Stasimon 4
[Choral 2]
The son of Atreus is no more, slain by the hand of his wife, and she herself hath paid the debt of blood by death,
Chorus
and from her children’s hands received her doom. The god’s own bidding from his oracle was levelled against her, in the day that Agamemnon’s son set forth from Argos and visited his shrine;
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so he slewReading Hermann’s emendation κτάνεν for MSS κτεάνων. her, aye, spilt his own mother’s blood. O Phoebus, O thou power divine, how can I believe the story?
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Anon wherever Hellenes gather, was heard the voice of lamentation, mothers weeping o’er their children’s fate,
as they left their homes to mate with strangers. Ah! thou art not the only one, nor thy dear ones either, on whom the cloud of grief hath fallen. Hellas had to bear the visitation, and thence the scourge crossed to Phrygia’s
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fruitful fields, raining the bloody drops the; death-god loves.Reading Hermann’s τὸν Ἅιδα φόνον.
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