Orestes

“ The ferocity of her exultation when Clytemnestra and Aegisthus upbraid each other is terrible, but the picture she draws for Orestes of their mother's life is touched with an exquisite filial pity. She seems to me studied with marvelous success.
The close of the tragedy is full of fire and life, yet never wanting in a sort of lofty, austere grace, that lapses at last into a truly statuesque despair. Orestes mad, with Electra and Pylades on either side: it is the attitude and gesture of Greek sculpture, a group forever fixed in the imperishable sorrow of stone. ”

“ This was Orestes, the oriole, who had had such a narrow squeak of it up at the foot of the mountain. Orestes always went to bed early and got up early, being in all ways a model scout.
It is true that just at the moment when the cheering became tumultuous, Orestes shook out her feathers and peered out of the little door of her hanging nest but, seeing no near-by peril, settled down again to sweet slumber, never dreaming that the cheering was in honor of her scout rescuer. ”

“ Orestes.
Thy mother thou slew'st not, as I—woe's me?
Pylades.
I shared thy deed, thy sufferings must I share.
Orestes.
Restore thee to thy sire; die not with me.⁠1075
Thou hast a city,—none to me is left,—
A father's home, a haven wide of wealth.
Thou canst not wed this maiden evil-starred
Whom I for friendship's sake betrothed to thee.
Yet take thee another bride and rear thee sons:⁠1080
The looked-for tie 'twixt thee and me is not.
Now, O dear name of my companionship,
Farewell!—not this for us, perchance for thee:
For us, the dead, is no glad faring-well! ”

“ Orestes, to my thinking, is ardent in sublime degree, and this daring character of his, together with the perils he confronts, may greatly diminish in him the atrocity and coldness of a meditated revenge.... Let those who do not believe in the force of a passion for high and just revenge add to it, in the heart of Orestes, private interest, the love of power, rage at beholding his natural heritage occupied by a murderous usurper, and then they will have a sufficient reason for all his fury. ”

“ Orestes was in the same position, but the same position two thousand years earlier, with two thousand years of experience wanting. So that the question was not so intricate in him as in Hamlet, he was not nearly so conscious. The whole Greek life was based on the idea of the supremacy of the self, and the self was always male. Orestes was his father's child, he would be the same whatever mother he had. The mother was but the vehicle, the soil in which the paternal seed was planted. When Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon, it was as if a common individual murdered God, to the Greek. ”

“ Then, when the thing became known, all the family came to Orestes and asked him what he had done. And he said:
‘“Sup with me this night, and I will tell you.” For he saw that what he had done was known.
‘So they all supped together, and Orestes told them what he had done, and how he did it for love of the Englishman. They said nothing, but looked sad; for they loved Orestes. But he did not wait for them to kill him, as they were bound [Pg 134] to do; but he took a great flagon of wine, and poured into it the contents of a small flask. And his kindred said: “Well done, Lord Orestes!” ”

“ Orestes.
O father, to thy loved ones come in aid.
Electra.
With tears I call on thee.
Chorus.
⁠Listen and rise to light!
Be thou with us, be thou against the foe!
Swiftly this cry arises even so
⁠Pray we, the loyal band, as we have prayed!
Orestes.
Let their might meet with mine, and their right with my right.
Electra.
O ye Gods, it is yours to decree.
Chorus.
Ye call unto the dead; I quake to hear.
Fate is ordained of old, and shall fulfil your prayer.
Electra. ”

“ Orestes:
My very face thou see'st and know'st me not,
And yet but now, when thou didst see the lock
Shorn for my father's grave, and when thy quest
Was eager on the footprints I had made,
Even I, thy brother, shaped and sized as thou,
Fluttered thy spirit, as at sight of me!
Lay now this ringlet whence 'twas shorn, and judge,
And look upon this robe, thine own hands' work,
The shuttle-prints, the creature wrought thereon-
Refrain thyself, nor prudence lose in joy,
For well I wot, our kin are less than kind. ”

“ We slew by craft and by like craft shall die.
Swift, bring the axe that slew my lord of old;
I'll know anon or death or victory-
So stands the curse, so I confront it here.
Orestes rushes from the palace; his sword dripping with blood. Pylades is with him.
Orestes:
Thee too I seek: for him what's done will serve.
Clytemnestra:
Woe, woe! Aegisthus, spouse and champion, slain!
Orestes:
What, lov'st the man? then in his grave lie down,
Be his in death, desert him nevermore!
Clytemnestra:
Stay, child, and fear to strike. ”

