Book of illustrations. Euripides

Now thou art right: it is the Evil Genius of the House that feeds in their hearts the lust of blood; bringing fresh blood-guilt ere the old is healed.—Cho. Yes, there is a Power wrathful to the House; but it must be through Zeus he works; what amongst mortal men is wrought apart from Zeus?

      Ah me! Ah me! {1467}

       My king, my king, how shall I weep for thee?

       What shall I speak from heart that truly loves?

       And now thou liest there, breathing out thy life,

       In impious deed of death,

       In this fell spider's web!

       Yes woe is me! woe, woe!

       Woe for this couch of thine unhonorable!

       Slain by a subtle death

       With sword two-edged, which her right hand did wield.

      Clyt. You speak of me as the doer: it was the Avenger of the seed of Atreus who did the deed in the semblance of this dead man's wife.—Cho. None will hold thee guiltless of the deed; yet, perchance, thou mayest have had as helper the avenging Fiend of that ancestral time; he presses on this rush of murders of near kin.

      Ah me! Ah me!

       My king, my king, how shall I weep for thee?

       What shall I speak from heart that truly loves?

       And now thou liest there, breathing out thy life,

       In impious deed of death,

       In this fell spider's web!

       Yes woe is me! woe, woe!

       Woe for this couch of thine unhonorable!

       Slain by a subtle death

       With sword two-edged, which her right hand did wield.

      Clyt. This deed brings no dishonor to me: he slew my daughter and his own, wept over with many a tear; now slain in recompense he is gone to Hell with nothing to boast over.—Cho. Whither escape from this House? No longer drops, but fierce pelting storm of blood shakes it to its basement.—Cho. Oh that earth had received me ere I saw this sad sight! Who will perform funeral rites and chant the dirge? Wilt thou who hast slain dare to mourn him?—Clyt. It is no care of thine: we will give him burial; and for mourning—perhaps Iphigenia will greet him kindly by the dark streams below.—Cho. Hard it is to judge; the hand of Zeus is in all this; ever throughout this household we see the fixed law, the spoiler still is spoiled. Who will drive out from this royal house this brood of curses dark?—Clyt. Thou art right; but here let the demon rest content; suffice it for me that my hand has freed the house from the madness that sets each man's hand against each. [Observe: in this last infatuated confidence and throughout Clytaemnestra's exultation in the deed the dramatist is laying the foundation for the second play of the Trilogy.] {1534}

       Enter Aegisthus by one of the two Inferior doors in front of the scene [representing the inferior parts of the Palace in which he has been concealed since the return of Agamemnon].

      Aegisthus salutes the happy day of vengeance which shows him Agamemnon paying penalty for the deeds of his father: he relates the quarrel between this father Atreus and his own father Thyestes, how when the one brother came as suppliant to the other Atreus spread before him the horrid banquet of his own child's flesh, at the knowledge of which he died. Aegisthus himself had suffered banishment at the hands of Atreus while yet a child, and now has returned full grown to work vengeance on the son of his wronger, to see the long contrived nemesis brought to full conclusion.—Chorus note that he confesses the deed, and he shall not escape the righteous curse a people hurls with stones.—Aeg. Know your place: you are oarsmen, we command the ship; prison and fasting are admirable devices for helping old people to keep their tempers within bounds. Defiances are interchanged: the Chorus taunting him that he had to get a woman to do the deed he dared not do himself—Aeg. contemptuously says the working out of the fraud was the proper province of a woman, especially as he was a known foe.—The Chorus threaten vengeance and suggest the name ORESTES as avenger: At this Clytaemnestra starts, Aegisthus enraged gives the signal at which {1626}

       Bodyguard of Aegisthus pour in through both the Inferior doors on either side of the Central door of the Palace, and fill the stage [thus producing one of the Scenic Tableaux of which Aeschylus was fond]. The Chorus, though of course outnumbered, are nothing daunted, as representing the legitimate authority of the State now Agamemnon is dead, and therefore sure to be backed by the City; they make as if to ascend the stage.

      Contest in blows between Chorus and Bodyguard of Aegisthus appears inevitable, but Clytaemnestra throws herself between them, urges that enough ill has already been done, and after further defiances, forces Aegisthus away and play abruptly terminates: the Chorus returning to the Right into the City, and the Bodyguard into the Palace.

      [1] This is a mere guess: we have no information as to how the evolutions of a Proem differed from those of a regular Choral Ode.

      [2] The Chorus generally speak of themselves in the Singular.

      [3] This is simply an English pun substituted for a Greek one: the name Helen resembles a Greek root which signifies captivity.