§1254ἐλθὼν δʼ Ἀθήνας Παλλάδος σεμνὸν βρέτας §1255πρόσπτυξον· εἵρξει γάρ νιν ἐπτοημένας §1256δεινοῖς δράκουσιν ὥστε μὴ ψαύειν σέθεν, §1257γοργῶφʼ ὑπερτείνουσα σῷ κάρᾳ κύκλον.
Go to Athens, clasp the sacred statue of Pallas; for she will ward them off, frantic with dread serpents, so that they do not touch you, holding a Gorgon-faced shield over your head.
§1258ἔστιν δʼ Ἄρεώς τις ὄχθος, οὗ πρῶτον θεοὶ §1259ἕζοντʼ ἐπὶ ψήφοισιν αἵματος πέρι, §1260Ἁλιρρόθιον ὅτʼ ἔκτανʼ ὠμόφρων Ἄρης, §1261μῆνιν θυγατρὸς ἀνοσίων νυμφευμάτων, §1262πόντου κρέοντος παῖδʼ, ἵνʼ εὐσεβεστάτη §1263ψῆφος βεβαία τʼ ἐστὶν ἔκ τε τοῦ θεοῖς.
There is a certain hill of Ares, where first the gods sat at the voting urns concerning blood guilt, when fierce-minded Ares slew Halirrothius, in anger for his daughter's unholy marriage, the son of the ocean ruler, where the most pious and secure vote is established, given by the gods.
§1264ἐνταῦθα καὶ σὲ δεῖ δραμεῖν φόνου πέρι.
There you too must run to be judged concerning the murder.
§1265ἴσαι δέ σʼ ἐκσῴζουσι μὴ θανεῖν δίκῃ §1266ψῆφοι τεθεῖσαι· Λοξίας γὰρ αἰτίαν §1267ἐς αὑτὸν οἴσει, μητέρος χρήσας φόνον.
Equal votes cast shall save you from dying in judgment; for Loxias will take the blame upon himself, having prophesied the murder of your mother.
And for all posterity this law shall be established, that the defendant always wins with equal votes.
§1270δειναὶ μὲν οὖν θεαὶ τῷδʼ ἄχει πεπληγμέναι §1271πάγον παρʼ αὐτὸν χάσμα δύσονται χθονός, §1272σεμνὸν βροτοῖσιν εὐσεβὲς χρηστήριον· §1273σὲ δʼ Ἀρκάδων χρὴ πόλιν ἐπʼ Ἀλφειοῦ ῥοαῖς §1274οἰκεῖν Λυκαίου πλησίον σηκώματος· §1275ἐπώνυμος δὲ σοῦ πόλις κεκλήσεται.
Now the terrible goddesses, struck by this sorrow, will sink into a chasm of the earth beside that very hill, a sacred and holy oracle for mortals; but you must dwell in a city of the Arcadians by the streams of Alpheus, near the Lycaean sanctuary; and the city shall be called after your name.
To you I have said these things; but this corpse of Aegisthus the citizens of Argos shall cover with a grave in their land.
§1278μητέρα δὲ τὴν σὴν ἄρτι Ναυπλίαν παρὼν §1279Μενέλαος, ἐξ οὗ Τρωικὴν εἷλε χθόνα, §1280Ἑλένη τε θάψει· Πρωτέως γὰρ ἐκ δόμων §1281ἥκει λιποῦσʼ Αἴγυπτον οὐδʼ ἦλθεν Φρύγας· §1282Ζεὺς δʼ, ὡς ἔρις γένοιτο καὶ φόνος βροτῶν, §1283εἴδωλον Ἑλένης ἐξέπεμψʼ ἐς Ἴλιον.
And your mother, Menelaus, newly arrived at Nauplia from where he captured the Trojan land, together with Helen shall bury; for from the halls of Proteus she has come, leaving Egypt, nor did she go to the Phrygians; but Zeus, so that strife and slaughter of mortals might arise, sent out an image of Helen to Ilium.
§1284Πυλάδης μὲν οὖν κόρην τε καὶ δάμαρτʼ ἔχων §1285Ἀχαιίδος γῆς οἴκαδʼ ἐσπορευέτω, §1286καὶ τὸν λόγῳ σὸν πενθερὸν κομιζέτω §1287Φωκέων ἐς αἶαν καὶ δότω πλούτου βάρος· §1288σὺ δʼ Ἰσθμίας γῆς αὐχένʼ ἐμβαίνω ποδὶ §1289χώρει πρὸς ὄχθον Κεκροπίας εὐδαίμονα.
Now then, let Pylades take the maiden and wife and travel homeward from the Achaean land, and let him conduct your father-in-law in name to the land of the Phocians, and give him a weight of wealth; but you, setting your foot on the neck of the Isthmian land, go to the blessed hill of Cecropia.
For when you have fulfilled your destined fate of blood-guilt, you shall be happy, freed from these labors.
(Electra/Orestes) O children of Zeus, is it lawful for us to approach your voices?
§1294θέμις, οὐ μυσαραῖς τοῖσδε σφαγίοις.
(Dioscuri) It is lawful, for those who are not defiled by these slaughterings.
(Electra) May I too join in the discourse, sons of Tyndareus?
Φοίβῳ τήνδʼ ἀναθήσω §1297πρᾶξιν φονίαν.
(Dioscuri) You too; I will lay this bloody deed upon Phoebus.
(Electra) How is it that you, being gods and brothers of this deceased woman, did not ward off the Fates from our halls?
(Dioscuri) The fate of necessity led to what must be, and the unwise utterances of Phoebus' tongue.
(Electra) But what Apollo, what kind of prophecies decreed that I should become the murderer of my mother?
(Dioscuri) Common were your deeds, and common your fortunes; a single ruin of your fathers has crushed you both.
§1308ὦ σύγγονέ μοι, χρονίαν σʼ ἐσιδὼν §1309τῶν σῶν εὐθὺς φίλτρων στέρομαι §1310καὶ σʼ ἀπολείψω σοῦ λειπόμενος.
(Orestes) O my sister, having seen you after so long, at once I am deprived of your sweet love, and leaving you, I am left behind by you.
(Dioscuri) She has a husband and a home; she has suffered nothing pitiable, except that she leaves the city of the Argives.
(Electra) And what other laments are greater than to leave the boundary of one's native land?
(Orestes) But I go out from the house of my father, and under the votes of strangers I must face trial for the murder of my mother.
(Dioscuri) Take heart; to the holy city of Pallas you shall come; but endure.
§1321περί μοι στέρνοις στέρνα πρόσαψον, §1322σύγγονε φίλτατε· §1323διὰ γὰρ ζευγνῦσʼ ἡμᾶς πατρίων §1324μελάθρων μητρὸς φόνιοι κατάραι.
(Electra) Clasp breast to my breast, dearest brother; for the murderous curses of our mother, from our ancestral home, separate us.
(Orestes) Cling, clasp my body; and as over the tomb of one dead, utter your lament.
(Dioscuri) Alas, alas; dreadful is this that you have spoken, even for the gods to hear.
For in me too and in the children of heaven there is pity for hard-striving mortals.
§1331οὐκέτι σʼ ὄψομαι.
(Orestes) No longer shall I see you.
§1332οὐδʼ ἐγὼ ἐς σὸν βλέφαρον πελάσω.
(Electra) Nor shall I draw near to your eyes.
§1333τάδε λοίσθιά μοι προσφθέγματά σου.
These are my last words to you.
(Orestes) O farewell, my city; and farewell many times, women citizens.
§1336ὦ πιστοτάτη, στείχεις ἤδη;
(Orestes) O most faithful sister, are you going already?
§1337στείχω βλέφαρον τέγγουσʼ ἁπαλόν.
(Electra) I go, wetting my tender eyes with tears.
(Orestes) Pylades, go in joy, marry the person of Electra.
§1342τοῖσδε μελήσει γάμος· ἀλλὰ κύνας §1343τάσδʼ ὑποφεύγων στεῖχʼ ἐπʼ Ἀθηνῶν· §1344δεινὸν γὰρ ἴχνος βάλλουσʼ ἐπὶ σοὶ §1345χειροδράκοντες χρῶτα κελαιναί, §1346δεινῶν ὀδυνῶν καρπὸν ἔχουσαι· §1347νὼ δʼ ἐπὶ πόντον Σικελὸν σπουδῇ §1348σῴσοντε νεῶν πρῴρας ἐνάλους.
(Dioscuri) The marriage shall be their care; but you, fleeing from these hounds, go to Athens; for they cast a dreadful track after you, the black ones with snakes for hands, bearing the fruit of terrible agonies; but we two in haste will go to the Sicilian sea to save the saltwater prows of ships.
§1349διὰ δʼ αἰθερίας στείχοντε πλακὸς §1350τοῖς μὲν μυσαροῖς οὐκ ἐπαρήγομεν, §1351οἷσιν δʼ ὅσιον καὶ τὸ δίκαιον §1352φίλον ἐν βιότῳ, τούτους χαλεπῶν §1353ἐκλύοντες μόχθων σῴζομεν.
And as we go through the plain of the ether, we do not help the defiled, but those to whom what is holy and just is dear in life, releasing them from difficult labors, we save.
Thus let no one wish to act unjustly, nor let him sail together with the perjured; being a god, I declare this to mortals.