ORESTES

  Do not forget the bath where you were hacked to death.

  ELECTRA

  Do not forget the trap-net they invented.

  ORESTES

  You were snared in fetters, though not bronze.

  ELECTRA

  Trussed up inside a cowardly covering.

  ORESTES

  Do these humiliations rouse you from your sleep?

  ELECTRA

  And are you lifting up your much-loved head?

  ORESTES

  Send Justice as an ally to your friends;

  or give us strength to get a grip as strong as theirs,

  if, after your defeat, you want to wrest back victory.

  ELECTRA

  500 And, father, hear this final call for help:

  see here these chicks of yours, perched on your tomb.

  Take pity on the crying of the female and the male.

  ORESTES

  And don’t wipe out the seed of this bloodline.

  ELECTRA

  And then, though dead, you won’t have wholly died.

  ORESTES

  For children keep a man’s repute still living after death;

  like corks, they hold the net afloat,

  and stop the flaxen web from sinking down.

  ELECTRA

  Hear us: for you we raise up our lament.

  ORESTES

  If you support our claims, you will preserve yourself.

  CHORUS LEADER

  510 It is quite right you have expressed yourselves at length

  to make up for the lack of mourning at this tomb.

  But next, since you are firmly set on deeds,

  it is high time to start, and try your fate.

  ORESTES

  You’re right. But first, to keep on track,

  I need to know just why she sent libations here.

  What was the point in trying—far too late—

  to make amends and heal that trauma too far gone for cure?

  I see no sense in offering such a futile favor to the dead.

  The gifts are far too paltry for the crime—

  520 for as the proverb says, “Pour everything you have

  to pay for one man’s blood, it’s labor wasted.”

  So if you know the reason, please enlighten me.

  CHORUS LEADER

  I know, my child, since I was there.

  It was bad dreams and terrors of the night that shook

  that godless woman into sending these libations.

  ORESTES

  And did you find out what this dream was all about?

  CHORUS LEADER

  She dreamt, she said, of giving birth . . . but to a snake.

  ORESTES

  Where does this story lead? How does it end?

  CHORUS LEADER

  She wrapped it tight with cloth, just like a child.

  ORESTES

  530 What sort of feeding did it want, this new-born creature?

  CHORUS LEADER

  Within her dream she offered her own breast.

  ORESTES

  But was her nipple not then punctured by its fangs?

  CHORUS LEADER

  It sucked out clots of blood mixed with her milk.

  She woke in terror, screaming,

  and the many household lamps, that had been blotted

  by the dark, flared up to serve our mistress.

  Then she sent these grave-libations in the hope

  that they might work to cut out her disease.

  ORESTES

  540 Well then I pray to Earth here and my father’s tomb

  to bring this dream to pass for me.

  I offer this interpretation, one that fits it closely:

  the snake emerged from that same place as me;

  it latched onto the breast that once fed me;

  it drew sweet milk yet curdled with her blood;

  she screamed in horror at all this.

  So it must be that, as she nourished this monstrosity,

  so must she die by violence.

  And I, turned snake . . . I am to kill her.

  550 That is what the dream proclaims.

  CHORUS LEADER

  Yes, I approve your reading of this omen—

  may it turn out true.

  And now tell us, your friends, about what still remains—

  who should be taking action, and who not.

  ORESTES

  The plan is simple. First Electra here should go inside.

  I urge on you and her to keep our plotting secret.

  That way those who slaughtered a great man by stealth

  shall be themselves entrapped by stealth,

  and die in the same noose,

  just as Apollo told in prophecy.

  560 I shall myself approach the outer gateway,

  looking like a stranger, kitted out with baggage;

  I’ll bring Pylades along with me,

  our family’s closest ally, and we’ll imitate

  the dialect that’s spoken in his land of Phocis.

  And then if none of those who man the doors

  will open up to us in friendly fashion—

  since this house contains malignity—

  we shall stay put just as we are,

  so anybody passing by will speculate and say,

  “Now, why’s Aegisthus keeping new arrivals at the gate,

  570 if he’s indoors and knows of them?”

  But if I once get past the outer gates

  and find him sitting on my father’s throne,

  or if he comes and gives me audience,

  then, just as soon as I set eyes on him—

  before he has the time to say,

  “Where is the stranger from?”—

  I’ll make a corpse of him, impaled on my swift blade.