“ And now the conspirators are come, Orestes and Pylades, with attendants. Orestes walks straight up to the great palace-gates, and knocks repeatedly. A servant at length, appears, and goes into the house to fetch some one to hear the stranger's application. Orestes had said,—
"Let one in trust, a woman bearing rule,
Come forth; yet more decorous were a man.
For when by bashfulness the tongue is swayed
Darkened is speech;—boldly man speaks to man,
And tells his message forth without reserve."
It is a woman who comes out to answer, and no less a woman than Clytemnestra. ”

“ Orestes! Life, not death, had been thy due.⁠1030
Orestes.
Ah, by the Gods, I pray, unman me not,
Nor bring to tears by mention of our woes.
Electra.
We die! I cannot but bemoan our fate.
All mortals grieve for precious life foregone.
Orestes.
This is our day of doom: the noose must coil⁠1035
About our necks, or our hands grasp the sword.
Electra.
Brother, thou slay me, that no Argive slay,
With outrage foul to Agamemnon's child.
Orestes.
Suffice the mother's blood: I will not slay thee.
Die in what wise thou wilt by thine own hand.⁠1040
Electra. ”

“ Then said Electra, "Hear now what I purpose. Thou knowest that we are utterly bereaved of friends, for Death hath devoured them all. Now, while Orestes yet lived and was prosperous, I hoped that he would come to avenge our father's death. But now that he is dead, I look to thee, that thou shouldest make common cause with me and work this vengeance on them that slew him. ”

“ Nay, nay, this task is mine no less than thine.
Since we shall surely die, debate we now
How Menelaus too may share our woe.
Orestes.
Dear friend, would I could look on this, and die!⁠1100
Pylades.
Hearken to me, and that sword-stroke defer.
Orestes.
I wait, if so I avenge me on my foe.
Pylades (pointing to Chorus) .
Speak low!—I put in women little trust.
Orestes.
Fear not for these: all here be friends to us.
Pylades.
Slay Helen—Menelaus' bitter grief!⁠1105
Orestes. ”

“ Enter from the House Orestes with drawn swords
Orestes.
'Tis thou I seek. With him my work is done.
Clytemnestra (suddenly failing) .
Woe's me!
Aigisthos, my beloved, my gallant one!
Orestes.
Thou lovest him! Go then and lay thine head
Beside him. Thou shalt not betray the dead. ”

“ Then Orestes made reply, "'Tis well said, old man. Hearken then to what I purpose. And first know that when I would hear from Apollo at his oracle in Delphi how I should best avenge my father, he bade me trust neither in shield nor spear, but accomplish the deed by craft. Do thou then go when occasion shall offer into the palace, and spy out the things that are therein. For they will not know thee who thou art, so changed art thou. And thou shalt tell them such a tale about me as shall surely deceive them. ”

“ He shall. She hates him, of course . . . . So much the deeper revenge for me. And she loves that monk. I saw it in her eyes there in the garden. So much the better for me, too. He will dangle willingly enough at Orestes's heels for the sake of being near her—poor fool! We will make him secretary, or chamberlain. He has wit enough for it, they say, or for anything. So Orestes and he shall be the two jaws of my pincers, to squeeze what I want out of that Greek Jezebel. ”

“ Orestes always sees his revenge as something sacred, and that is a great scene in which he offers his dagger to Clytemnestra and bids her kill Aegisthus with it, believing for the instant that even she must exult to share his vengeance. His feeling towards Aegisthus never changes; it is not revolting to the spectator, since Orestes is so absolutely unconscious of wrong in putting him to death. He shows his blood-stained sword to Pylades with a real sorrow that his friend should not also have enjoyed the rapture of killing the usurper. ”

“ With toothless gums, thy nurture-milk hast sucked.
Orestes.
Speak, Pylades;—Through filial reverence,
Shall I forbear to shed a mother's blood?
Pylades.
The Pythian oracles, still unfulfilled,
Where are they, and thine own firm-plighted vows?
Choose all for foemen rather than the gods.
Orestes.
Thou hast prevailed; wisely thou promptest me ”

