Chapter XII: Part II: Page (10)

The words, as taken in the text, refer to Orestes seeing even in sleep
the spectral forms of the Erinnyes. By some editors the verse is
placed after v. 276, and the lines then read thus:—

“And that he calls fresh onsets of the Erinnyes
As brought to issue from a father's blood,
Seeing clearly, though he move his brow in darkness.”

So taken, the last line refers to Agamemnon, who, though in the
darkness of Hades, sees the penalties which will fail upon his son
should he neglect to take vengeance on his father's murderers.

Footnote 420:

Stress is laid here, as in _Agam._ 1224, on the effeminacy of the
adulterer.

Footnote 421:

The great law of retribution is repeated from _Agam._ 1564. As one of
the earliest utterances of man's moral sense, it was referred
popularly among the Greeks to Rhadamanthos, who with Minos judged the
souls of the dead in Hades. Comp. Aristot. _Ethic. Nicom._, v. 8.

Footnote 422:

The funeral pyre, which consumes the body, leaves the life and power
of the man untouched. The spirit survives, and calls on the Gods that
dwell in darkness to avenge him. The very cry of wailing tends, as a
prayer to them, to the exposure of the murderer.

Footnote 423:

The Lykians, of whom Glaucos and Sarpedon are the representative
heroes in the _Iliad_, are named as the chief allies of the Troïans.

Footnote 424:

The words embody the widespread feeling that the absence of funereal
honours affected the spirit of the dead, and that the souls with whom
he dwelt held him in high or low esteem according as they had been
given or withheld.

Footnote 425:

Pindar (_Pyth._ x. 47), the contemporary of Æschylos, had made the
name of these Hyperborei well known to all Greeks. The vague dreams of
men, before the earth had been searched out, pictured a happy land as
lying beyond their reach. There were Islands of the Blest in the far
West; Æthiopians, peaceful and long-lived, in the South; and far away,
beyond the cold North, a people exempt from the common evils of
humanity. The latter have been connected with the old Aryan belief in
the paradise of Mount Meru. Comp. also Herod. iv. 421; _Prom._ 812.

Footnote 426:

_Sc._, the beating of both hands upon the breast, as the Chorus
uttered their lamentations.

Footnote 427:

Perhaps, simply “the sharp and bitter cry.” But the rendering in the
text seems justified as repeating the wish already expressed (v. 260),
that the murderers may die by this form of death.

Footnote 428:

The Chorus at this point renew their words and cries of lamentation,
smiting on their breasts. By some critics this speech and Antistrophe
VII. are assigned to Electra, Antistrophe VIII. to the Chorus, with a
corresponding change in the pronouns “my” and “thy.” The Chorus, as
consisting of Troïan captives, is represented as adopting the more
vehement Asiatic forms of wailing. Among these the Arians, Kissians,
and Mariandynians (_Pers._ 920) seem to have been most conspicuous for
their skill in lamentation, and, as such, were in request where hired
mourners were wanted. Compare the opening chorus, v. 22.

Footnote 429:

The practice of mutilating the corpse of a murdered man by cutting off
his hands and feet and fastening them round his waist, seems to have
been looked on as rendering him powerless to seek for vengeance. Comp.
Soph. _Elect._ v. 437. This kind of mutilation, and not mere wanton
outrage, is what the Chorus refer to.

Footnote 430:

As in v. 351 the loss of honour among the dead was represented as one
consequence of the absence of funereal rites from those who loved the
dead, so here the restoration of the children to their rights appears
as the condition without which that dishonour must continue. If they
succeed, then, and then only, can they offer funereal banquets, year
by year, as was the custom. There may be a special reference to an
Argive custom mentioned by Plutarch (_Quæst. Græc._, c. 24) of
sacrificing immediately after the death of a relative to Apollo, and
thirty days later to Hermes.

Footnote 431:

Another reference to the third cup of undiluted wine which men drank
to the honour of Zeus the Preserver. Comp. _Agam._ v. 245.

Footnote 432:

Possibly the pronoun refers to Pylades.

Footnote 433:

The story of Althæa has perhaps been made most familiar to English
readers by Mr. Swinburne's _Atalanta in Calydon_. More briefly told,
the legend ran that she, being the wife of Œneus, bare a son, who was
believed to be the child of Ares—that the Fates came to her when the
boy, who was named Meleagros, was seven days old, and told her that
his life should last until the firebrand then burning on the earth
should be consumed. She took the firebrand and quenched it, and laid
it by in a chest; but when Meleagros grew up, he joined in the chase
of the great boar of Calydon, and when he had slain it, gave the skin
as a trophy to Atalanta, and when his mother's brothers, the sons of
Thestios, claimed it as their right, he waxed wroth with them and slew
them. And then Althæa, in her grief, caring more for her brothers than
her son, took the brand from the chest, and threw it into the fire,
and so Meleagros died. Phrynichos is said to have made the myth the
subject of a drama. In Homer (_Il._ x. 566), Althæa brings about her
son's death by her curses.

Footnote 434:

Skylla (not to be confounded with the sea-monster of Messina) was the
daughter of Nisos, king of Megaris, who had on his head a lock of
purple hair, which was a charm that preserved his life from all
danger. And the Cretans under Minos attacked Nisos, and besieged him
in his city; and Minos won the love of Skylla, and tempted her with
gifts, and she cut off her father's lock of hair, and so he perished.
But Minos, scorning her for her deed, bound her by the feet to the
stern of his ship and drowned her.

Footnote 435:

Hermes, _i.e._, in his office as the escort of the souls of the dead
to Hades.

Footnote 436:

The Chorus apparently is represented as on the point of completing its
catalogue of crimes committed by women with the story of
Clytæmnestra's guilt. Something leads them to check themselves, and
they are contented with a dark and vague allusion.

Footnote 437:

The story of the Lemnian women is told by Herodotos (vi. 138). They
rose up against their husbands and put them all to death; and the deed
passed into a proverb, so that all great crimes were spoken of as
Lemnian. This guilt is that alluded to in Strophe III.

