or dead ? 
 
 Herald. No one knows enough to answer that 
 inquiry clearly ; except the Sun-god, who fosters what 
 Earth brings forth. 
 
 Chor. Say, how then did the tempest visit your 
 fleet, to end with such an outcome of divine anger ? 
 
 Herald. It beseems not to stain with evil tidings the 
 light of an auspicious day. Honours paid to Heavenly 
 Powers should be unalloyed 23 . This Paean of the 
 Furies might suit the lowering brows of one who from 
 a ruined army brought news of horrible disaster, 640 
 how the city suffered from the wound that with one 
 stroke afflicted the whole people, while from many 
 several homes full many a warrior had been stricken 
 with the keen scourge which the War-god loves ; he 
 that was laden with that twofold burden of death, who 
 brought with him that doubly-armed Ate, might chant 
 this burden also, and not break tune. But I, who am 
 come with happy tidings to a city exulting in her 
 fair fortune, wherefore should I dash my good with 
 bad by telling of the tempest that fell upon the 
 Achaeans, not without spite from Heaven ? Fire 650 
 and the Sea, powers hitherto irreconcilable, con- 
 spired together, and proved their league by devas- 
 tating the hapless host of the Argives. At dead of 
 night came on the baleful billowy trouble, while 
 
24 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Thracian winds crashed the hulls together in a jostling 
 herd, that thrust one another perforce at the will of the 
 wild tempest, as it pelted them with sleet and brine, 
 until they foundered and sank from sight, driven ruth- 
 lessly by that bad herdsman. Now when the clear day- 
 light came again, the Sun revealed to us the field of 
 
 66 the broad Aegean, blossomed over with dead bodies of 
 Achaean warriors and wrecks of warships. Ourselves, 
 meanwhile, and our vessel with unscathed hull, some 
 Power, whether by craft or influence, brought off: a 
 God it must have been, no mortal, that so handled the 
 ship, whereon Fortune herself as preserver deigned 
 to preside, as neither to ride where heavy seas broke 
 over her, nor run aground against a rock-lanced, iron- 
 bound coast. Thereafter, delivered as we were from 
 the dreadful sea, scarcely trusting in our good fortune, 
 
 (yj% our thoughts began to tend upon a fresh grief on 
 account of our navy thus battered and ill-bested. And 
 now, if any of our comrades are yet alive, they doubt- 
 less talk of us as being no more, even as we imagine 
 about them. But may all end happily ! As for 
 Menelaus, before all else expect him to come. If any- 
 where the bright Sun beholds him and knows of him 
 as living, by the grace of Zeus, who wills not that his 
 seed should perish, he will return to his Argive home, 
 we may well believe. Ye have heard all I have to 
 
 680 tell, and you may be assured that all that I have 
 
 told is true. [Exit. 
 
 Chor. Who named her so unerringly ? Was it some 
 
 one whom we dream not of, foreknowing destiny, and 
 
AGAMEMNON 25 
 
 happy in his foretelling? Who named her 'Helene' 24 ? 
 the spear-wedded one the strife-surrounded ? For, 
 fittingly thereunto, engulfing ships and men and cities, 
 she left the daintily-woven curtains of her bower, 690 
 and, wafted by the breath of giant Zephyrus, sailed 
 forth. And on the invisible track of their oars there 
 also sailed a full cry of shielded warriors bent on bloody 
 arbitrament. Meanwhile they had landed on the leafy 
 x bank of winding Simois. It was the fateful design of 71 
 heavenly Wrath that brought upon Ilios that marriage- 
 bond, rightly so named, Wrath, that in after time 
 would wreak the dishonour done to the guest-table 
 and to hospitable Zeus by those who loudly celebrated 
 the marriage-hymn, wherewith it fell that day to her 
 new brethren to honour the bride. But now Priam's 7ii 
 time-worn city has learned a different tune, with wail- 
 ing voice and heavy groans calling out on Paris, whose 
 marriage was a curse Priam's city that hath already 
 passed an age of lamentation for her citizens, whose 
 wretched violent deaths she hath all wretchedly 
 endured. 
 
 A man once reared a lion's cub in his house, a 
 scarce-weaned fosterling, still craving for the dug. At 72a 
 the first assay and opening of his life he was gentle, 
 a kindly playmate for the boys, a cheering object for 
 their elders to look upon ; many a time, like an infant, 
 being held in arms ; now brightening at touch of hand, 
 now cringing under the stress of appetite. But in the 
 fulness of his days he revealed the parent strain. In 
 requital for nurture he made him a feast, unbidden, 73 
 
26 AGAMEMNON 
 
 with horrid slaughter of the flock. The house was 
 bedabbled with gore ; the despairing household stood 
 aghast with grief : the destruction was wide and irre- 
 mediable. By some Divine commission, to be a High 
 Priest of calamity, he had been nourished as an inmate 
 of that home. 
 Even such, methinks, was her coming to Ilios town, 
 
 740 a spirit as of a windless calm, a tranquil joy for 
 wealth to brood over, an eye whose glances soothe, a 
 blossom of love stinging desire into madness. But by 
 and by her aspect changed and issued in a bitter sequel 
 of consummated rites. It was the Zeus of hospitality 
 who brought her amongst the sons of Priam, a Fury of 
 lament for bridal, a companion and an inmate full of 
 bane. 
 
 75 Mankind have an ancient saying, it was framed 
 and uttered of old, that a mortal's happiness, when 
 grown up to the height, brings forth and dies not 
 childless; that out of good fortune springs insatiable 
 misery to plague the race. But I have my own thought 
 <m apart, that impious deeds beget a multitudinous brood, 
 
 760 like their progenitors, but the house that ever holds 
 to right hath ever fair issue of good fortune. 
 
 Past insolence gives birth to youthful insolence that 
 exults in human misery, whenever the destined hour 
 of such nativity arrives 25 , a godless Power of irresistible 
 
 770 boldness, a spirit of ruinous fatality darkly weighing 
 down the roof, a child resembling its parent. 
 
 The light of Justice shines in smoky dwellings. 
 She respects the modest life ; but halls overlaid with 
 
AGAMEMNON 27 
 
 gold, where hands are unclean, she leaves with averted 
 eyes, to visit homes that are unprofaned. She bows 
 not before the power of wealth when it is spuriously 780 
 stamped with praise. She is guiding all things towards 
 the final goal. 
 
 Enter Agamemnon in a chariot with Cassandra, 
 others following. 
 
 Leader of Chor. O my King, despoiler of Troy 
 city, say, how shall I address thee, in what terms pay 
 homage, neither coming short of due kindness, nor 
 launching forth too far ? There are many in this world 
 who prefer appearance and overpass the right. All 79 
 are ready to groan for the unfortunate, but no pang 
 meanwhile strikes down to their inward part. And 
 with becoming semblance, they feign a sympathetic 
 joy, forcing smiles on countenances where smiles are 
 none. But the skilled discerner of the flock may well 
 read the true expression of those eyes that with a 
 thin and waterish friendship flatter from a seemingly 
 loyal heart. 
 
 For thee, when formerly thou ledst forth an army in 
 the cause of Helen, I will not hide it, I pictured 800 
 thee in no fair colours, but regarded thee as one that 
 managed ill the helm of his mind, winning as thou 
 didst through sacrifice the valour of men appointed to 
 death. But now my loyalty is deep and full of kind- 
 ness for those whose labours have had a happy end. 
 In time thou shalt discover, so thou but inquire it out, 
 who amongst thy citizens at home have dealt right- 
 
28 AGAMEMNON 
 
 ously, and who have been unfaithful in their steward- 
 ship. 
 
 810 Agamemnon {speaking from the chariot). My first 
 greeting must be given to Argos and the Gods who 
 dwell in her. They share with me the glory of my 
 home-coming and of my righteous act in punishing 
 the city of Priam. The heavenly powers, hearkening 
 to the cause not pled with lips, cast their votes with 
 one consent into the red urn, unanimous for the 
 deathful ruin of Ilium. The other vase was visited 
 only by hope, and was replenished by no hand 26 . The 
 city's capture is even now well seen by the smoke of 
 her destruction. For Ate's fires of sacrifice have not 
 
 820 yet died down. Troy's expiring embers send out a 
 blast that reeks with wealth consumed. Wherefore 
 the gratitude we owe to Heaven is eternal. We caught 
 the people in a close snare of overwhelming vengeance. 
 The city was levelled in the dust for a woman's sake, 
 by that miracle of Argive birth, the shield-bearing 
 band, a fierce portent, child of the steed, that, leapt 
 suddenly forth about the setting of the Pleiades. A 
 ravening lion, he bounded over the fenced wall, and 
 lapped abundantly of the blood of princely men. 
 
 All this I have said, by way of prelude, in honour of 
 
 830 the Gods. But I do not forget the spirit of your words 
 to me. I heartily respond to them ; yea, I join in 
 your contention. Few indeed are they amongst man- 
 kind whose inborn nature prompts them to yield to 
 their prosperous friend the tribute of a respect that is 
 unalloyed with envy. The venom of unkindness settles 
 
AGAMEMNON 29 
 
 at the heart and makes the owner of any trouble to be 
 doubly burdened. He is weighed down with his own 
 grief, and groans, moreover, at the sight of other 
 people's happiness. I can speak of it advisedly; for 
 I know right well how men who seemed most kind in 
 their loyalty to me were but the mirrored likenesses 840 
 of comradeship, mere unsubstantial shadows. Odysseus, 
 who was compelled to the voyage, alone, when once in 
 harness, proved a willing yokefellow to me. I say it 
 of him, whether he be dead or yet alive. 
 
 For the rest, as touching the city and the Gods, we 
 will deliberate in full concourse, holding a general 
 assembly. Our aim therein shall be to make per- 
 petual whatever in our state is well ; and if anywhere 
 some healing remedy is needed, we will endeavour, by 
 applying surgery or cautery with good heed, to avert 850 
 the threatened mischief. 
 
 Now pass I to my halls, and to the chambers round 
 the hearth, when first of all I will extend my right 
 hand in honoured greeting to the Gods, who sped me 
 on my distant voyage and have brought me home again. 
 May victory, who has accompanied me, never more 
 depart ! 
 
 Clytemnestra (re-entering). Men of our city, elders 
 of the Argive state, who are assembled here, I will not 
 be ashamed to speak before you of my wifely disposi- 
 tion. Timidity wears away with time. I need no 
 hint from any man when I declare to you how heavily 
 my life was passed, while he who now is here was 860 
 before Ilium. For a woman, in absence of the man, 
 
30 AGAMEMNON 
 
 to sit forlorn in the house, is in any case a terrible 
 evil. Many a cross rumour vexes her, one witness 
 telling in her ear that he is come ; another harshly 
 whispering, ' He brings home with him a mischief worse 
 than his departure ' 27 . If our hero had received as 
 many wounds as were currently reported hitherward, 
 one might say that he was pierced in more places than 
 a hunting-net. Or, had he died as often as he was 
 
 870 rumoured to be dead, a second Geryon, he must have 
 had three bodies at least, and put on (above him I 
 say nothing of the ground beneath) a threefold mantle 
 of earth, having died once in each several form. By 
 reason of such cross, vexing rumours, many a noose 
 upon my neck, suspended from above, hath been un- 
 tied by those who laid violent hold on me. In con- 
 sequence of this distress, he who ought to have been 
 here, our child Orestes, the firm pledge of our mutual 
 
 880 faith, is absent hence. Nay, marvel not ! Our kind 
 war-friend Strophius in Phocis took charge of him, 
 forewarning me of a twofold peril thine own at Troy, 
 and ours, if noisy popular tumult should overthrow the 
 Council ; as it is born in men, when any one is down, to 
 trample on him. Herein I urge a plea that is innocent 
 of guile. I wept indeed until the flushing tide of 
 tears had run dry and there was no moisture left. And 
 
 890 going late to rest on my sleepless bed, I mourned for 
 the still neglected beacon-fires that had been prepared 
 to herald thy return. The shrill insistent buzz of the 
 gnat would wake me, while in my dreams about thee 
 I saw horrors more than the time of sleep could hold. 
 
AGAMEMNON 31 
 
 All this I suffered ; but it is past. And now, with a 
 heart exempt from care, it is mine to cry, Behold the 
 watch-dog of our fold, the mainstay of our vessel, the 
 pillar from ground to summit that supports our roof, 
 an only son to his sire, or land to mariners appearing 
 beyond their hopes ; fair daylight after tempest, or 900 
 flowing water- springs cheering the thirsty wayfarer. 
 Ever joyful it is to escape from distress. 
 
 With such words I count it meet that I address 
 thee. Let envy remain aloof. We suffered miseries 
 enow in the past time. Now, dear one, descend, I 
 pray thee, from that chariot, not setting upon the earth 
 thy foot, the vanquisher of Troy. 
 
 Come, maidens, why delay ye, whose appointed 
 task it is to pave the ground of his pathway with 
 tapestries ? Forthwith let there be made a purple- 910 
 strewn road, and let Justice lead him to the home he 
 looked not for ! 
 
 As to what remains, thought yielding not to slumber 
 shall order it righteously according to Divine decree. 
 
 Agam. Offspring of Leda, sole guardian of my palace- 
 hall, thy speech, in accord with my long absence, 
 hath been protracted. Yet for fitting commendation, 
 that rich guerdon, I must look elsewhere. And do 
 not, womanlike, attempt to spoil and pamper me, nor, 
 like a cringing Asiatic, approach me with prostrations 920 
 and open-mouthed f salaams/ nor draw Envy on my 
 path by paving it with gorgeous webs. Such honours 
 are for the Gods alone. I cannot think without alarm 
 of a mere mortal setting foot on fair embroideries. I 
 
32 AGAMEMNON 
 
 claim your homage as a man, not as being Divine. 
 Fame sounds her note without rich carpets and 
 broidered finery. A modest heart is the best of bless- 
 ings. The name of happy should be reserved for him 
 930 whose life is ended in kindly wellbeing 2S . Live we by 
 that rule in all things, and I shall have no fear. 
 
 Clyt. Tell me, your wife, one thing, and honestly 
 speak your mind. 
 
 Agam. I '11 not disguise my mind, nor alter it, you 
 may be sure. 
 
 Clyt. In danger you might have vowed to the Gods 
 to do as I request you now. 
 
 Aoam. No man more easily. Experience prompts 
 me to that reply 29 . 
 
 Clyt. And what of Priam, if he had had the victory 
 to-day ? 
 
 Aoam. His pathway would have been resplendent, 
 I believe. 
 
 Clyt. Be not shamefast, now, before human censure. 
 
 Agam. Yet the outcry of a noisy populace is no light 
 thing. 
 
 Clyt. He who is not envied is never admired. 
 940 Agam. To be contentious is unbecoming in a woman. 
 
 Clyt. It is becoming in the fortunate to give way. 
 
 Agam. Are you really so bent on victory in this war ? 
 
 Clyt. Consent, and with voluntary grace pass your 
 conquest on to me. 
 
 Agam. Well, then, since thou art so bent on this, 
 let some one undo the slipper that slavishly sup- 
 ports my treading, lest as I trample on yonder purple 
 
AGAMEMNON 33 
 
 dyes, some god should glance malignly on me from 
 far. (He descends from the car.) It shames me no 
 little to be thus luxurious, pressing with my footstep 
 all this woven wealth. Well, that is agreed. And 95 
 now let me beg that you will kindly receive this 
 stranger (pointing to Cassandra). He who shows 
 clemency in his triumph is regarded gently by the 
 Gods, as they look down on him. This maid, pre- 
 sented to me by the army, the chosen flower from 
 rich spoils, accompanies me home. 
 
 Now, since I am subdued to obey you in this, I will 
 march over the purple pathway, and go within my 
 hall. 
 
 Clyt. The Sea and who shall dry it up ? is there 
 eternally to nourish the precious juice of purple stain, 
 abundant, ever-renewable, for dyeing robes withal. 960 
 Whereof our house, my king, by the blessing of 
 Heaven, hath ample store. It knows not penury. 
 Much trampling of rich garments would I have vowed, 
 had some oracle enjoined it on the house, as I cast 
 about for means to bring home again a life so dear. 
 Our root was not destroyed, but now the spreading 
 foliage is returned, that shades the Dogstar from us. 
 Thy home-coming betokens warmth in winter to us ; 
 but when the power of Zeus is turning sap in the sour 970 
 grape towine, there is coolness in the palace, if our 
 man of men is moving therein. [He goes within. 
 
 O Zeus, completer of all things, complete thine 
 answer to my prayers : and give good heed to that 
 which thou art bringing to pass. [Exeunt. 
 
34 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Chor. Why hovers before my boding mind this 
 warning finger 30 , that will not remove ? Why sounds 
 
 9 8 o unbidden, unhired, this prophesying strain ? Why 
 cannot my soul reject it like a puzzling dream, and 
 again have confident Hope enthroned within her? 
 That time is long since past, when the navy that had 
 set forth for Troy lost its prime of youth, while the 
 mooring cables of its many ships remained fast upon 
 the sandy shore 31 . 
 
 I am myself the witness of the King's return. Mine 
 
 990 eyes declare it to me. Yet my spirit within me, self- 
 inspired, still chants that lyreless lay of the Erinys, 
 no whit enjoying the dear encouragement of Hope. 
 Not idle, assuredly, is this inward monitor, the heart 
 which throbs with ominous tumult against a truthful 
 breast. Yet may the end belie mine expectation, and 
 
 1000 fall contrariwise, bringing auguries to nought ! 
 
 Great health is apt to end in dangerous presumption : 
 thin is the wall that parts her from impending disease. 
 The man's destiny as it sails forward with smooth 
 career strikes suddenly the hidden reef. 
 
 IOIO Then, if Caution flings overboard, with prudent liber- 
 ality, some part of his possessions, the whole fabric 
 doth not sink, over-weighted with calamity, nor doth 
 he make utter shipwreck. Abundant bounty from 
 Zeus, and from unfailing harvest-fields, cause Famine 
 to disappear. 
 
 But when man's dark blood hath once fallen to 
 
 1020 earth at his feet in death, who by any charm shall call 
 it up again ? Why, if that might be, should Zeus in 
 
AGAMEMNON 35 
 
 prudent care have made an end of him who had learned 
 rightly how to bring back the dead ? 
 
 Were it not that over-mastering destiny from Heaven 
 controls my lot, and makes it of small effect, my heart 
 should have uttered this, not waiting for the tongue. 
 But, as it is, my soul cries out unheard, being pained 1030 
 to the core, and having no hope to evolve any timely 
 counsel from her burning thought. 
 
 Re-enter Clytemnestra. 
 
 Clyt. Thou, too, Cassandra, get thee within ! 
 Heaven hath mercifully ruled it that in our house 
 thou shouldst be a sharer of the lustral fount, as one 
 of many slaves that stand around the household altar. 
 Be not proud, therefore, but come down from that car. 
 They say, Alcmena's son was once sold to bondage 1040 
 and endured to eat the bread of servitude. And one 
 on whom that irrevocable lot hath fallen should be 
 duly thankful if his masters be the inheritors of 
 ancient wealth. Those who reap an unexpected 
 harvest are ever harsh and exorbitant in command. 
 There, that is my ordinary welcome. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Her speech to thee is ended, and 
 its meaning is manifest. Thou art encompassed in 
 the toils of fate, and it remains for thee to yield, if 
 thou wilt yield ; but methinks thou wilt not. 
 
 Clyt. Nay, unless like the twittering swallow she 105a 
 be the possessor of an outlandish tongue, my speech 
 must find its way and prevail with her. 
 
 Chor. Go with her. She counsels what is best as 
 
36 AGAMEMNON 
 
 things now are. Consent, and leave thy seat upon 
 the chariot yonder. 
 
 Clyt. I have no time to waste out here. The 
 victims at our midmost altar by now are standing for 
 sacrifice, a thank-offering for unlooked-for mercies. If 
 thou wilt do my bidding then, do it at once, but if 
 1060 thou hast no sense, and takest not my meaning, tell it 
 instead of speech with some gesture of thy barbarous 
 hand. 
 
 Chor. The stranger seems to have need of an inter- 
 preter to make things clear to her. Her way is that 
 of a wild creature newly caught. 
 
 Clyt. She must be a maniac, governed by insane 
 impulses, who comes hither from her newly captured 
 city, and cannot bear the curb until she breathe out 
 her spirit in bloody foam. I will not be disgraced by 
 throwing more words away. [Exit Clytemnestra. 
 
 Leader of Chor. But I, for I pity thee, will not let 
 1070 my anger rise. Come, hapless one, leave yonder car 
 bereft of. thee ; yield to what is now inevitable. Try 
 the yoke, which thou hast not felt till now. 
 
 Cass. O woe, woe, woe ! Apollo ! Apollo ! 
 
 Chor. Why criest thou of woe to Phoebus ? He is 
 not one to be addressed with lamentation. 
 
 Cass. O woe, woe, woe ! Apollo ! Apollo ! 
 
 Chor. Again with evil-omened crying she calls 
 on him whom it befits not to have to do with 
 mourning. 
 1080 Cass. Apollo ! God of our streets ! Apollon 32 to me ! 
 
AGAMEMNON 37 
 
 For thou hast with ease destroyed me this second 
 time. 
 
 Chor. She seems about to prophesy of her own afflic- 
 tion. The divine nature abides within her, although 
 a captive. 
 
 Cass. Apollo ! Apollo of our streets ! Apollon to 
 me ! Ah, whither then didst thou lead me ? To what 
 mansion ? 
 
 Chor. The home of the Atreidae ; if thou art not 
 aware of that, I tell it thee, and thou wilt not have 
 to say that I have told thee falsely. 
 
 Cass. Ah ! Ah ! Nay, an ungodly roof, acquainted 1090 
 with many horrible crimes of slaughtered kin, with 
 stranglings ! a murderous receptacle of human blood, 
 of infant gore 33 . 
 
 Chor. The stranger seems to be keen-scented, like 
 a questing hound. She snuffs after blood-marks, and 
 she will find them. 
 
 Cass. Ah ! Ah ! Yea, for I trust these tokens : the 
 little children yonder, wailing of their violent deaths, 
 and of the roasted flesh whereof their father ate ! 
 
 Chor. Truly we had heard of thy prophetic gift, 
 but we are not seeking for a prophet. 
 
 Cass. Oh horror ! what doth she intend ? what is hod 
 this great new grief ? A mighty mischief she intends 
 within these walls : the despair of lovers, hard to 
 remedy ; while succour stands far aloof. 
 
 Chor. This oracle I know not. The former was 
 clear. For the whole city rings of it. 
 
.38 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Cass. Wretch ! wilt thou accomplish that ? The hus- 
 band of thy bed, when thou hast made him bright 
 
 with bathing him How shall I tell the end ? It 
 
 i no will come quickly. Blow after blow she deals at him. 
 
 Chor. Still I comprehend not. The riddling thickly- 
 veiled prophecy leaves me at fault. 
 
 Cass. Oh ! what is here ? what apparition ? Is it 
 a hunting-net of hell 34 ? Nay, it is the snare that 
 surprises him in his repose, that hath part in slaying 
 him. Let the troop that never has enough in de- 
 vouring the race shout exultingly over the heinous 
 sacrifice. 
 
 Chor. Why summonest thou that Fury to lift her 
 
 1120 voice in the palace ? Thy words oppress me with 
 
 gloom. And to my heart the pale death-drop runs 35 , 
 
 that in men mortally wounded sinks together with the 
 
 setting rays of life. 
 
 Cass. Ah ! Look ! look ! look ! Hold off the Bull 
 there from the Cow ! She hath caught him in the web, 
 and is goring him with her iron horn ! He falls in 
 the hollow water-vessel. I am telling you the story of 
 the crafty murderous basin. 
 1 130 Chor. I would not boast great skill as an interpreter. 
 But to my mind, that prophecy augurs harm. Yet 
 what good word hath prophecy for the world ! It 
 is a voluble art that, by chanting suggested evils in 
 men's ears, strikes mortal apprehensions with a religious 
 
 Cass. O, alas for my fortune, ill-starred maid ! I 
 
AGAMEMNON 39 
 
 chant forth my own fate, that I may mingle it with 
 thine 36 . To what an end didst thou bring me home 
 with thee ! To die along with thee, nought else ! 
 only to die ! 
 
