_Cho._ Why mourn for ever the guileful slaughter of thy Father,
accursed deed?--_Electra._ I know your kind and tender friendship, yet
will never be dissuaded.--_Cho._ Yet what groans and prayers can raise
thy sire from the doomed pool of Hades? you go from woes bearable to
woes beyond bearing.--_Elec._ It is weak to forget parents so lost;
rather for me the nightingale that ever wails 'Itys,' or Niobe weeping
in stone.--_Cho._ Thou art not the only one who feels sorrow: there are
thy sisters, and another now mourning in a youth obscure, but who will
one day return to save.--_Elec._ Ah! him I yearn for, but he mocks my
messages, and promises yet never comes.--_Cho._ Take heart: Time is a
calm and patient deity; trusting in Zeus you will find neither Orestes
nor the God of Acheron forgetful.--_Elec._ Yet meanwhile the larger
portion of my life is gone; orphaned, un-wed, an alien stranger I serve
in the house where I was wont to reign.--_Cho._ Ah! that sad day!
Guile devised the blow and lust struck it!--_Elec._ Oh, most horrible
day, most horrible night! the foul banquet! the dread forms of death he
met with at their accursed hands, he who was my life!--_Cho._ But take
care: excess of grief makes you utter what may bring you into
trouble.--_Elec._ I know, but will never cease from uttering woe on
woe: leave me, I am beyond soothing, and will never pause to count my
tears.--_Cho._ It is with pure good will, as if a mother, I beg you not
to heap ills on ills.--_Elec._ Is misery limited? is it noble to
neglect the dead? if they escape without penalty fear of the Gods will
be swept from the earth. {250}