Stasimon 2
[Episode]
What ails you? what is your deadly sickness?
395
Orestes
My conscience; I know that I am guilty of a dreadful crime.
Menelaus
What do you mean? Wisdom is shown in clarity, not in obscurity.
Orestes
Grief especially has ruined me—
Menelaus
Yes, she is a dreadful goddess, yet are there cures for her.
Orestes
And fits of madness, the vengeance of a mother’s blood.
400
Menelaus
When did your madness begin? Which day was it?
Orestes
On the day I was heaping the mound over my poor mother’s grave.
Menelaus
When you were in the house, or watching by the pyre?
Orestes
As I was waiting by night to gather up her bones.
Menelaus
Was any one else there, to help you rise?
405
Orestes
Pylades who shared with me the bloody deed, my mother’s murder.
Menelaus
You are sick from phantom shapes; what sort?
Orestes
I seemed to see three maidens, black as night.
Menelaus
I know whom you mean, but I do not want to name them.
Orestes
Yes, for they are revered; you were well-informed, to avoid naming them.
410
Menelaus
Are these the ones that drive you to frenzy, with the curse of kindred blood?
Orestes
Oh! the torment I endure from their pursuit!
Menelaus
It is not strange, if those who have done dreadful things should suffer them.
Orestes
But I have a way to recover from these troubles.