  Then the Erinys—hardly short of blood—

  will drink a third, unblended cup.

  [To ELECTRA.]

  Now you go in and keep good watch

  580 around the house, so things are organized to fit.

  [To the CHORUS.]

  And you I would advise to keep your tongue discreet,

  keep silent when you should, and speak to fit the moment.

  In all else, I call on Hermes to keep watch,

  and make this contest of the sword go well for me.

  [ORESTES and PYLADES go off.]

  Choral Song

  CHORUS

  The earth produces

  many fearsome beasts and terrors,

  the sea embraces

  seething shoals of dreadful monsters.

  590 The sudden flashes

  flaring through the earth and heavens

  inflict their dangers

  on both winged and walking creatures;

  and there’s the damage

  dealt by furious blasts of tempests.

  But these are nothing

  set beside harm done by people—

  by men through daring

  and the recklessness of women,

  who partner ruin

  through their dangerous emotions.

  The female-ruling

  600 power of illicit passion

  breaks the union

  that binds humans into households.

  Everyone should know the tale of

  how Althaea killed her son

  Meleager, when she cruelly

  carried through her deadly plan:

  how she took the blood-red timber,

  placed it on a new-lit fire,

  burned the log that shared his life span

  610 ever since his first birth-cry

  when he issued from her belly,

  matched in time with him exactly

  up until his dying day.

  There’s another hateful story

  tells how deadly Scylla’s greed

  handed into hostile clutches

  him most close to her by blood.

  She was tempted by the necklace,

  spellbound by its golden look,

  so she cut her father Nisus’

  death-denying magic lock.

  620 As he slept all unsuspecting,

  he was sent to Hades’ dark.

  The crime of the women of Lemnos

  is foulest of all these deeds;

  they ruthlessly murdered their husbands

  deserting to other beds.

  Comparing all of these ruthless

  atrocities from the past,

  there’s not one surpasses the coupling

  this household detests the worst:

  the treacherous plot of a woman

  who murdered her warrior lord,

  (630) and sleeps with another. I value

  the wife who remains subdued.

  (640) So stand up for Justice in the fight

  when trampled down underfoot;

  safeguard the solemn power of Zeus

  from those attempting abuse.

  Justice is rooted firm, and Fate

  is eager to forge the blade,

  bringing a child inside the gate

  650 to get crimes of past blood paid.

  She’ll finally claim her dues

  through the brooding Erinys.

  Scene 6

  [ORESTES, accompanied by PYLADES, enters from the side, goes to the door, and knocks.]

  ORESTES

  Hello there! Slave!

  Can you not hear my knocking at the outer gates?

  [Knocks again.]

  Is someone there?

  Hey, Slave, once more—who’s there inside?

  [Knocks again.]

  Three times I’ve called for someone to come out—

  if, that is, this palace of Aegisthus offers hospitality.

  SLAVE [emerging from inside]

  All right, all right, I hear you!

  Where’s the stranger from?

  ORESTES

  Please tell the masters of the house

  that I have come to bring them news.

  660 And hurry up—night’s dusky chariot is drawing near,

  and it’s high time for traders to be dropping anchor

  in a friendly house of welcome.

  Fetch out someone who’s in charge—

  the mistress of the house . . .

  or more appropriate would be the man,

  since courtesies inhibit what can be expressed,

  whereas in conversation man-to-man

  one can be bold and say just what one means.

  CLYTEMNESTRA [entering]

  Please tell me, strangers, what you want.

  We have available the kind of comforts

  that are proper for a household of this standing:

  670 hot baths, and beds to soothe out weariness,

  and honest company.

  But if there’s any further business needing

  serious discussion, then that’s men’s work,

  and we shall pass it on to them.

  ORESTES

  I am a Daulian from Phocis.

  As I was setting out for Argos,

  loaded with my baggage on my back,

  I met up with a man, unknown to me and me to him.

  He, when he had inquired about my destination, said

  —this Strophius, as I learned that he was called—

  680 he said, “Well, since you’re bound for Argos, stranger,

  please remember this exactly,

  and convey it to his parents: say to them,

  ‘Orestes is gone, dead’—

  make sure you get that right.

