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.
- There is no one I have a better right to touch.
- Then why are you in ambush, with drawn sword, near my house?
- Wait and hear, and you will soon say the same.
- I am still; in any case, I am yours, since you are the stronger.
- I have come to bring you word from your brother.
- Oh best of friends! Is he alive or dead?
- Alive; for I want to tell you the good news first.
- May you be happy, as a reward for your most welcome tidings.
- I give that blessing for us two to have in common.
- Where does the unhappy one live, in his unhappy exile?
- He goes miserably about, not following the customs of any one city.
- Surely he does not want for a living, day by day?
- He has that, but an exile is a helpless man at best.
- What is this message you have come bringing from him?
- If you are alive, and if so, how you are.
- Well then, you see first of all how withered my body is.
- Yes, so wasted with sorrow that I sigh for it.
- And my head and hair, close shaven as if by a Scythian’s razor.
- Your brother and your dead father perhaps gnaw at your heart.
- Alas! For what is dearer to me than they?