strophe 2
And ye who dwell within the inner chamber  Where shines the stored joy of gold-  Gods of one heart, O hear ye, and remember;  Up and avenge the blood shed forth of old,  With sudden rightful blow;  Then let the old curse die, nor be renewed  With progeny of blood,-  Once more, and not again, be latter guilt laid low!
refrain 2
O thou who dwell’st in Delphi’s mighty cave,  Grant us to see this home once more restored  Unto its rightful lord!  Let it look forth, from veils of death, with joyous eye  Unto the dawning light of liberty;
antistrophe 2
And Hermes, Maia’s child, lend hand to save,  Willing the right, and guide  Our state with Fortune’s breeze adown the favouring tide.  Whate’er in darkness hidden lies,  He utters at his will;  He at his will throws darkness on our eyes,  By night and eke by day inscrutable.
strophe 3
Then, then shall wealth atone  The ills that here were done.  Then, then will we unbind,  Fling free on wafting wind  Of joy, the woman’s voice that waileth now  In piercing accents for a chief laid low;
refrain 3
And this our song shall be-  Hail to the commonwealth restored!  Hail to the freedom won to me!  All hail! for doom hath passed from him, my well-loved lord!
antistrophe 3
And thou, O child, when Time and Chance agree,  Up to the deed that for thy sire is done!  And if she wail unto thee, Spare, O son-  Cry, Aid, O father-and achieve the deed,  The horror of man’s tongue, the gods’ great need!  Hold in thy breast such heart as Perseus had,  The bitter woe work forth,  Appease the summons of the dead,  The wrath of friends on earth;  Yea, set within a sign of blood and doom,  And do to utter death him that polilites thy home.
AEGISTHUS enters alone.
AEGISTHUS
Hither and not unsummoned have I come;  For a new rumour, borne by stranger men  Arriving hither, hath attained mine ears,  Of hap unwished-for, even Orestes’ death.  This were new sorrow, a blood-bolter’d load  Laid on the house that doth already bow  Beneath a former wound that festers deep.  Dare I opine these words have truth and life?  Or are they tales, of woman’s terror born,  That fly in the void air, and die disproved?  Canst thou tell aught, and prove it to my soul?
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
What we have heard, we heard; go thou within  Thyself to ask the strangers of their tale.  Strengthless are tidings, thro’ another heard;  Question is his, to whom the tale is brought.
AEGISTHUS
I too will meet and test the messenger,  Whether himself stood witness of the death,  Or tells it merely from dim rumour learnt:  None shall cheat me, whose soul hath watchful eyes.
He goes into the palace.
CHORUS singing
Zeus, Zeus! what word to me is given?  What cry or prayer, invoking heaven,  Shall first by me be uttered?  What speech of craft-nor all revealing,  Nor all too warily concealing-  Ending my speech, shall aid the deed?  For lo! in readiness is laid  The dark emprise, the rending blade;  Blood-dropping daggers shall achieve  The dateless doom of Atreus’ name,  Or-kindling torch and joyful flame  In sign of new-won liberty-  Once more Orestes shall retrieve  His father’s wealth, and, throned on high,  Shall hold the city’s fealty.  So mighty is the grasp whereby,  Heaven-holpen, he shall trip and throw,  Unseconded, a double foe.  Ho for the victory!
A loud cry is heard within.
VOICE OF AEGISTHUS
Help, help, alas!
CHORUS
Ho there, ho I how is’t within?  Is’t done? is’t over? Stand we here aloof  While it is wrought, that guiltless we may seem  Of this dark deed; with death is strife fulfilled.
An ATTENDANT enters from the palace. ATTENDANT
O woe, O woe, my lord is done to death!  Woe, woe, and woe again, Aegisthus gone!  Hasten, fling wide the doors, unloose the bolts  Of the queen’s chamber. O for some young strength  To match the need! but aid availeth nought  To him laid low for ever. Help, help, help  Sure to deaf ears I shout, and call in vain  To slumber ineffectual. What ho!  The queen! how fareth Clytemnestra’s self?  Her neck too, hers, is close upon the steel,  And soon shall sing, hewn thro’ as justice wills.
CLYTEMNESTRA enters.
CLYTEMNESTRA
What ails thee, raising this ado for us?
ATTENDANT
I say the dead are come to slay the living.
CLYTEMNESTRA
Alack, I read thy riddles all too clear-  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. O son, this breast  Pillowed thine head full oft, while, drowsed with sleep,  Thy toothless mouth drew mother’s milk from me.
ORESTES
Can I my mother spare? speak, Pylades.
PYLADES
Where then would fall the hest Apollo gave  At Delphi, where the solemn compact sworn?  Choose thou the hate of all men, not of gods.
ORESTES
Thou dost prevail; I hold thy counsel good.
To CLYTEMNESTRA
Follow; I will to slay thee at his side.  With him whom in his life thou loved’st more  Than Agamemnon, sleep in death, the meed  For hate where love, and love where hate was due!
CLYTEMNESTRA
I nursed thee young; must I forego mine eld?
ORESTES
Thou slew’st my father; shalt thou dwell with me?
CLYTEMNESTRA
Fate bore a share in these things, O my child
ORESTES
Fate also doth provide this doom for thee.
CLYTEMNESTRA
Beware, O child, a parent’s dying curse.
ORESTES
A parent who did cast me out to ill!
CLYTEMNESTRA
Not cast thee out, but to a friendly home.
ORESTES
Born free, I was by twofold bargain sold.
CLYTEMNESTRA
Where then the price that I received for thee?
ORESTES
The price of shame; I taunt thee not more plainly.
CLYTEMNESTRA
Nay, but recount thy father’s lewdness too.
ORESTES
Home-keeping, chide not him who toils without.
CLYTEMNESTRA
‘Tis hard for wives to live as widows, child.
ORESTES
The absent husband toils for them at home.
CLYTEMNESTRA
Thou growest fain to slay thy mother, child.
ORESTES
Nay, ’tis thyself wilt slay thyself, not I.
CLYTEMNESTRA
Beware thy mother’s vengeful hounds from hell.
ORESTES
How shall I ‘scape my father’s, sparing thee?
CLYTEMNESTRA
Living, I cry as to a tomb, unheard.
ORESTES
My father’s fate ordains this doom for thee.
CLYTEMNESTRA
Ah me! this snake it was I bore and nursed.
ORESTES
Ay, right prophetic was thy visioned fear.  Shameful thy deed was-die the death of shame!
He drives her into the house before him.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Lo, even for these I mourn, a double death:  Yet since Orestes, driven on by doom,  Thus crowns the height of murders manifold,  I say, ’tis well-that not in night and death  Should sink the eye and light of this our home.
CHORUS singing
strophe 1
There came on Priam’s race and name  A vengeance; though it tarried long,  With heavy doom it came.  Came, too, on Agamemnon’s hall  A lion-pair, twin swordsmen strong.  And last, the heritage doth fall  To him, to whom from Pythian cave  The god his deepest counsel gave.
refrain 1

Cry out, rejoice! our kingly hall  Hath ‘scaped from ruin-ne’er again  Its ancient wealth be wasted all  By two usurpers, sin-defiled-  An evil path of woe and bane!

The Choephori by Aeschylus