  Find if his family prefers to fetch him home,

  or have him buried far away for evermore;

  and bring me their instructions on this choice.

  An urn of bronze already holds within its sides

  the ashes of the man—he has been well lamented.”

  I have told you what I heard.

  I do not know if I am speaking with some relatives;

  690 but it is only right to let his parents know.

  CLYTEMNESTRA

  Such pain! This spells complete destruction!

  O you curse upon this house, so hard to overthrow,

  you spy on all, including those put out of reach of harm.

  From far you still bring down with your unerring arrows

  all my dearest kin, and strip me bare.

  And now Orestes, who was carefully avoiding paths

  that brought him near the deadly quagmire. . . .

  But the brightest hope that there would be

  a healer for the fever-frenzy in our house . . .

  set down that hope as dashed.

  ORESTES

  700 I would have wished it might have been

  for some good news I’d come to be received

  by hosts so prosperous as you—

  since host and guest is such a warm relationship.

  But all the same I would have felt it impious

  not to have completely carried through

  a matter such as this, once I’d agreed to it.

  CLYTEMNESTRA

  You’ll not be treated any less deservingly,

  nor be less welcome in this house—

  some other person would have brought this message.

  710 But it’s time for guests who have been traveling far all day

  to be made comfortable.

  [To Attendant.]

  Escort him and this fellow-trader

  to the men’s guest rooms, and let them have

  whatever’s proper for this house.

  And I’ll convey these matters to the masters of the house;

  we are not short of friends

  with whom we can discuss this sad event.

  [ORESTES and PYLADES are taken into the palace; CLYTEMNESTRA also goes in.]

  Choral Chant

  CHORUS

  When, dear fellow servants, when shall

  720 we be able to proclaim our

  voices fully for Orestes?

  Mighty Earth and mighty grave mound

  heaped upon our royal commander’s

  corpse, now listen, and now help us.

  Now’s the moment for Persuasion

  slyly to conspire with Hermes,

  and to steer this trial by sword blade.

  Scene 7

  [The old nurse, CILISSA, comes out of the palace in distress.]

  CHORUS LEADER

  730 It looks as though that stranger has been

  making trouble: I can see the aged nursemaid

  of Orestes here, reduced to tears.

  Where are you heading from the palace gates, Cilissa,

  with sorrow as your unhired fellow-traveler?

  CILISSA

  Aegisthus—the mistress has commanded me

  to fetch him here as quick as possible

  to meet the strangers, and to find out more

  about this new report by talking man to man.

  In front of servants she put on a gloomy face,

  but she was laughing secretly inside.

  For her, events have turned out well,

  740 although disastrous for this house—

  that’s what the strangers have made clear.

  When that man hears the tale, he’s going to be delighted.

  The old misfortune-mixture in this house of Atreus

  was quite hard enough and pained me to the heart,

  but never have I had to suffer such a blow as this.

  I had to drain the dregs of all those other troubles,

  but for dear Orestes . . .

  the one who wore me out, the one I cared for

  750 from the day that I received him from his mother . . .

  How often I was made to get up in the night,

  awakened by his piercing cries,

  and had to put up with unpleasant tasks—

  and all for nothing.

  It has to be a nurse’s job to cater

  for a creature with no words.

  A little one in baby clothes can’t say

  what is the matter: whether it is hunger or else thirst,

  or other business—a baby’s bowels and bladder

  have a willpower of their own.

  I’ve had to try and prophesy—and often got it wrong,

  and so become a laundress of baby clothes,

  760 both nurse and washer-woman rolled in one.

  I carried out this task to raise Orestes for his father’s sake.

  And now I hear that he is dead.

  I have to go and fetch the man

  who has defiled this house.

  And he’ll be all too glad to hear this news.

  CHORUS LEADER

  What kind of crew did she tell him to bring?

  CILISSA

  What do you mean? Explain more clearly.

  CHORUS LEADER

  To come with bodyguards, or on his own?

  CILISSA

  She said to bring his full-armed escort.

  CHORUS LEADER

  770 In that case, do not pass that message

  to our hated master: but put on instead a cheerful front,

  and tell him he should come as quickly as he can,

  and that he has no need to be afraid.

  The one who takes a message can contrive

  to make a crooked word sound straight.