Epeisodion 2
Electra
ever beset with miseries come from you and your consort. And your other child, the exile who scarcely escaped your hand, poor Orestes, wastes away his unhappy life. You have often accused me of rearing him to punish your crime,
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and I would have done so, if I could, you may be sure. As far as he is concerned, you can denounce me to all as disloyal, if you like, or loud-mouthed, or impudent. For if my nature is familiar with such wrongdoings, I hardly bring disgrace upon your nature.
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Chorus
I see her breathing fury; but whether justice is with her, her concern for this I see no longer.
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Clytaemnestra
And what manner of concern should I use against her, who has abused her mother like this at her mature age? Do you not think
that she would go forward to any deed without shame?
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Electra
Now be assured that I do feel shame for it, though I seem not to you. I know that my behavior is unsuited to my age and inappropriate. But then the enmity I get from you and your
behavior compel me with harsh necessity to do this; for reprehensible deeds are learned from reprehensible examples.
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Clytaemnestra
You shameless creature! Truly I and my speech and my deeds give you too much to talk about.
Electra
The words are yours, not mine; for yours
are the deeds, and they find their own expression.
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Clytaemnestra
Now by our mistress Artemis, you shall not escape the consequences of this audacity once Aegisthus returns.
Electra
You see? You are driven to rage and, even though you grant me free speech, you have no patience to listen.
Clytaemnestra
Will you not allow me to sacrifice without ominous shouting, when I have permitted you to say anything and everything you wished?
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Electra
I allow it; I exhort you to it: sacrifice! But do not blame my voice, for I would not say another word.
Clytaemnestra
Raise then, my attendant, the offerings
of many fruits, so that I may uplift my prayers for release from my present fears to this image of our King. Please, O Phoebus our defender, may you now listen to my prayer, though it is muffled; for I do not make my plea among friends, nor does it suit me to unfold it all
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to the light while she stands near me, lest by her malice and a cry of her clamorous tongue she sow reckless rumors through the whole city. Nevertheless, hear me thus, since in this way I will speak. That vision which I saw last night
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in ambiguous dreams—if its appearance was to my good, grant, Lycean king, that it be fulfilled; but if to my harm, then hurl it back upon those who would harm me. And if any are plotting to eject me by treachery from my present prosperity, do not permit them.
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Rather grant that living forever unharmed as I am I may govern the house of the sons of Atreus and their throne, sharing prosperous days with the friends who share them now, and with those of my children who feel no enmity or bitterness towards me.
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O Lycean Apollo, hear these prayers with favor, and grant them to us all just as we ask!
As for all my other prayers, though I am silent, I judge that you, a god, must
know them, since it is appropriate that Zeus’s children see all.
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