 Chor. Thou art maddened, methinks, and Heaven- 114 
 possessed ; and utterest wild music concerning thine 
 own lot, like the brown nightingale that with never- 
 wearied note out of her frenzied mind mourns ' Itys/ 
 ever ' Itys,' through a life that is overgrown with 
 miseries. 
 
 Cass. Ah ! were my fate like hers, the high-voiced 
 songstress ! whom divine power hath encased in a 
 plumed body and surrounded with a sweet existence 
 exempt from sorrows ! The keen-edged sword, that 
 cleaves in sunder, is waiting for me. 
 
 Chor. Whence rush on thee thine inspired, unmean- 1150 
 ing fits of grief, whereunto thou givest lyric utterance 
 in shrill and terrifying strains with an evil-omened 
 cry? What power hath ordained the limits of thy 
 prophetic pathway, ever moving amidst baleful 
 sounds ? 
 
 Cass. Oh Paris ! what a marriage was thine ! It hath 
 destroyed thy kin. Oh waters of Scamander, whereof 
 our fathers drank ! On thy shore, thou winding stream, 
 I grew up to womanhood, unhappy that I was ! But 1160 
 now meseemeth I shall soon chant my prophecies by 
 Cocytus and the banks of Acheron. 
 
 Chor. What hast thou now uttered ? That is clearly 
 said. A child, that heard it, might understand. And 
 I am stricken as with a death-pang at thy grievous 
 
40 AGAMEMNON 
 
 woe, whereof thou tellest in warbled notes. My heart 
 is crushed on hearing thee. 
 
 Cass. O my city, utterly destroyed ! Alas for thy 
 distress ! Dear father ! how many poor victims, from 
 the grazing flock, thou didst kill in sacrifice before the 
 
 1 170 walls ! Yet they have not availed to save Troy from 
 her destruction. And as for me, my fevered spirit 
 shall soon lie low S7 . 
 
 Leader of Chor. Therein thou speakest consist- 
 ently. Some malign heavenly power with rude assault 
 constrains thee to phrase melodiously thy lamentable 
 deathful lot. But, for the final issue, that is dark to 
 me. 
 
 Cass. No longer, then, like a bride in her first mar- 
 
 1180 ried hours, mine oracles shall peep from behind a veil, 
 but with open vehemence, like a storm-wind, they 
 shall meet the rising day, and dash against the light 
 the billows of a calamity far more terrible. I will in- 
 struct you, tins time, in no riddling wise. And ye 
 shall bear me witness how closely I follow and scent 
 out the track of troublous things enacted of old. 
 Yonder house is haunted by a band that never leaves 
 it, a choir that sing in unison indeed, but harshly, for 
 their song is not of blessing. Lo, emboldened with 
 
 1 190 draughts of human blood, that revel-rout of Furies 
 inborn in the race, abide within there, not to be 
 exorcised. Fast clinging to the mansion, they hymn the 
 primordial crime ; then, by and by, they chant 
 abhorrence of the bed that still resents the outrage 
 done by a brother. Say, missed I there ? Or like 
 
AGAMEMNON 41 
 
 a true archer, did I hit the mark? Am I nothing 
 but a babbling false-prophetess, pestering people's 
 doors ? Bear me witness on your oath that I am 
 acquainted with sins of yonder dwelling that are old 
 in story. 
 
 Leader of Chor. How should an oath, how nobly 
 soever framed, avail for remedy? Yet do I marvel 
 that thou, brought up, as thou wert, beyond the sea, 1200 
 shouldst accurately tell the tale of a city strange to 
 thee, as if thou hadst been present at the scene. 
 
 Cass. Apollo, Prophet that he is, appointed me to 
 this. 
 
 Chor. Was it that, although a God, he had been 
 smitten with love ? 
 
 Cass. In former days I should have' blushed to 
 speak of that. 
 
 Chor. Ay, the mind is ever more delicate in 
 prosperity. 
 
 Cass. A wrestler for my heart, he breathed with 
 kindness towards me. 
 
 Chor. And came ye to the consummation of your 
 loves ? 
 
 Cass. I plighted my faith to Loxias and disappointed 
 him. 
 
 Chor. When already overtaken by the spirit of 
 prophecy ? 
 
 Cass. Already I foretold to my fellow-citizens all 1210 
 that has befallen them. 
 
 Chor. Thou couldst not surely then escape from the 
 anger of Apollo ? 
 
42 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Cass. From the moment when I so offended, no man 
 believed me. 
 
 Chor. To us thy soothsaying seems to deserve 
 belief. 
 
 Cass. Oh horrible ! Again the terrible travail of true 
 prophecy whirls me round, and dizzies me with 
 irresistible promptings. Oh what affliction ! Behold 
 ye those young things that crouch on the palace-roof? 
 pale dreamlike forms, children slain as by their 
 
 1220 kindred, their hands filled with meat of their own 
 flesh, seen manifestly, their vitals and their inward 
 parts, whereof their father tasted! For this, I say, 
 there is one who is plotting recompense, a craven lion, 
 rolling him upon the couch he kept warm for him who 
 now is come, my master. Ah me ! the captive must 
 bear the yoke. Commander of the fleet, destroyer of 
 Ilium, he yet is unaware with what wicked triumph 
 the hateful creature yonder, like a lurking Ate, will 
 
 1230 follow up her long speech of beaming welcome. Such 
 a crime she dares. A woman, she is the slayer of the 
 man. To what execrable monster shall I with truth 
 compare her ? To some Amphisbaena or some Scylla, 
 dwelling among rocks, a bane to mariners, breathing 
 truceless hostility to those she ought to hold most 
 dear 38 ? Dauntless in crime, she raised an exultant 
 shout as men do that have turned the battle, pretending 
 to rejoice in his safe home-coming. Ye may believe 
 anything of this, or nothing. It makes no difference. 
 
 1240 What is to come will come, and thou, beholding it, wilt 
 pity me and say I was too true a prophetess. 
 
AGAMEMNON 43 
 
 Chor. The banquet of Thyestes upon his chil- 
 dren's flesh I understood, and shuddered at it. Amaze- 
 ment held me when I heard it described, not in 
 shadowy outline, but with vivid truth ; but in listen- 
 ing to the remainder of thy tale I am utterly be- 
 wildered. 
 
 Cass. I tell thee, thou shalt behold the death of 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Chor. Hush ! wretched one, compose thy lips to 
 silence. 
 
 Cass. No healing God presides over my present 
 saying. 
 
 Chor. Were it accomplished, no ! But may it 
 never come to pass ! 
 
 Cass. Thou sayst thy prayers, while killing is the 1250 
 business yonder. 
 
 Chor. What man is perpetrating such an accursed 
 crime ? 
 
 Cass. My prophecy is indeed dark to you. 
 
 Chor. I cannot surmise how any one should be found 
 to do it. 
 
 Cass. Yet I have learned Greek parlance all too 
 well. 
 
 Chor. So hath the Pythian oracle, but it is obscure 
 nevertheless. 
 
 Cass. Oh the pain ! How this fire burns ! It comes 
 upon me. Woe, woe ! Lyceaian Apollo ! Woe, woe is 
 me ! This biped lioness, cohabiting with a wolf in the 
 absence of the royal lion, shall kill me, unhappy that I 1260 
 am. In the potion of revenge which she prepares, I 
 
v 44 AGAMEMNON 
 
 too am thought of, and thrown in : she is resolved to 
 boast that in whetting the sword against her lord, she 
 has wreaked moreover, in our blood, his bringing of me. 
 Why then do I retain these mockeries of my life, this 
 prophetic wand, these fillets round my neck? Thee 39 I 
 will break, before I myself am broken ; go to destruc- 
 tion with you, I shall soon follow. Endow some other 
 wretch, I have done with you. See now, Apollo him- 
 
 1270 self is divesting me of this prophetic raiment ! Thou 
 didst behold me, how cruelly I was mocked, in this 
 attire, together with my friend, by those who were 
 alike our enemies, all idly ; as if a beggar-priestess, I 
 bore to be called a vagrant, poor, wretched, famished 
 creature that I was 40 ! And now the prophet, disrobing 
 me, his prophetess, leads me forth to this doom of 
 dreadful death. In place of standing by my father's 
 altar, the block awaits me, whereon, being stricken, 
 my warm life-blood will make the sacrifice complete 41 . 
 But in our death we shall not be without divinely 
 
 1280 given honours. We too have our Avenger, the 
 matricidal offspring that is destined to requite his 
 father's murderers. A wandering exile, estranged from 
 this land, he shall return and add the corner-stone to 
 this edifice of family disaster. A mighty oath has 
 been sworn in Heaven, that his father's fall shall beckon 
 him home again. Why then am I thus given up to 
 sorrow and crying, since first I saw the city of Ilium 
 brought so low, and now her conquerors sink under 
 
 1290 divine judgement ? I will go forward and shrink not. 
 I will dare to die. The gate of Hades is before me, 
 
AGAMEMNON 45 > 
 
 and I bid it hail ! I pray moreover that I may receive 
 a mortal wound, that with no struggling, amid the 
 death-stream of a painless end, I may close these 
 eyes. 
 
 Chor. Unhappy, inspired damsel, thou hast spoken 
 much. But how is it, if of a truth thou art aware of 
 thine own imminent doom, that like a God-led heifer 
 thou marchest fearlessly to the sacrifice ? 
 
 Cass. Oh strangers, there is no more evading it : the 
 time is at hand. 
 
 Chor. But the latest moment is evermore pre- 13 00 
 f erred 42 . 
 
 Cass. The hour for this is come. Avoidance will 
 avail me little. 
 
 Chor. Assuredly, thou bravest misery with a 
 courageous heart. 
 
 Cass. None but the wretched are so praised. 
 
 Chor. Yet a mortal life is graced by dying nobly. 
 
 Cass. Oh my Father, woe is me for thee ! and for 
 thy noble sons ! 
 
 [She approaches the palace, then comes forward again. 
 
 Chor. How now ! what is thy fear ? Why dost- thou ** 
 turn away ? 
 
 Cass. Woe, woe ! 
 
 Chor. What makes thee so cry out some inward or 
 soul-felt horror ? 
 
 Cass. The halls are breathing forth a dew of drip- 
 ping gore. 
 
 Chor. Nay, nay ; it is only the savour of household 1310 
 sacrifices. 
 
 J 
 
46 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Cass. I distinguish there an exhalation as from a 
 tomb. 
 
 Chor. Thou tellest not of a hall perfumed with 
 Syrian odours. 
 * Cass. Yet will I go within to bewail my own and 
 
 Agamemnon's destiny. I have had enough of life. 
 Oh friends, mine is no vain misdoubting, as of a bird 
 before a bush. Bear me this witness after I am dead, 
 when for my woman's life a woman's life shall be 
 taken, and for the man, whose wife was evil to him, t 
 1320 man shall fall. I appeal to your kind thoughts herein 
 as one who is atyout to die. 
 
 Chor. Oh hapless one, we pity thee for thy pro- 
 phetically spoken doom. 
 
 Cass. One more utterance, one more lament over 
 myself ! I pray to the sun, now last beheld by me, that 
 my hateful murderers may pay my avengers for me 
 1330 also, the butchered captive, easily overcome. [Exit. 
 
 Chor. Alas for poor mortality ! When Careering 
 prosperously a shadow may turn it back, and if once 
 unfortunate, a wet sponge thrown blurs out the 
 picture. This moves my pity more than all. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Great Fortune never satisfies the 
 prosperous man ; nor while others point the finger at 
 his halls will he dismiss her thence, renouncing her, 
 and saying, ' Come in no more.' To Agamemnon here 
 the blessed ones have given it to vanquish Priam 1 
 city. Honoured of the Gods, he returns home. But 
 if he must now pay with his blood for former blood- 
 1340 shedding, and by his death complete the recompense 
 
, AGAMEMNON 47 
 
 for other deaths to those who suffered them, what 
 mortal man who hears of it shall have confidence that 
 a scathless lot accompanied his birth ? 
 
 Agam. {within). Oh me ! I am wounded mortally 
 within here 43 . , 
 
 Chor. Hush ! who is it that cried so ? Wounded ! 
 and mortally ! 
 
 Agam. (within). Oh me ! again a second wound ! 
 
 Chor. It is the King who cries. Methinks the deed 
 is done. Come, let us take counsel together as securely 
 as we may. 
 
 Chor. 1. I tell you at once what I propose : That 
 we make proclamation to the citizens to bring rescue 
 to the palace hither. 
 
 2. Nay, but hear me. Let us immediately break 1350 
 within and detect the deed while the sword yet runs 
 with blood. ^ 
 
 3. I too share that counsel in a general way, and 
 vote for action ; it is high time something were done. 
 
 4. Can ye not see ? This prelude means that some 
 are preparing to rear the standard of tyranny in our 
 state. 
 
 5. We are losing time, whilst they, alert and fyt 
 energetic, are trampling down the pride of our pro- 
 crastination. 
 
 6. I know not how to hit on a helpful course. We 
 have to form our plans about what is already in act 44 . 
 
 7. I am of that way of thinking too ; debate it as 1360 
 ye will, I find it a hard matter by such means to restore 
 the dead. 
 
AGAMEMNON 
 
 But are we really thus to bow down in life-long 
 bondage to their supremacy, who have disgraced the 
 royal home ? 
 
 9. Nay, that were unendurable ; better die at once. 
 Death is a milder lot than subjection to a tyrant's 
 will. 
 
 10. But are the cries we heard sufficient warrant 
 for the guess that he is actually gone ? 
 
 11. Ere we give way to anger let us know 
 clearly. Conjecture and clear knowledge are different 
 things. 
 
 1370 12. The sum of your votes empowers me to 
 
 confirm this as the prevailing counsel, that we know 
 
 thoroughly of the son of Atreus, how it goes with him. 
 
 [The Chorus-leader, followed by the members of the 
 
 Chorus, is cautiously advancing towards the 
 
 palace-gate, wlien Clytemnestra is suddenly 
 
 discovered on the Ekkyclema. The bath with 
 
 the corpse ojf Agamemnon, covered with the purple 
 
 web, is beside her; the corpse of Cassandra is 
 
 ^ visible in the background. 
 
 Clyt. I spake much heretofore to fit the momentary 
 need, and now in speaking contrary I shall feel no 
 shame. Else how should any one, in carrying out 
 schemes of enmity against an enemy who is called a 
 friend, make close the net of disaster to a height that 
 defies overleaping ? This encounter, long since medi- 
 tated by me, as I dwelt upon that ancient feud, came 
 round in the slow course of time. I smote him here, 
 1380 where now I stand over my accomplished deed. This 
 
AGAMEMNON 49 
 
 too I will confess; I so contrived it that he could 
 
 neither escape me nor resist his doom. I set around, 
 with baffling intricacies like a fisher's net, an evil 
 wealth of hangings. Twice there I smote him : twice 
 he groaned, and his limbs gave way. And when he 
 was down, I added a third blow, a prayerful offering to 
 subterranean Zeus, safe keeper of the dead. So 
 fallen, he gave forth his spirit, and gasping hard as he 
 bled, he drenched me with a dark drizzle of gory dew, 1390 
 that gladdened me no less than the cornfield is glad- 
 dened by the rain from Heaven when the ear is filling. 
 This being so, ye elders of Argos here, rejoice, if ye be 
 so minded ! For my part, I exult. Yea, were it ever 
 seemly to pour libation over a human victim, in this 
 case it were more than righteous. So heinous was the 
 crime against household peace wherewith he charged 
 the cup of cursing in his home, that now he hath drained 
 on his return. 
 
 Chor. We marvel at thy speech and the boldness 
 of thy tongue ; that thou shouldst make this hideous 1400 
 boast over thy husband. 
 
 Clyt., Ye taunt me, as a woman void of counsel. But 
 I say it fearlessly, to you who know the truth, and 
 whether ye choose to blame or praise me it is all one : 
 Here is Agamemnon, my husband ! a dead body, the 
 work of this right arm, a righteous worker. That is so. 
 
 Chor. Woman, what poison hast thou taken, solid 
 of the nourishing earth, or liquid from the briny flood, 
 that thou hast made thine own this horrid sacrifice, 
 bringing the people's loud curse on thee ? Didst thou 1410 
 
 D 
 
50 AGAMEMNON 
 
 cast him off ? didst thou sever him from life ? Thou 
 shalt be outcast, hated mightily of the citizens here. 
 
 Clyt. Your present sentence is that I must be an 
 exile; that the people's curse and the citizens' hate 
 shall follow me. You give that judgement, who in the 
 former time had nought to say against him, when in 
 gaiety of heart, as one might sacrifice a sheep or 
 goat, one of thousands teeming in the fleecy fold, he 
 gave to the death his own child, the precious travail 
 of my womb, to charm away a Thracian wind. Should 
 ye not have proclaimed him an exile in recompense 
 
 1420 for that abomination ye from whom the avowal of 
 my deed provokes so harsh a verdict ? I bid you in 
 your threatenings to know that I am prepared, if ye 
 conquer with a strong hand, to be ruled by you. But 
 should the contrary issue be determined by the power 
 of God, ye shall be taught, at least in that last hour, 
 the lesson of humility. 
 
 Chor. Thy mood is lofty and thy speech rings 
 proudly. As thy spirit raves over its blood-stained 
 success, so that thine eyes shine, as if anointed with 
 gore, even so one day, dishonoured and friendless, thou 
 
 143 art doomed to expiate stroke with stroke. 
 
 Clyt. Hear this my solemn oath moreover. By 
 Justice, who so signally hath vindicated my child by 
 Ate and Erinys, to whom I sacrificed this man I 
 look not to inhabit halls of fear, so long as fire upon 
 my hearth is kindled by Aegisthus, loyal as heretofore 
 in his love to me. He is my shield of confidence, my 
 strong defender. Low lies the wronger of my life, the 
 
AGAMEMNON 51 
 
 darling of priests' daughters in the leaguer of Troy. 
 And together with him this his captive, this woman- 1440 
 seer, his bedfellow and faithful mistress, this prophet- 
 ess that beside him pressed the planks on ship-board ! 
 They are not baulked of their deserving. He died as 
 I have told you; she, swan-like, having chanted her 
 last, her dying song, lies there, his lover, whom he 
 brought as a luxurious side-dish and set-off to my 
 proud marriage-bed. 
 
 Chor. Ah ! would that our fate might find us swiftly, 
 without excessive pain or lingering disease, and bring 
 to comfort us the everlasting sleep, since he, our most 1450 
 gentle guardian, is subdued. For a woman's sake he 
 endured those many toils, and now at a woman's hand 
 he hath expired. Oh infatuate Helen, that singly didst 
 destroy those lives innumerable in the Trojan land, now 
 thou hast caused to bloom beyond the rest a stain of 
 blood indelible, an endless memorial of the strife 
 whose foundations lay deep within the house, to a 1460 
 husband's bitter cost. 
 
 Clyt. Pray not for death in thy horror at this act, 
 nor turn thy wrath on Helen, averring that she, the 
 man-destroyer, after singly causing death to many 
 Danai', hath been the author of an intolerable grief. 
 
 Chor. O Genius, that dost oppress the Palace and 
 the twofold race 45 of Tantalus' line ! Thou wieldest to 1470 
 my keen sorrow a manlike spirit in female mould. 
 Like a hateful raven she stands there over the corpse, 
 and with harsh and boastful notes chants forth her 
 strain. 
 
52 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Clyt. Now thou directest aright the meaning of thy 
 tongue, naming as thou dost the trebly overgrown 
 Genius of this race. The blood-lapping lust still 
 gathering at its core is nursed by him. Ere the pain 
 
 1480 of the old wound ceases, blood breaks out afresh. 
 
 Chor. Thou tellest of a mighty power, whose wrath 
 is dangerous, haunting this house ; an evil tale, alas ! 
 \ of checkless disaster. Ah ! woe ! It is the work of 
 Zeus, the author and effecter of all. What mortal busi- 
 ness is accomplished and he hath not done it ? Which 
 of these events is not determined by Divine Power ? 
 
 1490 My king ! oh my king ! How shall I lament thee ? 
 What shall I utter from an affectionate mind ? Thou 
 liest there in the toils of the spider, expiring, impiously 
 slain ; thus far from honour, subdued by violence with 
 the edge of the sword. 
 
 Clyt. Thou declarest this to be my deed, but add 
 not thereunto that I am the wedded wife of Agamem- 
 
 1500 non. Taking the likeness of the dead man's Queen, the 
 ancient cruel spirit of revenge for the act of Atreus in 
 providing that dire banquet, hath paid back this full- 
 grown corpse in sacrifice over children slain. 
 
 Chor. That thou art guiltless of this deed of death, 
 who will bear thee witness ? How should that be ? 
 Some vengeful spirit, provoked by his sire, might 
 indeed be thine abettor herein. The power of dark 
 
 1510 strife presses onward, accompanied with fresh streams 
 of kindred blood, advancing to the point where he 
 shall make full requital for the clotted horror of that 
 unnatural meal. 
 
J 
 
 AGAMEMNON 53 
 
 My king ! oh my king ! How shall I lament thee ? 
 What shall I utter from an affectionate mind ? Thou 
 liest there in the toils of the spider, expiring, impiously 
 slain ; thus far from honour, subdued by violence with 1520 
 the edge of the sword. 
 
 Clyt. From honour, sayest thou? I think other- 
 wise 46 . Had he not contrived a guileful disaster for the 
 home ? Nay, for what he did to Iphigeneia, much wept 
 for, his own fair sapling reared from me, receiving 
 worthy recompense, let him not vent high words in 
 Hades, since the sword that slew him only repaid him 
 his own deed. 
 
 Chor. I falter, bereft of thought, and know not 1530 
 where to find a practicable way. The house is totter- 
 ing. The pelting blood-storm, sapping the foundations, 
 affrights me with its noise. The drizzling rain is done. 
 Fate now is whetting Justice 47 on a new whetstone for 
 fresh deeds of bane. 
 
 O Earth, O Earth, would thou hadst received me in, 
 ere mine eyes beheld him occupying his low bed in 1540 
 the deep silver bath-vessel ! Who shall bury him ? 
 who shall sing his dirge ? Wilt thou have courage, 
 after slaying thine own man, to mourn for him, 
 fulfilling wrongfully a wretched recompense for this 
 unhappy deed ? Who, labouring in sincerity of mind, 1550 
 shall rightly direct words of praise over his tomb, to 
 honour the immortal man ? 
 
 Clyt. To care for that belongs not to thee. At 
 my hand he fell, he died ; and I will bury him, with 
 no accompaniment of household lamentation ; but 
 
54 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Iphigeneia, his daughter, as is meet, warmly welcoming 
 her sire, at the further shore of the quickly crossed 
 river of lamentation, shall fling her arms about him 
 with a loving kiss. 
 
 1560 Chor. Reproach there meets reproach ; judgement 
 is baffled. The spoiler is spoiled ; the slayer is slain. 
 Yet this remains while Zeus continues upon his throne : 
 He who doeth must suffer. That is a firm decree. 
 Who then may extinguish the seed of curses within 
 the home ? The race is welded to misfortune. 
 
 Clyt. You now speak oracularly and with truth. 
 Howbeit I would compound with the Genius of the race 
 
 1570 of Pleisthenes 48 , here making oath that I am willing 
 to acquiesce in what has been, however hard ; only 
 henceforth let him leave this mansion and plague some 
 other family with the pollution of kindred deaths. A 
 scanty share of wealth will satisfy me, if I have rid 
 the palace of the madness of reciprocal slaughter. 
 
 Enter Aegisthus. Clytemnestra remains in the 
 background. 
 
