thee! but on thee having done base deeds the God hath sent dreadful
punishment, whoever he be that presses heavy on thee.

POLY. Alas! alas! O Thracian nation, brandishing the spear, warlike,
bestriding the steed, nation ruled by Mars; O ye Greeks, sons of Atreus; I
raise the cry, the cry, the cry; Come, come, hasten, I entreat you by the
Gods. Does any hear, or will no one assist me? Why do ye delay? The women
have destroyed me, the captive women. Horrible, horrible treatment have I
suffered. Alas me for my ruin! Whither can I turn? Whither can I go? Shall
I soar through the ethereal skies to the lofty mansions where Orion or
Sirius dart from their eyes the flaming rays of fire: or shall I hapless
rush to the gloomy shore of Pluto?

CHOR. It is pardonable, when any one suffers greater misfortunes than he
can bear, for him to be desirous to quit a miserable life.

AGAMEMNON, POLYMESTOR, HECUBA, CHORUS.

AGA. I came having heard the clamor: for Echo, the mountain's daughter, did
not sound in gentle strains through the army, causing a disturbance. But
did we not know that the Phrygian towers are fallen beneath the Grecian
spear, this tumult might have caused no little terror.

POLY. O my dearest friend (for I know thee, Agamemnon, having heard thy
voice), seest thou what I am suffering?

AGA. Ah! wretched Polymestor, who hath destroyed thee? who made thine eyes
sightless, having drowned their orbs in blood? And who hath slain these thy
children? Sure, whoe'er it was, felt the greatest rage against thee and thy
sons.

POLY. Hecuba with the female captives hath destroyed me--nay, not destroyed
me, but more than destroyed me.

AGA. What sayest thou? Hast thou done this deed, as he affirms? Hast thou,
Hecuba, dared this inconceivable act of boldness?

POLY. Ah me! what wilt thou say? Is she any where near me? Show me, tell me
where she is, that I may seize her in my hands, and tear piecemeal and
mangle her body.

AGA. What ho! what are you doing?

POLY. By the Gods I entreat thee, suffer me to lay my raging hand upon her.

AGA. Forbear. And having banished this barbarous deed from thy thoughts,
speak; that having heard both thee and her in your respective turns, I may
decide justly, in return for what thou art suffering these ills.

POLY. I will speak then. There was a certain youth, the youngest of Priam's
children, by name Polydore, the son of Hecuba; him his father Priam sent to
me from Troy to bring up in my palace, already presaging[20] the capture of
Troy. Him I put to death. But for what cause I put him to death, with what
policy and prudent forethought, now hear. I feared, lest the boy being left
an enemy to thee, should collect the scattered remnants of Troy, and again
people the city. And lest the Greeks, having discovered that one of the
sons of Priam was alive, should again direct an expedition against the
Phrygian land, and after that should harass and lay waste the plains of
Thrace; and it might fare ill with the neighbors of the Trojans, under
which misfortune, O king, we are now laboring. But Hecuba, when she had
discovered her son's death, by such treachery as this lured me hither, as
about to tell me of treasure belonging to Priam's family concealed in Troy,
and introduces me alone with my sons into the tent, that no one else might
know it. And I sat, having reclined on the centre of the couch; but many
Trojan damsels, some from the left hand, and others from the right, sat
round me, as by an intimate friend, holding in their hands the Edonian
looms, and praised these robes, looking at them in the light; but others,
beholding with admiration my Thracian spear, deprived me of my double
ornament. But as many as were mothers caressed my children in their arms in
seeming admiration, that they might be farther removed from their father,
successively handing them from one to another: and then, amidst their kind
blandishments, what think you? in an instant, snatching from somewhere
beneath their garments their daggers, they stab my children. But they
having seized me in an hostile manner held my hands and feet; and if,
wishing to succor my children, I raised my head, they held me by the hair:
but if I attempted to move my hands, I wretched could effect nothing
through the host of women. But at last, cruelty and worse than cruelty,
they perpetrated dreadful things; for having taken their clasps they pierce
and gore the wretched pupils of my eyes, then vanish in flight through the
tent. But I, having leaped out, like some exasperated beast, pursue the
blood-stained wretches, searching every wall, as the hunter, casting down,
rending. This have I suffered, while studious to advance thy interest,
Agamemnon, and having killed thine enemy. But that I may not extend my
speech to a greater length, if any one of those of ancient times hath
reviled women, or if any one doth now, or shall hereafter revile them, I
will comprise the whole when I say, that such a race neither doth the sea
nor the earth produce, but he who is always with them knows it best.

