THE

AGAMEMNON

OF

AESCHYLUS

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH RHYMING VERSE

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY

GILBERT MURRAY

REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

TENTH THOUSAND

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. 

RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W. C. 

PREFACE

The sense of difficulty, and indeed of awe, with which a scholarapproaches the task of translating the _Agamemnon_ depends directly on itsgreatness as poetry. It is in part a matter of diction. The language ofAeschylus is an extraordinary thing, the syntax stiff and simple, thevocabulary obscure, unexpected, and steeped in splendour. Itspeculiarities cannot be disregarded, or the translation will be false incharacter. Yet not Milton himself could produce in English the same greatmusic, and a translator who should strive ambitiously to represent thecomplex effect of the original would clog his own powers of expression andstrain his instrument to breaking. But, apart from the diction in thisnarrower sense, there is a quality of atmosphere surrounding the_Agamemnon_ which seems almost to defy reproduction in another setting, because it depends in large measure on the position of the play in thehistorical development of Greek literature. 

If we accept the view that all Art to some extent, and Greek tragedy in avery special degree, moves in its course of development from Religion toEntertainment, from a Service to a Performance, the _Agamemnon_ seems tostand at a critical point where the balance of the two elements is nearperfection. The drama has come fully to life, but the religion has not yetfaded to a formality. The _Agamemnon_ is not, like Aeschylus' _SuppliantWomen_, a statue half-hewn out of the rock. It is a real play, showingclash of character and situation, suspense and movement, psychologicaldepth and subtlety. Yet it still remains something more than a play. Itsatmosphere is not quite of this world. In the long lyrics especially onefeels that the guiding emotion is not the entertainer's wish to thrill anaudience, not even perhaps the pure artist's wish to create beauty, butsomething deeper and more prophetic, a passionate contemplation andexpression of truth; though of course the truth in question is somethingfelt rather than stated, something that pervades life, an eternal andmajestic rhythm like the movement of the stars. 

Thus, if Longinus is right in defining Sublimity as "the ring, orresonance, of greatness of soul, " one sees in part where the sublimity ofthe _Agamemnon_ comes from. And it is worth noting that the faults whichsome critics have found in the play are in harmony with this conclusion. For the sublimity that is rooted in religion tolerates some faults andutterly refuses to tolerate others. The _Agamemnon_ may be slow in gettingto work; it may be stiff with antique conventions. It never approaches tobeing cheap or insincere or shallow or sentimental or showy. It neverceases to be genuinely a "criticism of life. " The theme which it treats, for instance, is a great theme in its own right; it is not a made-up storyingeniously handled. 

The trilogy of the _Oresteia_, of which this play is the first part, centres on the old and everlastingly unsolved problem of

 The ancient blinded vengeance and the wrong that amendeth wrong. 

Every wrong is justly punished; yet, as the world goes, every punishmentbecomes a new wrong, calling for fresh vengeance. And more; every wrongturns out to be itself rooted in some wrong of old. It is nevergratuitous, never untempted by the working of Peitho (Persuasion), nevermerely wicked. The _Oresteia_ first shows the cycle of crime punished bycrime which must be repunished, and then seeks for some gleam of escape, some breaking of the endless chain of "evil duty. " In the old order ofearth and heaven there was no such escape. Each blow called for the returnblow and must do so _ad infinitum_. But, according to Aeschylus, there isa new Ruler now in heaven, one who has both sinned and suffered andthereby grown wise. He is Zeus the Third Power, Zeus the Saviour, and hisgift to mankind is the ability through suffering to Learn (pp. 7 f. )

At the opening of the _Agamemnon_ we find Clytemnestra alienated from herhusband and secretly befriended with his ancestral enemy, Aigisthos. Theair is heavy and throbbing with hate; hate which is evil but has its duecause. Agamemnon, obeying the prophet Calchas, when the fleet laystorm-bound at Aulis, had given his own daughter, Iphigenîa, as a humansacrifice. And if we ask how a sane man had consented to such an act, weare told of his gradual temptation; the deadly excuse offered by ancientsuperstition; and above all, the fact that he had already inwardlyaccepted the great whole of which this horror was a part. At the firstoutset of his expedition against Troy there had appeared an omen, thebloody sign of two eagles devouring a mother-hare with her unbornyoung. . . . The question was thus put to the Kings and their prophet: Didthey or did they not accept the sign, and wish to be those Eagles? Andthey had answered Yes. They would have their vengeance, their full andextreme victory, and were ready to pay the price. The sign once accepted, the prophet recoils from the consequences which, in prophetic vision, hesees following therefrom: but the decision has been taken, and the longtale of cruelty rolls on, culminating in the triumphant sack of Troy, which itself becomes not an assertion of Justice but a whirlwind ofgodless destruction. And through all these doings of fierce beasts andangry men the unseen Pity has been alive and watching, the Artemis who"abhors the Eagles' feast, " the "Apollo or Pan or Zeus" who hears thecrying of the robbed vulture; nay, if even the Gods were deaf, the mere"wrong of the dead" at Troy might waken, groping for some retribution uponthe "Slayer of Many Men" (pp. 15, 20). 

If we ask why men are so blind, seeking their welfare thus throughincessant evil, Aeschylus will tell us that the cause lies in theinfection of old sin, old cruelty. There is no doubt somewhere a_[Greek: prôtarchos hAtê ]_, a "first blind deed of wrong, " but inpractice every wrong is the result of another. And the Children of Atreusare steeped to the lips in them. When the prophetess Cassandra, out of herfirst vague horror at the evil House, begins to grope towards somedefinite image, first and most haunting comes the sound of the weeping oftwo little children, murdered long ago, in a feud that was not theirs. From that point, more than any other, the Daemon or Genius of theHouse--more than its "Luck, " a little less than its GuardianAngel--becomes an Alastor or embodied Curse, a "Red Slayer" which criesever for peace and cleansing, but can seek them only in the same blindway, through vengeance, and, when that fails, then through more vengeance(p. 69). 

This awful conception of a race intent upon its own wrongs, and blindlygroping towards the very terror it is trying to avoid, is typified, as itwere, in the Cassandra story. That daughter of Priam was beloved byApollo, who gave her the power of true prophecy. In some way that we knownot, she broke her promise to the God; and, since his gift could not berecalled, he added to it the curse that, while she should always foreseeand foretell the truth, none should believe her. The Cassandra scene is acreation beyond praise or criticism. The old scholiast speaks of the "pityand amazement" which it causes. The Elders who talk with her wish tobelieve, they try to understand, they are really convinced of Cassandra'spowers. But the curse is too strong. The special thing which Cassandratries again and again to say always eludes them, and they can raise nofinger to prevent the disaster happening. And when it does happen theyare, as they have described themselves, weak and very old, "dreamswandering in the daylight. "

The characters of this play seem, in a sense, to arise out of the themeand consequently to have, amid all their dramatic solidity, a furthersignificance which is almost symbolic. Cassandra is, as it were, theincarnation of that knowledge which Herodotus describes as the crown ofsorrow, the knowledge which sees and warns and cannot help (Hdt. Ix. 16). Agamemnon himself, the King of Kings, triumphant and doomed, is a symbolof pride and the fall of pride. We must not think of him as bad orspecially cruel. The watchman loved him (ll. 34 f. ), and the lamentationsof the Elders over his death have a note of personal affection (pp. 66ff. ). But I suspect that Aeschylus, a believer in the mystic meaning ofnames, took the name Agamemnon to be a warning that [Greek: Aga mimnei], "the unseen Wrath abides. " _Agâ_, of course, is not exactly wrath; it ismore like Nemesis, the feeling that something is [Greek: agan], "toomuch, " the condemnation of _Hubris_ (pride or overgrowth) and of allthings that are in excess. _Agâ_ is sometimes called "the jealousy ofGod, " but such a translation is not happy. It is not the jealousy, noreven the indignation, of a personal God, but the profound repudiation andreversal of Hubris which is the very law of the Cosmos. Through all thetriumph of the conqueror, this _Agâ_ abides. 

The greatest and most human character of the whole play is Clytemnestra. She is conceived on the grand Aeschylean scale, a scale which makes evenLady Macbeth and Beatrice Cenci seem small; she is more the kinswoman ofBrynhild. Yet she is full not only of character, but of subtle psychology. She is the first and leading example of that time-honoured ornament of thetragic stage, the sympathetic, or semi-sympathetic, heroine-criminal. Aeschylus employs none of the devices of later playwrights to make herinteresting. He admits, of course, no approach to a love-scene; he uses nosophisms; but he does make us see through Clytemnestra's eyes and feelthrough her passions. The agony of silent prayer in which, if myconception is right, we first see her, helps to interpret her speecheswhen they come; but every speech needs close study. She dare not speaksincerely or show her real feelings until Agamemnon is dead; and then sheis practically a mad woman. 

For I think here that there is a point which has not been observed. It isthat Clytemnestra is conceived as being really "possessed" by the Daemonof the House when she commits her crime. Her statements on p. 69 are notempty metaphor. A careful study of the scene after the murder will showthat she appears first "possessed" and almost insane with triumph, utterlydominating the Elders and leaving them no power to answer. Then graduallythe unnatural force dies out from her. The deed that was first an ecstasyof delight becomes an "affliction" (pp. 72, 76). The strength that defiedthe world flags and changes into a longing for peace. She has done herwork. She has purified the House of its madness; now let her go away andlive out her life in quiet. When Aigisthos appears, and the scene suddenlybecomes filled with the wrangling of common men, Clytemnestra fades into along silence, from which she only emerges at the very end of the drama topray again for Peace, and, strangest of all, to utter the entreaty: "Letus not stain ourselves with blood!" The splash of her husband's blood wasvisible on her face at the time. Had she in her trance-like state actuallyforgotten, or did she, even then, not feel that particular blood to be astain?

To some readers it will seem a sort of irrelevance, or at least a blurringof the dramatic edge of this tragedy, to observe that the theme on whichit is founded was itself the central theme both of Greek Tragedy and ofGreek Religion. The fall of Pride, the avenging of wrong by wrong, is nonew subject selected by Aeschylus. It forms both the commonest burden ofthe moralising lyrics in Greek tragedy and even of the tragic mythsthemselves; and recent writers have shown how the same idea touches thevery heart of the traditional Greek religion. "The life of theYear-Daemon, who lies at the root of so many Greek gods and heroes, isnormally a story of Pride and Punishment. Each year arrives, waxes great, commits the sin of Hubris and must therefore die. It is the way of allLife. As an early philosopher expresses it, "All things pay retributionfor their injustice one to another according to the ordinance of Time. "[1]

[Footnote 1: See my _Four Stages of Greek Religion_, p. 47. Cornford, _From Religion to Philosophy_, Chapter I. See also the fine pages on theAgamemnon in the same writer's _Thucydides Mythistoricus_, pp. 144, ff. (E. Arnold 1907). G. M. ]

To me this consideration actually increases the interest and beauty of the_Oresteia_, because it increases its greatness. The majestic art, thecreative genius, the instinctive eloquence of these plays--that eloquencewhich is the mere despair of a translator--are all devoted to theexpression of something which Aeschylus felt to be of tremendous import. It was not his discovery; but it was a truth of which he had an intenserealization. It had become something which he must with all his strengthbring to expression before he died, not in a spirit of self-assertion orof argument, like a discoverer, but as one devoted to something higher andgreater than himself, in the spirit of an interpreter or prophet. 

AGAMEMNON

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

AGAMEMNON, _son of Atreus and King of Argos and Mycenae;Commander-in-Chief of the Greek armies in the War against Troy. _

CLYTEMNESTRA, _daughter of Tyndareus, sister of Helen; wife to Agamemnon. _

AIGISTHOS, _son of Thyestes, cousin and blood-enemy to Agamemnonlover to Clytemnestra. _

CASSANDRA, _daughter of Priam, King of Troy, a prophetess;now slave to Agamemnon. _

A WATCHMAN. 

A HERALD. 

CHORUS of Argive Elders, faithful to AGAMEMNON. 

CHARACTERS MENTIONED IN THE PLAY

MENELÂÜS, _brother to Agamemnon, husband of Helen, and King of Sparta. The two sons of Atreus are called the Atreidae. _

HELEN, _most beautiful of women; daughter of Tyndareus, wife to_MENELÂÜS_; beloved and carried off by Paris. _

PARIS, _son of Priam, King of Troy, lover of Helen. Also called_ ALEXANDER. 

PRIAM, _the aged King of Troy. _

_The Greeks are also referred to as Achaians, Argives, Danaans;Troy is also called Ilion. _

_The play was produced in the archonship if Philocles_ (458 B. C. ). _The first prize was won by Aeschylus with the "Agamemnon", "Libation-Bearers", "Eumenides", and the Satyr Play "Proteus"_. 

THE AGAMEMNON

_The Scene represents a space in front of the Palace of Agamemnon inArgos, with an Altar of Zeus in the centre and many other altars at thesides. On a high terrace of the roof stands a_ WATCHMAN. _It is night_. 

WATCHMAN. 

This waste of year-long vigil I have prayedGod for some respite, watching elbow-stayed, As sleuthhounds watch, above the Atreidae's hall, Till well I know yon midnight festivalOf swarming stars, and them that lonely go, Bearers to man of summer and of snow, Great lords and shining, throned in heavenly fire. And still I await the sign, the beacon pyreThat bears Troy's capture on a voice of flameShouting o'erseas. So surely to her aimCleaveth a woman's heart, man-passioned!And when I turn me to my bed--my bedDew-drenched and dark and stumbling, to which nearCometh no dream nor sleep, but alway FearBreathes round it, warning, lest an eye once fainTo close may close too well to wake again;Think I perchance to sing or troll a tuneFor medicine against sleep, the music soonChanges to sighing for the tale untoldOf this house, not well mastered as of old. Howbeit, may God yet send us rest, and lightThe flame of good news flashed across the night. 

 [_He is silent, watching. Suddenly at a distance in the night there isa glimmer of fire, increasing presently to a blaze. _

Ha!0 kindler of the dark, O daylight birthOf dawn and dancing upon Argive earthFor this great end! All hail!--What ho, within!What ho! Bear word to Agamemnon's queenTo rise, like dawn, and lift in answer strongTo this glad lamp her women's triumph-song, If verily, verily, Ilion's citadelIs fallen, as yon beacons flaming tell. And I myself will tread the dance beforeAll others; for my master's dice I scoreGood, and mine own to-night three sixes plain. 

 [_Lights begin to show in the Palace_. 

Oh, good or ill, my hand shall clasp againMy dear lord's hand, returning! Beyond thatI speak not. A great ox hath laid his weightAcross my tongue. But these stone walls know well, If stones had speech, what tale were theirs to tell. For me, to him that knoweth I can yetSpeak; if another questions I forget. 

 [_Exit into the Palace. The women's "Ololûgê" or triumph-cry, is heardwithin and then repeated again and again further off in the City. Handmaids and Attendants come from the Palace, bearing torches, with whichthey kindle incense on the altars. Among them comes_ CLYTEMNESTRA, _whothrows herself on her knees at the central Altar in an agony of prayer. _

_Presently from the further side of the open space appear the_ CHORUS _of_ELDERS _and move gradually into position in front of the Palace. The day begins to dawn. _

CHORUS. 

Ten years since Ilion's righteous foes, The Atreidae strong, Menelaüs and eke Agamemnon arose, Two thrones, two sceptres, yoked of God;And a thousand galleys of Argos trod The seas for the righting of wrong;And wrath of battle about them cried, As vultures cry, Whose nest is plundered, and up they flyIn anguish lonely, eddying wide, Great wings like oars in the waste of sky, Their task gone from them, no more to keepWatch o'er the vulture babes asleep. But One there is who heareth on highSome Pan or Zeus, some lost Apollo--That keen bird-throated suffering cryOf the stranger wronged in God's own sky;And sendeth down, for the law transgressed, The Wrath of the Feet that follow. 

 So Zeus the Watcher of Friend and Friend, Zeus who Prevaileth, in after questFor One Belovèd by Many MenOn Paris sent the Atreidae twain;Yea, sent him dances before the end For his bridal cheer, Wrestlings heavy and limbs forespentFor Greek and Trojan, the knee earth-bent, The bloody dust and the broken spear. He knoweth, that which is here is here, And that which Shall Be followeth near;He seeketh God with a great desire, He heaps his gifts, he essays his pyreWith torch below and with oil above, With tears, but never the wrath shall moveOf the Altar cold that rejects his fire. 

 We saw the Avengers go that day, And they left us here; for our flesh is oldAnd serveth not; and these staves upholdA strength like the strength of a child at play. For the sap that springs in the young man's handAnd the valour of age, they have left the land. And the passing old, while the dead leaf blowsAnd the old staff gropeth his three-foot way, Weak as a babe and alone he goes, A dream left wandering in the day. 

 [_Coming near the Central Altar they see_ CLYTEMNESTRA, _who is stillrapt in prayer_. 

But thou, O daughter of Tyndareus, Queen Clytemnestra, what need? What news?What tale or tiding hath stirred thy moodTo send forth word upon all our waysFor incensed worship? Of every godThat guards the city, the deep, the high, Gods of the mart, gods of the sky, The altars blaze. One here, one there, To the skyey night the firebrands flare, Drunk with the soft and guileless spellOf balm of kings from the inmost cell. Tell, O Queen, and reject us not, All that can or that may be told, And healer be to this aching thought, Which one time hovereth, evil-cold, And then from the fires thou kindlestWill Hope be kindled, and hungry CareFall back for a little while, nor tearThe heart that beateth below my breast. 

 [CLYTEMNESTRA _rises silently, as though unconscious of their presence, and goes into the House. The_ CHORUS _take position and begin their firstStasimon, or Standing-song, _

CHORUS. 

(_The sign seen on the way; Eagles tearing a hare with young_. )

It is ours to tell of the Sign of the War-way given, To men more strong, (For a life that is kin unto ours yet breathes from heaven A spell, a Strength of Song:)How the twin-throned Might of Achaia, one Crown divided Above all Greeks that are, With avenging hand and spear upon Troy was guided By the Bird of War. 'Twas a King among birds to each of the Kings of the Sea, One Eagle black, one black but of fire-white tail, By the House, on the Spear-hand, in station that all might see;And they tore a hare, and the life in her womb that grew, Yea, the life unlived and the races unrun they slew. _Sorrow, sing sorrow: but good prevail, prevail_!

(_How Calchas read the sign; his Vision of the Future_. )

And the War-seer wise, as he looked on the Atreid Yoke Twain-tempered, knewThose fierce hare-renders the lords of his host; and spoke, Reading the omen true. "At the last, the last, this Hunt hunteth Ilion down, Yea, and before the wallViolent division the fulness of land and town Shall waste withal;If only God's eye gloom not against our gates, And the great War-curb of Troy, fore-smitten, fail. For Pity lives, and those wingèd Hounds she hates, Which tore in the Trembler's body the unborn beast. And Artemis abhorreth the eagles' feast. " _Sorrow, sing sorrow: but good prevail, prevail_!

 (_He prays to Artemis to grant the fulfilment of the Sign, but, as hisvision increases, he is afraid and calls on Paian, the Healer, to hold herback_. )

 "Thou beautiful One, thou tender lover Of the dewy breath of the Lion's child; Thou the delight, through den and cover, Of the young life at the breast of the wild, Yet, oh, fulfill, fulfill The sign of the Eagles' Kill!Be the vision accepted, albeit horrible. . . . But I-ê, I-ê! Stay her, O Paian, stay!For lo, upon other evil her heart she setteth, Long wastes of wind, held ship and unventured sea, On, on, till another Shedding of Blood be wrought:They kill but feast not; they pray not; the law is broken;Strife in the flesh, and the bride she obeyeth not, And beyond, beyond, there abideth in wrath reawoken--It plotteth, it haunteth the house, yea, it never forgetteth-- Wrath for a child to be. "So Calchas, reading the wayside eagles' sign, Spake to the Kings, blessings and words of bale; And like his song be thine, _Sorrow, sing sorrow: but good prevail, prevail_!

(_Such religion belongs to old and barbarous gods, and brings no peace. I turn to Zeus, who has shown man how to Learn by Suffering_. )

Zeus! Zeus, whate'er He be, If this name He love to hearThis He shall be called of me. Searching earth and sea and air

Refuge nowhere can I findSave Him only, if my mindWill cast off before it dieThe burden of this vanity. 

One there was who reigned of old, Big with wrath to brave and blast, Lo, his name is no more told!And who followed met at lastHis Third-thrower, and is gone. Only they whose hearts have knownZeus, the Conqueror and the Friend, They shall win their vision's end;

Zeus the Guide, who made man turnThought-ward, Zeus, who did ordainMan by Suffering shall Learn. So the heart of him, againAching with remembered pain, Bleeds and sleepeth not, untilWisdom comes against his will. 'Tis the gift of One by strifeLifted to the throne of life. 

(AGAMEMNON _accepted the sign. Then came long delay, and storm while thefleet lay at Aulis. _)

So that day the Elder Lord, Marshal of the Achaian ships, Strove not with the prophet's word, Bowed him to his fate's eclipse, When with empty jars and lipsParched and seas impassableFate on that Greek army fell, Fronting Chalcis as it lay, By Aulis in the swirling bay. 

(_Till at last Calchas answered that Artemis was wroth and demanded thedeath of_ AGAMEMNON'S _daughter. The King's doubt and grief_. )

And winds, winds blew from Strymon River, Unharboured, starving, winds of waste endeavour, Man-blinding, pitiless to cord and bulwark, And the waste of days was made long, more long, Till the flower of Argos was aghast and withered; Then through the storm rose the War-seer's song, And told of medicine that should tame the tempest, But bow the Princes to a direr wrong. Then "Artemis" he whispered, he named the name;And the brother Kings they shook in the hearts of them, And smote on the earth their staves, and the tears came. 

But the King, the elder, hath found voice and spoken:"A heavy doom, sure, if God's will were broken;But to slay mine own child, who my house delighteth, Is that not heavy? That her blood should flowOn her father's hand, hard beside an altar? My path is sorrow wheresoe'er I go. Shall Agamemnon fail his ships and people, And the hosts of Hellas melt as melts the snow?They cry, they thirst, for a death that shall break the spell, For a Virgin's blood: 'tis a rite of old, men tell. And they burn with longing. --O God may the end be well!"

(_But ambition drove him, till he consented to the sin of slaying hisdaughter, Iphigenia, as a sacrifice. _)

To the yoke of Must-Be he bowed him slowly, And a strange wind within his bosom tossed, A wind of dark thought, unclean, unholy; And he rose up, daring to the uttermost. For men are boldened by a Blindness, straying Toward base desire, which brings grief hereafter, Yea, and itself is grief;So this man hardened to his own child's slaying, As help to avenge him for a woman's laughter And bring his ships relief!

Her "Father, Father, " her sad cry that lingered, Her virgin heart's breath they held all as naught, Those bronze-clad witnesses and battle-hungered; And there they prayed, and when the prayer was wroughtHe charged the young men to uplift and bind her, As ye lift a wild kid, high above the altar, Fierce-huddling forward, fallen, clinging soreTo the robe that wrapt her; yea, he bids them hinder The sweet mouth's utterance, the cries that falter, --His curse for evermore!--

With violence and a curb's voiceless wrath. Her stole of saffron then to the ground she threw, And her eye with an arrow of pity found its path To each man's heart that slew:A face in a picture, striving amazedly; The little maid who danced at her father's board, The innocent voice man's love came never nigh, Who joined to his her little paean-cry When the third cup was poured. . . . 

What came thereafter I saw not neither tell. But the craft of Calchas failed not. --'Tis written, HeWho Suffereth Shall Learn; the law holdeth well. And that which is to be, Ye will know at last; why weep before the hour? For come it shall, as out of darkness dawn. Only may good from all this evil flower;So prays this Heart of Argos, this frail tower Guarding the land alone. 

 [_As they cease, _ CLYTEMNESTRA _comes from the Palace with Attendants. She has finished her prayer and sacrifice, and is now wrought up to facethe meeting with her husband. The Leader approaches her_. 

LEADER. 

Before thy state, O Queen, I bow mine eyes. 'Tis written, when the man's throne empty lies, The woman shall be honoured. --Hast thou heardSome tiding sure? Or is it Hope, hath stirredTo fire these altars? Dearly though we seekTo learn, 'tis thine to speak or not to speak. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Glad-voiced, the old saw telleth, comes this morn, The Star-child of a dancing midnight born, And beareth to thine ear a word of joyBeyond all hope: the Greek hath taken Troy. 

LEADER. 

How?Thy word flies past me, being incredible. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Ilion is ours. No riddling tale I tell. 

LEADER. 

Such joy comes knocking at the gate of tears. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Aye, 'tis a faithful heart that eye declares. 

LEADER. 

What warrant hast thou? Is there proof of this?

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

There is; unless a God hath lied there is. 

LEADER. 

Some dream-shape came to thee in speaking guise?

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Who deemeth me a dupe of drowsing eyes?

LEADER. 

Some word within that hovereth without wings?

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Am I a child to hearken to such things?

LEADER. 

Troy fallen?--But how long? When fell she, say?

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

The very night that mothered this new day. 

LEADER. 

And who of heralds with such fury came?

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

A Fire-god, from Mount Ida scattering flame. Whence starting, beacon after beacon burstIn flaming message hitherward. Ida firstTold Hermes' Lemnian Rock, whose answering signWas caught by towering Athos, the divine, With pines immense--yea, fishes of the nightSwam skyward, drunken with that leaping light, Which swelled like some strange sun, till dim and farMakistos' watchmen marked a glimmering star;They, nowise loath nor idly slumber-won, Spring up to hurl the fiery message on, And a far light beyond the Eurîpus tellsThat word hath reached Messapion's sentinels. They beaconed back, then onward with a highHeap of dead heather flaming to the sky. And onward still, not failing nor aswoon, Across the Asôpus like a beaming moonThe great word leapt, and on Kithairon's heightUproused a new relay of racing light. His watchers knew the wandering flame, nor hidTheir welcome, burning higher than was bid. Out over Lake Gorgôpis then it floats, To Aigiplanctos, waking the wild goats, Crying for "Fire, more Fire!" And fire was reared, Stintless and high, a stormy streaming beard, That waved in flame beyond the promontoryRock-ridged, that watches the Saronian sea, Kindling the night: then one short swoop to catchThe Spider's Crag, our city's tower of watch;Whence hither to the Atreidae's roof it came, A light true-fathered of Idaean flame. Torch-bearer after torch-bearer, beholdThe tale thereof in stations manifold, Each one by each made perfect ere it passed, And Victory in the first as in the last. These be my proofs and tokens that my lordFrom Troy hath spoke to me a burning word. 

LEADER. 

Woman, speak on. Hereafter shall my prayerBe raised to God; now let me only hear, Again and full, the marvel and the joy. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Now, even now, the Achaian holdeth Troy!Methinks there is a crying in her streetsThat makes no concord. When sweet unguent meetsWith vinegar in one phial, I warrant noneShall lay those wranglers lovingly at one. So conquerors and conquered shalt thou hear, Two sundered tones, two lives of joy or fear. Here women in the dust about their slain, Husbands or brethren, and by dead old menPale children who shall never more be free, For all they loved on earth cry desolately. And hard beside them war-stained Greeks, whom starkBattle and then long searching through the darkHath gathered, ravenous, in the dawn, to feastAt last on all the plenty Troy possessed, No portion in that feast nor ordinance, But each man clutching at the prize of chance. Aye, there at last under good roofs they lieOf men spear-quelled, no frosts beneath the sky, No watches more, no bitter moony dew. . . . How blessèd they will sleep the whole night through!Oh, if these days they keep them free from sinToward Ilion's conquered shrines and Them withinWho watch unconquered, maybe not againThe smiter shall be smit, the taker ta'en. May God but grant there fall not on that hostThe greed of gold that maddeneth and the lustTo spoil inviolate things! But half the raceIs run which windeth back to home and peace. Yea, though of God they pass unchallengèd, Methinks the wound of all those desolate deadMight waken, groping for its will. . . . Ye hearA woman's word, belike a woman's fear. May good but conquer in the last inclineOf the balance! Of all prayers that prayer is mine. 

LEADER. 

O Woman, like a man faithful and wiseThou speakest. I accept thy testimoniesAnd turn to God with praising, for a gainIs won this day that pays for all our pain. 

 [CLYTEMNESTRA _returns to the Palace. The_ CHORUS _take up theirposition for the Second Stasimon. _

AN ELDER. 

0 Zeus, All-ruler, and Night the Aid, Gainer of glories, and hast thou thrownOver the towers of Ilion Thy net close-laid, That none so nimble and none so tallShall escape withalThe snare of the slaver that claspeth all?

ANOTHER. 

And Zeus the Watcher of Friend and FriendI also praise, who hath wrought this end. Long since on Paris his shaft he drew, And hath aimèd true, Not too soon falling nor yet too far, The fire of the avenging star. 

CHORUS. 

(_This is God's judgement upon Troy. May it not be too fierce! Gold cannotsave one who spurneth Justice_. )

The stroke of Zeus hath found them! Clear this day The tale, and plain to trace. He judged, and Troy hath fallen. --And have men saidThat God not deigns to mark man's hardihead, Trampling to earth the graceOf holy and delicate things?--Sin lies that way. For visibly Pride doth breed its own return On prideful men, who, when their houses swell With happy wealth, breathe ever wrath and blood. Yet not too fierce let the due vengeance burn; Only as deemeth well One wise of mood. 

 Never shall state nor gold Shelter his heart from aching Whoso the Altar of Justice old Spurneth to Night unwaking. 

(_The Sinner suffers in his longing till at last Temptation overcomes him;as longing for Helen overcame Paris. _)

The tempting of misery forceth him, the dread Child of fore-scheming Woe!And help is vain; the fell desire withinIs veilèd not, but shineth bright like Sin: And as false gold will showBlack where the touchstone trieth, so doth fadeHis honour in God's ordeal. Like a child, Forgetting all, he hath chased his wingèd bird, And planted amid his people a sharp thorn. And no God hears his prayer, or, have they heard, The man so base-beguiled They cast to scorn. 

 Paris to Argos came; Love of a woman led him; So God's altar he brought to shame, Robbing the hand that fed him. 

(_Helen's flight; the visions seen by the King's seers; the phantom ofHelen and the King's grief. _)

She hath left among her people a noise of shield and sword, A tramp of men armed where the long ships are moored;She hath ta'en in her goings Desolation as a dower;She hath stept, stept quickly, through the great gated Tower, And the thing that could not be, it hath been!And the Seers they saw visions, and they spoke of strange ill: "A Palace, a Palace; and a great King thereof: A bed, a bed empty, that was once pressed in love:And thou, thou, what art thou? Let us be, thou so still, Beyond wrath, beyond beseeching, to the lips reft of thee!" For she whom he desireth is beyond the deep sea, And a ghost in his castle shall be queen. 

Images in sweet guise Carven shall move him never, Where is Love amid empty eyes? Gone, gone for ever!

(_His dreams and his suffering; but the War that he made caused greaterand wider suffering. _)

But a shape that is a dream, 'mid the phantoms of the night, Cometh near, full of tears, bringing vain vain delight:For in vain when, desiring, he can feel the joy's breath--Nevermore! Nevermore!--from his arms it vanisheth, On wings down the pathways of sleep. 

In the mid castle hall, on the hearthstone of the Kings, These griefs there be, and griefs passing these, But in each man's dwelling of the host that sailed the seas, A sad woman waits; she has thoughts of many things, And patience in her heart lieth deep. 

Knoweth she them she sent, Knoweth she? Lo, returning, Comes in stead of the man that went Armour and dust of burning. 

(_The return of the funeral urns; the murmurs of the People. _)

And the gold-changer, Ares, who changeth quick for dead, Who poiseth his scale in the striving of the spears, Back from Troy sendeth dust, heavy dust, wet with tears, Sendeth ashes with men's names in his urns neatly spread. And they weep over the men, and they praise them one by one, How this was a wise fighter, and this nobly-slain-- "Fighting to win back another's wife!"Till a murmur is begun, And there steals an angry pain Against Kings too forward in the strife. 

 There by Ilion's gate Many a soldier sleepeth, Young men beautiful; fast in hate Troy her conqueror keepeth. 

(_For the Shedder of Blood is in great peril, and not unmarked by God. MayI never be a Sacker of Cities!_)

But the rumour of the People, it is heavy, it is chill;And tho' no curse be spoken, like a curse doth it brood;And my heart waits some tiding which the dark holdeth still, For of God not unmarked is the shedder of much blood. And who conquers beyond right . . . Lo, the life of man decays; There be Watchers dim his light in the wasting of the years; He falls, he is forgotten, and hope dies. There is peril in the praise Over-praised that he hears; For the thunder it is hurled from God's eyes. 

 Glory that breedeth strife, Pride of the Sacker of Cities; Yea, and the conquered captive's life, Spare me, O God of Pities!

DIVERS ELDERS. 

--The fire of good tidings it hath sped the city through, But who knows if a god mocketh? Or who knows if all be true? 'Twere the fashion of a child, Or a brain dream-beguiled, To be kindled by the first Torch's message as it burst, And thereafter, as it dies, to die too. 

--'Tis like a woman's sceptre, to ordainWelcome to joy before the end is plain!

--Too lightly opened are a woman's ears;Her fence downtrod by many trespassers, And quickly crossed; but quickly lostThe burden of a woman's hopes or fears. 

[_Here a break occurs in the action, like the descent of the curtain in amodern theatre. A space of some days is assumed to have passed and we findthe Elders again assembled_. 

LEADER. 

Soon surely shall we read the message right;Were fire and beacon-call and lamps of lightTrue speakers, or but happy lights, that seemAnd are not, like sweet voices in a dream. I see a Herald yonder by the shore, Shadowed with olive sprays. And from his soreRent raiment cries a witness from afar, Dry Dust, born brother to the Mire of war, That mute he comes not, neither through the smokeOf mountain forests shall his tale be spoke;But either shouting for a joyful day, Or else. . . . But other thoughts I cast away. As good hath dawned, may good shine on, we pray!

--And whoso for this City prayeth aught Else, let him reap the harvest of his thought!

 [_Enter the_ HERALD, _running. His garments are torn and war-stained. Hefalls upon his knees and kisses the Earth, and salutes each Altar inturn. _

HERALD. 

Land of my fathers! Argos! Am I here . . . Home, home at this tenth shining of the year, And all Hope's anchors broken save this one!For scarcely dared I dream, here in mine ownArgos at last to fold me to my rest. . . . But now--All Hail, O Earth! O Sunlight blest!And Zeus Most High! [_Checking himself as he sees the altar of Apollo. _ And thou, O Pythian Lord;No more on us be thy swift arrows poured!Beside Scamander well we learned how trueThy hate is. Oh, as thou art Healer too, Heal us! As thou art Saviour of the Lost, Save also us, Apollo, being so tossedWith tempest! . . . All ye Daemons of the Pale!And Hermes! Hermes, mine own guardian, hail!Herald beloved, to whom all heralds bow. . . . Ye Blessèd Dead that sent us, receive nowIn love your children whom the spear hath spared. O House of Kings, O roof-tree thrice-endeared, O solemn thrones! O gods that face the sun!Now, now, if ever in the days foregone, After these many years, with eyes that burn, Give hail and glory to your King's return!For Agamemnon cometh! A great lightCometh to men and gods out of the night. Grand greeting give him--aye, it need be grand--Who, God's avenging mattock in his hand, Hath wrecked Troy's towers and digged her soil beneath, Till her gods' houses, they are things of death;Her altars waste, and blasted every seedWhence life might rise! So perfect is his deed, So dire the yoke on Ilion he hath cast, The first Atreides, King of Kings at last, And happy among men! To whom we giveHonour most high above all things that live. For Paris nor his guilty land can scoreThe deed they wrought above the pain they bore. "Spoiler and thief, " he heard God's judgement pass;Whereby he lost his plunder, and like grassMowed down his father's house and all his land;And Troy pays twofold for the sin she planned. 

LEADER. 

Be glad, thou Herald of the Greek from Troy!

HERALD. 

So glad, I am ready, if God will, to die!

LEADER. 

Did love of this land work thee such distress?

HERALD. 

The tears stand in mine eyes for happiness. 

LEADER. 

Sweet sorrow was it, then, that on you fell. 

HERALD. 

How sweet? I cannot read thy parable. 

LEADER. 

To pine again for them that loved you true. 

HERALD. 

Did ye then pine for us, as we for you?

LEADER. 

The whole land's heart was dark, and groaned for thee. 

HERALD. 

Dark? For what cause? Why should such darkness be?

LEADER. 

Silence in wrong is our best medicine here. 

HERALD. 

Your kings were gone. What others need you fear?

LEADER. 

'Tis past! Like thee now, I could gladly die. 

HERALD. 

Even so! 'Tis past, and all is victory. And, for our life in those long years, there wereDoubtless some grievous days, and some were fair. Who but a god goes woundless all his way?. . . . Oh, could I tell the sick toil of the day, The evil nights, scant decks ill-blanketed;The rage and cursing when our daily breadCame not! And then on land 'twas worse than all. Our quarters close beneath the enemy's wall;And rain--and from the ground the river dew--Wet, always wet! Into our clothes it grew, Plague-like, and bred foul beasts in every hair. Would I could tell how ghastly midwinterStole down from Ida till the birds dropped dead!Or the still heat, when on his noonday bedThe breathless blue sea sank without a wave!. . . . Why think of it? They are past and in the grave, All those long troubles. For I think the slainCare little if they sleep or rise again;And we, the living, wherefore should we acheWith counting all our lost ones, till we wakeThe old malignant fortunes? If Good-byeComes from their side, Why, let them go, say I. Surely for us, who live, good doth prevailUnchallenged, with no wavering of the scale;Wherefore we vaunt unto these shining skies, As wide o'er sea and land our glory flies:"By men of Argolis who conquered Troy, These spoils, a memory and an ancient joy, Are nailed in the gods' houses throughout Greece. "Which whoso readeth shall with praise increaseOur land, our kings, and God's grace manifoldWhich made these marvels be. --My tale is told. 

LEADER. 

Indeed thou conquerest me. Men say, the lightIn old men's eyes yet serves to learn aright. But Clytemnestra and the House should hearThese tidings first, though I their health may share. 

 [_During the last words_ CLYTEMNESTRA _has entered from the Palace_. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Long since I lifted up my voice in joy, When the first messenger from flaming TroySpake through the dark of sack and overthrow. And mockers chid me: "Because beacons showOn the hills, must Troy be fallen? Quickly bornAre women's hopes!" Aye, many did me scorn;Yet gave I sacrifice; and by my wordThrough all the city our woman's cry was heard, Lifted in blessing round the seats of God, And slumbrous incense o'er the altars glowedIn fragrance. And for thee, what need to tellThy further tale? My lord himself shall wellInstruct me. Yet, to give my lord and kingAll reverent greeting at his homecoming--What dearer dawn on woman's eyes can flameThan this, which casteth wide her gate to acclaimThe husband whom God leadeth safe from war?--Go, bear my lord this prayer: That fast and farHe haste him to this town which loves his name;And in his castle may he find the sameWife that he left, a watchdog of the hall, True to one voice and fierce to others all;A body and soul unchanged, no seal of hisBroke in the waiting years. --No thought of easeNor joy from other men hath touched my soul, Nor shall touch, until bronze be dyed like wool. A boast so faithful and so plain, I wot, Spoke by a royal Queen doth shame her not. 

 [_Exit_ CLYTEMNESTRA. 

LEADER. 

Let thine ear mark her message. 'Tis of fairSeeming, and craves a clear interpreter. . . . But, Herald, I would ask thee; tell me trueOf Menelaus. Shall he come with you, Our land's belovèd crown, untouched of ill?

HERALD. 

I know not how to speak false words of wealFor friends to reap thereof a harvest true. 

LEADER. 

Canst speak of truth with comfort joined? Those twoOnce parted, 'tis a gulf not lightly crossed. 

HERALD. 

Your king is vanished from the Achaian host, He and his ship! Such comfort have I brought. 

LEADER. 

Sailed he alone from Troy? Or was he caughtBy storms in the midst of you, and swept away?

HERALD. 

Thou hast hit the truth; good marksman, as men say!And long to suffer is but brief to tell. 

LEADER. 

How ran the sailors' talk? Did there prevailOne rumour, showing him alive or dead?

HERALD. 

None knoweth, none hath tiding, save the headOf Helios, ward and watcher of the world. 

LEADER. 

Then tell us of the storm. How, when God hurledHis anger, did it rise? How did it die?

HERALD. 

It likes me not, a day of presage highWith dolorous tongue to stain. Those twain, I vow, Stand best apart. When one with shuddering brow, From armies lost, back beareth to his homeWord that the terror of her prayers is come;One wound in her great heart, and many a fateFor many a home of men cast out to sateThe two-fold scourge that worketh Ares' lust, Spear crossed with spear, dust wed with bloody dust;Who walketh laden with such weight of wrong, Why, let him, if he will, uplift the songThat is Hell's triumph. But to come as IAm now come, laden with deliverance high, Home to a land of peace and laughing eyes, And mar all with that fury of the skiesWhich made our Greeks curse God--how should this be? Two enemies most ancient, Fire and Sea, A sudden friendship swore, and proved their plightBy war on us poor sailors through that nightOf misery, when the horror of the waveTowered over us, and winds from Strymon draveHull against hull, till good ships, by the hornOf the mad whirlwind gored and overborne, One here, one there, 'mid rain and blinding spray, Like sheep by a devil herded, passed away. And when the blessèd Sun upraised his head, We saw the Aegean waste a-foam with dead, Dead men, dead ships, and spars disasterful. Howbeit for us, our one unwounded hullOut of that wrath was stolen or begged freeBy some good spirit--sure no man was he!--Who guided clear our helm; and on till nowHath Saviour Fortune throned her on the prow. No surge to mar our mooring, and no floorOf rock to tear us when we made for shore. Till, fled from that sea-hell, with the clear sunAbove us and all trust in fortune gone, We drove like sheep about our brain the thoughtsOf that lost army, broken and scourged with knoutsOf evil. And, methinks, if there is breathIn them, they talk of us as gone to death--How else?--and so say we of them! For thee, Since Menelaüs thy first care must be, If by some word of Zeus, who wills not yetTo leave the old house for ever desolate, Some ray of sunlight on a far-off seaLights him, yet green and living . . . We may seeHis ship some day in the harbour!--'Twas the wordOf truth ye asked me for, and truth ye have heard!

 [_Exit_ HERALD. _The_ CHORUS _take position for the Third Stasimon_. 

CHORUS. 

(_Surely there was mystic meaning in the name_ HELENA, _meaning which wasfulfilled when she fled to Troy. _)

 Who was He who found for thee That name, truthful utterly--Was it One beyond our visionMoving sure in pre-decision Of man's doom his mystic lips?-- Calling thee, the Battle-wed, Thee, the Strife-encompassèd, HELEN? Yea, in fate's derision, Hell in cities, Hell in ships, Hell in hearts of men they knew her, When the dim and delicate fold Of her curtains backward rolled, And to sea, to sea, she threw her In the West Wind's giant hold;And with spear and sword behind her Came the hunters in a flood, Down the oarblade's viewless trailTracking, till in Simoïs' valeThrough the leaves they crept to find her, A Wrath, a seed of blood. 

(_The Trojans welcomed her with triumph and praised Alexander till at lasttheir song changed and they saw another meaning in Alexander's namealso. _)

 So the Name to Ilion came On God's thought-fulfilling flame, She a vengeance and a tokenOf the unfaith to bread broken, Of the hearth of God betrayed, Against them whose voices swelled Glorying in the prize they heldAnd the Spoiler's vaunt outspoken And the song his brethren made'Mid the bridal torches burning; Till, behold, the ancient CityOf King Priam turned, and turningTook a new song for her learning, A song changed and full of pity, With the cry of a lost nation; And she changed the bridegroom's name: Called him Paris Ghastly-wed; For her sons were with the dead, And her life one lamentation, 'Mid blood and burning flame. 

(_Like a lion's whelp reared as a pet and turning afterwards to a greatbeast of prey, _)

 Lo, once there was a herdsman reared In his own house, so stories tell, A lion's whelp, a milk-fed thing And soft in life's first opening Among the sucklings of the herd; The happy children loved him well, And old men smiled, and oft, they say, In men's arms, like a babe, he lay, Bright-eyed, and toward the hand that teased him Eagerly fawning for food or play. 

 Then on a day outflashed the sudden Rage of the lion brood of yore; He paid his debt to them that fed With wrack of herds and carnage red, Yea, wrought him a great feast unbidden, Till all the house-ways ran with gore; A sight the thralls fled weeping from, A great red slayer, beard a-foam, High-priest of some blood-cursèd altar God had uplifted against that home. 

(_So was it with Helen in Troy. _)

 And how shall I call the thing that came At the first hour to Ilion city? Call it a dream of peace untold, A secret joy in a mist of gold, A woman's eye that was soft, like flame, A flower which ate a man's heart with pity. 

But she swerved aside and wrought to her kiss a bitter ending, And a wrath was on her harbouring, a wrath upon her friending, When to Priam and his sons she fled quickly o'er the deep, With the god to whom she sinned for her watcher on the wind, A death-bride, whom brides long shall weep. 

(_Men say that Good Fortune wakes the envy of God; not so; Good Fortunemay be innocent, and then there is no vengeance_. )

 A grey word liveth, from the morn Of old time among mortals spoken, That man's Wealth waxen full shall fall Not childless, but get sons withal; And ever of great bliss is born A tear unstanched and a heart broken. 

But I hold my thought alone and by others unbeguiled;'Tis the deed that is unholy shall have issue, child on child, Sin on sin, like his begetters; and they shall be as they were. 

But the man who walketh straight, and the house thereof, tho' Fate Exalt him, the children shall be fair. 

_(It is Sin, it is Pride and Ruthlessness, that beget childrenlike themselves till Justice is fulfilled upon them. )_

But Old Sin loves, when comes the hour again, To bring forth New, Which laugheth lusty amid the tears of men;Yea, and Unruth, his comrade, wherewith noneMay plead nor strive, which dareth on and on, Knowing not fear nor any holy thing;Two fires of darkness in a house, born true, Like to their ancient spring. 

But Justice shineth in a house low-wrought With smoke-stained wall, And honoureth him who filleth his own lot;But the unclean hand upon the golden stairWith eyes averse she flieth, seeking where Things innocent are; and, recking not the powerOf wealth by man misgloried, guideth all To her own destined hour. 

 [_Here amid a great procession enter_ AGAMEMNON _on a Chariot. Behindhim on another Chariot is_ CASSANDRA. _The_ CHORUS _approach and makeobeisance. Some of_ AGAMEMNON'S _men have on their shields a White Horse, some a Lion. Their arms are rich and partly barbaric_. 

LEADER. 

All hail, O King! Hail, Atreus' Son!Sacker of Cities! Ilion's bane!With what high word shall I greet thee again, How give thee worship, and neither outrunThe point of pleasure, nor stint too soon?For many will cling. To fair seemingThe faster because they have sinned erewhile;And a man may sigh with never a stingOf grief in his heart, and a man may smileWith eyes unlit and a lip that strains. But the wise Shepherd knoweth his sheep, And his eyes pierce deepThe faith like water that fawns and feigns. 

But I hide nothing, O King. That dayWhen in quest of Helen our battle arrayHurled forth, thy name upon my heart's scrollWas deep in letters of discord writ; And the ship of thy soul, Ill-helmed and blindly steered was it, Pursuing ever, through men that die, One wild heart that was fain to fly. But on this new day, From the deep of my thought and in love, I say "Sweet is a grief well ended;"And in time's flow Thou wilt learn and know The true from the false, Of them that were left to guard the walls Of thine empty Hall unfriended. 

 [_During the above_ CLYTEMNESTRA _has appeared on the Palace steps, witha train of Attendants, to receive her Husband_. 

AGAMEMNON. 

To Argos and the gods of ArgolisAll hail, who share with me the glory of thisHome-coming and the vengeance I did wreakOn Priam's City! Yea, though none should speak, The great gods heard our cause, and in one moodUprising, in the urn of bitter blood, That men should shriek and die and towers should burn, Cast their great vote; while over Mercy's urnHope waved her empty hands and nothing fell. Even now in smoke that City tells her tale;The wrack-wind liveth, and where Ilion diedThe reek of the old fatness of her prideFrom hot and writhing ashes rolls afar. For which let thanks, wide as our glories are, Be uplifted; seeing the Beast of Argos hathRound Ilion's towers piled high his fence of wrathAnd, for one woman ravished, wrecked by forceA City. Lo, the leap of the wild Horsein darkness when the Pleiades were dead;A mailed multitude, a Lion unfed, Which leapt the tower and lapt the blood of Kings!

 Lo, to the Gods I make these thanksgivings. But for thy words: I marked them, and I mindTheir meaning, and my voice shall be behindThine. For not many men, the proverb saith, Can love a friend whom fortune prosperethUnenvying; and about the envious brainCold poison clings, and doubles all the painLife brings him. His own woundings he must nurse, And feels another's gladness like a curse. 

 Well can I speak. I know the mirrored glassCalled friendship, and the shadow shapes that passAnd feign them a King's friends. I have known but one--Odysseus, him we trapped against his ownWill!--who once harnessed bore his yoke right well . . . Be he alive or dead of whom I tellThe tale. And for the rest, touching our stateAnd gods, we will assemble in debateA concourse of all Argos, taking sureCounsel, that what is well now may endureWell, and if aught needs healing medicine, stillBy cutting and by fire, with all good will, I will essay to avert the after-wrackSuch sickness breeds. 

 Aye, Heaven hath led me back;And on this hearth where still my fire doth burnI will go pay to heaven my due return, Which guides me here, which saved me far away. O Victory, now mine own, be mine alway!

 [CLYTEMNESTRA, _at the head of her retinue, steps forward. She controlsher suspense with difficulty but gradually gains courage as she proceeds. _

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Ye Elders, Council of the Argive nameHere present, I will no more hold it shameTo lay my passion bare before men's eyes. There comes a time to a woman when fear diesFor ever. None hath taught me. None could tell, Save me, the weight of years intolerableI lived while this man lay at Ilion. That any woman thus should sit aloneIn a half-empty house, with no man near, Makes her half-blind with dread! And in her earAlway some voice of wrath; now messengersOf evil; now not so; then others worse, Crying calamity against mine and me. Oh, had he half the wounds that variouslyCame rumoured home, his flesh must be a net, All holes from heel to crown! And if he metAs many deaths as I met tales thereon, Is he some monstrous thing, some GêryonThree-souled, that will not die, till o'er his head, Three robes of earth be piled, to hold him dead? Aye, many a time my heart broke, and the nooseOf death had got me; but they cut me loose. It was those voices alway in mine ear. 

 For that, too, young Orestes is not hereBeside me, as were meet, seeing he aboveAll else doth hold the surety of our love;Let not thy heart be troubled. It fell thus:Our loving spear-friend took him, StrophiusThe Phocian, who forewarned me of annoyTwo-fronted, thine own peril under Troy, And ours here, if the rebel multitudeShould cast the Council down. It is men's moodAlway, to spurn the fallen. So spake he, And sure no guile was in him. 

 But for me, The old stormy rivers of my grief are deadNow at the spring; not one tear left unshed. Mine eyes are sick with vigil, endlesslyWeeping the beacon-piles that watched for theeFor ever answerless. And did I dream, A gnat's thin whirr would start me, like a screamOf battle, and show me thee by terrors swept, Crowding, too many for the time I slept. 

 From all which stress delivered and free-souled, I greet my lord: O watchdog of the fold, O forestay sure that fails not in the squall, O strong-based pillar of a towering hall;O single son to a father age-ridden;O land unhoped for seen by shipwrecked men;Sunshine more beautiful when storms are fled;Spring of quick water in a desert dead . . . . How sweet to be set free from any chain!

These be my words to greet him home again. No god shall grudge them. Surely I and thouHave suffered in time past enough! And nowDismount, O head with love and glory crowned, From this high car; yet plant not on bare groundThy foot, great King, the foot that trampled Troy. Ho, bondmaids, up! Forget not your employ, A floor of crimson broideries to spreadFor the King's path. Let all the ground be redWhere those feet pass; and Justice, dark of yore, Home light him to the hearth he looks not for! What followeth next, our sleepless care shall seeOrdered as God's good pleasure may decree. 

 [_The attendants spread tapestries of crimson and gold from the Chariotto the Door of the Palace. _ AGAMEMNON _does not move_. 

AGAMEMNON. 

Daughter of Leda, watcher of my fold, In sooth thy welcome, grave and amply told, Fitteth mine absent years. Though it had beenSeemlier, methinks, some other, not my Queen, Had spoke these honours. For the rest, I say, Seek not to make me soft in woman's way;Cry not thy praise to me wide-mouthed, nor flingThy body down, as to some barbarous king. Nor yet with broidered hangings strew my path, To awake the unseen ire. 'Tis God that hathSuch worship; and for mortal man to pressRude feet upon this broidered loveliness . . . I vow there is danger in it. Let my roadBe honoured, surely; but as man, not god. Rugs for the feet and yonder broidered pall . . . The names ring diverse!. . . Aye, and not to fallSuddenly blind is of all gifts the bestGod giveth, for I reckon no man blestEre to the utmost goal his race be run. So be it; and if, as this day I have done, I shall do always, then I fear no ill. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Tell me but this, nowise against thy will . . . 

AGAMEMNON. 

My will, be sure, shall falter not nor fade. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Was this a vow in some great peril made?

AGAMEMNON. 

Enough! I have spoke my purpose, fixed and plain. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Were Priam the conqueror . . . Think, would he refrain?

AGAMEMNON. 

Oh, stores of broideries would be trampled then!

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Lord, care not for the cavillings of men!

AGAMEMNON. 

The murmur of a people hath strange weight. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Who feareth envy, feareth to be great. 

AGAMEMNON. 

'Tis graceless when a woman strives to lead. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

When a great conqueror yields, 'tis grace indeed, AGAMEMNON. 

So in this war thou must my conqueror be?

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Yield! With good will to yield is victory!

AGAMEMNON. 

Well, if I needs must . . . Be it as thou hast said! Quick! Loose me these bound slaves on which I tread, And while I walk yon wonders of the seaGod grant no eye of wrath be cast on meFrom far!

 [_The Attendants untie his shoes_. 

 For even now it likes me notTo waste mine house, thus marring underfootThe pride thereof, and wondrous broideriesBought in far seas with silver. But of theseEnough. --And mark, I charge thee, this princessOf Ilion; tend her with all gentleness. God's eye doth see, and loveth from afar, The merciful conqueror. For no slave of warIs slave by his own will. She is the prizeAnd chosen flower of Ilion's treasuries, Set by the soldiers' gift to follow me. Now therefore, seeing I am constrained by theeAnd do thy will, I walk in conqueror's guiseBeneath my Gate, trampling sea-crimson dyes. 

 [_As he dismounts and sets foot on the Tapestries_ CLYTEMNESTRA'S _womenutter again their Cry of Triumph. The people bow or kneel as he passes. _

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

There is the sea--its caverns who shall drain?--Breeding of many a purple-fish the stainSurpassing silver, ever fresh renewed, For robes of kings. And we, by right indued, Possess our fill thereof. Thy house, O King, Knoweth no stint, nor lack of anything. What trampling of rich raiment, had the crySo sounded in the domes of prophesy, Would I have vowed these years, as price to payFor this dear life in peril far away!Where the root is, the leafage cometh soonTo clothe an house, and spread its leafy boonAgainst the burning star; and, thou being come, Thou, on the midmost hearthstone of thy home, Oh, warmth in winter leapeth to thy sign. And when God's summer melteth into wineThe green grape, on that house shall coolness fallWhere the true man, the master, walks his hall. 

 Zeus, Zeus! True Master, let my prayers be true!And, oh, forget not that thou art willed to do!

 [_She follows_ AGAMEMNON _into the Palace. The retinues of both King andQueen go in after them. _ CASSANDRA _remains_. 

CHORUS. 

 What is this that evermore, [_Strophe 1. _ A cold terror at the doorOf this bosom presage-haunted, Pale as death hovereth?While a song unhired, unwanted, By some inward prophet chanted, Speaks the secret at its core; And to cast it from my blood Like a dream not understood No sweet-spoken Courage now Sitteth at my heart's dear prow. 

 Yet I know that manifold Days, like sand, have waxen old

Since the day those shoreward-thrown Cables flapped and line on lineStanding forth for Ilion The long galleys took the brine

 [_Antistrophe 1. _ And in harbour--mine own eye Hath beheld--again they lie;Yet that lyreless music hidden Whispers still words of ill, 'Tis the Soul of me unbidden, Like some Fury sorrow-ridden, Weeping over things that die. Neither waketh in my sense Ever Hope's dear confidence; For this flesh that groans within, And these bones that know of Sin, This tossed heart upon the spate Of a whirpool that is Fate, Surely these lie not. Yet deep Beneath hope my prayer doth run, All will die like dreams, and creep To the unthought of and undone. 

 [_Strophe 2. _--Surely of great Weal at the end of all Comes not Content; so near doth Fever crawl, Close neighbour, pressing hard the narrow wall. 

 --Woe to him who fears not fate! 'Tis the ship that forward straight Sweepeth, strikes the reef below; He who fears and lightens weight, Casting forth, in measured throw, From the wealth his hand hath got . . . His whole ship shall founder not, With abundance overfraught, Nor deep seas above him flow. --Lo, when famine stalketh near, One good gift of Zeus again From the furrows of one year Endeth quick the starving pain;

 [_Antistrophe 2. _--But once the blood of death is fallen, black And oozing at a slain man's feet, alack! By spell or singing who shall charm it back?

 --One there was of old who showed Man the path from death to day; But Zeus, lifting up his rod, Spared not, when he charged him stay. 

 --Save that every doom of God Hath by other dooms its way Crossed, that none may rule alone, In one speech-outstripping groan Forth had all this passion flown, Which now murmuring hides away, Full of pain, and hoping not Ever one clear thread to unknot From the tangle of my soul, From a heart of burning coal. 

 [_Suddenly_ CLYTEMNESTRA _appears standing in the Doorway. _

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Thou likewise, come within! I speak thy name, Cassandra;

 [CASSANDRA _trembles, but continues to stare in front of her, as thoughnot hearing_ CLYTEMNESTRA. 

 seeing the Gods--why chafe at them?--Have placed thee here, to share within these wallsOur lustral waters, 'mid a crowd of thrallsWho stand obedient round the altar-stoneOf our Possession. Therefore come thou down, And be not over-proud. The tale is toldHow once Alcmena's son himself, being sold, Was patient, though he liked not the slaves' mess. And more, if Fate must bring thee to this stress, Praise God thou art come to a House of high reportAnd wealth from long ago. The baser sort, Who have reaped some sudden harvest unforeseen, Are ever cruel to their slaves, and meanIn the measure. We shall give whate'er is due. 

 [CASSANDRA _is silent. _

LEADER. 

To thee she speaks, and waits . . . Clear words and true!Oh, doom is all around thee like a net;Yield, if thou canst. . . . Belike thou canst not yet. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Methinks, unless this wandering maid is oneVoiced like a swallow-bird, with tongue unknownAnd barbarous, she can read my plain intent. I use but words, and ask for her consent. 

LEADER. 

Ah, come! Tis best, as the world lies to-day. Leave this high-throned chariot, and obey!

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

How long must I stand dallying at the Gate?Even now the beasts to Hestia consecrateWait by the midmost fire, since there is wroughtThis high fulfilment for which no man thought. Wherefore, if 'tis thy pleasure to obeyAught of my will, prithee, no more delay!If, dead to sense, thou wilt not understand. . . Thou show her, not with speech but with brute hand!

 [_To the Leader of the_ CHORUS. 

LEADER. 

The strange maid needs a rare interpreter. She is trembling like a wild beast in a snare. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

'Fore God, she is mad, and heareth but her ownFolly! A slave, her city all o'erthrown, She needs must chafe her bridle, till this fretBe foamed away in blood and bitter sweat. I waste no more speech, thus to be defied. 

 [_She goes back inside the Palace_. 

LEADER. 

I pity thee so sore, no wrath nor prideIs in me. --Come, dismount! Bend to the strokeFate lays on thee, and learn to feel thy yoke. 

 [_He lays his hand softly on_ CASSANDRA'S _shoulder_. 

CASSANDRA (_moaning to herself_). 

Otototoi . . . Dreams. Dreams. Apollo. O Apollo!

SECOND ELDER. 

Why sob'st thou for Apollo? It is writ, He loves not grief nor lendeth ear to it. 

CASSANDRA. 

Otototoi . . . Dreams. Dreams. Apollo. O Apollo!

LEADER. 

Still to that god she makes her sobbing cryWho hath no place where men are sad, or die. 

CASSANDRA. 

Apollo, Apollo! Light of the Ways of Men! Mine enemy!Hast lighted me to darkness yet again?

SECOND ELDER. 

How? Will she prophesy about her ownSorrows? That power abides when all is gone!

CASSANDRA. 

Apollo, Apollo! Light of all that is! Mine enemy!Where hast thou led me? . . . Ha! What house is this?

LEADER. 

The Atreidae's castle. If thou knowest not, IAm here to help thee, and help faithfully. 

CASSANDRA (_whispering_). 

Nay, nay. This is the house that God hateth. There be many things that know its secret; soreAnd evil things; murders and strangling death. 'Tis here they slaughter men. . . A splashing floor. 

SECOND ELDER. 

Keen-sensed the strange maid seemeth, like a houndFor blood. --And what she seeks can sure be found!

CASSANDRA. 

The witnesses . . . I follow where they lead. The crying . . . Of little children . . . Near the gate:Crying for wounds that bleed:And the smell of the baked meats their father ate. 

SECOND ELDER (_recognizing her vision, and repelled_). 

Word of thy mystic power had reached our earLong since. Howbeit we need no prophets here. 

CASSANDRA. 

Ah, ah! What would they? A new dreadful thing. A great great sin plots in the house this day;Too strong for the faithful, beyond medicining . . . And help stands far away. 

LEADER. 

This warning I can read not, though I knewThat other tale. It rings the city through. 

CASSANDRA. 

O Woman, thou! The lord who lay with thee! Wilt lave with water, and then . . . How speak the end?It comes so quick. A hand . . . Another hand . . . That reach, reach gropingly. . . . 

LEADER. 

I see not yet. These riddles, pierced with blindGleams of foreboding, but bemuse my mind. 

CASSANDRA. 

Ah, ah! What is it? There; it is coming clear. A net . . . Some net of Hell. Nay, she that lies with him . . . Is she the snare? And half of his blood upon it. It holds well. . . . O Crowd of ravening Voices, be glad, yea, shoutAnd cry for the stoning, cry for the casting out!

SECOND ELDER. 

What Fury Voices call'st thou to be hotAgainst this castle? Such words like me not. 

 And deep within my breast I felt that sick And saffron drop, which creepeth to the heart To die as the last rays of life depart. Misfortune comes so quick. 

CASSANDRA. 

Ah, look! Look! Keep his mate from the Wild Bull! A tangle of raiment, see;A black horn, and a blow, and he falleth, full In the marble amid the water. I counsel ye. I speak plain . . . Blood in the bath and treachery!

LEADER. 

No great interpreter of oraclesAm I; but this, I think, some mischief spells. 

 What spring of good hath seercraft ever made Up from the dark to flow? 'Tis but a weaving of words, a craft of woe, To make mankind afraid. 

CASSANDRA. 

Poor woman! Poor dead woman! . . . Yea, it is I, Poured out like water among them. Weep for me. . . . Ah! What is this place? Why must I come with thee. . . . To die, only to die?

LEADER. 

Thou art borne on the breath of God, thou spirit wild, For thine own weird to wail, Like to that wingèd voice, that heart so soreWhich, crying alway, hungereth to cry more, "Itylus, Itylus, " till it sing her child Back to the nightingale. 

CASSANDRA. 

Oh, happy Singing Bird, so sweet, so clear! Soft wings for her God made, And an easy passing, without pain or tear . . . For me 'twill be torn flesh and rending blade. 

SECOND ELDER. 

Whence is it sprung, whence wafted on God's breath, This anguish reasonless?This throbbing of terror shaped to melody, Moaning of evil blent with music high?Who hath marked out for thee that mystic path Through thy woe's wilderness?

CASSANDRA. 

Alas for the kiss, the kiss of Paris, his people's bane!Alas for Scamander Water, the water my fathers drank!Long, long ago, I played about thy bank, And was cherished and grew strong;Now by a River of Wailing, by shores of Pain, Soon shall I make my song. 

LEADER. 

 How sayst thou? All too clear, This ill word thou hast laid upon thy mouth! A babe could read thee plain. It stabs within me like a serpent's tooth, The bitter thrilling music of her pain: I marvel as I hear. 

CASSANDRA. 

Alas for the toil, the toil of a City, worn unto death!Alas for my father's worship before the citadel, The flocks that bled and the tumult of their breath! But no help from them cameTo save Troy Towers from falling as they fell!. . . And I on the earth shall writhe, my heart aflame. 

SECOND ELDER. 

Dark upon dark, new ominous words of ill! Sure there hath swept on thee some Evil Thing, Crushing, which makes thee bleed And in the torment of thy vision singThese plaining death-fraught oracles . . . Yet still, still, Their end I cannot read!

CASSANDRA. [_By an effort she regains mastery of herself, and speaks directly tothe Leader_. 

'Fore God, mine oracle shall no more hideWith veils his visage, like a new-wed bride!A shining wind out of this dark shall blow, Piercing the dawn, growing as great waves grow, To burst in the heart of sunrise . . . Stronger farThan this poor pain of mine. I will not marWith mists my wisdom. Be near me as I go, Tracking the evil things of long ago, And bear me witness. For this roof, there clingsMusic about it, like a choir which singsOne-voiced, but not well-sounding, for not goodThe words are. Drunken, drunken, and with blood, To make them dare the more, a revelling routIs in the rooms, which no man shall cast out, Of sister Furies. And they weave to song, Haunting the House, its first blind deed of wrong, Spurning in turn that King's bed desecrate, Defiled, which paid a brother's sin with hate. . . . Hath it missed or struck, mine arrow? Am I a poorDreamer, that begs and babbles at the door?Give first thine oath in witness, that I knowOf this great dome the sins wrought long ago. 

ELDER. 

And how should oath of mine, though bravely sworn, Appease thee? Yet I marvel that one bornFar over seas, of alien speech, should fallSo apt, as though she had lived here and seen all. 

CASSANDRA. 

The Seer Apollo made me too to see. 

ELDER (_in a low voice_). 

Was the God's heart pierced with desire for thee?

CASSANDRA. 

Time was, I held it shame hereof to speak. 

ELDER. 

Ah, shame is for the mighty, not the weak. 

CASSANDRA. 

We wrestled, and his breath to me was sweet. 

ELDER. 

Ye came to the getting of children, as is meet?

CASSANDRA. 

I swore to Loxias, and I swore a lie. 

ELDER. 

Already thine the gift of prophecy?

CASSANDRA. 

Already I showed my people all their path. 

ELDER. 

And Loxias did not smite thee in his wrath?

CASSANDRA. 

After that sin . . . No man believed me more. 

ELDER. 

Nay, then, to us thy wisdom seemeth sure. 

CASSANDRA. 

Oh, oh! Agony, agony!Again the awful pains of prophecyAre on me, maddening as they fall. . . . Ye see them there . . . Beating against the wall?So young . . . Like shapes that gather in a dream . . . Slain by a hand they loved. Children they seem, Murdered . . . And in their hands they bear baked meat:I think it is themselves. Yea, flesh; I see it;And inward parts. . . . Oh, what a horrible loadTo carry! And their father drank their blood. 

From these, I warn ye, vengeance broodeth still, A lion's rage, which goes not forth to killBut lurketh in his lair, watching the highHall of my war-gone master . . . Master? Aye;Mine, mine! The yoke is nailed about my neck. . . . Oh, lord of ships and trampler on the wreckOf Ilion, knows he not this she-wolf's tongue, Which licks and fawns, and laughs with ear up-sprung, To bite in the end like secret death?--And canThe woman? Slay a strong and armèd man? . . . What fangèd reptile like to her doth creep?Some serpent amphisbene, some Skylla, deepHoused in the rock, where sailors shriek and die, Mother of Hell blood-raging, which doth cryOn her own flesh war, war without alloy . . . God! And she shouted in his face her joy, Like men in battle when the foe doth break. And feigns thanksgiving for his safety's sake! What if no man believe me? 'Tis all one. The thing which must be shall be; aye, and soonThou too shalt sorrow for these things, and hereStanding confess me all too true a seer. 

LEADER. 

The Thyestean feast of children slainI understood, and tremble. Aye, my brainReels at these visions, beyond guesswork true. But after, though I heard, I had lost the clue. 

CASSANDRA. 

Man, thou shalt look on Agamemnon dead. 

LEADER. 

Peace, Mouth of Evil! Be those words unsaid!

CASSANDRA. 

No god of peace hath watch upon that hour. 

LEADER. 

If it must come. Forefend it, Heavenly Power!

CASSANDRA. 

They do not think of prayer; they think of death. 

LEADER. 

They? Say, what man this foul deed compasseth?

CASSANDRA. 

Alas, thou art indeed fallen far astray!

LEADER. 

How could such deed be done? I see no way. 

CASSANDRA. 

Yet know I not the Greek tongue all too well?

LEADER. 

Greek are the Delphic dooms, but hard to spell. 

CASSANDRA. 

Ah! Ah! There!What a strange fire! It moves . . . It comes at me. O Wolf Apollo, mercy! O agony! . . . Why lies she with a wolf, this lioness lone, Two-handed, when the royal lion is gone?God, she will kill me! Like to them that brewPoison, I see her mingle for me tooA separate vial in her wrath, and swear, Whetting her blade for him, that I must shareHis death . . . Because, because he hath dragged me here! Oh, why these mockers at my throat? This gearOf wreathèd bands, this staff of prophecy?I mean to kill you first, before I die. Begone!

 [_She tears off her prophetic habiliments; and presently throws them onthe ground, and stamps on them. _

 Down to perdition! . . . Lie ye so?So I requite you! Now make rich in woeSome other Bird of Evil, me no more! [_Coming to herself. _Ah, see! It is Apollo's self, hath toreHis crown from me! Who watched me long agoIn this same prophet's robe, by friend, by foe, All with one voice, all blinded, mocked to scorn:"A thing of dreams, " "a beggar-maid outworn, "Poor, starving and reviled, I endured all;And now the Seer, who called me till my callWas perfect, leads me to this last dismay. . . . 'Tis not the altar-stone where men did slayMy father; 'tis a block, a block with goreYet hot, that waits me, of one slain before. Yet not of God unheeded shall we lie. There cometh after, one who lifteth highThe downfallen; a branch where blossomethA sire's avenging and a mother's death. Exiled and wandering, from this land outcast, One day He shall return, and set the lastCrown on these sins that have his house downtrod. For, lo, there is a great oath sworn of God, His father's upturned face shall guide him home. Why should I grieve? Why pity these men's doom?I who have seen the City of IlionPass as she passed; and they who cast her downHave thus their end, as God gives judgement sure. . . . I go to drink my cup. I will endureTo die. O Gates, Death-Gates, all hail to you!Only, pray God the blow be stricken true!Pray God, unagonized, with blood that flowsQuick unto friendly death, these eyes may close!

LEADER. 

O full of sorrows, full of wisdom great, Woman, thy speech is a long anguish; yet, Knowing thy doom, why walkst thou with clear eyes, Like some god-blinded beast, to sacrifice?

CASSANDRA. 

There is no escape, friends; only vain delay. 

LEADER. 

Is not the later still the sweeter day?

CASSANDRA. 

The day is come. Small profit now to fly. 

LEADER. 

Through all thy griefs, Woman, thy heart is high. 

CASSANDRA. 

Alas! None that is happy hears that praise. 

LEADER. 

Are not the brave dead blest in after days?

CASSANDRA. 

O Father! O my brethren brave, I come!

 [_She moves towards the House, but recoils shuddering. _

LEADER. 

What frights thee? What is that thou startest from?

CASSANDRA. 

Ah, faugh! Faugh!

LEADER. 

 What turns thee in that blindHorror? Unless some loathing of the mind . . . 

CASSANDRA. 

Death drifting from the doors, and blood like rain!

LEADER. 

'Tis but the dumb beasts at the altar slain. 

CASSANDRA. 

And vapours from a charnel-house . . . See there!

LEADER. 

'Tis Tyrian incense clouding in the air. 

CASSANDRA (_recovering herself again_). 

So be it!--I will go, in yonder roomTo weep mine own and Agamemnon's doom. May death be all! Strangers, I am no birdThat pipeth trembling at a thicket stirredBy the empty wind. Bear witness on that dayWhen woman for this woman's life shall pay, And man for man ill-mated low shall lie:I ask this boon, as being about to die. 

LEADER. 

Alas, I pity thee thy mystic fate!

CASSANDRA. 

One word, one dirge-song would I utter yetO'er mine own corpse. To this last shining SunI pray that, when the Avenger's work is done, His enemies may remember this thing too, This little thing, the woman slave they slew!

 O world of men, farewell! A painted showIs all thy glory; and when life is lowThe touch of a wet sponge out-blotteth all. Oh, sadder this than any proud man's fall! [_She goes into the House. _

CHORUS. 

Great Fortune is an hungry thing, And filleth no heart anywhere, Though men with fingers menacing Point at the great house, none will dare, When Fortune knocks, to bar the doorProclaiming: "Come thou here no more!"Lo, to this man the Gods have given Great Ilion in the dust to treadAnd home return, emblazed of heaven;If it is writ, he too shall goThrough blood for blood spilt long ago;If he too, dying for the dead, Should crown the deaths of alien years, What mortal afar off, who hears, Shall boast him Fortune's Child, and led Above the eternal tide of tears? [_A sudden Cry from within. _

VOICE. 

Ho! Treason in the house! I am wounded: slain. 

LEADER. 

Hush! In the castle! 'Twas a cryOf some man wounded mortally. 

VOICE. 

Ah God, another! I am stricken again. 

LEADER. 

I think the deed is done. It was the KingWho groaned. . . . Stand close, and think if anything. . . . 

 [_The Old Men gather together under the shock, and debate confusedly. _

ELDER B. 

I give you straight my judgement. Summon allThe citizens to rescue. Sound a call!

ELDER C. 

No, no! Burst in at once without a word!In, and convict them by their dripping sword!

ELDER D. 

Yes; that or something like it. Quick, I say, Be doing! 'Tis a time for no delay. 

ELDER E. 

We have time to think. This opening . . . They have plannedSome scheme to make enslavement of the land. 

ELDER F. 

Yes, while we linger here! They take no thoughtOf lingering, and their sword-arm sleepeth not!

ELDER G. 

I have no counsel. I can speak not. Oh, Let him give counsel who can strike a blow!

ELDER H. 

I say as this man says. I have no trustIn words to raise a dead man from the dust. 

ELDER I. 

How mean you? Drag out our poor lives, and standCowering to these defilers of the land?

ELDER J. 

Nay, 'tis too much! Better to strive and die!Death is an easier doom than slavery. 

ELDER K. 

We heard a sound of groaning, nothing plain, How know we--are we seers?--that one is slain?

ELDER L. 

Oh, let us find the truth out, ere we growThus passionate! To surmise is not to know. 

LEADER. 

Break in, then! 'Tis the counsel ye all bring, And learn for sure, how is it with the King. 

 [_They cluster up towards the Palace Door, as though to force anentrance, when the great Door swings open, revealing_ CLYTEMNESTRA, _whostands, axe in hand, over the dead bodies of_ AGAMEMNON _and_ CASSANDRA. _The body of_ AGAMEMNON _is wrapped in a rich crimson web. There is bloodon_ CLYTEMNESTRA'S_ brow, and she speaks in wild triumph. _

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Oh, lies enough and more have I this daySpoken, which now I shame not to unsay. How should a woman work, to the utter end, Hate on a damnèd hater, feigned a friend;How pile perdition round him, hunter-wise, Too high for overleaping, save by lies?To me this hour was dreamed of long ago;A thing of ancient hate. 'Twas very slowIn coming, but it came. And here I standEven where I struck, with all the deed I plannedDone! 'Twas so wrought--what boots it to deny?--The man could neither guard himself nor fly. An endless web, as by some fisher strung, A deadly plenteousness of robe, I flungAll round him, and struck twice; and with two criesHis limbs turned water and broke; and as he liesI cast my third stroke in, a prayer well-spedTo Zeus of Hell, who guardeth safe his dead!So there he gasped his life out as he lay;And, gasping, the blood spouted . . . Like dark sprayThat splashed, it came, a salt and deathly dew;Sweet, sweet as God's dear rain-drops ever blewO'er a parched field, the day the buds are born! . . . Which things being so, ye Councillors high-born, Depart in joy, if joy ye will. For me, I glory. Oh, if such a thing might beAs o'er the dead thank-offering to outpour, On this dead it were just, aye, just and more, Who filled the cup of the House with treacheriesCurse-fraught, and here hath drunk it to the lees!

LEADER. 

We are astonied at thy speech. To fling, Wild mouth! such vaunt over thy murdered King!

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Wouldst fright me, like a witless woman? Lo, This bosom shakes not. And, though well ye know, I tell you . . . Curse me as ye will, or bless, 'Tis all one . . . This is Agamemnon; this, My husband, dead by my right hand, a blowStruck by a righteous craftsman. Aye, 'tis so. 

CHORUS. 

Woman, what evil tree, What poison grown of the groundOr draught of the drifting sea Way to thy lips hath found, Making thee clothe thy heart In rage, yea, in curses burningWhen thine own people pray?Thou hast hewn, thou hast cast away;And a thing cast away thou art, A thing of hate and a spurning!

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Aye, now, for me, thou hast thy words of fate;Exile from Argos and the people's hateFor ever! Against him no word was cried, When, recking not, as 'twere a beast that died, With flocks abounding o'er his wide domain, He slew his child, my love, my flower of pain, . . . Great God, as magic for the winds of Thrace!Why was not he man-hunted from his place, To purge the blood that stained him? . . . When the deedIs mine, oh, then thou art a judge indeed!But threat thy fill. I am ready, and I standContent; if thy hand beateth down my hand, Thou rulest. If aught else be God's decree, Thy lesson shall be learned, though late it be. 

CHORUS. 

Thy thought, it is very proud; Thy breath is the scorner's breath;Is not the madness loud In thy heart, being drunk with death?Yea, and above thy brow A star of the wet blood burneth!Oh, doom shall have yet her day, The last friend cast away, When lie doth answer lie And a stab for a stab returneth!

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

And heark what Oath-gods gather to my side!By my dead child's Revenge, now satisfied, By Mortal Blindness, by all Powers of HellWhich Hate, to whom in sacrifice he fell, My Hope shall walk not in the house of Fear, While on my hearth one fire yet burneth clear, One lover, one Aigisthos, as of old! What should I fear, when fallen here I holdThis foe, this scorner of his wife, this toyAnd fool of each Chryseis under Troy;And there withal his soothsayer and slave, His chanting bed-fellow, his leman brave, Who rubbed the galleys' benches at his side. But, oh, they had their guerdon as they died!For he lies thus, and she, the wild swan's way, Hath trod her last long weeping roundelay, And lies, his lover, ravisht o'er the mainFor his bed's comfort and my deep disdain. 

CHORUS. (_Some Elders_. )

Would God that suddenlyWith no great agony, No long sick-watch to keep, My hour would come to me, My hour, and presentlyBring the eternal, the Unwaking Sleep, Now that my Shepherd, heWhose love watched over me, Lies in the deep!

ANOTHER. 

For woman's sake he endured and battled well, And by a woman's hand he fell. 

OTHERS. 

What hast thou done, O Helen blind of brain, O face that slew the souls on Ilion's plain, One face, one face, and many a thousand slain? The hate of old that on this castle lay, Builded in lust, a husband's evil day, Hath bloomed for thee a perfect flower againAnd unforgotten, an old and burning stain Never to pass away. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Nay, pray not for the hour of death, being tried Too sore beneath these blowsNeither on Helen turn thy wrath aside, The Slayer of Men, the face which hath destroyedIts thousand Danaan souls, and wrought a wide Wound that no leech can close. 

CHORUS. 

--Daemon, whose heel is set On the House and the twofold kin Of the high Tantalidae, A power, heavy as fate, Thou wieldest through woman's sin, Piercing the heart of me!

--Like a raven swoln with hate He hath set on the dead his claw, He croaketh a song to sate His fury, and calls it Law!

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Ah, call upon Him! Yea, call-- And thy thought hath found its path--The Daemon who haunts this hall, The thrice-engorged Wrath;

From him is the ache of the flesh For blood born and increased;Ere the old sore hath ceased It oozeth afresh. 

CHORUS. 

 --Indeed He is very great, And heavy his anger, He, The Daemon who guides the fate Of the old Tantalidae:Alas, alas, an evil tale ye tellOf desolate angers and insatiable!

--Ah me, And yet 'tis all as Zeus hath willed, Doer of all and Cause of all; By His Word every chance doth fall, No end without Him is fulfilled; What of these things But cometh by high Heaven's counsellings?

 [_A band of Mourners has gathered within the House_. 

MOURNERS. 

Ah, sorrow, sorrow! My King, my King! How shall I weep, what word shall I say?Caught in the web of this spider thing, In foul death gasping thy life away!Woe's me, woe's me, for this slavish lying, The doom of craft and the lonely dying, The iron two-edged and the hands that slay!

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

 And criest thou still this deed hath been My work? Nay, gaze, and have no thought That this is Agamemnon's Queen. 'Tis He, 'tis He, hath round him wrought This phantom of the dead man's wife;He, the old Wrath, the Driver of Men astray, Pursuer of Atreus for the feast defiled; To assoil an ancient debt he hath paid this life;A warrior and a crowned King this day Atones for a slain child. 

CHORUS. 

--That thou art innocent herein, What tongue dare boast? It cannot be, Yet from the deeps of ancient sin The Avenger may have wrought with thee. 

--On the red Slayer crasheth, groping wild For blood, more blood, to build his peace again, And wash like water the old frozen stain Of the torn child. 

MOURNERS. 

Ah, sorrow, sorrow! My King, my King! How shall I weep, what word shall I say?Caught in the web of this spider thing, In foul death gasping thy life away. Woe's me, woe's me, for this slavish lying, The doom of craft and the lonely dying, The iron two-edged and the hands that slay!

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

And what of the doom of craft that firstHe planted, making the House accurst?What of the blossom, from this root riven, Iphigenîa, the unforgiven?Even as the wrong was, so is the pain:He shall not laugh in the House of the slain, When the count is scored;He hath but spoilèd and paid again The due of the sword. 

CHORUS. 

I am lost; my mind dull-eyed Knows not nor feelsWhither to fly nor hide While the House reels. The noise of rain that falls On the roof affrighteth me, Washing away the walls; Rain that falls bloodily. 

Doth ever the sound abate?Lo, the next Hour of FateWhetting her vengeance dueOn new whet-stones, for new Workings of hate. 

MOURNERS. 

Would thou hadst covered me, Earth, O Earth, Or e'er I had looked on my lord thus low, In the pallèd marble of silvern girth! What hands may shroud him, what tears may flow?

Not thine, O Woman who dared to slay him, Thou durst not weep to him now, nor pray him, Nor pay to his soul the deep unworth Of gift or prayer to forget thy blow. 

--Oh, who with heart sincere Shall bring praise or griefTo lay on the sepulchre Of the great chief?

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

His burial is not thine to array. By me he fell, by me he died, I watch him to the grave, not criedBy mourners of his housefolk; nay, His own child for a day like this Waits, as is seemly, and shall run By the white waves of AcheronTo fold him in her arms and kiss!

CHORUS. 

Lo, she who was erst reviled Revileth; and who shall say?Spoil taken from them that spoiled, Life-blood from them that slay!Surely while God ensueth His laws, while Time doth run'Tis written: On him that doeth It shall be done. 

This is God's law and grace, Who then shall hunt the raceOf curses from out this hall?The House is sealed withal To dreadfulness. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Aye, thou hast found the Law, and stept In Truth's way. --Yet even now I call The Living Wrath which haunts this hallTo truce and compact. I accept

All the affliction he doth heap Upon me, and I charge him go Far off with his self-murdering woeTo strange men's houses. I will keep

Some little dower, and leave behind All else, contented utterly. I have swept the madness from the skyWherein these brethren slew their kind. 

 [_As she ceases, exhausted and with the fire gone out of her, _AIGISTHOS, _with Attendants, bursts triumphantly in. _

AIGISTHOS. 

O shining day, O dawn of righteousnessFulfilled! Now, now indeed will I confessThat divine watchers o'er man's death and birthLook down on all the anguish of the earth, Now that I see him lying, as I loveTo see him, in this net the Furies wove, To atone the old craft of his father's hand. For Atreus, this man's father, in this landReigning, and by Thyestes in his throneChallenged--he was his brother and mine ownFather From home and city cast him out;And he, after long exile, turned aboutAnd threw him suppliant on the hearth, and wonPromise of so much mercy, that his ownLife-blood should reek not in his father's hall. Then did that godless brother, Atreus, call, To greet my sire--More eagerness, O God, Was there than love!--a feast of brotherhood. And, feigning joyous banquet, laid as meatBefore him his dead children. The white feetAnd finger-fringèd hands apart he set, Veiled from all seeing, and made separateThe tables. And he straightway, knowing naught, Took of those bodies, eating that which wroughtNo health for all his race. And when he knewThe unnatural deed, back from the board he threw, Spewing that murderous gorge, and spurning brakeThe table, to make strong the curse he spake:"Thus perish all of Pleisthenês begot!" For that lies this man here; and all the plotIs mine, most righteously. For me, the third, When butchering my two brethren, Atreus sparedAnd cast me with my broken sire that day, A little thing in swaddling clothes, awayTo exile; where I grew, and at the lastJustice hath brought me home! Yea though outcastIn a far land, mine arm hath reached this king;My brain, my hate, wrought all the counselling;And all is well. I have seen mine enemyDead in the snare, and care not if I die!

LEADER. 

Aigisthos, to insult over the deadI like not. All the counsel, thou hast said, Was thine alone; and thine the will that spilledThis piteous blood. As justice is fulfilled, Thou shalt not 'scape--so my heart presageth---Theday of cursing and the hurlèd death. 

AIGISTHOS. 

How, thou poor oarsman of the nether row, When the main deck is master? Sayst thou so?. . . To such old heads the lesson may prove hard, I fear me, when Obedience is the word. But hunger, and bonds, and cold, help men to findTheir wits. --They are wondrous healers of the mind!Hast eyes and seest not this?--Against a spikeKick not, for fear it pain thee if thou strike. 

LEADER(_turning from him to_ CLYTEMNESTRA). 

Woman! A soldier fresh from war! To keepWatch o'er his house and shame him in his sleep. . . To plot this craft against a lord of spears. . . 

 [CLYTEMNESTRA, _as though in a dream, pays no heed. _ AIGISTHOS_interupts. _

AIGISTHOS. 

These be the words, old man, that lead to tears!Thou hast an opposite to Orpheus' tongue, Who chained all things with his enchanting song, For thy mad noise will put the chains on thee. Enough! Once mastered thou shalt tamer be. 

LEADER. 

Thou master? Is old Argos so accurst?Thou plotter afar off, who never durstRaise thine own hand to affront and strike him down. . . 

AIGISTHOS. 

To entice him was the wife's work. I was knownBy all men here, his old confessed blood-foe. Howbeit, with his possessions I will knowHow to be King. And who obeys not meShall be yoked hard, no easy trace-horse he, Corn-flushed. Hunger, and hunger's prison mate, The clammy murk, shall see his rage abate. 

LEADER. 

Thou craven soul! Why not in open strifeSlay him? Why lay the blood-sin on his wife, Staining the Gods of Argos, making illThe soil thereof?. . . But young Orestes stillLiveth. Oh, Fate will guide him home again, Avenging, conquering, home to kill these twain!

AIGISTHOS. 

'Fore God, if 'tis your pleasure thus to speak and do, ye soon shall hear!Ho there, my trusty pikes, advance! There cometh business for the spear. 

 [_A body of Spearmen, from concealment outside, rush in and dominate thestage. _]

LEADER. Ho there, ye Men of Argos! Up! Stand and be ready, sword from sheath!

AIGISTHOS. 

By Heaven, I also, sword in hand, am ready, and refuse not death!

LEADER. 

Come, find it! We accept thy word. Thou offerest what we hunger for. 

 [_Some of the Elders draw swords with the Leader; others have collapsedwith weakness. Men from_ AGAMEMNON'S _retinue have gathered and preparefor battle, when, before they can come to blows, _ CLYTEMNESTRA _breaksfrom her exhausted silence. _

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Nay, peace, O best-belovèd! Peace! And let us work no evil more. Surely the reaping of the past is a full harvest, and not good, And wounds enough are everywhere. --Let us not stain ourselves with blood. Ye reverend Elders, go your ways, to his own dwelling every one, Ere things be wrought for which men suffer. --What we did must needs bedone. And if of all these strifes we now may have no more, oh, I will kneelAnd praise God, bruisèd though we be beneath the Daemon's heavy heel. This is the word a woman speaks, to hear if any man will deign. 

AIGISTHOS. 

And who are these to burst in flower of folly thus of tongue and brain, And utter words of empty sound and perilous, tempting Fortune's frown, And leave wise counsel all forgot, and gird at him who wears the crown?

LEADER. 

To cringe before a caitiff's crown, it squareth not with Argive ways. 

AIGISTHOS. (_sheathing his sword and turning from them_). 

Bah, I will be a hand of wrath to fall on thee in after days. 

LEADER. 

Not so, if God in after days shall guide Orestes home again!

AIGISTHOS. 

I know how men in exile feed on dreams. . . And know such food is vain. 

LEADER. 

Go forward and wax fat! Defile the right for this thy little hour!

AIGISTHOS. 

I spare thee now. Know well for all this folly thou shalt feel my power. 

LEADER. 

Aye, vaunt thy greatness, as a bird beside his mate doth vaunt and swell. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Vain hounds are baying round thee; oh, forget them! Thou and I shall dwellAs Kings in this great House. We two at last will order all things well. 

 [_The Elders and the remains of_ AGAMEMNON'S _retinue retire sullenly, leaving the Spearmen in possession. _ CLYTEMNESTRA _and_ AIGISTHOS _turnand enter the Palace. _]

NOTES TO THE AGAMEMNON

The chief characters in the play belong to one family, as is shown by thetwo genealogies:--

I. 

 TANTALUS | Pelops | --------------------------- | | Atreus Thyestes | | ----------------- | | | | Agamemnon Menelaus Aigisthos (= Clytemnestra) (= Helen) (= Clytemnestra) | ------------------------ | | |Iphigenia Electra Orestes

(Also, a sister of Agamemnon, name variously given, married Strophios, andwas the mother of Pylades. )

II. 

 Tyndareus = Leda = Zeus | | ----------- ------------------------- | | | |Clytemnestra Castor Polydeuces Helen

P. 1, l. 1. ]--The Watchman, like most characters in Greek tragedy, comesfrom the Homeric tradition, though in Homer (Od. Iv. 524) he is merely aservant of Aigisthos. 

P. 2, l. 28, Women's triumph cry. ]--This cry of the women recurs severaltimes in the play: cf. P. 26, ll. 587 ff. , p. 55, l. 1234. It isconventionally represented by "ololû"; as the cry to Apollo, Paian is"I-ê, " l. 146, and Cassandra's sob is "ototoi" or "otototoi, " p. 47. 

Pp. 3 f. , ll. 40 ff. ]--With this silent scene of Clytemnestra's, comparethe long silence of Cassandra below, and the silence of Prometheus in thatplay until his torturers have left him. See the criticism of Aeschylus inAristophanes, _Frogs_, ll. 911-920, pp. 68, 69 in my translation. 

P. 5, l. 104, Sign of the War-Way. ]--i. E. An ominous sign seen by the armyas it started on its journey. In Homer, Iliad, ll. 305-329, it is a snakewhich eats the nine young of a mother bird and then the mother, and isturned into stone afterwards. --All through this chorus the language of theprophet Calchas is intentionally obscure and riddling--the style ofprophesy. 

P. 7, l. 146, But I-ê, i-ê. ]--(Pronounce _Ee-ay_. ) Calchas, catching sightin his vision of the further consequences which Artemis will exact if shefulfils the sign, calls on Apollo Paian, the Healer, to check her. 

P. 7, l. 160, Zeus, whate'er He be. ]--This conception of Zeus is expressedalso in Aeschylus' _Suppliant Women_, and was probably developed in thePrometheus Trilogy. See my _Rise of the Greek Epic_, p. 291 (Ed. 2). 

It is connected with the common Greek conception of the _Tritos Sôtêr_--the Saviour Third. First, He who sins; next, He who avenges; third, He whosaves. In vegetation worship it is the Old Year who has committed Hubris, the sin of pride, in summer; the Winter who slays him; the New Year whichshall save. In mythology the three successive Rulers of Heaven are givenby Hesiod as Ouranos, Kronos, Zeus (cf. _Prometheus_, 965 ff. ), but wecannot tell if Aeschylus accepted the Hesiodic story. Cf. Note on l. 246, and Clytemnestra's blasphemy at l. 1387, p. 63. 

P. 9, l. 192, Winds from Strymon. ]--From the great river gorge ofThrace, NNE; cf. Below, l. 1418. 

P. 9, l. 201, Artemis. ]--Her name was terrible, because of itssuggestion. She demanded the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigenîa. (See Euripides' two plays, _Iphigenia in Tauris_ and _Iphigenia inAulis_. ) In other poets Agamemnon has generally committed some definitesin against Artemis, but in Aeschylus the death of Iphigenîa seems to bemerely one of the results of his acceptance of the Sign. 

P. 10, l. 215, 'Tis a Rite of old. ]--Literally "it is Themis. " Humansacrifice had had a place in the primitive religion of Greece; henceAgamemnon could not reject the demand of the soldiers as an obvious crime. See _Rise of Greek Epic_, pp. 150-157. 

P. 11, l. 246, The Third Cup. ]--Regularly poured to Zeus Sôtêr, theSaviour, and accompanied by a paean or cry of joy. 

P. 11, l. 256, This Heart of Argos, this frail Tower:]--i. E. Themselves. 

P. 11, l. 264, Glad-voiced. ]--Clytemnestra is in extreme suspense, asthe return of Agamemnon will mean either her destruction or herdeliverance. At such a moment there must be no ill-omened word, so shechallenges fate. 

P. 12, l. 276, A word within that hovereth without wings. ]--i. E. Apresentiment. "Winged words" are words spoken, which fly from speaker tohearer. A 'wingless' word is unspoken. The phrase occurs in Homer. 

Pp. 13 ff. , ll. 281 ff. ]--Beacon Speech. There is no need to inquirecuriously into the practical possibility of this chain of beacons. Greektragedies do not care to be exact about this kind of detail. There maywell have been a tradition that Agamemnon, like the Great King of Persia, used a chain of beacons across the Aegean. --Note how vividlyClytemnestra's imagination is working in her excitement. She seems to seebefore her every leaping light in the chain, just as in the next speechshe imagines the scene in Troy almost with the intensity of a vision. 

P. 14, l. 314, Victory in the first as in the last. ]--All are Victorybeacons; the spirit of Victory infects them all equally. Cf. L. 854 below, where Agamemnon prays that the Victory which is now with him, or in him, may abide. 

P. 15, l. 348, A woman's word. ]--Her hatred and fear of Agamemnon, makingher feel vividly the horrors of the sack and the peril overhanging theconquerors, have carried her dangerously far. She checks herself andapologizes for her womanlike anxiety. Cf. L. 1661, p. 77. 

P. 18, ll. 409 ff. , Seers they saw visions. ]--A difficult and uncertainpassage. I think the seers attached to the royal household(cf. _Libation-Bearers, _ l. 37, where they are summoned to read a dream)were rather like what we call clairvoyants. Being consulted, they lookinto some pool of liquid or the like; there they see gradually emergingthe palace, the injured King, the deserted room, and at last a wraith ofHelen herself, haunting the place. 

P. 21, l. 487. ]--This break in the action, covering a space of severaldays, was first pointed out by Dr. Walter Headlam. Incidentally it removesthe gravest of the difficulties raised by Dr. Verrall in his famous essayupon the plot of the _Agamemnon_. 

P. 21, l. 495, Dry dust, own brother to the mire of war. ]--i. E. "I can seeby the state of his clothes, caked with dry dust which was once the mireof battle, that he comes straight from the war and can speak withknowledge. " The Herald is probably (though perhaps not quite consistently)conceived as having rushed post-haste with his news. 

Pp. 22 ff. , HERALD. ]--The Herald bursts in overcome with excitement anddelight, full of love for his home and everything he sees. A markedcontrast to Agamemnon, ll. 810 ff. Note that his first speech confirms allthe worst fears suggested by Clytemnestra. Agamemnon has committed all thesins she prayed against, and more. The terrible lines 527 ff. , "Till herGods' Houses, etc. , " are very like a passage in the _Persae_, 811 ff. , where exactly the same acts by the Persian invaders of Greece make theirfuture punishment inevitable. 