 Aegisthus. Hail, kindly light of the day of retribu- 
 tion ! Now I am ready to confess that Gods survey from 
 above the griefs of the earth, and care to vindicate 
 1580 mortals ; since to my wish I see lying in the Furies' 
 woven coils, this man, in requital for his father s guile- 
 ful deeds. Atreus, his father, holding the sovereignty 
 of this land, had banished Thyestes, my father and his 
 brother to put it clearly, his rival in power, and 
 made him an outcast from his city and his home. 
 
AGAMEMNON 55 
 
 Thyestes, hapless man, came back, and as a suppliant 
 at the hearth, obtained security from immediate danger. 
 His life was spared, so that his blood might not defile 
 the ground of his father's dwelling-place. But in 159 
 celebrating his return, with more zeal than kindness, 
 Atreus, the wicked father of this dead man, professing 
 to hold a sacrificial festival, set before my father a 
 feast of his own children's flesh. The parts about the 
 feet, and the hands, with the finger-nails, he kept 
 under cover, where he sat apart in the highest place ; 
 and as the meat lacked these tokens 49 , my sire unhesitat- 
 ingly took it and ate a meal of ruinous consequences, 
 as thou seest, to his posterity. Thereafter, when he 
 came to know what abomination had been wrought, he 
 raised a lamentable cry, and fell backward, vomiting 
 the murdered flesh : then prayed for the Pelopidae 1600 
 a crushing doom, as with the act of spurning that 
 supper from him, he joined a solemn curse, that in like 
 manner the whole posterity of Pleisthenes might fall 
 down. Thereof thou mayst behold the sequel in the 
 death of him who now lies here. Who then could 
 have a better right than I had to contrive this deed 
 of blood ? I was my father's thirteenth child, and^ 
 being an infant in arms, I was driven forth by Atreus 
 together with him : but, notwithstanding, I was reared 
 to manhood, and Justice restored me to my land. And 
 although yet a stranger to the palace, I laid my grasp 
 upon the King, by knitting the whole framework of this 
 plan of enmity. This being so, I could even welcome 1610 
 death, since I behold him in the toils of retribution. 
 
56 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Chor. Aegisthus, I have no respect for the man who 
 insults the unfortunate. Thou avowest, dost thou, to 
 have deliberately caused his death, alone to have 
 plotted this pity-moving crime? I warn thee, thou 
 shalt have thy due. Thou shalt not save thy head 
 from the people's curses, enforced by stoning. 
 
 Aegist. Dost the u thus lift up thy voice thou, sitting 
 at the nethermost oar, while the spear is wielded by 
 those on the top benches ? Thou shalt find, old sir, 
 1620 how grievous at your age it is to be taught obedience. 
 Prison-bonds, and pangs of hunger, combined with old 
 age, have a marvellous mystic power to heal perverse- 
 ness. Are thine eyes not opened as thou lookest on 
 this ? Kick not against the goad, lest pricking give 
 thee pain. 
 
 Chor. (to Clyt.). Woman ! was this thy faithful- 
 ness to those newly returned from war? Entrusted 
 with the home, didst thou at once defile thy husband's 
 bed, and plot this murder against him, the army's lord ? 
 [Clytemnestra remains silent. 
 
 Aegist. That speech, too, is the first parent of sorrow. 
 Your voice has the contrary effect to that of Orpheus. 
 1630 His utterance drew all after him with delight. But 
 thou, with thy foolish bark, provoking anger, art like 
 to be dragged away. Howbeit, when once conquered, 
 thou wilt show thyself more mild. 
 
 Chor. Dost thou dream, forsooth, to lord it over 
 Argive men, who, when thou hadst plotted this man's 
 death, hadst not the courage thyself to do the murder ? 
 
 Aegist. Craft clearly was the woman's part. I was 
 
AGAMEMNON 57 
 
 sure to be suspected as his ancestral enemy. However 
 that may be, the treasures that were his shall now enable 
 me to govern Argos; and any citizen who refuses 
 homage I will bind with a heavy yoke, not handling 1640 
 him as my high-mettled corn-fed trace-horse. Hunger, 
 that dwells with darkness (horrid comradeship !) shall 
 visit him, and find him meek. 
 
 Chor. But why did thy coward soul withhold thee 
 from murdering him with thine own hand ? instead 
 whereof, a woman, thine accomplice, slew him, to the 
 pollution of Argolis and the desecration of the Argive 
 deities ! Ah ! somewhere, let us hope, Orestes sees 
 the light, that with auspicious fortune he may return, 
 and prove the unconquerable executioner of this pair ! 
 
 Aegist. Well ! since that is your line of action and 
 
 of talk, ye shall soon find Come, friends of my 1650 
 
 guard, here is work for you. [Enter bodyguard. 
 
 Leader of Chor. (to members of Chorus). Come each 
 and all, make you ready, hand on sword. 
 
 Aegist. I, too, sword in hand, am ready to dare you 
 to the death. 
 
 Leader of Chor. To the death ! We accept the 
 omen ; here we take our fortune. 
 
 Clyt. (coming forward). Nay ! not so, dearest. Let 
 us not, I pray thee, commence another act of harm. 
 The ingathering of what is done is, in many ways, a 
 heavy harvest-home. Disaster enough is here ; let us 
 have no bloodshed. Go thou, and begone, ye old men, 
 to your appointed places 50 , ere ye suffer the consequence 
 of some rash act. As we have done this, let it suffice 
 
58 AGAMEMNON 
 
 that thus it must be. If only this might prove enough 
 1660 of misery, we would accept it, wounded as we are 
 disastrously with the malignity of Heaven 51 . So stands 
 my woman's counsel, heed it whoso list. 
 
 Aegist. Nay ! to think that these men, tempting the 
 Genius of the hour, should err from modest judgment 
 and break forth in idle reproaches, assailing me with 
 words, in violation of authority. 
 
 Chor. It would ill beseem Argive citizens to fawn 
 on villainy. 
 
 Aegist. I shall visit thee for this in days to come. 
 
 Chor. Thy days to come shall not be many, if but 
 Heaven speed Orestes hitherward. 
 
 Aegist. I know that hope is the exile's daily food. 
 
 Chor. Act it out, since thou mayest ! Pollute 
 justice, and grow great. 
 1670 Aegist. I tell thee, thou shalt pay me richly for this 
 folly. 
 
 Chor. Ay, boast and fear not. The cock is valiant 
 in presence of the hen. 
 
 Clyt. Care not thou for their idle noise ! Thou 
 and I, ruling this house together with supreme author- 
 ity, will make all well. 
 
THE CHOEPHOROE 
 
 OR 
 
 LIBATION-BEARERS 
 
PERSONS OF THE DRAMA 
 
 Orestes. 
 
 Pylades. 
 
 Chorus of Trojan Captives. 
 
 Electra. 
 
 Clytemnestra. 
 
 Nurse of Orestes. 
 
 Aeqisthus. 
 
 Servant of Aegisthus. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 SCENE: Argos: 
 
 A. Before the tomb of Agamemnon : 
 
 B. In front of the Palace of the Pelopidae. 
 
 Statues of Hermes and Apollo Pythius are in 
 the foreground. 
 
THE CHOEPHOROE 
 
 OR 
 
 LIBATION-BEARERS 
 
 Scene A. The burial-ground of the Pelopidae : before 
 the tomb of Agamemnon. 
 
 Enter Orestes and Pylades. 
 
 Orestes. O Hermes of the lower world, who keepest 
 watch over my fathers sovereign rights \ prove thou 
 my Saviour, and give succour to me when I call on thee. 
 For I am come into this land a returning exile. And 
 at this mound of his tomb, I loudly summon my father, 
 to listen, to hear me. . . . (He cuts off two locks of hair.) 
 
 This lock I give to Inachus, who nourished my 
 infancy; and this I offer in token of mourning for 
 the dead. (He places a lock of hair upon the tomb.) 
 For I was not here, my father, to lament thy cruel 
 death, nor to stretch forth my hand, assisting at thy 
 obsequies. 
 
 What is this which I behold ? What assemblage of 10 
 women is moving hither ward, distinguished with dark 
 robes ? What disaster am I to gather from this ? Is 
 the house afflicted again with some fresh sorrow ? or 
 
62 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 shall I be right in guessing that these women are 
 carrying libations in honour of my father an offering 
 to appease the dead? That must be so; for I see 
 that Electra too, my sister, comes on with them, con- 
 spicuous in her sad mourning garb. O Zeus ! grant 
 that I may revenge my father's death, and be thou my 
 willing helper in the fight ! Come, Pylades, let us 
 
 20 retire, that I may learn with certainty what female 
 supplication is before us here. 
 
 [They retire. The Chorus enter with Electra. 
 Chor. I go from the palace, vehemently sent forth, 
 to accompany this libation with sharp sounds of smit- 
 ing hands. My cheek is glowing with crimson furrows, 
 freshly ploughed thereon with lacerating nails, and 
 throughout all my days my heart feeds on lamentation, 
 while, by reason of my grief, the rending that destroys 
 the linen woof resounds, as the folds of my raiment 
 
 30 that enshroud my breast are stricken and torn, because 
 of gloomy sorrows. For Panic unmistakable, making 
 the hair to stand on end, dream-prophet of the palace, 
 bursting with rage out of the midst of slumber, and 
 assailing violently the women's chamber, raised a loud 
 shout of terror, that issued from the royal closet at the 
 dead of night. And the interpreters of this vision, 
 being made responsible to Heaven, spake and said : 
 
 40 ' Those beneath the ground are angrily dissatisfied, and 
 cherish wrath against the murderers.' On such a 
 graceless errand for the averting of ill (O mother 
 Earth !) the god-hated Queen in her eagerness sends 
 me forth. But 1 am afraid to utter such a message ; 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 63 
 
 for what redemption is there when blood hath dropped 
 upon the ground ? O hearth, given up to sorrow ! 
 
 house, that art doomed to destruction ! Sunless 5 
 gloom of human hatred 2 envelops the palace by reason 
 of its master's death. The awe, that heretofore was 
 irresistible, unsubdued, unassailable, as it penetrated 
 the ears and mind of the whole people, is passing off, 
 and fear is entering where there was no fear 3 . For 
 mortals worship Prosperity as more than divine. But 60 
 the stroke of Justice swiftly visits some who are still in 
 light, while the punishment of others gathers slowly in 
 the glimmering twilight. Others night overtakes 
 with their destiny incomplete. 
 
 Because of blood once drained by Earth that nourished 
 it, the stain of blood that cries for vengeance stands 
 fast and will not pass away. Disaster with soul-pierc- 
 ing pain tears him to pieces who caused the outbreak 
 of the far-raging malady. He who hath once assayed 
 to break into the bridal chamber can find no 
 remedy, and all rivers united in one current to dilute 70 
 the stain of murder on the hand would spend their 
 cleansing power in vain. Howbeit, since the Gods 
 brought an irresistible fate to surround our city, and 
 
 1 was taken from my father's house into captivity, 
 I, living thus under control, am bound to approve of 
 righteous and unrighteous courses, in spite of my own 
 thoughts, and to overcome the bitter abhorrence of 80 
 my spirit. Meanwhile I weep covertly beneath my 
 veil, frozen at heart with secret sorrows, for my 
 master's fall that is unavenged. 
 
64 CHOftPHOROE 
 
 Electra. Ye captive women, who attend to household 
 cares, since ye are here to guide me in this act of sup- 
 plication, advise me how I must proceed. In shedding 
 on the grave this libation to the dead, how shall my 
 words be loyal ? what prayer must I address to my 
 father ? Shall I say that I bring this offering to a dear 
 90 husband from an affectionate wife, meaning from my 
 mother ? I have not confidence for that, nor know I 
 how to speak in pouring out this draught upon my 
 father's grave. Or shall I utter the customary prayer, 
 that he will make a due return to those who send these 
 funeral honours meaning some gift that suits with 
 their ill-desert ? Or, after pouring it, in silence and 
 dishonour, as my father fell, for the earth to drink it 
 up, shall I depart, like one who carries refuse out, 
 throwing the vessel behind me, and turning not again 
 100 to look. Be sharers with me in this deliberation, O 
 my friends ! We are sharers of a common spirit of 
 hatred in the palace yonder. Hide not your thought 
 within your hearts from fear of any one. The same 
 destined hour awaits both the freeman and him who 
 lives in subjection to a master's will. Speak on, if ye 
 have aught to offer that is left unsaid. 
 
 Chor. I will speak at thy bidding, as my heart 
 prompts me ; reverencing, as if it were an altar, thy 
 father's tomb. 
 
 Elect. Say on, then, as thou dost revere my father's 
 burial-place. 
 
 Chor. As thou pourest the libation, utter words to 
 which loyal hearts may listen with respect. 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 65 
 
 Elect. What friends are they, whom I may describe no 
 as loyal ? 
 
 Chor. Thyself, first of all, and every hater of 
 Aegisthus. 
 
 Elect. Then I am to pray thus for myself and for you? 
 
 Chor. Think with thyself and understand, and then 
 say. 
 
 Elect. Whom am I to add besides to this our faction? 
 
 Chor. Forget not Orestes, though he be away from 
 home. 
 
 Elect. That is well said. Thou hast heartened me 
 with thy counsel not a little. 
 
 Chor. Now then, forgetting not the murder, pray 
 that the murderers 
 
 Elect. What ! Instruct my inexperience and dictate 
 to me. 
 
 Chor. That there may come upon them some divine 
 power or some mortal hand 
 
 Elect. Shall I say to judge ? or to execute justice ? 120 
 
 Chor. Say, in plain language, to kill them in requital. 
 
 Elect. Will not the Gods regard such words as 
 impious in me ? 
 
 Chor. How impious ? to recompense an enemy with 
 evil ! [Electra approaches ike grave. 
 
 Elect. O Hermes of the lower world, most mighty 
 Herald both to the living and the dead, aid me by pro- 
 claiming this on my behalf : That the powers beneath 
 the earth should hear my prayers, which have regard 
 to my own father's murder, and that the Earth herself 
 should hear them, Earth, who brings all things forth 
 
 E 
 
66 CHOftPHOROE 
 
 from her womb, and rears them, and again receiveth 
 seed from her own offspring. I too, in duly pouring 
 
 130 this lustral offering, say thus, appealing to my father : 
 ' Have pity upon me, and provide some way for us to 
 bring our dear Orestes home ; for, as it is, we are home- 
 less, outcast, and sold away by our own mother, who as 
 our price hath taken, to be her master, Aegisthus, her 
 accomplice in thy murder. My life is that of a slave. 
 Orestes is exiled from his patrimony, while they in- 
 dulge their pride, luxuriating in thy calamity ' 4 . My 
 prayer to thee, hear it, O my father ! is that Orestes 
 
 140 may come with happy fortune hither. And grant to 
 me myself that my life may be far more pure than my 
 mother's, and my Tiands more righteous. 
 
 These prayers are on our part. As for our adversaries, 
 I pray that thy avenger, O my father, may appear to 
 them, and that thy murderers may die a death of 
 righteous retribution. This evil prayer for them inter- 
 rupts the tenor of my holy prayer. Be it thine to 
 send us blessings from where thou art below, attended 
 with heavenly aid, and with the power of Earth, and 
 with Righteousness conferring victory. 
 
 These prayers I follow up with this libation, which 
 
 150 it behoves you now to adorn with dirges due : chant- 
 ing in honour of him who is dead your auspicious 
 hymn. 
 
 Chor. Break silence 5 , as ye send forth the tear to 
 perish over our perished lord, since at this fortress, 
 where good and evil are alike secure 6 , the libation has 
 been poured out, to avert the horror against which we 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 67 
 
 pray. Hear thou my reverent speech; hear it, O 
 our master, in thy shadowy mind ! 
 
 Oh ! woe, woe ! Where is the mighty man of war 
 to redeem the house a War-god that shall come 160 
 brandishing in his hand the bended Scythian bow in 
 action, and wielding the weapon for close combat 
 grasped by the hilt ? 
 
 [ While they are singing, Electra sees the lock of v 
 
 hair and takes it up. She now comes forward, ^C 
 holding it. / 
 
 Elect. My father hath now received the libation 
 which the Earth has drained. But I would have you 
 share with me in a strange new matter which I have 
 to tell. 
 
 Chor. Speak on. My heart is bounding with sudden 
 alarm. 
 
 Elect. I saw this curl of cut hair lying on the tomb. 
 
 Chor. Cut from whose head ? A man's, or a deep- 
 zoned maid's ? I?Q 
 
 Elect. There is no mystery in that. Any one may 
 guess so much. 
 
 Chor. Let my age, then, be instructed by your 
 youth. 
 
 Elect. Who is there, unless I myself, who could have 
 offered it ? 
 
 Chor. True ! Those to whom else it might belong 
 to offer mourning locks are enemies. 
 
 Elect. Well ! this glossy curl is very like 
 
 Chor. To whose hair ? That is what I desire to know. 
 
 Elect. Most like to mine, if you compare them. 
 
68 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 Chor. Could this then possibly be Orestes' gift in 
 secret ? 
 
 Elect. It most certain^ has the look of his luxuri- 
 ant hair. 
 
 Chor. JBut how could he have dared to advance 
 hitherward ? 
 180 Elect. He has sent this mourning token to grace 
 his father's grave. 
 
 Chor. That idea relieves us not from weeping, if we 
 are to think that he shall never set foot in Argolis. 
 
 Elect. I, too, have surging at my heart a sea 
 of bitterness, and am smitten as with a hostile weapon ; 
 and from mine eyes are falling, not to be repressed, 
 hot tears in a stormy shower, when I look upon this 
 curl. How could I imagine that any other Argive 
 could possess this hair ? Yet surely she that slew my 
 190 father could not offer it, my mother, the mistress of 
 an impious mind towards her children, unworthy of 
 the name of mother. I know not how, indeed, I 
 should absolutely affirm that this ornament had 
 graced the head of Orestes, dearest of the world to 
 me. But the hope thrills me. Ah ! would that, like a 
 human messenger, it had a kindly voice ! For then I 
 should not be thus shaken to and fro with divers 
 thoughts ; but it would have clearly told me either 
 to reject this lock as having been cut from a hateful 
 head, or as my brother's it might have sorrowed with 
 200 me, and so have adorned this tomb, and done honour 
 to our dear father. 
 
 I call the Gods to witness, for well they know, in 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 69 
 
 what a tempest we like mariners are buffeted, yet if 
 Fate willed that we should obtain salvation, there may 
 yet arise from a little seed -the stem of a strong tree:% 
 But see ! there is a second proof. The traces of foot- , 
 steps here are commensurate and like to minlk More- 
 over, there are two of them, outlines of different feet, 
 his own, and some companion's of his journey. The 
 heel-marks and impress of the ball of the foot, when 
 measured, agree perfectly with my footprints. But I 2I 
 am travailing inwardly, and my heart is torn asunder. 
 
 Orest. (advancing). Ere thou conclude thy supplica- 
 tion, announce to the Gods that thy prayers so far have 
 been fulfilled. Then pray that what ensues may be 
 likewise fortunate. 
 
 Elect. Why? What have I just obtained by the 
 grace of Heaven ? 
 
 Orest. Thou hast arrived at seeing one whom thou 
 hast long been praying to see. 
 
 Elect. On whose name, I pray thee, art thou aware 
 that I have been calling ? 
 
 Orest. I am well aware that Orestes' name has been 
 much magnified by thee. 
 
 Elect. And wherein then have I fulfilment of my 
 prayers ? 
 
 Orest. I am Orestes, and am here. Seek not for 
 any dearer to thee. 
 
 Elect. How, stranger ? Is this some snare thou art 220 
 contriving for me ? 
 
 Orest. I should then be weaving a net for my own 
 feet. 
 
 J 
 
70 choEphoroe 
 
 Elect. Nay, but thou dost choose to mock at my 
 misfortunes. 
 
 Orest. If I do, I mock at my own likewise. 
 
 Elect. Am I then to speak to thee as very Orestes ? 
 
 Orest. You find it hard to know me when you see 
 myself. Yet when you had seen this severed lock of 
 mourning hair, and were scanning my footprinrs, you 
 were all excitement, and imagined that you saw me 
 230 there. Set the curl in the place whence it was taken and 
 consider it. It is a curl from thy brother's head, that 
 seemed conformable to those on thy own brow. And 
 look upon this cloth wfyen thou didst weave. Observe 
 V the closeness of the weft, and the shapes embroidered 
 
 on it. Contain thyself. Be not beside thyself with 
 
 joy ! We know of one too near to us, whom we have 
 much cause to fear. 
 
 Elect. O dearest object of care to thy fathers house, 
 much-wept-for hope of a seed that should not perish, 
 lelying on thy valour thou shalt win back thy father's 
 hall. Delight of mine eyes ! thou hast a fourfold 
 240 part in me. For I must call thee ' Father/ and the 
 strain of love in me that should have been my mother's 
 is all thine since she is utterly abhorred : and the affec- 
 tion that belonged to our sister, so cruelly sacrificed, 
 that too is thine. And all the while thou art my true 
 brother, whom I revere. Only may Victory and Right 
 be on thy side, together with him, third named, but 
 highest in power, the Saviour, Zeus ! 
 
 Orest. O Zeus, let thine eye behold what is passing 
 here ! Look upon the orphaned brood of the eagle- 
 
CHOEPHOROE 71 
 
 lc e . <* O h*rh 
 sire, who^was entangled and slain in the coils of the 
 
 deadly serpent. They in their bereavement are 
 famished with hunger > for they are not yet full- 250 
 grown, so as to bring home to the eyrie their heredi- 
 tary prey. Even so thou mayst behold me and Electra 
 here, a fatherless offspring, both equally outcast from 
 our native home. And if thou sufferest to perish these 
 younglings of him who sacrificed to thee and honoured 
 thee so highly, whence shalt thou have hereafter the 
 prize of rich banquets from a like liberal hand ? If 
 thou lettest thine eagle's race be brought to nought, 
 thou canst no more send forth the tokens which over- 
 awe mankind ; and if this stem of sovereignty should 260 
 be withered utterly away, thine altars will not have 
 the support it renders to them on sacrificial days. If 
 thou wilt tend it, thou shalt raise from lowness to an 
 exalted state a family which now seems quite to have 
 fallen. 
 
 Chor. O children, O restorers of your fathers 
 hearth, dear children, speak not aloud, lest some one 
 overhear you, and with a wanton tongue report all 
 that you are saying to those in power. May I some 
 day behold them expiring amidst the pitchy ooze of 
 conflagration ! 
 fj , Orest. Most certainly the mighty oracle of Loxias 
 / will not fail me, that hath bidden me to carry this 270 
 adventure through, adding loud denunciation and 
 menace of stormy troubles to vex my living soul, 
 should I not visit those guilty of my father's cleath ; 
 declaring that I must slay them in requital after the 
 
 / 
 
72 CHOEPHOROE 
 
 same manner, being stung to frenzy by the wrong of 
 confiscation. And he said that I, myself, should pay 
 for this in my own spirit, and should suffer many dark 
 afflictions. 
 
 For he proclaimed it to the world, that the ground 
 should give forth such produce as should comfort my 
 
 280 enemies, while diseases should be mine, climbing upon 
 my flesh, to devour it cruelly, a cancer that should eat 
 away its primal substance, and that my temples should 
 grow grey under this trouble. And he spake of other 
 assaults of the Erinyes, that should be accomplished 
 in consequence of my father's murder, clear-sighted 
 evils that move their eyes even in darkness 7 . For the 
 viewless shaft of the powers below that comes from 
 suppliant souls of kinsmen unnaturally slain, and 
 frenzy and vain fears in the night-time should shake 
 
 290 and harass me, and my body, with degrading marks 
 from the brazen scourge, should be expelled from 
 the city. A man so forbidden has no claim to share 
 in the wine-bowl or the liquor of libation. And from 
 the altars my father's invisible wrath should drive me 
 off, and no man should receive me or share my lodging. 
 Unhonoured of all men, and without a friend, I should 
 die at length, shrivelled up with the misery of an 
 utterly destroying fate. 
 