Footnote 438:

In every case of which the Chorus had spoken guilt had been followed
by retribution. So, it is implied, it will be in that which is present
to their thoughts.

Footnote 439:

_Sc._, is not forgotten or overlooked, but will assuredly meet with
its due punishment.

Footnote 440:

So in Homer (_Il._ xxii. 444), the warm bath is prepared by Andromache
for Hector on his return from the battle in which he fell.

Footnote 441:

As in her speeches in the _Agamemnon_ (vv. 595, 884), Clytæmestra's
words here also are full of significant ambiguity. The “things that
befit the house,” the proposed conference with Ægisthos, her
separation of Orestes from his companions, are all indications of
suspicion already half aroused. The last three lines were probably
spoken as an “aside.”

Footnote 442:

Suasion is personified, and invoked to come and win Clytæmnestra to
trust herself in the power of the two avengers.

Footnote 443:

An alternative rendering is,

“Nay, say not that to him with show of hate.”

Footnote 444:

Apollo in the shrine at Delphi.

Footnote 445:

Hermes invoked once more, as at once the patron of craft and the
escort of the dead.

Footnote 446:

Or “before our eyes.”

Footnote 447:

The “treasured score” is explained by the words that follow to mean
the cry of exultation which the Chorus will raise when the deed of
vengeance is accomplished; or, possibly (as Mr. Paley suggests), the
funereal wail over the bodies of Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra, which the
Chorus would raise to avert the guilt of the murder from Orestes.

Footnote 448:

As Perseus could only overcome the Gorgon, Medusa, by turning away his
eyes, lest looking on her he should turn to stone, so Orestes was to
avoid meeting his mother's glance, lest that should unman him and
blunt his purpose.

Footnote 449:

Ægisthos had suffered enough, he says, for his share in Agamemnon's
death. He has no wish that fresh odium should fall on him, as being
implicated also in the death of Orestes, of which he has just heard.

Footnote 450:

The word (_ephedros_) was applied technically to one who sat by during
a conflict between two athletes, prepared to challenge the victor to a
fresh encounter. Orestes is such a combatant, taking the place of
Agamemnon.

Footnote 451:

So, in Homer (_Il._ xxii. 79), Hecuba, when the entreaties of Priam
had been in vain, makes this last appeal—

“Then to the front his mother rushed, in tears,
Her bosom bare, with either hand her breast
Sustaining, and with tears addressed him thus,
'Hector, my son, thy mother's breast revere.'”

Footnote 452:

The reader will note this as the only speech put into the lips of
Pylades, though he is present as accompanying Orestes throughout great
part of the drama.

Footnote 453:

The different ethical standard applied to the guilt of the husband and
the wife was, we may well believe, that which prevailed among the
Athenians generally. It has only too close a parallel in the ballads
and romances of our own early literature.

Footnote 454:

The line is memorable as prophetic of the whole plot of the
_Eumenides._

Footnote 455:

The phrase “wail as to a tomb” seems to have been a by-word for
fruitless entreaty and lamentation.

Footnote 456:

Clytæmnestra sees now the important of the dream referred to in vv.
518-522.

Footnote 457:

The words must be left in their obscurity. Commentators have
conjectured Orestes and Pylades, or the deaths of Agamemnon and
Iphigeneia, or those of Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra, as the “two lions,”
spoken of. The first seems most in harmony with the context.

Footnote 458:

The Eternal Justice which orders all things is mightier than any
arbitrary will, such as men attribute to the Gods. That will, even if
we dare to think of it as changeable or evil, is held in restraint. It
cannot, even if it would, protect the evildoers.

Footnote 459:

The Chorus feel that they have been too long silent; now, at last,
they can speak. As slaves dreading punishment they had been gagged
before; now the gag is removed.

Footnote 460:

Or, “Once more for those who wail.”

Footnote 461:

It is not clear with what form of animal life the _myræna_ is to be
identified. The ideal implied is that of some sea-monster whose touch
was poisonous, but this does not hold good of the “lamprey.”

Footnote 462:

As the text stands, Orestes says that at last he can speak of the
murder over which he had long brooded in silence. Another reading
makes him speak of the oscillations in his own mind—

“Now do I praise myself, now wail and blame.”

Footnote 463:

Comp. vv. 270-288.

Footnote 464:

Delphi was to the Greek (as Jerusalem was to mediæval Christendom) the
centre at once of his religious life and of the material earth. Its
rock was the _omphalos_ of the world. Consecrated widows watched over
the sacred and perpetual fire. Once only up to the time of Æschylos,
when the Temple itself was desecrated by the Persians, had it ceased
to burn.

Footnote 465:

Once again we have the thought of the third cup offered as a libation
to Zeus as saviour and deliverer. The Chorus asks whether this third
deed of blood will be true to that idea and work out deliverance.

EUMENIDES

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

PYTHIAN PRIESTESS
APOLLO
ATHENA
_Ghost of Clytæmnestra_
ORESTES
HERMES
_Chorus of the Erinnyes_
_Athenian Citizens, Women, and Girls_

_ARGUMENT.—The Erinnyes who appeared to Orestes after the murder of Clytæmnestra made his life miserable, and drove him without rest from land to land. And he, seeking to escape them, had recourse to the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, believing that he who had sent him to do the work of vengeance would also help to free him from this wretchedness. But the Erinnyes followed him there also, and took their places even within the holy shrine of the Oracle, and while Orestes knelt on the central hearth as a suppliant, they sat upon the seats there, and for very weariness fell asleep._

EUMENIDES

SCENE.—_The Outer Court of the Oracle at_ Delphi. _Inner shrine in
the background, with doors leading into it_