CHOR. Be not at all insolent, nor, in thy calamities, thus comprehending
the female sex, abuse them all. For of us there are many, some indeed are
envied _for their virtues_, but some are by nature in the catalogue of bad
things.

HEC. Agamemnon, it never were fitting among men that the tongue should have
greater force than actions. But if a man has acted well, well should he
speak; if on the other hand basely, his words likewise should be unsound,
and never ought he to be capable of speaking unjust things well. Perhaps
indeed they who have brought these things to a pitch of accuracy are
accounted wise, but they can not endure wise unto the end, but perish
vilely, nor has any one yet escaped this. And this in my prelude is what I
have to say to thee. Now am I going to direct my discourse to this man, and
I will answer his arguments. Thou, that assertest, that in order to rid the
Greeks of their redoubled toil, and for Agamemnon's sake that thou didst
slay my son? But, in the first place, monstrous villain, never can the race
of barbarians be friendly to the Grecians, never can this take place. But
what favor wert thou so eagerly currying? wert thou about to contract an
alliance, or was it that thou wert of kindred birth, or what pretext hadst
thou? or were they about to ravage the crops of thy country, having sailed
thither again? Whom, thinkest thou, wilt thou persuade of these things? The
gold, if thou wert willing to speak truth, the gold destroyed my son, and
thy base gains. For come, tell me this; how when Troy was prosperous, and a
tower yet girt around the city, and Priam lived, and the spear of Hector
was in its glory, why didst thou not then, if thou wert willing to lay him
under this obligation, bringing up my child, and retaining him in thy
palace, why didst thou not then slay him, or go and take him alive to the
Greeks? But when we were no longer in the light of prosperity, and the city
by its smoke showed that it was in the power of the enemy, thou slewest thy
guest who had come to thy hearth. Now hear besides how thou wilt appear
vile: thou oughtest, if thou wert the friend of the Greeks, to have given
the gold, which thou confessedst thou hast, not thine, but his,
distributing to those who were in need, and had long been strangers to
their native land. But thou, even now, hast not courage to part with it
from thy hand, but having it, thou still art keeping it close in thine
house. And yet, in bringing up my child, as it was thy duty to bring him
up, and in preserving him, thou hadst had fair honor. For in adversity
friends are most clearly proved good. But good circumstances have in every
case their friends. But if thou wert in want of money, and he in a
flourishing condition, my son had been to thee a vast treasure; but now,
thou neither hast him for thy friend, and the benefit from the gold is
gone, and thy sons are gone, and thou art--as thou art. But to thee,
Agamemnon, I say; if thou aidest this man, thou wilt appear to be doing
wrong. For thou wilt be conferring a benefit on a host, who is neither
pious, nor faithful to those to whom he ought, not holy, not just. But we
shall say that thou delightest in the bad, if thus thou actest: but I speak
no offense to my lords.

CHOR. Ah! Ah! How do good deeds ever supply to men the source of good
words!

AGA. Thankless my office to decide on others' grievances; but still I must,
for it brings disgrace on a man, having taken a thing in hand, to give it
up. But to me, be assured, thou neither appearest for my sake, nor for the
sake of the Grecians, to have killed this man thy guest, but that thou
mightest possess the gold in thy palace. But thou talkest of thy advantage,
when thou art in calamities.[21] Perhaps with you it is a slight thing to
kill your guests; but with us Grecians this thing is abhorred. How then, in
giving my decision that thou hast not injured, can I escape blame? I can
not; but as thou hast dared to do things dishonorable, endure now things
unpleasant.

POLY. Alas me! worsted, as it seems, by a woman who is a slave, I shall
submit to the vengeance of my inferiors.

AGA. Will it not then be justly, seeing thou hast acted wrong?

POLY. Alas me! wretched on account of these children and on account of my
eyes.

