Aeschylus

“ Sent to the saddest bourne.
Ah me! ah me!
Dearest of brothers, thou hast ruined me,
Ruined thy sister, brother of my love.
Receive me now in that abode of thine,
That, dust to dust, I may abide with thee
Forever there below. When thou wast here,
All things were common to us; now I crave
To be thy mate in death and share thy tomb,
For there I see they do not sorrow more.
CHORUS. Electra, think; a mortal was thy sire.
Orestes was a mortal; calm thy grief
For loss is common to mortality.
ORESTES. What can I say? words to my bursting heart
Are wanting. I can check my tongue no more. ”

“ PROMETHEUS. My wish is one with destiny's decree.
CHORUS. Think'st thou that Zeus will e'er his master find?
PROMETHEUS. Ay! and a load harder than mine to bear.
CHORUS. Dost thou not fear to cast such words at Zeus?
PROMETHEUS. What should I fear when I must never die?
CHORUS. But Zeus may yet enhance thine agony.
PROMETHEUS. Prepared for all, his malice I defy.
CHORUS. 'Tis wise to bow to the inevitable.
PROMETHEUS. Cringe, if thou wilt, sue, bend the knee to power.
Little reck I of Zeus. Then let him work
His tyrant will for his allotted span.
Not long shall he be monarch of the gods. ”

“ For sepulture in his ancestral tomb.
Such is my story. Sad enough for those
Who hear; for those who saw most piteous
Of all the sights that e'er these eyes beheld.
CHORUS. Alas, alas! it seems the noble stock
Of our old Kings is wholly rooted out.
CLYTAEMNESTRA. What shall I call this, Zeus? Is it good luck,
Or gain with sorrow blended? Sad it is
That I should owe my safety to my dole.
PAEDAGOGOS. Why art thou downcast, lady, at my words?
CLYTAEMNESTRA. Strong is a mother's love; no injury
Can make her hate the offspring of her womb. ”

“ ELECTRA. Look, without effort nothing will go well.
CHRYSOTHEMIS. 'Tis true, and I will aid with all my might.
ELECTRA. Hear now my resolution. Thou dost know
That we are friendless now; the friend we had
Hades has ta'en and left us desolate.
While I still heard that our Orestes lived,
And all was well with him, the hope remained
That he would come, and venge our murdered sire.
But now that he is gone I look to thee
To lend thy sister aid in taking off
Aegisthus; frankly such is my intent.
Where will thy sufferance end? what hope is left
For thee to look to? woe on woe is thine. ”

“ Who lets his heart be fired with idle hopes.
To live with honour, or with honour die,
Alone becomes the noble. I have done.
CHORUS. None, Ajax, will pretend that these thy words
Are not thy own, or come not from thy heart;
But now control thyself. Discard these thoughts,
And let the counsels of thy friends prevail.
TECMESSA. Ajax, my lord and master, man knows not
Aught sadder than a bondsman's helplessness.
I, that a freeman for my father had,
First of the Phrygian race in wealth and power,
Am now a slave. So have the gods decreed,
And thy strong arm determined. ”

“ CHORUS. What evil has befallen our royal house?
MESSENGER. Dead are some, others guilty of their death.
CHORUS. Who is the murdered, who the murderer, say.
MESSENGER. Haemon is dead, unnaturally slain.
CHORUS. Slain by whose hand, his father's or his own?
MESSENGER. His own, stung by his sire's cruel deed.
CHORUS. O seer, thy prophesy has come too true.
MESSENGER. So stands the case, whereon deliberate.
(Enter EURYDICE.)
CHORUS. Yonder is the ill-starred Eurydice,
The Queen of Creon; from the house she comes
By chance, or brought by tidings of her son. ”

“ OEDIPUS. And think'st thou still unscathed to say these things?
TIRESIAS. I do, if there is any strength in truth.
OEDIPUS. In truth is strength, but that strength is not thine;
Thou in eyes, ears, and mind alike art blind.
TIRESIAS. And thou art wretched, casting in my teeth
What all men presently will cast in thine.
OEDIPUS. Thy lot is utter darkness; neither I
Nor any one who sees, can fear thy wrath.
TIRESIAS. Not mine is chastisement; Apollo's might
Sufficient is, and will bring all to pass.
OEDIPUS. Is this contrivance Creon's or thine own?
TIRESIAS. Thyself, not Creon, is thy enemy. ”

“ To moderate thy wrath; what thou hast said
I will regard as unsaid, null and void.
Do thou at last get thee some sober sense,
And yield to power as thou art powerless.
CHORUS. Take her advice; there is not among men
A better thing than foresight and good sense.
ELECTRA. All thou hast said I did anticipate;
What I proposed I knew thou wouldst reject.
Alone, with my own hand, I'll do the deed;
My resolution shall not come to naught.
CHRYSOTHEMIS. What now thou art, would thou hadst been the day
Thy father died: thou wouldst have ruled the hour. ”

