 | Clytemnestra |  |
SCENE I.
Pylades and Orestes.PYLADES.
By time it should be nigh the noon of day,
But night portentous has usurp'd the sky.
All birds are bower'd save witching Hecat's bird,
The bat that, in its murky flutter, shrieks
A shrill amen to the ill owlet's bode.
The sun has dwindled to an edge of light,
And seems the glitt'ring remnant of a ring.
Heav'n's lamps as in the midnight are lit up:
But in the preternatural reverse,
That seizes all; their constellated fires
Present the aspect of th'autumnal sky.
ORESTES.
How now, Pylades! art thou stricken too?
PYLADES.
In truth, Orestes something much like fear,
Chilly and pale upon my fancy creeping,
Daunts from my heart its wonted confidence.
248
Bear up man, and take courage from the sign;
It suits our awful enterprize, and shows
The Gods auspicious. What we aim to do,
Is such a deed that, with less sanctioning,
We might have deem'd it of another stamp.
But all these pageants of the ominous sky,
Prove that the Heav'ns have interest in our purpose.
| Clytemnestra | |