Electra
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Chrysothemis
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If any good can be done, I will not refuse.
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Electra
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Remember, nothing succeeds without toil.
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Chrysothemis
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I know it, and I will share your burden with all my power.
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Electra
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Hear, then, in what way I have decided to take action. As for the support of friends, you yourself doubtless know that we have none. Hades has taken our friends away,
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and we two are left alone. I, so long as I heard that my brother still lived and prospered, had hopes that he would yet come to avenge the murder of our father. But now that he is no more, I look next to you
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and ask that you not flinch from aiding me, your sister, to slay our father’s murderer, Aegisthus. There—I can have no secrets from you anymore.How long will you wait in indifference? What hope is left standing, to which your eyes can turn? Now you are right to complain
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that you are robbed of possession of your father’s estate; now you may mourn that you have advanced this far in years without wedded love or bridal song. And do not cling to hopes that you will ever meet with such joys. The man, Aegisthus, is not so unthinking
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as ever to permit that offspring should shoot up from you or from me either to be a certain bane for himself. But if you will follow my plans, first you will win praise for piety from our dead father below, and from our brother, too;
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next, you shall be called hereafter free, just as you were born, and shall find a worthy marriage. For noble natures draw the gaze of all.Then do you not see what fair fame you will procure for yourself and for me, by obeying me?
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What citizen or stranger when he sees us will not greet us with praises such as these: Behold these two sisters, my friends! They saved their father’s house, and at a time when their foes were firmly established, they took their lives in their hands and administered bloodshed! Worthy of love is this pair, worthy of reverence from all. At festivals, and wherever the citizenry is assembled, let these two be honored by all men for their manly courage. Thus will every one speak of us,
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so that in life and in death our glory shall not fail.Come, dear sister, be persuaded! Toil with our father, share the burden of your brother, put an end to my troubles and an end to yours, keeping in mind that a shameful life brings shame upon the noble-born.
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Chorus
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In a crisis such as this, forethought is an ally both to those who speak and those who listen.
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Chrysothemis
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Yes, I agree. And before she spoke, my friends, if she were blessed with a sound mind, she would have remembered caution, even as she does not now.
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Where can you have turned your eyes, that you arm yourself with such rashness and call me to serve beneath you? Do you not see? Your nature is a woman’s, not a man’s, and the strength of your hand is less than that of your adversaries. And their fortune prospers day by day,
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while ours ebbs and comes to nothing. Who, then, plotting to subdue such a man, would escape destruction unharmed? See to it that, badly as we fare now, we do not acquire greater evil, if any one hears this talk of yours.
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It brings us no relief or benefit, if after winning fair fame we die an ignominious death. For death is not the most odious thing; it is rather craving death, but lacking the means to die. No, I plead with you, before we are utterly, totally destroyed
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and before we leave our house desolate, restrain your rage! I will take care that your words remain secret and harmless for you. You in turn must get hold of good sense at long last and yield to the powerful since you have no strength.
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Chorus
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Listen to her. There is no better gain for mortals to win than foresight and a prudent mind.
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Electra
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You have said nothing unexpected. Well I knew that you would reject what I proposed. But the deed must be done with my own hand, by me and me alone.
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I certainly will not leave it unaccomplished.
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Chrysothemis
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Ah! If only you had had such resolve on the day of our father’s death! Then you would have accomplished everything!
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Electra
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My nature was the same then, but my mind was less ripe.
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Chrysothemis
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Strive to keep your mind that way through all your life.
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Electra
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You make these admonitions like one who will not assist me.
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Chrysothemis
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I will not, for he who sets hand to the deed is likely also to suffer disaster.
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Electra
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I admire you for your prudence. For your cowardice I hate you.
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Chrysothemis
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I will listen no less calmly when you praise me.
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Electra
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Never fear to suffer that from me, at least.
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Chrysothemis
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There is time enough in the future to decide that.
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Electra
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Leave! You have no power to help.
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Chrysothemis
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No, I have it, but you lack the ability to listen and learn.
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Electra
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Go, reveal everything to your mother!
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Chrysothemis
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But, again, I do not hate you with so great a hate.
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Electra
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Yet know at least to what dishonor you drive me.
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Chrysothemis
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Dishonor, no! It is forethought for you.
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Electra
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Am I bound, then, to follow your rule of right?
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Chrysothemis
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Yes, for when you are sensible, then at that time you shall lead the both of us.
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Electra
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How terrible it is that one who speaks so well should be so wrong!
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Chrysothemis
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You have well described the fault to which you devotedly cling.
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Electra
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What? Do you think that my words are not the words of Justice?
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Chrysothemis
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But sometimes even Justice herself causes harm.
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Electra
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I do not care to live where that attitude is lawful.
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Chrysothemis
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Well, if you must do this, you will commend me yet.
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Electra
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And do it I will, not a bit disturbed by you.
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Chrysothemis
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Is this true? You will not reconsider your plan?
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Electra
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No, for no enemy is more damaging than bad advice.
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Chrysothemis
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You seem to agree with nothing that I say.
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Electra
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My resolve is not new, but long since fixed.
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Chrysothemis
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Then I will go. You cannot be brought to approve my words, nor I your conduct.
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Electra
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No, go inside. I will never come after you, even though you may strongly desire it, since it is great folly even to attempt a useless quest.
