Title: Agamemnon Author: Aeschylus Date: c450bc Translation: Morshead, E.D.A. Part VI Cassandra Woe for me, woe! Again the agony - Dread pain that sees the future all too well With ghastly preludes whirls and racks my soul. Behold ye - yonder on the palace roof The spectre-children sitting - look, such things As dreams are made on, phantoms as of babes, Horrible shadows, that a kinsman's hand Hath marked with murder, and their arms as full - A rueful burden - see, they hold them up, The entrails upon which their father fed! For this, for this, I say there plots revenge A coward lion, couching in the lair - Guarding the gate against my master's foot - My master-mine - I bear the slave's yoke now, And he, the lord of ships, who trod down Troy, Knows not the fawning treachery of tongue Of this thing false and dog-like - how her speech Glazes and sleeks her purpose, till she win By ill fate's favour the desired chance, Moving like Ate to a secret end. O aweless soul! the woman slays her lord - Woman? what loathsome monster of the earth Were fit comparison? The double snake - Or Scylla, where she dwells, the seaman's bane, Girt round about with rocks? some hag of hell, Raving a truceless curse upon her kin? Hark - even now she cries exultingly The vengeful cry that tells of battle turned - How fain, forsooth, to greet her chief restored! Nay, then, believe me not: what skills belief Or disbelief? Fate works its will - and thou Wilt see and say in ruth, Her tale was true. Chorus Ah - 'tis Thyestes' feast on kindred flesh - I guess her meaning and with horror thrill, Hearing no shadow'd hint of th' o'er - true tale, But its full hatefulness: yet, for the rest, Far from the track I roam, and know no more. Cassandra 'Tis Agamemnon's doom thou shalt behold. Chorus Peace, hapless woman, to thy boding words! Cassandra Far from my speech stands he who sains and saves. Chorus Ay - were such doom at hand - which God forbid! Cassandra Thou prayest idly - these move swift to slay. Chorus What man prepares a deed of such despite? Cassandra Fool! thus to read amiss mine oracles. Chorus Deviser and device are dark to me. Cassandra Dark! all too well I speak the Grecian tongue. Chorus Ay - but in thine, as in Apollo's strains, Familiar is the tongue, but dark the thought. Cassandra Ah ah the fire! it waxes, nears me now - Woe, woe for me, Apollo of the dawn! Lo, how the woman-thing, the lioness Couched with the wolf - her noble mate afar - Will slay me, slave forlorn! Yea, like some witch, She drugs the cup of wrath, that slays her lord With double death - his recompense for me! Ay, 'tis for me, the prey he bore from Troy, That she hath sworn his death, and edged the steel! Ye wands, ye wreaths that cling around my neck, Ye showed me prophetess yet scorned of all - I stamp you into death, or e'er I die - Down, to destruction! Thus I stand revenged - Go, crown some other with a prophet's woe. Look! it is he, it is Apollo's self Rending from me the prophet-robe he gave. God! while I wore it yet, thou saw'st me mocked There at my home by each malicious mouth - To all and each, an undivided scorn. The name alike and fate of witch and cheat - Woe, poverty, and famine - all I bore; And at this last the god hath brought me here Into death's toils, and what his love had made, His hate unmakes me now: and I shall stand Not now before the altar of my home, But me a slaughter-house and block of blood Shall see hewn down, a reeking sacrifice. Yet shall the gods have heed of me who die, For by their will shall one requite my doom. He, to avenge his father's blood outpoured, Shall smite and slay with matricidal hand. Ay, he shall come - tho' far away he roam, A banished wanderer in a stranger's land - To crown his kindred's edifice of ille Called home to vengeance by his father's fall: Thus have the high gods sworn, and shall fulfil. And now why mourn I, tarrying on earth, Since first mine Ilion has found its fate And I beheld, and those who won the wall Pass to such issue as the gods ordain? I too will pass and like them dare to die! [Turns and looks upon the palace door. Portal of Hades, thus