HEC. Thou sufferest? but what do I? Thinkest thou I suffer not for my
child?

POLY. Thou rejoicest in insulting me, O thou malicious woman.

HEC. For ought not I to rejoice on having avenged myself on thee?

POLY. But thou wilt not soon, when the liquid wave--

HEC. Shall bear me, _dost thou mean_, to the confines of the Grecian land?

POLY. --shall cover thee, having fallen from the shrouds.

HEC. From whom meeting with this violent leap?

POLY. Thyself shalt climb with thy feet up the ship's mast.

HEC. Having wings on my back, or in what way?

POLY. Thou shalt become a dog with a fiery aspect.

HEC. But how dost thou know of this my metamorphose?

POLY. Dionysius the Thracian prophet told it me.

HEC. But did he not declare to thee any of the evils which thou sufferest?

POLY. No: for, _if he had_, thou never wouldst thus treacherously have
taken me.

HEC. [22]Thence shall I conclude my life in death, or still live on?

POLY. Thou shalt die. But the name of thy tomb shall be--

HEC. Dost thou speak of it as in any way correspondent to my shape?

POLY. [23]The tomb of the wretched dog, a mark to mariners.

HEC. I heed it not, since thou at least hast felt my vengeance.

POLY. And it is fated too for thy daughter Cassandra to die.

HEC. I renounce these prophecies; I give them for thyself to bear.

POLY. Him shall his wife slay, a cruel guardian of his house.

HEC. Never yet may the daughter of Tyndarus have arrived at such madness.

POLY. Even this man himself, having lifted up the axe.

AGA. What ho! thou art mad, and art desirous of obtaining greater ills.

POLY. Kill me, for the murderous bath at Argos awaits thee.

AGA. Will ye not, slaves, forcibly drag him from my presence?

POLY. Thou art galled at what thou hearest.

AGA. Will ye not stop his mouth?

POLY. Stop it: for the word is spoken.

AGA. Will ye not as quick as possible cast him out on some desert island,
since he is thus, and past endurance insolent? But do thou, wretched
Hecuba, go and bury thy two dead: and you, O Trojan dames, must approach
your masters' tents, for I perceive that the gales are favorable for
wafting us to our homes. And may we sail in safety to our native country,
and behold our household and families in prosperity, having found rest from
these toils.

CHOR. Come, my friends, to the harbor, and the tents, to undergo the tasks
imposed by our masters. For necessity is relentless.

*       *       *       *       *

NOTES ON HECUBA

*       *       *       *

[1] Homer makes Dymas, not Cisseus, the father of Hecuba. Virgil however
follows Euripides, the rest of the Latin poets Virgil.

[2] In the martial time of antiquity the spear was reverenced as something
divine, and signified the chief command in arms, it was also the insigne of
the highest civil authority: in this sense Euripides in other places uses
the word δορυ. See Hippol. 988.

[3] τριταιος properly signifies _triduanus_; here it is used for τριτος,
the cardinal number for the ordinal. So also Hippol. 275.

Πως δ' ου, τριταιαν γ' ουσ' ασιτος ‛ημεραν:

[4] Most interpreters render this, _leaning on the crooked staff with my
hand_. Nor has Beck altered it in his Latin version, though he transcribed
Musgrave's note. "σκολιω, σκιμπωνι (_for which Porson directs_ σκιπωνι,)
Scipiones in universum recti sunt, non curvi. Loquitur igitur non de vero
scipione, sed metaphorice de brachio, quod ancillis innitens, scipionis
usum præstabat; quodque, ob cubiti flexuram, σκολιον σκιμπωμα vocat."

[5] _that babbling knave_.] Tzetzes on Lycophron, line 763. κοπις, ‛ο
‛ρητωρ, και εμπειρος, ‛ο ‛υπο πολλων πραγματων κεκομμενος. In the Index to
Lycophron κοπις is translated _scurra_.

[6] Among the ancients it was the custom for virgins to have a great
quantity of golden ornaments about them, to which Homer alludes, Il. Β.
872.

‛Ος και χρυσον εχων πολεμον δ' ιεν ηϋτε κουρη. PORSON.

