comforters! Such ills must be numbered with those which have no
cure; I can never know a respite from my sorrows, or a limit to this

wailing.
CHORUS

epode
At least it is in love, like a true-hearted mother, that I

dissuade thee from adding misery to miseries.
ELECTRA

But what measure is there in my wretchedness? Say, how can it be
right to neglect the dead? Was that impiety ever born in mortal? Never

may I have praise of such; never when my lot is cast in pleasant
places, may I cling to selfish ease, or dishonour my sire by

strain" target="_blank" title="vt.抑制；管束；限制">restraining the wings of shrill lamentation!
For if the hapless dead is to lie in dust and nothingness, while

the slayers pay not with blood for blood, all regard for man, all fear
of heaven, will vanish from the earth.

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
I came, my child, in zeal for thy welfare no less than for mine

own; but if I speak not well, then be it as thou wilt; for we will
follow thee.

ELECTRA
I am ashamed, my friends, if ye deem me too impatient for my oft

complaining; but, since a hard constraint forces me to this, bear with
me. How indeed could any woman of noble nature refrain, who saw the

calamities of a father's house, as I see them by day and night
continually, not fading, but in the summer of their strength? I,

who, first, from the mother that bore me have found bitter enmity;
next, in mine own home I dwell with my father's murderers; they rule

over me, and with them it rests to give or to withhold what I need.
And then think what manner of days I pass, when I see Aegisthus

sitting on my father's throne, wearing the robes which he wore, and
pouring libations at the hearth where he slew my sire; and when I

see the outrage that crowns all, the murderer in our father's bed at
our wretched mother's side, if mother she should be called, who is his

wife; but so hardened is she that she lives with that accursed one,
fearing no Erinys; nay, as if exulting in her deeds, having found

the day on which she treacherously slew my father of old, she keeps it
with dance and song, and month by month sacrifices sheep to the gods

who have wrought her deliverance.
But I, hapless one, beholding it, weep and pine in the house,

and bewail the unholy feast named after my sire,- weep to myself
alone; since I may not even indulge my grief to the full measure of my

yearning. For this woman, in professions so noble, loudly upbraids
me with such taunts as these: 'Impious and hateful girl, hast thou

alone lost a father, and is there no other mourner in the world? An
evil doom be thine, and may the gods infernal give thee no riddance

from thy present laments.'
Thus she insults; save when any one brings her word that Orestes

is coming: then, infuriated, she comes up to me, and cries;- 'Hast not
thou brought this upon me? Is not this deed thine, who didst steal

Orestes from my hands, and privily convey him forth? Yet be sure
that thou shalt have thy due reward.' So she shrieks; and, aiding her,

the renownedspouse at her side is vehement in the same strain,-
that abject dastard, that utter pest, who fights his battles with

the help of women. But I, looking ever for Orestes to come and end
these woes, languish in my misery. Always intending to strike a

blow, he has worn out every hope that I could conceive. In such a
case, then, friends, there is no room for moderation or for reverence;

in sooth, the stress of ills leaves no choice but to follow evil ways.
LEADER

Say, is Aegisthus near while thou speakest thus, or absent from
home?

ELECTRA
Absent, certainly; do not think that I should have come to the

doors, if he had been near; but just now he is afield.
LEADER

Might I converse with thee more freely, if this is so?
ELECTRA

He is not here, so put thy question; what wouldst thou?
LEADER

I ask thee, then, what sayest thou of thy brother? Will he come
soon, or is he delaying? I fain would know.

ELECTRA
He promises to come; but he never fulfils the promise.

LEADER
Yea, a man will pause on the verge of a great work.

ELECTRA
And yet I saved him without pausing.

LEADER
Courage; he is too noble to fail his friends.

ELECTRA
I believe it; or I should not have lived so long.

LEADER
Say no more now; for I see thy sister coming from the house,

Chrysothemis, daughter of the same sire and mother, with sepulchral
gifts in her hands, such as are given to those in the world below.

(CHRYSOTHEMIS enters from the palace. She is richly dressed.)
CHRYSOTHEMIS

Why, sister, hast thou come forth once more to declaim thus at the
public doors? Why wilt thou not learn with any lapse of time to desist

from vain indulgence of idle wrath? Yet this I know,- that I myself
am- grieved at our plight; indeed, could I find the strength, I would

show what love I bear them. But now, in these troubled waters, 'tis
best, methinks, to shorten sail; I care not to seem active, without

the power to hurt. And would that thine own conduct were the same!
Nevertheless, right is on the side of thy choice, not of that which

I advise; but if I am to live in freedom, our rulers must be obeyed in
all things.

ELECTRA
Strange indeed, that thou, the daughter of such a sire as thine,

shouldst forget him, and think only of thy mother! All thy admonitions
to me have been taught by her; no word is thine own. Then take thy

choice,- to be imprudent; or prudent, but forgetful of thy friends:
thou, who hast just said that, couldst thou find the strength, thou

wouldst show thy hatred of them; yet, when I am doing my utmost to
avenge my sire, thou givest no aid, but seekest to turn thy sister

from her deed.
Does not this crown our miseries with cowardice? For tell me,-

Or let me tell thee,- what I should gain by ceasing from these
laments? Do not live?- miserably, I know, yet well enough for me.

And I vex them, thus rendering honour to the dead, if pleasure can
be felt in that world. But thou, who tellest me of thy hatred,

hatest in word alone, while in deeds thou art with the slayers of
thy sire. I, then, would never yield to them, though I were promised

the gifts which now make thee proud; thine be the richly-spread
table and the life of luxury. For me, be it food enough that I do

not wound mine own conscience; I covet not such privilege as thine,-
nor wouldst thou, wert thou wise. But now, when thou mightest be

called daughter of the noblest father among men, be called the child
of thy mother; so shall thy baseness be most widely seen, in

betrayal of thy dead sire and of thy kindred.
LEADER

No angry word, I entreat! For both of you there is good in what is
urged,- if thou, Electra, wouldst learn to profit by her counsel,

and she, again, by thine.
CHRYSOTHEMIS