Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Jebb 1917).djvu/261

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
789—814]
ELECTRA.
249

fortune may be lamented, when it is thus with thee, and thou art mocked by this thy mother! Is it not well?790

Cl. Not with thee; but his state is well.

El. Hear, Nemesis of him who hath lately died!

Cl. She hath heard who should be heard, and hath ordained well.

El. Insult us, for this is the time of thy triumph.

Cl. Then will not Orestes and thou silence me?

El. We are silenced; much less should we silence thee.

Cl. Thy coming, sir, would deserve large recompense, if thou hast hushed her clamorous tongue.

Pae. Then I may take my leave, if all is well.

Cl. Not so;800 thy welcome would then be unworthy of me, and of the ally who sent thee. Nay, come thou in; and leave her without, to make loud lament for herself and for her friends.

[Clytaemnestra and the Paedagogus
enter the house.


El. How think ye? Was there not grief and anguish there, wondrous weeping and wailing of that miserable mother, for the son who perished by such a fate? Nay, she left us with a laugh! Ah, woe is me! Dearest Orestes, how is my life quenched by thy death! Thou hast torn away with thee from my heart the only hopes which still were mine,—that thou wouldst810 live to return some day, an avenger of thy sire, and of me unhappy. But now—whither shall I turn? I am alone, bereft of thee, as of my father.