[7] This is the only sense that can be made of ενθανειν, and this sense
seems strained: Brunck proposes εντακηναι for ενθανειν γε. See Note [A].

[8] λιμνη is used for the _sea_ in Troades 444; as also in Iliad Ν. 21, and
Odyssey Γ. 1. and in many other passages of Homer.

[9] The construction is η πορευσεις με ενθα νασων; for εις εκεινην των
νασων, ενθα.

[10] κεκλημαι for ειμι, not an unusual signification. Hippol. 2, θεα
κεκλημαι Κυπρις.

[11] _When she perceived it,_ εφρασθη, συνηκεν, εγνω, ενοησεν. _Hesych_.

[12] The Gods beneath he despised, by casting him out without a tomb; the
Gods above, as the guardians of the rites of hospitality.

[13] _Whatever was due_, either on the score of friendship, or as an
equivalent for his care and protection.

[14] Musgrave proposes to read προμισθιαν for προμηθιαν: the version above
is in accordance with the scholiast and the paraphrast.

[15] See note on Medea 338.

[16] The story of the daughters of Danaus is well known.

[17] Of this there are two accounts given in the Scholia. The one is, that
the women of Lemnos being punished by Venus with an ill savor, and
therefore neglected by their husbands, conspired against them and slew
them. The other is found in Herodotus, Erato, chap. 138. see also Æsch.
Choephoræ, line 627, ed. Schutz.

[18] Polymestor was guilty of two crimes, αδικιας and ασεβειας, for he had
both violated the laws of men, and profaned the deity of Jupiter
Hospitalis. Whence Agamemnon, v. 840, hints that he is to suffer on both
accounts.

και βουλομαι θεων θ' ‛ουνεκ ανοσιον ξενον,
και του δικαιον, τηνδε σοι δουναι δικην.

The Chorus therefore says, _Ubi contingit eundem et Justitiæ et Diis esse
addictum, exitiale semper malum esse_; or, as the learned Hemsterheuyse has
more fully and more elegantly expressed, it, _Ubi_, id est, _in quo_, vel
_in quem cadit et concurrit, ut ob crimen commissum simul et humanæ
justitiæ et Deorum vindictæ sit obnoxius, ac velut oppignoratus; illi
certissimum exitium imminet_. This sense the words give, if for ου, we read
‛ου, i.e. in the sense of ‛οπου. MUSGRAVE. Correct Dindorf's text to ‛ου.

[19] συμπεσεειν _in unum coire, coincidere_. In this sense it is used also,
Herod. Euterpe, chap. 49.

[20] The verbal adjective in τος is almost universally used in a passive
sense; ‛υποπτος, however, in this place is an exception to the rule, as are
also, καλυπτης, Soph. Antig. 1011, μεμπτος, Trachin. 446.

[21] Perhaps the preferable way is to make κακοισιν agree with ανθρωποις
understood; that the sense may be, _You are a bad man to talk of your
advantage as a plea for having acted thus_.

[22] Θανουσα δ' η ζωσ' ενθαδ' εκπλησω βιον; a similar expression occurs in
the Anthologia.

σιγων παρερχου τον ταλαιπωρον βιον,
αυτος σιωπηι τον χρονον μιμουμενος,
λαθων δε και βιωσον. ει δε μη, θανων.

[23] The place of her burial was called Cynosema, a promontory of the
Thracian Chersonese. It was here that the Athenians gained a naval victory
over the Peloponnesians and Syracusans, in the twenty-first year of the
Peloponnesian war. Thucydides, book viii.

*       *       *       *

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

*       *       *       *

[A] Vs. 246, ενθανειν γε. "Pravam esse scripturam dici Brunckius et Corayus
viderunt; quorum ille legere voluit ‛ωστ' εντακηναι, hic vero ‛ωστ'
εμβαλειν. Sed neuter rem acu tetigit. Euripides scripsit: ‛ωστ' εν γε
φυναι, uti patet ex Hom. Il. Ζ. 253, εν τ' αρα ‛οι φυ χειρι, Od. Π. 21,
παντα κυσεν περιφυς, Theocrit. Id. xiii. 47, ται δ' εν χερι πασαι εφυσαν,
et, quod rem conficit, ex Euripidis ipsius Ion. 891, λευκοις δ' εμφυσας
καρποις χειρων." G. BURGES, apud _Revue de Philologie_, vol. i. No. 5. p.
457.