“ The Knight was wonderfully attentive to the account which Orestes gives of Pyrrhus his death, and at the conclusion of it, told me it was such a bloody piece of work, that he was glad it was not done upon the stage. Seeing afterwards Orestes in his raving fit, he grew more than ordinary serious, and took occasion to moralize (in his way) upon an evil conscience, adding, that Orestes, in his madness, looked as if he saw something. ”

“ The man from Athens, skilled and wise as a charioteer, saw the mischief in time, turned his steeds aside, and escaped the whirling, raging surge of man and horse. Last of all, Orestes came, holding his horses in check, and waiting for the end. But when he saw the Athenian, his only rival left, he urged his colts forward, shaking the reins and speeding onward. And now the twain continued the race, their steeds sometimes head to head, sometimes one gaining ground, sometimes the other; and so all the other rounds were passed in safety.
Upright in his chariot still stood the ill-starred hero. ”

“ Shall we, then, say that Orestes was driven by the Furies and aroused from sleep, and did not crueller Furies and Avengers rouse this man as he slumbered, and suffered him not to rest, but compelled him, as madness and wine the priests of Cybele,1 to proclaim his own evils? So mighty and invincible a thing is man’s nature. ”

“ Wherefore it would be a grievous wrong that he should suffer in my stead and I escape. Give then the tablet to him. He shall take it to the city of Argos and thou shalt have what thou wilt. But as for me, let them slay me if they will."
"'Tis well spoken, young man. Thou art come, I know, of a noble stock. The gods grant that my brother—for I have a brother, though he be far hence—may be such as thou. It shall be as thou wilt. This man shall depart with the tablet and thou shalt die."
Then Orestes would know the manner of the death by which he must die. ”

“ Phrygian.
Everywhere shall wise men better love to cling to life than die.
Orestes.
Didst thou not to Menelaus shout the rescue-cry but now?⁠1510
Phrygian.
Nay, O nay!—but for thine helping cried I:—worthier art thou.
Orestes.
Answer—did the child of Tyndareus by righteous sentence fall?
Phrygian.
Righteous—wholly righteous—though she had three throats to die withal.
Orestes.
Dastard, 'tis thy tongue but truckles: in thine heart thou think'st not so.
Phrygian.
Should she not, who Hellas laid, and Phrygia's folk, in ruin low?⁠1515
Orestes. ”

“ My voice gained me a minute’s silence; the column stood still, though Orestes chafed impatiently at the delay.
‘You’re in haste, men of Neopalia,’ said I. ‘Indeed you’re always in haste. You were in haste to kill me who had done you no harm. You are in haste to kill yourselves by marching into the mouth of the great gun of the ship. In truth I wonder that any of you are still alive. ”

“ Wherefore? what win I from the gods by prayer?
Orestes:
This, that thine eyes behold thy heart's desire.
Electra:
On whom of mortals know'st thou that I call?
Orestes:
I know thy yearning for Orestes deep.
Electra:
Say then, wherein event hath crowned my prayer?
Orestes:
I, I am he; seek not one more akin.
Electra:
Some fraud, O stranger, weavest thou for me?
Orestes:
Against myself I weave it, if I weave.
Electra:
Ah, thou hast mind to mock me in my woel
Orestes:
'Tis at mine own I mock then, mocking thine.
Electra:
Speak I with thee then as Orestes' self? ”

“ If they hate Orestes, does he not deserve it? Even if he is not altogether as much in the wrong in this particular case as they fancy he is, are there not a thousand other crimes of his which deserve their abhorrence even more? At all events, he must proclaim the empire, as you yourself say, or we shall have no handle against him. He will not dare to proclaim it if he knows that we are aware of the truth. ”

“ Their plans were so well laid, that they not only succeeded in escaping unobserved, but were also enabled to carry off the statue of Diana, which they brought to Argos.
Orestes reigned many years in Mycenæ, and was married to his cousin Hermi ́one, daughter of Menela ́us and Helen. Pyl ́ades married Electra, the sister of his friend.
The tragic poets add many incidents to the story of Orestes. They say that when pursued by the Furies, he took refuge in the temple of Apollo, at Delphi. By the command of that god, he repaired to Athens, where he was tried by the court of Areop ́agus. ”