“ ANTIGONE. The dead man will not second thy complaint.
CREON. He will if he is levell'd with the vile.
ANTIGONE. It was a brother, not a slave, that fell.
CREON. Assailing what the other died to save.
ANTIGONE. The powers below ask these observances.
CREON. The good ask not like treatment with the bad.
ANTIGONE. Who knows but this may be deemed right below?
CREON. Hatred expires not when the hated dies.
ANTIGONE. Not hate but love to share my nature is.
CREON. Go, then, below and love, if love thou wilt,
But while I live no woman shall reign here.
CHORUS. (ISMENE entering)
Ismene, lo! ”

“ Titan Prometheus. What thou standest on
Is of this region hight the Brazen Way,
The prop of Athens, while these neighbouring fields
Boast of Colonus, that famed charioteer,
As their first settler; and their denizens
Are proud to bear their founder's sainted name.
Such claims to pious reverence hath this place,
Stranger, which they who dwell here feel the more.
OEDIPUS. There are then people who inhabit it?
STRANGER. Yes, people named after their patron god.
OEDIPUS. Has it a king or do the commons rule?
STRANGER. The King of yonder city is its lord. ”

“ Some envoy from the gods was sent to him,
Or opening earth engulfed him painlessly.
The old man died without disease or pang
To make us grieve for him; by miracle,
If ever man so died. Thinkst thou I dream?
I know not how to show thee that I wake.
ANTIGONE. Eteocles and Polynices, the unnatural brothers, having fallen by each other's hands, Creon is King of Thebes. To Eteocles, who had died in defence of the city, he awards honourable burial; Polynices, who had fallen in attacking the city, he dooms to lie unburied, a great dishonour and calamity in Hellenic opinion. ”

“ ELECTRA. I found this lock of hair upon the tomb.
CHORUS. Who was it, man or maid, that laid it there?
ELECTRA. This to divine were not so difficult.
CHORUS. Old as I am on thy young lips I hang.
ELECTRA. From what head could the lock be cut but mine?
CHORUS. They that should offer mourning locks are foes.
ELECTRA. This lock of hair is wondrous like in hue.
CHORUS. Like to whose hair? 'Tis this I long to learn.
ELECTRA. Like, passing like, to hers that speaks to thee.
CHORUS. Think'st thou Orestes sent it secretly?
ELECTRA. The lock in hue is like no hair but his. ”

“ CREON. Is not yon maiden sick of that disease?
HAEMON. Not so avers the common voice of Thebes.
CREON. Shall I my duty from the commons learn?
HAEMON. Seest thou how youthful is that sentiment?
CREON. Am I to govern by another's will?
HAEMON. That is no state which owns one man for lord.
CREON. Is not the state the ruler's property?
HAEMON. Thou wouldst reign well over a desert land.
CREON. The boy, it seems, will fight for yonder maid.
HAEMON. If thou'rt the maid; it is for thee I care.
CREON. Villain, why art thou wrangling with thy sire?
HAEMON. Because thou errest from the path of right. ”

“ CLYTAEMNESTRA. Tell it, but tell thy sire's transgression too.
ORESTES. Home-keeping wives should not the toilers chide.
CLYTAEMNESTRA. 'Tis sad for wives to lie without their mates.
ORESTES. Yet wives are fed by those that sweat abroad.
CLYTAEMNESTRA. It seems, my child, thou wilt thy mother slay.
ORESTES. Not on my head but thine thy blood will be.
CLYTAEMNESTRA. Strike, and a mother's Furies follow thee.
ORESTES. A father's will, if I withhold the blow.
CLYTAEMNESTRA. Deaf as the grave is he to whom I wail.
ORESTES. As died my father thou art doomed to die. ”

“ Fall if we must, a man shall deal the blow:
'Twere shame to think a woman vanquished us.
CHORUS. If age our judgment dims not, thou hast dealt
Rightly with all things which thy speech concerns.
HAEMON. Father, the favour of the gods bestows
Wisdom, most precious of all precious gifts.
That thou hast not the right upon thy side
I cannot, if I could I would not, show.
Yet may another's argument be fair.
Nature hath set me to keep watch for thee
Over the words, acts, censures of the world.
The common man, awed by thy presence, shrinks
From uttering what he knows will please thee not. ”

“ OEDIPUS. How? By the gods, old man, explain to me!
MESSENGER. If thou on her account dost shun thy home.
OEDIPUS. I fear the god's prediction may prove true.
MESSENGER. Touching the stain of incest, wouldst thou say?
OEDIPUS. 'Tis this, old man, I dread unceasingly.
MESSENGER. Knowest thou not that thy alarms are vain?
OEDIPUS. How vain, if of these parents I was born?
MESSENGER. Polybus was no relative of thine.
OEDIPUS. What say'st thou? Was not Polybus my sire?
MESSENGER. As much thy sire as I am, and no more.
OEDIPUS. Can father and not father be the same? ”

