Electra
Euripides
Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.
- Your work begins at once; you have drawn the first lot in the slaughter.
- I would go, if some one would show me the way.
- Yes, I can escort you myself, not against my will.
- O Zeus, god of my fathers, be also the vanquisher of my enemies—
- And have pity on us; for we have suffered pitiably—
- Yes, indeed, have pity on your own descendants.
- And Hera, you who rule Mycenae’s altars—
- Give us victory, if we are asking for what is right.
- Yes, indeed, give them the right of vengeance for their father.
- You too, father, living below the earth through an unholy deed—
- And Lady Earth, to whom I give my hands—
- Defend, defend these, your dearest children.
- Now come and bring with you all the dead as allies.
- Those who destroyed the Trojans in war with you—
- And all who hate the unholy and polluted.
- Do you hear me, you who suffered dreadful things from my mother?
- Your father hears everything, I know; but it is time to be on our way.
- And I tell you therefore that Aegisthus is to die; if you fall dead in the struggle, I am also dead, do not count me as alive; for I will strike my heart with a two-edged sword. I will go indoors and make things ready there.
- So that if a good report comes from you, the whole house will cry aloud in triumph; but, if you die, it will be the opposite of that. These are my words to you.
- I know it all.