Elec. Long since I planned it; 'tis no new device.
Chrys. I then must needs depart; thou darest not1050
To praise my words, nor I these moods of thine.
Elec. Go, then, within: I ne'er will follow thee,
No! not though thou should'st wish it eagerly.
To hunt a shadow is a madman's sport.
Chrys. Nay, then! If thou dost think thou reasonest well.
So reason. When thou find'st thyself in grief,
Then thou wilt praise my counsels.
Stroph. I.
Chor. Why, when we see on high
The birds for wisdom famed[1]
Caring to nourish those from whom they spring,1060
From whom they found support,
Why fail we to requite
Like boon on equal scale?
But, lo! by Zeus' glaring lightning flash,
By Themis throned on high,
Not long shall we escape our chastisement.
Ah, Voice that to the central depths of earth[2]
Dost bear our human deeds,
Lift up thy wailing speech
To those of Atreus' sons who sleep below,
Telling of foulest shame,
Unmeet for choral song.
Antistroph. I.
Long since their house is sick1070
- ↑ The "birds for wisdom famed" are here the storks. Building their nests on the roofs of houses, their habits came under men's notice, and they had come to be proverbial as presenting the pattern of filial reverence.
- ↑ The feeling that tidings from the world of the living reached the dead in Hades was expressed in the personification of a Voice, Message, Fame, whose dwelling was below the earth, and whose function it was to bear them.
