Electra. Antistrophe I.
In turn, our tearful strain,
O Father, hear!
Hark how thy children twain
Wail forth their anthems drear!
Exiles, we seek thy tomb,
Sad, suppliant pair;
Say what of good is here!
What hope relieves our gloom! 330
Triumphs despair.
Chorus. Strophe.
And yet, should so the god ordain,
Hereafter, gladder notes shall sound;—
Instead of this funereal strain
In palace-halls shall ring amain
A pæan to the dear one newly found.
Orestes. Strophe III.
Oh haddest thou, 'neath Ilion's walls,
But perished, by some Lycian spear
Transfixed, my father, to thy halls
Glory bequeathing, while thy proud career
A lustre o'er the path had shed 340
Which now in gloom thy children tread;
Beyond the wave, by numbers reared, a mound,
No burthen to thy house, thou then hadst found.
Chorus. Antistrophe II.
Dear to the dear ones in the fight
Who perished nobly, thou hadst lain,—
