_Foreman of Chorus_. Now we shall have a clearer message than that of
the beacon-fires: all is well or . . . but I cannot put the other
alternative. _The Herald_ (_arrived opposite the Chorus_) solemnly
salutes the land of Argos he had never hoped to see again, salutes the
several Gods whose statues are now bright with the morning sun,
especially Apollo who has proved himself a Healer, and Hermes, patron of
Heralds; and then announces Agamemnon is close at hand, victorious over
Troy and having sent Paris to his merited punishment.--Observe how in the
parallel dialogue that follows the foreboding tone creeps in again in the
midst of the news of triumph. {520}
_Chor._ Joy, joy, thou herald of the Achaean host!
_Her._ All joy is mine: I shrink from death no more.
_Chor._ Did love for this thy fatherland so try thee?
_Her._ So that mine eyes weep tears for very joy.
_Chor._ Disease full sweet then this ye suffered from . . .
_Her._ How so? When taught, I shall thy meaning master.
_Chor._ Ye longed for us who yearned for you in turn.
_Her._ Say'st thou this land its yearning host yearned o'er?
_Chor._ Yea, so that oft I groaned in gloom of heart.
_Her._ Whence came these bodings that an army hates?
_Chor._ Silence I've held long since a charm for ill.
_Her._ How, when your lords were absent, feared ye any?
_Chor._ To use thy words, death now would welcome be. {533}
The Herald, not understanding the source of the Chorus' misgiving, goes
on to say of course their success is mixed: so fare all but the Gods.
They have had their tossings on the sea, their exposure to the night dews
till their hair is shaggy as beasts'; but why remember these now? our
toil is past--so he suddenly recollects is that of the dead they have
left behind--but he will shake off these feelings: Troy is captured. The
_Chorus_ feel youthful with such happy tidings. {569}
_Enter Clytaemnestra from the Palace._
_Clyt._ Now they will believe me, who were saying just now that women
believed too soon. What joy for a wife equal to that of a husband's
return? and I have kept my trust as stainless as bronze. [_Exit into
Palace._] The Foreman goes on to enquire as to Menelaus: the Herald
would fain not answer, and brings out the Greek dread of mingling bad
news with good--at last he is forced to acknowledge Menelaus has
disappeared, his ship sundered from the fleet by a terrible storm in which
They a compact swore who erst were foes,
Ocean and Fire, {634}
and the sea 'blossomed with wrecks of ships and dead Achaeans:' the fleet
itself barely escaped. [Thus: foreboding indirectly assisted by its
appearing that one of the two sons of Atreus has already been overtaken
by Nemesis.] {663}