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Aegisthus
who within these gates
Always restrain'd thee, that thou might'st not shame
Thy friends: now free from his control, to me
Thou show'st no reverence; but thy froward tongue
Oft speaks of me as haughty, and unjust
In my commands, and insolent to thee,
And thine. My nature knows not insolence:
Nor speak I harshly to thee, but provoked
By thy repeated harshness, and reproach,
That by my hand thy father died. (Thy plea
This only made) By me thy father died;
I know it well, nor shall deny the deed;
For justice struck the blow, nor I alone;
And thee, if wisdom ruled thee, it behoved
520
To aid me: for thy father, thus bewail'd,
520
Alone of all the Grecians steel'd his heart
520
To sacrifice thy sister to the gods:
He never felt, like me, a mother's throes.
I urge not that: but tell me for what cause
Or for whose sake he bade this victim bleed.
Say'st thou for Greece? No right had Greece to slay
My child. Or was it for his brother’s sake?
He slew my daughter: should not I repay/
Such deeds with just revenge? Had he no child?
Had he not two? And these with juster right
Had been devoted, as of parents born
Whose cause avenging Greece embark'd for Troy.
Or had th' infernal god more keen desire
To gorge him with my children, than with hers?
525
Or was this barbarous father's love grown cool
525
To children born of me, but warm to those
525
Born to his brother? Was not this the part
Of an unfeeling father, to all sense 1.
Of goodness lost? I think so, though I speak
What to thy thoughts is adverse; so my child
That died would speak, could she her voice regain.
Hence for this deed no sorrow, no remorse
Hath ever touch'd my heart. To thee perchance
I seem to judge amiss: but weigh things well,
Let justice hold the beam, then blame thy friends.
who within these gates
Always restrain'd thee, that thou might'st not shame
Thy friends: now free from his control, to me
Thou show'st no reverence; but thy froward tongue
Oft speaks of me as haughty, and unjust
In my commands, and insolent to thee,
And thine. My nature knows not insolence:
Nor speak I harshly to thee, but provoked
By thy repeated harshness, and reproach,
That by my hand thy father died. (Thy plea
This only made) By me thy father died;
I know it well, nor shall deny the deed;
For justice struck the blow, nor I alone;
And thee, if wisdom ruled thee, it behoved
520
To aid me: for thy father, thus bewail'd,
520
Alone of all the Grecians steel'd his heart
520
To sacrifice thy sister to the gods:
He never felt, like me, a mother's throes.
I urge not that: but tell me for what cause
Or for whose sake he bade this victim bleed.
Say'st thou for Greece? No right had Greece to slay
My child. Or was it for his brother’s sake?
He slew my daughter: should not I repay/
Such deeds with just revenge? Had he no child?
Had he not two? And these with juster right
Had been devoted, as of parents born
Whose cause avenging Greece embark'd for Troy.
Or had th' infernal god more keen desire
To gorge him with my children, than with hers?
525
Or was this barbarous father's love grown cool
525
To children born of me, but warm to those
525
Born to his brother? Was not this the part
Of an unfeeling father, to all sense 1.
Of goodness lost? I think so, though I speak
What to thy thoughts is adverse; so my child
That died would speak, could she her voice regain.
Hence for this deed no sorrow, no remorse
Hath ever touch'd my heart. To thee perchance
I seem to judge amiss: but weigh things well,
Let justice hold the beam, then blame thy friends.
Electra. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.