Libation Bearers

Aeschylus

Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926.

  1. Father, I call on you; side with your loved ones!
Electra
  1. And I in tears join my voice to his.
Chorus
  1. And let all our company blend our voices to echo the prayer. Hear! Come to the light!
  2. Side with us against the foe!
Orestes
  1. Ares will encounter Ares; Right will encounter Right.
Electra
  1. O you gods, judge rightly the plea of right!
Chorus
  1. A shudder steals over me as I hear these prayers. Doom has long been waiting,
  2. but it will come in answer to those who pray.
Chorus
  1. Ah, inbred trouble and bloody stroke of ruin striking a discord! Ah, lamentable and grievous sorrows!
  2. Ah, the unstaunched pain!
Chorus
  1. Our house has a cure to heal these woes, a cure not from outside, from the hands of others, but from itself, by fierce, bloody strife.
  2. This hymn is for the gods beneath the earth.
Chorus
  1. O you blessed powers below, hear this supplication of ours, and with a favorable will send forth to these children your aid for victory!
Orestes
  1. O father, who perished by a death unbefitting a king,
  2. grant in answer to my prayer the lordship over your halls!