Orestes
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Hermione
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Oh no! Who are these I see?
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Electra
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Hold her, hold her! Point a sword at her throat,
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then wait in silence, that Menelaus may learn that he has found men, not Phrygian cowards, and he has been treated as cowards deserve.
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Chorus
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Oh, oh, friends! raise a din, a din and shouting before the house, that the murder when done
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may not inspire the Argives with wild alarm, to make them bring aid to the palace, before I see for certain that Helen’s corpse lies bloody in the house, or hear the news from one of her attendants;
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for I know a part of the tragedy, of the rest I am not sure. In justice, retribution from the gods has come to Helen; for she filled all Hellas with tears, through that accursed, accursed Paris of Ida,
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who drew Hellas to Troy.
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Chorus Leader
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But the bolts of the palace-doors rattle; be silent; for one of the Phrygians is coming out, from whom we will inquire of the state of matters within.
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Phrygian
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(expressing the most abject terror.) I have escaped from death by Argive sword,
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in my Asian slippers, by clambering over the cedar-beams that roof the porch and the Doric triglyphs, away, away! O Earth, Earth! in barbaric flight!
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Alas! You foreign women, where can I escape, flying through the clear sky or over the sea, which bull-headed Ocean rolls about as he circles the world in his embrace?
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Chorus Leader
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What is it, Helen’s slave, creature from Ida?
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Phrygian
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Ilium, Ilium, oh me! city of Phrygia, and Ida’s holy hill with fruitful soil, how I mourn for your destruction a shrill song
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with barbarian cry; destroyed through her beauty, born from a bird, swan-feathered, Leda’s cub, hellish Helen! to be a curse to Apollo’s tower of polished stone. Ah! Alas!
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woe to Dardania, its wailing, wailing, for the horsemanship of Ganymede, bedfellow of Zeus.
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Chorus Leader
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Tell us clearly each event within the house. for till now I have been guessing at what I do not clearly understand.
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Phrygian
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Ah, for Linus! Ah, for Linus! That is what barbarians say, alas, in their eastern tongue as a prelude to death, whenever royal blood is spilled upon the ground by deadly iron blades.
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To tell you everything in turn, they came into the house, two twin lions of Hellas; one was called the general’s son; the other was the son of Strophius, a crafty plotter, like Odysseus, treacherous in silence,
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but true to his friends, bold for the fight, clever in war and a deadly serpent. Curse him for his quiet plotting, the villain!
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In they came to the throne of the wife of Paris the archer,
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faces wet with tears, and took their seats in all humility, one on this side, one on that, each with weapons. They threw, they threw their suppliant arms round the knees
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of Helen. Her Phrygian servants sprang up frantic, frantic; they called to each other in terror that there was treachery.
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To some there seemed no cause, but others thought that the viper who killed his mother was entangling the daughter of Tyndareus in the snare of his plot.
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Chorus Leader
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And where were you? fled long before in terror?
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Phrygian
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It happened that I, in Phrygian style, Phrygian, was wafting the breeze, the breeze by the curls of Helen, Helen, with a round feathered fan, before her face,
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in barbarian style; and she was twisting flax on her distaff with her fingers, and letting her yarn fall on the floor, for she wanted to sew with her flax purple cloth
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as adornment for the tomb from the Trojan spoils, a gift to Clytemnestra.
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Orestes said to the Spartan girl: Daughter of Zeus, get up from your chair
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and come here to the old hearth of Pelops, our ancestor, to hear something I have to say. He led her, led her, and she followed,
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no prophet of the future. But his accomplice, the Phocian villain, was off on other business: Out of my way! Well, Phrygians always were cowards. So he shut them up in different parts of the house, some in the stables, others in the halls,
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one here, one there, disposing of them severally at a distance from their mistress.
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Chorus Leader
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What happened next?
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Phrygian
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Mother of Ida, great, great mother!
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Oh! the murderous scenes and lawless wickedness that I saw, I saw, in the palace! They drew forth swords from hiding under their purple-bordered cloaks, each darting his eye a different way, lest anyone should be near. Like boar of the hills,
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they stood opposite the woman and said: You will die, you will die; your cowardly husband is killing you, because he betrayed his brother’s son to death in Argos.
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She screamed, oh, oh! she screamed, and brought down her white arm upon her breast and beat her poor head; then turned her golden-sandalled steps in flight, in flight; but Orestes got before her in his Mycenean boots and clutched his fingers in her hair,
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and, bending back her neck on to her left shoulder, was on the point of driving the black sword into her throat.
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Chorus Leader
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Where were you Phrygians in the house to help her?
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Phrygian
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With a loud cry from the house we battered down with bars the doors and doorposts where we had been,
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and ran to her assistance from every direction, one with stones, another with javelins, a third with a drawn sword; but Pylades came to meet us, undaunted, like
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Hector of Troy or Ajax triple-plumed, as I saw him, saw him, in Priam’s gateway; and we met at sword’s point. But then it was very clear how the Phrygians were,
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how much less we were in battle strength to the Hellene might. There was one man gone in flight, another slain, another wounded, yet another pleading to stave off death; but we escaped under cover of the darkness; while some were falling, some were about to fall, and others were lying dead.
