oresteia part 1

7/26/2019 Oresteia part 1

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Agamemnon of Aeschylus. trans. R.P.Bond.

Dramatis Personae

Guard

Chorus of Elders

Clytemnestra

Herald

Agamemnon

Cassandra

Aegisthus



GuardI pray to the gods for release from this drudgery,this watch-keeping, measured in years, sprawled hereelbows bent, doglike, on top of Agamemnon's house.I contemplate the congregation of the stars at night,

as they bring both winter cold and summer heat to men,bright masters, constellations splendid in the sky,as in their turns they wane and rise to dominance.And now I watch for the beacon's ame, the re'sgleam, bringing word from Troy, a message ofthe city captured for a woman's sanguine heart !"will ha#e it so, her counsel more a man's.And when I keep this restless bed of mine,all wet with dew, unblessed with watchful dreams,- for fear stands guard in place of sleep and keepsmy lids from meeting in security - why thenI make up my mind to sing, or hum a tune,and hope to manufacture so an antidote to myinsomnia, lamenting in tears the fate of this house,administered now far less well than before.I would good fortune now might bring release from toil $"with the are of the beacon re alight in the night.% welcome, light in the darkness of night,#anguard of dawn and bright source of much dancingin Argos, in &oy at this turn of e#ents...Awake, awake

(y call will penetrate to Agamemnon's wifeso that roused from her bed in the house with all speedshe may raise the fair song of re&oicing to greetthis beacon, if, in fact, Troy has been taken at last,as this signal bla)e must clearly proclaim. *"And I myself will dance the o#erture+or I will take my cue from my master's luck,the fall of the dice in this watch has fa#oured me soI pray for this, at least, that I might clasp the master's handI lo#e in mine, when he returns to rules this house.ut hush, now, as to that - a cattle beast has walked across

my tongue. The house itself, if only it could speak,would tell the tale most clearly. I only speak to thosewho ha#e ears that hear, to the deaf I am dumb.

Chorus This is now the tenth year since the kings, "(enelaus and ord Agamemnon,/riam's great opposition,rmly harnessed, ensceptred,enthroned by 0eus, Atreus' sons,did launch from this land

the thousand-strongArgi#e eet, martial aid,war cries clanging loud from their heart,a sound as of eagles



trackless in grief for their young 1"ones lost, carried high in the thermalwhirl by the stroke of theirwings, nest empty below,

wasted the lingering labourtheir young ones cost.

2ome god in his height,/an, 0eus or Apollo, hearing the screamsof their neighbours the birds, the shrillcries of grief,

send out a slow #engeance of +uries.2o it was lord 0eus, the god of hosts, 3"guest-friends, sends out the Atreidaeagainst Ale4ander, a woman the causeand much manned, setting up for the 5reeksand the Tro&ans alike many battles to wearythe limbs, knees thrust down in the dust,

lances broken and snappedin the war's early rites. It is now whereit is and will end where the end has been set.6o man can ease the tension of the wrath of godby burning sacrices, by o7erings that need no re, 8"

or by the shedding of tears.ut we, ancient of esh, honour lost,had no share in that rescue attempt,stayed behindsupporting our strength,

childlike, on these sta#es. The sap of youth that shoots in the chestis lost from the land and 9arassumes here an old man's guise,while age itself, leaf withered, stumbles :"its three-footed way, weak as a child,

wanders dreamlike in the day. Tyndareus' child,;lytemnestra, <ueen, what newshas brought you here= 9hat messenger's reportpersuaded you to circulate

your priests of sacrice= The altars of the gods are abla)e with gifts,gifts for all the gods whose care our city is,of sky, of earth, >"

both nati#e tothis place and not

from here and e#erywhere the glareshoots skyward,con&ured up by the gentle, guileless persuasionof oils, oils costly and pure, from the innermost

parts of this royal house. Tell of these things what is possible,lawful, consent to bea comforter to our perple4ity,



at once a source of foreboding !""and ne4t of kindly hope, aglow from the amesof sacrice, and sanity's un<uenched defence,

keeping at bay the pain that eats my heart.

?str. a. /ower I ha#e yet to sing the success of their rule o#er men

in their prime on the road inspired I am still by the godsto persuade, and my age is well matched to the telling of tales.

The might of the Argi#es, twin-throned, and the martial,like-minded array of the young men of 5reece, !!"

was cast, #engeful spear in its hand,upon the land of Troy, and the senders, berserk,kings of birds, appeared to the kings of the ships, golden eagle,sea-eagle, in turn, close in on the side of the spear,

clear to see on their nests,gorging, their feast gra#id womb-fruit of hare,

clawed at the last in the course of its ight. !$"2orrow, speak sorrow, but may what is well still pre#ail.

?ant. a The #alued ;alchas, eyes prophetic of the host, obser#edthe likeness to the warlike Atreids, at odds in style the two,

said they, the generals, would 'rend the hare',foretold, @In time this force will stalk the town of /riam,

oom plunder, #iolatethe public herds that browsebeneath its battlements !*"but let no malice of the gods in#est Troy's mighty curb,this force, with darkling cloud. +or #irgin Artemis

for pity's sake is angry at the winged houndsthe father sent to feast upon the trembling beast and hatesthe eagles' feast of pregnant dam and young.@2orrow, speak sorrow. but may what is well still pre#ail.

?mesod. @+air is the goddess, so kind in her heartto the birth-damp young of the lion, harsh beastand a source of delight to the breast-cherished cubsof all the wild things of the eld, !"so she begs to accomplish the signs,the #isible signs that I see bringing good,bringing ill in their train@.

I cry, 'Apollo, the Bealer,do not let her bring on the 5reeks a cessationof ship-shifting bree)e, to delay them too long,in her wish for an answering death,unsung, and not to be taken to eat,a match for that parent of strife,and she no respecter of men. !1"'readful there waits one to safeguard the house,a madness it is, a#enging a child and mindful of guile.@C#en so ;alchas trumpeted +ate to the men, great and good,the fate of the house from the ight of the birds on the way

yes, in concert with them,sorrow, speak sorrow, but may what is well still pre#ail.



?str.a. 0eus - whoe#er he is, and, if this title !3"is pleasing to him, this is the name I bestow.6othing I think of compares,of all things that I weigh,

e4cept 0eus, if I must successfully hurl from my mindits #ain burden of dread.

?ant.b. 6ot e#en he who formerly was great,teeming triumphant with strength,not e#en of him will the story sur#i#e !8"nor yet of the one who succeeded,now gone, though he won in his time.

Det the man who in earnestness trumpets #ictorious 0euswill not be astray at all in his mind,0eus who has set men the routeto good sense, set rm this so#ereign rule,that wisdom is the child of pain.isplacing sleep before the heart there drips

the constant memory of grief, and wisdom comes, !:"like it or not, upon men.

The kindness of the gods that sit at hea#en's helmis sa#age indeed.

?ant.g. The elder leaderof the Argi#e eetdid not blame the prophet then,

but breathed in harmony with gusting fate,and the Argi#e host, aggrie#edand hungry in the doldrum

calm, hugged the shore of Aulis' beach, !>"the currents owing to and fro. The winds persisted from the 6orth,imposing hunger, mischief, idleness,upon that tiresome anchoragecrews sauntered, careless of the ships and gear,

the winds stretched time, grounddown the withered bloom of 5reecethe prophet then cried outanother remedy, more biting thanthe bitter wind, a burden $""

for the leading men, Artemis the causethe Atreids did beat on the groundwith their sta#es, could notrestrain a tear.

?ant. d. ord Agamemnon spoke, the elder princeE@5rie#ous the doom should I disobey,

but grie#ous, indeed,if I butcher the child, the delight of my house,and stain these father's hands with oodsof #irgin blood beside the altar place. $!"

9hat thing is free of disaster here=Bow can I desert the eet,abandon my allies=

To rage in anger for



a sacrice to ease the winds,a sacrice of a #irgin's blood,is right. I would it were well.@

?str. e. ut when he put on the harness of necessity,his heart's breath came e#il within him,

impure and unholy, changed $$"

so as to dare all in his hardihood.+or madness encourages men in their schemes,wretched rst cause of all ills.

Cmboldened he slaughteredhis child for a warwaged for one woman,

a gift for the eet.?ant. e. Ber prayers, her screams of 'father',

her young and innocent life her &udgesdiscounted, lusting for war. $*"

Ber father, he prayed and instructed his crew,'Though she clings at my robe,lift her high, like a young she goat,o#er the stone, face down,heart rending, co#er her mouth, her fair

lips, shutting o7 any curseshe screams at my house.'

?str. f. 5agged in #iolence, muted the cryof her heart, sa7ron robes owing down,she constantly pierced $"with the shaft of her piteous ga)e each man

that would kill her, speaking portrait of silent appeal, this girlwho so often had sung midst these guests at her father's fairtable, to honour with song and a7ection

the third welcome drinkher dear father set out,

clear #oiced this #irgin unploughed.?ant. f. I neither saw, nor can speak of what happened ne4t,

but ;alchas's arts are not unfullled. The scales of Fustice swoop down $1"

on those who will su7er and learnE you willhear what will be when it comes

lea#e it all well alone in ad#ance.+oreknowledge is e<ual to pain.

All will come clear with the sun's early light.(ay the business that follows upon these e#ents turn out well,

to match the desires of this woman close by,sole bulwark of Apia's land.

I ha#e come respectful, ;lytemnestra, of your strength+or Fustice demands we pay respect to the chieftain's wife,should the man ha#e left his throne untenanted. $3"I would gladly learn if these sacricial ames that ha#e raisedmy hopes are in their turn inspired by news that is goodor bad, although your silence would not cause o7ence.

Clytemnestra



(ay dawn, the child of kindly mother night,be pro#en, as men say, a kindly messenger, and youwill learn a greater &oy than e#er you hoped to hear.

The Argi#e men ha#e captured /riam's citadel.Ch. Bow's that= Dour word escaped my disbelief.Cl. Troy is now in Achaean hands. Is that <uite clear enough=

Ch. Foy steals upon me, summons a tear to my eyes. $8"Cl. Dour eyes betray you for the loyal man you are.Ch. ut what con#inced you= Ba#e you proof of this=Cl. %f course I ha#e, unless some god has lied to me.Ch. Is it in a #ision and persuasi#e dream you put your faith=Cl. I would not gi#e tongue to fancies born of a sleeping soul.Ch. oes some unspoken rumour nourish you=Cl. Dour words insult my mind, as if it were a child's.Ch. Bow long is it, then, since the city was taken and sacked=Cl. I speak of e#ents of this kindly night that birthed this dawn.Ch. 9hat messenger could e#er reach this place so rapidly= $:"Cl. Bephaestus' ame relayed his shining light from Ida's height.

Cach successi#e beacon's courier bla)e sent onthe messageE Ida to the Bermaean ;ragon emnos 0eus' sacred heights of Athos thirdrecei#ed that island's mighty torch,and then, like sh that in sheer &oy do skimthe sun's bright track across the sea, the ames,all golden, like the sun itself, announcedtheir presence to the watchers of (akistosthey did not delay, because of o#erwhelming sleep, $>"

but transmitted directly their share in the newsfar ung abo#e the straits of Curipus the amemakes known its &ourney to the guards upon (essapion,who in their turn ignite their beacon, pass the wordstill further, kindling their sil#ered heather pyre to ames.5aining still in strength and slackening not at allthe ame then leaps across Asopus' ri#er ats, outshinesthe moon in brilliance to reach ;ithaeron's ankand arouse once more still yet another stage.

These guards did not ignore the far-ung bla)e, *""but sent it on, increasing rather its si)e to shoot

its light beyond 5orgopis' marshlands, whenceit came to Aegyplanctus' mountain peakwhich goaded further the re's unagging ight.

Then lighting up the ame's great beard they sendit on with undiminished energy, further to leapand bla)e across the headland that o#erlooksthe 2aronic strait and ne4t it plunged to reachArachnus' crag, the watch tower close at hand.And nally that ame, fathered on Ida, leapt *!"upon this house that belongs to the sons of Atreus.

Des, these were the relays of my torch lit race,each one in succession fullling its separate roleso e#ery stage from rst to last is worthy of the #ictory.

This is the kind of proof and e#idence I gi#e to you,



from my husband's message direct to me from Troy.Ch. (y lady, again I gi#e the gods my thanks, but now

to hear once more and wonder at your wordsis my desire, to hear your tale complete in e#ery part.

Cl. The Argi#es hold the town of Troy this #ery day. *$"I picture a city resounding with contrasting cries.

/our #inegar with oil into the selfsame bowl,then you would say they separate in lo#eless enmity.

Fust so I hear the cries of #ictims and of con<uerorsdistinctly, both with a share of this double tragedy.+or of the #ictims some ha#e collapsed by the corpses of their husbands, brothers - and children, too, aboutthe bodies of their elder dead, their parents' deaththey grie#e, sla#es now, lamenting those they lo#ed,while hunger and weariness, after the battle they fought **"nightlong, dispose the #ictors to sca#enge what foodthe city possesses, no billets 4ed for anyone,each sleeping where his fortune's lot would ha#e him lay.And sleep they do in the homes of those Tro&ansensla#ed, free now of the frosty open sky and the dampcold air of the night, rela4ed - no guard has been set -as they sleep the sound sleep of total success.2o long as they respect that city's gods, respect the templesof the gods whose land they now possess, then theywho ha#e despoiled might yet themsel#es escape *"that fate but let no lust to sack what they should notbeset their force, seduce it with desire for gain.

+or still they need safe passage home, still needto make completion of their race's homeward legand if the army makes it home without o7ence to gods,the curse of those that ha#e been killed might bearoused and still cause une4pected griefs to strike.

2uch is the news you hear from me - a woman, yeslet the good pre#ail and clearly be percei#ed as such.%f many blessings this I most would choose to ha#e. *1"

Ch. (y <ueen, you speak as soundly as might any careful man.I am con#inced of the truth of what you'#e saidto me and go to prepare my thankful prayers.

%ut of ills has been wrought a worthy cause of gratitude.

% 0eus who is king and night who is kind,endowed with mighty ornaments,

you cast abo#e the towers of Troya net of constraint, so neither the oldnor young outleapt the ruinous allencompassing mesh *3"

and web of sla#ery.5reat the god 0eus that is Genia's friendand I praise the work he has done, on /aristraining his bow long ago that its shaftmight fall neither short, nor,

ying beyond, pass the stars.



? str. a (en can describe the bolt of 0eus,can trace its #ery track.

Act followed the nod of his head. %ne man denied *8"the gods did think it worth their while

to trouble with men who'd trampled

rights in#iolate he was anathema.A curse appeared to hound descendants bornof those that dared deeds beyond what was right,and houses whose bloom e4ceeded the limitof that which was best. et grief absent

itself that a man might be contentwho is gifted with sense. *:"

+or wealth is no defencewhen a man in his insolence boasts loud

at the altar of 0eus, in#itingtotal destruction.

? ant. a esigning persuasion enforces its prey,infatuation's unstoppable child.All remedy #ain. Hnconcealedthe mischief burns clear, horrid gleaming

base bron)e's true temper *>"is betrayed into blackness

by wear and tear &ustly tested childlikethe man who chases the bird, elusi#e in ight,

he laid on his town an ine7able smear,but none of the gods pays heed to his plea0eus strikes down the manof in&ustice enmeshed in these crimes.

2uch a man also was /aris who cameto the house of Atreus' sons ""

and shamed his host by the theft of a wife.

? str. b. 2he left the din of shields among her citi)ens,lancers drilling by troops, marinesto man the men of war,

to take her dowry of destruction o#er the sea to Troytripping lightly through

whose gates she had dared what she should not the prophets of the house did groan aloud and said,@ 9e grie#e for the house, its champions, !"grie#e too for the bed, the print of their lust laid upon it

In silence, dishonoured, her husband at home, no curses,nor prayers for that lost to sight.Bis longing for what has gone o#er the sea

will con&ure a phantom to rule in the house.@

The statues that mirror



her beauty, anathema nowto her man Aphrodite has perished,

is dead in the #oid of his eyes.

? ant. b. 2educti#e, persuasi#e, illusory $"#isions appear, harbingers

of empty delight.+or all in #ain is her seeming embrace,

elusi#e the #ision,twisting aside from his grasp, a dreamlost fore#er from sleep's winged path.2uch then the griefs in the house by the hearth,but the griefs of the now are far worse.

The host gathered from all o#er 5reecesu7ers grief t to harden the hearts *"of each indi#idual house.

(any losses there are to gnaw at the heart.Cach wife knows the man that she senton their way, but ashes and urns,

in an e4change for men, is what is returnedand comes home.

? str. c. Des, Ares, who tracs in death and in corpses,who critically tilts the spear's balance in war,he sends from the pyre that is Troy "burdens of dust, to be wetted with tearswrenched from their lo#ed ones,

crumbling to brim-full the urns,an easier cargo than warrior men.In their grief they praiseone man as crafty in war, of another,he died well in the slaughter - for what=

@+or another man's wife@each snarls in secret resentmentborn of pain creeping up 1"

on Atreus' litigant sons.

2ome ne men keep their gra#es

beneath the circuit of Troy's wall.Bostile the earth which they con<uered and hold,

concealing them now in its grasp.

? ant. c. The talk of the men of the town is grie#ous with rage+ate dri#es payment of curses the citi)ens blend.I wait in my dread to hearwhat is hidden in night. 3"

The gods are not careless of thosethat ha#e caused many deaths.lack +uries some day will plungeto the shades the man who is luckybeyond what is right, re#ersingthe trend of his life the shades



of the dead can ha#e no relief.+air fame to e4cess is deadlyindeed. +or 0eus hurls his bolt

with a ash of the eyes. 8"

Hngrudged wealth I appro#e

I would not wish to sack a town,nor face the life of a capti#e in war,

some other's sla#e and possession.

? epode 2wift the ame's progressthat brought the good news

to our town who can knowif this is true, or some lie inspired by the gods.

9ho is so childish or knocked so awry in his witsthat, inamed in his heart by the :"

new words of the ame, he will su7er distressif the story is changed=

It suits a woman's mindto gi#e thanks in the light of this ame.

Too credulous, a woman's mind is proneto hasty &udgements, and the rumours she

spawns speed swiftly into obli#ion.

Cl. 9e soon will learn the meaning of the message broughtby re and by the relays and transmission of the ame, >"

and see if it is true or if the ame has come, dreamlike,to seduce our hearts with empty hopes of false delight.I can see a herald coming from the shore with oli#e sprigsto shade his brows his cloak of dust, parched sibling ofthe mud, proclaims, so far as I can see, he comeswith news, no mere kindler of ames in the forest hills,no maker of signals in smoke this man, he will speak outand his words will all the more clearly bid us re&oice -for I will not accept his purpose here is di7erent from this.(ay his appearance happily conrm the happy news. 1""(ay any man, who harbours wishes other than these

for our city, har#est for himself the fruit of foolishness.

HeraldAll hail I greet my nati#e land, the soil of ArgosIn this the tenth year's dawn I ha#e come home,ha#e gained one hope at least of many that are dashed.+or ne#er did I dare to hope that I would die at homein Argos, gain a share of this dear land for my gra#e.2o now I greet the earth and greet the sun's bright light,greet 0eus, supreme in the land, and greet the /ythian lord,Apollo, pray they loose their shafts at us no more. 1!"+or by 2camander's banks you were more than hostile enough,but now, Apollo, lord, I pray you, be our sa#iour, healour wounds. I make my plea to all the gods who super#ised



our sport and most of all to Bermes, my protector, welllo#ed herald who brings all heralds sacrosanctity,to the heroes too that sent us on our way, recei#e in kindlinessthe remnant of the host that has sur#i#ed the spear.

All hail the hall of kings, protecting roof I lo#e,

the sacred council seats and statues of the gods that face the sunAs ne#er before, with eyes alight with &oy and tting dignity, 1$"prepare to welcome the man, absent so long, your king%ur lord Agamemnon has come to bring you a giftof light in the darkness of night, a gift to sharewith e#eryone. 2o welcome him as bets the man,ploughshare of 0eus the dispenser of right,who has le#elled the city of Troy to the broken ground.

The altars and the temples of the gods are seen no more and allthe seeded increase of the land is rooted out, destroyed.

