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.

  1. I only know this: he was preparing to sacrifice an ox.
Orestes
  1. With how many men? Or alone with his slaves?
Old man
  1. No Argive was there, but a band of his own servants.
Orestes
  1. Surely there isn’t anyone who will know me if he sees me, old man?
Old man
  1. There are slaves, who have never even seen you.
Orestes
  1. Would they be well disposed to me, if I should prevail?
Old man
  1. Yes, for that is the way of slaves, luckily for you.
Orestes
  1. However might I approach him then?
Old man
  1. By going where he will see you as he sacrifices.
Orestes
  1. He has fields by the road, it seems?
Old man
  1. Yes, and when he sees you there, he will invite you to the feast.
Orestes
  1. I shall be a bitter companion in the feast, if the god wishes it.
Old man
  1. After that, you yourself invent something, as it falls out.
Orestes
  1. Well said. But my mother, where is she?
Old man
  1. At Argos; but she will join her husband for the feast.
Orestes
  1. Why didn’t my mother set out with her husband?
Old man
  1. From fear of the citizens’ reproach she stayed behind.
Orestes
  1. I understand; she knows that the city suspects her.
Old man
  1. Something like that; for an unholy woman is an object of hatred.
Orestes
  1. How then shall I kill her and him at once?