Yes, but it is the husband’s toil that supports them while they sit at home.
ClytaemestraYou seem resolved, my child, to kill your mother.
OrestesYou will kill yourself, not I.
ClytaemestraTake care: beware the hounds of wrath that avenge a mother.
OrestesAnd how shall I escape my father’s if I leave this undone?ClytaemestraI see that though living I mourn in vain before a tomb.To wail to a tomb
was a proverbial expression according to the Scholiast, who cites the saying, ’tis the same thing to cry to a tomb as to a fool.
Here, though in strictness ζῶσα is added only to point the contrast with τύμβον —the sentient being with the senseless thing—it also defines the application of τύμβον to Orestes; and its insertion serves to suggest that Clytaemestra means that, though living, she is bewailing her own death.
OrestesYes, for my father’s fate has marked out this destiny for you.
ClytaemestraOh no! I myself bore and nourished this serpent!
OrestesYes, the terror from your dream was indeed a prophet. You killed him whom you should not; so suffer what should not be.He forces Clytaemestra within; Pylades followsChorusTruly I grieve even for these in their twofold downfall. Yet since long-suffering Orestes has reached the peak of many deeds of blood, we would rather have it so, that the eye of the house should not be utterly lost.