ELECTRA
This too was vengeance for a daughter’s blood?
A shameful plea, if urged, for shame it is
To wed a foeman for a daughter’s sake.
But in convincing thee I waste my breath;
Thou hast no answer but to scream that I
Revile a mother; and in sooth to us
Thou art mistress more than mother, for I pine
A wretched drudge, by thee and by thy mate
Downtrodden; and that other child who scarce
Escaped thy hands, Orestes, wears away
In weary exile his unhappy days.
Oft hast thou taxed me that I reared him up
For vengeance; so I willed it, had I power.
Go to, proclaim me out of my own mouth
A shrew, a scold, a vixen—what thou wilt.
For if I be accomplished in such arts,
Methinks I show my breed, a trick o’ the blood.
Chorus
I see she breathes forth fury and no more
Heeds if her words with justice harmonize.
Clytemnestra
Why then should I heed one who thus insults
A mother, at her ripe age too? Dost think
That she would stick at any deed of shame?
Electra
Nay, I am shamefast, though to thee I seem
Shameless; I know such manners in a maid
Are ill-becoming, in a daughter strange;
