And have thou in thy breast
The heart that Perseus had,[448]
And for thy friends beneath,
And those on earth who dwell,
Go thou and work the deed
Acceptable to them, 820
Of bitter, wrathful mood,
And consummate within
*The loathly work of blood;
[And bidding Vengeance come as thine ally,]
Destroy the murderer.
_Enter_ ÆGISTHOS
_Ægis._ Not without summons came I, but by word
Of courier fetched, and learn that travellers bring
Their tale of tidings new, in no wise welcome.
As for Orestes' death, with it to charge
The house would be a burden dropping fear
To one by that old bloodshed sorely stung.[449]
How shall I count these things? As clear and true?
Or are they vague reports of woman's fears, 830
That leap up high and die away to nought?
What can'st thou say that will my mind inform?
_Chor._ We heard, 'tis true; but go thou in and ask
Of these same strangers. Nought is found in words
Of messengers like asking, man from man.
_Ægis._ I wish to see and probe the messenger,
If he himself were present at the death,
Or tells it hearing of a vague report:
They shall not cheat a mind with eyes wide open.
[_Exit_
_Chor._ Zeus! Zeus! what words shall I 840
Now speak, whence start in prayer,
*Invoking help of Gods?
How with all wish for good
Shall I speak fitting words?
For now the sharp sword-points,
Red with the blood of man,
Will either work for aye
The utter overthrow
Of Agamemnon's house,
Or, kindling fire and torch
For freedom thus achieved,
Will he the sceptre wield
Of duly-ordered sway,
His father's pride and state: 850
Such is the contest he,
Orestes, godlike one,
Now wages all alone,
The one sole combatant,[450]
In place of him who fell,
Against those twain. May victory be his!
_Ægisth._ [_groaning within_] Ah! ah! Woe's me!
_Chor._ Hark! hark! How goes it now?
What issue has been wrought within the house?
Let us hold back while they the deed are doing,
That we may seem as guiltless of these ills:
For surely now the fight has reached its end.
_Enter_ Servant _from the chief door_
_Serv._ Alas! alas! my master perishes! 860
Alas! alas! a third time yet I call.
Ægisthos is no more; but open now
With all your speed, and loosen ye the bolts
That bar the women's gates. A man's full strength
Is needed; not indeed that that would help
A man already slain.
[_Rushes to the gate of the woman's half of the
palace_
Ho there! I say:
I speak to the deaf; to those that sleep I utter
In vain my useless cries. And where is she?
Where's Clytæmnestra? What doth she do now?
Her neck upon the razor's edge doth seem
To fall, down-stricken by a vengeance just. 870
_Enter_ CLYTÆMNESTRA _from the side door_
_Clytæm._ What means all this? What cry is this thou mak'st?
_Serv._ I say the dead are killing one who lives.
_Clytæm._ Ah, me! I see the drift of thy dark speech;
By guile we perish, as of old we slew:
Let some one hand at once axe strong to slay;
Let's see if we are conquered or can conquer,
For to that point of evil am I come.
_Enter_ ORESTES _and_ PYLADES _from the other door_
_Orest._ 'Tis thou I seek: he there has had enough.
_Clytæm._ Ah me! my loved Ægisthos! Art thou dead?
_Orest._ Lov'st thou the man? Then in the self-same tomb 880
Shalt thou now lie, nor in his death desert him.
_Clytæm._ [_baring her bosom_] Hold, boy! Respect
this breast of mine, my son,[451]
Whence thou full oft, asleep, with toothless gums,
Hast sucked the milk that sweetly fed thy life.
_Orest._ What shall I do, my Pylades? Shall I
Through this respect forbear to slay my mother?
_Pyl._[452] Where, then, are Loxias' other oracles,
The Pythian counsels, and the fast-sworn vows?
Have all men hostile rather than the Gods.
_Orest._ My judgment goes with thine; thou speakest well:
[_To_ CLYTÆMNESTRA] Follow: I mean to slay thee where he lies,890
For while he lived thou held'st him far above
My father. Sleep thou with him in thy death,
Since thou lov'st him, and whom thou should'st love hatest.
_Clytæm._ I reared thee, and would fain grow old with thee.
_Orest._ What! Thou live with me, who did'st slay my father?
_Clytæm._ Fate, O my son, must share the blame of that.
_Orest._ This fatal doom, then, it is Fate that sends.
_Clytæm._ Dost thou not fear a parent's curse, my son?
_Orest._ Thou, though my mother, did'st to ill chance cast me.
_Clytæm._ No outcast thou, so sent to house allied. 900
_Orest._ I was sold doubly, though of free sire born.
_Clytæm._ Where is the price, then, that I got for thee?
_Orest._ I shrink for shame from pressing that charge home.
_Clytæm._ Nay, tell thy father's wantonness as well.
_Orest._ Blame not the man who toils when thou'rt at ease.[453]
_Clytæm._ 'Tis hard, my son, for wives to miss their husband.
_Orest._ The husband's toil keeps her that sits at home.[453]
_Clytæm._ Thou seem'st, my son, about to slay thy mother.
_Orest._ It is not I that slay thee, but thyself.
_Clytæm._ Take heed, beware a mother's vengeful hounds.[454] 910
_Orest._ How, slighting this, shall I escape my father's?
_Clytæm._ I seem in life to wail as to a tomb.[455]
_Orest._ My father's fate ordains this doom for thee.
_Clytæm._ Ah me! the snake is here I bare and nursed.[456]
_Orest._ An o'er-true prophet was that dread dream-born;
Thou slewest one thou never should'st have slain,
Now suffer fate should never have been thine.
[_Exit_ ORESTES, _leading_ CLYTÆMNESTRA _into the
palace, and followed by_ PYLADES
_Chor._ E'en of these two I wail the twin mischance;
But since long line of murder culminates
In poor Orestes, this we yet accept,
That he, our one light, fall not utterly. 920