_Enter the_ PYTHIAN PRIESTESS

_Pyth._ First, with this prayer, of all the Gods I honour The primal seeress Earth, and Themis next,[466] Who in due order filled her mother's place, (So runs the tale,) and in the third lot named, With her good-will and doing wrong to none, Another of the Titans' offspring sat, Earth's daughter Phœbe, and as birthday gift She gives it up to Phœbos,[467] and he takes His name from Phœbe. And he, leaving then The pool[468] and rocks of Delos, having steered To the ship-traversed shores that Pallas owns, 10 Came to this land and to Parnassos' seat: And with great reverence they escort him on, Hephæstos' sons, road-makers,[469] turning thus The wilderness to land no longer wild; And when he comes the people honour him, And Delphos too,[470] chief pilot of this land. And him Zeus sets, his mind with skill inspired, As the fourth seer upon these sacred seats; And Loxias is his father Zeus's prophet. These Gods in prologue of my prayer I worship; 20 Pallas Pronaia[471] too claims highest praise; The Nymphs adore I too where stands the rock Korykian,[472] hollow, loved of birds and haunt Of Gods. [And Bromios[473] also claims this place, Nor can I now forget it, since the time When he, a God, with help of Bacchants warred, And planned a death for Pentheus, like a hare's.[474] Invoking Pleistos'[475] founts, Poseidon's might, And Zeus most High, supreme Accomplisher, I in due order sit upon this seat As seeress, and I pray them that they grant To find than all my former divinations 30 One better still. If Hellas pilgrims sends, Let them approach by lot, as is our law; For as the God guides I give oracles.[476]

[_She passes through the door to the adytum,
and after a pause returns trembling and
crouching with fear, supporting herself
with her hands against the walls and
columns. The door remains open, and
Orestes and the Erinnyes are seen in the
inner sanctuary_

Dread things to tell, and dread for eyes to see, Have sent me back again from Loxias' shrine, *So that strength fails, nor can I nimbly move, But run with help of hands, not speed of foot; A woman old and terrified is nought, A very child. Lo! into yon recess With garlands hung I go, and there I see Upon the central stone[477] a God-loathed man, 40 Sitting as suppliant, and with hands that dripped Blood-drops, and holding sword but newly drawn, And branch of olive from the topmost growth, With amplest tufts of white wool meetly wreathed; For this I will say clearly.[478] And a troop Of women strange to look at sleepeth there, Before this wanderer, seated on their stools; Not women they, but Gorgons[479] I must call them; Nor yet can I to Gorgon forms compare them: I have seen painted shapes that bear away 50 The feast of Phineus.[480] Wingless, though, are these, And swarth, and every way abominable. *They snort with breath that none may dare approach, And from their eyes a loathsome humour pours, And such their garb as neither to the shrine Of Gods is meet to bring, nor mortal roof. Ne'er have I seen a race that owns this tribe, Nor is there land can boast it rears such brood, Unhurt and free from sorrow for its pains. Henceforth be it the lot of Loxias, 60 Our mighty lord, himself to deal with them: True prophet-healer he, and portent-seer, And for all others cleanser of their homes.

_Enter_ APOLLO _from the inner adytum, attended
by_ HERMES

_Apol._ [_To_ ORESTES.] Nay, I'll not fail thee, but as close at hand Will guard thee to the end, or though far off, Will not prove yielding to thine adversaries; And now thou see'st these fierce ones captive ta'en, These loathly maidens fallen fast in sleep. Hoary and ancient virgins they, with whom Nor God, nor man, nor beast, holds intercourse. 70 They owe their birth to evils; for they dwell In evil darkness, yea in Tartaros Beneath the earth, and are the hate and dread Of all mankind, and of Olympian Gods. Yet fly thou, fly, and be not faint of heart; For they will chase thee over mainland wide, As thou dost tread the soil by wanderers tracked, And o'er the ocean, and by sea-girt towns; And fail thou not before the time, as brooding O'er this great toil. But go to Pallas' city, And sit, and clasp her ancient image[481] there; 80 And there with judges of these things, and words Strong to appease, will we a means devise To free thee from these ills for evermore; For I urged thee to take thy mother's life.

_Orest._ Thou know'st, O king Apollo, not to wrong; And since thou know'st, learn also not to slight: Thy strength gives full security for act.

_Apol._ Remember, let no fear o'ercome thy soul; And [_To_ HERMES] thou, my brother, of one father born, My Hermes, guard him; true to that thy name, Be thou his Guide, true shepherd of this man, Who comes to me as suppliant: Zeus himself 90 *Reveres this reverence e'en to outcasts due, When it to mortals comes with guidance good.[482]

[_Exit_ ORESTES _led by_ HERMES. APOLLO _retires
within the adytum. The Ghost of_ CLYTÆMNESTRA
_rises from the ground_

_Clytæm._ What ho! Sleep on! What need of sleepers now? And I am put by you to foul disgrace Among the other dead, nor fails reproach Among the shades that I a murderess am; And so in shame I wander, and I tell you That at their hands I bear worst form of blame. And much as I have borne from nearest kin, 100 Yet not one God is stirred to wrath for me, Though done to death by matricidal hands. See ye these heart-wounds, whence and how they came? Yea, when it sleeps, the mind is bright with eyes;[483] But in the day it is man's lot to lack All true discernment. Many a gift of mine Have ye lapped up, libations pure from wine,[484] And soothing rites that shut out drunken mirth; And I dread banquets of the night would offer On altar-hearth, at hour no God might share. And lo! all this is trampled under foot. 110 He is escaped, and flees, like fawn, away; And even from the midst of all your toils Has nimbly slipped, and draws wide mouth at you. Hear ye; for I have spoken for my life: Give heed, ye dark, earth-dwelling Goddesses, I, Clytæmnestra's phantom, call on you.

[_The Erinnyes moan in their sleep_

Moan on, the man is gone, and flees far off: My kindred find protectors; I find none.

[_Moan as before_

Too sleep-oppressed art thou, nor pitiest me: Orestes, murderer of his mother, 'scapes. 120

[_Noises repeated_

Dost snort? Dost drowse? Wilt thou not rise and speed? What have ye ever done but work out ill?

