The Seven Plays in English Verse Part 41

OR. Deep were my wrath at him who should attempt it.

EL. Is my prayer heard?

OR. Why doubt it?

EL. Friends, I learned A tale beyond my thought; and hearing I restrained My pa.s.sion, voiceless in my misery, Uttering no cry. But now I have thee safe; now, dearest, thou art come, With thy blest countenance, which I Can ne'er forget, even at the worst of woe.

OR. A truce now to unnecessary words.

My mother's vileness and Aegisthus' waste, Draining and squandering with spendthrift hand Our patrimony, tell me not anew.

Such talk might stifle opportunity.

But teach me, as befits the present need, What place may serve by lurking vigilance Or sudden apparition to o'erwhelm Our foes in the adventure of to-day.

And, when we pa.s.s within, take heedful care Bright looks betray thee not unto our mother.

But groan as for the dire calamity Vainly reported:--Let's achieve success, Then with free hearts we may rejoice and laugh.

EL. Dear brother, wheresoe'er thy pleasure leads, My will shall follow, since the joys I know, Not from myself I took them, but from thee.

And ne'er would I consent thy slightest grief Should win for me great gain. Ill should I then Serve the divinity of this high hour!

Thou knowest how matters in the palace stand.

Thou hast surely heard, Aegisthus is from home, And she, our mother, is within. Nor fear She should behold me with a smiling face.

Mine ancient hate of her hath sunk too deep.

And from the time I saw thee, tears of joy Will cease not. Wherefore should I stint their flow?

I, who in this thy coming have beheld Thee dead and living? Strangely hast thou wrought On me;--that should my father come alive, I would not think the sight were miracle, But sober truth. Since such thy presence, then, Lead as thy spirit prompts. For I alone Of two things surely had achieved one, n.o.ble deliverance or a n.o.ble death.

OR. Be silent; for I hear within the house A footstep coming forth.

EL. (_loudly_).

Strangers, go in!

For none within the palace will reject Your burden, nor be gladdened by the event.

_Enter the_ Old Man.

OLD M. O lost in folly and bereft of soul!

Is't that your care for life hath ebbed away, Or were you born without intelligence, When fallen, not near, but in the midst of ill, And that the greatest, ye perceive it not?

Had I not watched the doors this while, your deeds Had gone within the palace ere yourselves.

But, as things are, my care hath fenced you round.

Now, then, have done with long-protracted talk, And this insatiable outburst of joy, And enter, for in such attempts as these Delay is harmful: and 'tis more than time.

OR. But how shall I find matters there within?

OLD M. Well. You are s.h.i.+elded by their ignorance.

OR. That means you have delivered me as dead.

OLD M. Alone of dead men thou art here above.

OR. Doth this delight them, or how went the talk?

OLD M. I will report, when all is done. Meanwhile, Know, all is well with them, even what is evil.

EL. Who is this, brother? I beseech thee, tell.

OR. Dost not perceive?

EL. I cannot even imagine.

OR. Know'st not into whose hands thou gav'st me once?

EL. Whose hands? How say you?

OR. His, who through thy care Conveyed me secretly to Phocis' plain.

EL. What! is this he, whom I, of all the band, Found singly faithful in our father's death?

OR. He is that man. No more!

EL. O gladsome day!

Dear only saviour of our father's house, How earnest thou hither? Art thou he indeed, That didst preserve Orestes and myself From many sorrows? O dear hands, kind feet, Swift in our service,--how couldst thou so long Be near, nor show one gleam, but didst destroy My heart with words, hiding the loveliest deeds?

Father!--in thee methinks I see my father.

O welcome! thou of all the world to me Most hated and most loved in one short hour.

OLD M. Enough, dear maiden! Many nights and days Are circling hitherward, that shall reveal In clear recountment all that came between.

But to you two that stand beside I tell, Now is your moment, with the Queen alone, And none of men within; but if you pause, Know that with others of profounder skill You'll have to strive, more than your present foes.

OR. Then, Pylades, we need no more to dwell On words, but enter on this act with speed, First wors.h.i.+pping the holy shrines o' the G.o.ds That were my father's, harboured at the gate.

[_They pa.s.s within_. ELECTRA _remains in an att.i.tude of prayer_

EL. O King Apollo! hear them graciously, And hear me too, that with incessant hand Honoured thee richly from my former store!

And now, fierce slayer, I importune thee, And woo thee with such gifts as I can give, Be kindly aidant to this enterprise, And make the world take note, what meed of bane Heaven still bestows on man's iniquity. [ELECTRA _goes within_

CH. Lo, where the War-G.o.d moves 1 With soft, sure footstep, on to his design, Breathing hot slaughter of an evil feud!

Even now the inevitable hounds that track Dark deeds of hideous crime Are gone beneath the covert of the domes.

Not long in wavering suspense shall hang The dreaming presage of my wistful soul.

For lo! within is led 2 With crafty tread the avenger of the shades, Even to his father's throne of ancient power, And in his hand the bright new-sharpened death!

And Hermes, Maia's son, Is leading him, and hath concealed the guile Even to the fatal end in clouds of night.

His time of weary waiting all is o'er.

_Re-enter_ ELECTRA.

EL. O dearest women! they are even now About it. Only bide in silence still.

CH. What is the present scene?

EL. She decks the vase For burial, and they both are standing by.

CH. And wherefore hast thou darted forth?

EL. To watch Aegisthus' coming, that he enter not At unawares.

CLY. (_within_).