Epeisodion 1
Apollo
Cypris too is cast aside, dishonored by this argument, and from her come the dearest things for mortals. For marriage ordained by fate for a man and a woman is greater than an oath and guarded by Justice. If, then, one should kill the other and you are so lenient
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as not to punish or visit them with anger, I claim that you unjustly banish Orestes from his home. For I see you taking the one cause very much to heart, but clearly acting more leniently about the other. But the goddess Pallas will oversee the pleadings in this case.
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Chorus
I will never, never leave that man!
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Apollo
Pursue him then and get more trouble for yourself.
Chorus
Do not cut short my privileges by your words.
Apollo
I would not take your privileges as a gift.
Chorus
No, for in any case you are called great at the throne of Zeus.
But as for me—since a mother’s blood leads me, I will pursue my case against this man and I will hunt him down. Exeunt.
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Apollo
And I will aid my suppliant and rescue him! For the wrath of the one who seeks purification is terrible among mortals and gods, if I intentionally abandon him. Enters the Sanctuary.
Orestes
Lady Athena, at Loxias’ command I have come. Receive kindly an accursed wretch, not one who seeks purification, or with unclean hand, but with my guilt’s edge already blunted and worn away at other homes and in the travelled paths of men.
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Going over land and sea alike, keeping the commands of Loxias’ oracle, I now approach your house and image, goddess. Here I will keep watch and await the result of my trial.
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Chorus
Aha! This is a clear sign of the man. Follow the hints of a voiceless informer. For as a hound tracks a wounded fawn, so we track him by the drops of blood. My lungs pant from many tiring struggles, for I have roamed over the whole earth,
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and I have come over the sea in wingless flight, pursuing him, no slower than a ship. And now he is here somewhere, cowering. The smell of human blood gives me a smiling welcome.
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Look everywhere, so that the matricide will not escape by secret flight, with his debt unpaid!
Yes, here he is again with a defense; his arms twisted around the image of the immortal goddess,
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he wishes to be tried for his debt.The reading χερῶν seems to mean deed of violence.
But that is not possible; a mother’s blood upon the earth is hard to recover—alas, the liquid poured on the ground is gone.
But you must allow me in return to suck
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the red blood from your living limbs. May I feed on you—a gruesome drink!
I will wither you alive and drag you down, so that you pay atonement for your murdered mother’s agony.
And you will see any other mortal who has sinned by not honoring
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a god or a stranger or dear parents, each having a just punishment.
For Hades is mighty in holding mortals to account under the earth,
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and he observes all things and within his mind inscribes them.
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Orestes
Taught by misery, I know many purification rituals, and I know where it is right to speak and equally to be silent; and in this case, I have been ordered to speak by a wise teacher.
