THE
ELECTRA
OF
EURIPIDES
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH RHYMING VERSE
WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY
GILBERT MURRAY, LL.D., D.LITT.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
FORTY-SECOND THOUSAND
LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD
RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C.1
_First Edition, November_ 1905
_Reprinted, November_ 1906
" _February_ 1908
" _March_ 1910
" _December_ 1910
" _February_ 1913
" _April_ 1914
" _June_ 1916
" _November_ 1919
" _April_ 1921
" _January_ 1923
" _May_ 1925
" _August_ 1927
" _January_ 1929
_(All rights reserved)_
PERFORMED AT
THE COURT THEATRE, LONDON
IN 1907
_Printed in Great Britain by
Unwin Brothers Ltd., Woking_
Introduction[1]
The _Electra_ of Euripides has the distinction of being, perhaps, the best
abused, and, one might add, not the best understood, of ancient tragedies.
"A singular monument of poetical, or rather unpoetical perversity;" "the
very worst of all his pieces;" are, for instance, the phrases applied to
it by Schlegel. Considering that he judged it by the standards of
conventional classicism, he could scarcely have arrived at any different
conclusion. For it is essentially, and perhaps consciously, a protest
against those standards. So, indeed, is the tragedy of _The Trojan Women_;
but on very different lines. The _Electra_ has none of the imaginative
splendour, the vastness, the intense poetry, of that wonderful work. It is
a close-knit, powerful, well-constructed play, as realistic as the tragic
conventions will allow, intellectual and rebellious. Its _psychology_
reminds one of Browning, or even of Ibsen.
To a fifth-century Greek all history came in the form of legend; and no
less than three extant tragedies, Aeschylus' _Libation-Bearers_ (456
B.C.), Euripides' _Electra_ (413 B.C.), and Sophocles' _Electra_ (date
unknown: but perhaps the latest of the three) are based on the particular
piece of legend or history now before us. It narrates how the son and
daughter of the murdered king, Agamemnon, slew, in due course of revenge,
and by Apollo's express command, their guilty mother and her paramour.
Homer had long since told the story, as he tells so many, simply and
grandly, without moral questioning and without intensity. The atmosphere
is heroic. It is all a blood-feud between chieftains, in which Orestes,
after seven years, succeeds in slaying his foe Aegisthus, who had killed
his father. He probably killed his mother also; but we are not directly
told so. His sister may have helped him, and he may possibly have gone mad
afterwards; but these painful issues are kept determinedly in the shade.
Somewhat surprisingly, Sophocles, although by his time Electra and
Clytemnestra had become leading figures in the story and the mother-murder
its essential climax, preserves a very similar atmosphere. His tragedy is
enthusiastically praised by Schlegel for "the celestial purity, the fresh
breath of life and youth, that is diffused over so dreadful a subject."
"Everything dark and ominous is avoided. Orestes enjoys the fulness of
health and strength. He is beset neither with doubts nor stings of
conscience." Especially laudable is the "austerity" with which Aegisthus
is driven into the house to receive, according to Schlegel, a specially
ignominious death!
This combination of matricide and good spirits, however satisfactory to
the determined classicist, will probably strike most intelligent readers
as a little curious, and even, if one may use the word at all in
connection with so powerful a play, undramatic. It becomes intelligible as
soon as we observe that Sophocles was deliberately seeking what he
regarded as an archaic or "Homeric" style (cf. Jebb, Introd. p. xli.); and
this archaism, in its turn, seems to me best explained as a conscious
reaction against Euripides' searching and unconventional treatment of the
same subject (cf. Wilamowitz in _Hermes_, xviii. pp. 214 ff.). In the
result Sophocles is not only more "classical" than Euripides; he is more
primitive by far than Aeschylus.
For Aeschylus, though steeped in the glory of the world of legend, would
not lightly accept its judgment upon religious and moral questions, and
above all would not, in that region, play at make-believe. He would not
elude the horror of this story by simply not mentioning it, like Homer, or
by pretending that an evil act was a good one, like Sophocles. He faces
the horror; realises it; and tries to surmount it on the sweep of a great
wave of religious emotion. The mother-murder, even if done by a god's
command, is a sin; a sin to be expiated by unfathomable suffering. Yet,
since the god cannot have commanded evil, it is a duty also. It is a sin
that _must_ be committed.
Euripides, here as often, represents intellectually the thought of
Aeschylus carried a step further. He faced the problem just as Aeschylus
did, and as Sophocles did not. But the solution offered by Aeschylus did
not satisfy him. It cannot, in its actual details, satisfy any one. To him
the mother-murder--like most acts of revenge, but more than most--was a
sin and a horror. Therefore it should not have been committed; and the god
who enjoined it _did_ command evil, as he had done in a hundred other
cases! He is no god of light; he is only a demon of old superstition,
acting, among other influences, upon a sore-beset man, and driving him
towards a miscalled duty, the horror of which, when done, will unseat his
reason.
But another problem interests Euripides even more than this. What kind of
man was it--above all, what kind of woman can it have been, who would do
this deed of mother-murder, not in sudden fury but deliberately, as an act
of "justice," after many years? A "sympathetic" hero and heroine are out
of the question; and Euripides does not deal in stage villains. He seeks
real people. And few attentive readers of this play can doubt that he has
found them.
The son is an exile, bred in the desperate hopes and wild schemes of
exile; he is a prince without a kingdom, always dreaming of his wrongs and
his restoration; and driven by the old savage doctrine, which an oracle
has confirmed, of the duty and manliness of revenge. He is, as was shown
by his later history, a man subject to overpowering impulses and to fits
of will-less brooding. Lastly, he is very young, and is swept away by his
sister's intenser nature.
That sister is the central figure of the tragedy. A woman shattered in
childhood by the shock of an experience too terrible for a girl to bear; a
poisoned and a haunted woman, eating her heart in ceaseless broodings of
hate and love, alike unsatisfied--hate against her mother and stepfather,
love for her dead father and her brother in exile; a woman who has known
luxury and state, and cares much for them; who is intolerant of poverty,
and who feels her youth passing away. And meantime there is her name, on
which all legend, if I am not mistaken, insists; she is _A-lektra_, "the
Unmated."
There is, perhaps, no woman's character in the range of Greek tragedy so
profoundly studied. Not Aeschylus' Clytemnestra, not Phaedra nor Medea.
