PYTHIAN PRIESTESS
APOLLO
ATHENA
_Ghost of Clytæmnestra_
ORESTES
HERMES
_Chorus of the Erinnyes_
_Athenian Citizens, Women, and Girls_
_ARGUMENT.—The Erinnyes who appeared to Orestes after the murder of
Clytæmnestra made his life miserable, and drove him without rest from
land to land. And he, seeking to escape them, had recourse to the Oracle
of Apollo at Delphi, believing that he who had sent him to do the work
of vengeance would also help to free him from this wretchedness. But the
Erinnyes followed him there also, and took their places even within the
holy shrine of the Oracle, and while Orestes knelt on the central hearth
as a suppliant, they sat upon the seats there, and for very weariness
fell asleep._