Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/288

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232
EURIPIDES.

Orestes.

I will go in. A horror I essay![1]985
Yea, horrors will achieve! If this please Heaven,
So be it. Bitter strife, yet sweet, for me. [Enters hut.


Enter Klytemnestra in chariot, with attendants, captive maids of Troy.


Chorus.

Hail, Queen of the Argive land!
All hail, O Tyndareus' daughter!
Hail, sister of Zeus' sons, heroes twain 990
In the glittering heavens mid stars who stand,
And their proud right this, to deliver from bane
Men tossed on the storm-vext water.
Hail! As to the Blest, do I yield thee thy right
Of homage, for awe of thy wealth and thy bliss.
With observance[2] to compass thy fortune's height
This, Queen, is the hour, even this!


Klytemnestra.

Step from the wain, Troy's daughters; take mine hand,
That from this chariot-floor I may light down.
As the Gods' temples are with spoils adorned 1000
Of Troy, so these, the chosen of Phrygian land,

  1. Keene proposes δεινῶν, and interprets, "To shield me from one horror (i.e. the God's vengeance), Horrors will I achieve."
  2. There is a double entendre conveyed by the two meanings of which θεραπεύεσθαι is capable. Klytemnestra understands it of court (Shaksperian "observance") to be paid to her high fortunes; the Chorus, of the watchfulness which was never so necessary as now, unavailing as it must be.