Is this your voice?OrestesHear it from no other.ElectraDo I hold you in my arms?OrestesMay you hold me so always hereafter!ElectraAh, dear friends and fellow-citizens, see Orestes here, who was dead by design, and now by design has come safely home!ChorusWe see him, daughter, and for this happy turn of fortune a tear of joy trickles from our eyes.

ElectraO seed, seed of the person to me most dear, you have just now come,you have come, and have found and seen her whom your heart desired!OrestesI am with you; but keep silence and wait.ElectraWhat do you mean?OrestesIt is better to be silent so that no one inside may hear.ElectraNo, by ever-virgin Artemis,I will never think it right to tremble before eternally house-bound women, that useless burden on the ground!OrestesYes, but remember that Ares dwells in women, too. You know this well by experience, I believe.Electraoh, no! ah, me! You have reminded me of my sorrow, one which by its nature cannot be veiled,cannot be done away with, cannot be forgotten!OrestesI know this, too; but when occasion prompts, we must recall those crimes.

ElectraEach moment of all time, as it comes, would be a proper occasionfor me to make these just complaints. Scarcely now have I had my lips set free.OrestesYes, I agree; therefore guard your freedom.ElectraWhat must I do?OrestesWhen it is inopportune, do not want to speak too much.ElectraNo, who could exchange due silence for speech, when you have appeared? For now my eyes have seen you, beyond all thought and hope!OrestesYou saw me when the gods moved me to come. ElectraYou have told me of a grace higher still than the first, if a god brought you to our house;I acknowledge in it the work of the divine.OrestesOn the one hand I hesitate to curb your gladness, but on the other I fear that you may be overwhelmed by too much joy.

ElectraO you who, after such a long time, saw fit to make your most happy journey and appear to me,do not, now that you have seen me in all my misery—OrestesWhat should I not do?—