One's thoughts can only wander towards two great heroines of "lost" plays,
Althaea in the _Meleager_, and Stheneboea in the _Bellerophon_.
G.M.
[Footnote 1: Most of this introduction is reprinted, by the kind
permission of the Editors, from an article in the _Independent Review_
vol. i. No. 4.]
ELECTRA
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
CLYTEMNESTRA, _Queen of Argos and Mycenae; widow of Agamemnon_.
ELECTRA, _daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra_.
ORESTES, _son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, now in banishment_.
A PEASANT, _husband of Electra_.
AN OLD MAN, _formerly servant to Agamemnon_.
PYLADES, _son of Strophios, King of Phocis; friend to Orestes_.
AEGISTHUS, _usurping King of Argos and Mycenae, now husband of
Clytemnestra_.
The Heroes CASTOR and POLYDEUCES.
CHORUS of Argive Women, with their LEADER.
FOLLOWERS of ORESTES; HANDMAIDS of CLYTEMNESTRA.
_The Scene is laid in the mountains of Argos. The play was first produced
between the years_ 414 _and_ 412 B.C.
ELECTRA
_The scene represents a hut on a desolate mountain side; the river Inachus
is visible in the distance. The time is the dusk of early dawn, before
sunrise. The_ PEASANT _is discovered in front of the hut_.
PEASANT.
Old gleam on the face of the world, I give thee hail,
River of Argos land, where sail on sail
The long ships met, a thousand, near and far,
When Agamemnon walked the seas in war;
Who smote King Priam in the dust, and burned
The storied streets of Ilion, and returned
Above all conquerors, heaping tower and fane
Of Argos high with spoils of Eastern slain.
So in far lands he prospered; and at home
His own wife trapped and slew him. 'Twas the doom
Aegisthus wrought, son of his father's foe.
Gone is that King, and the old spear laid low
That Tantalus wielded when the world was young.
Aegisthus hath his queen, and reigns among
His people. And the children here alone,
Orestes and Electra, buds unblown
Of man and womanhood, when forth to Troy
He shook his sail and left them--lo, the boy
Orestes, ere Aegisthus' hand could fall,
Was stolen from Argos--borne by one old thrall,
Who served his father's boyhood, over seas
Far off, and laid upon King Strophios' knees
In Phocis, for the old king's sake. But here
The maid Electra waited, year by year,
Alone, till the warm days of womanhood
Drew nigh and suitors came of gentle blood
In Hellas. Then Aegisthus was in fear
Lest she be wed in some great house, and bear
A son to avenge her father. Close he wrought
Her prison in his house, and gave her not
To any wooer. Then, since even this
Was full of peril, and the secret kiss
Of some bold prince might find her yet, and rend
Her prison walls, Aegisthus at the end
Would slay her. Then her mother, she so wild
Aforetime, pled with him and saved her child.
Her heart had still an answer for her lord
Murdered, but if the child's blood spoke, what word
Could meet the hate thereof? After that day
Aegisthus thus decreed: whoso should slay
The old king's wandering son, should win rich meed
Of gold; and for Electra, she must wed
With me, not base of blood--in that I stand
True Mycenaean--but in gold and land
Most poor, which maketh highest birth as naught.
So from a powerless husband shall be wrought
A powerless peril. Had some man of might
Possessed her, he had called perchance to light
Her father's blood, and unknown vengeances
Risen on Aegisthus yet.
Aye, mine she is:
But never yet these arms--the Cyprian knows
My truth!--have clasped her body, and she goes
A virgin still. Myself would hold it shame
To abase this daughter of a royal name.
I am too lowly to love violence. Yea,
Orestes too doth move me, far away,
Mine unknown brother! Will he ever now
Come back and see his sister bowed so low?
Doth any deem me fool, to hold a fair
Maid in my room and seek no joy, but spare
Her maidenhood? If any such there be,
Let him but look within. The fool is he
In gentle things, weighing the more and less
Of love by his own heart's untenderness.
[_As he ceases_ ELECTRA _comes out of the hut. She is in mourning garb,
and carries a large pitcher on her head. She speaks without observing the_
PEASANT'S _presence_.
ELECTRA.
Dark shepherdess of many a golden star,
Dost see me, Mother Night? And how this jar
Hath worn my earth-bowed head, as forth and fro
For water to the hillward springs I go?
Not for mere stress of need, but purpose set,
That never day nor night God may forget
Aegisthus' sin: aye, and perchance a cry
Cast forth to the waste shining of the sky
May find my father's ear.... The woman bred
Of Tyndareus, my mother--on her head
Be curses!--from my house hath outcast me;
She hath borne children to our enemy;
She hath made me naught, she hath made Orestes naught....
[_As the bitterness of her tone increases, the_ PEASANT _comes forward._
PEASANT.
What wouldst thou now, my sad one, ever fraught
With toil to lighten my toil? And so soft
Thy nurture was! Have I not chid thee oft,
And thou wilt cease not, serving without end?
ELECTRA (_turning to him with impulsive affection_).
O friend, my friend, as God might be my friend,
Thou only hast not trampled on my tears.
Life scarce can be so hard, 'mid many fears
And many shames, when mortal heart can find
Somewhere one healing touch, as my sick mind
Finds thee.... And should I wait thy word, to endure
A little for thine easing, yea, or pour
My strength out in thy toiling fellowship?
Thou hast enough with fields and kine to keep;
'Tis mine to make all bright within the door.
'Tis joy to him that toils, when toil is o'er,
To find home waiting, full of happy things.
PEASANT.
If so it please thee, go thy way. The springs
Are not far off. And I before the morn
Must drive my team afield, and sow the corn
In the hollows.--Not a thousand prayers can gain
A man's bare bread, save an he work amain.
[ELECTRA _and the_ PEASANT _depart on their several ways. After a few
moments there enter stealthily two armed men,_ ORESTES _and_ PYLADES.
ORESTES.
Thou art the first that I have known in deed
True and my friend, and shelterer of my need.