[_Noises as before_

Yea, sleep and toil, supreme conspirators, Have withered up the dreaded dragon's strength.

_Chor._ [_starting up suddenly with a yell._] Seize him, seize, seize,
yea, seize: look well to it.

_Clytæm._ Thou, phantom-like,[485] dost hunt thy prey, and criest, Like hound that never rests from care of toil. What dost thou? (_to one Erinnys._) Rise and let not toil o'ercome thee, Nor, lulled to sleep, lose all thy sense of loss. Let thy soul (_to another_) feel the pain of just reproach: 130 The wise of heart find that their goad and spur. And thou (_to a third_), breathe on him with thy blood-flecked breath, And with thy vapour, thy maw's fire, consume him; Chase him, and wither with a fresh pursuit.

_Leader of the Chor._ Wake, wake, I say; wake her, as I wake thee. Dost slumber? Rise, I say, and shake off sleep. Let's see if this our prelude be in vain.

STROPHE I

Pah! pah! Oh me! we suffered, O my friends.... Yea, many mine own sufferings undeserved.... We suffered a great sorrow, full of woe, 140 An evil hard to bear. Out of the nets he's slipped, our prey is gone: O'ercome by sleep I have my quarry lost.

ANTISTROPHE I

Ah, son of Zeus, a very robber thou, Though young, thou didst old Goddesses ride down,[486] Honouring thy suppliant, godless though he be, One whom his parents loathe: Thou, though a God, a matricide hast freed: Of which of these acts can one speak as just?

STROPHE II

Yea, this reproach that came to me in dreams 150 Smote me, as charioteer Smites with a goad he in the middle grasps, Beneath my breast, my heart; 'Tis ours to feel the keen, the o'er keen smart, As by the public scourger fiercely lashed.

ANTISTROPHE II

Such are the doings of these younger Gods, Beyond all bounds of right Stretching their power.... A clot of blood besmeared Upon the base, the head,... Earth's central shrine itself we now may see 160 Take to itself pollution terrible.

STROPHE III

And thou, a seer, with guilt that stains thy hearth Hast fouled thy shrine, self-prompted, self-impelled, Against God's laws a mortal honouring, And bringing low the Fates Born in the hoary past.

ANTISTROPHE III

Me he may vex, but shall not rescue him; Though 'neath the earth he flee, he is not freed For he, blood-stained, shall find upon his head Another after me, Destroyer foul and dread.

[APOLLO _advances from the adytum and confronts
them_

_Apol._ Out, out, I bid you, quickly from this temple; Go forth, and leave this shrine oracular, 170 Lest, smitten with a serpent winged and bright, Forth darted from my bow-string golden-wrought, Thou in sore pain bring up dark foam, and vomit The clots of blood thou suck'dst from human veins. This is no house where ye may meetly come, But there where heads upon the scaffold lie,[487] And eyes are gouged, and throats of men are cut, *And mutilation mars the bloom of youth, Where men are maimed and stoned to death, and groan With bitter wailing, 'neath the spine impaled; 180 Hear ye what feast ye love, and so become Loathed of the Gods? Yes, all your figure's fashion Points clearly to it. Such as ye should dwell In cave of lion battening upon blood, Nor tarry in these sacred precincts here, Working defilement. Go, and roam afield Without a shepherd, for to flock like this Not one of all the Gods is friendly found.

_Chor._ O king Apollo, hear us in our turn: No mere accomplice art thou of these things, 190 But guilty art in full as principal.

_Apol._ How then? Prolong thy speech to tell me this.

_Chor._ Thou bad'st this stranger be a matricide.

_Apol._ I bade him to avenge his sire. Why not?

_Chor._ Then thou did'st welcome here the blood just shed.

_Apol._ I bade him seek this shrine as suppliant.

_Chor._ Yet us who were his escort thou revilest.

_Apol._ It is not meet that ye come nigh this house.

_Chor._ Yet is this self-same task appointed us.

_Apol._ What function's this? Boast thou of nobler task? 200

_Chor._ We drive from home the murderers of their mothers.

_Apol._ What? Those who kill a wife that slays her spouse?

_Chor._ That deed brings not the guilt of blood of kin.[488]

_Apol._ *Truly thou mak'st dishonoured, and as nought, The marriage-vows of Zeus and Hera great; And by this reasoning Kypris too is shamed, From whom men gain the ties of closest love. For still to man and woman marriage bed, Assigned by Fate and guided by the Right, Is more than any oath. If thou then deal So gently, when the one the other slays, 210 And dost not even look on them with wrath, I say thou dost not justly chase Orestes; For thou, in the one case, I know, dost rage; I' the other, clearly tak'st it easily: The Goddess Pallas shall our quarrel judge.

_Chor._ That man I ne'er will leave for evermore.

_Apol._ Chase him then, chase, and gain yet more of toil.

_Chor._ Curtail thou not my functions by thy speech.

_Apol._ Ne'er by my choice would I thy functions own.

_Chor._ True; great thy name among the thrones of Zeus: 220 But I, his mother's blood constraining me, Will this man chase, and track him like a hound.

_Apol._ And I will help him and my suppliant free; For dreadful among Gods and mortals too The suppliant's curse, should I abandon him.

[_Exeunt_

_Scene changes to_ Athens, _in front of the Temple of Athena Polias, on the Acropolis_[489]

_Enter_ ORESTES

_Orest._ [_clasping the statue of the Goddess._] O Queen Athena, I at Loxias' hest Am come: do thou receive me graciously, Sin-stained though I have been: no guilt of blood Is on my soul, nor is my hand unclean, But now with stain toned down and worn away, In other homes and journeyings among men,[490] 230 O'er land and water travelling alike, Keeping great Loxias' charge oracular, I come, O Goddess, to thy shrine and statue: Here will I stay and wait the trial's issue.

