§1609ἀλλὰ κτενεῖς μου θυγατέρα;
Menelaus: But will you indeed kill my daughter?
§1609bοὐ ψευδὴς ἔτʼ εἶ.
Orestes: You are no longer deceived.
§1610οἴμοι, τί δράσω;
Menelaus: Alas, what shall I do?
Orestes: Go and persuade the Argives— Menelaus: To persuade them of what?
§1611bἡμᾶς μὴ θανεῖν· αἰτοῦ πόλιν.
Orestes: That we should not die; beg the city.
§1612ἢ παῖδά μου φονεύσετε;
Menelaus: Or will you murder my child?
§1612bὧδʼ ἔχει τάδε.
Orestes: Thus stands the matter.
Menelaus: O wretched Helen— Orestes: And is my fate not wretched?
Menelaus: I brought you back from Phrygia to be a victim— Orestes: Would that it had been so.
§1615πόνους πονήσας μυρίους.
Menelaus: Having endured countless hardships.
§1615bπλήν γʼ εἰς ἐμέ.
Orestes: Except, at least, they were of no benefit to me.
§1616πέπονθα δεινά.
Menelaus: I have suffered terrible things.
§1616bτότε γὰρ ἦσθʼ ἀνωφελής.
Orestes: For then you were of no use.
§1617ἔχεις με.
Menelaus: You have me trapped.
§1617bσαυτὸν σύ γʼ ἔλαβες κακὸς γεγώς.
Orestes: You trapped yourself by being base.
§1618ἀλλʼ εἶʼ, ὕφαπτε δώματʼ, Ἠλέκτρα, τάδε·
But come, set fire to this house from below, Electra!
And you, truest of my friends, Pylades, burn down these eaves of the walls.
§1621ὦ γαῖα Δαναῶν ἱππίου τʼ Ἄργους κτίται,
Menelaus: O land of the Danaans and inhabitants of horse-breeding Argos!
§1622οὐκ εἶʼ ἐνόπλῳ ποδὶ βοηδρομήσετε;
Will you not come in arms to my aid?
For this man, having wrought the defilement of a mother's blood, is forcing your whole city to let him live.
Apollo: Menelaus, cease holding a sharpened temper; I, Phoebus, son of Leto, call to you, being near.
And you, who with sword stand over this maiden, Orestes, listen so that you may know the words I bring.
§1629Ἑλένην μὲν ἣν σὺ διολέσαι πρόθυμος ὢν §1630ἥμαρτες, ὀργὴν Μενέλεῳ ποιούμενος, §1633ἐγώ νιν ἐξέσῳσα κἀπὸ φασγάνου §1634τοῦ σοῦ κελευσθεὶς ἥρπασʼ ἐκ Διὸς πατρός.
Helen, whom you, eager to destroy, missed, while venting your anger against Menelaus— I saved her; by command of Father Zeus, I snatched her away from your sword.
§1635Ζηνὸς γὰρ οὖσαν ζῆν νιν ἄφθιτον χρεών, §1636Κάστορί τε Πολυδεύκει τʼ ἐν αἰθέρος πτυχαῖς §1637σύνθακος ἔσται, ναυτίλοις σωτήριος.
For, being Zeus's daughter, she must live imperishable, and in the folds of the upper air she shall sit beside Castor and Polydeuces, a savior to sailors.
§1638ἄλλην δὲ νύμφην ἐς δόμους κτῆσαι λαβών, §1639ἐπεὶ θεοὶ τῷ τῆσδε καλλιστεύματι §1640Ἕλληνας εἰς ἓν καὶ Φρύγας συνήγαγον, §1641θανάτους τʼ ἔθηκαν, ὡς ἀπαντλοῖεν χθονὸς §1642ὕβρισμα θνητῶν ἀφθόνου πληρώματος.
Take another bride into your house, Menelaus, since the gods by her beauty brought together the Greeks and Phrygians into one, and brought deaths, to drain from the earth the hubris of the excessive population of mortals.
§1643τὰ μὲν καθʼ Ἑλένην ὧδʼ ἔχει· σὲ δʼ αὖ χρεών, §1644Ὀρέστα, γαίας τῆσδʼ ὑπερβαλόνθʼ ὅρους §1645Παρράσιον οἰκεῖν δάπεδον ἐνιαυτοῦ κύκλον.
Thus stands the matter of Helen; but you in turn, Orestes, must cross the boundaries of this land and inhabit the Parrhasian plain for a cycle of a year.
And it shall be called, named after your exile, Oresteion by the Azanes and Arcadians.