Thou only, Pylades, of all that knew,
Hast held Orestes of some worth, all through
These years of helplessness, wherein I lie
Downtrodden by the murderer--yea, and by
The murderess, my mother!... I am come,
Fresh from the cleansing of Apollo, home
To Argos--and my coming no man yet
Knoweth--to pay the bloody twain their debt
Of blood. This very night I crept alone
To my dead father's grave, and poured thereon
My heart's first tears and tresses of my head
New-shorn, and o'er the barrow of the dead
Slew a black lamb, unknown of them that reign
In this unhappy land.... I am not fain
To pass the city gates, but hold me here
Hard on the borders. So my road is clear
To fly if men look close and watch my way;
If not, to seek my sister. For men say
She dwelleth in these hills, no more a maid
But wedded. I must find her house, for aid
To guide our work, and learn what hath betid
Of late in Argos.--Ha, the radiant lid
Of Dawn's eye lifteth! Come, friend; leave we now
This trodden path. Some worker of the plough,
Or serving damsel at her early task
Will presently come by, whom we may ask
If here my sister dwells. But soft! Even now
I see some bondmaid there, her death-shorn brow
Bending beneath its freight of well-water.
Lie close until she pass; then question her.
A slave might help us well, or speak some sign
Of import to this work of mine and thine.
[_The two men retire into ambush._ ELECTRA _enters, returning from the
well._
ELECTRA.
Onward, O labouring tread,
As on move the years;
Onward amid thy tears,
O happier dead!
Let me remember. I am she, [_Strophe_ 1.
Agamemnon's child, and the mother of me
Clytemnestra, the evil Queen,
Helen's sister. And folk, I ween,
That pass in the streets call yet my name
Electra.... God protect my shame!
For toil, toil is a weary thing,
And life is heavy about my head;
And thou far off, O Father and King,
In the lost lands of the dead.
A bloody twain made these things be;
One was thy bitterest enemy,
And one the wife that lay by thee.
Brother, brother, on some far shore [_Antistrophe_ 1.
Hast thou a city, is there a door
That knows thy footfall, Wandering One?
Who left me, left me, when all our pain
Was bitter about us, a father slain,
And a girl that wept in her room alone.
Thou couldst break me this bondage sore,
Only thou, who art far away,
Loose our father, and wake once more....
Zeus, Zeus, dost hear me pray?...
The sleeping blood and the shame and the doom!
O feet that rest not, over the foam
Of distant seas, come home, come home!
What boots this cruse that I carry? [_Strophe_ 2.
O, set free my brow!
For the gathered tears that tarry
Through the day and the dark till now,
Now in the dawn are free,
Father, and flow beneath
The floor of the world, to be
As a song in she house of Death:
From the rising up of the day
They guide my heart alway,
The silent tears unshed,
And my body mourns for the dead;
My cheeks bleed silently,
And these bruised temples keep
Their pain, remembering thee
And thy bloody sleep.
Be rent, O hair of mine head!
As a swan crying alone
Where the river windeth cold,
For a loved, for a silent one,
Whom the toils of the fowler hold,
I cry, Father, to thee,
O slain in misery!
The water, the wan water, [_Antistrophe_ 2.
Lapped him, and his head
Drooped in the bed of slaughter
Low, as one wearièd;
Woe for the edgèd axe,
And woe for the heart of hate,
Houndlike about thy tracks,
O conqueror desolate,
From Troy over land and sea,
Till a wife stood waiting thee;
Not with crowns did she stand,
Nor flowers of peace in her hand;
With Aegisthus' dagger drawn
For her hire she strove,
Through shame and through blood alone;
And won her a traitor's love.
[_As she ceases there enter from right and left the_ CHORUS, _consisting
of women of Argos, young and old, in festal dress_.
CHORUS.
_Some Women._
Child of the mighty dead, [_Strophe_.
Electra, lo, my way
To thee in the dawn hath sped,
And the cot on the mountain grey,
For the Watcher hath cried this day:
He of the ancient folk,
The walker of waste and hill,
Who drinketh the milk of the flock;
And he told of Hera's will;
For the morrow's morrow now
They cry her festival,
And before her throne shall bow
Our damsels all.
ELECTRA.
Not unto joy, nor sweet
Music, nor shining of gold,
The wings of my spirit beat.
Let the brides of Argos hold
Their dance in the night, as of old;
I lead no dance; I mark
No beat as the dancers sway;
With tears I dwell in the dark,
And my thought is of tears alway,
To the going down of the day.
Look on my wasted hair
And raiment.... This that I bear,
Is it meet for the King my sire,
And her whom the King begot?
For Troy, that was burned with fire
And forgetteth not?
CHORUS.
_Other Women._
Hera is great!--Ah, come, [_Antistrophe_.
Be kind; and my hand shall bring
Fair raiment, work of the loom,
And many a golden thing,
For joyous robe-wearing.
Deemest thou this thy woe
Shall rise unto God as prayer,
Or bend thine haters low?
Doth God for thy pain have care?
Not tears for the dead nor sighs,
But worship and joy divine
Shall win thee peace in thy skies,
O daughter mine!
ELECTRA.
No care cometh to God
For the voice of the helpless; none
For the crying of ancient blood.
Alas for him that is gone,
And for thee, O wandering one:
That now, methinks, in a land
Of the stranger must toil for hire,
And stand where the poor men stand,
A-cold by another's fire,
O son of the mighty sire:
While I in a beggar's cot
On the wrecked hills, changing not,
Starve in my soul for food;
But our mother lieth wed
In another's arms, and blood
Is about her bed.
LEADER.
On all of Greece she wrought great jeopardy,
Thy mother's sister, Helen,--and on thee.
[ORESTES _and_ PYLADES _move out from their concealment_; ORESTES _comes
forward_: PYLADES _beckons to two_ ARMED SERVANTS _and stays with them in
the background_.
ELECTRA.
Woe's me! No more of wailing! Women, flee!
Strange armèd men beside the dwelling there
Lie ambushed! They are rising from their lair.
Back by the road, all you. I will essay
The house; and may our good feet save us!
ORESTES (_between_ ELECTRA _and the hut_).
Stay,
Unhappy woman! Never fear my steel.
ELECTRA (_in utter panic_).
O bright Apollo! Mercy! See, I kneel;
Slay me not.
ORESTES.
Others I have yet to slay
Less dear than thou.
ELECTRA.
Go from me! Wouldst thou lay
Hand on a body that is not for thee?
ORESTES.
None is there I would touch more righteously.
ELECTRA.
Why lurk'st thou by my house? And why a sword?