%ur lord, the son of Atreus, that happy man, is home,his yoke of ser#itude cast round the neck of Troy, 1*"and he is most deser#ing of your praise of all mankind ali#e today.+or neither /aris nor his city will combineto boast their crime was greater than the punishment.+ound guilty of the crimes of rape and theft,he lost the pri)e he'd won and brought a har#est ofcomplete destruction on his nati#e land and home.

The sons of /riam ha#e repaid their crimes twofold.Ch. e welcome, herald of those who lead Argi#e host.He. (y greetings in return from one who now could die in peace.

Ch. Bas longing for this, your nati#e land, so tortured you= 1"He. 2o much that my eyes are lled with tears of &oy.Ch. This sickness which you ha#e brings pleasure and distress.He. %nly when you school me in your meaning will I understand.Ch. 9e too were struck with a need for those who also longed for us.He. Dou mean this country matched us in our yearning to return=Ch. Bow often from my heart's uncertainty a sigh was wrenched.He. 9hat caused your grief= %r did you feel an4iety for our force=Ch. ong has my silence acted as a charm to ward disaster o7.He. 9ho was it made you tremble when the masters were away=Ch. As you &ust said, to die in peace would be a blessing now. 11"He. It has turned out well in the end. In the fullness of time

a man may say in some respects our fortune prospered there,but other things were not so good then, who apart from godsremains untouched by pain throughout their life's whole span=+or if I were to speak of what we su7ered then, the harshconditions, the gangways cramped at sea, the #erminous bunksand, e<ual cause for loud complaint, pri#ations endured by day ...And on the dry land too ... horror there was and worse.%ur beds lay deep in the shade of the enemy wallsand the dew dripped down from the sky and the damp 13"

rose too from the earth, bringing mildew to blanketsand a plague of lice, ali#e, infesting our hair. The winter that killed the birds with cold, should I speak



of that= %f intolerable frosts the like of which(t Ida brings= %r summer heat, when the sea slept stillin a stiing, wa#eless calm in its bed, bereft of bree)e=ut why should I rehearse these ills= %ur trials are done.

Des, done, - as are the trials of those now dead, who needno longer care to think of resurrection but why

should we sur#i#ors count the cost in deaths, 18"or grie#e at fortune's ckleness= I say that weshould be well pleased, who are the remnant ofthe Argi#e force, for whom the balanceof ad#antage more than holds its own with pain.and it is right for us, whose fame has taken wingacross the land and sea, to glory in this day's dawn and boasthow we, the Argi#e host, did capture Troy and ha#e,in homes throughout the length and breadth of 5reece,made trophies for the gods, an ancient source of pride.And those who hear such words as these must praise 1:"our city and our generals for so will the glory of 0eusha#e respect in accomplishing this. 2uch then is my tale.

Ch. I am not displeased to be con#inced by what you say.+or e#en aged men are not too stale to learn a lesson well.ut most of all it is right that ;lytemnestra and her houseshould mark this news which so enriches me with them.

Cl. I cried aloud in &oy and triumph long ago when rstthe message of the night borne ame arri#ed,announcing Troy was captured and destroyed.2ome men did mock me then and said, @;an you belie#e, 1>"

and be persuaded by these watch res of the sack of Troy=A woman's heart is all too ready to be uplifted so.@According to such talk it seemed that I had lost my mind.2till I made sacrice, and in a womanlike waydid di7erent #oices tongue throughout the town,as men re&oiced among the temples of the godsand poured the wine to still the scented sacricial ames.2o why then should you now detail for me the total tale,when I will learn it all from Agamemnon's lordly mouth=It is best that I make haste to welcome him, when he 3""comes home again, my honoured lord, - for what

is a sweeter sight for a wife to see than this,the gates agape to greet her husband home from war,kept safe by the gods= Dou, tell my husband thisEto come as swiftly as he can - this man the city lo#esBe will nd his faithful wife inside when he returns,

&ust as he left her, guarding his stately home,a trusted watchdog, loyal to him, a bane to his foes,and in e#erything else unchanged, the seal set onher chastity unsullied still in all that length of time. 3!"6o other man has pleasured me, my reputation isas sound and pure as unadulterated bron)e.A woman, nobly born, need feel no shame to uttersuch a boast as this with its pregnant burden of truth.

Ch. The <ueen has spoken and her words are clear to read



for those with ears to sense the proper meaning there.6ow, Berald, speak, that I might learn of (enelaus,if he has returned safe home in company with you,the man who is the well-lo#ed bulwark of this land.

He. It cannot be that I should mask bad news with lies 3$"to gratify indenitely the ones who hold him dear.

Ch. Is it so hard for you to tell a truth to us to bring us &oy=Hnpalatable truths are not so easily concealed.

He. The man was lost to sight from the Argi#e eet,both the man and his ship. This is the truth I ha#e to tell.

Ch. 9as he lost to your sight as he sailed from Troy, or didsome shared disaster, a storm perhaps, snatch him away=

He. ike a top notch bowman you ha#e hit the markand ha#e cut short a story long on grief.

Ch. Ba#e you had any word from any of those that sail 3*"the seas if he is still ali#e or of his death=

He. %f that no one has any certain knowledge sa#e the sunwhose warmth gi#es increase to the li#ing earth.

Ch. And how do you say this storm assailed the eet=9as it the anger of the gods= Bow did it end=

He. It is not right to spoil a day of such fair fame by gi#ing tongueto messages of gloom. Jespect for the gods lies other where.9hene#er a herald, with downcast face, brings newsof the army's wretched butcher's bill to town,and says that the people at large has su7ered one wound, 3"also that many indi#iduals, men dri#en from homeby the twin barbed goad, belo#ed of Ares, god of war,

ha#e met their fate, con&oined in blood, on the point of a spear...9ell, loaded with sorrows like that, the heraldshould rather sing his #ictory song to gi#ethe +uries praise, but, as I come with welcome newsof our sal#ation to gladden the city's heart...how shall I then commingle happy news with sad,reporting the storm which was sent against us by the angry gods=+or they, the deadliest of enemies in former days, 31"conspired, yes, re and sea, and took a solemn oathto rain destruction on our wretched Argi#e eet.

The stormy swell of the sea rose deadly in the night.

The northern winds from Thrace thrust shipon ship. In the storm's force, blindly rammed,they were scattered and lost to mutual sightin the gusting rain, a circling mob, the shepherd inept.And when the sun's bright orb did nally arisewe saw a owering of corpses on the sea, a bloomof Argi#e warriors and fragments of wreck. 33"As for us and our ship, some god, no man, purloinedus, his hand on the helm, and gained our ac<uittal all unscathed.5ood fortune attended our ship and willed it safe,so that she neither took on board green water on the deep,nor beached herself to break apart upon some rocky shore.And when we had escaped a watery gra#e, in the day'spale light, not yet belie#ing in our luck,



we mustered our wits to face this new calamity,the sight of our army cruelly pounded, <uite spent. 38"And now, if any of them are still ali#e, they'll say,of course, that we ha#e all been killed - what else= -while we must entertain the same suspicions of their fate.I hope that all will turn out for the best, but yet

must fear, indeed e4pect, that (enelaus is no more.Bowe#er, if the sun's bright rays still nd him out,ali#e and well, then there is hope that hewill make it home again, if 0eus is not inclinedto bring about the total decimation of this race.Bear this and know you listen to the truth. 3:"

Ch. 9ho was it coined this fatal name ?str.a.in all respects most accurate= -it must ha#e been a man possessedof a tongueitself possessed of future sightof what is bound to come.

2pear-bride and source of strife,yes, Belen, bringing hell and deathalike to men and cities, fromher bed of lu4ury she sailed 3>"on 0ephyrus' breath,titanic in the #anishing wakeof her oarsa host of shield-bearing men,

a pack in pursuit, their <uarry goneto ground in the reed co#ered banksof 2imois, intenton blood and strife.

? ant.a. A shackle of wedded woe,well named and working its will, 8""in the fullness of timetheir rage imposed on Ilium, for guestfriendship and 0eus, domestic deity,scorned, punishment e4acted for

that boisterous song,hymenaeal, which fatethen demandedthe new kin sing.A new song is sung,full of grief, by /riam's Troy, 8!"too old now to learn,cursing the bedstainer, /aris his name,destructi#e and grie#ous, a baneon the life of a townenduring the grief of citi)en blood.

? ant. b. A man once reared in his home



a lion cub, unweaned and stillfond of the teatin its formati#e years, 8$"gentle, soft, lo#ing the children, charmingthe old folk often it lay in the crook

of their arms like a child, newly born,

eyes bright as it fawned on their hand,compelled by the ache of its belly for food.

? ant. b (aturity betrayed its natural bent,inherited not learned, repaid

the kindness of its foster kin 8*"with wasteful slaughter of sheep,creating, unbidden, a feast for itself,and the house was sullied with blood,

a great pain unconnected with waraKicted the people, a murderous banesent from the god, a minister of death

had been raised against the house.

? str. c. et me describe her rst coming to Troy,of her demeanour so calm

and unruKed, 8"a delicate emblem of richness, submission

the glance of her eyes, lo#e'sbloom to eat out your soul.

/er#erted the course of that marriage to a bitter end,

a curse of ill luck on the househurled down on /riam's kinby hospitable 0eus,

a +ury to make the bride weep.

? ant. c. There is an ancient ma4im, long standing it has 81"among menE a man's wealth full grown

perpetuates itself,gi#es birth and does not die without increase,

an insatiable o7spring of grieffor the race is the fruit of good luck.

(y thought runs otherwiseEIt is the e#il act gi#es birthto further deeds that match its sirealways blessed is the house 83"

where right and &ustice gi#e birthto sons that are fair.

? str. d. Among the e#il generations ofmen born to die, /ride is likelybegotten by /ride soon or late

and, when the due day of its birthing arri#es,the aimon emerges, undi#erted by waror by strife, an unholy bane of black

Juin and madness at large in the halls, with the stamp 88"



of their parents upon it.

? ant. d. ut Fustice shines bright in the smokestained halls of the house and she honoursthe life of the god-fearing man.

The gold spangled booty of hands fouled with crime

she abandons, reproachful her eyes,keeps company with piety, pays no respect

to power in wealth that bears the stamp of false praise 8:"she directs all to its appointed end.

9e welcome the king, the sacker of Troy's tall citadelAll hail to the noble son of Atreusut how to address you= Bow gi#e honour dueand not e4ceed nor gi#e short measure of praiseto this time of delight=+or many are they among men that honour the semblance

of honour, but transgress against Fustice themsel#es.Cach and e#ery man is ready to &oin and grie#e with a man 8>"who has su7ered defeat, but the sting of their grief

comes nowhere near the seat of the painAnd likewise men will &oin in re&oicing and forcetheir faces to take on lines of articial delight...ut any man who is skilled in &udging his ock,their seeming &oyous eyes will not escape his note,

fawning in friendship dilute.At the time that you sent o7 the army to Troy

and all for Belen's sake - I shall not hide my thought - :""you were painted in my heart in unbecoming tones,misguided, I thought, the course of your mind,pro#iding courage bornof the sacrice to men on the point of despair.ut now my true friend's heart and mind

are well disposed to those whose task is well done.In time you will learn, when en<uiry you make,

&ust who of the townsfolk ha#e ser#ed the citywith &ustice and who ha#e not.

AgamemnonJight rst demands I greet the land of Argos :!"and its nati#e gods that share with me in myreturn and shared alike in meting &ustice outto /riam's town. +or the gods, persuaded byour deeds, not words, cast #otes without dissentinto the urn of blood and death to wreak destruction onthe town of Troy. Lain hope was all there wasthat a hand might ho#er abo#e the other urn - and sothat fortunate city is o#ertaken now by smoke,the cyclones of ruin still blow, and thick billowsthe breath from the guttering embers of wealth. :$"%ne must gi#e many mindful thanks to the godsfor these gifts, since we ha#e taken plunder t



to boast of, and for one woman's sakethe Argi#e beast, the wooden horse, has trampleda city to dust, gi#en birth to a host of shields,has measured its predator's leap on a backdrop of stars,and the cannibal lion plunged o#er the lofty wallof Troy to lap up its ll of a tyrant's blood.

I ha#e e4tended my thanks to the gods let themser#e but as prelude. I hear and heed your thoughts, :*"agree with them - in me you nd a like-minded man.+ew men there are whose nature allows themto honour a fortunate friend ungrudgingly.

The #enom of ill will sitting close to the heartcompounds the discomfort for en#y's sick #ictim.

The man himself is tortured by his own diseaseand also grie#es at the sight of another's success.I speak as one who has e4perience. I know too wellthe dubious and shadowed image of life's face,and the men who seem to be, - oh, so de#oted to the king. :"%dysseus , who had to be compelled to sail, alonewas ready, once conscripted, to bear the yoke with me -but whether I name a man who is dead, or stillali#e... As for the rest of our a7airs, both secularand di#ine, we will assemble together full council ofour folk and take ad#ice to guarantee that ourgood health and luck remain set fair long term,but if there is, in fact, a need for healing remedies,then we, sound-thinking men, will aim by cautery

or by the knife to put this bane of plague to ight. :1"6ow I will go in to my palace and domestic hearthto greet initially, with all familiarity, the gods who sentme far away and ha#e brought me home once more.2ince #ictory has followed me, so let it always stay with me.

Cl. As citi)ens and men of Argos you gentlemen deser#erespect, and yet I feel no shame to speak to you the lo#eI bear my man in time the sense of what is proper fadesand withers in humankind. This is no second hand talethat I tell, but the course of my own sad life's historyfor the time this man spent beneath the walls of Troy. :3"

+or a woman to sit in her house, di#orced from her man,is rstly a desolate and e4traordinarily e#il thing,perpetually prey to outbreaks of rumours and gloom.6ow one would come, and now another with newsfar worse than the one before, crying disaster on the house.And if this man had had as many wounds as the wordthat ooded this house maintained, he wouldha#e had more holes to count than any shing net.If he had died as many times as swelling rumour told, he mustha#e owned three bodies, been a second 5eryon, to boast :8"a hea#y threefold co#erlet of earth abo#e for burial - not tomention that below - and boast the need to die three times,each manifestation demanding a separate end.ecause of recurrent rumours such as these,



there were nooses, slung aloft, and round my neck,which other hands did grasp and loosen forcibly.

This is the reason why your son, %restes, does not standbeside me as he ought, the one who is pledge of our tiesof mutual a7ection. o not be surprised at this.%ur friend and ally, 2trophius of /hocis, kindly cares ::"

for him for he foretold a double dose of riskto me, the peril hanging o#er you beneath the wallsof Troy, then insurrection by the people here and anarchyconfounding go#ernment, since it is the nature of our mortal kind to put the boot into a man when he is down.

This is my e4planation and it contains no subterfuge. The springing torrent of my lamentation's ood

runs dry and there is not one teardrop left inside to weep.(y eyes felt the pain of lack of sleep, as I weptwith frustration at the unattended lights - and still ne#er news :>"of you from the beacon sites. And in my dreamsI was wrenched out of sleep by the thin wing beatof a whining gnat, as I saw you take more hurtsthan e#en the time that I slept with could contain.All this ha#e I endured and now, my heart releasedfrom grief, let me greet this man, this watchdog of our ock, the ship's sustaining gurehead, the highroof's central prop, 4ed rm in the earth, a sire'ssole son and heir, a sailors' glimpse of land, hope gone,day's dawning from the storm, fairest far to look upon, >""parched tra#eller's draught from the owing spring.

Bow sweet it is to escape from all necessity2uch are the words I choose to honour him.et en#y keep its distance. +or I ha#e su7ered many illsin time gone by. ut now, my lo#e, step downfrom o7 your chariot, but do not set down your foot uponthe ground, my lord, who laid in waste the town of Troy.

2la#es, why delay in your appointed tasks=estrew the ground where he will walk with tapestries.And let there be a path of purple laid into this house >!"he had not hoped to see, a path as Fustice might appro#e.As for the rest, my mind alert, not o#ercome with sleep,

will all dispose, a disposition &ust and set with help di#ine.Ag. %7spring of eda, guardian of my house, in one

respect at least your words of welcome matchmy absence - both were o#erlong. And as for praise that isappropriate, that gift must come from other mouthsthan yours. Also, seek not to pamper me, as if I werea woman, nor, prostrate, mouth your attery as atsome foreign potentate and do not, pray, with tapestries >$"thrown down pro#ide a path to nemesis for meit is right and proper to honour the gods in such a way,but no mortal man can trample down embroideriesso gorgeous as these without a pang of dread.I say to honour me as suits a man and not a god.Jenown declares itself without the need to wipe



its feet on tapestry, while modesty of mindis the gods' most precious gift. 6o life should bedescribed as happy unless brought to a prosperous close.

The future holds no fears for me, if thus I organise my life. >*"Cl. 9ell tell me this, and do not fail to speak your mind...Ag. Mnow well that I shall speak my uncorrupted mind

Cl. In a moment of fear did you #ow this course to the gods=Ag. I spoke with as full awareness as any of my words' intent.Cl. 9hat think you /riam would ha#e done, if he had won=Ag. I am con#inced he would ha#e walked upon the tapestries.Cl. 9ell then, you must not dread the e#il tongues of men.Ag. ut public opinion is a powerful force.Cl. The man who is unen#ied is a man without success.Ag. It is not the woman's part to hanker so for strife. >"Cl. It is the #ictor's part to be gracious in defeat.Ag. And do you #alue so a #ictory in this argument=Cl. ;oncede, I pray, and win by granting #ictory to me.Ag. %h well, if you must ha#e it so, let someone make haste

to loosen these sandals that ser#e as my footwear today.And as I trample on these purple cloths let notthe grudging glance of any of the gods strike from afar.I am greatly ashamed for my feet to destroy the wealthof this house and e4tra#agantly spoil the sil#ered threads.

2o much for thatE now, take this foreign 'guest' inside >1"and treat her well the god who watches from afaris well disposed when the #ictor acts with courtesy.

6o one puts on the yoke of sla#ery with eagerness. The army ga#e this girl to me, the choicest bloomof all the things we took, and so she follows in my train.

6ow, since I am constrained to hear you and obeyin this, I shall enter the halls and tread your purple path.

Cl. There is always the sea and it is ine4haustible and isa source unfailing of the purple dye that tintsour cloth and matches sil#er's #alue, weight for weight. >3"

Thanks be to the gods, my lord, this house is #ery wellsupplied and remains <uite ignorant of po#erty.I would ha#e #owed a crushing of much cloth,had the oracles made that demand of the house,the while I stro#e for a means to bring you safely home.2o long as the root persists, the tree will burgeonwith lea#es, shading the house against the summer heate#en so you ha#e come to your house and your hearthand summer's warmth emerges in the winter cold.And when ne4t 0eus creates the #intage from >8"the unripe #ine, there will be coolness in the house,because its proper master walks about the house.

0eus, master, accomplish e#erything in answer to my pleastake care to bring to pass all that lies within your will.



Chorus9hy this obstructi#e dread ?str. a.

that ho#ers in placebefore my heart to bringforeboding,

why this song that springs unbidden and unwaged

to prophecy, and why no condence >:"in my dear heart to spurnfalse propheciesas doubtful dreams=+or the time is long gonewhen the hawsers were cast o7 in the turbid and turbulent surf and the army took ship,set sail for Troy.

I see at rst hand and ?ant. a.belie#e in their safe return,but yet my heart inside me sings, >>"self-schooled,

a &oyless, tuneless song, a +ury's songof #engeance, <uitehopeless my heart, uncondent.5ut feelings will not be ignored.(y heart and soul, a #orte4,wrenched by thoughts of &usticebrought to pass.

I pray my dreadsare #ain, do not fall outand come to pass. !"""

A man cannot ha#e ?str. b.an e4cess of health.+or illness, health'sclose neighbour, e#er crowdsthe man, whose destiny runs straight,

N N N N N Nand runs him aground on an unseen reef.

The sacrice of part for wholeis caution's choice, to &ettison the surplus,nicely weighed - the house in its entirety !"!"is not then capsi)ed, because it istoo fully loaded, past capacity -nor is a ship submerged.

The plentiful bounty of 0eus is generous. The furrowed har#est brings an end

to famine's plague.

