Electra (221-320)

I came, my child, mindful of your interests no less than my own. But if what I say is wrong, let your way prevail; for united we will follow you.

I am ashamed, my friends, if you judge me

too intolerant with my many laments; but, since rough compulsion forces me to act this way, forgive me. How indeed could any woman of noble nature not act, when she sees her father’s sufferings as I see them day and night continually,

and flourishing rather than fading? First, everything to do with the mother who bore me has become most hateful towards me; next, in my own home I live with my father’s murderers; they rule over me and from them

equally I either have or do without. And then think what manner of days I pass, when I see Aegisthus sitting on my father’s throne; when I look on him wearing the very robes which my father wore and

pouring libations at the hearth where he killed him; and when I see the chief outrage of them all, the murderer in my father’s bed at my wretched mother’s side, if I must call her mother, even though she shares her bed with that man.

So hardened is she that she joins with this polluter, fearing no Erinys. No, as if laughing at her deeds, having found the day on which in the past she treacherously killed my father,

she celebrates it with dance and song, and in monthly rites she sacrifices sheep to the gods who worked her deliverance.

But I, as I joylessly witness it, cry out, waste away in the house and bewail the unholy feast named after my father,

in solitary weeping. For I cannot even grieve to the full extent which would please my heart, since this lady, who is in fact no lady, loudly reproaches me with such shameless taunts as these: Wicked and hateful girl, have you alone lost your father,and is no one else in the world grieving? May your death be harsh, and may the gods below never free you from your current mourning. Just so she abuses me, except when she gets word that Orestes is coming. Then, infuriated,

she comes up to me and cries;—Have you not brought this upon me? Is this not your doing, since you stole Orestes from my hands and secretly sent him away? Yes—but rest assured that you will be justly punished. Like this she barks, and in agreement

her glorious bridegroom by her side urges her on—that total impotent, that utter plague who fights his battles with the help of women. But my heart is broken by my suffering as I constantly wait for Orestes to come and end these troubles.

For the perpetual imminence of his actions has eradicated every hope that I could conceive. In such a state of affairs, then, friends, there is no room for self-restraint or for reverence. Rather, in these dire straits there is much need to pursue a dire course.

Tell me, is Aegisthus nearby as you speak these words to us, or has he left the house?

He is gone, to be sure. Do not think that I would have come to the doors, if he were nearby. He happens now to be in the country.

Might I converse with you

more boldly, if this is so?

He is not here, so question me. What is it you want?

I ask you, then, what report can you give of your brother? Will he come soon, or is he delaying? I wish to know.

He says he will come, but although he promises he never does what he says.

True, a man will hesitate on the verge of a great undertaking.