Electra

parted from thee in the grave. For I see that the dead have rest from pain. LEADER Bethink thee, Electra, thou art the child of mortal sire, and mortal was Orestes; therefore grieve not too much. This is a debt which all of us must pay. ORESTES Alas, what shall I say? What words can serve me at this pass? I can restrain my lips no longer! ELECTRA What hath troubled thee? Why didst thou say that? ORESTES Is this the form of the illustrious Electra that I behold? ELECTRA It is; and very grievous is her plight. ORESTES Alas, then, for this miserable fortune! ELECTRA Surely, sir, thy lament is not for me? ORESTES O form cruelly, godlessly misused! ELECTRA Those ill-omened words, sir, fit no one better than me. ORESTES Alas for thy life, unwedded and all unblest! ELECTRA Why this steadfast gaze, stranger, and these laments? ORESTES How ignorant was I, then, of mine own sorrows! ELECTRA By what that hath been said hast thou perceived this? ORESTES By seeing thy sufferings, so many and so great. ELECTRA And yet thou seest but a few of my woes. ORESTES Could any be more painful to behold? ELECTRA This, that I share the dwelling of the murderers. ORESTES Whose murderers? Where lies the guilt at which thou hintest? ELECTRA My father's;- and then I am their slave perforce. ORESTES Who is it that subjects thee to this constraint? ELECTRA A mother-in name, but no mother in her deeds. ORESTES How doth she oppress thee? With violence or with hardship?

ORESTES How doth she oppress thee? With violence or with hardship? ELECTRA With violence, and hardships, and all manner of ill. ORESTES And is there none to succour, or to hinder? ELECTRA None. I had one; and thou hast shown me his ashes. ORESTES Hapless girl, how this sight hath stirred my pity! ELECTRA Know, then, that thou art the first who ever pitied me. ORESTES No other visitor hath ever shared thy pain. ELECTRA Surely thou art not some unknown kinsman? ORESTES I would answer, if these were friends who hear us. ELECTRA Oh, they are friends; thou canst speak without mistrust. ORESTES Give up this urn, then, and thou shalt be told all. ELECTRA Nay, I beseech thee be not so cruel to me, sir! ORESTES Do as I say, and never fear to do amiss. ELECTRA I conjure thee, rob me not of my chief treasure! ORESTES Thou must not keep it. ELECTRA Ah woe is me for thee, Orestes, if I am not to give thee burial ORESTES Hush!-no such word!-Thou hast no right to lament. ELECTRA No right to lament for my dead brother? ORESTES It is not meet for thee to speak of him thus. ELECTRA Am I so dishonoured of the dead? ORESTES Dishonoured of none:- but this is not thy part. ELECTRA Yes, if these are the ashes of Orestes that I hold. ORESTES They are not; a fiction dothed them with his name. (He gently takes the urn from her.) ELECTRA And where is that unhappy one's tomb? ORESTES There is none; the living have no tomb.

ORESTES There is none; the living have no tomb. ELECTRA What sayest thou, boy? ORESTES Nothing that is not true. ELECTRA The man is alive? ORESTES If there be life in me. ELECTRA What? Art thou he? ORESTES Look at this signet, once our father's, and judge if I speak truth. ELECTRA O blissful day! ORESTES Blissful, in very deed! ELECTRA Is this thy voice? ORESTES Let no other voice reply. ELECTRA Do I hold thee in my arms? ORESTES As mayest thou hold me always! ELECTRA Ah, dear friends and fellow-citizens, behold Orestes here, who was feigned dead, and now, by that feigning hath come safely home! LEADER We see him, daughter; and for this happy fortune a tear of joy trickles from our eyes. (The following lines between ORESTES and ELECTRA are chanted responsively.) ELECTRA (strophe) Offspring of him whom I loved best, thou hast come even now, thou hast come, and found and seen her whom thy heart desired! ORESTES I am with thee;- but keep silence for a while. ELECTRA What meanest thou? ORESTES 'Tis better to be silent, lest some one within should hear. ELECTRA Nay, by ever-virgin Artemis, I will never stoop to fear women, stay-at-homes, vain burdens of the ground! ORESTES Yet remember that in women, too, dwells the spirit of battle; thou hast had good proof of that, I ween. ELECTRA Alas! ah me! Thou hast reminded me of my sorrow, one which, from its nature, cannot be veiled, cannot be done away with, cannot