The mortal blood that falls ?ant. b.in blackness on the ground



before the #ictim's feet, !"$"what spells can call it back to life=

%ne man was skilled in bringing backthe dead, Asclepius by name.

0eus thwarted him and it cost him dear.Bad not the gods a balance set,

so none could step beyond their role,my heart, anticipating now the oce of the tongue, would #ent these thoughts.ut mumbling in the dark, !"*"

heartsore, it is bereft of any hopeof e#er winding up to any proper end,

and my mind burns.

Cl. ring yourself also within, yes you, ;assandrafor 0eus has in his kindness granted you a sharein the worship in this house, to stand with allthe many other sla#es beside the family shrine -come down from the chariot, do not be proud.+or men do say that Berakles himself was bought !""and sold and forced to eat the bread of sla#ery.If fate and fortune ha#e it that you ha#e to be a sla#e,be #ery grateful that your masters ha#e ancestral wealth.

Those new come to une4pected wealth will treattheir sla#es with unprecedented cruelty in e#erything.+rom us you will ha#e the treatment custom re<uires.

Ch. Ber speech &ust made was clear, and intended for you.

Dou are a capti#e, part of the fated spoils of Troy -you should obey her, if you can would you refuse=Cl. Hnless her speech is like the swallow's song, and she !"1"

is possessed of unknown tongue, barbarian,then she must take note and obey the words I speak.

Ch. ;ome. 9hat she says is best, the way things are.%bey and lea#e the chariot seat behind.

Cl. I do not ha#e the leisure time to waste outsidethe house the #ictim for the sacrice already standsbeside the central hearth and is readied for death.An unprecedented pleasure awaits me now.

If you are going to do what I say, then waste no time,but if, in ignorance, you cannot take my gist, !"3"why - ap your foreign hand and do not speak

Ch. This stranger seems to stand in need of an interpreter.2he is like some newly netted creature of the wild.

Cl. 6o, rather she is cra)ed and heeds her own sick thoughtsfor she has left behind her newly netted townto come here, has not learned to bear the curbbefore her rage is spent in bloodied foam.I will not be dishonoured more by wasting words on her.

Ch. I pity her myself and am not mo#ed to anger.;ome now, poor wretch, and lea#e the chariot, !"8"gi#e way and accept this new yoke of necessity.



CassandraAghhhhhhhhh Agh ?str. a.Apollo Apollo

Ch. 9hy in anguish raise your #oice to o4ias=+or he is not the kind of god to welcome grief.

Ca. Aghhhhhhhhh AghApollo Apollo ?ant. a.

Ch. %nce more she calls on the god, tongue-tied in grief,but before this god it is not right to stand and weep.

Ca. Apollo Apollo ?str. b./ublic guardian, Apollo mine !":!

A second time in ckleness you ha#e destroyed me.Ch. 2he seems about to sing of her own distress.

The gift di#ine of prophecy li#es on within her heart.

Ca. Apollo Apollo ?ant. b./ublic guardian, Apollo mine

9here ha#e you brought me now and to which house=Ch. The house of Atreus' sons. et me inform

your ignorance. In speaking this you speak the truth.

Ca. 5od hated then and conscience cursed, ?str. c.a house of kindred deaths and hideous strength, !">!

of a warrior's butchery upon the bloodied killing oor.Ch. Meen-scented, like some hunting bitch, the stranger seems

to hound the places where a murder might be found.

Ca. Des, these are witnesses here to my belief ?ant. c.these children crying out at butchery,

their own esh baked for a father to feast upon.Ch. 9e ha#e had word of your prophetic fame before,

but we ha#e no need of prophets here.

Ca. Ah 9hat is she plotting now= ?str. d.9hat is this huge new pain= !!"!

2ome huge new crime is being plotted in this #ery house,

to in&ure lo#ed ones dreadfully, incurably,and any remedy is far away.

Ch. I ha#e no understanding of these fresh prophecies. The rest I know too well. The entire city shrieks with it.

Ca. Ah, woman, shall you bring this thing to pass= ?ant. d. To wash and bathe your bedmate,

husband, make him clean and bright - I ask, for what= Des, this will swiftly be. A hand outstretched !!!"

to grasp the hand outstretched...Ch. I do not understand, am at a total loss, confronted by

these riddles and the purblind ra#ings of the god.

Ca. 6oooo 6ooo Ah 9hat #ision is this= ?str. e.



2he is the hunting net of eathBis wife herself the snare, she shares the guiltof blood. et strife insatiable within this linegi#e tongue at the ritual stony death.

Ch. 9hat kind of +ury is this in the house you call uponto rouse itself= Dour words do not enlighten me. !!$"

ark runs the ow of purple blood towards my heart,congeals, as it does in the darkling dusk of li#es

that ha#e succumbed to the spear.estruction is swift and imminent.

Ca. Ah Ah 2ee 2ee Meep the bull ?ant. e.from the cow 2he snares him in his robes

and gores with a horn of blackness and guile.Be stumbles and falls in the bath.

I tell you of fate brought to pass in a bath.Ch. I would not boast that I can read the oracles of gods with clarity,

but still I ha)ard these pronouncements bode no good. !!*"9hat benet has e#er come to menfrom oracles= +or only out of disaster do

the garrulous skills of the seerbring messages of dread for men to learn.

Ca. C#il the fate that rules my wretched destiny ?str. f.9ith welling tears I grie#e at my su7ering.

9hat is it that you ha#e brought me to in my pain=+or nothing else, but to share in another's death - of course.

Ch. Dour mind is unhinged by the transports of god, !!"lamenting a death, your own,

a song unmeasured,a song the tawny nightingale

might warble tirelessly, heartsorefor its dear one, @Itys, Itys@ - grie#ing a life

that is fruitful of woe.

Ca. Ah yes, the fate of the warbling nightingale... ?ant. f. The gods cloaked her body in feathers and

down, granted her pleasant life with no reason for tears+or me awaits impalement on the double sided blade.

Ch. Is some god the source of this anguish that !!1"wantonly batters your soul=

This is a song of dread you strike up and proclaimin a cry, the cry of a beast, inarticulate, shrill.9hat limit is set to your ill omened path

of prophecy=

Ca. I grie#e at the match /aris made, at the deaths ?str.g.

that it brought to his friends,for the ri#er, 2camander, that watered the landof my father, the waters beside which



I too then ourished and grew.2oon now it seems I shall sing, inspired, of ;ocytus !!3"and of the tortures found beside the banks of Acheron.

Ch. The words you speak are now too clearA child could understand.

Again I am struck to the heart by the goad,

all blood, of a fate as bitter as yours, and you singa song that is painful to hear.

Ca. I grie#e for the pains, the pains of the town, ?ant. g.completely destroyed,

for sacrices father made in front of his walls,for the prodigal slaughter of gra)ing ocks. 6o cure

at all they brought !!8"to sa#e the city from the su7ering it had feel and Ishall presently spill my body's warmth upon the ground.

Ch. This follows the run of your former song.2ome god with ill intent weighs hard

upon you, inspiring you to force e4pression ofa song, a song replete with grie#ous pain and death.

I cannot tell the end of it.

Ca. (y prophecy will no longer peek in didence from outits wrappings like some new and blushing bridelike a wind blowing clear to the east, it will come, !!:"I think, a grief much greater than mine, that will comelike the swell of a wa#e that lifts to the light

of the dawn. I shall teach no longer by riddles.And you too bear me witness, hunting by my side,as I scent the traces of these crimes of long ago.A choir there is that gi#es tongue in unison, an ugly sound,and it shall not e#er lea#e this house. Its message is grim.Into4icated by the blood of men and so whipped upthe more, it leads the lasting re#elry of +uries in the house,the spirits of murdered kin so hard to dislodge. !!>"esieging the house, they sing their song of its ruinand original crime, spitting despite in their rageon the man who despoiled his brother's bridal bed.

id I miss the mark, or did I play the marksman properly=Am I false prophet, babbling at the doors I knock upon=%n oath bear witness that I know about the crimesthat are the long time story of this house.

Ch. 9hat benet would accrue from such a binding oath,in all honesty sworn= ut still I am ama)ed that you,though reared across the sea yet ha#e the power to speak !$""the truth about another's town, as if you had been there.

Ca. Apollo, lord of prophecy, has set this task for me.Ch. I assume that, god though he was, he lusted after you=Ca. In former times I was ashamed to talk of these things.Ch. In good times one can a7ord a certain delicacy.Ca. Be locked my limbs in combat, breathed delight.Ch. id you come to the business then of.. procreation=



Ca. I promised that I would, but broke my word to o4ias.Ch. And now you are a capti#e of the arts of prophecy=Ca. I prophesied before the sum total of my city's grief. !$!"Ch. Bow come you escaped Apollo's rage unscathed=Ca. C#er since I let him down, nobody trusts a word I say.Ch. And yet we think your prophecies are credible enough.

Ca. Ah Ah The e#il, the grief and the woe%nce more the dreadful pain of truthful prophecyconfounds my soul with di))iness at what is still to come...o you see, seated there upon the house, young ones,nightmare shapes, images of dreams, children, deadat the hands of those nearest and dear to them,hands lled with the meat of their own esh as food, !$$"soft o7al and entrails, grasping, together displayed,a pitiful burden, the feast that their father en&oyed.In re<uital, I say, some creature is plotting re#enge,a fawning lion that keeps to the house and rollsin the bed of the master who is on his way home,my master - for I must bear the yoke of sla#ery...

The leader of ships and the sacker of Troy, he doesnot understand the nature of that tongue of the bitchthat loathes him, yet did fawn on him at cheerful andingratiating length to work an e#il fate of hidden death. !$*"2uch boldness - for the wife to be a husband's murdererI might gi#e her any loathsome monster's name and stillbe accurate...reptilian she is, twin-headed, or some 2cyllaof the crags who is the bane of those that sail the sea,

this a#enging mother, born of Bell, breathing warand death implacable upon her kin %h, how this harridan'sheart yelped triumphantly, as if berserk in the throesof war, while she simulated gladness at his safe return.And if I don't persuade you of the likelihood of this, why thenwhat will come will come and you will soon stand by !$"in pity to call me by the name of too true prophetess.

Ch. I recognise and shudder at the feast of childish esh Thyestes had, and dread possesses me to hear you tellthis tale so truly, with no hint of fabrication.

The rest I heard, but lost the scent and run confused.

Ca. I say you will bear witness to Agamemnon's death.Ch. /eace, woman, hush 6o words that bode so illCa. This story will allow no peace of mind.Ch. 6o, not if it is willed, but I pray it may not come to that.Ca. Des, make your prayers, but others ha#e murder in mind. !$1"Ch. y what man's hand is this monstrosity prepared=Ca. Dour reading of my messages is #ery far astray.Ch. I do not know the man whose aim this is.Ca. And yet my knowledge of your tongue is all too sure.Ch. Apollo's oracles are framed in 5reek, but yet are hard to read.Ca. The pain that assails me burns like re

Ah, ord Apollo, 9olf 5od, the pain, the pain The lioness herself, two footed, lies in congress withthe wolf in the absence of the noble leader of the pride,



and she will kill me wretchedly, infuse her rage !$3"with drugs compounded of her &ealousy to pay me back,to hone her anger's knife for a husband's corpse,e4act also my death in payment for my &ourney here.9hy wear these things that make a mock of me= And whythe sceptre, and the seer's garland round my neck=

I will destroy you in anticipation of my fate.5o, go Accursed Burled down in payment for my painCnrich some other #ictim with disaster now instead of meehold, Apollo himself di#ests me of my robesof prophecy, Apollo who has watched me mocked !$8"by friends and enemies alike, decked out in allthis nery, my prophecies ignored or doubted.I learned abuse, as if I were some rabid charlatan,some wretched lthy beggar - and endured itAnd now the lord of prophecy himself has broughtmy task of prophecy to its appointed fatal end.

The butcher's block and not a father's altar waits for me,ensanguined with warm blood, all ready for my sacrice,but in our death we will not be neglected by the gods.+or another will come in his turn to a#enge us, !$:"a son to kill a mother and a#enge a father's death.An e4ile and a wanderer, sent by his kin from out this land,he will return, the nal architect of their destruction.+or the gods ha#e sworn a solemn, mighty oath that fromthe gra#e his father's tumbled corpse will summon him.

Det why should I thus raise my #oice in pity and in tears=

+or rst of all I saw my city, Ilium, and how she mether fate, and I ha#e seen the city's captors howthey fare, according to the dictates of the gods.And I will go to meet my fate. I will endure to die. !$>"

This gateway where I speak is an entrance to Bell.I pray the blow that I recei#e is skilfully struckthat I might die with dignity, and close my eyeswith no con#ulsi#e u4 and gout of blood.

Ch. Dou ha#e su7ered much and so become wise, and muchha#e you said, but if, in fact, you ha#e sure knowledge of your #ery own share in death, how can you make your way

in calmness to the altar like some sacricial cattle beast=Ca. There is no escape, none, strangers, not in the time that is left.Ch. ut one's last portion of time on this earth is most #alued !*""Ca. The day has come. I nd no prot in ight.Ch. Mnow you are bra#e, inspired by an indomitable heart.Ca. 6o one that is happy e#er hears such words of praise.Ch. To die, though, but die well is a source of grace to us.Ca. I grie#e for you, father, and your children nobly born.Ch. 9hat is this thing that turns you from your path in dread=Ca. The horror, the horrorCh. 9hat is it that you ee= 2ome new abomination of the mind=Ca. The walls of the house breath death and bloody murder.Ch It cannot be This is the smoke and stench of sacrice.Ca. As such it suits the smoke that comes from the gra#e. !*!"



Ch. The sacrice was ne#er some e4otic decoration for the house.Ca. ut I will go inside the house and there lament my fate

and that of Agamemnon. et this be the limit of my life.Ah, friendsI do not keen in fear, like some bird at the snares in a bush,and all to no a#ail bear witness later to my dying words,

when a woman pays for my woman's life with her ownand a man who made an e#il match will die to pay her man.%n the point of death I beg this stranger's gift from you. !*$"

Ch. I pity you in the wretchedness of your prophetic fate.Ca. I wish to gi#e tongue &ust one more time, to a dirge

lamenting me. I pray to this, last light of the sunthat I shall see, that those who a#enge my master's deathwill also e4act re<uital in blood for me, poor deadsla#e that I am, and an ob&ect that is easily crushed.

The lot of humankind is pitiful. The good fortune a manen&oys is a sketchy thing at best, and if one's fortunes change,a wet sponge erases them with but a single pass.

That is far and away the thing I nd most pitiable of all. !**"

Ch. Among mankind it is nature's way that the tastefor success can ne#er be sated no man cries a haltto it, to keep it from his en#ied palaces

with this in&unction, @Dou are welcome no more@ The blessed gods did grant this man the giftof taking /riam's Troy

he comes back home with honour gained from godif he must now pay for former blood himself,by death, and by his death ordain the punishment

and death of others too, !*"what man, on hearing this, could boast he was

himself born free of enmity di#ine.

AgamemnonAgh I am struck to the heart a fatal blow

Ch. e still 9ho cries and complains of a fatal wound=Ag. Agh Again, and worse A second blow

Ch. The deed, it seems, is done for these are the cries of our king9e must &oin and decide, if we can, on a plan that is safe.

1. Then let me tell you what it is I think is rightEproclaim to the people to come here to the house

2. I say rather as fast as we can we should make an assault, !*1"con#ict them, the blood still fresh on their swords.

3. 2uch too is my plan, I agree, and that is the courseof action I #ote. elay will do no good

. It is clear to see that these are the rst steps and signsof those who harbour tyrannical intent against the town.

!. 9e are wasting time, while they spurn caution's fame,do not lapse into sleep, when once the &ob's in hand.

". I do not know what course I suggest we take.+or the man of action also needs a plan.



#. And I agree with you. I know no way by means !*3"of words that we will ser#e to resurrect the dead.

$. And shall we then drag out our li#es in shame, sub&ectour homes to the tyranny of leaders such as these=

%. It is intolerable, a fate that is worse than death. Des, death is a fate far sweeter than tyranny.

1&. ut can we be sure from the proof of the criesthat we heard that our master is certainly dead=

11. 9e ought to ha#e clear proof before we #entour anger. 5uesswork and proof are poles apart.

12. The weight of numbers con#inces on all sides !*8"that I should learn precisely how it is with Atreus' son.

ClytemnestraI said much in the past that was go#erned by e4pediency,but now I feel no shame to change my tune and speak the truth.Bow else could I ha#e raised the net of death too highto o#erleap, when I was ghting hate with hate, embroiledwith those seeming friends that were in fact my enemies=

This contest has been long and well thought through by me. The long held grudge is satised in the fullness of time.I stand, where I killed him, at the scene of the crime.I did what I did - and I shall not attempt to deny it - !*:"that he might not escape, nor yet ward o7 his fate.I cast a comple4 net for him, as for a sh,an e#il wea#e it was of wealthy cloth,and struck him twice two groans was all,

his limbs collapsedE and where he lay prostrateI gifted him another cut, a third, and made of hima welcome o7ering to Bades' house, sure keeper of the dead.2o he fell and coughed out his last breath, and suddenthe gush of carnage from his mouth to soakme, pure and dark, moist rain of his death, !*>"and I laughed with delight to match the sharpand burgeoning &oy elds nd in the god-gi#en rain.

Je&oice that the thing is done, my ancient lordsof Argos, if re&oice you will, while I rain curses down9ere it right to pour an o7ering abo#e the corpse, then such

a gift of imprecations would be &ust and more than &ust.2o great a goblet of distress this fellow lled for us insidethis house, which he has now returned to lift and drain.

Ch. 9e are dumbfounded at the boldness of your tongue,when you make such a boast about your husband's death. !""

Cl. Dou <uestion me as if I were some empty headed girl. Det, as I speak to you, my breast is not autter, e#en thoughyou know what I ha#e done - and your praise or blame is allalike to me this here is Agamemnon, husband mine,and now he is a corpse by #irtue of my own right hand,a &ob well done and craftsmanlike. That is the way things are.

Ch. 9hat e#il thing, nurtured of earth, ?str.ha#e you partaken of, my lady, what drug



drained from the salt sea's surge induced this madnessof death and sacrice, sucient to rout the people's curse=

Dou ha#e cut yourself o7 from the city an e4ile now, !!"the citi)ens hate you mightily.

Cl. 2o you condemn me now to be an e4ile from the state,pronouncing me the ob&ect of the city's hate and e4ecration,

but in time past you brought no corresponding chargeagainst this man, who sacriced his child, and thought no moreabout her death than had she been one sheep from outhis shaggy multitude of ocks, and she - the best lo#ed fruitof my labour's pain - a spell to calm the winds from Thrace.

Dou did not think it right to dri#e this man from the land,in payment for that stain of blood= ut stern you are !$"in &udging me when you hear what I ha#e done. I say to youE@Des, make your threats and be aware that I am well preparedfor you to rule, should you succeed in o#erpowering me,but on these terms, that if the gods' decree is otherwise,perhaps too late, you will come to learn to be discreet.@

Ch. Dou are indeed ambitious ?ant.and your arrogance yelps out loud, as if

this sanguinary twist of fate had turned your headensanguined too the ga)e of your bloodshot eyes.6ow you must pay the price, bereft of friends,

pay back blow for blow. !*"

Cl. Bear then the rightness of the oaths that I will swear

by the Fustice that my daughter's soul demands,by Juin and the +uries, with the help of whom I cuthis throat, no e4pectation of dread attends this houseso long as Aegisthus' warmth glows in my hearthand protects me well as it has done in the past.+or this man has been the ample shield of our deance.2o here he lies, the man who took and used this girl,yes, Agamemnon, charmer of the golden girls of Iliumand here his spear-bride lies, the prophetess !"and sharer of his bed, the speaker of signsand trusted mistress, who also shared with him

the harshness of the rowers' bench. They ha#e earnedthis present pri#ilege. +or he lies so, while she,swanlike, is nestled by his chest, and has sungher last lament for death, a thought to bringfresh relish to the pleasures of my bed.

Ch. 9ould that some painless +ate might swiftly come, ?str. a.no lingering thing,

might come to bring us e#erlasting,endless sleep, since now our guardian !1"

is o#ercome, who cared for usbest and dared much, and that at the hands of a wife.