[B] We must, I think, read τολμαιν.

[C] Dindorf disposes these lines differently, but I prefer Porson's
arrangement, as follows:

ΕΚ. εκβλητον, η πες. φ. δορος;
ΘΕΡ. εν ψαμαθωι λευραι
ποντου νιν, κ.τ.λ.

*       *       *       *       *       *

ORESTES.

*       *       *       *

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

ELECTRA.
HELEN.
HERMIONE.
CHORUS.
ORESTES.
MENELAUS.
TYNDARUS.
PYLADES.
A PHRYGIAN.
APOLLO.

*       *       *       *       *

THE ARGUMENT.

*       *       *       *

Orestes, in revenge for the murder of his father, took off Ægisthus and
Clyætmnestra; but having dared to slay his mother, he was instantly
punished for it by being afflicted with madness. But on Tyndarus, the
father of her who was slain, laying an accusation against him, the Argives
were about to give a public decision on this question, "What ought he, who
has dared this impious deed, to suffer?" By chance Menelaus, having
returned from his wanderings, sent in Helen indeed by night, but himself
came by day, and being entreated by Orestes to aid him, he rather feared
Tyndarus the accuser: but when the speeches came to be spoken among the
populace, the multitude were stirred up to kill Orestes. * * * * But
Pylades, his friend, accompanying him, counseled him first to take revenge
on Menelaus by killing Helen. As they were going on this project, they were
disappointed of their hope by the Gods snatching away Helen from them. But
Electra delivered up Hermione, when she made her appearance, into their
hands, and they were about to kill her. When Menelaus came, and saw himself
bereft by them at once of his wife and child, he endeavored to storm the
palace; but they, anticipating his purpose, threatened to set it on fire.
Apollo, however, having appeared, said that he had conducted Helen to the
Gods, and commanded Orestes to take Hermione to wife, and Electra to dwell
with Pylades, and, after that he was purified of the murder, to reign over
Argos.

The scene of the piece is laid at Argos; But the chorus consists of Argive
women, intimate associates of Electra, who also come on inquiring about the
calamity of Orestes. The play has a catastrophe rather suited to comedy.
The opening scene of the play is thus arranged. Orestes is discovered
before the palace of Agamemnon, fatigued, and, on account of his madness,
lying on a couch on which Electra is sitting by him at his feet. A
difficulty has been started, why does not she sit at his head? for thus
would she seem to watch more tenderly over her brother, if she sat nearer
him. The poet, it is answered, seems to have made this arrangement on
account of the Chorus; for Orestes, who had but just then and with
difficulty gotten to sleep, would have been awakened, if the women that
constituted the Chorus had stood nearer to him. But this we may infer from
what Electra says to the Chorus, "Σιγα, σιγα, λεπτον ιχνος αρβυληις." It is
probable then that the above is the reason of this arrangement.

The play is among the most celebrated on the stage, but infamous in its
morals; for, with the exception of Pylades, all the characters are bad
persons.

*       *       *       *       *

ORESTES.

*       *       *       *

ELECTRA.

