Agamemnon A Tragedy |
 | 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 12. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. | SCENE V. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 12. |
| 13. |
 | Agamemnon |  |
SCENE V.
Clytemnestra and Agamemnon.CLYTEMNESTRA.
O silly lout to ask so strange a thing;
There is full more than forty year of odds.
He must expect her surely soon to die.
83
Is that the youth for whom you claim'd my favour?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
The very same. Guess you what he has pray'd for;
But I forget—you know not who he is.
In sooth to say, 'tis a side-shaking tale.
The nurse, though old, is still, my lord, a woman;
And young Egysthus is a portly youth.
He has intreated me for your consent,
That he may wed Arsinoe.
AGAMEMNON.
What! he!
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Riches weigh well my lord against old age.
AGAMEMNON.
She must be craz'd and fallen far in dotage.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
You speak great truth. She is beside herself;
More than a month she has been chiding me,
To give my sanction; vainly have I spoken,
Yea pray'd her, oft, to quit her lewd intent,
At least, till your return. I should have else
Blush'd to have had the wedding in my house.
She is the laughing-stock of all the town.
When the glad tidings came that Troy had fall'n,
Gifts were distributed; and she received
The fairest ring you sent of all the spoil.
84
To-day I see it on Egysthus's finger—
That is not all. The old enchanted dame
Must have a rival, and be jealous too.
AGAMEMNON.
Alas! poor nurse! Who may her rival be?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Can you not guess? Come try?
AGAMEMNON.
Indeed I cannot.
Ten years of busy and eventful strife,
Have worn away the frill of courtiership.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Nay try to guess, and grow gallant again;
You must this martial sternness cast aside.
I will prohibit you the use of steel.
Gods! what have courtiers to do with swords?—
Nay, you shall wear soft velvet for your vest;
To-night you shall. What have you now to fear?
The am'rous glances of our ladies' eyes
Strike not so furiously as Hector's javelin.
AGAMEMNON.
But pray whose charms does fair Arsinoe fear?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Ah true! will you not guess?
AGAMEMNON.
In truth I cannot.
85
Who should it be, but she that still resists
Her wanton craze.
AGAMEMNON.
What! you?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Your selfsame queen!
Nay do not laugh, for she has evidence.
‘Why should the queen, if she were not in love,’
Says sage Arsinoe, ‘oppose my bliss?’—
I could a hundred of her fancies tell you.
She is the merry-thought of all the court.
And when we have an empty hour to fill,
I'll call her confidents to make you mirth.
AGAMEMNON.
But who is he? How is her lover called?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Egysthus.
AGAMEMNON.
True; pray what is he?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Nay that
Is such a question I should ask myself.
She brought him, to me, as her relative,
And pray'd that I would notice him with favour.
But there are slanderers about the palace,
86
That he is of some very vulgar stock;
Nay, that his father was a menial slave.
Some viler envious still more assert,
And say that he himself was once a groom:
But this is wicked, and not credible.
AGAMEMNON.
I think so too. He has a gallant air.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
And is well spoken, and of pithy sentence.
To say the truth, the young man has his merits.
AGAMEMNON.
I'll speak with him, and should I find him worthy,
He shall have due promotion for his looks.
But see Arsinoe comes. I'll joke with her.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Not for the world my lord. Now go you in,
Leave her to me, I must appease her fears;
Nor is it modest for a man to speak
Of such a love as hers. Do leave me heart!
| Agamemnon | |