I bid thee hail! Grant me one boon - a swift and mortal stroke, That all unwrong by pain, with ebbing blood Shed forth in quiet death, I close mine eyes. Chorus Maid of mysterious woes, mysterious lore, Long was thy prophecy: but if aright Thou readest all thy fate, how, thus unscared, Dost thou approach the altar of thy doom, As fronts the knife some victim, heaven-controlled? Cassandra Friends, there is no avoidance in delay. Chorus Yet who delays the longest, his the gain. Cassandra The day is come - flight were small gain to me! Chorus O brave endurance of a soul resolved! Cassandra That were ill praise, for those of happier doom. Chorus All fame is happy, even famous death. Cassandra Ah sire, ah brethren, famous once were ye! [She moves to enter the house, then starts back. Chorus What fear is this that scares thee from the house? Cassandra Pah! Chorus What is this cry? some dark despair of soul? Cassandra Pah! the house fumes with stench and spilth of blood. Chorus How? 'tis the smell of household offerings. Cassandra 'Tis rank as charnel-scent from open graves. Chorus Thou canst not mean this scented Syrian nard? Cassandra Nay, let me pass within to cry aloud The monarch's fate and mine - enough of life. Ah friends! Bear to me witness, since I fall in death, That not as birds that shun the bush and scream I moan in idle terror. This attest When for my death's revenge another dies, A woman for a woman, and a man Falls, for a man ill-wedded to his curse. Grant me this boon - the last before I die. Chorus Brave to the last! I mourn thy doom foreseen. Cassandra Once more one utterance, but not of wail, Though for my death - and then I speak no more. Sun! thou whose beam I shall not see again, To thee I cry, Let those whom vengeance calls To slay their kindred's slayers, quit withal The death of me, the slave, the fenceless prey. Ah state of mortal man! in time of weal, A line, a shadow! and if ill fate fall, One wet sponge-sweep wipes all our trace away - And this I deem less piteous, of the twain. [Exit into the palace. Chorus Too true it is! our mortal state With bliss is never satiate, And none, before the palace high And stately of prosperity, Cries to us with a voice of fear, Away! 'tis ill to enter here! Lo! this our lord hath trodden down, By grace of heaven, old Priam's town, And praised as god he stands once more On Argos' shore! Yet now - if blood shed long ago Cries out that other blood shall flow - His life-blood, his, to pay again The stern requital of the slain - Peace to that braggart's vaunting vain, Who, having heard the chieftain's tale, Yet boasts of bliss untouched by bale! [A loud cry from within. Voice of Agamemnon O I am sped - a deep, a mortal blow. Chorus Listen, listen! who is screaming as in mortal agony? Voice of Agamemnon O! O! again, another, another blow! Chorus The bloody act is over - I have heard the monarch's cry - Let us swiftly take some counsel, lest we too be doomed to die. One of the Chorus 'Tis best, I judge, aloud for aid to call, "Ho! loyal Argives! to the palace, all!" Another Better, I deem, ourselves to bear the aid, And drag the deed to light, while drips the blade. Another Such will is mine, and what thou say'st I say: Swiftly to act! the time brooks no delay. Another Ay, for 'tis plain, this prelude of their song Foretells its close in tyranny and wrong. Another Behold, we tarry - but thy name, Delay, They spurn, and press with sleepless hand to slay. Another I know not what 'twere well to counsel now - Who wills to act, 'tis his to counsel how. Another Thy doubt is mine: for when a man is slain, I have no words to bring his life again. Another What? e'en for life's sake, bow us to obey These house-defilers and their tyrant sway? Another Unmanly doom! 'twere better far to die - Death is a gentler lord than tyranny. Another Think well - must cry or sign of woe or pain Fix our conclusion that the chief is slain? Another Such talk befits us when the deed we see - Conjecture dwells afar from certainty. Leader of the Chorus I read one will from many a diverse word, To know aright, how stands it with our lord!