Libation Bearers

Aeschylus

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

  1. And then at last with a loud voice we shall sing a song of the deliverance of our house,
  2. the song that women raise when the wind sits fair, and not the shrill strain of those who mourn: The ship goes well. This grows to profit for me, for me, and calamity holds off from those I love.
Chorus
  1. But may you with good courage, when the part of action comes, cry out loud the name Father when she exclaims Son,
  2. and accomplish the baneful but irreproachable deed.
Chorus
  1. Raise up Perseus’ spirit within my breast. And for those dear to you below the earth, and for those above, exact satisfaction for their dire wrath
  2. by working bloody ruin in our house and obliterating the guilt of murder.[*](Of verses 819-837 only the general sense is clear.)
Enter Aegisthus
Aegisthus
  1. I have come not unasked but summoned by a messenger. I heard startling news told by some strangers who have arrived, tidings far from welcome:
  2. —that Orestes is dead. To lay this too upon our house would be a fearful burden when it is still festering and galled by the wound inflicted by an earlier murder. How can I believe this tale is the living truth? Or is it merely a panic-stricken report spread by women
  3. which leaps up to die away in nothingness? What can you tell me of this to make it plain to my mind?
Chorus
  1. We heard the tale, it is true. But go inside and inquire of the strangers. The certainty of a messenger’s report
  2. is nothing compared with one’s own interrogation of the man himself.
Aegisthus
  1. I wish to see the messenger and put him to the test again—whether he himself was present at the death or merely repeats from vague reports what he has heard. No! Be sure he cannot deceive a mind with eyes open. Exit
Chorus
  1. O Zeus, O Zeus, what should I say? Where shall I begin this prayer of mine, this appeal to the gods? How in my loyal zeal can I succeed in finding words to match need? Now is the moment when the blood-stained edges of the blades that lay men low
  2. are utterly forever to destroy the house of Agamemnon. Or else, kindling a flaming light in the cause of freedom, Orestes will win both the rule over his realm and the rich possessions of his fathers.
  3. Our gallant Orestes, with no one to assist him, is now to meet with two in such a contest. And may it be to triumph!