Chorus
[310]
Tell me, is Aegisthus nearby as you speak these words to us, or has he left the house?
Electra
He is gone, to be sure. Do not think that I would have come to the doors, if he were nearby. He happens now to be in the country.
Chorus
Might I converse with you
[315]
more boldly, if this is so?
Electra
He is not here, so question me. What is it you want?
Chorus
I ask you, then, what report can you give of your brother? Will he come soon, or is he delaying? I wish to know.
Electra
He says he will come, but although he promises he never does what he says.
Chorus
[320]
True, a man will hesitate on the verge of a great undertaking.
Electra
And yet I saved him with no hesitation.
Chorus
Take heart: he is noble enough to stand by his friends.
Electra
I believe it; otherwise I would not have remained alive so long.
Chorus
Say no more now, since I see your sister
[325]
coming from the house, Chrysothemis, offspring of the same father and mother. In her hands are sepulchral offerings, such as are customary for those in the world below.
Enter Chrysothemis, from the house.
Chrysothemis
What is this speech of yours, sister, which you have come forth yet again to speak at the public doors?
[330]
Will you not learn with any lapse of time to end your vain indulgence in futile anger? Yet this much I know—that I myself am saddened by our present circumstances; indeed so much so that, could I find the strength, I would bare my feelings towards them.
[335]
But now, in these evil times I think it best to navigate with shortened sail so that I may not seem to be on the attack, when I am unable to cause harm. I wish that your own conduct were the same! Nevertheless, right is on the side which you favor, not on that which I advise. But if I am to live the life of the freeborn,
[340]
those in power must be obeyed in all things.
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Sophocles. The Electra of Sophocles. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1894.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.