from its nature, cannot be veiled, cannot be done away with, cannot forget! ORESTES I know this also; but when occasion prompts, then will be the moment to recall those deeds. ELECTRA (antistrophe) Each moment of all time, as it comes, would be meet occasion for these my just complaints; scarcely now have I had my lips set free. ORESTES I grant it; therefore guard thy freedom. ELECTRA What must I do? ORESTES When the season serves not, do not wish to speak too much. ELECTRA Nay, who could fitly exchange speech for such silence, when thou hast appeared? For now I have seen thy face, beyond all thought and hope! ORESTES Thou sawest it, when the gods moved me to come.... ELECTRA Thou hast told me of a grace above the first, if a god hath indeed brought thee to our house; I acknowledge therein the work of heaven. ORESTES I am loth, indeed, to curb thy gladness, but yet this excess of joy moves my fear. ELECTRA (epode) O thou who, after many a year, hast deigned thus to gladden mine eyes by thy return, do not, now that thou hast seen me in all my woe- ORESTES What is thy prayer? ELECTRA -do not rob me of the comfort of thy face; do not force me to forego it! ORESTES I should be wroth, indeed, if I saw another attempt it. ELECTRA My prayer is granted? ORESTES Canst thou doubt? ELECTRA Ah, friends, I heard a voice that I could never have hoped to hear; nor could I have restrained my emotion in silence, and without

to hear; nor could I have restrained my emotion in silence, and without cry, when I heard it. Ah me! But now I have thee; thou art come to me with the light of that dear countenance, which never, even in sorrow, could I forget. (The chant is concluded.) ORESTES Spare all superfluous words; tell me not of our mother's wickedness, or how Aegisthus drains the wealth of our father's house by lavish luxury or aimless waste; for the story would not suffer thee to keep due limit. Tell me rather that which will serve our present need,- where we must show ourselves, or wait in ambush, that this our coming may confound the triumph of our foes. And look that our mother read not thy secret in thy radiant face, when we twain have advanced into the house, but make lament, as for the feigned disaster; for when we have prospered, then there will be leisure to rejoice and exult in freedom. ELECTRA Nay, brother, as it pleases thee, so shall be my conduct also; for all my joy is a gift from thee, and not mine own. Nor would I consent to win great good for myself at the cost of the least pain to thee; for so should I ill serve the divine power that befriends us now. But thou knowest how matters stand here, I doubt not: thou must have beard that Aegisthus is from home, but our mother within;- and fear not that she will ever see my face lit up with smiles; for mine old hatred of her hath sunk into my heart; and, since I have beheld thee,

hatred of her hath sunk into my heart; and, since I have beheld thee, for very joy I shall never cease to weep. How indeed should I cease, who have seen thee come home this day, first as dead, and then in life? Strangely hast thou wrought on me; so that, if my father should return alive, I should no longer doubt my senses, but should believe that I saw him. Now, therefore, that thou hast come to me so wondrously, command me as thou wilt; for, had I been alone, I should have achieved one of two things,- a noble deliverance, or a noble death. ORESTES Thou hadst best be silent; for I hear some one within preparing to go forth. ELECTRA (to ORESTES AND PYLADES) Enter, sirs; especially as ye bring that which no one could repulse from these doors, though he receive it without joy. (The PAEDAGOGUS enters from the palace.) PAEDAGOGUS Foolish and senseless children! Are ye weary of your lives, or was there no wit born in you, that ye see not how ye stand, not on the brink, but in the very midst of deadly perils? Nay, had I not kept watch this long while at these doors, your plans would have been in the house before yourselves; but, as it is, my care shielded you from that. Now have done with this long discourse, these insatiate cries of joy, and pass within; for in such deeds delay is evil, and 'tis well to make an end. ORESTES What, then, will be my prospects when I enter? PAEDAGOGUS Good; for thou art secured from recognition.

