ORE. Is this th’ abode of great Achilles’ son,
The regal mansion, O ye foreign dames?
CHOR. It is as thou hast said. But who art thou
That ask’st this question?
ORE. Agamemnon’s son,
And Clytemnestra’s; but my name’s Orestes:
I to Dodona, th’ oracle of Jove,
Am on my road; but since I now have reached
The land of Phthia, first would I inquire
How fares Hermione, the Spartan dame,
My kinswoman; doth she yet live and prosper?
For though from me far distant be the land
In which she now resides, she still is dear.
HER. O son of Agamemnon, who thus make
Your seasonable appearance, like the haven
To mariners amidst a furious storm,
Take pity, I implore you by those knees,
On me a wretch whose inauspicious fortunes
You witness. Hence around your knees I fling
These arms, which ought to prove of equal force
With hallowed branches by the suppliant borne.
ORE. What’s this? am I deceived? or do my eyes
Indeed behold the queen of these abodes,
And Menelaus’ daughter?
HER. Th’ only child
Whom to the Spartan monarch Helen bore.
Mistake me not.
ORE. O Phœbus, healing power,
Protect us! But what dire mischance hath happened?
Or from the gods, or human foes, proceed
The evils thou endur’st?
HER. Some from myself,
But others from the husband whom I wedded
The rest from one of the immortal gods.
I utterly am ruined.
ORE. What afflictions
Can any woman who’s yet childless feel
But those which from her nuptial union spring?
HER. Hence these distempers of the soul arise,
And well do you anticipate my words.
ORE. Enamoured with another, is thy lord
False to thy bed?
HER. He loves a captive dame,
The wife of Hector.
ORE. This of which thou speak’st
Is a great evil, when one man possesses
Two wives.
HER. ’Twas thus, till I avenged the wrong.
ORE. Didst thou with arts familiar to thy sex
Plot ’gainst thy rival’s life?
HER. I would have killed
Her and her spurious son.
ORE. Hast thou despatched them?
Or were they screened from their impending fate?
HER. Old Peleus to these worthless objects showed
Too great a reverence.
ORE. Was there any friend
Ready to aid thee in the purposed slaughter?
HER. My sire, who for this cause from Sparta came.
ORE. Yet by that aged man was he subdued?
HER. Abashed he fled, and left me here alone.
ORE. I understand thee well: thy husband’s wrath
Thou fear’st for what thou’st done.
HER. The fact you know:
Hence justly will he take away my life.
What can be said? yet by immortal Jove,
Our grandsire, I conjure you, send me far
From these domains, or to my father’s house.
Had but these walls a voice, they would proclaim
The sentence of my exile, for the land
Of Phthia hates me. If my lord return
From Phœbus’ oracle, for the misdeeds
I have committed, he will strike me dead,
Or force me to become that harlot’s slave
Whom erst I ruled.
ORE. By some will it be asked
Whence then into such errors didst thou fall?
HER. My ruin I derive from the admission
Of these vile women, who inflamed my pride
By uttering these rash words: “Wilt thou endure
Beneath thy roof that odious slave who shares
Thy bridal couch? by Juno, awful queen,
I would not suffer such a wretch to breathe
In my polluted chamber.” When I heard
The language uttered by these crafty sirens,
Artificers of mischief, who, to suit
Their purpose, in persuasive strains displayed
The power of eloquence, I was puffed up
With folly: for what need had I to hold
My lord in reverence while possessed of all
That I could wish? abundant wealth was mine,
O’er these abodes I reigned, and any children
I to my husband might hereafter bare
Would be legitimate; but hers, by mine
In strict subjection held, a spurious race.
But never, never (I this truth repeat)
Should wedded men, who have the gift of reason,
Let women have a free access, and visit
Their consort. For they teach her evil lessons:
Urged by the hopes of lucre, one corrupts
Her chastity; a second hath already
Transgressed herself, and wishes that her friend
May be as vicious: many by their lust
Are led astray: hence to their husband’s house
A train of mischief rises. Guard the doors
Of your abodes with locks and massive bars;
Since from the intrusion of these female guests,
No good, but mischiefs numberless ensue.
CHOR. Thou to thy tongue hast given too free a scope
In thus aspersing the whole female race:
Thy present woes indeed our pardon claim;
Yet every woman is in duty bound
To gloss o’er the misconduct of her sex.
ORE. Wisdom pertained to him who taught mankind
To hear the reasons by both parties urged
In a debate. Aware of the confusion
In these abodes, and of the strife ’twixt thee
And Hector’s wife, I stayed not to observe
Whether thou in this house wouldst still remain,
Or through a fear of yonder captive dame
Abandon it: I therefore hither came,
Nor waited for intelligence from thee.
And if a satisfactory account
Of thy proceedings thou to me canst give,
I will convey thee hence. For thou, who erst
Wert mine, with this thy present husband liv’st,
Through the perfidious conduct of thy sire,
Who ere he entered the domains of Troy
Affianced thee to me, and then to him
Who now possesses thee, again engaged,
If he the Phrygian city should subdue.
But I forgive thy father for this wrong,
When hither great Achilles’ son returned,
And to the bridegroom sued that he would loose
Thy plighted hand; of all my various fortunes
Informing him, and of my present woes;
How feasible it were for me to wed
Among my friends, but that for such an exile
As I am, driven from my paternal throne,
’Twould not be easy to obtain a consort
In any foreign land: on this he grew
More arrogant, and bitterly reproached me
Both with my mother’s murder, and those Furies
Whose blood-stained visages inspire dismay.
By the misfortunes of my house bowed down
To earth, I grieved indeed, but grieving bore
The weight of these calamities, and reft
Of thee my bride, reluctantly departed.
But since thy fortunes now have undergone
A change so unexpected, and involved
In woe, thou stand’st aghast; from these abodes
Thee will I take and to thy sire convey.
For wondrous is the force of kindred ties;
And in misfortunes nought exceeds the friend
Who from the self-same house derives his birth.
HER. My father will take care how to dispose
Of me in marriage, nor is it my province
Such question to decide. But, O convey me
From these loathed mansions with the utmost speed,
Lest when my husband at his first return
Enters the doors, he intercept my flight;
Or, hearing that I leave his grandson’s house,
Peleus pursue me with his rapid steeds.
ORE. Be of good cheer against that aged man,
And from thy furious lord, Achilles’ son,
Who treated me with scorn, fear nought; this hand
Hath with such cautious artifice prepared
For him th’ inevitable snares of death,
Of which no previous mention will I make:
But when it is accomplished, this exploit
Shall on the rock of Delphi be proclaimed.
I who my mother slew, if th’ armed friends
Whom I have stationed in the Pythian realm
Observe their oaths, will teach him that he ought
To have abstained from wedding any dame
Betrothed to me. He in an evil hour
Shall claim atonement for his father’s death
Of Phœbus mighty king; nor shall repentance
For these audacious blasphemies avail
To save the miscreant on whose impious head
Apollo wreaks just vengeance; by his wrath
O’ertaken, and entangled in my snares,
He wretchedly shall perish. For the gods
Subvert the prosperous fortunes of their foes
Nor suffer pride to rear her towering crest.
[_Exeunt_ ORESTES _and_ HERMIONE.