ORESTES.
Stay. Listen! Thou wilt not gainsay my word.
ELECTRA.
There--I am still. Do what thou wilt with me.
Thou art too strong.
ORESTES.
A word I bear to thee...
Word of thy brother.
ELECTRA.
Oh, friend! More than friend!
Living or dead?
ORESTES.
He lives; so let me send
My comfort foremost, ere the rest be heard.
ELECTRA.
God love thee for the sweetness of thy word!
ORESTES.
God love the twain of us, both thee and me.
ELECTRA.
He lives! Poor brother! In what land weareth he
His exile?
ORESTES.
Not one region nor one lot
His wasted life hath trod.
ELECTRA.
He lacketh not
For bread?
ORESTES.
Bread hath he; but a man is weak
In exile.
ELECTRA.
What charge laid he on thee? Speak.
ORESTES.
To learn if thou still live, and how the storm,
Living, hath struck thee.
ELECTRA.
That thou seest; this form
Wasted...
ORESTES.
Yea, riven with the fire of woe.
I sigh to look on thee.
ELECTRA.
My face; and, lo,
My temples of their ancient glory shorn.
ORESTES.
Methinks thy brother haunts thee, being forlorn;
Aye, and perchance thy father, whom they slew...
ELECTRA.
What should be nearer to me than those two?
ORESTES.
And what to him, thy brother, half so dear
As thou?
ELECTRA.
His is a distant love, not near
At need.
ORESTES.
But why this dwelling place, this life
Of loneliness?
ELECTRA (_with sudden bitterness_).
Stranger, I am a wife....
O better dead!
ORESTES.
That seals thy brother's doom!
What Prince of Argos...?
ELECTRA.
Not the man to whom
My father thought to give me.
ORESTES.
Speak; that I
May tell thy brother all.
ELECTRA.
'Tis there, hard by,
His dwelling, where I live, far from men's eyes.
ORESTES.
Some ditcher's cot, or cowherd's, by its guise!
ELECTRA (_struck with shame for her ingratitude_).
A poor man; but true-hearted, and to me
God-fearing.
ORESTES.
How? What fear of God hath he?
ELECTRA.
He hath never held my body to his own.
ORESTES.
Hath he some vow to keep? Or is it done
To scorn thee?
ELECTRA.
Nay; he only scorns to sin
Against my father's greatness.
ORESTES.
But to win
A princess! Doth his heart not leap for pride?
ELECTRA.
He honoureth not the hand that gave the bride.
ORESTES.
I see. He trembles for Orestes' wrath?
ELECTRA.
Aye, that would move him. But beside, he hath
A gentle heart.
ORESTES.
Strange! A good man.... I swear
He well shall be requited.
ELECTRA.
Whensoe'er
Our wanderer comes again!
ORESTES.
Thy mother stays
Unmoved 'mid all thy wrong?
ELECTRA.
A lover weighs
More than a child in any woman's heart.
ORESTES.
But what end seeks Aegisthus, by such art
Of shame?
ELECTRA.
To make mine unborn children low
And weak, even as my husband.
ORESTES.
Lest there grow
From thee the avenger?
ELECTRA.
Such his purpose is:
For which may I requite him!
ORESTES.
And of this
Thy virgin life--Aegisthus knows it?
ELECTRA.
Nay,
We speak it not. It cometh not his way.
ORESTES.
These women hear us. Are they friends to thee?
ELECTRA.
Aye, friends and true. They will keep faithfully
All words of mine and thine.
ORESTES (_trying her_).
Thou art well stayed
With friends. And could Orestes give thee aid
In aught, if e'er...
ELECTRA.
Shame on thee! Seest thou not?
Is it not time?
ORESTES (_catching her excitement_).
How time? And if he sought
To slay, how should he come at his desire?
ELECTRA.
By daring, as they dared who slew his sire!
ORESTES.
Wouldst thou dare with him, if he came, thou too,
To slay her?
ELECTRA.
Yes; with the same axe that slew
My father!
ORESTES.
'Tis thy message? And thy mood
Unchanging?
ELECTRA.
Let me shed my mother's blood,
And I die happy.
ORESTES.
God!... I would that now
Orestes heard thee here.
ELECTRA.
Yet, wottest thou,
Though here I saw him, I should know him not.
ORESTES.
Surely. Ye both were children, when they wrought
Your parting.
ELECTRA.
One alone in all this land
Would know his face.
ORESTES.
The thrall, methinks, whose hand
Stole him from death--or so the story ran?
ELECTRA.
He taught my father, too, an old old man
Of other days than these.
ORESTES.
Thy father's grave...
He had due rites and tendance?
ELECTRA.
What chance gave,
My father had, cast out to rot in the sun.
ORESTES.
God, 'tis too much!... To hear of such things done
Even to a stranger, stings a man.... But speak,
Tell of thy life, that I may know, and seek
Thy brother with a tale that must be heard
Howe'er it sicken. If mine eyes be blurred,
Remember, 'tis the fool that feels not. Aye,
Wisdom is full of pity; and thereby
Men pay for too much wisdom with much pain.
LEADER.
My heart is moved as this man's. I would fain
Learn all thy tale. Here dwelling on the hills
Little I know of Argos and its ills.
ELECTRA.
If I must speak--and at love's call, God knows,
I fear not--I will tell thee all; my woes,
My father's woes, and--O, since thou hast stirred
This storm of speech, thou bear him this my word--
His woes and shame! Tell of this narrow cloak
In the wind; this grime and reek of toil, that choke
My breathing; this low roof that bows my head
After a king's. This raiment ... thread by thread,
'Tis I must weave it, or go bare--must bring,
Myself, each jar of water from the spring.
No holy day for me, no festival,
No dance upon the green! From all, from all
I am cut off. No portion hath my life
'Mid wives of Argos, being no true wife.
No portion where the maidens throng to praise
Castor--my Castor, whom in ancient days,
Ere he passed from us and men worshipped him,
They named my bridegroom!--
And she, she!... The grim
Troy spoils gleam round her throne, and by each hand
Queens of the East, my father's prisoners, stand,
A cloud of Orient webs and tangling gold.