PAEDAGOGUS Good; for thou art secured from recognition. ORESTES Thou hast reported me, I presume, as dead? PAEDAGOGUS Know that here thou art numbered with the shades. ORESTES Do they rejoice, then, at these tidings? Or what say they? PAEDAGOGUS I will tell thee at the end; meanwhile, all is well for us on their party-even that which is not well. ELECTRA Who is this, brother? I pray thee, tell me. ORESTES Dost thou not perceive? ELECTRA I cannot guess. ORESTES Knowest thou not the man to whose hands thou gavest me once? ELECTRA What man? How sayest thou? ORESTES By whose hands, through thy forethought, I was secretly conveyed forth to Phocian soil. ELECTRA Is this he in whom, alone of many, I found a true ally of old, when our sire was slain? ORESTES 'Tis he; question me no further. ELECTRA O joyous day! O sole preserver of Agamemnon's house, how hast thou come? Art thou he indeed, who didst save my brother and myself from many sorrows? O dearest hands; O messenger whose feet were kindly servants! How couldst thou be with me so long, and remain unknown, nor give a ray of light, but afflict me by fables, while possessed of truths most sweet? Hail, father,- for 'tis a father that I seem to behold! All hail,- and know that I have hated thee, and loved thee, in one day, as never man before! PAEDAGOGUS Enough, methinks; as for the story of the past, many are the circling nights, and days as many, which shall show it thee, Electra,

the circling nights, and days as many, which shall show it thee, Electra, in its fulness. (To ORESTES and PYLADES) But this is my counsel to you twain, who stand there- now is the time to act; now Clytemnestra is alone,- no man is now within: but, if ye pause, consider that ye will have to fight, not with the inmates alone, but with other foes more numerous and better skilled. ORESTES Pylades, this our task seems no longer to crave many words, but rather that we should enter the house forthwith,- first adoring the shrines of my father's gods, who keep these gates. (ORESTES and PYLADES enter the Palace, followed by the PAEDAGOGUS.- ELECTRA remains outside.) ELECTRA O King Apollo! graciously hear them, and hear me besides, who so oft have come before thine altar with such gifts as my devout hand could bring! And now, O Lycean Apollo, with such vows as I can make, I pray thee, I supplicate, I implore, grant us thy benignant aid in these designs, and show men how impiety is rewarded by the gods! (ELECTRA enters the palace.) CHORUS (singing) Behold how Ares moves onward, breathing deadly vengeance, against which none may strive! Even now the pursuers of dark guilt have passed beneath yon roof, the hounds which none may flee. Therefore the vision of my soul shall not long tarry in suspense. The champion of the spirits infernal is ushered with stealthy feet into the house, the ancestral palace of his sire, bearing keen-edged

into the house, the ancestral palace of his sire, bearing keen-edged death in his hands; and Hermes, son of Maia, who hath shrouded the guile in darkness, leads him forward, even to the end, and delays no more. (ELECTRA enters from the palace.) ELECTRA (strophe) Ah, dearest friends, in a moment the men will do the deed;- but wait in silence. CHORUS How is it?- what do they now? ELECTRA She is decking the urn for burial, and those two stand close to her CHORUS And why hast thou sped forth? ELECTRA To guard against Aegisthus entering before we are aware. CLYTEMNESTRA (within) Alas! Woe for the house forsaken of friends and filled with murderers! ELECTRA A cry goes up within:- hear ye not, friends? CHORUS I heard, ah me, sounds dire to hear, and shuddered! CLYTEMNESTRA (within) O hapless that I am!- Aegisthus, where, where art thou? ELECTRA Hark, once more a voice resounds I CLYTEMNESTRA (within) My son, my son, have pity on thy mother! ELECTRA Thou hadst none for him, nor for the father that begat him. CHORUS Ill-fated realm and race, now the fate that hath pursued thee day by day is dying,- is dying! CLYTEMNESTRA (within) Oh, I am smitten! ELECTRA Smite, if thou canst, once more! CLYTEMNESTRA (within) Ah, woe is me again! ELECTRA Would that the woe were for Aegisthus too! CHORUS The curses are at work; the buried live; blood flows for blood, drained from the slayers by those who died of yore. (ORESTES and