_Enter the Erinnyes in pursuit_

_Chor._ Lo! here are clearest traces of the man: Follow thou up that dumb informer's[491] hints; For as the hound pursues a wounded fawn, So by red blood and oozing gore track we. My lungs are panting with full many a toil, Wearing man's strength down. Every spot of earth 240 Have I now searched, and o'er the sea in flight Wingless I came pursuing, swift as ship; And now full sure he's crouching somewhere here: The smell of human blood wafts joy to me. See, see again, look round ye every way, Lest he, the murderer, slip away unscathed. He, it is true, in full security, Clasping the statue of the deathless goddess, Would fain now take his trial at our hands. 250 This may not be; a mother's blood out-poured (Pah! pah!) can never be raised up again, The life-blood shed is pourèd out and gone, But thou must give to us to suck the blood Red from thy living members; yea, from thee, May I gain meal of drink undrinkable! And, having dried thee up, I'll drag thee down Alive to bear the doom of matricide. There thou shalt see if any other man Has sinned in not revering God or guest, Or parents dear, that each receiveth there 260 The recompense of sin that Vengeance claims. For Hades is a mighty arbiter Of those that dwell below, and with a mind That writes true record all man's deeds surveys.

_Orest._ I, taught by troubles, know full many a form Of cleansing rites,—to speak, when that is meet, And when 'tis not, keep silence, and in this I by wise teacher was enjoined to speak; For the blood fails and fades from off my hands; The guilt of matricide is washed away. 270 For when 'twas fresh, it then was all dispelled, At Phœbos' shrine, by spells of slaughtered swine. Long would the story be, if told complete, Of all I joined in harmless fellowship. Time waxing old, too, cleanses all alike: And now with pure lips, I in words devout, Call Athenæa, whom this land owns queen, To come and help me: So without a war Shall she gain me, my land, my Argive people, 280 Full faithful friends, allies for evermore;[492] But whether in the climes of Libyan land, Hard by her birth-stream's foam, Tritonian named,[493] She stands upright, or sits with feet enwrapt, Helping her friends, or o'er Phlegræan plains, Like a bold chieftain, she keeps watchful guard,[494] Oh, may she come! (far off a God can hear,) And work for me redemption from these ills!

_Chor._ Nay, nor Apollo, nor Athena's might Can save thee from the doom of perishing, 290 Outcast, not knowing where to look for joy, The bloodless food of demons, a mere shade. Wilt thou not answer? Scornest thou my words, A victim reared and consecrate to me? Alive thou'lt feed me, not at altar slain; And thou shalt hear our hymn as spell to bind thee.

_The Erinnyes, as they sing the ode that follows, move round and round in solemn and weird measure_

Come, then, let us form our chorus;
Since 'tis now our will to utter
Melody or song most hateful,
Telling how our band assigneth
All the lots that fall to mortals; 300
And we boast that we are righteous:
Not on one who pure hands lifteth
Falleth from us any anger,
But his life he passeth scatheless;
But to him who sins like this man,
And his blood-stained hands concealeth,
Witnesses of those who perish,
Coming to exact blood-forfeit,
We appear to work completeness. 310

STROPHE I

O mother who did'st bear me, mother Night, A terror of the living and the dead, Hear me, oh hear! The son of Leto puts me to disgrace And robs me of my spoil, This crouching victim for a mother's blood: And over him as slain, We raise this chant of madness, frenzy-working,[495] The hymn the Erinnyes love, A spell upon the soul, a lyreless strain That withers up men's strength.

ANTISTROPHE I

This lot the all-pervading Destiny 320 Hath spun to hold its ground for evermore, That we should still attend On him on whom there rests the guilt of blood Of kin shed causelessly, Till earth lie o'er him; nor shall death set free. And over him as slain, We raise this chant of madness, frenzy-working, The hymn the Erinnyes love, A spell upon the soul, a lyreless strain That withers up men's strength.

STROPHE II

Such lot was then assigned us at our birth: From us the Undying Ones must hold aloof: 330 Nor is there one who shares The banquet-meal with us; In garments white I have nor part nor lot;[496] My choice was made for overthrow of homes, Where home-bred slaughter works a loved one's death: Ha! hunting after him, Strong though he be, 'tis ours *To wear the newness of his young blood down.[497]

ANTISTROPHE II

*Since 'tis our work another's task to take,[498] 340 *The Gods indeed may bar the force of prayers Men offer unto me, But may not clash in strife; For Zeus doth cast us from his fellowship, “Blood-dropping, worthy of his utmost hate.”... For leaping down as from the topmost height, I on my victim bring The crushing force of feet, Limbs that o'erthrow e'en those that swiftly run, An Atè hard to bear. 350

STROPHE III

And fame of men, though very lofty now
Beneath the clear, bright sky,
Below the earth grows dim and fades away
Before the attack of us, the black-robed ones,
And these our dancings wild,
Which all men loathe and hate.

ANTISTROPHE III

Falling in frenzied guilt, he knows it not;
So thick the blinding cloud
*That o'er him floats; and Rumour widely spread
With many a sigh reports the dreary doom,
A mist that o'er the house
In gathering darkness broods.

STROPHE IV

Fixed is the law, no lack of means find we; 360
We work out all our will,
We, the dread Powers, the registrars of crime,
Whom mortals fail to soothe,
Fulfilling tasks dishonoured, unrevered,
Apart from all the Gods,
*In foul and sunless gloom,[499]
Driving o'er rough steep road both those that see,
And those whose eyes are dark.

ANTISTROPHE IV

What mortal man then doth not bow in awe
And fear before all this,
Hearing from me the destined ordinance
Assigned me by the Gods? 370
This task of mine is one of ancient days;
Nor meet I here with scorn,
Though 'neath the earth I dwell,
And live there in the darkness thick and dense,
Where never sunbeam falls.