 Surely one is bound to rely on such an oracle as 
 this; and though I did not rely on it, the act must still 
 be performed. For many impulses coincide in one ; 
 
 300 the God's commandment, my deep sorrow for my 
 father, and withal the lack of substance forces me on 
 
CHOSPHOROE 73 
 
 that I should not permit my fellow-citizens, the most 
 famous of men, who by their glorious spirits made an 
 end of Troy, to be thus subject to two women. For 
 his heart is womanish ; or, if otherwise, it will soon be 
 evident. 
 
 Chor. Then, O ye mighty Fates, ordain ye, that the 
 ' - end may come from Zeus even there, whither Right- 
 eousness is pursuing her way. I hear the shout of 
 Justice exacting the debt : c For words of hatred let 310 
 hatred be the recompense, and for each deathful stroke 
 let the striker be struck to death.' That he who does 
 must suffer, is the utterance of an immemorial saying. 
 [They all draw nearer to the grave. 
 
 Orest. Father, whose end was terrible, by what deed 
 or word of mine can I succeed in wafting from afar to 
 where thou liest the light which countervaileth dark- 3 2 
 ness 8 ? But, whether or no, this kindness hath been 
 loudly shown, this honorific dirge for Atreus' seed, 
 who is the foremost of his house. 
 
 Chor. Child, the flame's consuming jaws subdue not 
 the spirit of the dead ; his wrath becomes apparent 
 afterward. When the cry is raised over him that 
 dieth, the avenger shows his face. And though a 330 
 father be reduced to dust 9 , the righteous lamenta- 
 tion for him, immense in vehemence, searches out his 
 cause completely. 
 
 Elect. Hear now, O my father, my tearful mourn- 
 ing in my turn. Hearken to the dirge which both 
 thy children raise, groaning about thy tomb. Thy 
 burial-place receives us both, taking refuge there alike 
 
74 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 as suppliants and as exiles. What happiness is there 
 in all this ? What else but woe ? Will Calamity ever 
 be overcome ? 
 340 Chor. A god, if he so will, may even out of this low 
 state set up the occasion for more auspicious sounds. 
 Instead of lamentation over a tomb, the hymn of glad- 
 ness in the royal halls should accompany the newly 
 welcomed friend 10 . 
 
 Orest. Would that, O my sire, thou hadst been slain 
 with a spear-wound from some Lycian before the walls 
 of Troy ! For then thou wouldst have left a glorious 
 350 renown in thy hall, and having established, for thy 
 children to walk in, a life admired of men, thou 
 shouldst have occupied thy lofty barrow of earth 
 beyond the sea, not burdensome to thy home. 
 
 Chor. Dear to his friends who died nobly over 
 there, he had been distinguished in the lower realm 
 with high prerogative, as foremost amongst the 
 ministers of the great Sovereigns there beneath. For 
 360 in his lifetime he was indeed a king, fulfilling power- 
 fully his destined place of command, and wielding a 
 sceptre that was obeyed by men. 
 
 Elect. I would not, father, have had thee buried 
 beside Scamander-stream, or slain among those who 
 fell in the war under the walls of Troy. Nay, ere it 
 came to that, I would that his murderer had so fallen 
 370 in some death-bringing doom, that we might have 
 heard of it from far away, and never have known this 
 affliction. 
 
 Chor. Therein, daughter, thou hast uttered what 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 15 
 
 were better than golden, a piece of more than Hyper- 
 borean happiness. Thou mayest utter it ! meanwhile 
 there is lashing us this shrill and twofold scourge : 
 The helpers of one faction are buried beneath, while 
 the deeds of this hateful ruling faction are impure. 
 And the younger generation find it more than ever 
 
 so 
 
 11 
 
 Orest. That pierces through mine ear, as if it were 380 
 an arrow. O Zeus, thou sendest forth calamity in late 
 requital for the ruthless wicked violence of men, and 
 it shall be accomplished, though upon a parent. 
 
 Chor. May it be mine to raise the shrilling shout of 
 exultation when the man is smitten and the woman's 
 life is destroyed ! Wherefore should I keep hidden 
 what still is hovering at my heart ? Which way I 39 
 move, ever blowing at the prow there buffets me this 
 tempest of keen indignation, this irremovable abhor- 
 rence. 
 
 Elect. Ay; when will Zeus, blessing both our young 
 lives, bring down his hand (ah ! woe !), cleaving their 
 heads asunder ? Would that faith were kept with our 
 land ! I require justice to be exacted from the unright- 
 eous. Hear this, O Earth ; hear it, worshipped powers 
 below ! 
 r\ Chor. It is the everlasting rule that, when the death- 400 
 drop falls to Earth, it demands more blood. Destruc- 
 tion calls aloud upon the Fury who brings down 
 ever fresh calamity upon calamity sent forth by those 
 formerly slain. 
 
 Orest. Woe ! ye sovereigns of the nether world ! 
 
76 CHO&PHOROE 
 
 O mighty curses of the slain, behold and see this 
 remnant of the house of Atreus in deep distress and 
 humbled before their own palace-hall. O Zeus ! which 
 way are we to turn ? 
 410 Chor. Again my heart within me shudders when I 
 hear that piteous cry, and then one while I am in 
 despair, and my inmost core grows dark in listening to 
 the strain ; and then again, as I look on thy youthful 
 might, my confidence returns and banishes that sense 
 of sorrow, turning it to nought. 
 
 Elect. What should we rightly speak of? should we 
 
 utter the wrongs we have suffered at a mother's hand ? 
 
 420 Fawn on us as she may, the sore is open still. Like a 
 
 wolf of savage heart, our anger is not to be soothed by 
 
 our mother's caress. 
 
 Chor. I mourned wildly in Persian-wise with beating 
 of the breast, like a Cissian woman ; my hands dealt 
 blows, now here, now there, with closed fist, in quick 
 succession, raised on high, and with the noise my 
 wretched battered head was deafened. 
 
 Elect. O mother, rife with enmity, shrinking from 
 43 no crime, with funeral as of a foe thou couldst bury 
 the Prince without his citizens, thy husband un- 
 lamented, without any mourning train. 
 
 Orest. All thou tellest me, alas ! is full of shame. 
 But for that despite to our father shall she not pay, by 
 virtue of the Deities and by virtue of our right hands ? 
 Might I but once cut off those guilty ones, I could 
 willingly die. 
 
 Chor Moreover I tell you this : he was mutilated ; 
 
CHOEPHOROE 77 
 
 and according to that treatment was her burial of him, 440 
 determined as she was to make effectual a doom that 
 should oppress your life with crushing power 12 . Thou 
 knowest now the cruel dishonour done to thy father. 
 
 Elect. Thou art instructed in thy father's death. 
 But I the while was kept aloof as a thing of no esteem, 
 and, shut away from the royal chambers 13 , as if I were 
 a mischievous hound, I gave forth tears that came 
 more readily than laughter, pouring out in secret my 
 sorrow with streams of weeping. Hear that, and let 
 it be engraved upon thy heart ! 45 o 
 
 Chor. And through thine ears let our speech pene- 
 trate in consort with the quiet movement of thy mind. 
 Part is as we have said; much else thine own spirit 
 pants to know. And it behoves thee to enter the 
 arena with thine ardour unallayed. 
 
 Orest. To thee I speak, my father ; take part with 
 thi 
 
 ine own ! 
 
 Elect. I too, with weeping, unite in that supplication. 
 
 Chor. And we, unanimously adopting the same 
 cause, add our voices therewith. Come to the light, 
 and give us thine aid. Be on our side, in coping with 460 
 thine enemies. 
 
 Orest. Hostility closes with hostility, just claim with 
 claim. 
 
 Elect. Ye Gods ! Give judgement in righteous- 
 ness ! 
 
 Chor. A trembling steals on me as I listen to that 
 prayer. The doom hath long been waiting. It will 
 come in answer to your call. 
 
78 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 Oh, inborn trouble of the race, O discordant death- 
 ful note struck by calamity ! O lamentable intolerable 
 470 cares ! O sorrow not to be assuaged ! 
 
 Leader of Chor. Redress lies within the house, as 
 lint lies within the wound ; not to be procured from 
 others abroad, but from yourselves, in satisfying cruel 
 gory Strife. This hymn is addressed to the Gods 
 below the ground. 
 
 Chor. O blessed ones beneath, give ear to this 
 supplication, and with zealous thoughts send to your 
 children succour that shall end in victory. 
 
 Orest. O father, who wast slain in no kingly wise, 
 480 give me, I pray thee, authority to rule thy mansion. 
 
 Elect. I too, my father, beg thee in like manner, 
 that I may wreak condign vengeance on Aegisthus 14 . 
 
 Orest. So customary feasts in honour of thee shall 
 be established in the land ; but if thou wilt not do it, 
 thou shalt find thyself, alone of the feastful dead, 
 unhonoured with savour of burnt sacrifice. 
 
 Elect. And I will bring forth from our paternal hall, 
 of my own bridal portion, libations in thy honour on 
 my day of marriage, and I will pay homage to this thy 
 tomb before all else. 
 
 Orest. O Earth, release my father, that he may 
 watch over this encounter ! 
 490 Elect. Persephone, grant to us victorious might ! 
 
 Orest. My father, recollect the bath wherein thou 
 wast cut off! 
 
 Elect. Yea, call to mind how thou wast caught with 
 a strange net ! 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 79 
 
 Orest. Bound foot and hand, my father, with 
 manacles not of brass ! 
 
 Elect. And in a shroud of base contriving ! 
 
 Orest. Is thy spirit roused with these reproaches, 
 father ? 
 
 Elect. And dost thou raise erect thy beloved head ? 
 
 Orest. Either send forth Justice, to give succour to 
 thy friends, or grant that they may have a like advan- 
 tage in the struggle over thine enemies, if thou 
 wouldst win victory in return for that wherewith thou 
 wast subdued. 
 
 Elect. Hear, O my father, once more this last cry. 5 
 Behold this brood of thine, here kneeling before thy 
 tomb, and let their male and female voices, as they are 
 blended in lamentation, move thy compassion. 
 
 Orest. Let not this seed of the Pelopidae be blotted 
 out. For while they live, thou dost not perish even 
 though slain. 
 
 Elect. For children are the preservatives of the dead 
 man's name; they are like the corks that keep the net 
 afloat, sustaining the flaxen cord in the deep sea. 
 
 Orest. Hear us ! This piteous lamentation is on thy 
 behalf: which if thou honourest, thou thyself art 
 vindicated. 
 
 Chor. In truth, this long-protracted lament cannot 510 
 be blamed, wherewith ye have worshipped at the 
 grave hitherto unhonoured. But now for what re- 
 mains, since thy soul has taken its full bent, be it thine 
 to act, and prove what is the purpose of Destiny. 
 
 Orest. That shall be done. But it lies full in my 
 
80 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 way to inquire, For what cause sent she the libation ? 
 Moved by what circumstance did she seek, too late, to 
 atone with these honours for an irrevocable wrong ? 
 It was a wretched grace that thus was offered to the 
 unconscious dea il, I cannot conjecture why. In any 
 case, it fell far short of her transgression. Libations, 
 520 no matter how or when, poured in recompense for a 
 single death, are labour in vain. That is the simple 
 truth. But if you know and will explain this to me, I 
 shall be glad. 
 
 Chor. I know, my son, for I was present. It was in 
 consequence of a dream, and a sudden fear in the night- 
 time which had shaken her, that the impious woman 
 sent this libation. 
 
 Orest. And did you hear the nature of the dream ? 
 Can you describe it clearly ? 
 
 Chor. She dreamt that she gave birth to a serpent ; 
 so she said. 
 
 Orest. And what is the end or issue of the tale ? 
 
 Chor. She said that she arranged it as an infant with 
 swaddling-bands. 
 530 Orest. An infant craving for what food, the new- 
 born monster ? 
 
 Chor. She herself gave it the breast in her dream. 
 
 Orest. Surely the dug could not fail to be wounded 
 by the horrid thing ? 
 
 Chor. It was wounded so that the milk the creature 
 drew was stained with blood. 
 
 Orest. That vision cannot be in vain. 
 
 Chor. Moreover, in her alarm, she waked and cried 
 
CHOftPHOROE 81 
 
 aloud ; and many torches that had gone out in darkness 
 were rekindled in the house to please their mistress. 
 Then, finally, she sends this funeral libation, looking 
 therein for a desperate remedy against calamity. 
 
 Orest. I pray to the Argive earth and to my father's 54 
 tomb that this dream may have its accomplishment 
 regarding me. For I interpret it in a manner that 
 fits perfectly. Surely if the snake, leaving the same 
 place from whence I came forth, usurped my swaddling- 
 bands and gaped about the dug wherefrom I was 
 nurtured, and stained with blood the kindly milk, so 
 that she in terror cried aloud for this disaster, it is 
 fated for her, seeing that she hath nursed a monstrous 
 portent, to die with violence ; and I, the grown ser- 
 pent, am her destroyer. So much this dream declares. 55 
 Howbeit (to Leader of Ckor.), I make you my augurer 
 concerning this. 
 
 Chor. May it prove even as you say ! Meanwhile 
 give direction to your friends, what some must do, 
 while others must remain inactive. 
 
 Orest. My directions are few and simple : first, that 
 Electra here should go within ; then, I enjoin on these 
 women that they should hide my plan, which I 
 have arranged in such a way that those who slew by 
 guile the honoured hero may be taken by guile in the 
 very same snare and die, even as Loxias hath foretold 
 it, our lord Apollo, whose prophecies have hitherto 
 been found infallible. In the guise of a stranger, 560 
 suitably accoutred, I will come with Pylades here 
 before the courtyard gate in the character of a foreign 
 
82 CHOEPHOROE 
 
 friend and ally. We shall both of us assume the speech 
 of the Parnassian highlands, imitating the accent of the 
 Phocian tongue ; and so it will be, that, since the house 
 is visited with a strange affliction, no one at the door 
 will welcome us with cheerful greetings. But we shall 
 linger there, till some one passing by shall wonderingly 
 
 570 say : ' Wherefore doth Aegisthus, if indeed he is at 
 home, and knows of this, keep the suppliant outside 
 his doors ? At all events, if once I shall cross the 
 threshold of the courtyard gate, and find him upon my 
 father's seat, or should he come in afterwards, and for 
 a moment stand before my face, appearing eye to eye, 
 ere he shall have time to say, Whence are you ? ' I 
 shall make him a corpse, having spitted him with a 
 swift pass of my keen weapon. The Erinys, not 
 stinted of bloodshed, shall drink a third draught of 
 unmingledgore 15 . Now therefore (to Electra) do thou 
 
 580 carefully watch over what goes on within, that this 
 device may exactly answer its intention. And you I 
 charge (to Chorus), to bear a discreet tongue, keeping 
 silence when you ought, and saying what befits the need. 
 The rest I leave to His watchful care, whose presence I 
 invoke, and whom I pray to direct and prosper my armed 
 enterprise 16 . [Exeunt Orestes, Pylades, and Electra. 
 Chor. Earth nourishes an abundant brood of sad 
 and terrible things, and the Deep enfolds in his embrace 
 
 590 dangerous monsters innumerable. Also the fires from 
 on high come near, and both winged creatures and 
 those that walk the ground may tell of the angry 
 vehemence of wind and storm. But who may express 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 83 
 
 the enormity of human pride, and the uncontrolled 
 passion of daring woman-kind, joined with fatal infatua- 
 tion ! The love of women turning to hate wrongfully 600 
 prevails over household fellowship throughout the 
 living world. Let him bear witness to this who is not 
 frivolous in his thoughts, when he has learned the 
 torch-kindling device, which the wretched daughter 
 of Thestius contrived, when she burned to the end the 
 ruddy brand whose being was exactly measured with 610 
 her son's, from the moment when he left his mother's 
 womb, and uttered his first cry, throughout his exist- 
 ence, until the day that should determine his fate. 
 Let us utter our abhorrence of her too, Scylla, the cruel 
 daughter, who, taking part with his enemies, destroyed 
 one most dear to her, tempted thereunto by the Cretan 
 necklace forged of gold, the gift of Minos. She severed 62c 
 from Nisus the lock of immortality the heartless 
 creature ! in his unsuspecting sleep ; and Hermes 
 overtook him. 
 
 Now since we have dwelt on harsh troubles, calling 
 to mind the loveless, ill-assorted spousal, which the 
 house abominates, and the plottings of deep female 
 thought, (all reverence attaches to the armed warfior, 
 the man whose anger is bent against his foes ; but let 
 the domestic hearth be without such heat, if it is to 
 win my worship, let the female spirit shrink from 630 
 violent acts 17 ) : Of troubles, I repeat, the Lemnian 
 horror hath the chief place in story, a disaster at once 
 lamented and abhorred : each recurring terror of the 
 world is likened to the Lemnian woe. Under such 
 
84 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 God-abominated curse the race of mortals, lost to 
 honour, withers away. For none reveres what the Gods 
 hate. Are not all my instances well chosen ? 
 
 640 But there is a sword approaching the breast that 
 woundeth piercingly with an unerring stroke, by the 
 
 ^j agency of Justice. For the sin of one who unlawfully 
 transgresses against the sovereign majesty of Zeus is 
 not trodden underfoot, but rises up for judgement. 
 The anvil-block of Justice is firmly laid, and Fate is 
 forging there the sword for execution. She leads the 
 
 650 Son of Vengeance home, and the Erinys, of unfathom- 
 able thoughts, winning renown after long lapse of time, 
 procures repayment of the guilt of former bloodshed. 
 
 Scene B. Before the Palace-gate. 
 
 Enter Orestes, with Pylades, disguised. 
 
 Orest. Ho, porter ! answer when I knock thus at the 
 outer door. Again I ask, porter ! who is at home ? 
 Once more, the third time, I summon some one forth, 
 if warlike Aegisthus keeps here a hospitable house. 
 
 Porter. O yes ! I hear. What countryman are 
 you ? Whence are you come ? 
 
 Orest. Announce me to those who are the masters 
 660 here. To them I come, bringing strange tidings. And 
 be quick, for Night's dark chariot is hastening, and it is 
 time for travellers to drop anchor in some hospitable 
 haven. Let some one with full authority come forth, 
 mistress if so be, though master were more befit- 
 ting ; for then conversation is not obscured with shame- 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 85 
 
 fastness ; man speaks with confidence to man, and 
 declares his meaning unmistakably. 
 
 Enter Clytemnestra. 
 
 Clyt. Strangers, ye have only to declare your need. 
 We have all that such a mansion should provide, warm 670 
 baths an4 soft-laid couches to soothe wearied limbs, 
 and attendants who see only what they ought. Or if 
 some matter of graver import waits decision, that is 
 men's business, and we will call them in. 
 
 Orest. I come from beyond your border, from 
 Daulia in the Phocian country. And as I travelled, self- 
 burdened with my own raiment, towards Argos, whither 
 my feet were bound, a man whom I knew not and who 
 knew not me encountered me and said, after telling 
 me of his journey and asking me of mine : He was 
 Strophius of Phocis, as I learned in the course of our 
 conversation : ' Since Argos is in any case your 680 
 destination, stranger, bear this in mind, and report it 
 faithfully to the parents of the man ; a Orestes is no 
 more." Fail not, I beseech thee. And convey back 
 their commands, whether his friends shall determine 
 to fetch him home, or to let him be buried in a strange 
 land, evermore and entirely an alien. As it is now, 
 the sides of a brazen vase contain the ashes of one to 
 whom mourning rites have been duly paid/ 
 
 I give the message as I received it. But I am not sure 
 (looking at Clyt.) if I am speaking to those who have the 
 best right to hear. His parents ought to be informed. 690 
 
 Clyt. Ah me ! you tell us that our ruin is complete. 
 
86 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 O curse upon this mansion, hard to overcome ! How 
 much that seemed carefully laid out of thy way thou 
 hast notwithstanding visited, subduing them from far 
 with thine unerring shafts ! All-hapless that I am, thou 
 art bereaving me of all that I held dear. Orestes now 
 had providently withdrawn his foot from the slough of 
 destruction. But to-day this only hope we had for 
 remedying the furious revelry that possessed our hall, 
 comes home with you and is annihilated 18 . 
 
 700 Orest. It would have pleased me better to have 
 made the acquaintance of such prosperous friends, as a 
 bringer of good tidings ; for what more kindly link is 
 there than that which binds the guest to his enter- 
 tainers ? Howbeit I felt it would be a breach of 
 religious duty were I to fail in performing this office for 
 my good friends, when I had undertaken it and had 
 been so well received. 
 
 Clyt. You shall none the less be treated according J 
 to your full deserts, nor are you likely to be less welcome 
 in this house. Another messenger might equally have 
 
 710 brought the news. But it is the hour when strangers 
 who have travelled all day should have some comfort 
 after their long journey. {To an attendant.) Take him 
 into our hospitable men's apartments, together with this 
 his follower and fellow-traveller, and there let them 
 have what shall supply their personal need. I bid you 
 do this under pain of our displeasure. Meanwhile I 
 will impart this news to the master of the house, and, 
 with good friends to aid us, we will deliberate over this 
 disaster. [Exeunt severally. 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 87 
 
 Chor. Dear captive servants of the palace, when 720 
 shall we display our power of voice in celebrating 
 Orestes ? 
 
 Earth, revered Goddess, and thou, steep side of the 
 awe-inspiring mound that dost cover the royal person of 
 him who led the fleet, hear this our cry ; now succour 
 us ; for now is the moment when guileful Persuasion 
 should enter the lists along with our hero, and when 
 Hermes of the shades should make clear the way 
 for the encounter of the fatal sword. 
 
 Leader of Chor. It would seem that the foreign 730 
 man hath been contriving mischief ; for here I see the 
 nurse of Orestes all in tears. Wherefore, Cilician 
 handmaid, com'st thou towards the palace-gate, while a 
 grief that none have hired is the companion of thy way? 
 
 Nurse. Our mistress bids summon Aegisthus with all 
 speed to meet the stranger-men, that he may come 
 and learn more certainly, being a man, from a man's 
 mouth, this tidings recently announced. With us 
 domestics she made a frowning countenance, hiding 
 within her eyes her laughter over what hath befallen, 
 so happily for her, although for this mansion utter 740 
 misery is the consequence of the news which the 
 stranger-men have clearly told. Most surely he, when 
 he hears it, will have a cheerful mind, on learning the 
 import of the tale. 
 
 Unhappy that I am, how deeply my soul within me 
 hath felt the stress of those intolerable woes that from 
 of old have accumulated in this house of Atreus ! But 
 never yet endured I such a sorrow as this. My heart 
 
88 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 bore up against the rest, in suffering them ; but my 
 beloved Orestes ! over whom I wore out my heart, and 
 75 nursed him up even from his mother's womb, minister- 
 ing to him at many a shrill cry that broke my rest 19 . 
 Yea, many troublous things I had to bear that profited 
 me not. For the senseless infant must be tended, like 
 a calf; of course it must. You must have your wits 
 about you ! For your child in arms cannot express him- 
 self, whether it be hunger or thirst or some other 
 want that presses on him. The young body relieves 
 itself at will. Having to act as prophet of all this, 
 one often falsified, I trow ; in washing the child's 
 760 garments, I acted as nurse and washer-woman at once. 
 I then, fulfilling these diverse offices, reared Orestes 
 for his father. And now, to my unhappiness, I learn 
 that he is dead. And I am going to find the man who 
 has polluted this abode. Willing enough will he be to 
 learn what I have to tell. 
 
 Chor. How, then, does she bid him come arrayed ? 
 
 Nurse. What say you ? Repeat it, that I may 
 understand you better. 
 
 Chor. I mean, whether with his guards or by him- 
 self alone ? 
 
 Nurse. She bids him bring his spearmen and fol- 
 lowers. 
 770 Chor. Now, do not carry this command to our 
 abhorred master ; but bid him come alone (he will be 
 less alarmed at hearing that), and to come quickly. 
 Do so with a cheerful mind. A hidden meaning 
 prospers when a messenger is faithful. 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 89 
 
 Nurse. Have you some intelligence prompting that 
 suggestion ? 
 
 Chor. A belief that Zeus may some day turn the 
 current of these ills. 
 
