And he replies:—
"Fain would I see the messenger and learn
Whether himself was present at the death,
Or if from blind report this tale he heard;
A wakeful mind he will not soon deceive."
He goes into the palace. Suspense is at its height.
"Cho.Zeus, great Zeus, how frame my cry
Thine aid to win?
How, invoking thee on high,
My strain begin?
For anon with murderous blow,
Either shall the gory blade
Atreus' royal house o'erthrow,—
Prone in dust for ever laid,—
Or in Freedom's sacred name,
Kindling fire and holy light,
Shall the rightful heir reclaim
Wealth and crown,—his twofold right.
Sole against the tyrant pair,
To such deadly grapple hies
Agamemnon's godlike heir;—
None to follow if he dies!
Crown, oh crown, the great emprise!"
A cry is heard; again and again it sounds; and before we have time to doubt, a servant rushes in crying that Ægisthus is slain; and, battering at the door of the women's part of the palace, he calls loudly for Clytemnestra.
