Enter, sirs; especially as ye bring that which no one could
repulse from these doors, though he receive it without joy.

(The PAEDAGOGUS enters from the palace.)
PAEDAGOGUS

Foolish and senseless children! Are ye weary of your lives, or was
there no wit born in you, that ye see not how ye stand, not on the

brink, but in the very midst of deadly perils? Nay, had I not kept
watch this long while at these doors, your plans would have been in

the house before yourselves; but, as it is, my care shielded you
from that. Now have done with this long discourse, these insatiate

cries of joy, and pass within; for in such deeds delay is evil, and
'tis well to make an end.

ORESTES
What, then, will be my prospects when I enter?

PAEDAGOGUS
Good; for thou art secured from recognition.

ORESTES
Thou hast reported me, I presume, as dead?

PAEDAGOGUS
Know that here thou art numbered with the shades.

ORESTES
Do they rejoice, then, at these tidings? Or what say they?

PAEDAGOGUS
I will tell thee at the end; meanwhile, all is well for us on

their party-even that which is not well.
ELECTRA

Who is this, brother? I pray thee, tell me.
ORESTES

Dost thou not perceive?
ELECTRA

I cannot guess.
ORESTES

Knowest thou not the man to whose hands thou gavest me once?
ELECTRA

What man? How sayest thou?
ORESTES

By whose hands, through thy forethought, I was secretly conveyed
forth to Phocian soil.

ELECTRA
Is this he in whom, alone of many, I found a true ally of old,

when our sire was slain?
ORESTES

'Tis he; question me no further.
ELECTRA

O joyous day! O sole preserver of Agamemnon's house, how hast thou
come? Art thou he indeed, who didst save my brother and myself from

many sorrows? O dearest hands; O messenger whose feet were kindly
servants! How couldst thou be with me so long, and remain unknown, nor

give a ray of light, but afflict me by fables, while possessed of
truths most sweet? Hail, father,- for 'tis a father that I seem to

behold! All hail,- and know that I have hated thee, and loved thee, in
one day, as never man before!

PAEDAGOGUS
Enough, methinks; as for the story of the past, many are the

circling nights, and days as many, which shall show it thee,
Electra, in its fulness. (To ORESTES and PYLADES) But this is my

counsel to you twain, who stand there- now is the time to act; now
Clytemnestra is alone,- no man is now within: but, if ye pause,

consider that ye will have to fight, not with the inmates alone, but
with other foes more numerous and better skilled.

ORESTES
Pylades, this our task seems no longer to crave many words, but

rather that we should enter the house forthwith,- first adoring the
shrines of my father's gods, who keep these gates.

(ORESTES and PYLADES enter the Palace,
followed by the PAEDAGOGUS.- ELECTRA remains outside.)

ELECTRA
O King Apollo! graciously hear them, and hear me besides, who so

oft have come before thine altar with such gifts as my devout hand
could bring! And now, O Lycean Apollo, with such vows as I can make, I

pray thee, I supplicate, I implore, grant us thy benignant aid in
these designs, and show men how impiety is rewarded by the gods!

(ELECTRA enters the palace.)
CHORUS (singing)

Behold how Ares moves onward, breathing deadly vengeance,
against which none may strive!

Even now the pursuers of dark guilt have passed beneath yon
roof, the hounds which none may flee. Therefore the vision of my

soul shall not long tarry in suspense.
The champion of the spirits infernal is ushered with stealthy feet

into the house, the ancestral palace of his sire, bearing keen-edged
death in his hands; and Hermes, son of Maia, who hath shrouded the

guile in darkness, leads him forward, even to the end, and delays no
more.

(ELECTRA enters from the palace.)
ELECTRA

strophe
Ah, dearest friends, in a moment the men will do the deed;- but

wait in silence.
CHORUS

How is it?- what do they now?
ELECTRA

She is decking the urn for burial, and those two stand close to
her

CHORUS
And why hast thou sped forth?

ELECTRA
To guard against Aegisthus entering before we are aware.

CLYTEMNESTRA (within)
Alas! Woe for the house forsaken of friends and filled with

murderers!
ELECTRA

A cry goes up within:- hear ye not, friends?
CHORUS

I heard, ah me, sounds dire to hear, and shuddered!
CLYTEMNESTRA (within)

O hapless that I am!- Aegisthus, where, where art thou?
ELECTRA

Hark, once more a voice resounds I
CLYTEMNESTRA (within)

My son, my son, have pity on thy mother!
ELECTRA

Thou hadst none for him, nor for the father that begat him.
CHORUS

Ill-fated realm and race, now the fate that hath pursued thee
day by day is dying,- is dying!

CLYTEMNESTRA (within)
Oh, I am smitten!

ELECTRA
Smite, if thou canst, once more!

CLYTEMNESTRA (within)
Ah, woe is me again!

ELECTRA
Would that the woe were for Aegisthus too!

CHORUS
The curses are at work; the buried live; blood flows for blood,

drained from the slayers by those who died of yore.
(ORESTES and PYLADES enter from the palace.)

antistrophe
Behold, they come! That red hand reeks with sacrifice to Ares; nor

can I blame the deed.
ELECTRA

Orestes, how fare ye?
ORESTES

All is well within the house, if Apollo's oracle spake well.
ELECTRA

The guilty one is dead?
ORESTES

Fear no more that thy proud mother will ever put thee to
dishonour.

