Euripides Orestes 1286

Electra

spoken

They do not hear; alas for my troubles! Can it be that her beauty has blunted their swords?

sung

Soon some Argive in full armor, hurrying

to her rescue, will attack the palace.

1290

spoken

Keep a better look-out; it is not a contest of sitting still; turn about, some here, some there.

Chorus

sung

I am looking everywhere in turn along the road.

1295

Helen

within

Oh, Pelasgian Argos! I am being foully murdered.

Chorus

Did you hear? The men have put their hand to the slaughter.

It is Helen screaming, at a guess.

Electra

sung

O eternal might of Zeus, of Zeus, only come to help my friends!

Helen

within

Menelaus, I am dying, but you do not help me, though you are near.

Electra

sung

Slay her, kill her, destroy her! Stab with your twin double-edged swords

the woman who left her father, left her husband, and killed so many of the men of Hellas , slain beside the river-bank, where tears rained down, by the iron darts

1305

all round the eddies of Scamander.

1310

Chorus Leader

Hush! hush! I caught the sound of a foot-fall on the road near the house.

Electra

My dearest friends, it is Hermione advancing into the middle of the bloodshed; let our clamor cease.

For she comes headlong into the meshes of the net. The prey will be good, if it is caught. Take up your places again with looks composed and faces not betraying what has happened; I too will have a gloomy look,

1315

as if I knew nothing of what has been done. Addressing Hermione as she approaches. Ah! maiden, have you come from wreathing Clytemnestra’s grave and pouring libations to the dead?

1320

Hermione

Yes, I have returned after securing her favor; but I was filled with some alarm about a cry I heard from the palace

as I was still at a distance.

1325

Electra

But why? Our present lot gives cause for groans.

Hermione

Oh, don’t say so! What is your news?

Electra

Argos has sentenced Orestes and me to death.

Hermione

Oh no! not my own relatives!

Electra

It is decreed; we have put on the yoke of necessity.

1330

Hermione

Was this the reason of the cry within?

Electra

Yes, a suppliant cried out as he fell at Helen’s knees—

Hermione

Who is he? I know nothing more, if you do not tell me.

Electra

Unhappy Orestes, entreating mercy for himself and me.

Hermione

The house then has good reason to shout.

1335

Electra

What else would make someone entreat more earnestly? But come and throw yourself before your mother in her prosperity, join your friends’ supplication that Menelaus may not see us die.

O you that were nursed in my mother’s arms, have pity on us and relieve our pain. Come here to the struggle, and I myself will be your guide; for you alone have power over our safety.

1340

Hermione

See, I am hastening to the house;

as far it as rests with me, regard yourselves as safe. Exit Hermione .

1345

Electra

Now, friends in the house with swords, seize the prey!

Hermione

calling from within

Oh no! Who are these I see?

Orestes

(within.) Silence! You are here for our safety, not yours.

Electra

Hold her, hold her! Point a sword at her throat,

then wait in silence, that Menelaus may learn that he has found men, not Phrygian cowards, and he has been treated as cowards deserve.

1350