Retribution for straying love has flowed back and brings to judgment the one who killed her wretched husband, when he came at last to his home and to the towering Cyclopean walls; with her own hand she killed him with the sharp-edged weapon,holding the axe in her hands. Unhappy husband! whatever the curse that possessed that wretched woman. Like a lioness of the hills that ranges through the meadowland woods, she accomplished these things.withinClytemnestraO children, by the gods, do not kill your mother.

ChorusDo you hear her cries within the house?

ClytemnestraO God! Ah me!ChorusI also wail for you, overpowered by your children. Truly the god deals out justice, whenever it befalls.You have suffered cruelly, unhappy one, yet you did unholy things to your husband.Chorus LeaderBut here they come from the house, defiled in the newly shed blood of their mother, a triumphal rout, evidence of the pitiable sacrifice.There is no house more pitiable than the race of Tantalus, nor has there ever been.