“ Redeem thyself. Those who are nobly born
Honour forbids to live the butt of scorn.
CHORUS. Foresight in matters such as these is good,
For those who give and those who take advice.
CHRYSOTHEMIS. Before she spoke, ladies, had not her mind
Been quite perverted, she would have held fast
The caution which she utterly lets go.
What puts it in thy heart, this desperate deed
Thyself to dare, and call on me to aid?
Dost thou not know that thou a woman art?
And that our enemies are mightier far?
While their good fortune waxes day by day,
Ours wanes as fast and leaves us destitute. ”

“ Steep-faced, since other audience have I none,
In your familiar presence I complain
Of the wrong done me by Achilles' son.
Home he did swear to take me, not to Troy.
Against his plighted faith the sacred bow
Of Heracles, the son of Zeus, he steals,
And means to show it to the Argive host.
He fancies that he over strength prevails,
Not seeing that I am a corpse, a shade,
A ghost. Were I myself, he had not gained
The day, nor would now save by treachery.
I am entrapped. Ah me! what can I do?
Yet be thyself and give me back my bow.
Say that thou wilt. He speaks not; I am lost. ”

“ CHORUS. Zeus, then, it seems, is on the father's side,
Yet Zeus his aged father put in bonds.
How squares that story with thy present plea?
I pray the court to hark to his reply.
APOLLO. O hateful brood, abhorred of all the gods,
He who is bound may be unbound again.
There's many a way to set a captive free;
But when the dust has drunk the blood of man,
Death knows no cure or resurrection. ”

“ It is Orestes that his homage pays.
Be of good cheer, my sister; destiny
Unkind to-day, to-morrow may be kind.
So far it has been adverse, but this hour,
Perchance, may prove the dawn of happiness.
ELECTRA. I pity as I hear thy foolish talk.
CHRYSOTHEMIS. Why? Is not what I say sweet to thine ear?
ELECTRA. Thou know'st not what thou dost or where thou art.
CHRYSOTHEMIS. Not know the thing which my own eyes beheld?
ELECTRA. He's dead, poor foolish heart. These proofs of thine
Are good for nothing. Look for him no more. ”

“ ANTIGONE. When my power fails I have but to desist.
ISMENE. Where we must fail, not to attempt is wise.
ANTIGONE. Such talk will make thee hateful unto me,
And by the dead man righteously abhorred.
Then leave me with my folly to endure
This dreadful penalty. Come what come may,
Nothing will rob me of a noble death.
ISMENE. Art thou resolved? Go, then, and be assured
That though misguided thou art well beloved.
* * * * *
SISTERLY LOVE DEFIES THE LAW. Antigone is caught by the guard paying funeral rites to the corpse of
Polynices, and is brought before Creon. ”

“ How should the Centaur, in his agony,
Have sought to serve her that had caused his death?
He could not. To avenge him on the hand
That sped the shaft he cozened me, and I
See his fell purpose when it is too late.
I, if my boding soul deceive me not,
Alone shall be my hero's murderess.
That by which Nessus died was Chiron's bane,
Immortal though he was, all animals
Struck by it die; and shall not the dark blood,
That, poisoned by it, flowed from Nessus' wound,
Be fatal to my lord? Surely it will.
But if my lord miscarry, my resolve
Is fixed to keep him company in death. ”

“ AJAX. Thou pratest overmuch.
TECMESSA. My lord, I quake.
AJAX. Shut up the tent at once.
TECMESSA.
I do conjure thee.
AJAX. Small must be thy sense,
If thou dost think to put this heart to school.
* * * * *
THE RESOLVE. Ajax pretends to be softened, and to be going forth only for the harmless purpose of purification in a running stream, though he is really going to his death.
LINES 646-692. AJAX. Time in its long, immeasurable course,
Turns ever dark to light, and light to dark,
And nothing is past hope; the solemn oath
Is broken, and the stubborn heart gives way. ”

“ A god thyself, thou gav'st, despite the gods,
To mortals more than is a mortal's due.
And therefore must thou keep this dreary rock,
Erect, with frame unbending, reft of sleep,
And many a bootless wail of agony
Shalt utter. Change of mind in Zeus is none,
Ruthless the rule when power is newly won.
MIGHT. To work! A truce to these weak wails of ruth.
Whom the gods hate why dost thou not abhor—
Him that betrayed thy attribute to man?
HEPHAESTUS. Great force have kindred and companionship.
MIGHT. True, but to disobey the Almighty Sire
How canst thou dare? Fearest thou not this more? ”