There is no one I have a better right to touch.ElectraThen why are you in ambush, with drawn sword, near my house?OrestesWait and hear, and you will soon say the same.ElectraI am still; in any case, I am yours, since you are the stronger.OrestesI have come to bring you word from your brother.ElectraOh best of friends! Is he alive or dead?OrestesAlive; for I want to tell you the good news first.ElectraMay you be happy, as a reward for your most welcome tidings.OrestesI give that blessing for us two to have in common.ElectraWhere does the unhappy one live, in his unhappy exile?OrestesHe goes miserably about, not following the customs of any one city.ElectraSurely he does not want for a living, day by day?OrestesHe has that, but an exile is a helpless man at best.ElectraWhat is this message you have come bringing from him?OrestesIf you are alive, and if so, how you are.ElectraWell then, you see first of all how withered my body is.OrestesYes, so wasted with sorrow that I sigh for it.ElectraAnd my head and hair, close shaven as if by a Scythian’s razor.OrestesYour brother and your dead father perhaps gnaw at your heart.ElectraAlas! For what is dearer to me than they?OrestesAh! What are you to your brother, do you think?ElectraHe is far away, not here to be my friend.OrestesWhy are you living here, far from the city?ElectraI am married, stranger; a deadly match.OrestesI pity your brother. Is your husband a Mycenaean?ElectraNot one to whom my father ever hoped to give me.OrestesTell me so that I may hear and inform your brother.ElectraI live in his house, at a distance from the city.OrestesA ditch-digger or a herdsman is worthy of the house.ElectraHe is a man poor but noble, and respectful to me.