Orestes
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.
- For referring the sin as I do to Phoebus, I incur no pollution by addressing you; and yet I am truly sorry for the death of my sister Clytemnestra, whom I never saw after I was driven by heaven-sent frenzy to sail as I did to Ilium;
- but now that I am parted from her, I bewail our misfortunes.
- Helen, why should I speak of that which your own eyes can see? Agamemnon’s house in misfortune?
- Beside his wretched corpse I sit, sleepless—for corpse he is, so faint his breath—
- not that I reproach him with his sufferings; but you are highly blessed and your husband too. you have come upon us in the hour of adversity
- How long has he lain in this way on the couch?
- Ever since he spilt his mother’s blood.
- Unhappy wretch! unhappy mother! what a death she died.
- Unhappy enough to succumb to his misery.
- By the gods, would you hear me a moment, maiden?
- Yes, with such leisure as this watching over a brother leaves.
- Will you go for me to my sister’s tomb?
- Would you have me seek my mother’s tomb? Why?
- To carry an offering of hair and a libation from me.
- Isn’t it right for you to go to the tomb of one you love?
- No, for I am ashamed to show myself in Argos.
- A late repentance surely for one who left her home so shamefully then.
- You have told the truth, but your telling is not kind to me.
- What is this supposed shame before the eyes of Mycenae that possesses you?
- I am afraid of the fathers of those who lie dead at Ilium.