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Chrysothemis
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Well, if you seem to think straight in your own eyes, may you go on thinking so. Eventually, when you have fallen into trouble, you will approve my advice. Exit Chrysothemis into the house.
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Chorus
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Why, though we see the birds above, most thoughtful creatures, taking care for the sustenance
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of those from whom they derived life and enjoyment, why do we not pay these debts in like measure? No, by the lightning-flash of Zeus, by Themis throned in the sky,
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we are not long unpunished. O Voice of the underworld that reaches to mortals, shout for me a piteous cry to the sons of Atreus below. Carry the reproaches not appropriate to my dancing!
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Chorus
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Tell them the affairs of their house, how it is now diseased; how among his children, double-sided strife has overwhelmed their loving manner.
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Electra, betrayed, braves the storm alone. In misery she bewails her father’s fate without pause, like the all-grieving nightingale. She cares not at all about death, but is ready for that eternal blindness,
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could she but subdue the double Erinys of her house. Who could grow to be so noble a daughter of so noble a father?
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Orestes
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Ladies, have we been directed aright, and are we on the right path to our goal?
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Chorus
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What do you seek? What desire brings you here?
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Orestes
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I have long been searching for the home of Aegisthus.
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Chorus
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Well, you have found it, and your guide is blameless.
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Orestes
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Which of you, then, would tell those inside of the long-desired presence of us travelers?
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Chorus
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She will, if the nearest in kin should announce it.
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Orestes
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Go, lady, enter and make it known that certain men of Phocis seek Aegisthus.
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Electra
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Ah, miserable me! Surely you do not bring proof positive of that rumor which we heard?
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Orestes
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I know nothing of your rumor; but the aged Strophius ordered me to give report of Orestes.
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Electra
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What is it, sir? Ah, how fear creeps over me!
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Orestes
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We come bearing his scanty remains in a small urn, as you see.
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Electra
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Oh, the misery! Here, at last, my eyes look for certain, it seems, upon that grievous burden in your hand.
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Orestes
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If your tears are for any of Orestes’ tribulations, know that this vessel is his body’s home.
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Electra
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Ah, sir, if this urn indeed contains him, then allow me,
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by the gods, to take it in my hands, so that I may weep and wail, not for these ashes alone, but for myself and for all our house with them!
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Orestes
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Take it and give it to her, whoever she may be. For she asks this for herself not as if with hostile intent,
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but like one who is his friend, or a kinswoman by blood. The urn is placed in Electra’s hands.
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Electra
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Memorial of him whom I loved best on earth, sole remnant of Orestes’ vitality! How contrary to the hopes with which I sent you away do I receive you back! Now I raise your nothingness in my hands;
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but then, my child, you were radiant, when I sent you away from home! Would that I had first abandoned life, before, stealing you away with these hands, I sent you to a strange land and rescued you from death, in order that you might have lain dead on that same day
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and had your share in the tomb of our father!But now, an exile from home and fatherland, you have perished miserably, far from your sister. Ah, me, these loving hands have not washed or decked your corpse, nor taken up
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their sad burden from the all-consuming pyre, as was proper. No! At the hands of strangers, poor Orestes, you have been tended, and so have come to us, a small bulk in a small urn.Ah, I grieve at the uselessness of my nursing long ago, the service that I often bestowed
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on you in sweet labor! For you were never your mother’s darling so much as mine, nor was any in the house your nurse but I, and by you I was ever called sister. But now all this has vanished in a day
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with your death. Like a whirlwind you have swept everything away with you. Our father is gone; I am dead because of you; you yourself are dead and gone; our enemies laugh at us; and our mother, who is no mother, raves with joy. Unknown to her, you often
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sent me messages about her, saying that you yourself would appear for vengeance. But our evil fortune, yours and mine, has torn all that away, and has sent you back to me in this state, ash and a useless shade in place of your beloved form.
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ah, me, ah, me! O pitiable body! Alas, dear one sent on a most dire journey, how you have destroyed me, destroyed me indeed, my brother!
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Therefore accept me into this abode of yours—me, a nothing, into your nothingness,—so that I may dwell with you hereafter below. For when you were on earth, we shared equally, and now I wish to die and not to be left out of your grave,
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since I see that the dead are relieved of pain.
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Chorus
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Remember, Electra, you are the child of a mortal father, and Orestes was mortal. Therefore do not grieve too much. Death is a debt which all of us must pay.
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Orestes
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Ah, what shall I say? I am at a loss. To what words
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can I turn? I no longer have the strength to master my tongue!
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Electra
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What has troubled you? Why did you say that?
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Orestes
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Is this the illustrious form of Electra?
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Electra
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It is, though in a very wretched state.
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Orestes
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What pity, then, for this miserable fortune!
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Electra
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Surely, stranger, you are not saddened like this on my account?
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Orestes
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O frame dishonorably, godlessly wasted!
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Electra
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Those ills of which you speak, stranger, are none other’s than mine.
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Orestes
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Ah, pity for your unwed, ill-fated life!
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Electra
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Why, stranger, do you stare and grieve in this way?
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Orestes
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How I knew nothing, it seems, of my own sorrows!
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Electra
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What that has been said made you realize this?
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Orestes
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It was the sight of you conspicuous in your many sufferings.
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Electra
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And yet you see but a few of my troubles.