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Euripides · Electra Ἠλέκτρα

Euripides, Electra 82–111: Prologue: Orestes and Pylades arrive in secret

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Electra / 82–111

Orestes, who has come in secret, says that Pylades alone of his friends has honoured him in his exile, and that he has come to the border of Argos to meet his sister, who is married in the country, and to take vengeance on the murderers of his father. They see a woman coming with a pitcher, and hide to learn who she is.

Lines 82–111 · 275 words · click a number to copy its link

Orestes

82–111
82Πυλάδη, σὲ γὰρ δὴ πρῶτον ἀνθρώπων ἐγὼ πιστὸν νομίζω καὶ φίλον ξένον τʼ ἐμοί· μόνος δʼ Ὀρέστην τόνδʼ ἐθαύμαζες φίλων, 85πράσσονθʼ ἃ πράσσω δείνʼ ὑπʼ Αἰγίσθου παθών, ὅς μου κατέκτα πατέρα — χἡ πανώλεθρος μήτηρ. ἀφῖγμαι δʼ ἐκ θεοῦ μυστηρίων Ἀργεῖον οὖδας οὐδενὸς ξυνειδότος, φόνον φονεῦσι πατρὸς ἀλλάξων ἐμοῦ. 90νυκτὸς δὲ τῆσδε πρὸς τάφον μολὼν πατρὸς δάκρυά τʼ ἔδωκα καὶ κόμης ἀπηρξάμην πυρᾷ τʼ ἐπέσφαξʼ αἷμα μηλείου φόνου, λαθὼν τυράννους οἳ κρατοῦσι τῆσδε γῆς. καὶ τειχέων μὲν ἐντὸς οὐ βαίνω πόδα, 95δυοῖν δʼ ἅμιλλαν ξυντιθεὶς ἀφικόμην πρὸς τέρμονας γῆς τῆσδʼ, ἵνʼ ἐκβάλω ποδὶ ἄλλην ἐπʼ αἶαν, εἴ μέ τις γνοίη σκοπῶν, ζητῶν τʼ ἀδελφήν· φασὶ γάρ νιν ἐν γάμοις ζευχθεῖσαν οἰκεῖν οὐδὲ παρθένον μένειν· 100ὡς συγγένωμαι καὶ φόνου ξυνεργάτιν λαβὼν τά γʼ εἴσω τειχέων σαφῶς μάθω. νῦν οὖν — ἕως γὰρ λευκὸν ὄμμʼ ἀναίρεται — ἔξω τρίβου τοῦδʼ ἴχνος ἀλλαξώμεθα. ἢ γάρ τις ἀροτὴρ ἤ τις οἰκέτις γυνὴ 105φανήσεται νῷν, ἥντινʼ ἱστορήσομεν εἰ τούσδε ναίει σύγγονος τόπους ἐμή. ἀλλʼ — εἰσορῶ γὰρ τήνδε προσπόλον τινά, πηγαῖον ἄχθος ἐν κεκαρμένῳ κάρᾳ φέρουσαν — ἑζώμεσθα κἀκπυθώμεθα 110δούλης γυναικός, ἤν τι δεξώμεσθʼ ἔπος ἐφʼ οἷσι, Πυλάδη, τήνδʼ ἀφίγμεθα χθόνα.

Pylades, I hold you first among men as a kind and trusted friend to me. You alone of my friends have honored me, Orestes, being as I am in dreadful suffering from Aegisthus, who killed my father, he and my most deadly mother. I have come from the mystic shrine of the god to Argive land, and no one knows it, to repay my father’s murderers with murder. During this past night, going to my father’s tomb, I wept and cut off a lock of my hair as an offering and sacrificed over the altar the blood of a slaughtered sheep, unnoticed by the tyrants who rule this land. And now I do not set foot within the walls, but I have come to the borders of this land combining two desires: I may escape to another country if anyone on the watch should recognize me; and, looking for my sister (for they say that she lives here, joined in marriage, and is no longer a virgin), I may meet with her and, having her as an accomplice for murder, I may learn clearly what is happening within the walls. And now, since dawn is lifting up her bright eye, let us step aside from this path. For either some plowman or serving maid will come in our sight, from whom we may ask if my sister lives in this place. But now that I see this maidservant, bearing a weight of water on her shorn head, let us sit down, and inquire of this slave girl, if we may receive some word about the matter, Pylades, for which we have come to this land.

People and places in this passage

Passages in other works that tell of the same people and places, oldest and closest first.

  1. Sophocles, Electra 1–85Prologue: Orestes and the Paedagogus plan the deception
  2. Euripides, Orestes 1204–1245Sixth episode: the ambush is set
  3. Euripides, Orestes 1131–1203Sixth episode: the case for killing Helen; Electra proposes seizing Hermione
  4. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.6.1–29The returns from Troy: Nauplius, Agamemnon's murder and Orestes
  5. Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 892–930Episode: Orestes confronts Clytaemestra
  6. Sophocles, Electra 1288–1383Fourth episode (cont.): the Paedagogus urges haste

English translation by Edward P. Coleridge (1891). Original text: Greek text: Gilbert Murray (ed.), Euripidis Fabulae, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, as digitised by Perseus. English: Edward P. Coleridge, The Plays of Euripides, London: George Bell and Sons, first published 1891 (Bohn's Classical Library; the Perseus header records a later printing).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.