§1136ὦ πότνια μοῖρα καὶ τύχη δαίμων τʼ ἐμός.
[Agamemnon] O mistress Fate, and Fortune, and my destiny!
§1137κἀμός γε καὶ τῆσδʼ, εἷς τριῶν δυσδαιμόνων.
[Clytemnestra] And mine too, and hers: one destiny for three ill-fated ones.
§1138τίνʼ ἠδίκησαι;
[Agamemnon] In what have you been wronged?
§1138bτοῦτʼ ἐμοῦ πεύθῃ πάρα;
[Clytemnestra] Do you ask this of me?
§1139ὁ νοῦς ὅδʼ αὐτὸς νοῦν ἔχων οὐ τυγχάνει.
[Clytemnestra] This very wit of yours happens to have no intelligence.
§1140ἀπωλόμεσθα.
[Agamemnon] I am undone.
προδέδοται τὰ κρυπτά μου.
My secrets are betrayed.
§1141πάντʼ οἶδα, καὶ πεπύσμεθʼ ἃ σὺ μέλλεις με δρᾶν· §1142αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ σιγᾶν ὁμολογοῦντός ἐστί σου §1143καὶ τὸ στενάζειν· πολλὰ μὴ κάμῃς λέγων.
[Clytemnestra] I know all, and I have learned what you intend to do to me; [Clytemnestra] and your very silence is your confession, [Clytemnestra] and your groaning; do not weary yourself by speaking much.
[Agamemnon] Lo, I am silent; for why must I add [Agamemnon] shamelessness to my misfortune by speaking lies?
[Clytemnestra] Hear me then now; for I will lay bare my words, [Clytemnestra] and no longer use evasive riddles.
§1148πρῶτον μέν, ἵνα σοι πρῶτα τοῦτʼ ὀνειδίσω, §1149ἔγημας ἄκουσάν με κἄλαβες βίᾳ, §1150τὸν πρόσθεν ἄνδρα Τάνταλον κατακτανών· §1151βρέφος τε τοὐμὸν σῷ προσούδισας πάλῳ, §1152μαστῶν βιαίως τῶν ἐμῶν ἀποσπάσας.
[Clytemnestra] First, that I may first reproach you with this: [Clytemnestra] you married me against my will and took me by force, [Clytemnestra] having slain my former husband Tantalus, [Clytemnestra] and my infant child you dashed against the ground, [Clytemnestra] tearing him violently from my breasts.
§1153καὶ τὼ Διός σε παῖδʼ, ἐμὼ δὲ συγγόνω, §1154ἵπποισι μαρμαίροντʼ ἐπεστρατευσάτην· §1155πατὴρ δὲ πρέσβυς Τυνδάρεώς σʼ ἐρρύσατο §1156ἱκέτην γενόμενον, τἀμὰ δʼ ἔσχες αὖ λέχη.
[Clytemnestra] And the two sons of Zeus, my brothers, [Clytemnestra] gleaming on their horses, made war on you; [Clytemnestra] but my old father Tyndareus rescued you [Clytemnestra] when you became a suppliant, and you kept my bed.
§1157οὗ σοι καταλλαχθεῖσα περὶ σὲ καὶ δόμους §1158συμμαρτυρήσεις ὡς ἄμεμπτος ἦ γυνή, §1159ἔς τʼ Ἀφροδίτην σωφρονοῦσα καὶ τὸ σὸν §1160μέλαθρον αὔξουσʼ, ὥστε σʼ εἰσιόντα τε §1161χαίρειν θύραζέ τʼ ἐξιόντʼ εὐδαιμονεῖν.
[Clytemnestra] Reconciled to you in this, [Clytemnestra] you yourself will bear witness how blameless a wife I was to you and your house, [Clytemnestra] temperate in love, and increasing your house, [Clytemnestra] so that you rejoiced when entering it [Clytemnestra] and were happy when going out of doors.
[Clytemnestra] It is a rare prize for a man to get such a wife; [Clytemnestra] but of worthless wives there is no scarcity to have.
[Clytemnestra] I bore you this boy besides three maidens; [Clytemnestra] of one of whom you cruelly rob me.
[Clytemnestra] And if anyone asks you for whose sake you will kill her, [Clytemnestra] speak, what will you say?
ἢ ʼμὲ χρὴ λέγειν τὰ σά;
Or must I speak your words?
[Clytemnestra] "So that Menelaus may have Helen." A fine noble thing, [Clytemnestra] that children should pay the price for a wicked woman!
§1170τἄχθιστα τοῖσι φιλτάτοις ὠνούμεθα.
[Clytemnestra] We buy what is most hateful with what is dearest.
§1171ἄγʼ, εἰ στρατεύσῃ καταλιπών μʼ ἐν δώμασιν, §1172κἀκεῖ γενήσῃ διὰ μακρᾶς ἀπουσίας, §1173τίνʼ ἐν δόμοις με καρδίαν ἕξειν δοκεῖς;
[Clytemnestra] Come, if you go to war, leaving me in the palace, [Clytemnestra] and you are there through a long absence, [Clytemnestra] what heart do you think I shall have in the house?
