 | Clytemnestra |  |
SCENE V.
Clytemnestra, Electra, and Egysthus.CLYTEMNESTRA.
Oh! my Electra; and is it away?
EGYSTHUS.
What Clytemnestra?
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Ha! com'st thou here too?
Avaunt! abhorr'd: there's torment in thy touch.
Hence! lest the awful and vindictive ghost,
Transform itself into wide-wrapping flame,
And mix our ashes in one sudden doom.
EGYSTHUS.
What can she mean, Electra?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Is it so?
And dar'st thou woo her in my very sight?
Blaze forth again to vision, dreadful form,
And save thy innocent and blameless child,
From the enchanting venom of his tongue.—
Deem not thy virtue firmer than thy mother's;
For I was bound by holy charm of vows,
To one whose name should have been charm enough,
Against the conjurations of the sense.
Sure, I was drawn, by worse than sorcery,
To plot my husband's death, and drench my sleeves
Deep in the flowing ruby of his blood.
E'en now thy father, all magnificent,
Before me stood, as when he sail'd for Troy:
His armour sounding as he mov'd along
Tow'ring refulgent. In his searching eyes,
Me-thought a sad and wat'ry pity hung,
That kindly mercified their angry fires.
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'Twas but a phantom of thy fever'd fancy:
The self same substance as the nightly dreams
That chace thy needful sleep.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Beware, Egysthus; yet repress the smile
That grows to mock'ry on thy jutting lip.
Such visitations are not idly made;
And see the sun on his meridian throne,
Spreads a black signal to the world of men.
| Clytemnestra | |