 Nurse. How is that possible? Orestes, the hope 
 of this family, is gone. 
 
 Chor. Not yet! An indifferent soothsayer may 
 divine so much. 
 
 Nurse. What do you say? Are you possessed of 
 something different from what hath been told ? 
 
 Chor. Go, bear thy message; do what has been 
 bidden you. The Gods have care for what is theirs to 780 
 provide. 
 
 Nurse. Well, I will go, and will obey your counsel. 
 And may the Gods grant that what is best may come 
 to pass ! [Exit. 
 
 Chor. Now, at my intercession, O Zeus, Father of 
 Olympian Gods, grant that we who are justly eager for 
 the virtuous cause may find a glorious issue, worthy of 
 thy name 20 ! Every word in that prayer is full of 
 righteousness. O Zeus, mayst thou hear, and make it 
 good ! Ah me ! And advance, O Zeus, before his 
 enemies, him now within the palace-walls. Since if thou 790 
 shalt raise him to great power, thou shalt win return 
 of gifts twofold or threefold as thou wilt. Take know- 
 ledge that the orphaned colt of a sire dear to thee hath 
 been yoked to a car of sorrows. And do thou set 
 limits to the course he has to run 21 . Would that one 
 might hear over this plain his home-coming gallop 22 , 
 the rhythmic tramping of his triumphant stride ! 
 
90 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 rHear ye, too, Powers, that with one mind within 
 the palace haunt the luxurious inner chambers. Wash 
 out the stain of ancient bloodshed with a fresh act of 
 righteousness. Let aged Crime no longer beget his 
 likeness in the palace ! And, O thou 23 that dwellest 
 in the well-builded cavernous holy place, grant that 
 the home of thy friend may look up cheerfully again, 
 and may see the welcome light of liberty, the gloomy 
 
 810 veil being removed. 
 
 And let Maia's son, as rightfully he ought, take 
 part in this attempt, since, when he favours a design, 
 his breath best makes it to prosper. I speak mys- 
 teriously 24 ; he veils his eyes with darkness in the 
 night-time, and in the daylight he moves no less 
 invisibly. 
 
 Then, as we celebrate our release from terror, we 
 
 820 shall utter to the world loud female strains accompany- 
 ing the ordered cause, and, chiming therewith, also a 
 note of lamentation 25 . All goeth well : this act in- 
 creaseth our advantage, and calamity is removed from 
 those I love. 
 
 Thou (to Orestes within), when the moment for thy 
 part shall have arrived, intrepidly shouting thy father's 
 name to her when she cries, ' O my child ! ' carry to the 
 
 830 bitter end the disastrous but offenceless deed. Keep- 
 ing in thy breast the firm heart of Perseus, enact, both 
 for thy friends below the ground and those on Earth 
 above, a kindness that is fraught with melancholy 
 rage, filling thine own heart with homicidal horror, but 
 destroying those who were the guilty cause of death. 
 
CHOEPHOROE 91 
 
 Enter Aegisthus. 
 
 Aegist. I come in answer to a message summon- 
 ing me. I am told that certain foreigners have brought 
 strange tidings, in no wise to be desired, no other 840 
 than the death of Orestes. This would involve that 
 the house must bear again a bloodstained burden, 
 when already pained and bleeding with former violent 
 deaths. How am I to judge of this as actually true ? 
 or are women heaping up their panic-stricken imagin- 
 ings, that flourish only to die away ? 26 What have you 
 to say that may resolve my doubts herein ? 
 
 Chor. We heard the tale ; but pass thou within and 
 inquire at the strangers' own lips. Intermediaries 
 are of no effect compared with learning at first- 850 
 hand. 
 
 Aegist. I would see the messenger, and question him 
 again, whether he was himself close by as an eye- 
 witness of the death, or repeats what he has heard 
 from some faint rumour. He will not deceive a mind 
 that is open-eyed. [Exit Aegisthus. 
 
 Chor. O Zeus, what shall I speak ? wherewith shall 
 I begin this prayer and this appeal to Heaven ? How 
 shall words express aright my loyalty of soul ? For 860 
 now the edge 27 of the sword which slew the hero, 
 being stained afresh, shall either ruin Agamemnon's 
 offspring utterly for evermore, or, kindling a radiant 
 fire to celebrate freedom, this house shall recover its 
 wide-ruling power and wealth that flows to it from 
 former generations. 
 
92 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 In such a wrestling-match, Orestes, with no seconder, 
 is about to cope with his two adversaries. May it end 
 in victory for him ! 
 
 Aegist. {within). Oh ! oh ! 
 870 Chor. Ah ! woe is me ! Yet another cry ! How 
 goes it ? What hath been decided there ? Stand we 
 apart while the issue is determined, that we may seem 
 innocent of this deed of harm. Even now, methinks, 
 the conflict is over. 
 
 Enter a Servant. 
 
 Serv. Woe, woe unutterable ! Our master is struck 
 down. Woe, yet again ! I cry it forth the third time, 
 Aegisthus is no more. Open the gate quickly. Un- 
 bolt the doors of the women's chamber. Strong 
 880 rescuers are needed : not indeed for succour to the 
 slain. How should that be ? So-ho ! 
 
 I am shouting to deaf ears, and howl in vain to 
 people in deep slumber. Where is Clytemnestra ? 
 What doeth she ? For it would seem her neck is soon 
 to fall upon the block 28 and receive the stroke of 
 righteous retribution. 
 
 Clyt. {re-entering). What is the matter? What 
 means this hue and cry thou art raising in the house ? 
 
 Serv. It means that the dead are slaying, and that 
 the living are being slain. 
 
 Clyt. Alas! I understand thy riddle. We are to 
 
 perish by an act of guile, even as we slew. A labourer's 
 
 890 axe ! Where is it ? Quickly give it here ! Let 
 
 us know if we conquer or are conquered. That is 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 93 
 
 the point to which I am come in this course of 
 misery. 
 
 [The gates are opened. Orestes is discovered on the 
 Ekkyclema, with the & dead body of Aegisthus 
 laid beside him : Pylades standing by. 
 
 Orest. Even thee I seek ; for this man, I have done 
 with him. 
 
 Clyt. Oh, me ! noble Aegisthus, dearest one dead ! 
 
 Orest. Call you him dear % Then thou shalt lie in 
 the same grave. No fear of thy deserting him when 
 thou art dead. 
 
 Clyt. Stay, O my son ! Respect, my child, this 
 maternal breast, whereat thou, heavy with slumber, 
 didst often, with toothless gums, drain out the life- 
 nourishing milk. 
 
 Orest. {turning to Pylades). Advise me, Pylades ; 
 shall respect withhold me ? Shall I spare my mother, 
 and not kill her ? 
 
 Pyl. What then becomes of that which remains 900 
 unfulfilled of Loxias' Pytho-given prophecy? What 
 becomes of the firm sanction of our mutual oaths? 
 Count all the world thine enemies, but have the Gods 
 for thy friends. 
 
 Orest. Thou hast prevailed. I am resolved. Thou 
 exhortest me nobly. (To Clyt.) I choose to de- 
 spatch thee close by him (pointing to the corpse of 
 Aegisthus). In life thou didst prefer him to my 
 father. Sleep with him then in death, since thou 
 lovest him, and hatest the man whom thou shouldest 
 have loved. 
 
94 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 910 Clyt. The power of Fate was answerable for that act, 
 O my child. 
 
 Orest. Then it is Fate who must answer for this 
 doom likewise. 
 
 Clyt. Child, have a parent's curses no awe for thee ? 
 
 Orest. You were my parent, and then recklessly 
 exposed me to misfortune. 
 
 Clyt. Was it reckless to send thee to the home of 
 an ally ? 
 
 Orest. I was basely bargained away I that was so 
 nobly born. 
 
 Clyt. Where then is the price I took for thee ? 
 
 Orest. Shame forbids me to utter that reproach 
 distinctly. 
 
 Clyt. Nay, but tell in the same breath your father's 
 indiscretions too. 
 
 Orest. Accuse not him who labours while you sit 
 quietly indoors. 
 9 2o Clyt. A lonely life is a hard trial for women, O my 
 son. 
 
 Orest. But it is the man's toil that supports them 
 sitting at their ease within. 
 
 Clyt. Child, 1 see that thou wilt destroy thy mother. 
 
 Orest. It is not I, but thou that wilt destroy thyself. 
 
 Clyt. Look to it ! Beware of thy mother's aveng- 
 0\ ing Furies ! 
 
 Orest. But how shall I escape my father's Furies, if I 
 neglect this act ? 
 
 Clyt. My appeal is in vain, like the dirge of the 
 living at a dead man's grave. 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 95 
 
 Orest. It is my father's doom that decides the ques- 
 tion of thy death. 
 
 Clyt. Alas ! I bare this serpent, and I reared him ! 
 Orest. Truly prophetic was the terror inspired by 
 thy dream. 
 
 [He seizes Clytemnestra, who looks fiercely at him. 
 Thy deed of blood was horrible and horrible shall 930 
 be the manner of thy death. 
 
 [They are withdrawn on the Ekhyclema and the 
 gates are closed. 
 y Leader of Chor. I mourn indeed for the twofold 
 downfall of those now slain. Yet since Orestes, sad 
 though his fortune is, hath risen atop of this sea of 
 blood, it is our deliberate choice that this light of the 
 royal dwelling should not be utterly extinguished. 
 
 Chor. On the sons of Priam in course of time came 
 retribution, with a crushing penalty. And to the home 
 of Agamemnon too is come a twofold lion, a twofold 
 Spirit of War. 
 
 He spared not to fulfil his course, the exile sent on 940 
 his return with oracles from Pytho by the well- 
 considered counsels of the Gods. 
 
 Raise the glad shout for the escape of our masters' 
 hall from misery, and from the wasting of his goods 
 by the ill-guided prosperity of two polluters of the 
 home ! 
 
 He too 29 is here who takes in charge the secret 
 encounter, to bring about the craftily-devised penalty. 
 But in the actual fray who but the true daughter of 
 the Highest guided the avenger's arm ? Her name 950 
 
96 CHOEPHOROE 
 
 amongst us mortals, rightly naming her, is Justice; 
 and she breathes destroying anger upon her foes. 
 
 The oracle that Loxias, lord of Parnassus, occupying 
 the great hollow of the earth above the Omphalos, 
 gave forth, now brings to pass the guileful harm that 
 long hath tarried. And how should the counsel 30 of 
 God be overborne and made subservient to evil ? One 
 
 960 must bow before the authority that rules the sky. The 
 light is shining visibly, and the great curb that galled 
 the household is removed. Arise, O dwelling-place ! 
 Too long hast thou lain grovelling upon the earth. 
 Soon shall the time of full accomplishment pass the 
 porch-way of the palace, when from the hearth all 
 pollution shall have been driven away, with purgation 
 that expels calamity, and fortune shall breathe in a 
 
 970 manner lovely to behold on those who cry, ' The 
 usurpers of the palace are fallen in their turn ; the 
 light is shining visibly.' 
 
 [Orestes is discovered on the Ekh/clenui, with the 
 dead bodies of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. 
 The web with which Clytemnestra had entangled 
 Agamemnon is laid beside them. 
 Orest. Behold ye these joint tyrants over the land, 
 who slew my father and have made havoc of our home ! 
 They were kind before-time when they sat upon their 
 thrones, and they are friends now also as one may 
 guess by their condition. The oath of their coven- 
 ant is not broken. They swore a league to kill my 
 unhappy father and to die together, and this is done 
 
 980 as they have sworn. (He lifts the web.) Behold, more- 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 97 
 
 over, ye that listen to this story of disaster, the bond 
 that was contrived for my hapless sire, the manacles 
 and the fetters to entangle him. (He passes it to the 
 attendants.) Stretch it out and display it, standing 
 round this covering of the man that our father, I 
 mean not mine, but the great Sun-god, who witnesses 
 all these events, may behold my mother's iniquity, 
 and that hereafter he may be my witness, present at 
 my trial, that I had good right in executing this doom 
 upon her that bare me. Aegisthus' fate I account 
 nothing of. He has received his due portion as an 990 
 adulterer. But as for her, who contrived this horror 
 against her husband, from whom she had borne the 
 burden of children beneath her zone a burden at 
 that time dear, but now a hostile mischief, as the event 
 declares, dost thou or dost thou not suppose that, had 
 she been a viper or a water-snake, she would have 
 mortified another by the touch without her bite, in 
 virtue of her criminal daring, and unrighteous thought ? 
 {Looking at the robe, which has been extended.) How 
 shall I speak of it, however guardedly ? A snare for 
 a wild monster ? or the inextricable gin set for the 
 feet of a fawn 31 ? or you might call it a hunting-net, or 1000 
 a foot-encumbering robe. Such a contrivance a thief 
 might obtain whose life was spent in inveigling 
 strangers and taking purses. And in this cunning 
 snare subduing many, he might often excite his heart. 
 May I not have such a thing to dwell with me in my 
 house ! Ere that, may I perish without an heir by the 
 will of Heaven ! 
 
98 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 Chor. Alas ! alas ! for these unhappy deeds ! 
 Dreadful was the death that ended thee ! Ah ! And 
 sorrow is at height for the survivor. 
 ioio Orest, Did she the deed or not ? This weft bears 
 me witness how the sword of Aegisthus crimsoned it. 
 The stain of blood hath joined with the lapse of time 
 in spoiling the hues on much of the embroidery. 
 
 Now am I indeed moved to speak of my father's 
 renown 32 , now I lament him as if I saw him die ; and as 
 I address myself to this web that murdered him, I am 
 full of pain for what is done and suffered, and for our 
 whole race, polluted as I feel myself by this unenvied 
 triumph. 
 
 [He resumes the web mid the Ekkyclema is with- 
 drawn. 
 Chor. None of human mould shall pass his life 
 throughout exempt from crime and disaster. Ah ! 
 1020 and of sorrows one is coming ; another is to come. 
 
 [Orestes now enters with an olive branch andJiUet 
 in his hand. 
 Orest. Come, let me say it to you, (for I know not 
 what the end will be. I am like a charioteer whose 
 steeds are swerving out of the course. My spirit, 
 breaking from control, overbears and carries me away, 
 while Terror begins preluding to my heart, that beats 
 in unison, and dances to his music). While I keep my 
 sense, I declare this to all who love me ; In slaying 
 my mother, I had right upon my side. For, being my 
 father's murderess she polluted the land and provoked 
 the abhorrence of the Gods. But more than all, as 
 
CHOEPHOROE 99 
 
 having drawn me on to this violence, I dwell upon the 
 fact that the Prophet of Delphi, Loxias himself, gave 1030 
 it out that if I did this I should be free from evil 
 accusation ; but if I let it pass, I will not repeat the 
 penalty. No archer s arrow could reach to such a 
 height of woe. 
 
 And now, behold, I go armed with this olive branch 
 and fillet to approach the central seat of Earth, the 
 ground where Loxias abides, and where the flame 
 lightens that is called imperishable, to defend my 
 cause for this kindred blood-shedding. Loxias en- 
 joined me that I should not betake myself to any 
 other sanctuary. 
 
 For the rest, I aver that all the Argives and Menelaus 1040 
 in course of time shall bear me testimony how all this 
 evil came about 33 . 
 
 I go forth a wanderer, outcast from this land, but 
 leaving behind me this my declaration, whether I live 
 or die. 
 
 Chor. Nay, but thou hast achieved gloriously. Yoke 
 not thy tongue to evil forebodings, nor revile thou 
 thine own act. Thou hast set at liberty the whole 
 Argive state by severing at a blow the head of the 
 twofold serpent. 
 
 Orest. Ah ! Captive women ! Here they come ! 
 in the garb of Gorgons, dark-stoled, their locks thickly 1 
 entwined with snakes. I must be gone. 1050 
 
 Chor. Thou who in filial love art of all men best 
 approved, what fancies trouble thee? Stay; be not 
 overborne with terror ! 
 
100 CHOfiPHOROE 
 
 Orest. This is no fancied trouble that oppresses me. 
 Here, unmistakable, I see the Furies of my mother's 
 revenge. 
 
 Chor. Yea, the blood on thy hands is yet uncleansed. 
 That is the cause of the disorder that assails thy mind. 
 
 Orest. O King Apollo ! They multiply. I see them 
 there. Gory hatred is dripping from their eyes. 
 
 Chor. One way of cleansing is thine. Go near to 
 1060 Loxias, and he shall free thee for ever from this sorrow. 
 
 Orest. Ye see not these forms. But I behold them. 
 I am driven forth. I may not stay. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Then fare thou happily. May he 
 that watches over thee divinely guard thee in a course 
 of prosperous fortune ! 
 
 Chor. Now a third tempest hath blown with a 
 mighty 34 blast on this royal roof and is gone by. The 
 first was the feast of wretched Thyestes on his chil- 
 1070 dren's flesh. The second was the murder of a royal 
 husband. He who led the war for the Achaeans was 
 stricken down within the bath and there destroyed. 
 And now is arrived upon a strange mission a third 
 comer shall I call him Saviour, or Destroyer, or 
 Destiny ? Where shall the force of calamity find its 
 issue ? When shall it be lulled to rest and change 
 and cease ? 
 
EUMENIDES 
 
PERSONS OF THE DRAMA 
 
 The Pythoness. 
 
 Apollo. 
 
 Orestes. 
 
 Ghost of Clytemnestra. 
 
 Chorus of Furies. 
 
 Athena. 
 
 Twelve Areopagites. 
 
 Attendant Ministers. 
 
 SCENE. 
 
 A. Delphi. 
 
 B. The Acropolis at Athens. 
 
EUMENIDES 
 
 Scene A. Before the shrine of Apollo at Delphi. 
 
 THE Pythoness (discovered). First to be adored in 
 this my prayer, as first in honour, shall be the 
 Earth-goddess, eldest of diviners. Themis comes next, 
 for she (so one strain of legend tells) succeeded, as 
 Earth's daughter 1 , to this oracular seat. Third, by con- 
 sent of Themis, all violence apart, another Earth-born 
 Titaness, Phoebe, sate here enthroned. She resigned 
 her right by giving it to Phoebus, her namesake, on his 
 birth. He, leaving the Delian rock that is encircled by 
 the sea, and landing where Pallas holds the ship-visited 10 
 shore, came on hither to occupy this Parnassian land. 
 He was worshipped highly, and conducted on his way 
 by children of Hephaestus, makers of roads, before whom 
 the savage ground becomes tame. On his arrival here, 
 the people, with Delphos, helmsman of the country, 
 at their head, paid him profound homage. And Zeus, 
 his sire, inspiring his heart with divine skill, installed 
 him as the fourth possessor of this prophetic throne. 
 Here Apollo Loxias sits, the Interpreter of Zeus, his 
 Father. These Powers I name in commencing my 20 
 prayer. And I yield honour also to Pallas of the ante- 
 
 103 
 
104 EUMENIDES 
 
 chamber, and I reverence the nymphs who dwell 
 around the Corycian cavern, beloved resort of birds, 
 wherein divine presences are ever moving. Nor is 
 Bacchus absent from my thought, who haunts this 
 ground ever since he divinely led the army of 
 the Bacchanals, when he contrived for Pentheus 
 the death of a hunted hare. Once more I invoke the 
 fountains of Pleistos and the mighty Poseidon, and 
 finally the absolute sovereignty of Zeus the Supreme. 
 Then I take my seat yonder as an inspired prophetess. 
 30 May the powers I have named grant me by far the 
 happiest access to the God of all I have yet obtained ; 
 and if any of Greek race approach the oracle, let them 
 enter in turn by lot, as the custom is. I follow the 
 Divine leading in all my prophecies. 
 
 [She goes in, and the theatre appears vacant for a 
 short space then she comes forth again, dis- 
 tractedly. 
 A fearful sight, terrible even to tell of, hath 
 driven me forth again from the abode of Loxias. I 
 have no strength left in me to sustain my footsteps ; 
 my hands must support me in my flight, so enfeebled 
 are my limbs. An aged woman frightened is a thing 
 of nought, in strength no better than a child. 
 
 I was advancing towards the richly-garlanded recess, 
 when I beheld, seated suppliant on the Omphalos, one 
 40 blighted by a Divine ban. His hands had gouts of 
 blood upon them, and he held a sword unsheathed, 
 and therewithal a twig from the topmost boughs of an 
 olive-tree, modestly filleted with a great soft tuft of 
 
EUMENIDES 105 
 
 white and spotless wool. Such, in plain terms, was his 
 array. But in front of him, asleep, there sate a 
 marvellous female troop. Yet they were not women : 
 I should rather call them Gorgons : but neither is 
 that their true likeness. I saw once a picture of the 5 
 Gorgons carrying away Phineus's supper. Now these 
 are without wings, and their appearance is altogether 
 detestable. Their breath, as they belch it forth, is 
 unendurable. Their visage is dark, and from their 
 eyes a hateful ooze is dripping. Then their attire is 
 such as ought never to be brought near to shrines of 
 deities, no, nor to homes of men. Their race is un- 
 familiar to me, and I cannot tell what land may boast 
 of painfully rearing such a kind without sorrowing 
 afterward. 
 
 Let the lord of this abode, Loxias of irresistible 60 
 
 might, himself provide for what ensues. He unites 
 
 the healing with the prophetic art : he divines from 
 
 portents : and all others look to him to purge their 
 
 dwellings. [Exit. 
 
 [The interior of the Adytum is discovered. Orestes 
 
 is seen in a suppliant attitude on the Omphalos. 
 
 The Furies are seated on either side of him, in 
 
 profound slumber. Apollo appears. Either 
 
 Hermes, or a statue of Hermes, is also present 
 
 in the scene. 
 
 Apollo to Orest. I will not desert thy cause. Thy 
 
 guardian even to the end, at hand or afar off, still 
 
 watching over thee, I will not relent towards thine 
 
 enemies. At this moment, as you see, these thy mad 
 
106 EUMENIDES 
 
 pursuers have been overtaken. Oppressed with sleep 
 70 are those maidens abominable, with whom nor God 
 nor man nor brute hath ever any fellowship. To work 
 evil was the purpose of their being, and evil is the 
 gloom where they inhabit in nethermost Tartarus, 
 abhorred as they are alike of humankind and of the 
 Olympian Gods. 
 
 But fly thou, notwithstanding, and be not remiss. 
 For they will hold thee in chase, whether, traversing 
 wide continents in thy wandering, thou tread firm 
 ground, or whether thou pass over the deep and range 
 among sea-surrounded cities. Grow thou not weary 
 of thy tendance upon this toil, until thou come to the 
 80 citadel of Pallas. There seat thyself and cling with 
 thine arm to the ancient sacred image of the Goddess. 
 And there we shall find a Court that shall judge thy 
 cause, and with persuasive pleadings we will discover 
 a way to relieve thee utterly for ever from this affliction. 
 Thou knowest, it was I who moved thee to destroy the 
 life of thy mother. 
 
 Orest. O lord Apollo, thou knowest righteousness. 
 And since thou hast that knowledge, be it thine to 
 protect the right. Thy power for doing good is amply 
 assured. 
 
 Apollo. Remember ! Let not terror prevail upon thy 
 spirits. And thou (to Hermes), mine own brother, son 
 of Zeus, our common sire, Hermes, keep watch over 
 90 this our friend. ' Conductor ' thou art named, give 
 him safe-conduct without fail. Be a shepherd of my 
 suppliant here. Thy herald's office is one that Zeus 
 
EUMENIDES 107 
 
 approves, when in its exercise it gives happy guidance 
 to mankind. 
 
 [Apollo disappearing, the ghost of Clytemnestra 
 appears. 
 
 Clyt. Ho! 
 
 Sleep on, forsooth ! Of what use are you when 
 asleep ? I, thus deprived of honour among the dead 
 through your default, am continually reviled by them 
 on account of him whom I slew, and am shamefully 
 banished their society. I declare to you that they 
 reproach me grievously. Yet for the violence I suffered ioo 
 from my nearest kin, no divine power puts forth wrath 
 on my account, butchered as I was with matricidal 
 hands. 
 