There is no word so dreadful to relate, nor suffering, nor heaven-inflicted
calamity, the burden of which human nature may not be compelled to bear.
For Tantalus, the blest, (and I am not reproaching his fortune, _when I say
this_,) the son of Jupiter, as they report, trembling at the rock which
impends over his head, hangs in the air, and suffers this punishment, as
they say indeed, because, although being a man, yet having the honor of a
table in common with the Gods upon equal terms, he possessed an
ungovernable tongue, a most disgraceful malady. He begat Pelops, and from
him sprung Atreus, for whom the Goddess having carded the wool[1] spun the
thread of contention, _and doomed him_ to make war on Thyestes his
relation; (why must I commemorate things unspeakable?) But Atreus then[2]
killed his children--and feasted him. But from Atreus, for I pass over in
silence the misfortunes which intervened, sprung Agamemnon, the
illustrious, (if he was indeed illustrious,) and Menelaus; their mother
Aërope of Crete. But Menelaus indeed marries Helen, the hated of the Gods,
but King Agamemnon _obtained_ Clytæmnestra's bed, memorable throughout the
Grecians: from whom we virgins were born, three from one mother;
Chrysothemis, and Iphigenia, and myself Electra; and Orestes the male part
of the family, from a most unholy mother, who slew her husband, having
covered him around with an inextricable robe; the reason however it is not
decorous in a virgin to tell; I leave this undeclared for men to consider
as they will. But why indeed must I accuse the injustice of Phœbus? Yet
persuaded he Orestes to kill that mother that brought him forth, a deed
which gained not a good report from all men. But nevertheless he did slay
her, as he would not be disobedient to the God. I also took a share in the
murder, but such as a woman ought to take. As did Pylades also who
perpetrated this deed with us. From that time wasting away, the wretched
Orestes is afflicted with a grievous malady, but falling on his couch there
lies, but his mother's blood whirls him to frenzy (for I dread to mention
those Goddesses, the Eumenides, who persecute him with terror). Moreover
this is the sixth day since his slaughtered mother was purified by fire as
to her body. During which he has neither taken any food down his throat, he
has not bathed his limbs, but covered beneath his cloak, when indeed his
body is lightened of its disease, on coming to his right mind he weeps, but
at another time starts suddenly from his couch, as a colt from his yoke.
But it has been decreed by this city of Argos, that no one shall receive us
who have slain a mother under their roof, nor at their fire, and that none
shall speak to us; but this is the appointed day, in the which the city of
the Argives will pronounce their vote, whether it is fitting that we should
die being stoned with stones, or having whet the sword, should plunge it
into our necks. But I yet have some hope that we may not die, for Menelaus
has arrived at this country from Troy, and filling the Nauplian harbor with
his oars is mooring his fleet off the shore, having been lost in wanderings
from Troy a long time: but the much-afflicted Helen has he sent before to
our palace, having taken advantage of the night, lest any of those, whose
children died under Ilium, when they saw her coming, by day, might go so
far as to stone her; but she is within bewailing her sister, and the
calamity of her family. She has however some consolation in her woes, for
the virgin Hermione, whom Menelaus bringing from Sparta, left at our
palace, when he sailed to Troy, and gave as a charge to my mother to bring
up, in her she rejoices, and forgets her miseries. But I am looking at each
avenue when I shall see Menelaus present, since, for the rest, we ride on
slender power,[3] if we receive not some succor from him; the house of the
unfortunate is an embarrassed state of affairs.

ELECTRA. HELEN.

HEL. O daughter of Clytæmnestra and Agamemnon, O Electra, thou that hast
remained a virgin a long time. How are ye, O wretched woman, both you, and
your brother, the wretched Orestes (he was the murderer of his mother)? For
by thy converse I am not polluted, transferring, as I do, the blame to
Phœbus. And yet I groan the death of Clytæmnestra, whom, after that I
sailed to Troy, (how did I sail, urged by the maddening fate of the Gods!)
I saw not, but of her bereft I lament my fortune.

ELEC. Helen, why should I inform thee of things thou seest thyself here
present, the race of Agamemnon in calamities. I indeed sleepless sit
companion to the wretched corse, (for he is a corse, in that he breathes so
little,) but at his fortune I murmur not. But thou a happy woman, and thy
husband a happy man, have come to us, who fare most wretchedly.

HEL. But what length of time has he been lying on his couch?

ELEC. Ever since he shed his parent's blood.

HEL. Oh wretched, and his mother too, that thus she perished!

ELEC. These things are thus, so that he is unable to speak for misery.

HEL. By the Gods wilt thou oblige me in a thing, O virgin?

ELEC. As far as I am permitted by the little leisure I have from watching
by my brother.

HEL. Wilt thou go to the tomb of my sister?

ELEC. My mother's tomb dost thou desire? wherefore?

HEL. Bearing the first offerings of my hair, and my libations.

ELEC. But is it not lawful for thee to go to the tomb of thy friends?

HEL. No, for I am ashamed to show myself among the Argives.

