Impart the tidings, and not poor in friends,
We will take counsel touching this mischance.
Chorus.
Dear handmaidens! Sisters dear!
When, oh when, full voiced and clear,
Shall we, for Orestes' sake,
Loud the joyous Pæan wake?
Hallowed Earth! Oh shrine revered!
Funeral barrow high upreared, 710
O'er the naval hero-king,
Now give ear, deliv'rance bring!
Strikes the hour;—persuasive Guile
Enters now the lists. The while
Hermes leads to watch the fight
Of murd'rous swords and subtle wile,
†Erinys, brood of Night.
[Enter Kilissa, the Nurse, weeping.]
Chorus-Leader.
This stranger, as it seems, is causing bale,
For I behold Orestes' nurse in tears;
Where wendest thou, Kilissa, past the gates?
Sorrow, I trow, unbidden goes with thee. 720
Nurse.
My mistress bade me summon with all speed
Ægisthos to the strangers, that he may
More clearly learn, as man from man, this tale