 Behold with thy spirit these my wounds 2 ! For the 
 mind in those who slumber hath the clearer vision. A 
 narrow outlook is our portion in the daylight. Much 
 wealth of mine ye have lapped up, wineless drink- 
 offerings to soothe your sober hearts, and dread night- 
 banquets by the burning brazier, wherein I sacrificed 
 to you, at a season which ye share with none of the 
 supernal powers. All this I see disregarded, trodden no 
 under foot. He hath stolen away from you, as a fawn 
 out of the snare; yea, nimbly springing out of the 
 midmost of your net he bounds away with eager eyes 
 that mock at you. 
 
 Hear me. It is of my soul's welfare that I speak. 
 Attend, ye subterranean powers ! Clytemnestra, who 
 is now a dream, invokes you. 
 
 [A sound of snoring from Chorus. 
 
108 EUMENIDES 
 
 Clyt. Snore, if ye will. But he is flying onward, 
 out of your reach. For he hath friends of a different 
 quality from mine 3 . [Snoring again heard. 
 
 Clyt. Ye are too sound asleep to feel compassion 
 1 20 for my case. Meanwhile my murderer, Orestes his 
 mother's murderer is escaped. 
 
 [Moaning from Chorus. 
 
 Clyt. Ye are moaning in your sleep. Arise, and 
 quickly too ! What deed have ye to boast of, save 
 contrivance of harm ? [Moaning again. 
 
 Clyt. Slumber and weariness have confirmed their 
 league and have sunk in decrepitude the valour of the 
 dreaded dragoness. 
 
 [A snorting sound from Chorus, as if awaking, 
 repeated. 
 130 Chor. 1. Take hold ! Chor. 2. Take hold ! Chor. 
 3. Take hold ! Chor. 4. Take hold ! Chor. 5. Be- 
 think thee ! 
 
 Clyt. Ye are hunting in a dream, and whimpering 
 like a hound that leaves not to hanker after the chase. 
 What art thou doing ? Rise ! Give not way to fatigue, 
 nor let slumber soften in thee the sense of wrong ! 
 Let thy inward part be pained with reproaches that are 
 just. A goad pierces not more sharply to the virtuous 
 mind. Do thou, directing on his bark the gale of thy 
 gory breath, and withering him with vapour from the 
 fire within thee, keep up with him ; pursue him again to 
 his undoing. [Ghost o/Xlytemnestra disappears. 
 
 140 Leader of Chor. Awake ! Waken thou her ! I 
 waken thee. 
 
EUMENIDES 109 
 
 Sleepest thou ? Arise ! Spurn slumber from thee, 
 and let us try if our prelude be without effect. 
 
 Chor. 1. Out on it! Ugh! Friends, we are 
 wronged. 
 
 2. Deep is my wrong, without redress. 
 
 3. We suffer grievous wrong, alas, intolerable ill ! 
 Our quarry is lost out of the net ! he is gone ! 
 Sleep overcame me, and I have forfeited my prey. 
 
 1. Ho, son of Zeus, thou stealest thine advantage. 
 
 2. Thy youth has ridden down our time-honoured 150 
 powers 
 
 1. Honouring, as thou dost, thy suppliant, a godless 
 man, who did despite to a parent. Yea, being a God, 
 thou hast stolen the matricide away. 
 
 2. Can it be shown that herein thou dealest justly ? 
 
 1. Reproach came in a dream to me and smote me, 
 like a charioteer who grasps the goad by the middle, 
 and strikes the tenderest place behind the ribs. 
 
 2. I shudder as from the exceedingly grievous smart 160 
 of the common executioner's hateful scourge. 
 
 1. Such acts the younger deities are performing, 
 carrying force to the uttermost beyond the right. 
 
 2. Dripping over with gore that covers head and 
 foot 4 , the Navel of Earth is clearly seen to have assumed 
 blood-guiltiness that clings to it. 
 
 1. Prophet as thou art, thou hast stained thy sanctu- 
 
110 EUMENIDES 
 
 170 ary with pollution that affects the hearth ; thou hast 
 done it of thine own impulsion, by thy sole com- 
 mand; contravening heavenly ordinance to honour 
 mortal claims, bringing to nought the Fates whose 
 being is from of old. 
 
 2. Phoebus may vex my heart, but shall not deliver 
 his favourite. Though he be hidden in the grave, 
 he finds no acquittance there. Craving purgation from 
 his guilt, he but gets a new punisher in place of the 
 earthly avenger 5 . 
 
 Apollo re-appears. 
 
 Apollo. Begone, I bid you ! Depart quickly from 
 180 this mansion. Make off from mine oracular sanctuary, 
 lest being overtaken by the shining winged snake that 
 darts forth from the firm golden bowstring, ye disgorge 
 with pain the dark froth from human flesh, as ye vomit 
 the clotted gore that ye have drained. It becomes 
 you not to encroach on this abode. Your place is 
 where sentence of beheading is executed, or of pluck- 
 ing out eyes, where human lives are sacrificed, and 
 where, by destroying in young boys all possibility of 
 seed, the prime of manhood is marred ere it arrive ; 
 where limbs are mutilated, where men are stoned to 
 190 death, or moan long and piteously, being impaled. 
 Do ye hear me tell what festival it is whereof the 
 charms belong to you, whom the Gods abhor ? The 
 whole fashion of your shapes suggests it. Such crea- 
 tures should inhabit the cave of some ravenous gory 
 lion ; not taint with their pollution this wealthy oracular 
 
EUMENIDES 111 
 
 seat. Depart, like a herd of goats with none to herd 
 you ; for no God can be found to care for such a flock. 
 
 Chor. My lord Apollo ! hear our reply. Thou art 
 not an abettor of this crime, but principal agent in it, 200 
 responsible for all. 
 
 Apollo. How mean you ? You may explain yourself 
 so far. 
 
 Chor. You gave it forth oracularly that this Argive 
 should murder her that bare him. 
 
 Apollo. I gave it forth that he should execute 
 vengeance for his father. What then ? 
 
 Chor. Thereafter thou didst undertake to afford 
 sanctuary to strange blood-guiltiness. 
 
 Apollo. Yes, I enjoined him to seek purgation here. 
 
 Chor. And having done so, would you disparage us 
 who escort him hither ? 
 
 Apollo. It is not meet that ye should approach to 
 this my temple. 
 
 Chor. Nay, but, it is our appointed office 
 
 Apollo. What prerogative is that you claim ? 
 Declare your noble privilege. 
 
 Chor. We drive the matricide from home. 210 
 
 Apollo. But what of women, when one hath de- 
 spatched her husband ? 
 
 Chor. That would not be the murder of a kinsman, 
 nor involve blood-guiltiness in the highest degree. 
 
 Apollo. Assuredly thou puttest off all reverence for 
 the pledge which Hera gave, as the true and perfect 
 wife of Zeus. That counts for nought with thee, and 
 so do Aphrodite's honours, which thou discardest ; and 
 
112 EUMENIDES 
 
 yet they are the source of the dearest ties known to 
 mankind. For wedlock, ratified by destiny, between 
 man and wife, while honestly maintained, hath the 
 mightiest of all sanctions; but if you are slack in 
 visiting their mutual violences, and neither punish 
 220 these 6 nor look upon them in anger, I pronounce your 
 following of Orestes to be unrighteous. For I perceive 
 that one cause provokes you to excess of wrath, while 
 in regard to the other ye are manifestly unmoved. 
 Howbeit, the Goddess Athena shall review this case. 
 
 Chor. I promise you I will never leave my pursuit 
 of Orestes there. 
 
 Apollo. Pursue him, then. It will but increase thy 
 labour. 
 
 Chor. Do not thou curtail my honours with thy words. 
 
 Apollo. Thy honours are not such as I should care 
 to have. 
 
 Chor. Without them thou standest high enough, as 
 230 they say, at the right hand of Zeus. But I, for this 
 mother's blood invites me, will follow up my suit 
 against Orestes, and will hunt him down. 
 
 Apollo. And I will succour him, and vindicate my 
 suppliant. For, should I allow myself to betray his 
 cause, the resentment of him who sought purgation 
 from me carries terror with it that is felt by Gods and 
 men. [Exeunt. 
 
 B. The Scene changes to the Acropolis at Athens. Orestes 
 is discovered, clinging to the ancient image of Atliena. 
 
 Orest. Lady Athena, by the bidding of Loxias I am 
 
EUMENIDES 113 
 
 come hither ; and do thou with clemency receive me, 
 oppressed with guilt indeed, but not unpurged nor 
 freshly attainted. For frequent contact with other 
 dwellings and other paths of men, as I wandered alike 
 through dry land and over sea, hath ere now dimmed 
 the stain of blood. Obedient to the oracular command 240 
 of Loxias, O Goddess, I approach thy mansion and thine 
 image, whereunto clinging, in this spot, I await the 
 final issue of judgement. 
 
 Chor. [entering dispersedly). 1. Ah! here is unmis- 
 takably the trail of the man. Keep up with the 
 suggestions of the silent informant. Like a hound 
 pursuing a wounded fawn, we track him out where 
 the blood-drops leave their trace. With the manifold 
 toil of endeavouring to subdue this victim my vital 
 parts are panting ; for I have ranged over every region 
 of the earth, and in my wingless flight I came pursuing 250 
 him over the deep, not less swiftly than a ship. Now 
 he has cowered down somewhere hereabout. The 
 smell of human gore salutes my delighted sense. 
 
 2. Look out, look out again; scan carefully each 
 , pathway, lest unawares the matricide should have 
 
 escaped away unpunished. 
 
 3. Behold him again ! where having found shelter 
 he clings about the image of the deathless Goddess, and 
 offers to submit to trial for his deed of bloodshed. 260 
 
 4. That may not be. The mother's blood upon the 
 earth (ah ! woe !) is hard to gather up again, when once 
 it hath sunk out of sight, being poured in streams upon 
 the ground. 
 
114 EUMENIDES 
 
 5. Nay, thou art bound to yield requital, that I 
 should drain the ruddy drops from thy living limbs. 
 From thee I would obtain rich nourishment in draughts 
 that men abhor. 
 
 6. Even while thou livest I will wither thee and 
 drag thee down to the grave, that thou mayst pay me 
 recompense for thy mother's cruel agony. 
 
 7. And thou shalt see whoever else of mortals hath 
 270 sinned against a God or failed in reverence to some 
 
 stranger or to parents dear, each suffering full recom- 
 pense for his transgression. 
 
 8. Yea, for beneath the ground the unseen God is 
 mighty to take exact account. Clear-sighted is his 
 thought, recording everything. 
 
 Orest. I am experienced in misfortune, and have 
 learned how seasonably to speak where speech is right, 
 and to be silent likewise. In the present business a 
 wise instructor has appointed me to lift up my voice. 
 
 280 The stain of blood upon my hand is dull and fading, 
 and the pollution of matricide is washed away ; for 
 while still fresh it was dispersed at the hearth of 
 Apollo's temple with purifying sacrifice of swine. And 
 were I to tell the whole, I should have much to say of 
 many to whom I have come near, without harming them 
 through intercourse with me. Old time makes all 
 things old, and purifies them ; and now with unpolluted 
 mouth I piously invoke Athena, Queen of this country, 
 to come and be mine aid. So without war she shall 
 acquire the firm and lasting alliance, faithfully main- 
 
 290 tained, both of myself, and of my land and of the Argive 
 
EUMENIDES 115 
 
 people. Then, whether in some region of the Libyan 
 land, near to the waters of Triton, that are associated 
 with her birth, she move in stately robes, or with a 
 nimble foot aiding those whom she loves ; or whether 
 she visit the Phlegraean field, like a bold general 
 marshalling her host, may she come hither (and a 
 God hears though far away) that she may prove my 
 deliverer from this affliction. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Most surely neither Apollo nor 
 mighty Athena shall rescue thee from wandering 300 
 forlorn, a stranger to all knowledge of joy, a bloodless 
 prey of Divine powers, a shadow of thyself. Wilt thou 
 not even answer me, and dost thou reject my words, 
 thou, my fatted and consecrated victim ? I will feast 
 on thee while yet thou livest, without altar or sacrificial 
 knife. Listen, then, to this my song that is to bind 
 thy spirit ! 
 
 Come now, and let us form for the dance, since we 
 are resolved to exhibit our hated power of song, and to 
 declare our office, how this band of ours directs and 310 
 guides human affairs. We are believers in our own 
 righteousness. No wrath from us approaches the man 
 that holds unpolluted hands before him. He passes 
 unscathed through a long lifetime. But whosoever 
 after transgressing, as this man hath done, hides his 
 hands that are imbrued with blood : against him we 
 appear in righteous witness on behalf of the dead, and 
 prosecute him to the bitter end for his blood-guilti- 320 
 ness. 
 
116 EUMENIDES 
 
 Chor. O mother Night, my mother that diddest bear 
 me for retribution to souls that are in light, and those 
 in darkness, hear me ! Latona's offspring would balk me 
 of my prerogative, and seeks to rob me of this cowering 
 creature whom his mother with full right consigns to 
 me as the guilty author of her death. On him, our 
 
 33 devoted victim, this song hath power, for madness, for 
 distraction, for the ruin of mind ; this Furies' hymn, 
 not attuned to the lyre, that binds the soul, that 
 shrivels mortals. 
 
 This office Fate the unchangeable bound firmly on 
 me when she span my vital thread, that I should follow 
 those mortals upon whom guilt of wanton violence to 
 their own kin hath fallen, until the life sinks beneath 
 
 340 the Earth ; yea, even when dead, the man is not 
 wholly free. On him, our devoted victim, this song 
 hath power, for madness, for distraction, for the ruin of 
 mind; this Furies' hymn, not attuned to the lyre, 
 that binds the soul, that shrivels mortals. 
 
 At our very birth this office was appointed ours. But 
 from the immortals we are to refrain : nor is any one 
 
 350 of them a sharer in our feast. Naught have I to do 
 at any time with white and festal robes. For I have 
 made my own the undoing of the home, when the War- 
 spirit sitting by the domestic hearth have slain one near 
 and dear. Pursuing such a man (Aha !), strong though 
 he be, we make him feeble under the burden of strange 
 guilt. 
 
 We hasten to relieve others of these cares, and 
 
 360 acquit the high Gods of all obligations coming from 
 
EUMENIDES 117 
 
 prayers addressed to me. ; No verbal process do we 
 require. Zeus has disdained to hold converse with this 
 our tribe whose blood-stained garb only earns his 
 hatred. . . . 
 
 Proud thoughts of men, that flaunt themselves in 
 sight of Heaven, shrink underground and dwindle 
 down into shame, before our dark-robed advance, the 
 rhythmic beat of our odious tread. For bounding from 
 aloft I bring down heavily my crushing foot-fall, 370 
 making the swift to stumble 7 beneath calamities that 
 are beyond their strength. 
 
 The man is falling, but, blinded with infatuation, he 
 is unaware of it ; with such impenetrable gloom do 
 mists of pollution float around him ; and the voice of 
 rumour mixed with lamentation calls clouds of dark- 
 ness to envelop the house. [For bounding from aloft, 380 
 etc. . . .] 
 
 For the doom is irreversible. We pursue our end, 
 and contrive means for it, ever mindful of the Evil, 
 inexorable and awful to mankind. Thus we administer 
 an office dishonoured and contemned, aloof from the 
 high Gods, in a sunless murky region, preparing rough 
 paths of stumbling alike for clear-sighted men and 390 
 blind 8 . Who then of mortals feels not a sacred awe and 
 dread in hearing me tell of mine ordinances that Fate 
 ratifies, of the power committed to me by the Gods 
 with absolute right? Still 9 abides mine antique 
 prerogative, nor are my honours in abeyance, though 
 mine appointed place is underground, and though I 
 dwell in unsunned gloom. 
 
118 EUMENIDES 
 
 Athena appears. 
 
 Ath. I heard the noise of your summons to me far 
 away, by the Scamander, where I was taking possession 
 of the land which, as is well known, the leaders and 
 400 chiefs of the Achaeans, assigning to me a liberal 
 share of the fruits of conquest, allotted out and 
 out to be my lasting portion, a choice prize awarded 
 to the sons of Theseus. 
 
 Thence came I speeding on mine unwearied way, 
 not poised on wings, but whirring instead the ample 
 folds of mine Aegis, when I had harnessed these prime 
 steeds to my chariot here. And now, on seeing such 
 unaccustomed visitants in my land, I feel, not any fear, 
 but astonishment in beholding them. 
 
 Say, who are ye ? I speak to you all, at once to 
 410 this stranger who is kneeling beside mine image, and 
 to you, who are unlike all creatures born. Such forms 
 are never seen by Gods amongst the Goddesses, nor 
 bear ye any resemblance to mortal shapes. But to 
 speak evil of one's neighbours without cause of offence 10 
 were to depart from righteousness and to be disowned 
 by Equity. 
 
 Chor. Daughter of Zeus, we will inform thee in few 
 words. We are Eternal Children of Night. ' Curses' 
 are we named in our dwelling-place beneath the Earth. 
 
 Ath. That origin and surname are familiar to me. 
 
 Chor. Soon thou shalt further know my quality and 
 rights. 
 420 Ath. I shall, if they are put forth clearly. 
 
EUMENIDES 119 
 
 Chor. We drive away from their homes whoever 
 slay mankind. 
 
 Ath. And where does the slayer find the limit of 
 his flight ? 
 
 Chor. Where all joy is absent and unknown. 
 
 Ath. Is it into such banishment your clamorous 
 pursuit would drive this man ? 
 
 Chor. Since he elected to be his mother s murderer. 
 
 Ath. Was there no compulsive terror that con- 
 strained him to it ? 
 
 Chor. What force is there so cogent as to compel a 
 man to matricide ? 
 
 Ath. Two parties are in court, and we have heard 
 one. 
 
 Chor. Nay, but he will refuse either to receive or to 
 give the sanction of an oath. 
 
 Ath. Thou preferrest the name of righteous to the 430 
 reality. 
 
 Chor. How, I pray you ? Tell us that out of your 
 rich treasury of wisdom. 
 
 Ath. I mean that you should not aim at an unfair 
 victory by appealing to the Oath. 
 
 Chor. Well then, examine him, and judge the cause 
 in righteousness. 
 
 Ath. Are you ready to refer to me as final arbiter ? 
 
 Chor. Undoubtedly, with due regard for thy great 
 worth. 
 
 Ath. Stranger, what dost thou choose to answer in 
 thy turn ? Declare thy country and thy kin, and thy 
 misfortune, and thereafter make thy defence against 
 
120 EUMENIDES 
 
 their indictment ; if it be so that in reliance on a just 
 440 cause thou art seated clinging to mine image here, 
 beside my hearth, in the solemn suppliant fashion of 
 Ixion. To all this make some reply that shall be clear 
 to me. 
 
 Orest. O Lady Athena, first of all I will dissipate a 
 great anxiety with which thy last words are clouded. 
 I am not one who crave purgation, nor with pollution 
 cleaving to me have I taken my seat beside thine 
 image. Of this I bring before thee irrefragable testi- 
 mony. One guilty of homicide is bound to maintain 
 450 silence, until the sacrifice of a suckling animal have 
 besprinkled him with purifying blood. This consecra- 
 tion hath long since passed upon me at other dwelling- 
 places, both with such victims, and with fresh streams 
 of water. 
 
 This care, then, mine explanation thus removes. As 
 for my kin, you shall quickly be informed of that. I 
 am an Argive, and my father is well known to you 
 Agamemnon he that organised the heroic navy with 
 whom for instrument thou madest the Trojan land and 
 city of Ilium to be no more a city. He perished in- 
 gloriously on returning to his home. My black-hearted 
 460 mother slew him ; after enfolding him within a subtle 
 snare, which out of the bath gave witness of his murder. 
 I, beforetime an exile, returned home and slew my 
 mother, I will not deny it, in bloody recompense 
 for a sire so dear to me. And to this act Apollo, too, 
 was accessory : who proclaimed that I should have 
 sorrows to goad my heart with remorse, should I not 
 
EUMENIDES 121 
 
 do thus to those who were the authors of that guilt. 
 Thou, then, give sentence, whether mine act was 
 righteous or unrighteous ; for whatever be the issue of 
 thy judgement I will acquiesce in it. 
 
 Ath. This affair is too grave for any mortal to pre- 470 
 sume to judge of it. Nor in truth have I the right of 
 jurisdiction in a cause of homicide, provoking intense 
 wrath. And the matter is more arduous, in that while 
 thou art come to my temple a suppliant purified and 
 harmless, and, in any case, I would have no offence 
 between my citizens and thee, these powers are of a 
 nature not easy to dismiss; for if they fail to win 
 victory for their cause, the venom from their thoughts 
 affecting the land becomes hereafter an intolerable 
 deep disease for the whole country. Such is the case 
 before me. Their abiding here and their dismissal 4 8 
 hence, are both alike hard to compass without incur- 
 ring wrath. Howbeit, since this affair hath come this 
 way for settlement, I will institute a court of men who 
 shall reverence the oath-bound ordinance which I shall 
 enact for all time to come. Do ye call in your 
 evidence and array your proofs, pledged to support the 
 just cause. Meanwhile I will select the best of my 
 own citizens, and bring them to decide this case 
 sincerely, with a mind that swerves not from the right, 
 and departs not from the sanction of the oath. 
 
 [Athena disappears. 
 
 Chor. Now the ordinance is overturned, and revolu- 490 
 tion breaks forth, if indeed the cause and the offence 
 of this matricide shall prevail. This act will now com- 
 
122 EUMENIDES 
 
 bine all mortals in unanimity of recklessness. And in 
 the time to come, many a parricidal deed, not in name 
 only, shall be done to parents, since from us, mad 
 
 500 watchers of the world, no wrath for offences shall any 
 more proceed : every death shall pass me by ; and they 
 shall learn from one another, as they tell of a neigh- 
 bour's disaster, concerning the remission and ending of 
 our n toil ; while some poor wretch shall vainly advise 
 precarious remedies. 
 
 Let no man make appeal when he is smitten with 
 
 510 misfortune, crying out, O Justice ! O enthroned 
 Erinyes! Such piteous utterance perchance may 
 proceed from a father or a mother newly stricken, now 
 that the fabric of righteousness collapses. 
 
 In some place, fear and wisdom should have an 
 
 520 abiding seat. It is well for him who is coerced to self- 
 control. But who, what man, what city, whose heart 
 is pampered in the absence of fear, can any longer 
 have like reverence for Justice ? 
 
 Approve not of the life that is ungoverned, nor of 
 that which lies beneath an absolute sway. Divine 
 Power, though varying in its dispensations, hath once 
 
 530 for all assigned the victory to the middle state. And 
 in just accord therewith I say that Impiety hath 
 Insolence for his true-born child, whereas from sound 
 and wholesome thoughts there is engendered Pro- 
 sperous Life, much prayed for, ever beloved. 
 
 This above all I say to thee, Revere the throne of 
 Justice, nor spurn at it with godless heel when thou 
 
 540 lookest upon gain. Such courses will not go un- 
 
EUMENIDES 123 
 
 punished. There remaineth the appointed end. Where- 
 fore let each man needfully give chief honour to his 
 parents' reverence, and respect the worth of strangers 
 when they visit his abode. 
 
 He that unconstrained and of his own free will 
 keeps justice shall not be unblest, nor shall he ever 550 
 perish utterly. But as for the froward rash trans- 
 gressor 12 who wrests most things confusedly away 
 from justice, I declare that he in time, in spite of him- 
 self, shall lower his canvas, overtaken by rough 
 weather, when the yard-arm is breaking. 
 
 Then, as he struggle* vainly amidst the overmaster- 
 ing eddy, he calls aloud on those who hear him not at all. 
 The Divine Power laughs at the excitement of the 560 
 man, beholding one, who imagined this could never be, 
 subdued beneath distress and hopelessly submerged 13 . 
 
 The happiness that through all his previous life was 
 his, he has wrecked by running against Justice, as a 
 sunken rock, and perishes, unwept for, utterly extin- 
 guished. 
 
 Athena re-appears. The Areopagites come in. 
 
 Ath. Herald, make proclamation, and hush the folk 
 to silence. And let the Tyrrhene trumpet with its 
 piercing tones, being filled full with human breath, 
 send forth its thrilling utterance among my people. 
 Your silence assisting, while this Council is assembling, 570 
 this city for evermore shall understand my law, and 
 these grave men shall learn it, that so this cause may 
 be righteously determined. 
 
124 EUMENIDES 
 
 Apollo appears. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Lord Apollo, seek not to use power 
 beyond thy sphere. Say, what hast thou to do in this 
 business ? 
 
 Apollo. I come to give evidence for Orestes here 
 hath been duly constituted a suppliant of my hearth 
 and sanctuary, and I am he that have made purgation 
 of this homicide. I come, moreover, myself to meet 
 the accusation. For I share the responsibility for the 
 580 violent death of this man's mother. Open the case, 
 Athena, and apply thy wisdom to bring it to an issue. 
 
 Ath. Thus I open it. Ye (to Chor.) have the fore- 
 most word. The prosecutor's full statement, leading 
 the way, shall duly instruct us in the nature of the suit. 
 
 Leader of Chor. Though we are many, our speech 
 will be concise. (To Orest.) Reply to our questions, 
 one by one. Chor. 2. First, Didst thou kill thy mother ? 
 
 Orest. That cannot be denied. I slew her. 
 
 Chor. 3. There ! One of the three wrestling-bouts 
 is already over. 
 590 Orest. Boast as you will, I am not down yet. 
 
 Chor. 4. Well, you must say further how you slew 
 her. 
 
 Orest. With drawn sword in my hand I made incision 
 on her throat. It is said. 
 
 Chor. 5. Under what influence and by whose coun- 
 sel ? 
 
 Orest. Moved by Apollo's prophecies, as he bears me 
 witness. 
 
EUMENIDES 125 
 
 Chor. 6. The Divine Prophet, say you ? was your 
 authority for matricide ! 
 
 Orest. Ay, and to this day I find nothing to regret 
 therein. 
 
 Chor. 7. By and by, when the verdict hath thee in 
 its gripe, thou wilt tell another tale. 
 
 Orest. My father from his grave will send me suc- 
 cour. I have no fear. 
 
 Chor. 8. Wilt thou kill thy mother, and then repose 
 thy confidence in the dead ? 
 
 Orest. She was doubly attainted. That is why. 6oo 
 
 Chor. 9- Explain that saying. Let the court under- 
 stand you. 
 
 Orest. She slew her husband ; and, in doing so, she 
 slew my father. 
 
 Chor. 10. Death freed her from that debt. Thou 
 art yet alive. 
 
 Orest. But while she lived, why didst not thou 
 pursue and banish her ? 
 
 Chor. 11. She was bound by no ties of blood to the 
 person whom she slew. 
 
 Orest. But I, you think, am the blood-relation of 
 my mother ? 
 
 Chor. 12. Wouldst thou renounce relationship to 
 thy mother ? What blood-bond is so dear ? Did she 
 not nurse thy matricidal bones within her womb ? 
 
 Orest. It is time for thee, Apollo, to bear witness. 
 Give thine authoritative word, whether or not, in slay- 6io 
 ing her, I had right upon my side. For to have done the 
 deed I deny not. That is so. But if in thy judgement 
 
126 EUMENIDES 
 
 this act of blood was righteously or wrongfully per- 
 formed, declare it, that I may inform the Court thereof. 
 
 Apollo. To your high Court, the noble creation of 
 Athena, I declare that it was done righteously. And 
 being a prophet, I shall not be belied. Never yet 
 have I spoken anything on my seat of prophecy, 
 touching man or woman or state, but what Zeus the 
 father of Olympian Gods hath bidden me to speak. 
 I would have you understand the weight of my de- 
 620 liverance, and I forewarn you to abide by my Father's 
 counsel. For nothing exceeds the power of Zeus, 
 not even the sanction of an oath. 
 
 Chor. This oracle, as thou declarest, proceeded forth 
 from Zeus, that thou shouldst tell Orestes here in 
 revenging his father's death to lay aside all duty 
 to his mother ? 
 
 Apollo. Incomparably more heinous is the murder of 
 a man, and of a man commanding homage through 
 the sceptre given him by Zeus, murder done, too, by 
 a woman, not with far-darting arrows, as from an 
 Amazon's warlike bow, but in the manner whereof ye 
 630 shall hear, thou, O Athena, and ye who are now in 
 session to give your decisive verdict on this case. He 
 had returned from the war, wherein he had been 
 mostly fortunate, and she had received him with 
 smooth welcome ; then in the bath, as he was ending 
 his ablutions, and was close upon the goal of his desires, 
 she encased him in an intricate web, and hacked her 
 husband when she had entangled him in those em- 
 broidered hangings. 
 
EUMENIDES 127 
 
 I have told you the manner of the death of the man 
 of highest worship, the admiral of the great navy. 
 And of her I have spoken in such terms as must pro- 
 voke their indignation who have been set to determine 
 this cause. 
 
 Chor. Zeus cares more for the father s death, accord- 640 
 ing to you. Yet he himself imprisoned his father 
 Cronos. Is there no contradiction there ? Take note 
 of that, ye justices, we beseech you. 
 
 Apollo. O wild beasts that ye are, utterly hateful, 
 detested of the Gods, the prisoner may be released : 
 mere bondage is not an irremediable evil. Full many 
 are the resources for its undoing. But when once the 
 dust hath drained the blood of man in death, he rises 
 up no more. My father has provided no effectual 
 charm for this ; although, with an energy that knows 
 no breathing-space, he turneth backward and forward 650 
 all other things, disposing them at his will. 
 
 Chor. Then see to it, what thou dost in advocating 
 this man's deliverance, when he hath shed upon the 
 ground his mothers kindred blood. Shall he there- 
 after, in Argos, inhabit his father's hall ? What altars 
 of his country will suffer his approach ? What lustral 
 rite of brotherhood will accept of him ? 
 
 Apollo. This also I will declare. Attend, and under- 
 stand the Tightness of my speech. The mother is not 
 the parent of the so-called child. She only nurses the 
 embryo-germ entrusted to her. The begetter is the 
 parent : she keeps as for a stranger-friend (if God 660 
 prevent not birth) the young plant that is committed 
 
128 EUMENIDES 
 
 to her care. I will point out to you a manifest in- 
 stance in proof of what I say. Fatherhood is possible 
 without a mother. Here at hand, to witness that, is 
 the daughter of Olympian Zeus, a child never carried 
 about or nursed in the darkness of the womb, yet such 
 a sapling as no God in heaven could bring forth. I, 
 O Athena, will both in other ways exalt to the best 
 of my power thy citadel and thy people, and I have 
 670 brought Orestes to be a suppliant at thy hearth, in 
 order that he may prove faithful to thee for all time 
 to come, and that thou, O Goddess, mayst win him 
 and his posterity for thine allies, and that this may 
 remain for an everlasting ordinance, that the successive 
 generations of thy citizens here should acquiesce in 
 this firm league. 
 
 Ath. Enough has been spoken. Now I bid the 
 judges to give their honest votes with all sincerity of 
 mind. 
 
 Chor. I have shot my last arrow ; but I wait to hear 
 how the contest shall be determined. 
 
 Ath. How mean you ? How am I to vote so as to 
 satisfy you ? 
 
 Apollo. Ye have heard the pleadings, strangers. 
 680 Now, as ye give your votes, bear reverence in your 
 inmost hearts for the oath ye have taken. 
 
 Ath. Hear now mine ordinance, ye Athenians, who 
 are judging the first cause of human blood-shedding. 
 This Council shall remain to the people of Aegeus for 
 evermore as a court for judgement. This hill of Ares, 
 where the Amazons pitched their camp when they 
 
EUMENIDES 129 
 
 waged war on us in resentment for Theseus' acts; 
 making this at that time their lofty citadel newly 
 fortified over against our town, and sacrificing to Ares 
 (whence the rocky mount is called by his name) ; this 690 
 same shall be a place of worship for my citizens, and 
 of the fear that is akin to worship ; restraining them 
 from wrong-doing whether by day or night; unless the 
 burghers shall of themselves make wanton innovation. 
 When once you stain with strange and muddy influx 
 the clear spring water, you will not find it good to 
 drink ! I counsel my citizens to guard and reverence 
 the just mean between anarchy and tyranny, and not 
 to eliminate from the city all restraint of fear. For 
 which of mortals may live righteously who stands in 
 awe of nothing ? If only ye maintain a righteous fear 700 
 and dread for this mine ordinance, you will have a 
 saving bulwark of your country and your state, better 
 than any mortal tribe possesses, either amongst the 
 Scythians, or in the realm of Pelops. I appoint then 
 this council, reverend, incorruptible, keen to execute 
 wrath, to be the garrison of the land, keeping watch 
 on behalf of those who slumber. 
 
 So far I have extended my exhortation to my own 
 citizens for all time to come. Now you must rise, take 
 up each of you his voting-ball, and decide the cause, 
 duly reverencing your oath. All hath now been said. 710 
 
 Chor. Listen ! I counsel you in no way to cast a 
 slur on us who are come to dwell in your land. 
 
 Apollo. I too enjoin you to fear my oracles, the 
 oracles of Zeus, and not to render them of no effect. 
 
 1 
 
130 EUMENIDES 
 
 Chor. Thou goest beyond thine office in showing 
 this great care for offences of bloodshed. Thy pro- 
 phecies henceforth will proceed from an oracular 
 dwelling-place that is no longer clean. 
 
 Apollo. Have my father's purposes lost any of their 
 force since Ixion the first homicide craved purgation 
 from him ? 
 720 Chor. Thou talkest. But I, if my rights are re- 
 fused to me, will dwell within this land hereafter, a 
 ruinous guest. 
 
 Apollo. Thy rights are scouted alike by the young 
 and elder deities. My cause shall prevail. 
 
 Chor. Such were thy doings in the home of Pheres ; 
 where thou didst induce the Fates to exempt a mortal 
 from death. 
 
 Apollo. Ought one not to benefit one's worshipper, 
 above all when he stands in need ? 
 
 Chor. Thou didst bring to naught the ancient dis- 
 pensation, and didst delude with wine the Destinies, 
 those primeval powers. 
 
 Apollo. Ere long, when thou art cast in thy suit, the 
 730 venom thou emittest will henceforth be harmless to 
 thy foes. 
 
 Chor. Thy youth would override our age. I remain 
 therefore eagerly listening, with a mind in suspense 
 whether or not to break forth in anger against this 
 city. 
 
 Athena. To me it falls to pronounce judgement last. 
 Herewith I add my vote to the side of Orestes H . I 
 have no mother who brought me forth. With my 
 
EUMENIDES 131 
 
 whole spirit, in everything I approve the male, except 
 for marriage. Above all I take a father's part. It 
 follows that I shall not care so much for the death of 
 a wife that slew her lord, the family's rightful head. 740 
 Now, even should his trial issue in an equality of ballot- 
 ing, Orestes wins. 
 
 Shake out forthwith the voting-pebbles from the 
 urns, ye of the court to whom this duty hath been 
 assigned. 
 
 [The tellers approach the urns and turn out the ballots. 
 Orest. O Phoebus Apollo, what will be the issue ? 
 Chor. O Night, my dark-eyed mother, seest thou 
 what is being done ? 
 
 Orest. Now comes the end for me, to be strangled, 
 or be alive indeed. 
 
 Chor. The end for us, to pass away, or to maintain 
 our honours. 
 
 Apollo. Count honestly the pebbles as they fall out, 
 my friends ! In laying them apart keep reverence for 
 the right. The absence of one vote brings on a 750 
 mighty sorrow, while its single presence 15 restores 
 prosperity. [The tellers report the numbers to Athena. 
 
 Ath. Orestes is delivered from the sentence of 
 blood-guiltiness. The numbering of the ballots proves 
 them equal. 
 
 Orest. O Pallas Athena, upholder of mine ancestral 
 home ! thou hast restored me to my land, when I was 
 a homeless exile. Every Greek shall say of me, 
 Orestes is again an Argive ; he is established in his 
 patrimony by the will of Pallas and of Loxia^s and of 
 
132 EUMENIDES 
 
 760 him, third named but Supreme, the Saviour Zeus, who, 
 feeling for my father's death, hath vindicated me, 
 looking in the face these advocates of my mother's 
 cause. I therefore, ere returning home, will swear an 
 oath that shall be binding henceforth to all time, 
 making promise to thy land and people here, that no 
 man bearing sway over the Argive country shall bring 
 against them hither the well-appointed war. And if 
 any trangress this my oath-bound promise, I, then 
 within my grave, will vex them with baffling troubles, 
 
 770 setting despondency in their pathways, and ill auguries 
 where they think to pass, so that they shall repent 
 them of their own endeavour. But while my promise 
 is observed, and while my citizens effectively honour 
 with firm alliance this city of Athena, I myself will 
 show them greater kindness. 
 
 Farewell, then, thou and thy whole people ! May 
 they, inhabiting this city, be ever irresistible in wrest- 
 ling with their foes, ever unharmed, ever triumphant 
 in war. [Exit. 
 
 Chor. Ho ! Younger Gods, ye have over-ridden the 
 old ordinances, ye have wrested from my grasp . . . 1G 
 
 780 I, all unhappy, robbed of my rights woe is me ! will 
 drip upon this land, to destroy it, the venom of my 
 heart's resentment, oozing from within me ; whence 
 cancerous growths, forbidding leafage, forbidding child- 
 birth, spreading over the plain O Justice ! shall 
 inflict upon the land a stain that is ruinous to human- 
 kind. I groan in spirit. What are to be my deeds ? 
 
 790 Shall I press intolerably on the inhabitants of the city, 
 
EUMENIDES 133 
 
 requiting what I suffer ? Great are our wrongs, un- 
 happy that we are, daughters of Night, aggrieved and 
 grieving ! 
 
 Ath. Let me prevail with you, that ye bear it not 
 so sorely. Ye are not really vanquished, but the vot- 
 ing on the cause honestly came out even. There has 
 been no desire to disparage your honours. But mani- 
 fest evidence was given on the authority of Zeus, and 
 given by him from whom the oracle proceeded, pur- 
 porting that Orestes should be scathless, if he acted 
 thus. Then make not ye your dangerous wrath to 800 
 strike this country, nor be angered grievously. Nor 
 cause sterility by issuing hostile shafts of cankerous 
 drippings, unkindly to all seed. For with full warrant 
 I guarantee to you that ye shall hold a hidden place 
 within a true and faithful land, seated on thrones 
 beside richly furnished altars, receiving gifts of adora- 
 tion from these citizens. 
 
 Chor. Ho ! Younger Gods, ye have over-ridden the 
 old ordinances, ye have wrested from my grasp . . . 
 I, all unhappy, robbed of my rights woe is me ! will 810 
 drip upon this land, to destroy it, the venom of my 
 heart's resentment, oozing from within me ; whence 
 cancerous growths, forbidding leafage, forbidding child- 
 birth, spreading over the plain O Justice ! shall in- 
 flict upon the land a stain that is ruinous to humankind. 
 I groan in spirit. What are to be my deeds ? Shall I 
 press intolerably on the inhabitants of the city, requiting 820 
 what I suffer ? Great are our wrongs, unhappy that 
 we are, daughters of Night, aggrieved and grieving ! 
 
134. EUMENIDES 
 
 Ath. Ye are not mulcted of your rights. Divine as 
 ye are, be not wrathful to excess, nor fix upon poor 
 mortals the doom of lasting barrenness 17 for their 
 land. I also place my reliance upon Zeus. Need I 
 say more ? I, and I only, can unlock the armoury 
 wherein the thunder is stored. But that shall not 
 
 830 need. Thou wilt yield assent to me, and wilt not utter 
 rash words to bring failure on all fruit-bearing things. 
 Quiet the dark billows of bitter fury in thee, since 
 thou shalt have proud honours, and make thy dwelling 
 with me. And when moreover thou receivest for ever- 
 more from this ample region first-fruits in sacrifice for 
 birth of children and for marriage-blessing, you will 
 have reason to commend my words. 
 
 Chor. Alas ! that I should be thus wronged ! that I 
 deep-thoughted aged one, should dwell beneath the 
 ground (ah me !) a dishonoured object of abhorrence ! 
 
 840 I pant with vehement wrath, with utter rage. O woe, 
 woe, woe ! What pang is this that pierces deep with- 
 in me ? Listen to my angry heart, O mother Night ! 
 From mine ancient honours the baffling wiles of the 
 high Gods have uprooted me, setting me at naught 
 
 Ath. I will bear with thine angry mood. Thou art 
 elder than I, and therein thou hast truly the advan- 
 
 850 tage of me, but to me also Zeus hath granted no mean 
 intelligence. Let me forewarn you that if ye pass 
 forth to another region, ye will fall deeply in love with 
 this land. For the time that is coming on shall flow 
 with larger honours for her citizens here ; and thou 
 when thou hast thy worshipped seat beside the man- 
 
EUMENIDES 135 
 
 sion of Erechtheus, shalt obtain from companies of 
 Athenian men and women more offerings than thou 
 couldest ever gain from other mortals. Then do not 
 thou infest this my realm with thoughts that whet to 
 bloodshed ; ruining young minds, and maddening them 860 
 with intoxication not of wine. Nor by causing hearts 
 to boil like those of fighting cocks, set up amongst my 
 citizens a war of kindred, inciting them to rash deeds 
 against each other. Let there be foreign war ; that 
 comes easily enough; wherein the dreadful lust of 
 glory may have scope. But I abominate the fighting 
 of the domestic fowl. Such boons are offered thee, and 
 they are mine to give ; that bestowing and receiving 
 benefits, and highly honoured, thou mayst have thy 
 share of rights in this country that is beloved of Gods. 
 
 Chor. Alas ! that I should be thus wronged ! that 870 
 I, deep-thoughted aged one, should dwell beneath the 
 ground (ah me !) a dishonoured object of abhorrence ! 
 I pant with vehement wrath, with utter rage. O woe, 
 woe, woe ! What pang is this that pierces deep with- 
 in me ? Listen to my angry heart, O mother Night ! 
 From mine ancient honours the baffling wiles of the 
 high Gods have uprooted me, setting me at naught. 
 
 Ath. I will not be weary of recounting good things 880 
 to thee, lest thou shouldst hereafter say that thine 
 ancient Deity had been allowed by me thy junior, and 
 by the mortal inhabitants of a great city, to pass away 
 rejected from this Athenian plain. That will not be, 
 if thou at all reverest holy Persuasion, or the winsome 
 influence of my soothing tongue. In that case thou 
 
136 EUMENIDES 
 
 wilt remain, but if thou choosest not to stay, at least 
 thou wilt not in fairness bring down upon this state any 
 sudden wrath or lingering grudge, or any affliction of 
 890 the people, since it is offered thee to be a sharer with 
 full rights in the occupation of this land, retaining all 
 thine honours. 
 
 Chor. Lady Athena, what seat is that thou sayest 
 I shall occupy ? 
 
 Ath. One free from all annoyance, if thou wilt but 
 take it. 
 
 Chor. Suppose it taken, what is the honour I am to 
 retain ? 
 
 Ath. No household shall prosper without thee. 
 
 Chor. Wilt thou bring it about that I should have 
 such power ? 
 
 Ath. Yea, for I will secure happiness to thy true 
 worshippers. 
 
 Chor. Wilt thou guarantee this to me for all time ? 
 
 Ath. Yea, and I need not promise what I will not 
 perform. 
 900 Chor. Methinks I begin to soften. My anger de- 
 parts. 
 
 Ath. Then thou wilt dwell here, and make many 
 friends ? 
 
 Chor. What blessings dost thou bid me to chant 
 over this thy land ? 
 
 Ath. Such as secure avoidance of all evil strife. 
 And pray ye therewithal that from earth, and from 
 the moist deep, and from the sky, blessings may come ; 
 that the breathing winds may blow with sunny 
 
EUMENIDES 137 
 
 weather upon the land : that the fruits of earth and 
 the increase of the cattle may teem unweariedly for 
 my citizens evermore, and that the seed of mortals 
 here may be preserved alive. But mayst thou cause to 910 
 perish the issue of impious men 18 . I am like a gardener, 
 in desiring that those my plants may flourish in right- 
 eousness, free from sorrow. Such privileges are thine 
 to have. Meanwhile, I will not endure that anything 
 should hinder me from honouring before the world 
 this conquering city and state, in the contest that 
 leads through warriors' deaths to glory. 
 
 Chor. I will accept the home which Pallas offers 
 me, and will not scorn the city which Zeus all-power- 
 ful, and Ares, occupy as a guard-house of Gods : the 
 glory and delight of Greek divinities, defending their 
 sanctuaries. For that land and people I pray, with 920 
 propitious auspice, that the bright beams of the Sun- 
 god may cause to blossom forth from the earth ever 
 recurring blissful fortune, crowning their lives. 
 
 Ath. Thus, in my zeal for these citizens, I am plant- 
 ing in their midst powers stern and strong, whose 
 office it is to dispense and guide all human things. 
 He who hath never felt the weight of their rebuke 930 
 knows not the source from whence calamity shall visit 
 him. For the sins of former generations hale him 
 before these for judgement, and a destruction that 
 gives no sign shall lay him in the dust a victim to 
 dread wrath, let him cry as loudly as he will. 
 
 Chor. Let no blight breathe upon your trees for 
 
138 EUMENIDES 
 
 hurt : Thus I declare my favour : and let rust that 
 
 940 kills the germ of plants never cross your boundary, nor 
 plague of sterility approach you, and at the appointed 
 season, let Pan 19 foster your teeming ewes, each with 
 her two lambs, and let your soil, rich in mineral wealth, 
 produce the Divine gifts of Hermes. 
 
 Ath. Do ye hear, O guardians of my city, what 
 
 950 blessings she determines for you ? Since mighty is 
 the power of the dread Erinys both in Heaven and 
 below the Earth. And for some lives of men while yet 
 above the ground, they furnish delights and songs of 
 joy, while others they bedim with weeping. 
 
 Chor. Moreover, I forefend untimely deaths, and I 
 bid those who have the power, to grant your blooming 
 
 960 maidens fortunate marriage. Confirm it, O ye Fates, 
 sisters of my mother 20 , whose ordinance faileth not, 
 whose influence is felt in every home, whose righteous 
 presence weighs on every seat of judgement ; ye that 
 in all respects are honoured above every God. 
 
 Ath. My heart is gladdened in me, while they so 
 zealously retain these blessings for our land; and I 
 
 970 look with gratitude on the countenance of Persuasion, 
 because her eye hath guided the utterance of my 
 tongue in addressing these dread powers, when they 
 were savagely bent on refusal. But the might of Zeus, 
 the God of eloquence, hath prevailed. Our joint con- 
 tention for the good cause is evermore triumphant. 
 
 Chor. I pray too that civic strife, that inexhaustible 
 source of evils, may never raise its harsh roar in this 
 
 980 your town ; nor let the dust, having drunk the dark 
 
EUMENIDES 139 
 
 blood of citizens, wreak hastily upon the city retribu- 
 tive disaster. But may they, with thoughts of uni- 
 versal love, reciprocate delights ; and may their hatreds 
 be unanimous. Therein lies the remedy for many 
 human maladies. 
 
 Ath. Have they not found their better mind, which 
 guides their utterance on this path of blessing ? From 990 
 these dread countenances, I foresee great gain to these 
 my citizens. For while with loyal hearts ye honour 
 highly these powers that are loyal to the state, your 
 lives will be conspicuous for justice, redounding to the 
 glory of your land and city. 
 
 Chor. Farewell, farewell ! enjoy your rich and 
 happy destiny. Farewell, people of the fair city nest- 
 ling close by Zeus; ye favourites of his favourite 
 maiden daughter ye who preserve wholesome 1000 
 thoughts that grow with time. The Father counts you 
 sacred, while ye harbour beneath Athena's wings. 
 
