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.
- Wretched, unhappy daughter of the general Agamemnon, my lady Electra, hear the sad tidings I bring you.
- Alas! we are ruined; your words show it; you have clearly come with tidings of woe.
- The Pelasgians have decided by vote that you, poor lady, and your brother are to die this day.
- Alas! my expectations are realized; I have long feared this,
- and have been wasting away in mourning for what was sure to happen. But what was the trial, what was said by the Argives, to condemn us and ratify our death? Tell me, old friend; must I die by stoning or the sword?
- For I share my brother’s misfortunes.
- I had just come from the country and was entering the gates, needing to learn what was decided about you and Orestes, for I was always well disposed to your father when he was alive, and it was your house that reared me,
- poor indeed, yet loyal in the service of friends. I saw a crowd going and taking their seats on the height, where they say Danaus first gathered his people for a meeting, making amends to Aegyptus. So, when I saw the throng, I asked a citizen: