Ah, woe! If only, like a messenger, it had a kind voice,
[195]
so that I would not be tossed by my distracted thoughts. Rather it would plainly bid me to spurn this tress, if it was severed from a hated head. Or if it were a kinsman's, he would share my grief as an adornment to this tomb and a tribute to my father.
[200]
But I invoke the gods, who know by what storms we are tossed like seafarers. Yet if I am fated to reach safety, a great stock may come from a little seed.
And look! Another proof! Footprints
[205]
matching each other—and like my own! Yes, here are the outlines of two sets of feet, his own and some companion's. The heels and the imprints of the tendons agree in proportion with my own tracks.
[210]
I am in torment, my brain is in a whirl!
Enter Orestes
Orestes
Give recognition to the gods that your prayers have been fulfilled, and pray that success may attend you in the future.
Electra
What? Have I succeeded now by the will of the gods?
Orestes
You have come to the sight of what you have long prayed for.
[215]
Electra
And do you know whom among mortals I was invoking?
Orestes
I know that you are pining for Orestes.
Electra
Then how have I found an answer to my prayers?
Orestes
Here I am. Search for no other friend than me.
Electra
But surely, stranger, you are weaving some snare about me?
[220]
Orestes
Then I am devising plots against myself.
Electra
No, you wish to mock my distress.
Orestes
Then my own also, if yours.
Electra
Am I then to address you as Orestes in truth?
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Aeschylus. Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes. 2. Libation Bearers. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
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.