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And just as her unhappy mother sank to the ground to die, the luckless Hermione came in. Those two, like Bacchantes when they drop the thyrsus for a mountain cub, rushed and seized her; then turned again to the daughter of Zeus to slay her; but she had vanished from the room,
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passing right through the house, O Zeus and Earth and light and night! whether by magic spells or wizards’ arts or heavenly theft.
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What happened afterwards I do not know; for I stole out of the palace, a runaway.
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So Menelaus endured his painful, painful suffering to recover his wife Helen from Troy to no purpose.
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Chorus Leader
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And look, here is a strange sight succeeding others; for I see Orestes sword in hand before the palace,
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advancing with excited steps.
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Orestes
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Where is the one who fled from the palace to escape my sword?
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Phrygian
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Before you I prostrate myself, lord, and supplicate you in my foreign way.
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Orestes
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We are not in Ilium, but the land of Argos.
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Phrygian
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Everywhere, the wise find life sweeter than death.
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Orestes
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I suppose that shouting of yours was not for Menelaus to come to the rescue?
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Phrygian
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Oh no! it was to help you I called out, for you are more deserving.
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Orestes
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Did the daughter of Tyndareus die justly, then?
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Phrygian
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Most justly, even if she had three throats to die with.
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Orestes
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Your cowardice makes you glib; this is not what you really think.
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Phrygian
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Why, surely she deserved it, the one who destroyed Hellas and the Phrygians too?
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Orestes
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Swear you are not saying this to humor me, or I will kill you.
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Phrygian
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I swear by my life, an oath I would keep!
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Orestes
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Did every Phrygian in Troy show the same terror of steel as you do?
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Phrygian
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Take your sword away! Held so near it flashes a dreadful gleam of blood.
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Orestes
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Are you afraid of being turned to a stone, as if you had seen a Gorgon?
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Phrygian
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To a stone, no! but to a corpse; I don’t know this Gorgon’s head.
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Orestes
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A slave, and yet you fear death, which will release you from trouble?
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Phrygian
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Slave or free, every one is glad to gaze upon the light.
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Orestes
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Well said! Your shrewdness saves you; go inside.
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Phrygian
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You will not kill me after all?
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Orestes
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Now it’s time to change my plans.
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Orestes
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You fool! Do you think I could endure to make your throat bloody? You weren’t born a woman, nor do you belong among men. The reason I left the palace was to stop your shouting;
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for Argos is quickly roused, once it hears a cry to the rescue. As for Menelaus, I am not afraid of measuring swords with him; let him come, proud of the golden ringlets on his shoulders; for if, to avenge the slaying of Helen, he gathers the Argives and leads them against the palace, refusing to attempt the rescue of me,
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my sister, and Pylades, my fellow conspirator, he will have two corpses to behold, his daughter’s as well as his wife’s. Exeunt Orestes and The Phrygian Slave.
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Chorus
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Ah, fortune! Again and yet again the house comes to a fearful contest, for the race of Atreus.
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What are we to do? Carry tidings to the town?
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Or hold our peace? It is safer, friends.
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Look, look at that sudden rush of smoke to the sky in front of the palace, telling its tale!
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They are kindling torches to fire the halls of Tantalus; nor do they hold back from murder.
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A god determines the end where he wishes, for mortals.
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Great is the power; by avenging fiends, this house has fallen, fallen, through blood, by reason of the hurling Myrtilus from the chariot.
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Chorus Leader
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But look! I see Menelaus approaching the palace
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in haste; no doubt he has heard what is happening here. Descendants of Atreus within, make haste and secure the doors with bars. A man in luck is a dangerous adversary for luckless wretches like you, Orestes.
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Menelaus
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I have come at the report of strange and violent deeds perpetrated
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by a pair of lions, men I do not call them. What I heard was that my wife was not dead, but had vanished out of sight, an idle rumor which someone fooled by his own fear brought me. But that is a plot
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of the matricide’s—ridiculous!
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Open the doors! I tell my servants to force the gates, so that I may rescue my child at any rate from the hands of those blood-stained men and recover my poor wretched wife,
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while the ones who destroyed her must die at my hands.
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Orestes
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You there! Keep your hands off those bolts; I mean you, Menelaus, towering in your audacity! Or I will tear off the ancient parapet, the work of masons,
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and shatter your skull with this coping-stone. The doors are bolted and barred, which will prevent your eagerness to bring aid and keep you from entering.
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Menelaus
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Oh! What is this? I see a blaze of torches and men standing at bay on the top of the house,
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with a sword guarding my daughter’s throat.
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Orestes
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Would you question me or hear me speak?
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Menelaus
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Neither; but I suppose I must hear you.
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Orestes
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I intend to kill your daughter, if you want to know.
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Menelaus
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After slaying Helen, you will add murder to murder?
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Orestes
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Would I had accomplished that, instead of being duped by the gods!
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Menelaus
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Do you deny having slain her, and say this out of wanton insult?
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Orestes
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Yes, I do deny it, to my sorrow. If only I had—
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Menelaus
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Done what? You frighten me!
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Orestes
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Hurled the pollution of Hellas to Hades!
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Menelaus
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Give back my wife’s dead body, so that I may bury her.