§1174ὅταν θρόνους τῆσδʼ εἰσίδω πάντας κενούς, §1175κενοὺς δὲ παρθενῶνας, ἐπὶ δὲ δακρύοις §1176μόνη κάθωμαι, τήνδε θρηνῳδοῦσʼ ἀεί· §1177Ἀπώλεσέν σʼ, ὦ τέκνον, ὁ φυτεύσας πατήρ, §1178αὐτὸς κτανών, οὐκ ἄλλος οὐδʼ ἄλλῃ χερί, §1179τοιόνδε νόστον καταλιπὼν πρὸς τοὺς δόμους. §1180ἐπεὶ βραχείας προφάσεως ἔδει μόνον, §1181ἐφʼ ᾗ σʼ ἐγὼ καὶ παῖδες αἱ λελειμμέναι §1182δεξόμεθα δέξιν ἥν σε δέξασθαι χρεών.
[Clytemnestra] When I look upon all her chairs, empty, [Clytemnestra] and empty her maiden chambers, [Clytemnestra] and sit alone in tears, always mourning her: [Clytemnestra] "Your own father who begot you destroyed you, child, [Clytemnestra] slaying you himself, no other, nor with another's hand, [Clytemnestra] leaving behind such a homecoming for his house." [Clytemnestra] For there needs only a slight pretext, [Clytemnestra] on which I and the children who are left [Clytemnestra] will welcome you with the welcome you deserve to receive.
[Clytemnestra] Do not, I entreat you by the gods, either force me to become evil towards you, [Clytemnestra] nor do you yourself become so.
[Clytemnestra] Well then; [Clytemnestra] you will sacrifice your child; what prayers will you say there?
§1186τί σοι κατεύξῃ τἀγαθόν, σφάζων τέκνον;
[Clytemnestra] What good thing will you pray for yourself, when slaughtering your child?
§1187νόστον πονηρόν, οἴκοθέν γʼ αἰσχρῶς ἰών;
[Clytemnestra] A wretched return, going shamefully from home?
§1188ἀλλʼ ἐμὲ δίκαιον ἀγαθὸν εὔχεσθαί τί σοι;
[Clytemnestra] But is it right for me to pray for any good thing for you?
[Clytemnestra] Should we not indeed deem the gods to be without understanding, [Clytemnestra] if we feel kindly toward murderers?
§1191ἥκων δʼ ἂν Ἄργος προσπέσοις τέκνοισι σοῖς;
[Clytemnestra] And returning to Argos, would you fall upon your children?
§1192ἀλλʼ οὐ θέμις σοι.
[Clytemnestra] But it is not lawful for you.
τίς δὲ καὶ προσβλέψεται §1193παίδων σʼ, ἵνʼ αὐτῶν προσέμενος κτάνῃς τινά;
[Clytemnestra] And who of your children will even look at you, that you might draw them to you to kill one of them?
[Clytemnestra] Have you already gone through these thoughts, [Clytemnestra] or do you care only to bear the scepter and lead the army?
[Clytemnestra] You ought to have spoken a just word among the Argives: [Clytemnestra] "Do you wish, Achaeans, to sail to the land of the Phrygians?
§1198κλῆρον τίθεσθε παῖδʼ ὅτου θανεῖν χρεών. §1199ἐν ἴσῳ γὰρ ἦν τόδʼ, ἀλλὰ μὴ σὲ ἐξαίρετον §1200σφάγιον παρασχεῖν Δαναΐδαισι παῖδα σήν, §1201ἢ Μενέλεων πρὸ μητρὸς Ἑρμιόνην κτανεῖν, §1202οὗπερ τὸ πρᾶγμʼ ἦν.
[Clytemnestra] Cast lots whose child must die." [Clytemnestra] For this would have been fair, and not for you to offer [Clytemnestra] your own child as a choice victim for the Danai, [Clytemnestra] or for Menelaus to kill Hermione for her mother's sake, [Clytemnestra] whose affair indeed it was.
νῦν δʼ ἐγὼ μὲν ἡ τὸ σὸν §1203σῴζουσα λέκτρον παιδὸς ἐστερήσομαι, §1204ἡ δʼ ἐξαμαρτοῦσʼ, ὑπότροφον νεάνιδα §1205Σπάρτῃ κομίζουσʼ, εὐτυχὴς γενήσεται.
But now, I who kept your [Clytemnestra] bed safe shall be deprived of my child, [Clytemnestra] while she who sinned, bringing home her reared young daughter [Clytemnestra] to Sparta, will be fortunate.
§1206τούτων ἄμειψαί μʼ εἴ τι μὴ καλῶς λέγω· §1207εἰ δʼ εὖ λέλεκται, νῶι μὴ δή γε κτάνῃς §1208τὴν σήν τε κἀμὴν παῖδα, καὶ σώφρων ἔσῃ.
[Clytemnestra] Answer me in these things if I speak anything not well; [Clytemnestra] but if it has been spoken well, do not kill [Clytemnestra] our child—yours and mine—and you will be wise.
§1209πιθοῦ.
[Clytemnestra] Obey me.
τὸ γάρ τοι τέκνα συνσῴζειν καλόν, §1210Ἀγάμεμνον· οὐδεὶς πρὸς τάδʼ ἀντερεῖ βροτῶν.
For to help save one's children is a noble thing, [Clytemnestra] Agamemnon; no mortal will speak against this.