CHORUS
Cease; for I see Aegisthus full in view.

ELECTRA
Rash boys, back, back!

ORESTES
Where see ye the man?

ELECTRA
Yonder, at our mercy, be advances from the suburb, full of joy.

CHORUS
Make with all speed for the vestibule; that, as your first task

prospered. so this again may prosper now.
ORESTES

Fear not,- we will perform it.
ELECTRA

Haste, then, whither thou wouldst.
ORESTES

See, I am gone.
ELECTRA

I will look to matters here.
(ORESTES and PYLADES go back into the palace.)

CHORUS
'Twere well to soothe his ear with some few words of seeming

gentleness, that he may rush blindly upon the struggle with his doom.
(AEGISTHUS enters.)

AEGISTHUS
Which of you can tell me, where are those Phocian strangers,

who, 'tis said, have brought us tidings of Orestes slain in the
wreck of his chariot? Thee, thee I ask, yes, thee, in former days so

bold,- for methinks it touches thee most nearly; thou best must
know, and best canst tell.

ELECTRA
I know assuredly; else were I a stranger to the fortune of my

nearest kinsfolk.
AEGISTHUS

Where then may be the strangers? Tell me.
ELECTRA

Within; they have found a way to the heart of their hostess.
AEGISTHUS

Have they in truth reported him dead?
ELECTRA

Nay, not reported only; they have shown him.
AEGISTHUS

Can I, then, see the corpse with mine own eyes?
ELECTRA

Thou canst, indeed; and 'tis no enviable sight.
AEGISTHUS

Indeed, thou hast given me a joyful greeting, beyond thy wont.
ELECTRA

Joy be thine, if in these things thou findest joy.
AEGISTHUS

Silence, I say, and throw wide the gates, for all Mycenaeans and
Argives to behold; that, if any of them were once buoyed on empty

hopes from this man, now, seeing him dead, they may receive my curb,
instead of waiting till my chastisement make them wise perforce!

ELECTRA
No loyalty is lacking on my part; time hath taught me the prudence

of concord with the stronger.
(The central doors of the palace

are thrown open and a shrouded corpse is
disclosed. ORESTES and PYLADES stand near it.)

AEGISTHUS

• deadly [´dedli] a.致命的 ad.死一般地 (初中英语单词)
• rejoice [ri´dʒɔis] v.(使)高兴；欢庆 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• messenger [´mesindʒə] n.使者；送信人 (初中英语单词)
• couldst [kudst] can的第二人称单数 (初中英语单词)
• apollo [ə´pɔləu] n.阿波罗 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• vision [´viʒən] n.视觉；想象力；幻影 (初中英语单词)
• champion [´tʃæmpiən] n.冠军 vt.拥护 (初中英语单词)
• guilty [´gilti] a.有罪的；心虚的 (初中英语单词)
• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
• discourse [´diskɔ:s] n.论文；演说；说教 (高中英语单词)
• presume [pri´zju:m] v.假定；推测；以为 (高中英语单词)
• tidings [´taidiŋz] n.消息，音信 (高中英语单词)
• secretly [´si:kritli] ad.秘密地；隐蔽地 (高中英语单词)
• joyous [´dʒɔiəs] a.充满快乐的 (高中英语单词)
• methinks [mi´θiŋks] vi.据我看来 (高中英语单词)
• implore [im´plɔ:] vt.乞求，恳求 (高中英语单词)
• onward [´ɔnwəd] ad.&a.向前(的) (高中英语单词)
• bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)
• oracle [´ɔrəkl] n.预言(者)；圣理名言 (高中英语单词)
• suburb [´sʌbə:b] n.郊区；附近 (高中英语单词)
• prosper [´prɔspə] v.(使...)繁荣(成功) (高中英语单词)
• soothe [su:ð] vt.安慰；镇定；减轻 (高中英语单词)
• chariot [´tʃæriət] n.古时双轮战车 (高中英语单词)
• joyful [´dʒɔifəl] a.高兴的，充满快乐的 (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
• loyalty [´lɔiəlti] n.忠诚；忠心；忠实 (高中英语单词)
• concord [´kɔŋkɔ:d] n.协定；一致 (高中英语单词)
• senseless [´sensləs] a.无知觉的；愚蠢的 (英语四级单词)
• afflict [ə´flikt] vt.使痛苦；折磨 (英语四级单词)
• graciously [´greiʃəsli] ad.仁慈地，和蔼庄重地 (英语四级单词)
• ancestral [æn´sestrəl] a.祖先的；祖传的 (英语四级单词)
• blindly [blaindli] ad.盲目地；没头脑地 (英语四级单词)
• assuredly [ə´ʃuəridli] ad.确实地；确信地 (英语四级单词)
• corpse [kɔ:ps] n.尸体 (英语四级单词)
• devout [di´vaut] a.虔诚的；热心的 (英语六级单词)
• infernal [in´fə:nəl] a.地狱的，恶魔似的 (英语六级单词)
• forsaken [fə´seik] forsake的过去分词 (英语六级单词)
• hapless [´hæpləs] a.不幸的；倒楣的 (英语六级单词)
• lacking [´lækiŋ] a.缺少的，没有的 (英语六级单词)