Orestes
Menelaus, I am Orestes, whom you are asking about. I will of my own accord inform you of my sufferings. But as my first portion, I clasp your knees as a suppliant, giving you prayers from the mouth of one without the suppliant’s bough; save me, for you have come at the crisis of my troubles.
Menelaus O gods, what do I see? What living corpse greets my sight?
Orestes You are right; I am dead through misery, though I still gaze upon the light.
Menelaus How savage the look your unkempt hair gives you, poor wretch!
Orestes It is not my looks, but my deeds that torture me.
Menelaus Your tearless eyes glare dreadfully!
Orestes My body is gone, though my name has not deserted me.
Menelaus Unsightly apparition, so different from what I expected!
Orestes Here I am, the murderer of my wretched mother.
Menelaus I have heard, spare your words; evils should be seldom spoken.
Orestes I will be sparing; but the deity is lavish of woe in my case.
Menelaus What ails you? what is your deadly sickness?
Orestes My conscience; I know that I am guilty of a dreadful crime.
Menelaus What do you mean? Wisdom is shown in clarity, not in obscurity.
Orestes Grief especially has ruined me—
Menelaus Yes, she is a dreadful goddess, yet are there cures for her.
Orestes And fits of madness, the vengeance of a mother’s blood.
Menelaus When did your madness begin? Which day was it?
Orestes On the day I was heaping the mound over my poor mother’s grave.
Menelaus When you were in the house, or watching by the pyre?
Orestes As I was waiting by night to gather up her bones.
Menelaus Was any one else there, to help you rise?
Orestes Pylades who shared with me the bloody deed, my mother’s murder.
Menelaus You are sick from phantom shapes; what sort?
Orestes I seemed to see three maidens, black as night.
Menelaus I know whom you mean, but I do not want to name them.
Orestes Yes, for they are revered; you were well-informed, to avoid naming them.
Menelaus Are these the ones that drive you to frenzy, with the curse of kindred blood?
Orestes Oh! the torment I endure from their pursuit!
Menelaus It is not strange, if those who have done dreadful things should suffer them.
Orestes But I have a way to recover from these troubles.
Menelaus Do not speak of death; that is not wise.
Orestes It is Phoebus, who commanded me to kill my mother.
Menelaus Showing a strange ignorance of what is fair and right.
Orestes We are slaves to the gods, whatever those gods are.
Menelaus And does Loxias not help your affliction?
Orestes He will in time; this is the nature of gods.
Menelaus How long is it since your mother breathed her last?
Orestes This is the sixth day; her funeral pyre is still warm.
Menelaus How soon the goddesses arrived to avenge your mother’s blood!
Orestes I am not clever, but I am by nature a true friend to my friends.
Menelaus Does your father give you any help at all, for your avenging him?
Orestes Not yet; I call delay the equal of inaction.
Menelaus How do you stand in the city after that deed of yours?
Orestes I am so hated that no one will speak to me.
Menelaus Have your hands not even been cleaned of blood, according to custom?
Orestes No, for wherever I go, the door is shut against me.
Menelaus Which citizens are driving you from the land?
Orestes Oeax, who refers to my father his reason for hating Troy.
Menelaus I understand; he is avenging on you the blood of Palamedes.
Orestes That was nothing to do with me; yet I am destroyed for three reasons.
Menelaus Who else? Some of the friends of Aegisthus, I suppose?
Orestes They insult me, and the city listens to them now.
Menelaus Will the city allow you to keep the scepter of Agamemnon?
Orestes How, seeing that they will not allow me to remain alive?
Menelaus What is their method? Can you tell me plainly?
Orestes A vote will be taken against us today.
Menelaus To leave the city? Or to die, or not to die?
Orestes Death by stoning at the hands of the citizens.
Menelaus Then why not cross the border and try to escape?
Orestes Because we are encircled by men fully armed.
Menelaus Private foes or Argive troops?
Orestes All the citizens, so that I may die; it is shortly told.
Menelaus Poor wretch! you have arrived at the extremity of woe.
Cite This Text