_Enter_ ATHENA, _appearing in her chariot, and then alights_

_Athena._ I heard far off the cry of thine entreaty E'en from Scamandros,[500] claiming there mine own, The land which all Achaia's foremost leaders, As portion chief from out the spoils of war, Gave to me, trees and all, for evermore, A special gift for Theseus' progeny. 380 Thence came I plying foot that never tires, Flapping my ægis-folds, no need of wings, My chariot drawn by young and vigorous steeds: And seeing this new presence in the land, I have no fear, though wonder fills mine eyes; Who, pray, are ye? To all of you I speak, And to this stranger at my statue suppliant. And as for you, like none of Nature's births, Nor seen by Gods among the Goddess-forms, Nor yet in likeness of a mortal shape.... 390 But to speak ill of neighbours blameless found Is far from just, and Right holds back from it.

_Chor._ Daughter of Zeus, thou shalt learn all in brief; Children are we of everlasting Night; [At home, beneath the earth, they call us Curses.]

_Athena._ Your race I know, and whence ye take your name.

_Chor._ Thou shalt soon know then what mine office is.

_Athena._ Then could I know, if ye clear speech would speak.

_Chor._ We from their home drive forth all murderers.

_Athena._ Where doth the slayer find the goal of flight? 400

_Chor._ Where to find joy in nought is still his wont.

_Athena._ And whirrest thou such flight on this man here?

_Chor._ Yea, for he thought it meet to slay his mother.

_Athena._ Was there no other power whose wrath he feared?

_Chor._ What impulse, then, should prick to matricide?

_Athena._ Two sides are here, and I but half have heard.

_Chor._ But he nor takes nor tenders us an oath.[501]

_Athena._ Thou lov'st the show of Justice more than act.

_Chor._ How so? Inform me. Skill thou dost not lack!

_Athena._ 'Tis not by oaths a cause unjust shall win.[502] 410

_Chor._ Search out the cause, then, and right judgment judge.

_Athena._ And would ye trust to me to end the cause?[503]

_Chor._ How else? Thy worth, and worthy stock we honour.

_Athena._ What dost thou wish, O stranger, to reply? Tell thou thy land, thy race, thy life's strange chance, And then ward off this censure aimed at thee, Since thou sitt'st trusting in thy right, and hold'st This mine own image, near mine altar hearth, A suppliant, like Ixion,[504] honourable. Answer all this in speech intelligible. 420

_Orest._ O Queen Athena, from thy last words starting, I first will free thee from a weighty care: I am not now defiled: no curse abides Upon the hand that on thy statue rests; And I will give thee proof full strong of this. The law is fixed the murderer shall be dumb, Till at the hand of one who frees from blood, The purple stream from yeanling swine run o'er him;[505] Long since at other houses these dread rites[506] We have gone through, slain victims, flowing streams: This care, then, I can speak of now as gone. 430 And how my lineage stands thou soon shalt know: An Argive I, my sire well known to thee, Chief ruler of the seamen, Agamemnon, With whom thou madest Troïa, Ilion's city, To be no city. He, when he came home, Died without honour; and my dark-souled mother Enwrapt and slew him with her broidered toils, Which bore their witness of the murder wrought There in the bath; and I, on my return, 440 (Till then an exile,) did my mother kill, (That deed I'll not deny,) in forfeit due Of blood for blood of father best beloved; And Loxias, too, is found accomplice here, Foretelling woes that pricked my heart to act, If I did nought to those accomplices In that same crime. But thou, judge thou my cause, If what I did were right or wrong, and I, Whate'er the issue, will be well content.

_Athena._ Too great this matter, if a mortal man Think to decide it. Nor is't meet for me To judge a cause of murder stirred by wrath; 450 *And all the more since thou with contrite soul Hast come to this my house a suppliant, Harmless and pure. I now, in spite of all, Take thee as one my city need not blame;[507] But these hold office that forbids dismissal, And should they fail of victory in this cause, Hereafter from their passionate mood will poison[508] Fall on the land, disease intolerable, And lasting for all time. E'en thus it stands; And both alike, their staying or dismissal, Are unto me perplexing and disastrous. But since the matter thus hath come on me, I will appoint as judges of this murder Men bound by oath, a law for evermore;[509] And ye, call ye your proofs and witnesses, Sworn pledges given to help the cause of right. And I, selecting of my citizens Those who are best, will come again that they May judge this matter truly, taking oaths To utter nought against the law of right. [_Exit_

STROPHE I

_Chor._ Now will there be an outbreak of new laws:
If victory shall rest
Upon the wrong right of this matricide, 470
This deed will prompt forthwith
All mortal men to callous recklessness.
And many deaths, I trow,
At children's hands their parents now await
Through all the time to come.

ANTISTROPHE I

For since no wrath on evil deeds will creep
Henceforth from those who watch
With wild, fierce souls the evil deeds of men,
I will let loose all crime;
*And each from each shall seek in eager quest, 480
*Speaking of neighbour's ills,
*For pause and lull of woes;[510] yet wretched man,
He speaks of cures that fail.

STROPHE II

Henceforth let none call us,
When smitten by mischance,
Uttering this cry of prayer,
“O Justice, and O ye, Erinnyes' thrones!”
Such wail, perchance, a father then shall utter,
Or mother newly slain,
Since, fallen low, the shrine of Justice now
Lies prostrate in the dust. 490

ANTISTROPHE II

There are with whom 'tis well
That awe should still abide,
As watchman o'er their souls.
Calm wisdom gained by sorrow profits much:
For who that in the gladness of his heart,
Or man or commonwealth,
Has nought of this, would bow before the Right
Humbly as heretofore?[511]

STROPHE III

Praise not the lawless life, 500
Nor that which owns a despot's sovereignty;
To the true mean in all God gives success,[512]
And with far other mood,
On other course looks on;
And I will say, with this in harmony,
That Pride is truly child of Godlessness;
While from the soul's true health
Comes the fair fortune, loved of all mankind,
And aim of many a prayer.

ANTISTROPHE III

And now, I say, in sum, 510
Revere the altar reared to Justice high,
Nor, thine eye set on gain, with godless foot
Treat it contemptuously:
For wrath shall surely come;
The appointed end abideth still for all.
Therefore let each be found full honour giving
To parents, and to those,
The honoured guests that gather in his house,
Let him due reverence show.

