 | Orestes |  |
SCENE THE FIRST.
Orestes, Pylades.Py.
The crisis is arrived: we cannot now,
E'en if we would, recede: thou know'st that we
Are summon'd by Ægisthus to his presence.
To us, commanded here to wait for him,
Forthwith he comes; and if thy manners change not,
We also come here to be kill'd, not kill:
I say no more. Be frantic as thou wilt;
I am prepared for death, as well as vengeance.
Ores.
Alas! I know that I deserve too well
Rebukes like these: thou lovest me too much:
I was not worthy of a friend like thee:
Ah pardon me. I will restrain myself
Before Ægisthus: that will be, I hope,
Easier to me, than to restrain myself
Before my mother, who appears to me
To have her face, her robe, and both her hands
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The hatred I can master, which I bear
Towards a foe, than that commingled conflict
Of pity and revenge, which at the sight
Of such a mother throbb'd in every vein.
Py.
Who will'd thee to encounter such a conflict?
Not I.
Ores.
An impulse undefinable;
Yet stronger than myself. Would'st thou believe it?
At first the thought rush'd irresistibly
To slay her on the spot; in swift succession,
And fierce as rapid, a new wish possess'd me
To clasp her in my arms: and afterwards
Both impulses in strange vicissitude
Assail'd me e'en to madness—fearful state,
And inexpressible as it was fearful! ...
Py.
Peace, peace; Ægisthus comes.
Ores.
What do I see?
And with him also comes my mother.
Py.
Now
Do thou be silent, or destroy me.
| Orestes | |