 Ath. Fare ye well also ! But I must go before you 
 to point out your resting-place, attended by the sacred 
 torches of this your escort. Proceed, and, lighted by 
 these holy fires, descend beneath the ground; where 
 ye shall restrain all that is baneful to our land, and 
 send forth victorious advantage for our city. Do ye 1010 
 (to Attendant Maidens) lead the way for this company 
 that are to dwell with you ; ye children of Cranaus, 
 dwellers in Athens. May good thoughts that lead to 
 good be ever with my citizens ! 
 
 Chor. Farewell, farewell, once more ! again I re- 
 peat it all ye that occupy the city, mortals and 
 
140 EUMENIDES 
 
 divine powers that dwell in Athena's town. Revering 
 1020 truly ray sojourn amongst you, ye shall bless your for- 
 tunes. [The procession forms and prayers are sung. 
 
 Ath. I approve the tenor of the prayers which 
 I have heard. Now by the light of flaring torches, I 
 will escort them to their subterranean dwelling-place, 
 with these attendants who guard mine image : and it 
 is meet I should. A glorious band shall proceed to the 
 very eye and centre of the whole country of Theseus 
 a band of children and of women, and a troop of aged 
 dames, apparelled all in raiment of purple grain. 
 
 Forward advance the torch-fires, that this loyal 
 1030 company dwelling in your land henceforth may be dis- 
 tinguished by the blessings which they bring. 
 
 Attendant Maidens. Come to your home, great 
 children of night, ever childless, jealous of your old 
 renown. Come, loyally escorted, and let all the people 
 be hushed. Come down to the primeval hollow place 
 of Earth, that ye may receive supreme honours of 
 worship and sacrifice. Let all the people be hushed ! 
 1040 Propitious and loyal-hearted towards our land, come 
 hither, ye dread Goddesses, cheered upon your way 
 with the torch that is consumed by fire. 
 
 Leader of the Attendant Maidens. Shout aus- 
 piciously, in echo to the song ! Be ever merciful to 
 the citizens of Pallas, as they pour libations to you. 
 On this condition all-seeing Zeus and Destiny have 
 brought you home. 
 
 Now shout auspiciously, in echo to the song ! 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES TO THE AGAMEMNON 
 
 1 Line 2. It has been usual of late to construe fiiJKos with alrw in 
 line 1 : ' I have been entreating the Gods during the length of 
 my twelve months' watch.' But although the construction is 
 harsh, the sense is more natural as given in the translation, making 
 /xrjKos an accusative in loose construction with the preceding words : 
 i.e. * I speak with reference to,' etc. 
 
 2 36. The explanation of the rustic saying /Sous iwl yXdaa-rj is 
 still doubtful, but the general notion of a crushing weight seems 
 better than the allusion to a bribe, although the latter has 
 received fresh plausibility from recent investigations respecting 
 the origin of money. 
 
 3 49. The alyviribs is said to be a species of vulture, but the 
 word ' vulture ' in English, as associated with the carrion vulture, 
 is best avoided here. In what follows I take iKirarlots to mean 
 1 diverting from the direct pathway. ' The birds are imagined to 
 be making a * bee-line ' for home, but when they see that their nest 
 has been rifled, grief makes them swerve and tower in circles 
 over it. 
 
 4 70. The Scholiast explains dirijpcov lepQv as an allusion to the 
 Fates or Furies whose worship, however, was not without burnt 
 sacrifice (Bum. 108). Either (1) the act of the Erinys in wither- 
 ing her victim is imagined as a sacrifice without fire {Eum. 301), 
 or (2) the sacrifice without fire simply means neglect of religious 
 duties ( Odyss. iv. 352; Pindar, 01. vii. 88). The sullen sacrifice 
 that will not burn ( Soph. Ant. 1006) is not to be thought of here. 
 
 5 95. The incense is without guile ' because it could only 
 be brought forth by royal authority, and this would not be done 
 without authentic intelligence so that it cannot deceive. 
 
 6 144. Reading alvei for ahei. 
 
 143 
 
144 NOTES 
 
 7 Line 196. Tpifitp. The Scholiast explains this word as equal 
 to SiaTpifir}, delay ' ; but it seems better to give it its proper 
 sense of 'rubbing' or ' wear,' for which see below, line 391. 
 
 8 224. irpurroir^fiuv has commonly been taken to refer to the 
 primal disaster or crime, which is regarded as the source of all 
 the rest (like irp^rapxov Uttjv, below, line 1192). I piefer to 
 explain it of the effect produced by unlooked-for suffering upon a 
 nature hitherto unexercised in adversity, developing unforeseen 
 possibilities of crime. 
 
 9 246. Reading Tratava instead of aluva with Hartung. 
 
 10 252. Reading with the old editions puadelv ixip'p'e'Tfi rb 
 IxiWov. rb 8e icpoK\vuv y k.t.X., and inserting el before k\vois 
 {iirel yivoir' 6.v, [el] xXvoit). 
 
 11 345. Literally ' to turn along the other limb of the double 
 race-course,' i.e. from the goal back to the starting-point, after 
 reaching the goal. 
 
 "409. 86fjL<av vpotprrrai]. Cp. inf. 1099, Cho. 33, 38. Not 
 merely those qualified to interpret the arcana of the house,' but 
 apparently a class of persons not heard of elsewhere, employed to 
 advise the family at critical moments, as supposed to be gifted 
 with superhuman insight. 
 
 13 413. I suggest dXcwra tti\ilovO)v Ib&v. 
 
 14 469. Some such reading as /SdXXercu VbpbyKoit (Ahrens- 
 Wecklein) seems required for /SdXXercu yap cWois. 
 
 15 495. 'Dry dust.' The dust rising from the thirsty plain of 
 Argolis as the herald and his companions approach, shows that 
 his is a real bodily presence and not a ' bodiless ' messenger, as 
 the beacon was. 
 
 18 513. The aywvioi deoi here and in the SuppHces appear to be 
 the Gods who were collectively worshipped in Argolis as publicly 
 presiding over the State perhaps the twelve greatest Gods ; cp. 
 KoivofiupUa, and the Epic QeCbv iv dy&vi, delov dvaovrai aywva. 
 'A7WV in this connection retains some trace of what was probably 
 its original meaning, 'a place of leading,' i.e. a public thorough- 
 fare. 
 
 17 534. Paris was a thief when he stole away Helen and the 
 treasure with her. He was convicted of robbery when he refused 
 to restore them. 
 
 18 547. The words crrvyot crpaTt^ are questionable. But they 
 may possibly mean ' to the dislike of the army ' whose desire was 
 that those at home might be doing well. 
 
AGAMEMNON 145 
 
 19 Line 550. This supposes a trajection of vvv. Paley and 
 Wecklein would render, 'So that now (on the king's return), 
 like you, I could welcome death.' 
 
 20 556-7. I take ov \ax6vres to explain aT&ovres 'What was 
 there for which we did not groan, as not having obtained our daily 
 portion of it ? ' 
 
 31 612. -J) x a ^ K v /fa0as. I take these much disputed words to 
 mean (not ' the thing that is not' but) 'the thing that I know not.'' 
 A delicately nurtured princess could not be expected to have 
 learned the mysteries of smith-craft, of which the 'dipping' or 
 tempering of metal was the chief secret. 
 
 22 616. Topdiffiv pfi7)i>ev<riv. Weil explains this to mean verbis 
 quae animi sensus darissime interpretantur. I understand it of 
 the herald's ears (construing the dative as instrumental with 
 fiavddvovTi). In either case there is a somewhat forced personifica- 
 tion, but hardly more so than where a slipper is called 7rp6dov\ov 
 tfipaaiv 7ro56s {inf. 945). 
 
 23 636. % W P' S V Tt A"? Oe(av. ' The honouring of Gods is to be kept 
 apart' not from other modes of honouring them (Paley), but 
 from honour paid to the Erinyes, who here, as in the Eumenides, 
 are contradistinguished from the 'Gods,' i.e. the Olympian 
 dynasty. Cf. inf. 645, iraiava t6v8' 'Epivtwv. 
 
 24 687. The name Helenk is associated by the poet with i\eiv, 
 ' to take ' or ' destroy.' 
 
 25 766. Reading 8re rb Ktipiov ^6X77 | <pdos t6kov the brilliant 
 conjecture of H. L. Ahrens. Observe that ueaph in the MS. reading 
 may have come from yfJitpa, a gloss on <pdos. 
 
 26 817. Reading xP^ s v icXtipovixAvif. with the MSS. x ei P&s * s 
 'genitive of the agent.' 
 
 27 864-5. She says this with a malignant side-glance at Cassandra. 
 
 28 930. Reading irpdacroiixev. 
 
 29 93 l "934* These lines have been very variously rendered. I 
 understand the connection to be : Clyt. ' Tell me^ your wife, one 
 thing, and tell it frankly ' {ifiol is emphatic because she claims that 
 he should answer her truly without respect to what others may 
 think). Agam. 'I am not to be cajoled, nor over-awed.' Clyt. 
 ' This, which you refuse to my request, you might be doing in fulfil- 
 ment of a vow, might you not ? ' Agam. ' Certainly I might I 
 know that rash vows are made in moments of danger.' 
 
 I read e^eiirov with the MSS. in 1. 934. riXos is in any case 
 obscure, and possibly corrupt. 
 
 K 
 
146 NOTES. 
 
 30 Line 976. Reading deiypM. with the MSS. 
 
 31 986-8. Retaining irap-q^ae and reading if/afifdas cUrds, I make 
 vav(Z&Tas <tt(mt6s the subject of both verbs, and suppose an allusion 
 to the detention at Aulis (supr. 188). The phrase \nf 4 l\iov <Lpro 
 has then a * pregnant ' force : * set out (to go) beneath the walls 
 of Troy.' 
 
 32 1081. She associates 'AvdXKuv with airoWtvcu, 'to ruin.' 
 
 33 1092. Reading TrcuSioppavrriplov with Dr. Verrall. 
 
 34 1 1 16. d\X' ApKvs i] Zfoevvos. Cassandra in her 'second sight ' 
 has first a general vision of an assault ( 1 1 10 ff. ), then more distinctly 
 she perceives, first the web in which the king is entangled (11 16), 
 and presently the weapon with which he is slain (1127). 
 
 35 1 121. ' The pale death-drop.' In one who is bleeding to death 
 it is imagined that the remaining blood, having lost its hue, returns 
 to the heart at the last moment. This is used as an image of 
 mortal faintness. 
 
 86 1 1 37. I read iireyx^ou for ireyxtcura. of the MSS. 
 
 37 1 173. The difficulty about this line disappears if ^i/3aXw (by 
 tmesis) is taken as one word. 
 
 38 1235. Aeschylus seems to identify the Scylla that dwells among 
 the rocks with the hard-hearted daughter of Nisus ; cp. Cho. 
 614 f., Virg. Ed. vi. 74. 
 
 39 1266. She first breaks the wand (<rl pJv), then proceeds to tear 
 off the fillets, etc. In what follows I read iyu S'&p.' ?\f/op.at with 
 Hermann. 
 
 40 1270- 1272. I read ixArTcvaas. There is some doubt whether 
 Cassandra is thinking of the time of her capture at Troy or of her 
 reception at Argos. If the former, some change is required, e.g. 
 KaTayeXufxivrjy pUya <f>l\uv 0' vir* lx8p& v T ' v SiXPp6 7rwi > f^rrjv : 
 ' Deeply insulted, by friends alike and enemies ' (since both de- 
 spised my prophetic gift), ' all idly ' (since their disbelief made my 
 sufferings vain). I have tried to get a meaning out of the words 
 as they stand in the MSS. from kclt ay iKupAvqv to p.6.r-r\v. uera <pl\uv 
 means then ' I and Agamemnon are both scorned,' oil 5ixopp6irus 
 * his foes are mine as well,' y.6.rt\v (as before) implies ' my sufferings 
 are vain, because my prophecy is disbelieved.' But the following 
 lines must then refer to some imaginary slight, for nothing that has 
 passed on the stage bears them out exactly. 
 
 41 Line 1278. I take irp6<r<paypM in this and other passages to be 
 a way of writing 7rp6o--cr0a7/xa, 'an additional sacrifice,' 'a victim 
 slain over the dead.' 
 
AGAMEMNON 147 
 
 43 1300. 6 vffraros, sc. xp6vos. 
 
 43 1343. 'Within here' = &rw. In crying out for rescue, the 
 wounded man naturally indicates the place whither rescue should 
 come. This interpretation occurred independently to myself 
 (American Journal of Philology, i. 4) and to the late Mr. H. A. 
 J. Munro, the editor of Lucretius (Cambridge Journal of Philology). 
 
 44 I 359- 'That which is in act' = roO dp&pros. This use of the 
 active participle neuter occurs in Sophocles and Thucydides. See 
 my edition of Sophocles, Oed. Col. 1. 1604. 
 
 45 1468-9. 'The twofold race.' This phrase recalls the pairs of 
 brothers, the rivalry of Atreus and Thyestes, the conjoint 
 sovereignty of Agamemnon and Menelaus. 
 
 46 1 521 -2. These lines have been much questioned, but (merely 
 reading oi>5' for otir') I do not see why Clytemnestra should not 
 speak them. She regards the death of Agamemnon as the deliber- 
 ate judicial act of a freeborn woman, therefore not avcKeddepov. 
 The lines which follow are meant to show that it was not the death 
 of a slave, but the result of a fair conflict of opposing claims. 
 
 47 1536. Those who object to the double personification may read 
 Mki) . . . drry&vcus fidxaipav with Musgrave. 
 
 48 1568. dalfiovi t$ H\Lo-6evi,8av. Cp. infr. 1602, rbUXeiadivovs 
 yivos. The place of Pleisthenes in the genealogy is doubtful. 
 Aeschylus seems to imagine him as in some way coming in between 
 Pelops and Atreus. Possibly some legend may have tried to soften 
 the horror of the Thyestean banquet by making Atreus son of 
 Pleisthenes and Thyestes' brother only by adoption. 
 
 49 1596. I take avT&v as the genitive after the privative adjective : 
 4 without the tokens of them, ' namely of the hands and feet, which 
 would have betrayed the nature of the meat. 
 
 50 1657. ' Your appointed places.' I read po/xoi/s for 86/j.ovs. 
 T3ofx6s = ' haunt,' 'habitat.' Others read 5p6fiovs, ' courses.' 
 
 51 1660. ' With the malignity of heaven. ' Lit. ' With the heavy 
 heel of a deity.' Compare the image in Sophocles, Oed. Tyr. 
 1300 f. : rls 6 Trrjdrfo-as | jJ.elova daifiuv twv /JLaidffTUv | irpbs crj 
 dv<r8ai/Aovi fioipq.. 
 
48 NOTES 
 
 NOTES TO THE CHO&PHOROE. 
 
 I Line I. The other meaning of this place (' Hermes, who in the 
 watchfulness fulfilled an office conferred on thee by thy sire '), which 
 Aristophanes (Ran. 1144) makes Dionysus uphold, is defended by 
 many excellent scholars. But other allusions to Hermes through- 
 out the play suggest that an image of the God was represented as 
 standing near the grave. This would give significance to the 
 words as I have rendered them. And this meaning is confirmed 
 by the use of iiroirrajw elsewhere in the Choephoroe, e.g. 489. 
 
 52. Not * hated by mortals.' 
 
 3 58. rts here refers to Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. 
 
 4 137. Agamemnon is still in evil case while he remains un- 
 avenged ; and rrbvoi = k cued. See Soph. Aj. II51, ib. 1007. 
 Others take h . trdvoiat. to mean ' in the wealth which thy 
 labour won.' 
 
 5 152. bdicpv tcavaxis is taken to mean the 'plashing' or 'patter- 
 ing ' tear. I prefer to understand by the ' sounding tear ' the tear 
 that is accompanied with sounds of mourning. 
 
 8 154. Or 'where access both to good and evil things is denied.' 
 But the Trojan women may well regard the race of the Pelopidae 
 as mixed of good and evil persons. 
 
 7 285. There is a suspicion of a lacuna here. I take the words 
 as neuter in apposition with ir/xxr/SoXAs 'E/uvi/oh' = *ra<d. 
 
 8 319. In early philosophy, the realms of light and darkness 
 were imagined as co-extensive and conterminous. 
 
 9 330. Reading T&irtvTwv with Grotefend doubtfully. 
 10 334. Or ' the newly mingled bowl of libation,' if <f>i6.\i)v 
 veoKpara (Wecklein) is read. 
 
 II Conington rendeis 'the children have the adv-antage. 
 
 12 439. The mutilation of the dead man was supposed to make 
 his avenger helpless. 
 
 18 447. Reading fivxov with the mss. Otherwise, fivx<t, ' in 
 close confinement.' 
 
 14 482. Some words are lost, and the sense is incomplete. 
 Wecklein suggests rvx^iv fie yafifipov, ' that I may win a bride- 
 groom ' ! 
 
 18 578. Wecklein, referring to infra 1063 f., understands the 
 three 'blood-draughts' to be (1) the Thyestean banquet, (2) the 
 death of Agamemnon, (3) the death of Aegisthus. I prefer to take 
 Tplr-qv irbciv as a silent reference to Clytemnestra. Her death is 
 
CHOfiPHOROE 149 
 
 the third or crowning libation to the Erinys, whose first draught 
 was the murder of Agamemnon in revenge for Iphigeneia. The 
 banquet is not spoken of in the trilogy as the work of Erinys. 
 I read 1. 574 #7ra iirLO-rrj ical kclt' 6<pdd\fioiis (pavfj. 
 
 16 Line 583. i.e. Hermes. (See above, Note 1 .) 
 
 17 623 ff. The long parenthesis seems the best expedient for un- 
 ravelling this difficult place. See Conington's note in his edition. 
 The transposition of strophe and antistrophe, adopted by other 
 editors, is too violent a remedy. 
 
 18 699. I read irapovaav iicyp&<f>L$, ' you cancel it when actually 
 here.' Orestes is coming, i.e. his bones are on their way ; yet the 
 hope that attended his return is done away with. 
 
 19 751. Interpreters take this of the infant's ' crying in the night.' 
 I have ventured to turn it otherwise in my verse rendering. 
 There is something picturesque and Aeschylean in recalling the 
 impatient shout of the heroic (or demonic) woman in her travail. 
 
 20 785. Reading eiSLovs icvplws with Wecklein. 
 
 21 795- "* To his course of misery. 
 
 22 796. I take a^bixevov passive, and 8peyfia in apposition with 
 pv6/x6v : cytffxevov pvd/jidp = t keeping time' seems trivial and poor. 
 
 23 806. Delphian Apollo. See Again. 509, 510. 
 
 24 816. The text is doubtful here. I follow Wecklein. 
 
 25 822. The Chorus are bound to lament the dead, even while 
 condemning them : infra 931. 
 
 26 846. I follow Wecklein, who takes dvycKOvres as opposed to 
 pXiirovTa supra. This repetition of the same word in a different 
 meaning is quite consonant with Greek idiom. 
 
 27 860. Or, reading Treipat with a different accent, * the trial of 
 the sword, etc. , shall reveal. ' 
 
 28 883. Reading iwifctyov for iirl i-vpov with Wecklein. 
 
 29 945. i.e. Hermes. 
 
 30 957- Reading (doubtfully) with Wecklein Kpareirai bk irus to 
 fiyjSos deQv. 
 
 31 998. Reading (again doubtfully) vefipov with Wecklein. 
 
 32 1014. I see no reason for giving an unusual sense to cdvG> here. 
 83 1041. The text is defective here, but the syllables /ueveXe 
 
 seem to indicate some reference to Menelaus. See Introduction. 
 
 ^ 1067. 70*^01$, if genuine, may have some such meaning as 
 'inborn in the race,' suggested by Blomfleld, but the order of 
 the words rather implies that it is used predicatively (cp. &as <5tfs 
 in Soph. Aj. 258), and I believe that it means 'genuine,' i.e. 
 ' powerful. ' 
 
150 NOTES 
 
 NOTES TO THE EUMENIDES. 
 
 1 Line 3. Themis is here Earth's daughter, as in Hesiod. In the 
 Prometheus (1. 210) she is identified with Earth. 
 
 2 103. Reading Kapdla aider with the mss. and Wecklein. 
 
 8 119. Reading <f>i\oL ydp etviv ovk ifioTs vpoceucdres with 
 Wecklein. 
 
 4 164. I take the accusative <povo\iplrj dpdfifiov in a loose con- 
 struction with what follows. 
 
 6 1 78. Reading k kcIvov for iicelvov. 
 
 6 220. Reading Tlveadai, with Meineke. But yeviadai perhaps 
 admits of a possible meaning, 'so that you' (the Erinys) ' never 
 arise' or 'exist effectively.' 
 
 7 371. <r<pa\epd . . . xwXa is an accusative (of apposition) in 
 the same constmction with 6.rav y equivalent to a<pa\epdv . . . 
 (idaiv or the like. 
 
 8 388. 'For clear-sighted men and blind.' This, like dXaolat 
 Kal oeSopxdaiv, supra 323, has been explained to mean ' the living 
 and the dead.' But is not Swro/i/idrots rather a forced expression 
 for this ? 
 
 * 393- Reading tri fwi /xevet with Hermann. 
 
 10 413. Or, reading with Wecklein, &p.op<pcv 6vra rbv xAas, 
 'one's neighbour who is lacking in beauty.' 
 
 11 506-8. So I prefer to take these words, which are variously 
 explained. Wecklein would render them as follows : ' One here, 
 one there, reporting a neighbour's woes, shall inquire (?) how to 
 end or alleviate his trouble. And his hapless informant shall 
 vainly recommend uncertain remedies.' 
 
 12 553- The text of this passage is still uncertain. Wecklein 
 adopts Meineke's conjecture (Haplfiav ('mariner') for irepcuflddap of 
 the mss. But although the imagery is thus made more distinct, 
 and a clear meaning is given to dyovra ('carrying goods on 
 board '), the metaphor is introduced too suddenly. 
 
 13 563. Wecklein quotes Eur. fr. 232 ov ydp inrepdeiv Kvjiaros 
 dicpav dwd/xecd' In ydp ddWei iccvia, Kanbv (x^ i<rrov i <pvyei 5' 
 fiX/3os. This is quoted also by L. and S., but does not support 
 their rendering. . 
 
 14 735- On Athena's vote see Introduction, p. xxxiii. 
 
 15 75 1 The correction of /SaXoOcra to irapovaa, which has 
 
EUMENIDES 151 
 
 occurred independently to several critics, appears to have been 
 first thought of by H. Voss. 
 
 16 Line 782. Wecklein, following Abretsch, notes an hiatus here. 
 
 17 825. The text is uncertain : 50aKr]\ov has been explained as 
 made by false analogy from etf/c^W (F^KrfKov), and has again been 
 rejected as a vox nihili. But may it not be a legitimate derivative 
 from the root of o-kAXw, <Tic\rip6s, etc. ? Wecklein reads S6crK7]fiop 
 X^ov, ' wrath hard to muzzle,' which certainly agrees better with 
 
 (TT^<T7]T. 
 
 18 910. Wecklein follows Weil in reading ic<popos viropb. tt4\oi. 
 
 19 944. Adopting (with Wecklein) Meineke's correction evdevovvra 
 Hav for evdevovvr' &yav. 
 
 20 962. Wecklein, with K. O. Miiller and others, following 
 Hesiod's Theogony (1. 217) interprets fiaTpoKacnyvTJTai, 'sisters by 
 our mother's side ' (because the children of Night in Hesiod have 
 no father). But Aeschylus (see on 1. 3) does not consistently adopt 
 any version of mythology. And why should not the Fates, like 
 Themis, be daughters of Earth? They are certainly older than 
 the Furies, at whose birth they presided (11. 339, 349), and are 
 called 'primeval' (1. 728), and 'of ancient birth' (1. 172), by the 
 Erinyes themselves. The natural meaning, ' sisters of our mother,' 
 is ridiculed by K. O. Miiller, apparently for no better reason than 
 that some ludicrous associations have gathered about the German 
 words l Die TantenS 
 
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