Electra A tragedy |
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| 1. | SCENE THE FIRST. |
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 | Electra |  |
SCENE THE FIRST.
Scene a royal apartment with a throne.Enter CLYTEMNESTRA, attended.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Leave me
[Ex. Attendants.
—and let me quit the hard restraint
Of counterfeit appearance—nor obstruct
Nature's impetuous impulse. Painful probes
Of searching thought, what tortures do ye cause!
My wrong'd, abandon'd, ruin'd, lifeless child!
Conscience convicts me, as the baneful source,
Of all thy suff'rings—death! Pride, indignation!
Ye daring counsellors, but dastard champions,
How fell your instigations—false your smiles!
—and let me quit the hard restraint
Of counterfeit appearance—nor obstruct
Nature's impetuous impulse. Painful probes
Of searching thought, what tortures do ye cause!
My wrong'd, abandon'd, ruin'd, lifeless child!
Conscience convicts me, as the baneful source,
Of all thy suff'rings—death! Pride, indignation!
Ye daring counsellors, but dastard champions,
How fell your instigations—false your smiles!
Weak vanity of hope, from evil deeds
To gather bliss. Still vainer the endeavour,
With doubling anguish—anguish to disguise.
What boots it wretchedness the world should think
We are what we but seem?—O Agamemnon!
Orestes! how much happier are the wrong'd
Than those who injure!—Sweet were all my hours
Whilc virtue led their course. But guilt's dominion
Perplexes, harrasses, distracts—confounds!
Fly, mortals, timely the seducer vice—
When once enthral'd, ye plunge from crime to crime,
Disabled for resistance. [Shouting.
—Hah!—Ægysthus!
The cause and scourge of all my foul offences.
To gather bliss. Still vainer the endeavour,
With doubling anguish—anguish to disguise.
What boots it wretchedness the world should think
We are what we but seem?—O Agamemnon!
Orestes! how much happier are the wrong'd
Than those who injure!—Sweet were all my hours
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Perplexes, harrasses, distracts—confounds!
Fly, mortals, timely the seducer vice—
When once enthral'd, ye plunge from crime to crime,
Disabled for resistance. [Shouting.
—Hah!—Ægysthus!
The cause and scourge of all my foul offences.
| Electra | |