Be lost his life at the hands of his wife.



%h Belen, Belen, wayward you were, ?ephymn. a.one woman you caused such countless deaths,

souls lost beneath the walls of Troy,but now the nal and owering pri)e, bought through

bloodshed indelible, and the strife you then caused !3"in your house enforced death on this man.

Cl. Dou should not ask for a share in death,distressed by what has come to passnor should you turn your rage on Belen, claimshe was a murderess, that she alonedestroyed the li#es of many men and caused

the 5reeks incurable grief.

Ch. Dou, e#il force, that tramples down the house and twin ?ant. a.blood strains of Tantalus,

the power you wield, from women sprung, !8"like-minded women, it gnaws at my heart,

like this crow, perchedin male#olence abo#e the corpse, that sings

its tuneless grace.

Cl. Dour talk is now directed down a proper path,since you in#oke the deitythat has aKicted all three generations of this race.+rom him bloodlustis nurtured in the gut before the long past

scar is healed, fresh pus. !:"

Ch. Des, great indeed is the god that you praise,the weight of whose rage presses down on the house, ?str. b.

a terrible story of grief,of insatiate fate.

ut through 0eus, prime mo#er,is e#erything done

9hat action of men is done without 0eus=9hat of these things is not sanctioned by 0eus=

(y king, my king ?ephymn. b.Bow shall I weep for you= !>"

9hat can I say to match the lo#e I feel=/rone in the web of this spider's net

you breathed out your life in impious death,and I grie#e for you, trapped in that fatal embrace,

o#ercome by the wiles of a wife,by her hand on the double edged sword.

Cl. Dou then declare the guilt for this was mine=o not condemnme, though, as being Agamemnon's wifeMeen scented came the #engeance from the past !1""and took the likeness of the dead man's wife,



e4acting retribution for the horrid feastof Atreus, a sacrice in honour

of the children dead.

Ch. 9hat man is there to testify ?ant. b.that you are guiltless of this death=

Bow, how= I pray that from his father's linethere might arise an ally to a#enge him.

lack Ares indulges in forceand the fresh owing streams !1!"

of kindred blood, ad#ancing &ustice for the bloodcongealed of the cannibal feast.

(y king, my king ?ephymn. b.Bow shall I weep for you=

9hat can I say to match the lo#e I feel=/rone in the web of this spider's netyou breathed out your life in impious death,

and I grie#e for you, trapped in that fatal embrace,o#ercome by the wiles of a wife,

by her hand on the double edged sword. !1$"

Cl. I do not belie#e that this man's deathwas an ungenerous act.

+or did not this man too wreak death through guile

upon the house= The seed he sowed in me that grew and bloomed,the child I wept for so, Iphigeneia,he treated as he has himselfbeen dealt with - and let him not in Bades boasthis reputation, since he has paid

by the sword for the work he began.

Ch. I ha#e no sense of where to turn ?str. c.ereft of wit my mind !1*!

has no direction, now our house has failed.I dread the s<uall of blood that rains upon and shakes

the house. And does the storm now easeto mist= +ate hones the blade of &ustice for another crime

on yet another sharpening stone.

I grie#e for the land, the land, and wish that it ?eph. c.had welcomed me before I looked upon this man,

laid low in the bath with the sil#er walls. !1"And who will bury him= 2ing his lament=9ill you then be so bold, who killed

this man, your husband, as to sing his dirge,and render, in in&ustice, graceless gifts to himin monstrous payment for your crimes=



And who by the tomb of this godlike man will labour to speakthe words of tears and praise for him,

with the spirit of truth in their heart. !11"

Cl. It is not right for you to talk about such careas this he fell and died

because of me and I shall bury him, but therewill be no tears for him, shed by the people of this house,but Iphigeneia, his daughter, as is only right,may throw herself about her father's neckand greet him with a kiss,beside that stream of trouble and death that ows

so swiftly through the underworld.

Ch. ;harge counters counter charge, ?ant. c.hard fought the &udgement. !13!

espoiler is despoiled, and the killer has paid in full.%n the throne of 0eus the timeless legend waits, @oth agent and patient are one.@ That is the law.9ho can hurl the congenital curse from the house= The race and its ruin are wedded as one.

Cl. The oracle about this man has issued nowin truth. And I, therefore, am willing enoughto make an oath, to the house's ancestral ghost,that I am patient now, although these things !18"were #ery hard to bear. As for the future, let

that #ery spirit lea#e this house to grind in deathand internecine strife the fortunes of some other race.A meagre part of our possessions willsuce me well, so long as I ha#e sweptaway the madness from this house that showed

itself in the murder of kin.

Aegisthus The kindly light of this day's dawn brings &ustice in its train.%nce more I now can say that the gods abo#e, a#engers of men,do ga)e with care upon the troubles of this earth, since here I see !1:"

this man laid low, entangled in the mesh of the +uries' robes,I'm glad to say, in payment for his father's guileful crime.+or when this man's father, Atreus, was ruler of this land,he e4iled from the city and from his home his own brother, myfather, Thyestes, in fact, to tell the story straight,who had been in former days his ri#al for the throne.9hen, in sadness, Thyestes returned to be a suppliant ofthe hearth, he gained for himself this much safety at least -he was not killed nor did he stain with his own blood the oorof his father's home. ut Atreus, the godless father of this man, !1>"he played for my father the role of )ealous host, not thatof friend, and set aside a day for him, apparently, for feastingand fellowship - and ser#ed him a stew of his own children's esh.+eet, hands and heads, the e4tremities, in fact, he lopped



them o7 and ground them down past recognition by the guests.And so my father took the food from him at once, in ignorance,and ate a meal that, as you see, has brought destruction onthe race. And when it dawned on him, the sacrilege that hadbeen done, he cried aloud and fell prostrate and #omitedthe #ictim esh, cursed the house of Atreus implacably, !3""

and kicked the festi#e table from him as he cursed,to bring complete destruction on the race of /leisthenes.

2o you see, these were the causes of this man's fall and I it was that &ustly wo#e the pattern of this e4ecution.

+or I, the third son born, was spared, and, a babe in armsand at the breast, was dri#en with my father from the land.

Det &ustice in her turn has brought me up and nurtured me,and so I ha#e, despite that e4ile, laid my hands uponthis man, by setting up this comple4 plot and subterfuge.A ne thing it would e#en be for me to die, now I !3!"ha#e seen this man enmeshed in the toils of &ustice's net.

Ch. Aegisthus, I do not appro#e of arrogance in guilt. Dou willingly confess that you ha#e killed this man,and by yourself contri#ed his piteous death= I say that onthe &udgement day your head will know no ease and thatthe people's curse will rain about your head as stones.

Ae. And do you, members of the lower deck and shackled tothe oar, speak e#en so, while we are masters at the helm=

Dou soon will know, old man, how harsh a task it is for oneof such an ad#anced age to learn sobriety of speech. !3$"

There are chains, and one may fast in them, and so old age,

through hunger and prison both, and by their prophylactic pain,grows sensible. +oresight surely tells you this is how it is= Dou must not kick against the pricks in case you are impaled.

Ch. A woman, then, you laid your homicidal plans against the manwho was our general, who but &ust now has led his army back,and stayed at home to stain and shame the master's bed.

Ae. These words will also be the source of bitter tears for you. Dour tongue has not the charm of %rpheus by any means.+or he did lead all creatures with the rapture of his song, !3*"while your childish &abberings annoy. Dou will be led awayyourself. A little force will make you seem more docile.

Ch. 2o you will play the part of tyrant o#er Argos then,although, despite the fact you plotted this man's fate,you did not ha#e the ner#e to play the murderer yourself.

Ae. The woman's role was clearly in the staging of the deed,while I had been a long term suspect and an enemy.I will endea#our with the help of this man's wealthto rule the citi)ens I will constrain all oppositionwith a hea#y yokeE no, not for them the bridle and the oats !3"a thoroughbred en&oys The dungeon and its hungry, darkunfriendliness will soon conspire to break them in.

Ch. ut why not kill this gentleman yourself, if your mindwas set on crime= 9hy did the woman ha#e to kill her man,in partnership with you, to bring pollution on the landand on the gods that dwell in it= And does %restes li#e and see



somewhere this day's ill light and will he come back home,his fortune fair, to be the dreadful nemesis of this twin scourge=

Ae. 2ince this is the way you speak and beha#e, be swiftly warned Dou there, friends and spearmen, here is work to hand for you !31"

Ch. Dou there, let e#ery man be well prepared with sword to handAe. I too ha#e a sword in my hand and am not afraid to die

Ch. 9ell said - your promise to die 9e accept the good omen.Cl. 6o, no, my dearest of men, this risk of harm is not for us.

Already the har#est of grief and su7ering is rich indeed/ain there has been and enough - let us spill no more blood.5o now to your homes, re#erend elders of Argos, submitting to fate,before you are killed we must be content at what we ha#e done,and if an end can be found for these woes, let us happily take it,who ha#e long been ground down by the weight of god's heel. !33"A mere woman's words, if any man deems them worthy to hear.

Ae. ut what of their slanderous tongues that blossom in spite,of the words they spew out as they challenge the god,of their rashness and folly of mind in re&ecting our rule=

Ch. It ne#er was the Argi#e way to hold an e#il man in high regard.Ae. In the days that are yet to come I will pursue you still.Ch. 6ot if the god guides %restes back, restores him to his home.Ae. I know myself that men in e4ile always feed on empty hopes.Ch. Ah yes, grow fat and defecate on &ustice while you canAe. Mnow well you shall repay me for this foolishness. !38"Ch. Des, strut and pose beside your hen, you bantam cockerelCl. o not dignify their empty insults with your attention any more.

The two of us shall guide the business of this house <uite well.

'(he )i*ation Bearers'

Dramatis Personae

+restes, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

Pylades, his friendElectra, his sisterChorus of foreign ser-ing omenA ser-ant /door0eeerClytemnestra, no ife of AegisthusCilissa the urseAegisthusA folloer of Aegisthus



4arious attendants / all silent



+restesord Bermes, guide to the dead and guardian of my father's realmbe now my safeguard and companion in answer to my prayers.+or I ha#e come back home, returned to this land of mine.....

....................Bere at the mound of my father's tomb I speak aloud to him,

that he may hear and mark my words...

one lock of hair I dedicate to Inachus who reared me,and here a second lock to mark my grief...

.....................I was not here to grie#e your fate in person, father, nordid I stretch out my hand to carry out your corpse.

.....................ut what is this I see= 9hat is this group of women !"that hurries along all dressed in robes

of black= 9hat chance e#ent should I imagine toha#e taken place= %r does some fresh disaster tyranni)ethe house= /erhaps these women bring my father giftsand o7erings to pour for him as please the dead=

That is the truth and nothing else for there I do belie#eI see Clectra. Des, my sister shares their hasteand grief. 0eus, grant that I may e4act a #engeance formy father's death and be my willing ally in this task.

+riend /ylades, come - let us clear their path, $"that I may learn what is the meaning of their enterprise.

Chorus2ent from the house I am come ?str.a.

to bring drink o7erings, beaten with harsh-handed blows.right my cheek, bloodied red, rent, fresh-furrowed

with nails, nger nails,heart nurtured through life on a diet of pain.

Jagged and rent are my clothestorn to shreds in my grief

are the garments I wear that co#er my breast, *"ripped apart in disaster.

+or /hoebus, clear-sighted reader of dreams, ?ant.a.breathing a grudge out of sleep to stir the hair with fear,ga#e #ent to a midnight cry

from the intimate, innermost part of the house,fearful and hea#y it fell inside the women's place

and the readers of dreams,inspired by the gods, declared

that those beneath the earth were unhappy still "and harboured a grudge against their murderers.

And so this thankless gift, no gift, intended to ward o7 ill - ?str.b.witness that (other Carththat that godless woman,



fear cra)ed, bad me bring. To let fallthese words brings me fear.

+or what can wash away the blood once fallen on the ground=I grie#e for this melancholy hearth,I grie#e the house's o#erthrow. 1"

The sunless gloom that is hated by men

has enshrouded in deathmy master's house.

That sense of right, unchallenged, uncon<uered, untamed?ant.b.

before, that rang in the heartsand minds of the people, it is lost now

and fading away. And someone isafraid. 5ood fortune, yes,

that is a god among men and replete with the god. 3" The random sinking of the scale throws a pallo#er &ustice for those that breathe the upper airbut in the nether shade of no man's landangst swells, is chronic, stays,

so long as the unfullled night contains them.

+rom blood drunk down by the nurturing earth ?str.c.a#enging murder has congealed indissoluble.

A fate full of pain condemnsthe guilty man, matching the swell of his sickness,?but the others the unfullled night contains themO. 8"

There is no remedy to hand from the bridal suite?ant.c.

and, though all the waters of the sea pressed onto purify the hand

that bloody murder stained, their urgency is #ain.

ecause of the gods and the fate they imposed ?epodemy loyalties are torn, twin-citied - from my home,my father's house, they brought me here to be a sla#e,

by force, forced to accepttheir mastery of life, in things

both &ust and un&ust, and I hid the bitter :"hatred in my heart. Det still I weep beneathmy #eil at the empty fortune of my masters,chilled by a secret grief.

Electra Dou are the women who ser#e in the house and keepit in order and, since you are here to attend these de#otionswith me, I pray you ad#ise me in this as to how to proceed

for what shall I say when I pour out these gifts at the gra#e=Bow can I speak any words of good will as I pray to my father=Am I to say I bring the well lo#ed husband gifts as from



a lo#ing wife, when that woman is in fact my mother= >"I ha#e not the heart for that and do not know what Ican say when I pour this sacred mi4ture on my father's tomb.%r am I to speak the words laid down by our traditionEplease grant a due repayment to those who ha#e sentthese garlands, a gift that is worthy of - their crime

/erhaps I'll keep unholy silence so to match the way in whichmy father died as I pour the o7erings for the earth to drink,then hurry o7, like someone who's thrown the rubbish out,my eyes a#erted as I hurl the bin away.e sharers in this my pondering, my friends. !""9e share a common enemy inside the house.o not conceal your inner thoughts through fear of anyone.+or fate and doom await the man who is free as well asthe sla#e, who is subdued beneath another's hand./lease, speak, if you ha#e anything to add to what I'#e said.

Ch. Although I feel a sense of modesty before your father's tomb,still I will speak from the heart, because of your re<uest.

El. /lease speak, inspired by the awe you feel for my father's gra#e.Ch. (ake o7erings while speaking holy words - to the kindly ones.El. ut whom shall I call friends of those that are kin to me= !!"Ch. /rimarily yourself and anyone else who hates Aegisthus.El. I shall address these prayers then only to the two of us.Ch. At last you understand the truth, gi#e tongue to it yourself.El. Is there anyone else I can add to our side=Ch. e mindful of %restes, e#en though he's far from home.El. That is true and you do well to remind me of that.

Ch. And be mindful of those that are guilty of murder, pray....El. +or what shall I pray= Ad#ise and lead my youthfulness.Ch. some god will come against them or some mortal man....El. To be a &udge, do you mean, or an agent of #engeance= !$"Ch. To put it simply you need someone to kill them in return.El. And is it right that I should ask this of the gods=Ch. %f course it is right to pay an enemy back with su7ering.El. (ost mighty herald both of things below and things abo#e, ?!3O

ord Bermes, guide to the dead, help me and, I pray,proclaim to the gods below to hear my plea that theyshould keep a watch upon my father's house and on

this life-gi#ing land which nurtures all and whichin turn at the last recei#es the bounty of allto herself. And, as I pour these holy o7erings to the dead,I call on my father, speak direct to himE 'Ba#e pity on me !*"and make my dear %restes a aming torch inside the house+or as things are we are as purchased sla#es and e4ilesbecause of our mother, who turned you her husband o#er forAegisthus, the man who shared in the guilt of your death.I li#e the life of a sla#e myself. %restes li#es an e4ile fromhis fortune and his place, while they in arroganceen&oy the high life of lu4ury at your e4pense.I beg you bring %restes home, both with your blessing andgood will. Bear me, father, hear my words I beg of youAnd grant that I may be a woman far more sensible than her, !"



my mother, also that my hand shall be more dutiful. These are my prayers on our behalf, but as for them,

our enemies, father, I demand an a#enger should appearto kill in turn with &ustice those who rst killed you.

Des, this is the substance of the curse I lay before you,wishing down this e#il fate upon their heads.

Attend us in our noble enterprise abo#e the earth,along with the gods and land and &ustice crowned with #ictory.'

I pour these o7erings and o7er up my prayers. The portion that is yours is to make my plea bear fruit, !1"by raising up a threnody in honour of the dead.

Ch. et fall the plashing tear that fades and diesfor my master dead,

let it fall upon his gra#e, this touchstone of e#il and good,an ob&ect of re#erent, unspeakable awe,

as we honour the dead with our gifts. 2o hear me, my lord,hear as I pray from the heart's dark depths.

Ahhhhhh9ould that some man might show himself, strong

with his spear, !3"someone to free the house The back-bent 2cythian bowto hand A war-god ready to ll the air with his shaftsfrom close range, backed up with the blows of his sword

El. 2o, now, my father, the earth has her o7erings to drinkbut see, friends, what is the meaning of this new sign= !33

Ch. 9hat can you mean= (y heart is dancing with fear.El. I see a fresh cut lock of hair upon the gra#e.Ch. Is it from some man or from some narrow waisted girl=El. There's e#idence here that anyone may see and understand. !8"Ch. Then speak so my age may learn from your youth.El. This hair was cut from no other head but mine.Ch. All else who's hair might match this lock of grief are enemies.El. And yet there is a man whose plumage likely matches mine -Ch. 9ho's hair can you mean= I want to know.El. It is #ery like to my own hair to look upon.Ch. Then has %restes sent a secret o7ering=

El. This hair would seem most like to his of all mankind.Ch. Bow has he had the ner#e to &ourney here=El. Be sent the se#ered lock of hair to please our father's shade. !:"Ch. Then what you say still brings tears <uickly to my eyes,

if he will ne#er e#er set his foot upon this land.El. I feel surge swells of grief within my heart also

and am slashed to the <uick with the sword's cross blow.rought-breaking streams of tears fall from my eyes,unprepared as they were for this troublesome ood,but inspired by the sight of this hair. +or how should Ie4pect some other citi)en to o#ercome his fear= Det itwas not my mother - mother only in name, possessedof an unholy loathing of me and %restes - who cut !>"this hair from her head. 2he it was killed Agamemnon.



Det how shall I claim without reser#e that thisis indeed a sign from the man I lo#e the most in allthe world, %restes= - I am the fawning sla#e of hope.%hI wish this lock of hair might take the role of messenger,and speak in kindness to dispel the doubts that shake me

for then it might clearly recommend I hurl it from me, ifit had been cut and taken from an enemy, or declare itself as kin, as one that su7ered, sympathi)ed with me,and was a gift and token of respect upon my father's tomb. $""ike sailors adrift in a storm we are whirled about uponthe eddies of fateE but if we are to gain sal#ation's shore,the great beginning may come from clutching at such a straw.

And here are footprints too, a second indication - andthey also are a match for the prints my own feet make.

There are in fact the prints made by two sets of feet,those of the man himself and those of some companion.

The shape of the heels and the total outline of the foott into the #ery same patterns my feet make. $!"

(y mind is lled with confusion and pain.

+restes Dou must pray for a happy future now, announcing thatthe gods ha#e brought your former prayers to pass.

El. ut why= +or what ha#e I won from the gods in fact=+r. The answer to your prayers is here before your eyes.El. And do you know the one what was the ob&ect of my prayers=

+r. I know %restes often stirred your soul to prayer.El. 9ell, then, how ha#e I been successful in my prayers=+r. I am the man himself. Dou ha#e no need to seek me more.El. 9hat is this web of guile you wea#e around me, friend= $$"+r. If guile it is, whate#er web I wea#e must be against my self.El. Dour wish it is to mock at my distress.+r. At mine then too, if I should mock at yours.El. 2hall I address you then as if you were in fact %restes=+r. Although you see my #ery self, you still are slow to understand.