And there upon the floor, the blood, the old
Black blood, yet crawls and cankers, like a rot
In the stone! And on our father's chariot
The murderer's foot stands glorying, and the red
False hand uplifts that ancient staff, that led
The armies of the world!... Aye, tell him how
The grave of Agamemnon, even now,
Lacketh the common honour of the dead;
A desert barrow, where no tears are shed,
No tresses hung, no gift, no myrtle spray.
And when the wine is in him, so men say,
Our mother's mighty master leaps thereon,
Spurning the slab, or pelteth stone on stone,
Flouting the lone dead and the twain that live:
"Where is thy son Orestes? Doth he give
Thy tomb good tendance? Or is all forgot?"
So is he scorned because he cometh not....
O Stranger, on my knees, I charge thee, tell
This tale, not mine, but of dumb wrongs that swell
Crowding--and I the trumpet of their pain,
This tongue, these arms, this bitter burning brain;
These dead shorn locks, and he for whom they died!
His father slew Troy's thousands in their pride;
He hath but one to kill.... O God, but one!
Is he a man, and Agamemnon's son?
LEADER.
But hold: is this thy husband from the plain,
His labour ended, hasting home again?
_Enter the_ PEASANT.
PEASANT.
Ha, who be these? Strange men in arms before
My house! What would they at this lonely door?
Seek they for me?--Strange gallants should not stay
A woman's goings.
ELECTRA.
Friend and helper!--Nay,
Think not of any evil. These men be
Friends of Orestes, charged with words for me!...
Strangers, forgive his speech.
PEASANT.
What word have they
Of him? At least he lives and sees the day!
ELECTRA.
So fares their tale--and sure I doubt it not!
PEASANT.
And ye two still are living in his thought,
Thou and his father?
ELECTRA.
In his dreams we live.
An exile hath small power.
PEASANT.
And did he give
Some privy message?
ELECTRA.
None: they come as spies
For news of me.
PEASANT.
Thine outward news their eyes
Can see; the rest, methinks, thyself will tell.
ELECTRA.
They have seen all, heard all. I trust them well.
PEASANT.
Why were our doors not open long ago?--
Be welcome, strangers both, and pass below
My lintel. In return for your glad words
Be sure all greeting that mine house affords
Is yours.--Ye followers, bear in their gear!--
Gainsay me not; for his sake are ye dear
That sent you to our house; and though my part
In life be low, I am no churl at heart.
[_The_ PEASANT _goes to the_ ARMED SERVANTS _at the back, to help them
with the baggage._
ORESTES (_aside to_ ELECTRA).
Is this the man that shields thy maidenhood
Unknown, and will not wrong thy father's blood?
ELECTRA.
He is called my husband. 'Tis for him I toil.
ORESTES.
How dark lies honour hid! And what turmoil
In all things human: sons of mighty men
Fallen to naught, and from ill seed again
Good fruit: yea, famine in the rich man's scroll
Writ deep, and in poor flesh a lordly soul.
As, lo, this man, not great in Argos, not
With pride of house uplifted, in a lot
Of unmarked life hath shown a prince's grace.
[_To the_ PEASANT, _who has returned._
All that is here of Agamemnon's race,
And all that lacketh yet, for whom we come,
Do thank thee, and the welcome of thy home
Accept with gladness.--Ho, men; hasten ye
Within!--This open-hearted poverty
Is blither to my sense than feasts of gold.
Lady, thine husband's welcome makes me bold;
Yet would thou hadst thy brother, before all
Confessed, to greet us in a prince's hall!
Which may be, even yet. Apollo spake
The word; and surely, though small store I make
Of man's divining, God will fail us not.
[ORESTES _and_ PYLADES _go in, following the_ SERVANTS.
LEADER.
O never was the heart of hope so hot
Within me. How? So moveless in time past,
Hath Fortune girded up her loins at last?
ELECTRA.
Now know'st thou not thine own ill furniture,
To bid these strangers in, to whom for sure
Our best were hardship, men of gentle breed?
PEASANT.
Nay, if the men be gentle, as indeed
I deem them, they will take good cheer or ill
With even kindness.
ELECTRA.
'Twas ill done; but still--
Go, since so poor thou art, to that old friend
Who reared my father. At the realm's last end
He dwells, where Tanaos river foams between
Argos and Sparta. Long time hath he been
An exile 'mid his flocks. Tell him what thing
Hath chanced on me, and bid him haste and bring
Meat for the strangers' tending.--Glad, I trow,
That old man's heart will be, and many a vow
Will lift to God, to learn the child he stole
From death, yet breathes.--I will not ask a dole
From home; how should my mother help me? Nay,
I pity him that seeks that door, to say
Orestes liveth!
PEASANT.
Wilt thou have it so?
I will take word to the old man. But go
Quickly within, and whatso there thou find
Set out for them. A woman, if her mind
So turn, can light on many a pleasant thing
To fill her board. And surely plenishing
We have for this one day.--'Tis in such shifts
As these, I care for riches, to make gifts
To friends, or lead a sick man back to health
With ease and plenty. Else small aid is wealth
For daily gladness; once a man be done
With hunger, rich and poor are all as one.
[_The_ PEASANT _goes off to the left_; ELECTRA _goes into the house._
* * * * *
CHORUS.
O for the ships of Troy, the beat [_Strophe_ 1.
Of oars that shimmered
Innumerable, and dancing feet
Of Nereids glimmered;
And dolphins, drunken with the lyre,
Across the dark blue prows, like fire,
Did bound and quiver,
To cleave the way for Thetis' son,
Fleet-in-the-wind Achilles, on
To war, to war, till Troy be won
Beside the reedy river.
Up from Euboea's caverns came [_Antistrophe_ 1.
The Nereids, bearing
Gold armour from the Lords of Flame,
Wrought for his wearing:
Long sought those daughters of the deep,
Up Pelion's glen, up Ossa's steep
Forest enchanted,
Where Peleus reared alone, afar,
His lost sea-maiden's child, the star
Of Hellas, and swift help of war
When weary armies panted.
There came a man from Troy, and told [_Strophe_ 2.
Here in the haven,
How, orb on orb, to strike with cold
The Trojan, o'er that targe of gold,
Dread shapes were graven.
All round the level rim thereof
Perseus, on wingèd feet, above
The long seas hied him;
The Gorgon's wild and bleeding hair
He lifted; and a herald fair,
He of the wilds, whom Maia bare,
God's Hermes, flew beside him.
