University of Virginia Library

ACT THE FIFTH.

SCENE THE FIRST.

Ægisthus, Soldiers.
Ægis.
Oh unexpected and disastrous treason!
Orestes freed! We now shall see.

SCENE THE SECOND.

Clytemnestra, Ægisthus.
Cly.
Alas!
Return: fly back with speed.

Ægis.
Ah, impious woman!
Dost thou too rush to arms?

Cly.
I would preserve thee:
Ah! hear me: I no longer am ...

Ægis.
Perfidious ...

Cly.
Stop.

Ægis.
Didst thou promise to surrender me
To that vile traitor living?

Cly.
Nay, I swear
From him to rescue thee, although I perish.
Ah, remain here; conceal thyself awhile;
Meanwhile I am thy rampart 'gainst his rage.

Ægis.
Arms 'gainst that rage will be a better rampart.
Go; leave me. I haste thither ...

Cly.
Where?

Ægis.
To kill him.

Cly.
Thou goest to certain death. What art thou doing?
Dost thou not hear the cries and menaces
Of all the people? No, I cannot leave thee.

Ægis.
In vain thou wishest from thy impious son
To ward the death-blow. Quit my side; be silent;
Leave me, or I ...

Cly.
Do thou, Ægisthus; yes,
Destroy me, if thou canst not trust to me.
“Orestes!” Hear'st thou? How they shout, “Orestes!”
How all around us that terrific name
Sounds like a blast of death! Ah! I am now
No more a mother! If thou art in danger,
'Gainst my own blood my heart once more is hardened.

Ægis.
Thou know'st thy sight is hateful to the Argives:
And if thou now wouldst shew thyself to them,
Their rage thou wouldst redouble. But the shout
Increases. Ah! thou wert the cause of this,
Perfidious! vengeance I delay'd for thee,
Which now reverts on me.

Cly.
Ah! kill me then.

Ægis.
I will find safety by some other means.

Cly.
I follow thee.

Ægis.
Ill wilt thou be my shield.
Leave me, depart; whatever be the event,
Thy presence importunes me. Hence, away.

SCENE THE THIRD.

Clytemnestra.
Cly.
All, all renounce me!—Agonizing state!
My son no longer owns me for his mother;
Nor, for his wife, my husband: yet I am
A mother and a wife. Ah, wretched creature:
I will at distance follow him, nor lose
The traces of his steps.

SCENE THE FOURTH.

Electra, Clytemnestra.
Elec.
Where go'st thou, mother?
Within the palace walls do thou return.
Danger most imminent ...

Cly.
Where is Orestes?
What is he doing? Tell me.

Elec.
Pylades,
Orestes and myself are all in safety.
Ægisthus' satellites themselves were moved.
“This is Orestes,” Dimas first exclaim'd;
Thence all the people: “Let Orestes live,
“And let Ægisthus die!”

Cly.
What do I hear?

Elec.
Mother, be calm; thou quickly wilt behold
Thy son once more; and with the tyrant's spoils ...

Cly.
Ah cruel! Leave me; hence I fly ...

Elec.
No, no;
Remain: the people shudder, and proclaim
Thee, with loud voice, a parricidal wife.
Be not at present visible; avoid
The great and instant peril that awaits thee:
On this account I came. In seeing us
Dragged on to death, in thee a mother's grief,
All, all was evident: now thou hast made
Atonement for thy fault. To thee my brother
Dispatch'd me urgently, to assist, to sooth thee,
And to withdraw thee from the atrocious sight.
Himself and Pylades, in arms, meanwhile,
In every quarter swiftly run to seek
Ægisthus. Where is he? ... The miscreant ... Where? ...

Cly.
The miscreant is Orestes.

Elec.
What say'st thou?
Oh heaven! What do I hear?

Cly.
I run to save him;
Or with him to expire.

Elec.
Thou shalt not go.
Mother, the people threaten ...

Cly.
Punishment
To me is due, and I will brave it.

Elec.
Stop.
The wretch that erewhile dragg'd to death thy children,
Oh, mother, canst thou? ...

Cly.
Yes, myself will save him.
Check not my footsteps: I am overruled
By my accursed fate. He is my husband;
Too much I've lost for him: I will not lose him,
Nor can I lose him. Traitors, not my children,
You I abhor. I will go to him. Leave me,
Thou wretch! At all risks will I go to him:
Ah! may I only there arrive in time.