P. 22, l. 509, Pythian Lord. ]--Apollo is often a sinister figure intragedy. Cf. Sophocles _Oedipus_, ll. 915 ff. , pp. 52 ff. , and thesimilar scene, _Electra_, 655 ff. Here it is a shock to the Herald to comesuddenly on the god who was the chief enemy of the Greeks at Troy. Onefeels Apollo an evil presence also in the Cassandra scene, 11. 1071 ff. , pp. 47 ff. 

P. 23, l. 530, Happy among men. ]--The crown of his triumph! Early Greekthought was always asking the question, What is human happiness? To theHerald Agamemnon has achieved happiness if any one ever did. Cf. Thewell-known story of Croesus asking Solon who was the happiest man in theworld (Herodotus, I. 30-33). 

P. 24, ll. 551 ff. , Herald's second speech. ]--The connexion of thought is:"After all, why should either of us wish to die? All has ended well. " Thisvivid description of the actualities of war can be better appreciated nowthan it could in 1913. 

P. 25, l. 577, These spoils. ]--Spoils purporting to come from the TrojanWar were extant in Greek temples in Aeschylus' day and later. 

P. 26, l. 595, Our women's joy-cry. ]--There seems to have been in Argos anold popular festival, celebrating with joy or mockery the supposed deathof a man and a woman. Homer (Od. Iii. 309 f. ) derives it from a rejoicingby Orestes over Aigisthos and Clytemnestra; cf. Below, ll. 1316 ff. , p. 59; Aeschylus here and Sophocles in the _Electra_, from a celebration byClytemnestra of the deaths of Agamemnon and Cassandra. Probably it wasreally some ordinary New Year and Old Year celebration to which the poetsgive a tragic touch. It seems to have had a woman's "Ololugmos" in it, perhaps uttered by men. See Kaibel's note, Soph. _Electra_ 277-281. 

P. 26, l. 612, Bronze be dyed like wool. ]--Impossible in the literalsense, but there is after all a way of dying a sword red!

P. 27, l. 617, Menelaus. ]--This digression about Menelaus is due, assimilar digressions generally are when they occur in Greek plays, to thepoet feeling bound to follow the tradition. Homer begins his longestaccount of the slaying of Agamemnon by asking "Where was Menelaus?" (Od. Iii. 249). Agamemnon could be safely attacked because he was alone. Menelaus was away, wrecked or wind-bound. 

P. 28, l. 642, Two-fold scourge. ]--Ares works his will when spear crossesspear, when man meets man. Hence "two-fold. "

P. 29, CHORUS. The name HELENA. ]--There was a controversy in Aeschylus'day whether language, including names, was a matter of Convention or ofNature. Was it mere accident, and could you change the name of anything atwill? Or was language a thing rooted in nature and fixed by God from ofold? Aeschylus adopts the latter view: Why was this being called Helena?If one had understood God's purpose one would have seen it was because shereally _was_ "Helenâs"--_Ship-destroyer_. (The Herald's story of theshipwreck has suggested this particular idea. ) Similarly, if a hero wascalled Aias, and came to great sorrow, one could see that he was so calledfrom 'Aiai, ' "Alas!"--The antistrophe seems to find a meaning in the nameParis or Alexandras, where the etymology is not so clear. 

Pp. 33 ff. ]--Entrance of Agamemnon. The metre of the Chorus indicatesmarching; so that apparently the procession takes some time to move acrossthe orchestra and get into position. Cassandra would be dressed, as aprophetess, in a robe of white reaching to the feet, covered by an_agrênon_, or net of wool with large meshes; she would have a staff andcertain fillets or crowns. The Leader welcomes the King: he explains that, though he was against the war ten years ago, and has not changed hisopinion, he is a faithful servant of the King . . . And that not all areequally so. He gave a similar hint to the Herald above, ll. 546-550, p. 24. 

P. 35, Agamemnon. ]--A hard, cold speech, full of pride in the earlierpart, and turning to ominous threats at the end. Those who have dared tobe false shall be broken. --At the end comes a note of fear, like the fearin Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. He is so full of triumph and success; hemust be very careful not to provoke a fall. --Victory, Nike, was to theGreeks a very vivid and infectious thing. It clung to you or it desertedyou. And one who was really charged with Victory, like Agamemnon, was veryvaluable to his friends and people. Hence they made statues of Victorywingless--so that she should not fly away. See _Four Stages of GreekReligion_, p. 138 note. 

P. 36, Clytemnestra. ]--A wonderful speech. It seems to me that Aeschylus'imagination realized all the confused passions in Clytemnestra's mind, butthat his art was not yet sufficiently developed to make them all clear andexplicit. She is in suspense; does Agamemnon know her guilt or not? Atleast, if she is to die, she wants to say something to justify or excuseherself in the eyes of the world. A touch of hysteria creeps in; why couldhe not have been killed in all these years? Why must he rise, like somemonster from the grave, unkillable? Gradually she recovers her calm, explains clearly the suspicious point of Orestes' absence, and heaps upher words and gestures of welcome to an almost oriental fullness (whichAgamemnon rebukes, ll. 918 ff. , p. 39). Again, at the end, when she findsthat for the time she is safe, her real feelings almost break out. 

P. 38. ]--What is the motive of the Crimson Tapestries? I think thetangling robe must have been in the tradition, as the murder in the bathcertainly was. One motive, of course, is obvious: Clytemnestra is temptingAgamemnon to sin or "go too far. " He tries to resist, but the splendour ofan oriental homecoming seduces him and he yields. But is that enough toaccount for such a curious trait in the story, and one so stronglyemphasized? We are told afterwards that Clytemnestra threw over her victiman "endless web, " long and rich (p. 63), to prevent his seeing or usinghis arms. And I cannot help suspecting that this endless web was the sameas the crimson pall. 

If one tries to conjecture the origin of this curious story, it is perhapsa clue to realize that the word _droitê_ means both a bath and asarcophagus, or rather that the thing called droitê, a narrow stone ormarble vessel about seven feet long, was in pre-classical andpost-classical times used as a sarcophagus, but in classical times chieflyor solely as a bath. If among the prehistoric graves at Mycenae some laterpeasants discovered a royal mummy or skeleton in a sarcophagus, wrapped ina robe of royal crimson, and showing signs of violent death--such asSchliemann believed that he discovered--would they not say: "We found thebody of a King murdered in a bath, and wrapped round and round in a greatrobe?"

P. 39 f. ]--Agamemnon is going through the process of temptation. Heprotests rather too often and yields. 

P. 39, l. 931, Tell me but this. ]--This little dialogue is verycharacteristic of Aeschylus. Euripides would have done it at three timesthe length and made all the points clear. In Aeschylus the subtlety isthere, but it is not easy to follow. 

P. 40, l. 945, These bound slaves. ]--i. E. His shoes. The metaphor showsthe trend of his unconscious mind. 

P. 41, l. 950, This princess. ]--This is the first time that the attentionof the audience is drawn to Cassandra. She too is one of Aeschylus' silentfigures. I imagine her pale, staring in front of her, almost as if in atrance, until terror seizes her at Clytemnestra's greeting in l. 1035, p. 45. 

P. 41, l. 964, The cry. ]--i. E. The cry of the possessed prophetess whichrang from the inner sanctuary at Delphi and was interpreted by thepriests. --The last two lines of the speech are plain in their meaning buthard to translate. Literally: "when the full, or fulfilled, man walkethhis home, --O Zeus the Fulfiller, fulfil my prayers. "

P. 42, l. 976. ]--The victim has been drawn into the house; the Chorus singa low boding song: every audience at a Greek tragedy would expect next tohear a death cry from within, or to see a horrified messenger rush out. Instead of which the door opens and there is Clytemnestra: what does shewant? "Come thou also!" One victim is not enough. --In the next scene wemust understand the cause of Clytemnestra's impatience. If she stays toolong outside, some one will warn Agamemnon; if she leaves Cassandra, shewith her second sight will warn the Chorus. If Cassandra could only be gotinside all would be safe!

P. 44, l. 1022, "One there was of old. "]--Asklêpios, the physician, restored Hippolytus to life, and Zeus blasted him for so oversetting thelaws of nature. 

P. 45, l. 1040, Alcmêna's son. ]--Heracles was made a slave to Omphalê, Queen of Lydia. His grumbles at his insufficient food were a theme ofcomedy. 

P. 45, l. 1049, Belike thou canst not yet. ]--Cf. Below, ll. 1066 ff. TheElder speaks in sympathy. "Very likely you cannot yet bring yourself tosubmit. "

P. 46, l. 1061, Thou show her. ]--It seems odd to think that this passagehas for centuries been translated as if it was all addressed to Cassandra:"But if you do not understand what I say, please indicate the same withyour barbarous hand!"--What makes Cassandra at last speak? I think thatthe Elder probably touches her, and the touch as it were breaks the spell. 

P. 47, l. 1072, Cassandra. ]--"Otototoi" really takes the place of a stagedirection: she utters a long low sob. --The exclamation which I havetranslated "Dreams!" seems to occur when people see ghosts or visions. _Alcestis_, 261; _Prometheus_, 567. Cf. _Phoenissae_ 1296. --"Mine enemy!"The name "Apollon" suggested "_apollyon, "_ Destroying . . . The form whichis actually used in the Book of Revelation (Rev. Ix. 11). 

Observe how, during the lyric scene, Cassandra's vision grows steadilymore definite: First vague horror of the House: then the sobbing ofchildren, slain long ago: then, a new deed of blood coming; a woman in it:a wife: then, with a great effort, an attempt to describe the actualslaying in the bath. Lastly, the sight of herself among the slain. (Thislast point is greatly developed by Euripides, _Trojan Women_, ll. 445 ff. , pp. 33 f. ). 

The story of the Children of Thyestes is given below, ll. 1590 ff. , p. 73. Procnê (or Philomêla) was an Attic princess who, in fury against herThracian husband, Tereus, killed their child Itys, or Itylus, and waschanged into a nightingale, to weep for him for ever. 

P. 52, ll. 1178 ff. ]--Dialogue. During the lyrics Cassandra has been"possessed" or "entranced": the turn to dialogue marks a conscious attemptto control herself and state plainly her message of warning. In order toprove her power, she first tells the Elders of deeds done in the pastwhich are known to them but cannot have been known to her. When once theyare convinced of her true seercraft, she will be able to warn them of whatis coming!--The short 'stichom[^y]thia'[**TR: This is a y with acircumflex, not a superscript. ] (line for line dialogue), dealing in awedwhispers with things which can hardly be spoken, leaves the story ofCassandra still a mystery. Then her self-control breaks and the power ofthe God sweeps irresistibly upon her; cf. Below, ll. 1256 ff. ; where itcomes at her like a visible shape of fire, a thing not uncommon withmodern clairvoyants. 

P. 56, l. 1252, Thou art indeed fallen far astray]--Because they had said"what _man_"

P. 56, l. 1265, These wreathed bands, this staff of prophesy. ]--Cf. _Trojan Women_, ll. 451 ff. , p. 34. 

P. 60, ll. 1343 ff. , The death cry; the hesitation of the Elders. ]--Thisscene is often condemned or even ridiculed; I think, throughmisunderstanding. We knew the Old Men were helpless, like "dreamswandering in the day. " It is essential to the story that when the crisiscomes they shall be found wanting. But they are neither foolish norcowardly; each utterance in itself is natural and characteristic, butcounsels are divided. One would like to know whether Aeschylus made themspeak together confusedly, as would certainly be done on the modern stage, or whether the stately conventions of Greek tragedy preferred that eachspeaker should finish his say. In any case, what happens is that after amoment or two of confused counsel the Elders determine to break into thePalace, but as they are mounting the steps the great doors are flung openand Clytemnestra confronts them, standing over the dead bodies ofAgamemnon and Cassandra. 

The illusion intended is that the Elders have entered the Palace anddiscovered Clytemnestra. But, as the mechanical arrangements of the Greekstage were not equal to this sudden change of scene, and since also itwould, even with perfect machinery, have a tiresome interrupting effect, aslight confusion or inconsistency is allowed. We are supposed to be insidethe house; but as a matter of fact the supposition is soon forgotten, andthe play goes on without any attention to the particular place of theaction. On Clytemnestra's speech see Introduction, p. Xiii. 

P. 63, l. 1387, A prayer well sped to Zeus of Hell]--As the third gift orlibation was ritually given to Zeus the Saviour, Clytemnestrablasphemously suggests that her third and unnecessary blow was anacceptable gift to a sort of anti-Zeus, a Saviour of Death. 

P. 65, l. 1436, Aigisthos. ]--At last the name is mentioned which has beenin the mind of every one!--Chrysêïs was a prisoner of war, daughter ofChrysês, priest of Apollo. Agamemnon was made to surrender her to herfather, and from this arose his quarrel with Achilles, which is thesubject of the Iliad. 

Pp. 67-72, ll. 1468-1573, Daemon. ]--The Genius or guardian spirit of thehouse has in this House become a Wrath, an 'Alastor' or 'Driver Astray. 'See Introduction, pp. X ff. 

P. 68, l. 1513, MOURNERS. ]--This attribution of the different speeches orsongs to different speakers is, of course, conjectural. Ancient dramascome down to us with no stage directions and very imperfect indications ofthe speakers. 

P, 72, l. 1579, AIGISTHOS. ]--The entry of Aigisthos enlivens the sceneagain after the brooding and bewildered end of the dialogue betweenClytemnestra and the Elders. At the same time, it seems, no doubt bydeliberate intention, to reduce it to commonplace. Aigisthos' self-defenceis largely justified, but he is no hero. 

P. 73, l. 1602, Pleisthenês. ]--Apparently one of the ancestors of Atreus, but it is not clear where he comes in the genealogy. He may be identicalwith Pelops. 

P. 74, l. 1617, Oarsman of the nether row. ]--On an ancient galley, biremeor trireme, the rowers of the lower bank of oars ranked as inferior tothose who used the long oars from the deck. 

P. 76, l. 1654. ]--Clytemnestra, see Introduction, p. Xiii. She longs forpeace, yet after all "Had Zimri peace who slew his master?" The end of theplay leaves us waiting for the return of Orestes. In the first scene ofthe _Libation-Bearers, _ he is discovered standing by night at his father'sgrave.