§1648ἐνθένδε δʼ ἐλθὼν τὴν Ἀθηναίων πόλιν §1649δίκην ὑπόσχες αἵματος μητροκτόνου §1650Εὐμενίσι τρισσαῖς· θεοὶ δέ σοι δίκης βραβῆς §1651πάγοισιν ἐν Ἀρείοισιν εὐσεβεστάτην §1652ψῆφον διοίσουσʼ, ἔνθα νικῆσαί σε χρή.
And going from there to the city of the Athenians, submit to trial for your mother's murder before the three Eumenides; and gods, as judges of the trial, on the Areopagus will cast a most holy vote, where you must win.
§1653ἐφʼ ἧς δʼ ἔχεις, Ὀρέστα, φάσγανον δέρῃ, §1654γῆμαι πέπρωταί σʼ Ἑρμιόνην· ὃς δʼ οἴεται §1655Νεοπτόλεμος γαμεῖν νιν, οὐ γαμεῖ ποτε.
And she on whose neck you hold your sword, Orestes, Hermione, it is fated for you to marry; and he who thinks Neoptolemus will marry her, shall never marry her.
For it is his fate to die by a Delphic sword, when he demands of me satisfaction for his father Achilles.
And to Pylades give your sister's bed, as you once promised; and a happy life awaits him hereafter.
§1660Ἄργους δʼ Ὀρέστην, Μενέλεως, ἔα κρατεῖν, §1661ἐλθὼν δʼ ἄνασσε Σπαρτιάτιδος χθονός, §1662φερνὰς ἔχων δάμαρτος, ἥ σε μυρίοις §1663πόνοις διδοῦσα δεῦρʼ ἀεὶ διήνυσεν.
And, Menelaus, suffer Orestes to rule Argos, and go and rule the Spartan land, having the dowry of your wife, who, by causing you countless troubles, always brought you hither.
And I will settle his affairs with the city well, I who compelled him to murder his mother.
§1666ὦ Λοξία μαντεῖε, σῶν θεσπισμάτων.
Orestes: O prophetic Loxias, what of your prophecies!
§1667οὐ ψευδόμαντις ἦσθʼ ἄρʼ, ἀλλʼ ἐτήτυμος.
You were not then a false prophet, but true.
And yet fear entered me, lest, hearing from some avenging spirit, I might seem to hear your voice.
§1670ἀλλʼ εὖ τελεῖται, πείσομαι δὲ σοῖς λόγοις.
But it ends well, and I will obey your words.
Look, I release Hermione from slaughter, and agree to the marriage whenever her father gives her.
§1673ὦ Ζηνὸς Ἑλένη χαῖρε παῖ·
Menelaus: O daughter of Zeus, Helen, farewell!
ζηλῶ δέ σε §1674θεῶν κατοικήσασαν ὄλβιον δόμον.
I envy you for inhabiting the blessed house of the gods.
§1675Ὀρέστα, σοὶ δὲ παῖδʼ ἐγὼ κατεγγυῶ, §1676Φοίβου λέγοντος· εὐγενὴς δʼ ἀπʼ εὐγενοῦς §1677γήμας ὄναιο καὶ σὺ χὡ διδοὺς ἐγώ.
And to you, Orestes, I betroth my child, since Phoebus commands; marrying a noble bride from a noble father, may you be blessed, both you and I who give her.
Apollo: Go now, each to where we command, and dissolve your quarrels.
§1679bπείθεσθαι χρεών.
Menelaus: It is necessary to obey.
Orestes: And I am likewise; I make peace with my fortunes, Menelaus, and with your prophecies, O Loxias.
Apollo: Go now on your way, honoring Peace, the fairest of goddesses.
ἐγὼ δʼ §1684Ἑλένην Δίοις μελάθροις πελάσω, §1685λαμπρῶν ἄστρων πόλον ἐξανύσας, §1686ἔνθα παρʼ Ἥρᾳ τῇ θʼ Ἡρακλέους §1687Ἥβῃ πάρεδρος θεὸς ἀνθρώποις §1688ἔσται σπονδαῖς ἔντιμος ἀεί, §1689σὺν Τυνδαρίδαις, τοῖς Διὸς υἱοῖς, §1690ναύταις μεδέουσα θαλάσσης.
And I will bring Helen to the halls of Zeus, passing through the pole of the bright stars, where beside Hera and Heracles' bride, Hebe, she shall sit as a goddess, and by mortals in libations she shall be honored forever, along with the sons of Tyndareus, the sons of Zeus, ruling over the sailors of the sea.