SCENE THE FIFTH.

Electra.
Elec.
Go, if thou wilt then, to thy destiny ...
Ah! yet I hope that she may be too late.
Why cannot I my right hand with a sword
Arm also, with a thousand blows to pierce
The bosom of the infamous Ægisthus!
Oh blinded mother! how art thou possest
By that unworthy wretch! But, yet ... I tremble ...
Lest now the indignant people should on her
Take vengeance for their king! ... Let me pursue her.
But who comes hither? Pylades! and with him
My brother is not?

SCENE THE SIXTH.

Pylades, Electra.
Elec.
Tell me: ah! ... Orestes? ...

Py.
The palace he surrounds with arms: our prey
Is now secure. Where is Ægisthus hidden?
Hast thou seen him?

Elec.
I saw, and I restrain'd
In vain his frantic consort: through yon door
She darted; saying that herself would be
Ægisthus shield. He thence was gone before
From forth the palace.

Py.
May he then have dared
To shew himself to the Argives? At this hour
He is no more: happy who smote him first!—
But hark! more near and louder do I hear
The people's cries.

Elec.
“Orestes!” Ah! I hope ...

Py.
Behold, he comes in all his burning fury.

SCENE THE SEVENTH.

Orestes, Pylades, Electra, Followers of Orestes and Pylades.
Ores.
Let none of you now venture in my cause
To slay Ægisthus: I, and I alone
Possess the weapon destined to that deed.—
Ægisthus, where art thou, thou recreant coward?
Ægisthus, where art thou? A voice of death
Calls thee; where art thou? ... Dost thou not come forth?
Ah vile! dost hide thyself? In vain; to thee
Not e'en the centre of deep Erebus
Shall be a refuge. Thou shalt quickly see
That I am truly Agamemnon's son.

Elec.
... He ... is not here.

Ores.
Traitors! ye, ye perchance
Have slain him without me!

Py.
Or ere I came
He from the palace fled.

Ores.
He hides himself
Within the palace: I will hale him thence.—
Here shall my hand by thy soft tresses drag thee:
There are no prayers, or powers of heaven or hell
That can from me release thee. I will make thee
With thy abhorred carcass plough the dust
E'en to my father's tomb. There will I drag thee,
And from thy veins, e'en to the latest drop,
Drain thy adulterous life-blood.

Elec.
Dost thou not
Believe me, brother? not believe Electra?

Ores.
And who art thou? I sought Ægisthus here.

Py.
He flies.

Ores.
He flies! and ye, vile, here ye stand.
Soon will I find him.

SCENE THE EIGHTH.

Clytemnestra, Electra, Pylades, Orestes, Followers of Orestes and Pylades.
Cly.
Son, have pity.

Ores.
Pity!
Whose son am I? I am Atrides' son.

Cly.
Ægisthus is already bound with fetters.

Ores.
Does he yet breathe? Oh joy! I go to slay him.

Cly.
Oh pause! 'Twas only I that kill'd thy father;
Rather kill me ... Ægisthus of that crime
Was never guilty.

Ores.
Who, who clasps my arm?
Who would detain me thus? Oh rage! Ægisthus ...
I see him: hither dragg'd he comes ... unloose me.

Cly.
Orestes, know'st thou not thy mother?

Ores.
Die,
Ægisthus!—miscreant, perish!—by the hand
Now of Orestes die!

SCENE THE NINTH.

Clytemnestra, Electra, Pylades, Followers of Pylades.
Cly.
Ah, see he flies! ...
Thou shalt destroy me first.

SCENE THE TENTH.

Electra, Pylades, Followers of Pylades.
Elec.
Run, Pylades;
Fly, bring her back; constrain her to return.

SCENE THE ELEVENTH.

Electra.
Elec.
Alas! I tremble ... She is still my mother:
I ought to pity her.—But did not she
Behold her children erewhile on the brink
Of an opprobrious death, and did she shew,
In their behalf, the courage and the grief
That now she feels for him?—At length the day,
The wish'd-for day, is come. At length, oh tyrant!
Thou fall'st a bloody victim.—Once again
I hear the palace walls rebound with screams,
As on that horrible ensanguined night,
In which my father lay a murdered corse,
I heard it some time echo.—Even now
Orestes' hand hath dealt the mortal blow;
Ægisthus falls; the people's loud acclaim
His death announces. Lo! Orestes comes
Triumphant: and his right-hand grasps a sword
Reeking with blood.

