 | Agamemnon |  |
64
SCENE II.
Clytemnestra and Arsinoe.CLYTEMNESTRA.
The king returns to-day.
ARSINOE.
So I have heard.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Why are you sad, Arsinoe? The news
Should meet, from you, a blithe and cheerful welcome.
ARSINOE.
But, what a welcome shall the king receive?
What honest hail will cheer his coming home?
Who will rejoice, when he recounts the war?
Who will not weep, when he describes his wounds,
And sigh with sorrow, that they were not mortal.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Nurse, you grow bold.
ARSINOE.
Oh! well-a-day, that I
Have liv'd to see the royal babe I cherish'd,
When grown to manhood, and a hero fam'd,
Supplanted in his love, by a vile slave;—
A coarse, rank-smelling groom; a neighing groom;
But fit companion for the horse he tended.
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Forget you, woman, that I am the queen?
65
Oh! that the queen had ne'er forgot herself:
And where, Oh where is Agamemnon's child?
When he departed for the trojan war—
Alack, my heart, that was a day in Argos:
The shore all dazzling with the grecian arms,
And every echo of the mountains, shouting
The acclamations of the warriors' cheer:—
He left you budding, large with royalty;
Where is the fruit?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Arsinoe; you know,
That on the very night my child was born,
A menial traitor stole it from my side.
ARSINOE.
Had you not prov'd yourself more treas'nous prone,
By shameless tokens to your pamper'd slave,
That loyal theft had never been committed.
How could you think that there were none at court
To grudge his rising,—not one heart to feel
More for the monarch than his horse's servant?
Who did not fear from your infatuation,
The sacrifice of our true lawful prince?
CLYTEMNESTRA.
Oh! I am ruin'd, ruin'd, past all hope.
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