 | Clytemnestra |  |
SCENE IV.
Electra and Pylades.ELECTRA.
Come, gentle cousin, let me lean on thee.
My heart shrinks in me. All the glowing joy
With which I heard Orestes was arrived,
Is changed into a chilling apprehension.
PYLADES.
Be more of heart; take courage from the hope
That leads our bold adventure. Rouse yourself
With the remembrance of your injuries.
ELECTRA.
I have so long on bitter sorrow fared,
That hope which should with chearfulness inspire,
Like opiates, faithless to the fever'd brain,
Has heighten'd my disease. If ye should fail,
What may the fell usurper not attempt?
Already, from my lost unhappy mother,
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With sad abhorrence, his impassioned glance,
Flame on my conscious cheek.
PYLADES.
This day, Electra,
Will end your suffering and rebuild your fortune.
ELECTRA.
Yes; or forever desolate my hopes.
I was the worshipp'd daughter of a king,
But now I am below all slavery!
PYLADES.
Why yield you, gentle, to this sickly thought;
The cloud that has so long obscur'd your lustre,
Is swiftly passing, and the world again
Will own your regal brightness.
ELECTRA.
Ah Pylades;
Fortune may change the hues of outward show,
But cannot 'raze the truths engraven here.
PYLADES.
Ha! Who is this?
ELECTRA.
Egysthus! save yourself!
| Clytemnestra | |