SCENE THE TWELFTH.

Electra, Orestes.
Elec.
Oh come, my brother, come,
Noble avenger of the king of kings;
Avenger of my father, and of Argos;
Come to my breast ...

Ores.
Sister, ... behold me now
The worthy son of Agamemnon. See,
This is Ægisthus' blood. Scarce I beheld him,
Ere I sprang forward to destroy him there;
Nor did I recollect that I had threaten'd
To drag his body to my father's tomb.
Within that trembling and effeminate heart
I plunged and replunged full seven times my sword:
Yet have I not appeased my ardent thirst.

Elec.
Did Clytemnestra then to arrest thy arm
Not come in time?

Ores.
Who could accomplish that?
Arrest my arm! I leap'd upon Ægisthus;
The lightening is not swifter in its course.
The coward wept; those abject tears of his
Fill'd me with greater rage. My father! ah,
A man that dared not die could murder thee!

Elec.
My father is avenged; now calm thy spirits;
And tell me, as thou hither cam'st, didst thou
Not meet with Pylades?

Ores.
I saw Ægisthus,
Nought else.—Where is beloved Pylades?
How came it that he did not second me
In such an enterprise?

Elec.
To him, erewhile,
My mad, despairing mother I confided.

Ores.
Of them I nothing saw.

Elec.
See, he returns ...
Oh Heaven! what see I? He returns alone?

Ores.
And sad?

SCENE THE THIRTEENTH.

Orestes, Pylades, Electra.
Ores.
Oh wherefore sad, my better part,
Art thou? Dost thou not know that I have kill'd,
I, that usurper? See; my weapon still
Is reeking with his blood. Ah! thou with me
The triumph hast not shared! Do thou then feast
Thine eyes upon this spectacle.

Py.
Oh sight!—
Orestes, give to me that sword.

Ores.
For what?

Py.
Give it to me.

Ores.
Then take it.

Py.
Hear me.—Now
It is no longer lawful in this land
For us to tarry: come ...

Ores.
But what? ...

Elec.
Ah! speak:
Say where is Clytemnestra?

Ores.
Name her not:
Perchance she now constructs the funeral pile
For her flagitious husband.

Py.
More, far more,
Thou hast consummated than thy revenge:
Now come; ask nothing further ...

Ores.
Oh! what say'st thou ...

Elec.
My mother I reclaim of thee, oh Pylades.
Ah! through my veins what death-like chillness shoots! ...

Py.
The gods!

Elec.
Ah! dead perchance? ...

Ores.
Against herself
Infuriate has she turn'd her sword?

Elec.
Alas! ...
Oh Pylades! ... thou answerest not?

Ores.
Relate;
What has befallen her?

Py.
Transfix'd ...

Ores.
By whom?

Py.
Ah! come ...

Elec.
Thou killed'st her.

Ores.
I, parricide?

Py.
The sword thou unawares in her didst plunge,
Blinded by rage, rushing to assault Ægisthus.

Ores.
What sudden horror seizes me! ... Am I
A parricide? ... That sword, oh Pylades,
Give me: once more ...

Py.
It shall not be.

Elec.
My brother ...

Py.
Wretched Orestes!

Ores.
Who now calls me brother?
Thou, impious woman, perhaps, who hast to life
Preserved me, and the murder of my mother?
Restore my sword; my sword, I say ... oh rage!
What have I done? Where am I? Who constrains me? ...
Who thus pursues me? ... Whither shall I fly?
Where shall I hide myself?—Oh father, father,
Take from me that stern eye; quite through and through
It pierces me ... Of me thou asked'st blood:
Here, here is blood; for thee alone I shed it.

Elec.
Orestes, dear Orestes ... wretched brother ...
No more he hears my voice; his sense is gone ...
Thou, Pylades, and I, will ne'er forsake him.

Py.
Oh horrid and inevitable law,
That when we would avenge, perpetuates guilt!