What mortal man then doth not bow in awe
And fear before all this,
Hearing from me the destined ordinance
Assigned me by the Gods? 370
This task of mine is one of ancient days;
Nor meet I here with scorn,
Though 'neath the earth I dwell,
And live there in the darkness thick and dense,
Where never sunbeam falls.
_Enter_ ATHENA, _appearing in her chariot, and then alights_
_Athena._ I heard far off the cry of thine entreaty
E'en from Scamandros,[500] claiming there mine own,
The land which all Achaia's foremost leaders,
As portion chief from out the spoils of war,
Gave to me, trees and all, for evermore,
A special gift for Theseus' progeny. 380
Thence came I plying foot that never tires,
Flapping my ægis-folds, no need of wings,
My chariot drawn by young and vigorous steeds:
And seeing this new presence in the land,
I have no fear, though wonder fills mine eyes;
Who, pray, are ye? To all of you I speak,
And to this stranger at my statue suppliant.
And as for you, like none of Nature's births,
Nor seen by Gods among the Goddess-forms,
Nor yet in likeness of a mortal shape.... 390
But to speak ill of neighbours blameless found
Is far from just, and Right holds back from it.
_Chor._ Daughter of Zeus, thou shalt learn all in brief;
Children are we of everlasting Night;
[At home, beneath the earth, they call us Curses.]
_Athena._ Your race I know, and whence ye take your name.
_Chor._ Thou shalt soon know then what mine office is.
_Athena._ Then could I know, if ye clear speech would speak.
_Chor._ We from their home drive forth all murderers.
_Athena._ Where doth the slayer find the goal of flight? 400
_Chor._ Where to find joy in nought is still his wont.
_Athena._ And whirrest thou such flight on this man here?
_Chor._ Yea, for he thought it meet to slay his mother.
_Athena._ Was there no other power whose wrath he feared?
_Chor._ What impulse, then, should prick to matricide?
_Athena._ Two sides are here, and I but half have heard.
_Chor._ But he nor takes nor tenders us an oath.[501]
_Athena._ Thou lov'st the show of Justice more than act.
_Chor._ How so? Inform me. Skill thou dost not lack!
_Athena._ 'Tis not by oaths a cause unjust shall win.[502] 410
_Chor._ Search out the cause, then, and right judgment judge.
_Athena._ And would ye trust to me to end the cause?[503]
_Chor._ How else? Thy worth, and worthy stock we honour.
_Athena._ What dost thou wish, O stranger, to reply?
Tell thou thy land, thy race, thy life's strange chance,
And then ward off this censure aimed at thee,
Since thou sitt'st trusting in thy right, and hold'st
This mine own image, near mine altar hearth,
A suppliant, like Ixion,[504] honourable.
Answer all this in speech intelligible. 420
_Orest._ O Queen Athena, from thy last words starting,
I first will free thee from a weighty care:
I am not now defiled: no curse abides
Upon the hand that on thy statue rests;
And I will give thee proof full strong of this.
The law is fixed the murderer shall be dumb,
Till at the hand of one who frees from blood,
The purple stream from yeanling swine run o'er him;[505]
Long since at other houses these dread rites[506]
We have gone through, slain victims, flowing streams:
This care, then, I can speak of now as gone. 430
And how my lineage stands thou soon shalt know:
An Argive I, my sire well known to thee,
Chief ruler of the seamen, Agamemnon,
With whom thou madest Troïa, Ilion's city,
To be no city. He, when he came home,
Died without honour; and my dark-souled mother
Enwrapt and slew him with her broidered toils,
Which bore their witness of the murder wrought
There in the bath; and I, on my return, 440
(Till then an exile,) did my mother kill,
(That deed I'll not deny,) in forfeit due
Of blood for blood of father best beloved;
And Loxias, too, is found accomplice here,
Foretelling woes that pricked my heart to act,
If I did nought to those accomplices
In that same crime. But thou, judge thou my cause,
If what I did were right or wrong, and I,
Whate'er the issue, will be well content.
_Athena._ Too great this matter, if a mortal man
Think to decide it. Nor is't meet for me
To judge a cause of murder stirred by wrath; 450
*And all the more since thou with contrite soul
Hast come to this my house a suppliant,
Harmless and pure. I now, in spite of all,
Take thee as one my city need not blame;[507]
But these hold office that forbids dismissal,
And should they fail of victory in this cause,
Hereafter from their passionate mood will poison[508]
Fall on the land, disease intolerable,
And lasting for all time. E'en thus it stands;
And both alike, their staying or dismissal,
Are unto me perplexing and disastrous.
But since the matter thus hath come on me,
I will appoint as judges of this murder
Men bound by oath, a law for evermore;[509]
And ye, call ye your proofs and witnesses,
Sworn pledges given to help the cause of right.
And I, selecting of my citizens
Those who are best, will come again that they
May judge this matter truly, taking oaths
To utter nought against the law of right. [_Exit_