[_Antistrophe_ 2.
But midmost, where the boss rose higher,
A sun stood blazing,
And wingèd steeds, and stars in choir,
Hyad and Pleiad, fire on fire,
For Hector's dazing:
Across the golden helm, each way,
Two taloned Sphinxes held their prey,
Song-drawn to slaughter:
And round the breastplate ramping came
A mingled breed of lion and flame,
Hot-eyed to tear that steed of fame
That found Pirênê's water.
The red red sword with steeds four-yoked [_Epode_.
Black-maned, was graven,
That laboured, and the hot dust smoked
Cloudwise to heaven.
Thou Tyndarid woman! Fair and tall
Those warriors were, and o'er them all
One king great-hearted,
Whom thou and thy false love did slay:
Therefore the tribes of Heaven one day
For these thy dead shall send on thee
An iron death: yea, men shall see
The white throat drawn, and blood's red spray,
And lips in terror parted.
[_As they cease, there enters from the left a very old man, bearing a
lamb, a wineskin, and a wallet_.
OLD MAN.
Where is my little Princess? Ah, not now;
But still my queen, who tended long ago
The lad that was her father.... How steep-set
These last steps to her porch! But faint not yet:
Onward, ye failing knees and back with pain
Bowed, till we look on that dear face again.
[_Enter_ ELECTRA.
Ah, daughter, is it thou?--Lo, here I am,
With gifts from all my store; this suckling lamb
Fresh from the ewe, green crowns for joyfulness,
And creamy things new-curdled from the press.
And this long-storèd juice of vintages
Forgotten, cased in fragrance: scant it is,
But passing sweet to mingle nectar-wise
With feebler wine.--Go, bear them in; mine eyes...
Where is my cloak?--They are all blurred with tears.
ELECTRA.
What ails thine eyes, old friend? After these years
Doth my low plight still stir thy memories?
Or think'st thou of Orestes, where he lies
In exile, and my father? Aye, long love
Thou gavest him, and seest the fruit thereof
Wasted, for thee and all who love thee!
OLD MAN.
All
Wasted! And yet 'tis that lost hope withal
I cannot brook. But now I turned aside
To see my master's grave. All, far and wide,
Was silence; so I bent these knees of mine
And wept and poured drink-offerings from the wine
I bear the strangers, and about the stone
Laid myrtle sprays. And, child, I saw thereon
Just at the censer slain, a fleeced ewe,
Deep black, in sacrifice: the blood was new
About it: and a tress of bright brown hair
Shorn as in mourning, close. Long stood I there
And wondered, of all men what man had gone
In mourning to that grave.--My child, 'tis none
In Argos. Did there come ... Nay, mark me now...
Thy brother in the dark, last night, to bow
His head before that unadorèd tomb?
O come, and mark the colour of it. Come
And lay thine own hair by that mourner's tress!
A hundred little things make likenesses
In brethren born, and show the father's blood.
ELECTRA (_trying to mask her excitement and resist the contagion of his_).
Old heart, old heart, is this a wise man's mood?...
O, not in darkness, not in fear of men,
Shall Argos find him, when he comes again,
Mine own undaunted ... Nay, and if it were,
What likeness could there be? My brother's hair
Is as a prince's and a rover's, strong
With sunlight and with strife: not like the long
Locks that a woman combs.... And many a head
Hath this same semblance, wing for wing, tho' bred
Of blood not ours.... 'Tis hopeless. Peace, old man.
OLD MAN.
The footprints! Set thy foot by his, and scan
The track of frame and muscles, how they fit!
ELECTRA.
That ground will take no footprint! All of it
Is bitter stone.... It hath?... And who hath said
There should be likeness in a brother's tread
And sister's? His is stronger every way.
OLD MAN.
But hast thou nothing...? If he came this day
And sought to show thee, is there no one sign
Whereby to know him?... Stay; the robe was thine,
Work of thy loom, wherein I wrapt him o'er
That night and stole him through the murderers' door.
ELECTRA.
Thou knowest, when Orestes was cast out
I was a child.... If I did weave some clout
Of raiment, would he keep the vesture now
He wore in childhood? Should my weaving grow
As his limbs grew?... 'Tis lost long since. No more!
O, either 'twas some stranger passed, and shore
His locks for very ruth before that tomb:
Or, if he found perchance, to seek his home,
Some spy...
OLD MAN.
The strangers! Where are they? I fain
Would see them, aye, and bid them answer plain...
ELECTRA.
Here at the door! How swift upon the thought!
_Enter_ ORESTES _and_ PYLADES.
OLD MAN.
High-born: albeit for that I trust them not.
The highest oft are false.... Howe'er it be,
[_Approaching them_.
I bid the strangers hail!
ORESTES.
All hail to thee,
Greybeard!--Prithee, what man of all the King
Trusted of old, is now this broken thing?
ELECTRA.
'Tis he that trained my father's boyhood.
ORESTES.
How?
And stole from death thy brother? Sayest thou?
ELECTRA.
This man was his deliverer, if it be
Deliverance.
ORESTES.
How his old eye pierceth me,
As one that testeth silver and alloy!
Sees he some likeness here?
ELECTRA.
Perchance 'tis joy,
To see Orestes' comrade, that he feels.
ORESTES.
None dearer.--But what ails the man? He reels
Dizzily back.
ELECTRA.
I marvel. I can say
No more.
OLD MAN (_in a broken voice_).
Electra, mistress, daughter, pray!
Pray unto God!
ELECTRA.
Of all the things I crave,
The thousand things, or all that others have,
What should I pray for?
OLD MAN.
Pray thine arms may hold
At last this treasure-dream of more than gold
God shows us!
ELECTRA.
God, I pray thee!... Wouldst thou more?
OLD MAN.
Gaze now upon this man, and bow before
Thy dearest upon earth!
ELECTRA.
I gaze on thee!
O, hath time made thee mad?
OLD MAN.
Mad, that I see
Thy brother?
ELECTRA.
My ... I know not what thou say'st:
I looked not for it...
OLD MAN.
I tell thee, here confessed
Standeth Orestes, Agamemnon's son!
ELECTRA.
A sign before I trust thee! O, but one!
How dost thou know...?
OLD MAN.
There, by his brow, I see
The scar he made, that day he ran with thee
Chasing thy fawn, and fell.