drained from the slayers by those who died of yore. (ORESTES and PYLADES enter from the palace., antistrophe) Behold, they come! That red hand reeks with sacrifice to Ares; nor can I blame the deed. ELECTRA Orestes, how fare ye? ORESTES All is well within the house, if Apollo's oracle spake well. ELECTRA The guilty one is dead? ORESTES Fear no more that thy proud mother will ever put thee to dishonour. CHORUS Cease; for I see Aegisthus full in view. ELECTRA Rash boys, back, back! ORESTES Where see ye the man? ELECTRA Yonder, at our mercy, be advances from the suburb, full of joy. CHORUS Make with all speed for the vestibule; that, as your first task prospered. so this again may prosper now. ORESTES Fear not,- we will perform it. ELECTRA Haste, then, whither thou wouldst. ORESTES See, I am gone. ELECTRA I will look to matters here. (ORESTES and PYLADES go back into the palace.) CHORUS 'Twere well to soothe his ear with some few words of seeming gentleness, that he may rush blindly upon the struggle with his doom. (AEGISTHUS enters.) AEGISTHUS Which of you can tell me, where are those Phocian strangers, who, 'tis said, have brought us tidings of Orestes slain in the wreck of his chariot? Thee, thee I ask, yes, thee, in former days so bold,- for methinks it touches thee most nearly; thou best must know, and best canst tell. ELECTRA I know assuredly; else were I a stranger to the fortune of

ELECTRA I know assuredly; else were I a stranger to the fortune of my nearest kinsfolk. AEGISTHUS Where then may be the strangers? Tell me. ELECTRA Within; they have found a way to the heart of their hostess. AEGISTHUS Have they in truth reported him dead? ELECTRA Nay, not reported only; they have shown him. AEGISTHUS Can I, then, see the corpse with mine own eyes? ELECTRA Thou canst, indeed; and 'tis no enviable sight. AEGISTHUS Indeed, thou hast given me a joyful greeting, beyond thy wont. ELECTRA Joy be thine, if in these things thou findest joy. AEGISTHUS Silence, I say, and throw wide the gates, for all Mycenaeans and Argives to behold; that, if any of them were once buoyed on empty hopes from this man, now, seeing him dead, they may receive my curb, instead of waiting till my chastisement make them wise perforce! ELECTRA No loyalty is lacking on my part; time hath taught me the prudence of concord with the stronger. (The central doors of the palace are thrown open and a shrouded corpse is disclosed. ORESTES and PYLADES stand near it.) AEGISTHUS O Zeus, I behold that which hath not fallen save by the doom of jealous Heaven; but, if Nemesis attend that word, be it unsaid! Take all the covering from the face, that kinship, at least, may receive the tribute of lament from me also. ORESTES Lift the veil thyself; not my part this, but thine, to look upon these relics, and to greet them kindly.

upon these relics, and to greet them kindly. AEGISTHUS 'Tis good counsel, and I will follow it.- (To ELECTRA) But thou-call me Clytemnestra, if she is within. ORESTES Lo, she is near thee: turn not thine eyes elsewhere. (AEGISTHUS removes the face-cloth from the corpse.) AEGISTHUS O, what sight is this! ORESTES Why so scared? Is the face so strange? AEGISTHUS Who are the men into whose mid toils I have fallen, hapless that I am? ORESTES Nay, hast thou not discovered ere now that the dead, as thou miscallest them, are living? AEGISTHUS Alas, I read the riddle: this can be none but Orestes who speaks to me! ORESTES And, though so good a prophet, thou wast deceived so long? AEGISTHUS Oh lost, undone! Yet suffer me to say one word... ELECTRA In heaven's name, my brother, suffer him not to speak further, or to plead at length! When mortals are in the meshes of fate, how can such respite avail one who is to die? No,- slay him forthwith, and cast his corpse to the creatures from whom such as he should have burial, far from our sight! To me, nothing but this can make amends for the woes of the past. ORESTES (to AEGISTHUS) Go in, and quickly; the issue here is not of words, but of thy life. AEGISTHUS Why take me into the house? If this deed be fair, what need of darkness? Why is thy hand not prompt to strike? ORESTES Dictate not, but go where thou didst slay my father, that in the same place thou mayest die.

AEGISTHUS Is this dwelling doomed to see all woes of Pelops' line, now, and in time to come? ORESTES Thine, at least; trust my prophetic skill so far. AEGISTHUS The skill thou vauntest belonged not to thy sire. ORESTES Thou bandiest words, and our going is delayed. Move forward! AEGISTHUS Lead thou. ORESTES Thou must go first. AEGISTHUS Lest I escape thee? ORESTES No, but that thou mayest not choose how to die; I must not spare thee any bitterness of death. And well it were if this judgment came straight-way upon all who dealt in lawless deeds, even the judgment of the sword: so should not wickedness abound. (ORESTES and PYLADES drive AEGISTHUS into the palace.) CHORUS (singing) O house of Atreus, through how many sufferings hast thou come forth at last in freedom, crowned with good by this day's enterprise! THE END