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.
- But did your mother, who gave you birth, endure this?
- Women love their husbands, stranger, not their children.
- Why did Aegisthus insult you in this way?
- He planned for me to bear powerless children, when he gave me to such a man.
- So that you might not bear sons to punish him, of course?
- That was his plan; may he make amends to me for it!
- Does your mother’s husband know that you are a virgin?
- He does not know; we steal that from him by our silence.
- Are these women who hear our talk friends of yours ?
- They will keep both your words and mine well hidden.
- What then could Orestes do in this matter if he comes to Argos?
- Do you ask this? You have said a shameful word; isn’t it the critical time now?
- But if he does come, how might he kill his father’s murderers?
- By daring such things as his enemies dared against my father.
- And would you dare, with him, to kill your mother?
- Yes, with that same axe by which my father died.
- Am I to tell him this, and that your purpose is steadfast?
- Once I had shed my mother’s blood, I might die!
- Ah! Would that Orestes were near by, to hear that!
- But, stranger, I would not know him if I saw him.