Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/432

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Let her be straight confined; and there, perchance,
By cruel tortures racked, will she give up 990
Whom now she hides. Resourceless, starving there,
In dank and loathsome solitude immured,
Widowed, ere wedded, exiled, scorned of all—
Then will she, though too late, to fortune yield.
Electra: Oh, grant me death.
Aegisthus: If thou shouldst plead for life,
I'd grant thee death. A foolish ruler he, 995
Who balances by death the score of sin.
Electra: Can any punishment be worse than death?
Aegisthus: Yes! Life for those who wish to die. Away,
Ye slaves, seek out some dark and lonely cave,
Far from Mycenae's bounds; and there in chains,
Confine this bold, unmanageable maid,
If haply prison walls may curb her will. 1000
[Electra is led away.]
Clytemnestra [indicating Cassandra]: But she shall die, that rival of my
couch,
That captive bride. Go, drag her hence at once,
That she may follow him she stole from me.
Cassandra: Nay, drag me not; for I with joy will go,
Outstripping your desire. How eagerly
I hasten to my Phrygians, to tell 1005
The news: the ocean covered with the wrecks
Of Argive ships; Mycenae overthrown;
The leader of a thousand leaders slain
(And thus atoning for the woes of Troy)
By woman's gift of wantonness and guile.
Make haste! I falter not, but thank the gods, 1010
That I have lived to see my land avenged.
Clytemnestra: O maddened wretch, thy death I wait to see.
Cassandra: A fateful madness waits as well for thee.