STROPHE IV

And one who of his own free will is just, 520
Not by enforced constraint,
He shall not be unblest,
Nor can he e'er be utterly o'erthrown;
But he that dareth, and transgresseth all,
In wild, confusèd deeds,
Where Justice is not seen,
I say that he perforce, as time wears on,
Will have to take in sail,
When trouble makes him hers, and each yard-arm
Is shivered by the blast.

ANTISTROPHE IV

And then he calls on those who hear him not,
And struggles all in vain,
In the fierce waves' mid-whirl;
And God still mocks the man of fevered mood, 530
When he sees him who bragged it ne'er would come,
With woes inextricable
Worn out, and failing still
To weather round the perilous promontory;
And for all time to come,
Wrecking on reefs of Vengeance bliss once high,
He dies unwept, unseen.

_The scene changes to the Areopagos._ _Enter_ ATHENA, _followed by Herald and twelve Athenian citizens_

_Athena._ Cry out, O herald; the great host hold back; Then let Tyrrhenian trumpet,[513] piercing heaven, Filled with man's breath, to all that host send forth The full-toned notes, for while this council-hall 540 Is filling, it is meet men hold their peace.

[_Herald blows his trumpet_

And let the city for all time to come Learn these my laws, and this accused one too, That so the trial may be rightly judged.[514]

[_As_ ATHENA _speaks_, APOLLO _enters_

_Chor._ O King Apollo, rule thou o'er thine own; But what hast thou to do with this our cause?

_Apol._ I am come both as witness,—for this man Is here as suppliant, that on my hearth sat, And I his cleanser am from guilt of blood,— And to plead for him as his advocate: I bear the blame of that his mother's death. But thou, whoe'er dost act as president, Open the suit in way well known to thee.[515] 550

_Athena._ [_to the Erinnyes._] 'Tis yours to speak; I thus the pleadings open, For so the accuser, speaking first, shall have, Of right, the task to state the case to us.

_Chor._ Many are we, but briefly will we speak; And answer thou [_to_ ORESTES], in thy turn, word for word; First tell us this, did'st thou thy mother slay?

_Orest._ I slew her: of that fact is no denial.

_Chor._ Here, then, is one of our three bouts[516] decided.

_Orest._ Thou boastest this o'er one not yet thrown down. 560

_Chor._ This thou at least must tell, how thou did'st slay her.

_Orest._ E'en so; her throat I cut with hand sword-armed.

_Chor._ By whom persuaded, and with whose advice?

_Orest._ [_Pointing to_ APOLLO.] By His divine command: He bears me
witness.

_Chor._ The prophet-God prompt thee to matricide!

_Orest._ Yea, and till now I do not blame my lot.

_Chor._ Nay, when found guilty, soon thou'lt change thy tone.

_Orest._ I trust my sire will send help from the tomb.

_Chor._ Trust in the dead, thou murderer of thy mother!

_Orest._ Yes; for in her two great pollutions met. 570

_Chor._ How so, I pray? Inform the court of this.

_Orest._ She both her husband and my father slew.

_Chor._ Nay then, thou liv'st, and she gets quit by death.

_Orest._ Why, while she lived, did'st thou to chase her fail?

_Chor._ The man she slew was not one of blood with her.[517]

_Orest._ And does my mother's blood then flow in me?

_Chor._ E'en so; how else, O murderer, reared she thee Within her womb? Disown'st thou mother's blood?

_Orest._ [_Turning to_ APOLLO.] Now bear thou witness, and declare to me, Apollo, if I slew her righteously; 580 For I the deed, as fact, will not deny. But whether right or wrong this deed of blood Seem in thine eyes, judge thou that these may hear.

_Apol._ I will to you, Athena's solemn council, Speak truly, and as prophet will not lie. Ne'er have I spoken on prophetic throne, Of man, or woman, or of commonwealth, But as great Zeus, Olympian Father, bade; And that ye learn how much this plea avails, I bid you [_turning to the court of jurymen_] follow out my Father's will;590 No oath can be of greater might than Zeus.[518]

_Chor._ Zeus, then, thou say'st, did prompt the oracle That this Orestes here, his father's blood Avenging, should his mother's rights o'erthrow?

_Apol._ 'Tis a quite other thing for hero-chief, Bearing the honour of Zeus-given sceptre, To die, and at a woman's hands, not e'en By swift, strong dart, from Amazonian bow,[519] But as thou, Pallas, now shalt hear, and those Who sit to give their judgment in this cause; 600 For when he came successful from the trade Of war with largest gains, receiving him With kindly words of praise, she spread a robe Over the bath, yes, even o'er its edge, As he was bathing, and entangling him In endless folds of cloak of cunning work, She strikes her lord down. Thus the tale is told Of her lord's murder, chief whom all did honour, The ships' great captain. So I tell it out, E'en as it was, to thrill the people's hearts, Who now are set to give their verdict here.

_Chor._ Zeus then a father's death, as thou dost say, 610 Of highest moment holds, yet He himself Bound fast in chains his aged father, Cronos;[520] Are not thy words at variance with the facts? I call on you [_to the Court_] to witness what he says.

_Apol._ O hateful creatures, loathèd of the Gods, Those chains may be undone, that wrong be cured, And many a means of rescue may be found: But when the dust has drunk the blood of men, No resurrection comes for one that's dead: No charm for these things hath my sire devised; But all things else he turneth up or down, 620 And orders without toil or weariness.[521]

_Chor._ Take heed how thou help this man to escape; Shall he who stained earth with his mother's blood Then dwell in Argos in his father's house? What public altars can he visit now? What lustral rite of clan or tribe admit him?[522]

_Apol._ This too I'll say; judge thou if I speak right: The mother is not parent of the child That is called hers, but nurse of embryo sown. He that begets is parent:[523] she, as stranger, 630 For stranger rears the scion, if God mar not; And of this fact I'll give thee proof full sure. A father there may be without a mother: Here nigh at hand, as witness, is the child Of high Olympian Zeus, for she not e'en Was nurtured in the darkness of the womb,[524] Yet such a scion may no God beget. I, both in all else, Pallas, as I know, Will make thy city and thy people great, And now this man have sent as suppliant Upon thy hearth, that he may faithful prove 640 Now and for ever, and that thou, O Goddess, May'st gain him as ally, and all his race, And that it last as law for evermore, That these men's progeny our treaties own.