ELECTRA (_in a dull voice_).
A scar? 'Tis so.
I see a scar.
OLD MAN.
And fearest still to throw
Thine arms round him thou lovest?
ELECTRA.
O, no more!
Thy sign hath conquered me.... (_throwing herself into_ ORESTES' _arms_).
At last, at last!
Thy face like light! And do I hold thee fast,
Unhoped for?
ORESTES.
Yea, at last! And I hold thee.
ELECTRA.
I never knew...
ORESTES.
I dreamed not.
ELECTRA.
Is it he,
Orestes?
ORESTES.
Thy defender, yea, alone
To fight the world! Lo, this day have I thrown
A net, which once unbroken from the sea
Drawn home, shall ... O, and it must surely be!
Else men shall know there is no God, no light
In Heaven, if wrong to the end shall conquer right.
CHORUS.
Comest thou, comest thou now,
Chained by the years and slow,
O Day long sought?
A light on the mountains cold
Is lit, yea, a fire burneth,
'Tis the light of one that turneth
From roamings manifold,
Back out of exile old
To the house that knew him not.
Some spirit hath turned our way,
Victory visible,
Walking at thy right hand,
Belovèd; O lift this day
Thine arms, thy voice, as a spell;
And pray for thy brother, pray,
Threading the perilous land,
That all be well!
ORESTES.
Enough; this dear delight is mine at last
Of thine embracing; and the hour comes fast
When we shall stand again as now we stand,
And stint not.--Stay, Old Man: thou, being at hand
At the edge of time, advise me, by what way
Best to requite my father's murderers. Say,
Have I in Argos any still to trust;
Or is the love, once borne me, trod in dust,
Even as my fortunes are? Whom shall I seek?
By day or night? And whither turn, to wreak
My will on them that hate us? Say.
OLD MAN.
My son,
In thine adversity, there is not one
Will call thee friend. Nay, that were treasure-trove,
A friend to share, not faltering from love,
Fair days and foul the same. Thy name is gone
Forth to all Argos, as a thing o'erthrown
And dead. Thou hast not left one spark to glow
With hope in one friend's heart! Hear all, and know:
Thou hast God's fortune and thine own right hand,
Naught else, to conquer back thy fatherland.
ORESTES.
The deed, the deed! What must we do?
OLD MAN.
Strike down
Aegisthus ... and thy mother.
ORESTES.
'Tis the crown
My race is run for. But how find him?
OLD MAN.
Not
Within the city walls, however hot
Thy spirit.
ORESTES.
Ha! With watchers doth he go
Begirt, and mailèd pikemen?
OLD MAN.
Even so:
He lives in fear of thee, and night nor day
Hath slumber.
ORESTES.
That way blocked!--'Tis thine to say
What next remains.
OLD MAN.
I will; and thou give ear.
A thought has found me!
ORESTES.
All good thoughts be near,
For thee to speak and me to understand!
OLD MAN.
But now I saw Aegisthus, close at hand
As here I journeyed.
ORESTES.
That good word shall trace
My path for me! Thou saw'st him? In what place?
OLD MAN.
Out on the pastures where his horses stray.
ORESTES.
What did he there so far?--A gleam of day
Crosseth our darkness.
OLD MAN.
'Twas a feast, methought,
Of worship to the wild-wood nymphs he wrought.
ORESTES.
The watchers of men's birth? Is there a son
New born to him, or doth he pray for one
That cometh? [_Movement of_ ELECTRA.
OLD MAN.
More I know not; he had there
A wreathed ox, as for some weighty prayer.
ORESTES.
What force was with him? Not his serfs alone?
OLD MAN.
No Argive lord was there; none but his own
Household.
ORESTES.
Not any that aught know my face,
Or guess?
OLD MAN.
Thralls, thralls; who ne'er have seen thy face.
ORESTES.
Once I prevail, the thralls will welcome me!
OLD MAN.
The slaves' way, that; and no ill thing for thee!
ORESTES.
How can I once come near him?
OLD MAN.
Walk thy ways
Hard by, where he may see thee, ere he slays
His sacrifice.
ORESTES.
How? Is the road so nigh?
OLD MAN.
He cannot choose but see thee, passing by,
And bid thee stay to share the beast they kill.
ORESTES.
A bitter fellow-feaster, if God will!
OLD MAN.
And then ... then swift be heart and brain, to see
God's chances!
ORESTES.
Aye. Well hast thou counselled me.
But ... where is she?
OLD MAN.
In Argos now, I guess;
But goes to join her husband, ere the press
Of the feast.
ORESTES.
Why goeth not my mother straight
Forth at her husband's side?
OLD MAN.
She fain will wait
Until the gathered country-folk be gone.
ORESTES.
Enough! She knows what eyes are turned upon
Her passings in the land!
OLD MAN.
Aye, all men hate
The unholy woman.
ORESTES.
How then can I set
My snare for wife and husband in one breath?
ELECTRA (_coming forward_).
Hold! It is I must work our mother's death.
ORESTES.
If that be done, I think the other deed
Fortune will guide.
ELECTRA.
This man must help our need,
One friend alone for both.
OLD MAN.
He will, he will!
Speak on. What cunning hast thou found to fill
Thy purpose?
ELECTRA.
Get thee forth, Old Man, and quick
Tell Clytemnestra ... tell her I lie sick,
New-mothered of a man-child.
OLD MAN.
Thou hast borne
A son! But when?
ELECTRA.
Let this be the tenth morn.
Till then a mother stays in sanctity,
Unseen.
OLD MAN.
And if I tell her, where shall be
The death in this?
ELECTRA.
That word let her but hear,
Straight she will seek me out!
OLD MAN.
The queen! What care
Hath she for thee, or pain of thine?
ELECTRA.
She will;
And weep my babe's low station!
OLD MAN.
Thou hast skill
To know her, child; say on.
ELECTRA.
But bring her here,
Here to my hand; the rest will come.
OLD MAN.
I swear,
Here at the gate she shall stand palpable!
ELECTRA.
The gate: the gate that leads to me and Hell.
OLD MAN.
Let me but see it, and I die content.
ELECTRA.
First, then, my brother: see his steps be bent...
OLD MAN.
Straight yonder, where Aegisthus makes his prayer!
ELECTRA.
Then seek my mother's presence, and declare
My news.