Dou ha#e seen this lock of hair upon the tomband ha#e traced my tracks upon the path I trod so that $$:

your heart took wing at the thought you'd seen a sign of me. $$86ow place this lock of hair against the place I cut it from. $*"2ee how it matches here your brother's head, yours too. $$>And look at this wea#ing, work of your own hand, $*!obser#e the marks of the wea#er's blade, the pattern of beasts...;ontrol yourself ;ontrol the &oy you feel in your heart+or I know our closest kin are bitter enemies to us.

El. Dou are the one I lo#e the most of all our father's house,the one that was my seed of hope through all my tears.

Trust in your strength and set our father's house to rights Dou are the dearest ob&ect of my sight, four timesthe dearest, since I must talk to you as to a father andyou show to me too a mother's lo#e, as substitute for her $"I loathe - and loathe with total &ustice on my side -



and the lo#e of a sister, Iphigeneia, piteously killed Dou always were the brother that I trusted, the only onewho honoured me.(ay (ight and Jight and a third in line with themord 0eus, the greatest of them all, align themsel#es with us.

+r. 0eus, 0eus, attend and be an obser#er of these things

ehold the orphaned o7spring of the eagle sire,him dead in the toils and coiled entrapments of a deadly snake. The pangs of hunger crush $1"the abandoned young. There is no father's preybrought to the nest for the adolescent chicks.I say this is my fate and that of Clectra too -all plain for you to see - children robbed of their sire,both sharing an e4ile from their house.estroy us, children of that murderess and of the manwho honoured you so greatly, and then from whoselike hand will you gain the feast of gifts that are your due=estroy the eagle's children and how then e#er againwill you send signs to men that bring belief=%nce this royal trunk decays in its entirety, your altars then$3"will ha#e no pleasing daily feasts of cattle beasts./reser#e it. +rom a tiny seed you ha#e the strength to raisea mighty house, howe#er much it now seems desolate.

Ch. (y children, sa#iours of your father's hearth and home,be silent now, my little ones, in case some person hearsthe sound of your &oy and betrays it all to thosewho ha#e control. I would that I might see them dead

and burning in the ames, esh bubbling in the pitch.+r. Apollo's oracles, big in strength, will not abandon methey ordered me to take this risk, they shouted much $8"aloud and promised storms of pain to gnaw beneaththe heart's moist warmth, if I should not pursuethe guilty ones, and said that I should killthe killers in return, following the fashion that they set,bull-sa#age at the loss of my wealth and my place.Apollo also said that I might pay the penalty instead, insidemy #ery soul, and su7er many e#il punishments.

There would bursts of anger from the disgruntled dead

beneath the earth, he said, and plagues to curse mankind,that battened on the esh with sa#age teeth $:"and ulcers that consumed the #ery <uick of usthe hair grows thick and white upon the leprous sores.And other assaults the +uries would make, he said,things brought to life from my father's owing gore.

. . . ? an a#enging spirit Othat all unseen itself obser#es its #ictim's grimaces of fearin the dark, and the dark arrow-glance of the deadthat comes in supplication from our fallen kin,

and madness and empty terrors in and of the night stirand shake a man confused and dri#e him from his city,outraged in his esh with the bra)en whip of despite. $>"

+or such as him there is no share in the common bowl,



nor in wine o7ered and poured to the dear and the dead,but the #isible rage of his father made manifest thrustshim away from the altars. 6o man will welcome him beneathhis roof, in time he will die without honour and friends,decayed, done to death by the fate that destroys him utterly.

And should I not be swayed by forecasts such as these=

ut were I not - swayed by them - there is still a &ob to do.A single thing is brought about by many thingsE a man's desires,the prompting of the gods, a father's hea#y hurt. *""

The loss of my fortune aggrie#es me and the fact thatthe citi)ens here, the most noble of men, the menwho sacked Troy in pursuit of the right now walkin sub&ection as sla#es to two women - for heis all woman, or, if he is not, we shall #ery soon see.

Ch. 5reat messengers of +ate, bring all to pass in the wayof 0eus, the self-same way

that Fustice shares.et hostile curse come to pass in placeof hostile curse. Fustice at work cries out *!"

aloud for that which is owed./ay back those deeds of blood and deathwith death and blood. 'The agent must su7er',cries out the age old truth.

+r. % father, dread father, what words should I speak, ?str.a.what things must I do

to summon you up from afar with my prayers,from your detention of sleep,to light up our darkness with light=

A lament is a glorious thing in itself, *$"men say, to gratify those of the house,

the chiefs of the house.

Ch. (y child, the ame's de#ouring tooth cannot ?str.b.defeat the dead man's mind,

his anger ares in after timethe dead man has his funeral song,

the criminal is re#ealed.the &ust lament of sonsfor fathers seeks him out, **"

and all is lled with restless grief.

El. Bear me, my father, also in my turn,?ant.a.

and hear my song of tear-lled pain. Two children raise their #oices in lament,

beside the burying place. Dour tomb makes welcome

supplicants and e4iles both alike.9hat here goes well, what here is free of ill=

(ust ruin be uncon<uered=



Ch. The god may yet, should he so wish, gi#e cause *"to raise a sweeter sounding song from all of thisIn place of dirge and threnody beside the tomba song of #ictory inside the royal halls

to escort the newly con&ured friend.

+r. I would you had been cut down ?str.c.beneath the walls of Troy, spear-struck,my father, by some Tro&an handa legacy, then, of fame in the house for us,

a life t to turn admiring heads,a foreign tomb, high-heaped, for you across the sea,

but easy to bear for your kin...

Ch. A friend among friends nobly dead in that place,?ant.b.

a leader of men, full of honour,respect in the gra#e,

#assal only to those most highof the dead, the kings in that placefor he was a king while he li#ed, *3"a king among those who fullled

the rod-bearing duty of &udge among men.

El. 6ot e#en beneath the walls of Troy ?ant.c.would I ha#e had you die, my father, to nd,

with the rest of the spear-slain host,a burial place beside 2camander's streamI had rather the oneswho had killed him had died in that way,

far away, so that none of their kinmight nd that alien tomb *8"and so learn of their pain.

Ch. These prayers that you make are worth more than goldand worth e#en more than the fabulous luck of the men

of the 6orth. As if it were all up to you

ut the sounding crack of the double-edged lash,it is come and help it is coming alreadyfrom under the earth, while the hands of thosehated ones that hold sway o#er us are unclean

the lot of the children impro#es.

+r. This arri#es, penetrating ?str.d.the ear, arrow-like. *:!

ord 0eus, 0eus, send from belowbelated destruction upon them,

on this wretch among men who dared all with his hand,accomplish it, please, for my father.

Ch. et me be the one to shrill out the end, bitter end, ?str.e.



of that man with a spearin him, and of the woman,her death. +or why should I hidethe urge taking wing in my heart,

keen headwind of rage blowing hard *>"at the heart of my soul, bitter burden

of loathing, of hate.

El. And when will lord 0eus, ?ant.d.in his strength, hurl down the force

of his thundering hand to splinter their skulls=A pledge of good faith to the landI am begging for right out of wrongBear me, (other Carth, and those honoured below

Ch. +resh blood for blood, spilled red to splatter ""the ground with its drops, is the callof the law death cries out for Lengeanceto ow from the formerly dead and to bring

a new round of death upon death.

+r. Dou, kings of the dead below, ?str.f assembled mighty curses of the dead, obser#e,

see for yoursel#es the helpless remnants of our house,dishonoured, depri#ed of Agamemnon's home.

9here, where, ord 0eus, can anybody turn=

Ch. (y heart within me churns and churns again ?ant.e.to hear this pitiful cry. !!And then I lose all hope,as the dark descends on my heartat your words.

Det when I see your strength, fresh springsof condence remo#e distress

in the light of your fair epiphany.

El. ut what can we say to succeed= Jecount ?ant.f.griefs su7ered at, yes, a parent's hand=

9ell, let her fawn, our griefs are not assuaged. $"9olf-sa#age my heart admits no fawning on

my mother's part.

Ch. I beat my breasts in pain and grief, an Arian I, ?str.g.or a Missian mourner in style,

a handbattering and urry of blows you could seein succession, the gifts of my hand,from abo#e, from below, they surge and break o#er

my head, all bloodied and beaten and bowed.

El. %h, cruel mother, all daring you, ?str.h.you dared to carry him out in cruel, lonely pomp, *"

a king without his people,



a king without due mourning,unwept for you buried our king.

+r. Dou speak the ultimate disgrace. ?str.i.And she will pay for it,to gratify the gods below,

to gratify my hands.ut let me kill her, then let me die.

Ch. I want you to know that she cut o7 his hands, ?ant.i.and buried him so this she did to impose "on your life in her madnessa burden not to be borne.

Dou hear of a father's grief and disgrace.

El. Dou ha#e described my father's fate, and I stood apart?ant.g.

in disgrace, nothing worth.I was kennelled apart, a rabid bitch pup,I surrendered too soon to hysterical tearsand poured out the oods of my imprisoned grief.Bear and inscribe these things in your heart. 1"

Ch. Inscribe it Take it through ?ant.h.your ears to &oin the silent process of the brain.

Des, this is the story to date,the rest learn yourself in your rage.

And bring to your ght a passion implacable.

+r. Ally yourself with your dear ones, my father, I pray. ?str.&.El. And I raise in addition my #oice full of tears.Ch. There is a groundswell here of murmurous assent

;ome into the light of day and hear, Foin forces against your enemies. 3"

+r. 9ar march with 9ar and Jight with Jight. ?ant.&.El. % gods, incline your heads in &ustice at our prayers.Ch. A shudder o#ertakes me when I hear their pleas.

That which is fated has long been in waiting,let it come now to answer their prayers.

P % trouble inbred ?str.k.and discordant strokeof blood and lust.

I grie#e awful distress that cannot be borneI grie#e the insatiable pain. 8"

P There is a sal#e for the things ?ant.k.in the house, that lies insidethemsel#es, no outside aid,

but through the agency of cruel bloody strifeyes, this is my song to the gods below.



P Bear us, blessed deities of Carth,send the help and #ictory we wantin answer to our children's gracious prayer.

+r. Dou died a death that was unkingly, father grant

me then, I pray, the power to rule your house. :"El. I too, my father, want the same I need from you

?the strength to bring Aegisthus' doom upon him.O. . . . . . .

+r. +or only so will you recei#e the feasts men makeby custom, otherwise you'll be unhonoured atsweet feasts by steaming o7erings on the ground.

El. And I will bring and pour you a bridal drink,brought from the wealth that is mine in the houseabo#e all things I shall honour your gra#e.

+r. % Carth, raise up my father to witness our ght.El. /ersephone, restore to us his beautiful strength. >"+r. Jemember, father, the bath which stripped you of life.El. Jemember the casting net which they de#ised.+r. The fetters that snared you were not made of bron)e.El. Des, shameful the shrouds that they plotted for you.+r. Arouse then yourself in the light of these slights.El. ift up erect that head I lo#e the most in all the world.+r. 2end Fustice to be a help to those you lo#e,

or show us in turn the kind of holds they used,if indeed you wish to turn your defeat to #ictory.

El. And, father, hear this last appeal I cry aloudE 1""behold your children seated here beside your tomband pity our cries, both male and female alike.

+r. o not allow the seed of /elops' house to fail,for although dead your strength has not yet died.?A dead man's children may keep ali#e and safehis reputation as corks keep aoat the shing net,preser#ing the a4en lines from the deep.O

El. Attend us In your interests we make these complaintsthat you too might be sa#ed, if you honour our words.

Ch. I appro#e of the speech you ha#e made, and its length 1!"

that honours the tomb and the grief long unwept.ut the time is now ripe - for your mind is setready to act - to mo#e and test the will of god.

+r. Quite so yet it is rele#ant to our chase, I think, to askthe reason why she sent these o7erings and whytoo late she honours a #ictim that knows no redress.

The dead take no account of meagre o7eringslike these. I cannot guess the meaning of these giftsthat are too small by far to match her foolishness./our o7erings for all of time to e4piate one crime 1$"of blood - the labour is in #ain. %ne's reason has it so.If you ha#e the answer tell me for I wish to know.

Ch. I know, my boy, for I was there. 2hakenby dreams and nightborn terrors, the godless



woman came to send these o7erings of drink.+r. o you know the dream that you may tell it right=Ch. According to her she dreamed she ga#e birth to a snake.+r. 9hat was the end point and clima4 of her tale=Ch. As if it were a child she wrapped it tight for sleep.+r. This new born snake, what food did it want= 1*"

Ch. 2he said in the dream she ga#e it her breast.+r. And was the nipple left undamaged by the incubus=Ch. It sucked a clot of blood in with the milk.+r. 6o empty dream, a #ision from her husband this.Ch. 2he came screaming and shi#ering out of her dream.

All through the house many torches were lit,aroused from their blindness to comfort the <ueenand so she sends these pitiful o7erings now,in the hope they'll cut out the source of her pain.

+r. I pray to the earth where I stand and my father's gra#e 1"that this dream is a sign of my future success.I read it so it ts and all makes perfect senseEif the snake came out of the self-same womb as Iand coiled itself in my own swaddling clothes,engorged itself upon the breast that ga#e me suck,mi4ed gouts of blood with my mother's milk,while she cried out in fear and in pain,it follows then that she who raised this fearful beastmust die in #iolence and I shall be the monstrous snakethat kills her, e#en as this dream prescribes. 11"

Ch. I hope your reading of these things is accurate, that they

might turn out so. 6ow lead your friends through the rest,e4plaining to each what they must and must not do.+r. It is simply toldE Clectra is to go inside and keep

the secret of the plans we all ha#e made,so that, e#en as they killed an honourable manby stealth, by e<ual stealth they will be ensnaredand die in the self-same trap foretold by o4ias,our ord Apollo, a prophet ne#er known before to lie.9e two will come to the palace's outer gates, 13"adopting the guise of tra#elling men, of foreigners,but guest friends both and spear friends of the house.

9e both will speak like men of /hocis, mimickingthe accent of the /hocians and their dialect.

There might not be a cheery keeper of the gate to gi#eus welcome, since the house is cursed by gods.Accordingly we'll wait outside the house untilsome passer by grows pu))led enough to askE'9hy does Aegisthus keep the suppliants outsidethe gate, if he is in the house and knows they're here= 18"And once I'#e crossed the threshold of the courtyard gateand nd that man upon my father's throne, or if he hasto come to gi#e me audience - be sure he will - to askme <uestions face to face, why then before he says'9ell, stranger, and where are you from=' I'll lay him deadupon the oor and swiftly he'll embrace my sword.



And then the +ury, ne#er star#ed of death, will drinkfor a third time a draught of undiluted blood.

2o you keep a careful watch inside the house,that the close-knit plans we'#e made might come to pass 1:"and you I urge to keep a careful silence, to holdyour peace or say &ust what you ought to help our case.

As for the rest I ask the god close by to stand his watchand guide aright the struggles of my sword.

Ch. (any the monsters nursed ?str.a.by the earth, a burden of dread,

the arms of the deep are ali#e with creaturesof death, they draw near,lights grow and glow in the sky,in mid-air one might tell 1>"

of winged things and things that crawl on the earth,caught up in the wrath of the storm.

ut can they match the mind ?ant.a.of man that dares all limit,

or the lust that risks all in the desperate heartof womankind, infatuation's mateand sleeping partner for men=Hnlo#ely the powerful urge,

corrosi#e of women it con<uers the marriage yoke, 3""a lust common to men and brute beasts.

Mnow, all able to learn, unaKicted by lightness ?str.b.of mind, of Thestius' child,an infanticide, harshly

de#ising her plan,an incendiary she,yes, Althaea,burning to ashes the brand,glowing red, the age of her son it had been,

from the time of hisbirth- cry, made from the womb, 3!"to the day that was set by his fate.

Another woman of myth it is proper to hate ?ant.b.is 2cylla, deadly,she killed for the enemies' sake

her dear man,seduced

by the trinkets, fashionedin gold, (inos' gifts,

despoiling 6isus' hair,e#er-li#ing, by guile, 3$"

breathing deep in his sleep, bitch cunning,but Bermes escorts her now.

I am mindful now of crimes as gra#e, ?str.c.



a union unlo#ely, untimely,accursed in this house,

of womanish schemes and de#icesagainst her man, a warrior in arms,against her man they launched their#engeful, unholy attack.

I honour a house where the passion is spent,the hearth, the docile woman ha#e cooled. 3*"

In the tale of horror the emnian crime holds ?ant.c.pride of place, notorious and despised

by the folk. %ur crime is comparedin its turn to the emnian crime, it's so #ile.

The race is destroyed,despised among men, polluted, abhorred.+or no man respects what is loathed by the gods.

9hich of these tales I collect makes no point=

ut the sword, near the lungs, ?str.d.bitter-sharp, piercing through, makes the wound, 3"

Fustice, the cause - their cause was un&ust - &ustthe cut, as they're trod underfoot,transgressing in sin the uni#ersal

ma&esty of 0eus.

The an#il of Fustice stands rm?ant.d.

the blacksmith estiny beats out the bra)en sworda child has been brought to the houseto e4piate the past abominationof blood spilled long ago, is brought by the 31"

gloriously deep-thinking Crinys.

+r. 2la#e, sla#e Bear me (y knock at the gatesIs anybody there= 2la#e, sla#e Again, is anybody home=A third time now I summon you from the house,if indeed Aegisthus' house is kind to #isitors.

Gate0eeerAll right, all right, I hear 9ho are you, where you from=

+r. /lease tell your masters in the house that Iha#e come to see them and I bring them news.(ake haste, night's dusky chariot is near,the hour is come for tra#ellers to drop 33"their anchor in some house hospitable to #isitors.et someone in authority come out to seeus, the woman of the house - though I'd prefer the manfor modesty inhibits one's con#ersation witha female. (en speaks boldly always totheir fellows and make their meaning crystal clear.

Clytemnestra



+riends, tell me what you need. +or in this houseis e#erything appropriate for #isitors,hot water, beds to charm away your weariness 38"and all the things a friendly face might need.If you ha#e business of a more deliberati#e kind,men's work, I mean, I'll pass it on to them.

+r. I seek your hospitality, a aulian, from /hocisI was hurrying on my way to Argos, carryingmy own bags, to this #ery place where I'm resting mylegs right now - I met a man, unknown to me as Ito him he asked my destination, told me his,he was a /hocian R2trophius by name, I learnedS, and said,'If by any chance you're on your way to Argos, friend, 3:"remember, please, be sure, to tell his parents therethat %restes is dead and don't let it slip your mind.If his relati#es decide to bring his body homeor bury him in perpetual e4ile where he li#ed,then forward their re<uests to me. Bis ashes are enclosedinside a bra)en urn and he has been well mourned.'

2o much as I heard so ha#e you but still I donot know if I'm speaking to those in charge and whoseconcern this is. It is only right his father knows. 3>"

Cl. Dour words ha#e stormed us, body and soul% the curse on this house An antagonist bitter to match(any things you obser#e which your arrows, well-aimed,bring down, when we thought them well out of your reach.Is it your wish to destroy me, strip me of all that I lo#e=

And now it's %restes at last - and he was well ad#isedto lift his feet from this <uagmire of death -but the curse in the house is now rampant with &oyand has marked down for death our last hope of relief.

+r. I had rather become known to hosts as rich as you 8""through news far di7erent from these griefs,and so be entertained accordingly. +or what warmer tiee4ists than that between a guest and his hosts=ut my conscience and a sense of what is rightensured that I fullled this duty for my friends,since I was bound by a promise and a guest-friend's due.

Cl. Dou will not nd yourself less worthily rewarded, friend,nor will you be any less welcome in the house.2omeone else would ha#e come to bring this same news.And now is the time for those who ha#e &ourneyed 8!"all day on the lengthy road to reap their reward.

Take the strangers into the men's apartments, you,and welcome them, along with any sla#es they ha#ebe sure they there ha#e all that is due them inthis house. I will call you to account for this.

I will share this news with those that hold swayin the house and, since I ha#e no lack of friends, we willconsider &ust what to do in the light of this turn of e#ents.

