Epeisodion 4
Orestes
Ladies, have we been directed aright, and are we on the right path to our goal?
Chorus
What do you seek? What desire brings you here?
1100
Orestes
I have long been searching for the home of Aegisthus.
Chorus
Well, you have found it, and your guide is blameless.
Orestes
Which of you, then, would tell those inside of the long-desired presence of us travelers?
Chorus
She will, if the nearest in kin should announce it.
1105
Orestes
Go, lady, enter and make it known that certain men of Phocis seek Aegisthus.
Electra
Ah, miserable me! Surely you do not bring proof positive of that rumor which we heard?
Orestes
I know nothing of your rumor; but the aged Strophius ordered me to give report of Orestes.
1110
Electra
What is it, sir? Ah, how fear creeps over me!
Orestes
We come bearing his scanty remains in a small urn, as you see.
Electra
Oh, the misery! Here, at last, my eyes look for certain, it seems, upon that grievous burden in your hand.
1115
Orestes
If your tears are for any of Orestes’ tribulations, know that this vessel is
his body’s home.
Electra
Ah, sir, if this urn indeed contains him, then allow me,
by the gods, to take it in my hands, so that I may weep and wail, not for these ashes alone, but for myself and for all our house with them!
1120
Orestes
Take it and give it to her, whoever she may be. For she asks this for herself not as if with hostile intent,
but like one who is his friend, or a kinswoman by blood. The urn is placed in
Electra’s hands.
1125
Electra
Memorial of him whom I loved best on earth, sole remnant of Orestes’
vitality! How contrary to the hopes with which I sent you away do I receive you
back! Now I raise your nothingness in my hands;
but then, my child, you were radiant, when I sent you away from home! Would that I had first abandoned life, before, stealing you away with these hands, I sent you to a strange land and rescued you from death, in order that you might have lain dead on that same day
1130
and had your share in the tomb of our father!But now, an exile from home and fatherland, you have perished miserably, far from your sister. Ah, me, these loving hands have not washed or decked your corpse, nor taken up
1135
their sad burden from the all-consuming pyre, as was proper. No! At the hands of strangers, poor Orestes, you have been tended, and so have come to us, a small bulk in a small urn.Ah, I grieve at the uselessness of my nursing long ago, the service that I often bestowed
1140
on you in sweet labor! For you were never your mother’s darling so much as mine, nor was
any in the house your nurse but I, and by you I was ever called sister. But now all this has vanished in a day
1145
with your death. Like a whirlwind you have swept everything away with you. Our father is gone; I am dead because of you; you yourself are dead and gone; our enemies laugh at us; and our mother, who is no mother, raves with joy. Unknown to her, you often
1150
sent me messages about her, saying that you yourself would appear for vengeance. But our evil fortune, yours and mine, has torn all that away, and has sent you back to me in this state, ash and a useless shade in place of your beloved form.
1155
ah, me, ah, me! O pitiable body! Alas, dear one sent on a most dire journey, how you have destroyed me, destroyed me indeed, my brother!
1160
Therefore accept me into this abode of yours—me, a nothing, into your nothingness,—so that I may dwell with you hereafter below. For when you were on earth, we shared equally, and now I wish to die and not to be left out of your grave,
1165
since I see that the dead are relieved of pain.
1170
Chorus
Remember, Electra, you are the child of a mortal father, and Orestes was mortal. Therefore do not grieve too much. Death is a debt which all of us must pay.
Orestes
Ah, what shall I say? I am at a loss. To what words
can I turn? I no longer have the strength to master my tongue!
1175
Electra
What has troubled you? Why did you say that?
Orestes
Is this the illustrious form of Electra?
Electra
It is, though in a very wretched state.
Orestes
What pity, then, for this miserable fortune!
Electra
Surely, stranger, you are not saddened like this on my account?
1180
Orestes
O frame dishonorably, godlessly wasted!
Electra
Those ills of which you speak, stranger, are none other’s than mine.
Orestes
Ah, pity for your unwed, ill-fated life!
Electra
Why, stranger, do you stare and grieve in this way?
Orestes
How I knew nothing, it seems, of my own sorrows!
1185
Electra
What that has been said made you realize this?
Orestes
It was the sight of you conspicuous in your many sufferings.
Electra
And yet you see but a few of my troubles.
Orestes
And how could there be any more odious to look on than these?
Electra
Because I share house and table with the murderers.
1190
Orestes
Whose murderers? Where lies the guilt at which you point?
Electra
The murderers of my father. And, further, I am forced to slave for them.
Orestes
Who is it that binds you with this compulsion?
Electra
She is called my mother, but in no respect is she like a mother.
Orestes
How does she do it? By violence or by inflicting hardship?
1195
Electra
By violence and hardships and all manner of evil.
Orestes
And is there no one to help, or to prevent it?
Electra
No one. The one I had, his ashes you have put before me.
Orestes
Unfortunate girl, how seeing you stirs my pity!
Electra
Then know that you are the first who ever pitied me.
1200
Orestes
Yes, for I alone have come and been pained by your troubles .
Electra
Surely you are not some unknown kinsman?
Orestes
I would tell you, if these women bear you goodwill.
Electra
Indeed they do, so you will speak to trustworthy companions.
Orestes
Give up this urn, then, and you shall know everything.
1205
Electra
No, by the gods, do not do this to me, stranger!
Orestes
Do as I say, and you will never be mistaken.
Electra
No, I beg you, do not rip from me what I hold most dear!
Orestes
You must not keep it.
Electra
Ah, what misery I will have because of you,
Orestes, if I am robbed of your burial!
1210
Orestes
Hush! No ill-omened words! You have no right to grieve.
Electra
How is it not right for me to grieve for my dead brother?
Orestes
It is not proper for you to speak of him as you do.
Electra
Am I so without rights in the dead?
Orestes
You are without rights in nothing; but this burial is not your concern.
1215
Electra
Yes it is, if these are the remains of Orestes that I hold.
Orestes
They are not his, except inasmuch as fiction alone contrives to make them so. He gently takes the urn from her.
Electra
And where is that sufferer’s tomb?
Orestes
There is none; the living have no tomb.
Electra
What are you saying, boy?
1220
Orestes
Nothing that is untrue.
Electra
The man is alive?
Orestes
If there is life in me.
Electra
What? Are you he?
Orestes
Look at this signet, once our father’s, and know if I speak the truth.
Orestes
Blissful, I am your witness!
Electra
Is this your voice?
1225
Orestes
Hear it from no other.
1225
Electra
Do I hold you in my arms?
Orestes
May you hold me so always hereafter!
Electra
Ah, dear friends and fellow-citizens, see Orestes here, who was dead by design, and now by design has come safely home!
Chorus
We see him, daughter, and for this happy turn of fortune a tear of joy trickles from our eyes.
1230