Nay, all is well. Leave no ill omen here,
Nor bind upon thy lips the yoke of fear.41
All Argos thou hast freed, and with one sweep
Two serpents’ heads hurled reeking to the deep.
Overcome with sudden terror.
Ah! Ah!
Ye bondmaids! They are here: like Gorgons, gowned
In darkness; all bewreathed and interwound
With serpents! … I shall never rest again.
What fantasies, most father-loved of men,
Haunt thee? Be strong, thou conqueror! Have no fear!
These are no fantasies. They are here; they are here,
The Hounds of my dead Mother, hot to kill.
The blood upon thine hand is reeking still:
For that the turmoil in thy heart is loud.
O Lord Apollo! More and more they crowd
Close, and their eyes drip blood, most horrible!
One cleansing hast thou. Loxias can quell
Thy tempest with his touch, and set thee free.
You cannot see them. I alone can see.
I am hunted. … I shall never rest again. Exit Orestes.
—Farewell. May blessing guide thee among men.
—May God with love watch over thee, and heed
Thy goings and be near thee at thy need.
Behold a third great storm made wild42
By winds of wrath within the race,
Hath shook this castle from its place.
The ravin of the murdered child
First broke Thyestes in his pride:
Second, a warrior and a King,
Chief of Achaia’s warfaring,
Was smitten in the bath and died.
And Third, this Saviour or this last
Doom from the deep. What end shall fall,
Or peace, or death outsweeping all,
When night comes and the Wrath is past? Exeunt.
Endnotes
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I adopt this traditional Latin transliteration in preference to “Choephori.” Cf. Terence’s Adelphoe. For readers without Greek I may mention that the word has four syllables, first the syllable “Co,” then “E for E.” ↩
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The beginning of this play is lost, through an injury to the single MS. on which it depends. The MS. only begins at “Ha, what sight is this?” which is conventionally numbered l. 10, though probably there were at least twenty or thirty lines preceding it. Curiously enough, three passages from the missing part are quoted by different ancient authors, so that a good deal of it can be supplied. ↩
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The meaning of this phrase was obscure even to Aeschylus’ contemporaries, and is discussed in Aristophanes’ Frogs 1126 ff. It seems to mean that Hermês Psychopompos (Guide of the Dead) is son of Zeus Chthonios (Zeus of the Underworld). “Saviour” and “Help in War” are other titles of Hermês. ↩
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Inachos: The river of Argos. So Achilles on reaching manhood cut off his long hair as a gift to the River Spercheios. Rivers in a land subject to drought were worshipped as “life-giving” or “rearers of young men” (κουροτρόφοι). ↩
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Chorus: The Chorus are slave women taken in war. We know no more of them. They certainly do not seem to be Trojans, and, like the Nurse later, they have the feelings of loyal old retainers towards the House, hating Aigisthos and loving the memory of Agamemnon. Throughout the play Aigisthos is represented as a usurper and a tyrant, holding his rule by fear. Cf. (ll. 885 ff., 935 ff.) the exultant tone of the two last choruses. ↩
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“Dread, very dread”: Clytemnestra had a dangerous dream. If she had gone at once to a skilled interpreter, he might possibly have given it a favourable interpretation and thus partly averted the consequences. Instead of this she shrieked in terror. That shriek was itself an interpretation which could never be explained away. The prophets, when consulted, explained that the dream came from the anger of Agamemnon, and Clytemnestra then made the fatal mistake of sending offerings to his grave to appease his wrath. This was far too slight a thing to appease him; but it did awake him, and so enabled him to help his avengers. ↩
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“Who knows the great Wheel’s swing,” etc.: A difficult passage. It seems to mean that justice (i.e. both retribution to the sinner and reparation to the sinned-against) sometimes comes quick and clear; sometimes is long delayed, and sometimes is wrapt in night, i.e. no one can say for certain whether it comes at all. ↩
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Electra feels that it is a mockery, and perhaps an impiety, to pour the peace-offerings of the murderess. The Leader urges her not to hesitate, but deliberately to use the offerings as an appeal for vengeance. The thought at first appals her, but she nerves herself to it. In her prayer she deliberately tells her father the things that will most sting him into wakefulness. The passage “I lay these tokens down,” seems to mean that she puts upon the grave stones or some other objects to act as a perpetual reminder and keep her prayer alive. ↩
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Chorus: “Let fall the tear,” etc.: The grave is a barrier-stone between the dead and the living, a “turner-back of Evil as of Good”; yet not absolutely so. The prayers of his children, and the tears of their suffering, may after all get past the barriers and reach the “darkened heart” of the dead. This idea is in the essence of the play. ↩
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Recognition scene. It was a traditional story that Electra had recognized Orestes by a lock of hair, a footprint, and a bit of weaving. Aristophanes (Clouds, 534 ff.) speaks of his comedy, “like Electra of old, recognizing its brother’s tress” when it meets a spectator of true Attic taste. It would be a mistake to apply realist canons to this ancient tale. Among barefooted peoples family likenesses are apt to be chiefly traced in the feet and hair. Both Arab and Australian “trackers” are cited