Ch. 9ell then, my friends, fellow sla#es in the house,



when shall we open our mouths 8$"to sing strongly the strength of %restes=

% mistress Carth, hallowed moundof the tomb, pressing down on the corpseof our king and commander,gi#e heed to us now and gi#e help

the time is now ripe for /ersuasion,descending to &oin us with Bermes, guideof the dead in the dark of the night, to watch

o#er this conict of death by the sword.

It seems the stranger's deadly plan's at work 8*"+or I see, ;ilissa, %restes' nurse in tears.9hy are you wandering out here by the gates, ;ilissa=It seems a thankless grief is keeping you company.

urse(y mistress has ordered me as fast as I mayto summon Aegisthus here to meet these strangers, sothat when he comes he might learn their new-told message rsthand and man to man. he simulated anguish while the sla#eswere there, concealing her glee at what was donebehind her eyes, things good for her perhaps,but making disaster complete inside the house, 8"according to the tale the strangers bluntly told.And when that man of hers hears this story his heartwill delight in the news. %h, wretch that I am

I long ha#e found intolerable the ancient massof pain and crime enacted in this house of Atreusand still it hurts the heart within my breast,but ne#er yet ha#e I had to endure a grief like this.+or I patiently put up with all the normal tribulationsof a nurse ... ah, dear %restes, you wore me to a shadow,when I took you from your mother, brought you up... 81"

...................................................................................the number of times you roused me from my bed at nightwith your demands And many the tasks, so pointless now,you made for me, you mindless little monkey you I hadto raise you, though, of course, for that's a nurse's &ob+or but a baby in your swaddling bands you couldn't sayif you were hungry, needed a drink of water or had wetyourself - a baby's tummy's a law to itselfAlthough I tried to guess your needs I often got it wrong,I fear, and had to wash your napkins -a nurse fullling the washerwoman's role. 83"

Des, I grew skilled in these double tasks,when I took charge for her of Agamemnon's child,but I ha#e learned that he is dead and so I grie#e.

I'm hurrying o7 to nd the master of this house, the housethat he's deled - no doubt he'll be glad to get this news.Ch. And how did she say that he should come=



u. Bow= 9hat do you mean= /lease, make yourself clear.Ch. id she say to come with a guard or on his own=u. 2he ordered him to bring spear-carrying guards.Ch. %mit that from our hated master's message, but rather tell 88"

him with a show of cheerfulness to come in condence andalone, as <uickly as he can, to learn good news.

The hidden agenda's success depends upon the messenger.u. ut are you pleased at what has been announced=Ch. I am if 0eus someday will cause a wind-shift in our luck.u. ut how= The hope %restes ga#e is lost from the house.Ch. 6ot so Dou are much mistaken to hold such a belief.u. 9hat's that= o you ha#e some other information=Ch. Fust go and gi#e your message, do what you'#e been told.

The gods take care of what is their concern. 8:"u. 9ell, I will go and be persuaded by your words in this.

(ay it all turn out for the best with the help of the gods.

Ch. 0eus, father supreme of gods and men, now grant, ?str.a.I pray, our masters of the housegood fortune, that we might seeagain a sober rule through their

endea#ours.In search of &ustice I make my total plea, lord

0eus, the &ustice you should guard

2et &ustice in action against ?mesod.a.the enemies within the house, 8>"

lord 0eus, and e4alting &usticeyou will in gladness gaina double and triple reward.

%bser#e this young man that we lo#e,?ant.a.

but a colt, in harness to a chariotof griefs, centre him onthe track, make solidthe rhythm of those to be sa#ed,ensure that we see him, stretching his stride

to accomplish this course.

And gods that inhabit the innermost house, ?str.b. delight in its storeroom of wealth, :"!

you listen and sympathies too...;ome ......................................................................

C4piate the blood of crimes long pastwith #erdicts fresh and new-shed blood,let ancient slaughter breed in the house no more.

Apollo, who li#es in a temple huge and solid, ?mesod.b#aulted, allow %restes' house to raise its head

in &oy, allow the bla)ing lightof freedom to shine in the eyes :!"



of his friends, after the #eil of the dark.

Bermes, son of (aia, &oin in &ustice with us, ?ant.b.and willingly guideour task to fruition.

y his words he can lighten our darkness,

though his words are sometimes unclear,as he masks our eyes with darkin the night, and yet is no clearer by day.

And then already a famous ?str.c.song of homecoming we'll raise, :$"for the house, a woman's songsung, our breath coming free, fair-set,shrill as the wind- should our #oyage go well

This will be to my gain I am sure, so long as disastercomes not on my friends.

e bold when you come to the moment to act, ?mesod.c.shout down her appealsto you, @;hild@, hear rather, @+ather@

and bring to an end :*"all blameless this curse.

Meep up your heart,?ant.c.

be both a second /erseus and a friend

to those beneath the earth and thoseabo#e, your cloak a shield againstthe 5orgon's bitter glance within,impose a penalty of blood and super#ise

the ruin of the guilty one.

AegisthusI ha#e come in answer to the summons I recei#edI hear that certain strangers ha#e arri#edwith news that brings no pleasure in its train - :"something of %restes' fate= +or this would be

a hea#y load of bloodshed for the house to bear once more,were fresh blood spilt to fester, poured upon the old.ut how shall I assess the li#ing truth of this=%r are these merely frightened women's wordsthat leap in the air, but fade and die to no e7ect=/ray, tell me something of this news to clarify my mind.

Ch. 9e ha#e heard the news, but go inside and learnfrom the strangers yourself. Bearsay is hardly ascon#incing as hearing the report rst hand. :1"

Ae. I wish to see the messenger and <uestion him,to learn if he was present at the death himself,or if blind rumour is the source of his report.(y mind and eyes are clear. I shall not be decei#ed.



Ch. 0eus, 0eus, what can I say, how may I beginthis prayer, how appeal to the gods for help,how speak to gain

at last the pri)e to match my wish=+or now the blood-splattered swing of the a4ethat butchers men is on the brink :3"

of wreaking total destruction for e#er uponthe house of Agamemnon's child, or he

will kindle at last the ame and light of liberty,restore the great and ancestral wealth

in his rule of this town.%restes, lonely challenger, is on the brinkof such a bout with his twin enemies,%restes, sent by god. (ay #ictory be his

Ae. Ah Ah 6o, no, noooooo..........aghCh. 5 Ah yes Ah yes 5ood, yes, good :8"

- Bow do things stand= 9hat is done in the house=- 9hate#er is done, stand we aside

that we may seem <uite innocent of any crimeswithin for the result of the ght is unclear.

6er-antI grie#e and grie#e again for my master's fateand again a third time I add to my cry of grief.Aegisthus is no more. As <uickly as you cannow, open up 2lide back the bolts that barthe women's roomsE we'll need a man's great strength

though - though he's past helping now, of course. ::"9ake up, I sayI address deaf ears, calling on those who waste their timein sleep. 9here's ;lytemnestra= 9hat is she doing=+or she is now at risk, her neck close by the butcher's blockand blade, at risk from retribution's blow.

Cl. 9hat is the matter here= 9hat is this appeal to the house=6e. I say the dead ha#e risen up to kill the ones who li#e.Cl. I understand the hidden meaning here. 9e will be

destroyed by guile, as we destroyed our enemies.2o <uickly someone gi#e me an a4e that will clea#e

a man let's see if we shall inict defeat, or be defeated. :>"+or here I ha#e come at last to the critical point.

+r. Dou are the one I am looking for. Bis business is done.Cl. %h, no Aegisthus, my own dearest life, you are dead.+r. Dou lo#e the man= 9ell, you will lie in the #ery same

gra#e. +ear no betrayal of this dead man.Cl. Jestrain yourself, my son, my baby, feel shame before

this breast at which your infant gums drowsily mumbledand so often suckled the life-gi#ing milk from the teat.

+r. %h, /ylades, what should I do= +or matricide brings shame

Pylades9hat then will be the future for Apollo's oracles of truth, >""



what then will be the fate of oaths that are fairly sworn=(ake enemies rather of all mankind than of the gods.

+r. Dou ha#e persuaded me and your ad#ice is sound. Dou, follow me, I want to cut you down beside your manyou thought more of him than my father while he li#ed.

Then sleep with him in death, since this is the man

you lo#e, and since you hate the man you ought to lo#e.Cl. I brought you up and wanted to grow old with you.+r. Dou killed my father and yet would li#e with me=Cl. It was +ate, my son, that was in part the cause of that. >!"+r. And +ate it was that has brought about your death today.Cl. Ba#e you no proper horror of a mother's curse, my son=+r. 6o, once you ga#e me birth you hurled me into misery.Cl. I rather sent you o7 to refuge in an ally's house.+r. Though my father was free I was shamefully sold.Cl. 9here then is the price that I was paid for you=+r. I am ashamed to make my taunt - e4plicit.Cl. I would your father's peccadilloes caused you e<ual shame.+r. +ind no fault there Be fought while you lounged at home.Cl. It's painful for women to be kept from their men, my son. >$"+r. The husband's labour keeps the woman safe at home.Cl. Dou seem to be set on killing your mother, my son.+r. It is you that has brought this fate upon yourself, not I.Cl. 9atch out and beware of your mother's a#enging hounds.+r. And how shall I escape my father's, should I fail in this=Cl. I might as well waste my li#ing tears upon a gra#e.+r. (y father's fate denes this destiny for you.

Cl. Des, this is the snake I birthed and reared.+r. The terror from your dreams was prophetic indeed. Dou killed whom you should not, now su7er accordingly. >*"

Ch. I feel distress, yes, grie#e at the fate of e#en this pair. Det since %restes has endured to bring to a clima4 thissuccession of blood and death, then this is our choice,that freedom's face is not utterly lost in the house.

PP At the last &ustice came to /riam's sons, ?str.a.a hea#y re#enge

twin lions ha#e come to Agamemnon's house,

twin gods of war. The e4ile has come to the end of his course,

steered by the /ythian oracles, >"inspired by the hints of the god.

2ing loud the song of &oy for our masters' house, ?mesod.its escape from distress and wastage of wealthat the hands of two criminals, freedfrom the curse of ill luck.

The a#enger has come, his battle plan hidden ?ant.ain guileful re#enge

the daughter of 0eus was the guide of his handin the ght - Fustice we call her



by name, yes, we >1"that en&oy her good luck PP

that breathes dark death down on our foes.

Apollo, lord of the ca#e, huge in the ground ?str.b.on /arnassus, uplifted his #oice in guile no guile

all has come true - to her costat the last, and it always holds sway, somehow, the di#ine,

so no ground is conceded to those who do wrong,the power residing of old in the sky is worthy of awe. >3"

Des, now we may look on the light.

Des, now we may look on the light, and the curb ?mesod.on the house has been taken away.

Arise at last, you halls - too long, too longha#e you lain, prostrate on the ground.

2oon time that works out all things in its train ?ant.b.will enter the gates of the house, will dri#e out

the pollution entire from the hearth,e4orcising the furies with rites that make clean.All lies now open to #iew, disposed by fortune's fair

face, as we cry, @Those dark strangers who shared >8"in the house are now gone in their turn@.

Des, now we may look on the light

+r. ook now upon the two who tyranni)ed this land,

who killed our father, sacked my father's house.efore they sat in dignity upon their thrones,and they are lo#ers e#en now, as anyone might &udgetheir plight, and their troth remains intact.

They swore together to kill my wretched father andtogether they ha#e died. Their oath is well kept.2ee now again, as witnesses to their former crimes, >:"the trap which they de#ised against my wretched father,as manacles for his wrists, as fetters for his feet.2tretch out the net, stand round about it, showit o7, this snare for a man, that he might see it,

- not my father, no, but one who watches o#er all,I mean the sun - might see my mother's unclean work,that he might be my witness, if someday I come to trial,and say that I pursued my mother's e4ecution &ustly.About Aegisthus' death I ha#e no more to say.Be has paid the penalty for his lust, according to the law. >>"ut the woman who plotted in hate against her man,the weight of whose children she carried beneath her waist,a man once lo#ed, now hated, it seems, an enemy to her -what do you make of her= Is not her nature that of a snake,a #iper, whose bite makes putrid the esh of a man,though he feels not her touch, because of her bra)en in&ustice=Bow should I best describe this thing and yet be moderatein speech= A net for a beast= ath-wrap for a corpse,



to co#er its feet= ''(eshed hunting net'' it might be called,or else - a dressing gown that reaches to the toes !"""A lo#er might possess &ust such a one perhaps it's &ustthe thing with which to plunder strangers, stealtheir sil#er, make a li#ing. In fact, with such a trick a manmight rob a multitude of men to warm his heart

et no such ob&ects come to share my house with me.I'd rather that the gods would ha#e me childless die.

Ch. I grie#e, I grie#e for these unhappy deedsyou are yourself destroyed by this dreadful death

I grie#e, I grie#ethat you must wait for su7ering to bloom.

+r. id she do it, or did she not= This robe is my witness !"!"she did, that she was the one that stained Aegisthus' sword.

The oo)e of clotting blood conspires with time to spoilthe #aried colours of the many-coloured cloak.I now may sing my father's praises, grie#e in person nowat last, as I speak before this wo#en net that broughthim down, lament those crimes and su7erings all our houseendured and yet hold the fruits of my #ictory spoiled.

Ch. 6o human being can run life's courseunharmed to the end with honour intact.

I grie#e, I grie#e,for sorrow impends and will come. !"$"

+r. I do not know where this will end, be sure of that,I am as the charioteer who is out of control of his team

and is swept from his course I am losing controlto my dominant passions, fear beats at a heartthat is ready to sing and to whirl in anger's dance.2o long as I still am sane, let me speak to my friendsand announce that I killed my mother not without right,a woman who killed her man, was hated by the gods.I claim as urgent accomplice in this bold attemptthe lord Apollo, god of prophecy, who said to me that I !"*"should ha#e no part of e#il guilt, when I had done the thing,but should I fail - I will not tell the punishment he set.6o man could e#er target such a tale of grief.

%bser#e me now, e<uipped with leafy branchand garlanded, how I shall make my &ourney toApollo's central sanctuary, the le#el place of o4ias,to the light of his re that they say ne#er dies,to escape the charge of spilling common blood Apollo saidI should approach no other holy hearth than his.I say that in time to come that all the men of Argos !""will guard safe in their mindsU the manner of these crimes,and be my witnesses and tell lord (enelaus when he comesU.And now I am a wanderer again, an e4ile from this land,am lea#ing behind, in life and in death, report of what I did.

Ch. 6o 9hat you did was well done There is no need to yokeyour mouth to words of ill repute, to slander yourself.

Dou liberated totally the city of the men of Argos



when nimbly you lifted the heads of those twin snakes.+r. Ah, no Ah, no

%h, women of the house There they are, 5orgon faced,and wreathed in dark robes and a tangle of snakes,all twisted... I can stay no longer here !"1"

Ch. %restes, lo#ed most by your father, what fancies aKict you,

making you twist so and turn= 2tay, fear not, you ha#e won+r. 6o fancies these of aKiction, no, no imaginings

these are my mother's wrathful hounds, all too clearCh. Ber blood is still moist on your hands, and so

this confusion falls now on your senses.+r. (y lord Apollo, these creatures swarm upon me,

and from their eyes drip tears of hostile blood.Ch. Dou ha#e one chance of cleansing the hand

of o4ias will ser#e to free you from these toils. !"3"+r. Dou do not see these things for I alone can see them

and am dri#en by them and can linger here no moreCh. 5ood fortune be yours, may god in his pro#idence

watch o#er you and keep you safe with timely luck.

This, the third of the storms to ha#e brokenon these royal halls, in its turn,

is a storm to gi#e life to the house. The eating of children established the rstand the terrible grief of Thyestes2econd came the sad fate of the man who was !"8"king, cut down in his bath, war-lord

of Achaea he was.6ow a sa#iour comes third from abroad PP %r am I a fool to say that=9here at last will it end= 9hen will the madness

of fate shift its bed and be still=

The Eumenides of Aeschylus

Dramatis Personae

Priestess of Aollo

Aollo

Hermes / silent

Ghost of Clytemnestra

+restes

Athena



Chorus of Eumenides / 7uries

6econd Chorus / 8omen of Athens

9urymen, Herald, citi:ens of Athens / silent arts



Priestess+irst in my prayer I honour the goddess who, rst of allthe gods, herself ga#e prophecy, yes, 5aia then Themis,her daughter, who, according to the myth, succeeded tothe seat of prophecy and in the third allotment, no

force put forth, her sister willing, /hoebe took her place,another child of Carth and yet another of the Titan breed.And she it was that ga#e the pri#ilege to Apollo asa birthday gift, who thereby took himself the name of /hoebus.Accordingly, he left behind the seas of elos and its reefsto nd safe landfall on the busy coasts of Attica and come !"to this place to make his home beneath /arnassus' mount.

The children of Bephaestus were his escort then, who didhim mighty honour and they it was that made the roadfor him, transformed this sa#age land and made it tame.

The people ga#e him honours when he came, alongwith elphus, lord and guiding master of the land.And 0eus imbued his godly spirit with the skillsof prophecy and placed him fourth upon the seer's chair.+or o4ias the mantic god is himself the #ery son of 0eus.

These are the gods who gure in the prologue to my prayer. $"I honour too Athena in my speech, whose statue standsbefore the temple door, also the 6ymphs of the hollow crags,numinous ;orycian haunt of the gods and wheeling birds.romios also has his place, lest I forget, from wherethe god once marshalled and led out his acchic hordes,

ensnaring /entheus in his fate, as if he were a hunted hare.I ha#e in#oked also the springs of /leistus and /oseidon'smight, but last, and highest of all, the name of 0eusand now I go to sit in prophecy upon the sacred throne.And may they grant that I might make by far the best *"of all the entrances that I ha#e e#er made into this place.If any 5reeks are here, let them come in, according tothe custom and the lot and I will speak, as guided by the god.

Things so fearful to speak of, so fearful, too, to look uponthat I ha#e lost all strength, cannot walk upright more,

ha#e forced me from the halls of o4iasI crawl upon my hands, my feet ha#e lost their nimbleness.6o more than a child is an old woman stricken with fear.I made my <uiet way to the nook where the wreatheswere massed and saw upon the altar there a man accursed "of gods he was a suppliant in that place, dripping bloodfrom his hands, which held a sword, freshly drawn,and a branch of oli#e from high on the bush, all wrappedwith great care in a long piece of wool from a eeceof ne colour. 2o far at least I am coherent in my speech.ut in front of this man there slept an awesome companyof women settled there among the chairs, and yetI cannot call them women, 5orgons rather - yet againI could not e#en liken them to 5orgons in their form.



I once before did see a painting of the beasts that snatched 1"the food from /hineus' mouth well, such were these,but lacking wings, and black, abominations totally,that snored out breath miasmic, unapproachable,while from their eyes there oo)ed unlo#ely pus.

Their dress was such it was not right to bring before

the statues of the gods, nor e#en underneath a mortal's roof.I ha#e not e#er seen the tribe to which this companybelongs, nor know a land which boasts of rearing sucha brood, unharmed and cheerful at the labour it sustained.

And now what follows ne4t within these halls 3"I lea#e to the care of ord Apollo, great in strength.Be is the healer-prophet and the one who reads the signs,the god whose task it is to purify the homes of men.

+restesApollo, lord, you know what constitutes in&ustice :1and, since you know, be sure, do not forget it now. :3

Dours is the strength in which to place my trust. :8

AolloI shall not forsake you, rather be your guardian until 3the end, and whether by your side, or far away,I shall not be gentle to those that are your enemies.

Dou see these rabid creatures e#en now are capti#eHnspeakable, gri))led and ancient children, plungedin #irgin sleep no god, nor any man, nor e#en beast

would e#er dare to mi4 with them in intercourse. 8"Cngendered for e#il they were, these things that hauntthe e#il dark of Tartarus beneath the earth,anathema both to mortal men and to %lympus' gods.And yet take ight you must and sti7en your resol#e.+or they will track you down, as, endlessly, you makeyour way across the trodden #astness of the earth, beyondthe sea itself and all the island cities it surrounds.o not too soon grow weary as you labour on your way,but coming to Athene's citadel, stop there and takein your embrace her ancient image car#ed in wood. :"

That is the place where we will nd the &udges forthis matter, and we shall ha#e beguiling argumentand strategy to win your full ac<uittal in this case.+or I it was persuaded you to end your mother's life.