ELEC. Late art thou discreet, then formerly leaving thine home
disgracefully.

HEL. True hast thou spoken, but thou speakest not pleasantly to me.

ELEC. But what shame possesses thee among the Myceneans?

HEL. I fear the fathers of those who are dead under Ilium.

ELEC. For this is a dreadful thing; and at Argos thou art declaimed against
by every one's mouth.

HEL. Do thou then grant me this favor, and free me from this fear.

ELEC. I can not look upon the tomb of my mother.

HEL. And yet it is disgraceful for servants to bear these.

ELEC. But why not send thy daughter Hermione?

HEL. It is not well for virgins to go among the crowd.

ELEC. And yet she might repay the dead the care of her education.

HEL. Right hast thou spoken, and I obey thee, O virgin, and I will send my
daughter, for thou sayest well. Come forth, my child Hermione, before the
house, and take these libations in thine hand, and my hair, and, going to
the tomb of Clytæmnestra, leave there this mixture of milk and honey, and
the froth of wine, and standing on the summit of the mound, say thus:
"Helen, thy sister, presents thee with these libations, in fear herself to
approach thy tomb, and afraid of the populace of Argos:" and bid her hold
kind intentions toward me, and thyself, and my husband, and toward these
two miserable persons whom the God has destroyed. But promise all the
offerings to the manes, whatever it is fitting that I should perform for a
sister. Go, my child, hasten, and when thou hast offered the libations at
the tomb, remember to return back as speedily as possible.

ELEC. [_alone_] O Nature, what a great evil art thou among men, and the
safeguard of those who possess thee, with virtue! For see, how she has
shorn off the extremities of her hair, in order to preserve her beauty; but
she is the same woman she always was. May the Gods detest thee, for that
thou hast destroyed me, and this man, and the whole state of Greece: oh
wretch that I am! But my dear friends that accompany me in my lamentations
are again present; perhaps they will disturb the sleeper from his slumber,
and will melt my eyes in tears when I behold my brother raving.

ELECTRA, CHORUS.

ELEC. O most dear woman, proceed with a gentle foot, make no noise, let
there be heard no sound. For your friendliness is very kind, but to awake
him will be a calamity to me. Hush, hush--gently advance the tread of thy
sandal, make no noise, let there be heard no sound. Move onward from that
place--onward from before the couch.

CHOR. Behold, I obey.

ELEC. St! st! Speak to me, my friend, as the breathing of the soft reed
pipe.

CHOR. See, I utter a voice low as an under note.

ELEC. Ay, thus come hither, come hither, approach quietly--go quietly: tell
me, for what purpose, I pray, are ye come? For he has fallen on his couch,
and been sleeping some time.

CHOR. How is he? Give us an account of him, my friend.

ELEC. What fortune can I say of him? and what his calamities? still indeed
he breathes, but sighs at short intervals.

CHOR. What sayest thou? Oh, the unhappy man!

ELEC. You will kill him if you move his eyelids, now that he is taking the
sweetest enjoyment of sleep.

CHOR. Unfortunate on account of these most angry deeds from heaven! oh!
wretched on account of thy sufferings!

ELEC. Alas! alas! Apollo himself unjust, then spoke unjust things, when at
the tripod of Themis he commanded the unhallowed, inauspicious murder of my
mother.

CHOR. Dost thou see? he moves his body in the robes that cover him.

ELEC. You by your cries, O wretch, have disturbed him from his sleep.

CHOR. I indeed think he is sleeping yet.

ELEC. Will you not depart from us? will you not bend your footsteps back
from the house, ceasing this noise?

CHOR. He sleeps.

ELEC. Thou sayest well.

CHOR. Venerable, venerable Night, thou that dispensest sleep to languid
mortals, come from Erebus; come, come, borne on thy wings to the house of
Agamemnon; for by our griefs and by our sufferings we are quite undone,
undone.

ELEC. Ye were making a noise.

CHOR. No. (Note [A].)

ELEC. Silently, silently repressing the high notes of your voice, apart
from his couch, you will enable him to have the tranquil enjoyment of
sleep.

CHOR. Tell us; what end to his miseries awaits him?

ELEC. Death, death; what else can? for he has no appetite for food.