_Athena._ [_To jurors._] I bid you give, according to your conscience, A verdict just; enough has now been said.

_Chor._ We have shot forth our every weapon now: I wait to hear what way the strife is judged.

_Athena._ [_To Chorus._] How shall I order this, unblamed by you?

_Chor._ [_To jurors._] Ye heard what things ye heard, and in your hearts Reverence your oaths, and give your votes, O friends. 650

_Athena._ Hear ye my order, O ye Attic people, In act to judge your first great murder-cause. And henceforth shall the host of Ægeus' race[525] For ever own this council-hall of judges: And for this Ares' hill, the Amazons' seat And camp when they, enraged with Theseus, came[526] In hostile march, and built as counterwork This citadel high-reared, a city new, And sacrificed to Ares, whence 'tis named As Ares' hill and fortress: in this, I say, 660 The reverent awe its citizens shall own, And fear, awe's kindred, shall restrain from wrong By day, nor less by night, so long as they, The burghers, alter not themselves their laws: But if with drain of filth and tainted soil Clear river thou pollute, no drink thou'lt find.[527] I give my counsel to you, citizens, To reverence and guard well that form of state Which is not lawless, nor tyrannical, And not to cast all fear from out the city;[528] For what man lives devoid of fear and just? But rightly shrinking, owning awe like this, 670 Ye then would have a bulwark of your land, A safeguard for your city, such as none Boast or in Skythia's[529] or in Pelops' clime. This council I establish pure from bribe, Reverend, and keen to act, for those that sleep[530] An ever-watchful sentry of the land. This charge of mine I thus have lengthened out For you, my people, for all time to come. And now 'tis meet ye rise, and take your ballots,[531] And so decide the cause, maintaining still Your reverence for your oath. My speech is said. 680

_Chor._ And I advise you not to treat with scorn A troop that can sit heavy on your land.

_Apol._ And I do bid you dread my oracles, And those of Zeus, nor rob them of their fruit.

_Chor._ Uncalled thou com'st to take a murderer's part; No longer pure the oracles thou'lt speak.

_Apol._ And did my father then in purpose err, Then the first murderer he received, Ixion?[532]

_Chor._ Thou talk'st, but should I fail in this my cause, I will again dwell here and vex this land.

_Apol._ Alike among the new Gods and the old 690 Art thou dishonoured: I shall win the day.

_Chor._ This did'st thou also in the house of Pheres,[533] Winning the Fates to make a man immortal.

_Apol._ Was it not just a worshipper to bless In any case,—then most, when he's in want?

_Chor._ Thou did'st o'erthrow, yea, thou, laws hoar with age, And drug with wine the ancient Goddesses.[534]

_Apol._ Nay, thou, non-suited in this cause of thine, Shall venom spit that nothing hurts thy foes. 700

_Chor._ Since thou, though young, dost ride me down, though old, I wait to hear the issue of the cause, Still wavering in my wrath against this city.

_Athena._ 'Tis now my task to close proceedings here; And this my vote I to Orestes add; For I no mother own that brought me forth, And saving that I wed not, I prefer The male with all my heart, and make mine own The father's cause, nor will above it place A woman's death, who slew her own true lord, The guardian of her house. Orestes wins, 710 E'en though the votes be equal. Cast ye forth With all your speed the lots from out the urns, Ye jurors unto whom that office falls.

_Orest._ Phœbos Apollo! what will be the judgment?

_Chor._ Dark Night, my mother! dost thou look on this?

_Orest._ My goal is now the noose, or full, clear day.

_Chor._ Ours too to come to nought, or work on still.

[_A pause. The jurors take out the voting tablets
from the two urns (one of bronze, the other of
wood) for acquittal or condemnation_

_Apol._ Now count ye up the votes thrown out, O friends, And be ye honest, as ye reckon them; One sentence lacking, sorrow great may come, 720 And one vote given hath ofttimes saved a house.

[_A pause, during which the urns are emptied and
the votes are counted_

_Athena._ The accused is found “not guilty” of the murder: For lo! the numbers of the votes are equal.[535]

_Orest._ O Pallas, thou who hast redeemed my house, Thou, thou hast brought me back when I had been Bereaved of fatherland, and Hellenes now Will say, “The man's an Argive once again, And dwells upon his father's heritage, Because of Pallas and of Loxias, And Zeus, the true third Saviour, all o'erruling, Who, touched with pity for my father's fate, 730 Saves me, beholding these my mother's pleaders.” And I will now wend homeward, giving pledge To this thy country and its valiant host, To stand as firm for henceforth and for ever, That no man henceforth, chief of Argive land, Shall bring against it spearmen well equipped: For we ourselves, though in our sepulchres, On those who shall transgress these oaths of ours, Will with inextricable evils work, Making their paths disheartening, and their ways 740 Ill-omened, that they may their toil repent. But if these oaths be kept, to those who honour This city of great Pallas, our ally, Then we to them are more propitious yet. Farewell then, Thou, and these who guard thy city. Mayst thou so wrestle that thy foes escape not, And so win victory and deliverance!

STROPHE

_Chor._ Ah! ah! ye younger God! Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days, And robbed me of my prey. But I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath, 750 Upon this land, ha! ha! Will venom, venom from my heart let fall, In vengeance for my grief, A dropping which shall smite The earth with barrenness! And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plain Down swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence. 760 Shall I then wail and groan? Or what else shall I do? Shall I become a woe intolerable Unto these men for wrongs I have endured? Great, very great are they, Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed, Born both to shame and woe!