ELECTRA
Surcease of sorrow; and remember this,
A life of shame is shame for noble souls.
Chorus
Forethought for those that speak and those that hear,
In such grave issues, is most serviceable.
Chrysothemis
Before she spake, were not her mind perverse,
She had remembered caution, but she, friends,
Remembers not. (To Electra.) What glamour fooled thee thus
To take up arms thus boldly and enlist me?
Thou art a woman, see’st thou not? no man,
No match in battle for thine adversaries;
Their fortune rises with the flowing tide,
Ours ebbs and leaves us soon a stranded hulk;
Who then could hope to grapple with a foe
So mighty and escape without a fall?
Bethink thee, if thy speech were overheard,
We are like to change our evil plight for worse.
Small comfort or commodity to win
Glory and die an ignominious death!
Mere death were easy, but to crave for death
And be denied that last boon—there’s the sting.
Nay, I entreat, before we wreck ourselves
And perish root and branch, restrain thy rage.
All thou hast said for me shall be unsaid,
An empty breath. O learn at length, though late,
To yield, nor match thy weakness with their strength.
Chorus
Hearken! for mortal man there is no gift
Greater than forethought and sobriety.
