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Chorus
Requital for evils; the breezes of the house shift and blow. At another time my leader, my own, fell murdered in the bath,
and the roof and stone walls of the house cried aloud, while he said:
O cruelty! My wife, why are you murdering me on my return to my dear country in the tenth year? . . .
1150
Requital for evils; the breezes of the house shift and blow. At another time my leader, my own, fell murdered in the bath,
and the roof and stone walls of the house cried aloud, while he said:
O cruelty! My wife, why are you murdering me on my return to my dear country in the tenth year? . . .
1150
Chorus
Retribution for straying love has flowed back and brings to judgment the one who killed her wretched husband, when he came at last to his home and to the towering Cyclopean walls; with her own hand she killed him with the sharp-edged weapon,
1155
holding the axe in her hands. Unhappy husband! whatever the curse that possessed that wretched woman. Like a lioness of the hills that ranges through the meadowland woods, she accomplished these things.
1160
1165
within
Retribution for straying love has flowed back and brings to judgment the one who killed her wretched husband, when he came at last to his home and to the towering Cyclopean walls; with her own hand she killed him with the sharp-edged weapon,
1155
holding the axe in her hands. Unhappy husband! whatever the curse that possessed that wretched woman. Like a lioness of the hills that ranges through the meadowland woods, she accomplished these things.
1160
Clytemnestra
O children, by the gods, do not kill your mother.
1165
O children, by the gods, do not kill your mother.
1165
Chorus
Do you hear her cries within the house?
Do you hear her cries within the house?
Clytemnestra
O God! Ah me!
O God! Ah me!
Chorus
I also wail for you, overpowered by your children. Truly the god deals out justice, whenever it befalls.
You have suffered cruelly, unhappy one, yet you did unholy things to your husband.
1170
1172
I also wail for you, overpowered by your children. Truly the god deals out justice, whenever it befalls.
You have suffered cruelly, unhappy one, yet you did unholy things to your husband.
1170
Chorus Leader
But here they come from the house, defiled in the newly shed blood of their mother, a triumphal rout, evidence of the pitiable sacrifice.
There is no house more pitiable than the race of Tantalus, nor has there ever been.
1175
The two corpses are shown.
But here they come from the house, defiled in the newly shed blood of their mother, a triumphal rout, evidence of the pitiable sacrifice.
There is no house more pitiable than the race of Tantalus, nor has there ever been.
1175
Orestes
O Earth, and Zeus who sees all mortal acts, look at these loathsome bloody deeds, these two bodies
lying on the earth at the blow from my hand, atonement for my suffering . . .
1180
O Earth, and Zeus who sees all mortal acts, look at these loathsome bloody deeds, these two bodies
lying on the earth at the blow from my hand, atonement for my suffering . . .
1180
Electra
Too many tears, my brother, and I am the cause. Unhappy, that I came to fiery rage against this woman, who was my mother!
Too many tears, my brother, and I am the cause. Unhappy, that I came to fiery rage against this woman, who was my mother!
Chorus
Alas for your fate; you gave birth to unbearable pain, and you suffered it, miserably and beyond, from your children. Yet you have rightly paid for their father’s murder.
1185
Alas for your fate; you gave birth to unbearable pain, and you suffered it, miserably and beyond, from your children. Yet you have rightly paid for their father’s murder.
1185
Orestes
Ah, Phoebus! you proclaimed in song unclear justice, but you have brought about clear woes, and granted me a bloody destiny far from the land of
Hellas
. To what other city can I go?
1190
What host, what pious man will look at me, who killed my mother?
1195
Ah, Phoebus! you proclaimed in song unclear justice, but you have brought about clear woes, and granted me a bloody destiny far from the land of
Hellas
. To what other city can I go?
1190
What host, what pious man will look at me, who killed my mother?
1195
Electra
Ah me! Where can I go, to what dance, to what marriage? What husband will receive me
into the bridal bed?
1200
Ah me! Where can I go, to what dance, to what marriage? What husband will receive me
into the bridal bed?
1200
Chorus
Again, again your thought changes with the breeze; for now you think piously, though you did not before, and you did dreadful things,
my dear, to your unwilling brother.
1205
Again, again your thought changes with the breeze; for now you think piously, though you did not before, and you did dreadful things,
my dear, to your unwilling brother.
1205
Orestes
Did you see how the unhappy one threw off her robe and showed her bosom in the slaughter, alas, hurling to the ground the limbs that gave me birth? And her hair, I—
Did you see how the unhappy one threw off her robe and showed her bosom in the slaughter, alas, hurling to the ground the limbs that gave me birth? And her hair, I—
Chorus
I know it well; you passed through agony, hearing the mournful wail of the mother that bore you.
1210
I know it well; you passed through agony, hearing the mournful wail of the mother that bore you.
1210
Orestes
She uttered this cry, putting her hand to my chin:
My child, I entreat you! And she clung to my cheeks, so that the sword fell from my hand.
1215
She uttered this cry, putting her hand to my chin:
My child, I entreat you! And she clung to my cheeks, so that the sword fell from my hand.
1215
Chorus
The unhappy one! How did you endure to see the blood
of your mother, breathing her last before your eyes?
1220
The unhappy one! How did you endure to see the blood
of your mother, breathing her last before your eyes?
1220
Orestes
I threw my cloak over my eyes, and began the sacrifice by plunging the sword into my mother’s throat.
I threw my cloak over my eyes, and began the sacrifice by plunging the sword into my mother’s throat.
Electra
And I urged you on and
put my hand to the sword together with you.
1225
And I urged you on and
put my hand to the sword together with you.
1225
Chorus
You have done the most dreadful of deeds.
You have done the most dreadful of deeds.
Orestes
Take and hide the limbs of our mother beneath a robe, and close the wounds.
Turning to the corpse Ah! You gave birth to your own murderers.
Take and hide the limbs of our mother beneath a robe, and close the wounds.
Turning to the corpse Ah! You gave birth to your own murderers.
Electra
Covering the corpse
There, I am putting this cloak over the one loved and not loved.
1230
There, I am putting this cloak over the one loved and not loved.
1230
Chorus
An end of great troubles for the house.
An end of great troubles for the house.
Electra. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1891.
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