Take care your senses are not o#erwhelmed with fear.And you my brother, Bermes, sibling of a single sire,watch o#er him, be true to your appointed task >"as guide, so named, escort this man who is my suppliant.ord 0eus himself respects the rights of refugees,of those that go among men well protected by you.

Ghost of ClytemnestraI pray you, slumber on Bey there 9hat use asleep=It is because of you that I am so despised among



the others who are dead - insults from those I killedare constant in this underworld of withered death,my place of shameful wandering. I say to you that Iha#e su7ered blame se#erely at their handsand at the hands of nearest kin I su7ered death - !""and not one of the gods feels rage on my behalf,

or at my slaughter at the hands of matricides.ehold each one of you these wounds of mine,?for e#en in sleep the heart's darkness is lit by the eyes,although the fate of mortal men is hidden in the day.OIndeed my hands ha#e gorged your lapping tongueswith o7erings propitiate of drink, not poured from wine,while on the aming hearth I sacriced a feast for you,nocturnal, holy, in the time not shared by other gods.And all of this I see is e7ort trampled underfoot. !!"And he is gone, escaped and lightly running likesome fawn, and that from out the nets we set for him.Be has sprung clear away and mocks you mightily.Bear me +or what I say concerns my #ery soul,and understand, you goddesses that li#e beneaththe earth, that ;lytemnestra's ghost makes this appeal.

Chorus

R The ;horus whimpers and moans. SCl. I pray you, whimper on The man gone, ed e#er farther away.

Be has his friends to help him, friends I do not share.

Ch. R The ;horus whimpers and moans. S !$"Cl. Dou ha#e fallen too deeply asleep, no longer pity my plight. The man, his mother's murderer, yes mine, is gone.

Ch. R The ;horus whimpers and moans. SCl. Dou moan and groan in your sleep. Awaken Quickly

9hat is your fated duty sa#e to manufacture ill=Ch. R The ;horus whimpers and moans. SCl. 2leep and labour ha#e conspired successfully

to sap the anger from this dreadful snake.Ch. R The ;horus redouble the shrillness of their cries. S

2ei)e him, sei)e him, sei)e him, sei)e him Bearken !*"

Cl. This <uarry is a gment of your dreams, yet you gi#e tongue &ust like a dog that is set in his mind on his work.9hat are you doing= Hp et not your labours con<uer you,nor slacken your resol#e in sleep and so forget my grief.2courge your heart with taunts deser#ed

These will ser#e to spur your conscience.Lomit bloodshot breath upon him,wither him with blasts of inward re,e4haust him, run him down once more to earth.

Ch. Awaken all, wake each one up, you, you and her and I !"Asleep= 5et up, kick o7 your cloak of sleep,9ere these our dreams mere empty premonition=



Bowl, howl and howl again o#ed ones, we are ? str.abetrayed R yes, much betrayed, our work in #ain S

unspeakably betrayed, oh howlInsu7erably wronged

Be has fallen from our nets, the beast is gone.2uccumbing to sleep I ha#e lost our prey.

Ah, son of 0eus, you e#er were the thief ? ant. aAnd you ha#e ridden down our aged immortality, !1"

in honouring the suppliant, a godless man,his mother's bitter labour pain.

And you, a god, ha#e snatched away the matricide.Bow can you &ustify these things=

istressful dreams reproaching me ha#e come, ? str. b.ha#e struck me to the heart

with the force of a goad,a charioteer's, here deep inside.

I can feel the scourge's inward chill of pain, !3"cutting deep and hea#y to bear.

2uch are the actions of the younger gods, ? ant. b.totalitarian their rule beyond what is &ust.

2teeped in blood the throne,from head to foot -

I can see this #ery centre of the earth has wona grim and guilty pri)e of blood.

A prophet himself, he has deled the inner sanctum ? str. c.of his home, himself the agent and the cause, !8"

has honoured what is mortal and destroyedthe ancient dispensations, against the law of god.

And, o7ensi#e to me, he will not to sa#e this man, ? ant. c.who, though he ee beneath the earth, he will

a capti#e be and, suppliant or no,his &ourney's end will nd him retribution.

A. %ut from my house, I say, and <uickly nowegone, and free the mantic chamber of yoursel#es, !:"or else you may recei#e a winged, shimmering snake,sped from my bowstring, hammered all of gold,and #omit from your lungs in pain black spumeof clotted blood, sucked out from slaughters past.It is not right your presence should dele this house.

Dour home is where beheadings are and thumbing outof eyes and ritual slaughter, where the bloom of youthis spoiled and made emasculate, where mutilation isand death by stoning, where piteous #ictims loudly moan,impaled beneath their spines. Bear, will you, how the gods !>"despise these kinds of rite and sacricial feast you ha#esuch taste for= Dour manners and your form betray



your nature utterly. ;reatures such as you should li#einside a lion's ca#e, where blood is drunk, and notwipe o7 your lth in holy precincts such as these.e gone, you wandering herd of unattended goats6o one of the gods is well disposed to such a crew.

Ch. 5reat lord Apollo, listen also in your turn.

Dou are yourself no mere accessory to this crime,but yours alone the deed and so the total guilt. $""

A. Bow so= 2o much and no more e4tend your e4planation.Ch. Dours was the word to prompt the stranger's matricide.A. (ine was the word to prompt a father's retribution.Ch. Dou o7ered to host a bloodstained murderer.A. I sent him to this shrine to come as suppliant.Ch. And do you dare to heap abuse upon this company=A. ecause you are not t to come and go inside this house.Ch. This oce has been prescribed for us -A. 9hat is this oce= ;ome, boast about your noble pri#ilegeCh. The hounding from home of those who do their mothers harm. $!"A. And what of a woman who murders her man=Ch. That is not the same as the spilling of kindred blood.A. Dou count as insubstantial and <uite worthless then

the marriage rites and pledges sworn by Bera and by 0eus=2o Aphrodite too is thrown aside, who is the source of thingsmost dear to mortals, is dishonoured by your argument.+or the marriage bed, apportioned to a man and wife,has much more moment than any legally binding oath.If you rela4 your <uest when such as these do kill

each other, do not punish them nor e#en grimly scrutini)e $$"their crime, then I deny the &ustice of your hounding of %restes. A mother's rights I know you take too muchto heart, a father's clearly are of less concern to you.Bowe#er, /allas herself will o#ersee the hearing of this case.

Ch. There is no way in which I shall e#er let this man go free.A. /ursue him then and store up greater trouble for yourself.Ch. o not curtail in argument the pri#ileges which are mine.A. I would not e#en take your pri#ileges as a gift,Ch. 6o, for by the throne of 0eus at least you are reputed great

but, since it is a mother's blood that dri#es me, I $*"

will seek for what is &ust and hunt this fellow down.A. I will, howe#er, guard the suppliant and rescue him

for among men and gods alike the anger of the suppliantis terrible indeed, should one betray him willingly.

(he scene changes to the Acroolis at Athens; +restes arri-es and classthe statue of Athena in sulication. (he 7uries follo in ursuit.

+r. Athena, ady, I ha#e come according to the will of o4ias,accept my supplication graciously, despite the curse I bear,although I am no more a suppliant in terms of bloodied hands,polluted, since that stain has been already dulled, wiped o7 upon my pilgrimage among the homes of other men.

Tra#ersing land and sea alike I kept rmly in my mind $"



the orders of Apollo, gi#en from the oracle, and so I cometo your temple home, my ady, and its statued shrine.Bere I will keep you safe and wait for nal &ustice to be done.

Ch. 5ood, good This is the man's clear spoor+ollow the silent scent that betrays him,

hunting him out as hounds do a fawn that iswounded, led by the trail of splashes and blood.(y lungs are labouring from e7orts t to killa mortal man. %ur pack has <uartered all the earth,and I ha#e come across the sea in wingless ight $1"in my pursuit, as fast as any ship that sails.And now the man is here and gone to groundthe stench of human blood grins welcome.

2eek, seek and seek again2earch e#ery inch in casethe matricide might steal away, escape scot-free.

Be's here In sanctuary,his arms wrapped round di#inity,he wants to play defendant for his crime. $3"

That cannot be A mother's blood spilled on the groundis hard to summon back.

The &uices poured upon the thirsty earth are gone.ut now your li#ing body must repay us with a crimson

draught for us to batten on from you I would

win nourishment to make a human gagAnd once your li#ing corpse I'#e drained, I'll drag you down

below to pay twice o#er for a mother's pains. There you will see how each blasphemer has his &ust

deserts, likewise $8"the man who has dishonoured friendship's

ties of hospitality, or parents near and dear.+or Bades is huge, calls men to reckonings

within the earth,scrutinising all with watchful diligence.

+r. +rom bitter e4perience of my own I know, ha#e learnedthe many times when it is right to speak and e<uallywhen to hold one's tongue, but in this matter I nowha#e been ad#ised to speak by a teacher who is wiselood fades and the stain upon my hand grows faint, $:"pollution born of matricide is being washed away.+or at the hearth of /hoebus, while still fresh, the stainwas dri#en out and cleansed with sacrice of swine.It would take me long to tell the story from the startof how many men I'#e met to whom I'#e caused no harm.

?Time in its lengthy passage heals and cleanses all.OAnd now from mouth untainted let me call in pietyupon the mistress of this land of Athens, call on her



to be my sa#iour she will gain as her reward, no forceof arms e4pended, both myself and the Argi#e land $>"and men as trusted friends, &ust allies e#ermore.6ow whether her martial foot is set upon the sandsof ibya, or by the surge and lift of Triton's oodshe helps her friends in war or, bold as any mortal

hero, she sur#eys the at /hlegraean plain, why lether come - howe#er far away, a goddess hears -that she might gain for me ac<uittal in this case.

Ch. 6either Apollo nor Athena's strength might ser#eto sa#e you, from your fate, abandoned as you areand lonely, and from losing any sense of happiness,a bloodless shadow only, tit-bit for the nether gods.o you not e#en deign reply, but merely splutter words,although you are already fatted and prepared for me=

Dour li#ing esh will feast me prior to the ritualbutchery. Bear now this song to bind your #ery soul.

et us &oin in the dance, for weha#e decided to show

o7 our muse in its horror,and tell of the duties apportioned *!"our band among men.9e think of oursel#es as honest and &ust.Hpon the man who can show his hands free of guiltthere steals no malice born of us,

he shall go through his life unscathed.

ut the guilty ones, like this man here,that seek to hide their bloodied hands,we appear as their #ictims' witnesses,and stand at last before the culprit, a#engers

of the blood that spilled. *$"

(other that ga#e me birth, yes ? str. a.mother 6ight, spirit of #engeanceamong both the <uick and the dead,

hear me, I pray. +or eto's adolescent sondishonours me, has robbed me

of this <uarry, sacrice well setto cleanse a mother's death.

And when he has been sacriced, ?ephymn. a.this song abo#e his corpse to bring insanity,to bring destruction of the mind, **"the +uries' hymn,no lyre, to wither in chains

the soul of mortal man.

+ate spun this our fatal task, ? ant. a.allotted it to us to beour own in perpetuityE

pursuit of those of mortal men



on whom the guiltof heinous crime has chancedto fall until the underworld, bute#en then the dead are not entirely free. *"

And when he has been sacriced, ?ephymn. b.

this song abo#e his corpse to bring insanity,to bring destruction of the mind,the +uries' hymn,no lyre, to wither in chains

the soul of mortal man.

These tasks they were established as our birthright, ? str. b.and so, I say, the gods must keep their hands away, *1"

and there are none to share our feast,while we oursel#es will ne#er dress in festi#e white.

. . . . . . . .(y choice is rather for theo#erthrow of homes when#iolence domestic has set kinon kin, swooping, yes, uponthis man, who strong though he is,

we will crush for the fresh blood shed.

9e are eager to take these worrisome tasks on ?ant.b.oursel#es,

and by our e7orts we ensure the gods' e4emption *3!

from the work of law and penalties.0eus thinks our bloodstained band is worthy of his hate,and bans us from his company.

(y choice is rather for theo#erthrow of homes when#iolence domestic has set kinon kin, swooping, yes, uponthis man, who strong though he is,

we will crush for the fresh blood shed.

A man's self-worth in his life may well be high ? str. c.

underneath the earth it <uickly melts and fades,our robes of black ad#ancing in the grim, *8"

#indicti#e dance of death.eaping upwards e#er higher,let my hea#y footfall crush him,trip him, running headlong,

baleful, utter ruin.

a)ed in his fall and his folly he does not comprehend ? ant. c.miasmic the cloud of darkness that ho#ers abo#e him,and melancholy rumour is heard to speak in the house

of dankness and fog. *:"eaping upwards e#er higher,let my hea#y footfall crush him,



trip him, running headlong,baleful, utter ruin.U

Be will keep 9e are skilled ? str. d.and powerful, mindful ofthe e#il done, stern we are

and hard for men to de#iate,following our trade, despised,outcasts of gods and other,in the sunless humid steeps,

where blind and sightedstumble both as one.

9ho does not fear me now, ? ant. d.which man has ne#er feared *>"on hearing of my role,established by fate, concededabsolute by gods= 2till I keepmy ancient pri#ilege, am notwithout respect,

although my place beneaththe ground is sunless, dark.

Athena+rom far away I heard the shouts and summoning cry,from 2camander's bank, where I had taken therepossession of the land allotted as choice gift

to Theseus' sons for all eternity, our sharesubstantial of the spoils of war, won by the spear ""and granted by the leading warriors of the Argi#e host.+rom there I came in haste, my feet unwearied, bornealong wingless in the rustle and whir of the Aegis' fold.ut what is this strange gathering I see below=It's not that I'm afraid, but the spectacle is strangeindeed. 9ho are you= (y words are for you all.

Des, you, the stranger, clinging to my image there Dou too that are like no race of things begotten, !"nor seen by gods nor deemed as goddesses by them,

nor stamped yet in the shapes that mortals wear -but piety and &ustice both forbid my speaking ill of thesecongregated here when I ha#e no knowledge of a crime.

Ch. Lirgin daughter of 0eus, soon all will be re#ealed.9e are the stygian children of 6ight and in our homesbeneath the earth we are called Arai, the ;urses.

Ath. I know your race and all the names that you are called.Ch. And soon you will understand the oce that I hold.Ath. I would like that, if one of you would clearly tell me. $"Ch. 9e hound out murderers from their homes.Ath. And where is the end that is set to the killer's ight=Ch. In a place where happiness is ne#er more allowed.Ath. And such is the e4ile you wish to hurl on him=Ch. It is - he chose for himself the role of matricide.



Ath. 9as he constrained through fear of someone's wrath=Ch. 9here is the goad to &ustify a mother's death=Ath. oth parties are present, but only half the case.Ch. Be would not accept an oath or wish to gi#e his own.Ath. Dou wish to be reputed &ust, but not to act as such. *"Ch. C4plain yourself Dour wit is not impo#erished.

Ath. In&ustice must not win, I say, because of technicalities.Ch. Then <uestion him and fairly &udge the case yourself.Ath. And would you #est authority for this case in me=Ch. %f course 9e honour you as you ha#e honoured us.Ath. 9hat answer, stranger, do you wish to make in turn=

Announce your place of birth, your race and fateat rst, and then defend yourself against this charge,if indeed it is the case that, trusting in the &ustice of your case, you set yourself to guard this statue at "my hearth, a solemn suppliant, a second I4ion.Jespond to e#ery point that I might clearly understand.

+r. Athena, lady, rst I shall dispel the worry that I seefrom what you said &ust now disturbs you most.I am not a suppliant, nor had I any stain uponmy hands when I sat down beside your statue here.I will tell you certain proof of all of thisE it is the lawthat any blood polluted man must hold his peace,until the slaughterings of new born beasts, by a manwell #ersed, can clean away the blood with blood. 1"ong since at the homes of other men I was absol#edof blood guilt both with running streams and #ictims dead.

This scruple then, I say, should cause you no embarrassment.As to my race and standing that shall you swiftly learn.I am an Argi#e my father - ask, and make me proud -was Agamemnon, commander of the sea-borne warriors,in company with whom you made the Tro&an town of Iliuma town no more. This man, he died disgracefully on hisreturn to home. (y mother, black of heart and mind,destroyed him embroidered were the nets she caught 3"him in, and they bore witness to the murder in the bath.And I came home at last from lengthy banishment,to kill her, yes, the one who ga#e me birth - and I shall not

deny it - in murderous re<uital for my dear father's death.And o4ias was e<ually responsible and my accomplice,foretelling tortures t to goad the #ery heart of me,if I should fail to work my #engeance on the guilty ones.6ow you must &udge if I ha#e &ustice on my side or not(y fate is in your hands and I am <uite content at that.

Ath. This matter is too big for any single mortal man to &udge, 8"whate#er he may think it is not e#en right for me to makea &udgement in a murder case, when passions are so sharp -the more because you come as suppliant, well schooledin hardship, puried and pose no threat to this my house.

These creatures too, though, ha#e their fated, fatal task,and should they not gain #ictory in this a7air, henceforththe #enom of their malice walks abroad to fall upon



the land and bring disease eternal and insu7erable.2uch then is the way of it - dilemmaE let him stay, or dri#ehim o7. oth courses might go hard with me. :"

Det, since this matter came to me for settlement, then shallmy city take you in, as someone as yet free of guilt, and Ishall set in place a solemn court of &udges sworn to deal

with homicide, from this day forth until the end of time./repare your e#idence and summon up your witnesses,that our procedures in this case may ser#e the caseof &ustice. I shall return when I ha#e chosen frommy citi)ens the ones best <ualied to rightly analysethis case and not betray their oaths with un&ust mind.

Ch. The sacrosanctity of law will be ? str. a.thrown o#er, should >!

the plea made by this no4iousmatricide pre#ail.

An action such as this will harness allmankind in moral anarchy.+or there will surely be in future timea comple4 store of pain, as childrenkill the ones that ga#e them birth.

%ur manic watchdog role abandoned, ? ant. a.we will not #isit wrath, 1""

inspired by crime, upon the guilty ones.C4ecution will be random.

And men will seek from each and e#ery one,proclaiming all their neighbours' ills,some end and surcease of the pain,but there will be no certainsal#e that might e7ect a cure.

And let not e#en any one ? str. b.call out and scream appeals,disaster strikingE 1!"@ % Fustice,enthroned +uries@

2o might perhaps a fatheror a mother, fresh struck-down,make piteous appeal, but the houseof &ustice is dead.

There is a time and place ? ant. b.for dread and it should keepits place as watchdog of the willA moderating pressure helps 1$"in times of stress.9hat man who has a heartuntouched by dread,what city of likeminded menholds &ustice in respectful awe=



o not appro#e a life ? str. c.of anarchy, nor yet a lifesub&ect to tyranny.

The god has e#er granted power to moderates, 1*"although the ob&ects of his choice may change.

(oderation is the creed I preach.Bybris is the true born child of blasphemy.

+rom sanity of mind deri#esthat friend of all, much lo#ed

reward of wealth.

+or all of time I say to you, ? ant. c.respect the shrine of &ustice

Dour eyes on prot 1"ne#er spurn her underneath your impious heel,

for #engeance will pursue. The fated end awaits.

In the light of this let each man honour his parentswell and let him respect alsothe rights of guests

that come to his gate.

The man who is &ust without constraint ? str. d.will not be unrewarded 11!

total destruction could ne#er be his. Det I say the transgressor, in boldness

of heart, embarking much plunder, pastall that is &ust, shall, in time's fullness, feelthe storm's force strike sail in the wreckage

and tangle of sheets.

5rappling the whirling eye of the storm ? ant. d.he prays, but none listen to him

the god rather laughs at the hot-headed man, 13"had seen that man boast, @ 6e#er me@Belpless beneath the downrushing crestthis man, who once had been glad in his life,

smashes down on &ustice's reef,destroyed, unwept, forgot.

Ath. 5i#e tongue and call to order, herald, all the folkand you, sir, ll your mortal lungs and letthe trumpet's blast speak loud its piercing noteto hea#en's #ault and all the gathered throng.+or, while this council now con#enes, my demand 18"is silence so the city all may learn the ordinances Iha#e set in perpetuity, and also these two parties here,in order that this case for murder may be fairly tried.