OLD MAN.
Thy very words, child, as tho' spoke
From thine own lips!
ELECTRA.
Brother, thine hour is struck.
Thou standest in the van of war this day.
ORESTES (_rousing himself_).
Aye, I am ready.... I will go my way,
If but some man will guide me.
OLD MAN.
Here am I,
To speed thee to the end, right thankfully.
ORESTES (_turning as he goes and raising his hands to heaven_).
Zeus of my sires, Zeus of the lost battle,
ELECTRA.
Have pity; have pity; we have earned it well!
OLD MAN.
Pity these twain, of thine own body sprung!
ELECTRA.
O Queen o'er Argive altars, Hera high,
ORESTES.
Grant us thy strength, if for the right we cry.
OLD MAN.
Strength to these twain, to right their father's wrong!
ELECTRA.
O Earth, deep Earth, to whom I yearn in vain,
ORESTES.
And deeper thou, O father darkly slain,
OLD MAN.
Thy children call, who love thee: hearken thou!
ORESTES.
Girt with thine own dead armies, wake, O wake!
ELECTRA.
With all that died at Ilion for thy sake ...
OLD MAN.
And hate earth's dark defilers; help us now!
ELECTRA.
Dost hear us yet, O thou in deadly wrong,
Wronged by my mother?
OLD MAN.
Child, we stay too long.
He hears; be sure he hears!
ELECTRA.
And while he hears,
I speak this word for omen in his ears:
"Aegisthus dies, Aegisthus dies."... Ah me,
My brother, should it strike not him, but thee,
This wrestling with dark death, behold, I too
Am dead that hour. Think of me as one true,
Not one that lives. I have a sword made keen
For this, and shall strike deep.
I will go in
And make all ready. If there come from thee
Good tidings, all my house for ecstasy
Shall cry; and if we hear that thou art dead,
Then comes the other end!--Lo, I have said.
ORESTES.
I know all, all.
ELECTRA.
Then be a man to-day!
[ORESTES _and the_ OLD MAN _depart_.
O Women, let your voices from this fray
Flash me a fiery signal, where I sit,
The sword across my knees, expecting it.
For never, though they kill me, shall they touch
My living limbs!--I know my way thus much.
[_She goes into the house_.
* * * * *
CHORUS.
When white-haired folk are met [_Strophe_.
In Argos about the fold,
A story lingereth yet,
A voice of the mountains old,
That tells of the Lamb of Gold:
A lamb from a mother mild,
But the gold of it curled and beat;
And Pan, who holdeth the keys of the wild,
Bore it to Atreus' feet:
His wild reed pipes he blew,
And the reeds were filled with peace,
And a joy of singing before him flew,
Over the fiery fleece:
And up on the basèd rock,
As a herald cries, cried he:
"Gather ye, gather, O Argive folk,
The King's Sign to see,
The sign of the blest of God,
For he that hath this, hath all!"
Therefore the dance of praise they trod
In the Atreïd brethren's hall.
They opened before men's eyes [_Antistrophe_.
That which was hid before,
The chambers of sacrifice,
The dark of the golden door,
And fires on the altar floor.
And bright was every street,
And the voice of the Muses' tree.
The carven lotus, was lifted sweet;
When afar and suddenly,
Strange songs, and a voice that grew:
"Come to your king, ye folk!
Mine, mine, is the Golden Ewe!"
'Twas dark Thyestes spoke.
For, lo, when the world was still,
With his brother's bride he lay,
And won her to work his will,
And they stole the Lamb away!
Then forth to the folk strode he,
And called them about his fold,
And showed that Sign of the King to be,
The fleece and the horns of gold.
Then, then, the world was changed; [_Strophe_ 2.
And the Father, where they ranged,
Shook the golden stars and glowing,
And the great Sun stood deranged
In the glory of his going.
Lo, from that day forth, the East
Bears the sunrise on his breast,
And the flaming Day in heaven
Down the dim ways of the west
Driveth, to be lost at even.
The wet clouds to Northward beat;
And Lord Ammon's desert seat
Crieth from the South, unslaken,
For the dews that once were sweet,
For the rain that God hath taken.
'Tis a children's tale, that old [_Antistrophe_ 2.
Shepherds on far hills have told;
And we reck not of their telling,
Deem not that the Sun of gold
Ever turned his fiery dwelling,
Or beat backward in the sky,
For the wrongs of man, the cry
Of his ailing tribes assembled,
To do justly, ere they die!
Once, men told the tale, and trembled;
Fearing God, O Queen: whom thou
Hast forgotten, till thy brow
With old blood is dark and daunted.
And thy brethren, even now,
Walk among the stars, enchanted.
LEADER.
Ha, friends, was that a voice? Or some dream sound
Of voices shaketh me, as underground
God's thunder shuddering? Hark, again, and clear!
It swells upon the wind.--Come forth and hear!
Mistress, Electra!
ELECTRA, _a bare sword in her hand, comes from the house._
ELECTRA.
Friends! Some news is brought?
How hath the battle ended?
LEADER.
I know naught.
There seemed a cry as of men massacred!
ELECTRA.
I heard it too. Far off, but still I heard.
LEADER.
A distant floating voice ... Ah, plainer now!
ELECTRA.
Of Argive anguish!--Brother, is it thou?
LEADER.
I know not. Many confused voices cry...
ELECTRA.
Death, then for me! That answer bids me die.
LEADER.
Nay, wait! We know not yet thy fortune. Wait!
ELECTRA.
No messenger from him!--Too late, too late!
LEADER.
The message yet will come. 'Tis not a thing
So light of compass, to strike down a king.
_Enter a_ MESSENGER, _running_.
MESSENGER.
Victory, Maids of Argos, Victory!
Orestes ... all that love him, list to me!...
Hath conquered! Agamemnon's murderer lies
Dead! O give thanks to God with happy cries!
ELECTRA.
Who art thou? I mistrust thee.... 'Tis a plot!
MESSENGER.
Thy brother's man. Look well. Dost know me not?
ELECTRA.
Friend, friend; my terror made me not to see
Thy visage. Now I know and welcome thee.
How sayst thou? He is dead, verily dead,
My father's murderer...?
MESSENGER.
Shall it be said
Once more? I know again and yet again
Thy heart would hear. Aegisthus lieth slain!
ELECTRA.