The Electra of Euripides | Page 5

righteously.
ELECTRA.
Why lurk'st thou by my house? And why a sword?
ORESTES.
Stay. Listen! Thou wilt not gainsay my word.
ELECTRA.
There--I am still. Do what thou wilt with me.?Thou art too strong.
ORESTES.
A word I bear to thee...?Word of thy brother.
ELECTRA.
Oh, friend! More than friend!?Living or dead?
ORESTES.
He lives; so let me send?My comfort foremost, ere the rest be heard.
ELECTRA.
God love thee for the sweetness of thy word!
ORESTES.
God love the twain of us, both thee and me.
ELECTRA.
He lives! Poor brother! In what land weareth he?His exile?
ORESTES.
Not one region nor one lot?His wasted life hath trod.
ELECTRA.
He lacketh not?For bread?
ORESTES.
Bread hath he; but a man is weak?In exile.
ELECTRA.
What charge laid he on thee? Speak.
ORESTES.
To learn if thou still live, and how the storm,?Living, hath struck thee.
ELECTRA.
That thou seest; this form?Wasted...
ORESTES.
Yea, riven with the fire of woe.?I sigh to look on thee.
ELECTRA.
My face; and, lo,?My temples of their ancient glory shorn.
ORESTES.
Methinks thy brother haunts thee, being forlorn;?Aye, and perchance thy father, whom they slew...
ELECTRA.
What should be nearer to me than those two?
ORESTES.
And what to him, thy brother, half so dear?As thou?
ELECTRA.
His is a distant love, not near?At need.
ORESTES.
But why this dwelling place, this life?Of loneliness?
ELECTRA (_with sudden bitterness_).
Stranger, I am a wife....?O better dead!
ORESTES.
That seals thy brother's doom!?What Prince of Argos...?
ELECTRA.
Not the man to whom?My father thought to give me.
ORESTES.
Speak; that I?May tell thy brother all.
ELECTRA.
'Tis there, hard by,?His dwelling, where I live, far from men's eyes.
ORESTES.
Some ditcher's cot, or cowherd's, by its guise!
ELECTRA (_struck with shame for her ingratitude_).
A poor man; but true-hearted, and to me?God-fearing.
ORESTES.
How? What fear of God hath he?
ELECTRA.
He hath never held my body to his own.
ORESTES.
Hath he some vow to keep? Or is it done?To scorn thee?
ELECTRA.
Nay; he only scorns to sin?Against my father's greatness.
ORESTES.
But to win?A princess! Doth his heart not leap for pride?
ELECTRA.
He honoureth not the hand that gave the bride.
ORESTES.
I see. He trembles for Orestes' wrath?
ELECTRA.
Aye, that would move him. But beside, he hath?A gentle heart.
ORESTES.
Strange! A good man.... I swear?He well shall be requited.
ELECTRA.
Whensoe'er?Our wanderer comes again!
ORESTES.
Thy mother stays?Unmoved 'mid all thy wrong?
ELECTRA.
A lover weighs?More than a child in any woman's heart.
ORESTES.
But what end seeks Aegisthus, by such art?Of shame?
ELECTRA.
To make mine unborn children low?And weak, even as my husband.
ORESTES.
Lest there grow?From thee the avenger?
ELECTRA.
Such his purpose is:?For which may I requite him!
ORESTES.
And of this?Thy virgin life--Aegisthus knows it?
ELECTRA.
Nay,?We speak it not. It cometh not his way.
ORESTES.
These women hear us. Are they friends to thee?
ELECTRA.
Aye, friends and true. They will keep faithfully?All words of mine and thine.
ORESTES (_trying her_).
Thou art well stayed?With friends. And could Orestes give thee aid?In aught, if e'er...
ELECTRA.
Shame on thee! Seest thou not??Is it not time?
ORESTES (_catching her excitement_).
How time? And if he sought?To slay, how should he come at his desire?
ELECTRA.
By daring, as they dared who slew his sire!
ORESTES.
Wouldst thou dare with him, if he came, thou too,?To slay her?
ELECTRA.
Yes; with the same axe that slew?My father!
ORESTES.
'Tis thy message? And thy mood?Unchanging?
ELECTRA.
Let me shed my mother's blood,?And I die happy.
ORESTES.
God!... I would that now?Orestes heard thee here.
ELECTRA.
Yet, wottest thou,?Though here I saw him, I should know him not.
ORESTES.
Surely. Ye both were children, when they wrought?Your parting.
ELECTRA.
One alone in all this land?Would know his face.
ORESTES.
The thrall, methinks, whose hand?Stole him from death--or so the story ran?
ELECTRA.
He taught my father, too, an old old man?Of other days than these.
ORESTES.
Thy father's grave...?He had due rites and tendance?
ELECTRA.
What chance gave,?My father had, cast out to rot in the sun.
ORESTES.
God, 'tis too much!... To hear of such things done?Even to a stranger, stings a man.... But speak,?Tell of thy life, that I may know, and seek?Thy brother with a tale that must be heard?Howe'er it sicken. If mine eyes be blurred,?Remember, 'tis the fool that feels not. Aye,?Wisdom is full of pity; and thereby?Men pay for too much wisdom with much pain.
LEADER.
My heart is moved as this man's. I would fain?Learn all thy tale. Here dwelling on the hills?Little I know of Argos and its ills.
ELECTRA.
If I must speak--and at love's call, God knows,?I fear not--I will tell thee all; my woes,?My father's woes, and--O, since thou hast stirred?This storm of speech, thou bear him this my word--?His woes and shame! Tell of this narrow cloak?In the wind; this grime and reek of toil, that choke?My breathing; this low roof that bows my head?After a king's. This raiment ... thread by thread,?'Tis I must weave it, or go bare--must bring,?Myself, each jar of water from the spring.?No holy day for me, no festival,?No dance upon the green! From all, from all?I am cut off. No portion hath my life?'Mid wives of Argos, being no true wife.?No portion where the maidens throng to praise?Castor--my Castor, whom in ancient days,?Ere he passed from us and men worshipped him,?They named my bridegroom!--
And she, she!... The grim?Troy spoils gleam round her throne, and by each hand?Queens of the East, my father's prisoners, stand,?A cloud