Ch. Apollo, lord, you ha#e no &urisdiction here./ray tell us what your interest is in this a7air.

A. I come to act as witness in defence - for by the law this man



is suppliant to me, dependent of my hearth and home,and I it was that cleansed him of pollution's stain - am cometo help him make his case I bear responsibility forthe fact of this man's mother's death. egin, Athena, take 1:"control, since you ha#e understanding of procedures here.

Ath. I now declare this court in session. Dou may begin.

2peak rst as prosecuting counsel and from the startinstruct us properly on all the details of your case.

Ch. 9e are many, but our statement will be brief.Jespond to our e4amination point for point.+irstE are you or are you not a matricide=

+r. I am. This thing I freely do confess.Ch. The rst round of the three is ours at once.+r. Dou should not boast as if I were knocked down. 1>"Ch. Dou now must tell the manner of her death.+r. I will. 9ith sword in hand I cut her throat.Ch. y whose ad#ice and council were you swayed=+r. y oracles di#ine, deli#ered by my witness here.Ch. The prophet god persuaded you to matricide=+r. I ne#er ha#e complained of this and do not do so now.Ch. ut if the #erdict snares you, then perhaps you will.+r. I ha#e faith - my father helps me from the tomb.Ch. Dou trust the dead when you ha#e killed your mother=+r. 2he bore the stigma of a twofold guilt. 3""Ch. Bow so= Instruct the &udges in your reasoning.+r. 2he killed her husband and so my father too.Ch. Det you still li#eE her murder freed her from her guilt.

+r. 9hy did you not hound her to ight while yet she li#ed=Ch. The man she killed was not of kindred blood.+r. ut I, you say, am of my mother's blood=Ch. ecause, you murderer, she nurtured you beneath

her girdle Bow can you deny you shared her blood=+r. 6ow you bear witness, ord Apollo, and e4plain,

I pray, how &ust my e4ecution of my mother was. 3!"+or we shall not deny the facts and how they standplease, gi#e us your opinion on my bloodshed's &ustice, orthe lack of it, so that I might defend myself to these.

A. I shall speak to you with &ustice, gentlemen, in this

great court of Athens and, as a prophet, will not lie.6o utterance of mine made e#er from the elphic throneabout any man, woman or state has lacked the sanctionand authority of 0eus, %lympian father of gods and men.

Dou will realise the strength our case possesses whenI say to you, you must yoursel#es obey my father's will. 3$"

6ot e#en your oath is stronger than the will of 0eus.Ch. And was it 0eus, as is your claim, that backed the oracle

that told %restes here to e4act #engeance for a father's deathand hold of no account at all a mother's claim=

A. %f course +or a man of noble blood, in#ested bythe gods with regal sceptred power, for him to dieoutweighs by far a woman's death, especially ifit was a woman killed him, not with an Ama)on's



swift shafts, but rather in the way that you shall learn,Athena, as will also those sat here to &udge this case. 3*"2he welcomed him back from the war with wordsthat smiled, this man that had done #ery well,

. . . . . . . .but when he took his bath, to make an end, she threw

a shrouding cloth upon her husband, tripped him, hackedhim down, engulfed in crafty all enfolding robes.

This is the fate that I describe befell a man, a warrior,re#ered by all in all respects, the captain of the eet.

That I might rouse the anger of the folk whose taskthis trial is, I also ha#e described this woman as she was.

Ch. 0eus honours rst the father's side by your account, 3"but 0eus himself chained Mronos up, his ancient sireoes this not mean you contradict yourself= I formallyre<uest you gentlemen to hear and note this e#idence.

A. +oul, loathsome beasts you are and e4ecrated by the gods0eus might yet release those chains and end that custody,for many the ways and means there are to freedombut when the thirsty dust sucks in a man's lifeblood,when once he's dead, there is no resurrection for him.(y father did not make up spells that mightaccomplish this, although all else he can redispose, 31"completely rearrange the uni#erse by force of will alone.

Ch. Take care how you are pleading for this man's release.2hall he inherit his father's property in Argos, when hehas spilled his mother's blood, his own, upon the ground=

At what shrines and public altars will he make obser#ance= The brotherhoods will bar him from their lustral rites.A. I will answer this, and note the soundness of my argument.

A mother, so called, is not, in fact, the parent of the child,merely the #essel that nurtures, protects the new sown seedthe father that sows the seed makes life, while she plays host, 33"keeps safe the plant, unless some god brings hurt to it.I shall demonstrate to you the proof of thisa father might gi#e birth without a mother's help - close by,a witness to the fact is Athena, daughter of %lympian 0eus. . . .. . . . . . .

2he was not e#en fostered in the darkness of a womb,was rather such a child as no plain goddess could produce.Athena, in so far as I am able - and in all respects - I willbring great ad#antage to your city and its populace,wherefore I sent this man to be a suppliant at your hearth,that he might be your trusted friend for e#ermore, 38"that you might gain him, goddess, as an ally for yourself,as well as his descendents, while these proceedings e#er willremain an earnest of your own care for Athens' future state.

Ath. And might I now instruct these &urymen to bring their wellconsidered and &ust #erdict in, both statements made=

A. +or our part we ha#e red our e#ery shaft.I wait to hear the outcome of the case.

Ath. 9ell, what shall I do to stay <uite blameless in your eyes=



Ch. Dou ha#e heard what you ha#e heard - so cast your #otes,my friends, respecting in your hearts the oaths you swore. 3:"

Ath. /ray hear my dispensations, gentlemen of Attica, that sitin &udgement here in this initial case of bloody homicide.

The people of Athens shall ha#e from this day forth,for e#ermore, a permanent council of &udges to meet

upon this rocky hill, where once the Ama)ons did pitchtheir tents what time, enraged at Theseus, they launchedtheir e4pedition against him and raised, upon this spot,a new uprearing city, threatening the old, and herethey sacriced to Ares, wherefore, this place is namedthe rock of Ares, @Areopagus@ the mana of this place, 3>"and the inborn dread of citi)ens, that <uells in&ustice, shall,both day and kindly night alike, pre#ent the citi)ensfrom introducing laws that foster re#olution by fouland muddy means. If once you make the water badthat once was clear, you ne#ermore will nd it t to drink.I counsel you, the citi)ens in go#ernment,to honour neither anarchy nor despotism, nor yetto banish from the city totally the sense of dread.+or &ustice is the child of fear among all mortal men.2o if you, the citi)ens, maintain a healthy sense of dread, 8""respect, you will secure a bulwark to protect the landand constitution, the like of which no other nation has,not the barbarous 2cythians, nor in the heart of /elops' land.I establish this council as incorruptible by bribes,as #enerable and swift to anger, a watchful guardian

for the land and e#er awake that you may sleep in peace.I ha#e re#ealed my counsel for the future forthe populace, but now you must stand up and choosethe ballot stone and so decide the #erdict in this case,respecting the oath you took. The time for talk is done. 8!"

Ch. In turn my counsel is that you should not insultour company, which then would be a danger to the land.

A. I too suggest you hold in deep regard my oracles,which are of 0eus, and do not render them unfullled.

Ch. Dou dabble in matters of blood with no authoritythe future oracles you dispense will be unclean.

A. And was my father wrong when he chose to purifythe archetypical I4ion, both murderer and suppliant=

Ch. Talk I will pro#e in time to come a sa#age #isitorin this land, unless I gain the #erdict I desire. 8$"

A. Among both the elder and the younger godsyou are held in low esteem, and I shall win.

Ch. In /heres' house your actions were the same,persuading the +ates to let a mortal li#e.

A. And is it not right to help at all times the manwho worships you, especially when his need is dire=

Ch. Dou undermined the dispensations of an elder time,beguiling with wine the elder goddesses.

A. Dou soon will nd you ha#e not won the case, but youwill spit your #enom at your enemies to no e7ect 8*"



Ch. 2ince you, a younger god, would ride your elder down,I shall stay to learn the outcome of this case for Iam undecided whether to #ent my anger on the state.

Ath. (ine is the task to make the nal &udgement hereand I shall cast this #ote in fa#our of %restes.

There is no mother that ga#e me birth and I prefer

the male in all respects - e4cept for a mate - with allmy heart, and I am completely on my father's side.And so I will not think of more account a woman's death,who killed her man who was the guardian of the house. 8"%restes wins, e#en if the #otes are e<ually cast.As <uickly as you can shake out the pebbles fromthe urns, those of the &udges whose allotted task this is.

+r. Apollo, /hoebus how do you think the decision will go=Ch. % 6ight, black mother, are you watching now=+r. 6ow is the time for me to choose the noose, or li#e.Ch. %urs now to reap our due reward, or be destroyed.A. 2hake out the tokens, friends, with all due care,

be scrupulous in counting out the court's decision. The absence of sound &udgement brings disaster. 81"A single #ote restores the fortunes of a fallen house.

Ath. This man is found not guilty of the charge of bloodthe #otes are e<ual cast on either side.

+r. Athena, you ha#e been the sa#iour of my house,and you did grant me ha#en when I was dri#en frommy nati#e land it will be spoken thus among the 5reeks,@The man of Argos li#es once more among his goods

ancestral, thanks to ady /allas and to o4ias,and thirdly through the all per#ading sway of 0eusthe 2a#iour.@ - ashamed at the death of my father, 83"0eus kept me safe, when he saw my mother's ad#ocates.

And now I shall go home, but not beforeI swear a solemn oath before this land and allits folk that from this day onward into the #ery depthand fullness of time no man, who is the current helmsman ofmy state, shall march and bring his well armed forceof spears against you. +or when I am myself insidethe tomb my present oath will torture those who break

its terms with ill success, disaster and futility,and render them dispirited upon the road, their march 88"unlucky so that they will learn to rue their enterpriseut if its terms are kept, why then the men of Argoswill always hold Athena's state in high esteem and beyour warlike ally, e#en as I too shall e#er smile on you.

And so farewell, Athena, and your city's populaceI pray you pro#e too hard a match for all your enemies,that you might li#e #ictorious and safe beneath the spear.

CH. Alas, the younger gods ha#e ridden down ? str. athe older laws, appropriated them themsel#es.I am bereft of honour in this land, poor wretch 8:"

that I am, and my anger is deep



release the #enom, #indicti#e, #enomous, from the heart,to drip on the earthand to blight it 9hence

cancers, famine, sterility, ah - Fustice Fustice2weep o#er the land

to drop your lth on the earth to the ruin of men.

o I groan= 9hat to do=I am mocked. Intolerable thingsI ha#e known in this place 8>"

Hnhappy, unlo#ed, we, daughters of 6ight,su7er wrong and despite.

Ath. e persuaded by me and do not grie#e too hard.+or you were not defeated, since the #otes in the casewere e#enly cast - and this is no disgrace to you.

The simple fact is that 0eus' e#idence was plain,as was Apollo's e#idence that he had prophesiedthat only by this deed could %restes escape harm.And so will you spew poisonous anger on the earth= :""

Take care, do not be angry with my land and makeit barren, raining down your demon drops to spearand blight and sa#age the land's increase of seed.In the name of all that is right I promise youwill ha#e a place to call your own within the &ustand hollow hill, with shining thrones to sit upon,recei#ing tribute and honour from my citi)ens.

CH. Alas, the younger gods ha#e ridden down ? ant. athe older laws, appropriated them themsel#es.I am bereft of honour in this land, poor wretch :!"

that I am, and my anger is deeprelease the #enom, #indicti#e, #enomous, from the heart,

to drip on the earthand to blight it 9hence

cancers, famine, sterility, ah - Fustice Fustice2weep o#er the land

to drop your lth on the earth to the ruin of men.o I groan= 9hat to do=

I am mocked. Intolerable thingsI ha#e known in this place :$"

Hnhappy, unlo#ed, we, daughters of 6ight,su7er wrong and despite.

Ath. Dou are not bereft of honour, and neither must your ragepro#oke you goddesses to make the land of men untenable.I ha#e the ear of 0eus and so... but why say that= -Also, alone of all the gods, I know the key to the placewherein the thunderbolt of 0eus is kept locked upand yet there is no need of that. e swayed by meand do not recklessly hurl and mouth your spells :*"against the land, to bring disaster on the crops.2oothe your anger's sombre swell and bitterness



and be an honoured and holy sharer in my landwhen you recei#e the rst fruits of this mighty landas sacred o7erings for children born and the marriage rite,thereafter and for e#ermore you will appro#e my words.

Ch. That I should su7er this, yes, I ? str. b.

Ancient in wisdom, to li#e dishonoured beneaththe earth, loathed and despised.(y breath is rage and I am total wrath. :"

Ahhh /ain and rage9hat is this pain that penetrates my heart,

my lungs= isten, (other6ight The guile of the gods, hard to resist, has sunderedme from my time honoured role, and I nothing am.

Ath. I understand your rage for you are of the elder time.And so your wisdom is deeper far than mine,although ord 0eus has granted me no little wit. :1";ome, li#e here in this alien land and you, in time,will also grow to lo#e it well. I tell you this.

The onward ow of history will bring a richer storeof honour to these citi)ens. And should you takean honoured place beside Crechtheus house, you toowill win, from men and women in procession, goodsthe like of which you could not ha#e from any other race.o not import whetstones of blood and strifeinto my home to rouse destructi#e fury in the young

men's hearts, to make them mad with passions stone :3"cold sober, &ust as if they took their model fromthe ghting cock, and so induce among Atheniansa lust for ci#il strife and outrage aimed at fellow citi)ens.et rather our wars be foreign and plentiful, so to pro#idefree rein to those possessed of terrible thirst for fameI ha#e no time for the man who struts and preens at home.2uch are the choices I can gi#e and you can takeEbe good to us and be well treated with all honour in returnand take a share in this land that is fa#oured of god.

Ch. That I should su7er this, yes, I ? ant. b.Ancient in wisdom, to li#e dishonoured beneath :8!

the earth, loathed and despised.(y breath is rage and I am total wrath.

Ahhh /ain and rage9hat is this pain that penetrates my heart,

my lungs= isten, (other6ight The guile of the gods, hard to resist, has sunderedme from my time honoured role, and I nothing am. ::"

Ath. I shall not grow tired of telling you the benetsin store, so you can ne#er say that you, as elder gods,were dri#en into e4ile, away from the land, dishonouredby my youth and the people who go#ern this town.



ut if /ersuasion's awe is held by you in high regard,that issues from my tongue to charm and soothe -then you will stay but if you do not wish to stay,it is not &ust for you to let your rage descend uponthis city, nor to let your rancour harm my citi)ens.

There is for you the share due one who owns :>"

the land, who shall be &ustly honoured e#ermore.Ch. (istress, what precisely is this place you promise me=Ath. %ne that is completely free from grief. Jecei#e it as your due.Ch. And if I do, what honour then awaits me there=Ath. 6o single house will prosper without your help.Ch. Dou will ensure that I shall ha#e such strength=Ath. 9e shall steer straight the li#es of them that honour us.Ch. Dou will secure my rights in this in all the time to come=Ath. It is not proper for me to promise things I cannot do.Ch. Dou seem to ha#e charmed me into letting go my wrath. >""Ath. And so you will by li#ing here gain many friends.Ch. 9hat magic do you bid me place in song upon this land=Ath. A song that is proper to this time of common #ictoryE

a song from the earth and the depths of the sea,from the sky, like a bree)e full of sunlight, lightand bright airs that descend, caressing the landa song to ensure the abundance of fruit in the land,ne#er failing, and a wealth of ne beasts for the folk,ensuring the safety and health of their mortal seed.Increase the wealth of those who worship you. >!"+or I lo#e the race, to which these righteous men

belong, with the lo#e that a gardener feels for his plants.All such is yours to grant, while I shall ne#er allowthe reputation of the city, won in the glorious strifeand records of war, to fade on the lips of mankind.

CH. I shall accept Athena's fellowship, ? str. a.shall not despise the town

where 0eus himself and mighty Ares dwell,fortress of the gods,safekeeper of the altarsof the 5reeks, a delight to the gods >$"

for which I pray,in kindly prophecy,that the sun's bright

light mightenrich her life with bountyfrom the earth.

Ath. And let me act with all good will to thesemy fellow citi)ens, great goddesses, hardto appease, who settled here at my re<uest.

They ha#e been allotted the task of managing all >*"the business of men,while the one who o7ends their rage,



will not know the source of disaster The guilt of generations past will dri#ehim into their grasp, and silent destruction,despite his loud cries, hostile their anger,

is utterly his.

Ch. et no storm winds blow to harm their trees - ? ant. a.I speak of fa#ours I may grant -

nor scorching heat blast and stie propagation,e4ceeding limits set within the land, >"and let no no4ious plagueassail the har#est, while /an,let him nurture the sheep,fertile with twinsborn in due time

and may the land's folk, rich with the gifts of the earthrepay the bounty of the gods.

Ath. And do you hear these words and understandtheir sense, you guardians the town=+or great is the strength of the +ury, >1"the mistress, among both the dead and the gods,manifestly disposing as well the li#es of the li#e,how they are, for some singing,for others- a lifetime of tears

to dim their eyes.

Ch. I proclaim against ? str.b.untimely deaths of mencut down in their prime, grant rather li#es

of en&oyment, with lo#ing wi#es, o you +ates, immortals >3"you are and ha#e power,sibling deities,goddesses, fair sharersin all households,through all time fruitful

in your &ust #isitations, in all ways

most respected of gods.

Ath. I am lled with delightat these blessingsappro#ed for my land delighted I am by the eyes >8"of /ersuasion that guided my tongue and my mouth,when I spoke to their anger and ragebut 0eus of the ;ouncil pre#ailedmy struggle for good will also pre#ail

for all time.

Ch. I pray that ci#il strife that knows ? ant. b.no end to e#il ne#er may surgeand thunder through this state.



et not the thirsting dust soak up the purple blood >:"of citi)ens, nor let menin passion for #engeance wreak#endetta and feud in the state,but men of like mindlet them share with one will

both their &oys and their ob&ects of hate.+or this is the source of much health among men.

Ath. At the last they ha#e the wisdom and sense to ndtheir way to words of good will.+rom these faces of dread I foresee an accrual >>"of much that is good for these men of the state.+or so long as you in kindliness and honour esteemthese kindly ones, so you will guide arightyour town and land

in all the business that you do.

Ch. e glad and en&oy the wealth it is fated you ha#e. ? str. c.e glad you citi)ensthat sit beside the throne of 0eus,belo#ed of the #irgin one, belo#edby 0eus, be glad and e#er temperate. !"""eneath the wings of /allase#en 0eus the father honours you.

Ath. And fare you well in gladness too for I

must hasten now to show the wayby the sacred light to your home, these womenin attendance. 5o then, sped upon your waybeneath the earth by holy sacrice, from thereto keep at bay whate#er harms the land,from there to send us benets, to bring

the city #ictory.

Dou, lead the way, you citi)ens, !"!"the children of ;ranaus, for theseour new come residents. And may

the folk be grateful for their fa#ours.

Ch. And fare you also well, be glad and fare you well, ? ant. c.all citi)ens of this citadel,both human and di#ineall you that ha#e a sharein /allas' city ne#er will regretour residence here, en&oyinggood fortune for life. !"$"

Ath. I thank you for these words of kindness and sendyou on your way by the aring torch's lightto places underneath the earth below this land,in company with these priestesses, the women who guard



my holy image, rightly so. (ay you come to the heartof Theseus' land, come all of you, a noble throngof children, women, all the company of elder folk

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .6ow honour our guests with purple robes,

and let the glow of the torches' re precede them,that for the rest of time this company might smile !"*"in kindness on this land and its wealth of noble men.

Chorus of Athenian 8omen(ake your way, honoured guests, almighty ? str. a.o7spring, not children, of 6ight, in your

procession contented - let the city be still.

(ake your way to the fastness of earth prime#al ? ant. a.may your fortune be such that you honours recei#e

and much sacrice - let the city be still.

;ome holy goddesses, smiling in kindness upon us,blessing the land as you go, ushed with the pleasure !"!

and glow of the torch on the road.6ow lift up your #oice in the hymn

The treaty is sealed e#erlasting between these guestsand the people of /allas Athena thus 0eus the all watchful,

thus also the +ates ha#e decreed.

6ow lift up your #oice in the hymn

oresteia part 1

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