Not at all caring for death, and ready not to look upon the light, having chosen to slay the double Fury.
τίς ἂν εὔπατρις ὧδε βλάστοι;
Who of noble birth could be born so?
For no one of the noble wishes to disgrace their good fame by living miserably and nameless, O child, child.
§1085ὡς καὶ σὺ πάγκλαυτον αἰῶνα κοινὸν εἵλου, §1086τὸ μὴ καλὸν καθοπλίσασα, δύο φέρειν ἐν ἑνὶ λόγῳ, §1087σοφά τʼ ἀρίστα τε παῖς κεκλῆσθαι.
So also you chose a shared, all-lamented life, arming yourself against what is ignoble, so as to bear two names in one report, to be called a wise and most excellent daughter.
May you live, I pray, high above your enemies in hand and wealth, by as much as you now dwell under their hands.
§1093ἐπεί σʼ ἐφηύρηκα μοίρᾳ μὲν οὐκ ἐν ἐσθλᾷ §1095βεβῶσαν, ἃ δὲ μέγιστʼ ἔβλαστε νόμιμα, τῶνδε φερομέναν §1096ἄριστα τᾷ Ζηνὸς εὐσεβείᾳ.
For I have found you walking indeed in no good fortune, but winning the highest prize of the laws that grew greatest, through your piety toward Zeus.
Orestes: O women, did we hear correctly, and are we journeying rightly to where we desire?
§1100τί δʼ ἐξερευνᾷς καὶ τί βουληθεὶς πάρει;
Chorus: What are you searching for, and with what desire are you here?
§1101Αἴγισθον ἔνθʼ ᾤκηκεν ἱστορῶ πάλαι.
Orestes: I have long been asking where Aegisthus dwells.
§1102ἀλλʼ εὖ θʼ ἱκάνεις χὠ φράσας ἀζήμιος.
Chorus: Well, you have arrived safely, and the guide is free of blame.
Orestes: Who then among you would tell those inside of our longed-for, companionable arrival?
§1105ἥδʼ, εἰ τὸν ἄγχιστόν γε κηρύσσειν χρεών.
Chorus: This one (pointing to Electra), if indeed the nearest kin should make the announcement.
Orestes: Go, lady, and entering show that certain Phocian men are seeking Aegisthus.
§1108οἴμοι τάλαινʼ, οὐ δή ποθʼ ἧς ἠκούσαμεν
Electra: Alas, wretched me!
§1109φήμης φέροντες ἐμφανῆ τεκμήρια;
You are surely not bringing manifest tokens of the rumor we heard?
Orestes: I do not know your rumor; but the old Strophius commanded me to bring news concerning Orestes.
§1112τί δʼ ἔστιν, ὦ ξένʼ;
Electra: What is it, stranger?
ὥς μʼ ὑπέρχεται φόβος.
How fear creeps over me.
Orestes: Bringing his small remains in a tiny vessel, as you see, we carry him dead.
Electra: Oh, wretched me, I see this now, that clear handy burden, as it seems.
Orestes: If you weep at all for the misfortunes of Orestes, know that this urn contains his body.
§1119ὦ ξεῖνε, δός νυν, πρὸς θεῶν, εἴπερ τόδε §1120κέκευθεν αὐτὸν τεῦχος, εἰς χεῖρας λαβεῖν, §1121ὅπως ἐμαυτὴν καὶ γένος τὸ πᾶν ὁμοῦ §1122ξὺν τῇδε κλαύσω κἀποδύρωμαι σποδῷ.
Electra: O stranger, give it now, by the gods, if indeed this urn hides him, to take into my hands, so that I may weep for myself and all our race together and lament with this dust.
§1123δόθʼ, ἥτις ἐστί, προσφέροντες· οὐ γὰρ ὡς §1124ἐν δυσμενείᾳ γʼ οὖσʼ ἐπαιτεῖται τάδε, §1125ἀλλʼ ἢ φίλων τις ἢ πρὸς αἵματος φύσιν.
Orestes: Bring it forward and give it, whoever she is; for not as one in enmity does she ask for this, but either as some friend or one born of his blood.
§1126ὦ φιλτάτου μνημεῖον ἀνθρώπων ἐμοὶ §1127ψυχῆς Ὀρέστου λοιπόν, ὥς σʼ ἀπʼ ἐλπίδων §1128οὐχ ὧνπερ ἐξέπεμπον εἰσεδεξάμην.
Electra: O memorial of the soul of the dearest of men to me, left of Orestes, how far from the hopes with which I sent you forth have I received you back!
For now I carry you in my hands as nothing, but from the house, O child, I sent you forth glorious.
§1131ὡς ὤφελον πάροιθεν ἐκλιπεῖν βίον, §1132πρὶν ἐς ξένην σε γαῖαν ἐκπέμψαι χεροῖν §1133κλέψασα ταῖνδε κἀνασώσασθαι φόνου, §1134ὅπως θανὼν ἔκεισο τῇ τόθʼ ἡμέρᾳ, §1135τύμβου πατρῴου κοινὸν εἰληχὼς μέρος.
Would that I had left life before, before I sent you to a foreign land, having stolen you with these hands and rescued you from death, so that you might have lain dead on that day, having obtained a shared portion in your father's tomb.
But now, outside the house and a fugitive in another land, miserably you perished, far from your sister.
§1138κοὔτʼ ἐν φίλαισι χερσὶν ἡ τάλαινʼ ἐγὼ §1139λουτροῖς σʼ ἐκόσμησʼ οὔτε παμφλέκτου πυρὸς §1140ἀνειλόμην, ὡς εἰκός, ἄθλιον βάρος, §1141ἀλλʼ ἐν ξέναισι χερσὶ κηδευθεὶς τάλας §1142σμικρὸς προσήκεις ὄγκος ἐν σμικρῷ κύτει.
Nor with loving hands did wretched I wash and adorn you, nor from the all-burning fire did I lift, as was fitting, your sad burden, but cared for by foreign hands, wretched one, you have come back, a small weight in a small vessel.
§1143οἴμοι τάλαινα τῆς ἐμῆς πάλαι τροφῆς §1144ἀνωφελήτου, τὴν ἐγὼ θάμʼ ἀμφὶ σοὶ §1145πόνῳ γλυκεῖ παρέσχον·
Alas, wretched me for my old, useless nurturing, which I often for you rendered with sweet labor!
οὔτε γάρ ποτε §1146μητρὸς σύ γʼ ἦσθα μᾶλλον ἢ κἀμοῦ φίλος, §1147οὔθʼ οἱ κατʼ οἶκον ἦσαν, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ τροφός, §1148ἐγὼ δʼ ἀδελφὴ σοὶ προσηυδώμην ἀεί.
For never were you dearer to your mother than to me, nor were those in the house your nurses, but I was, and I was always called "sister" by you.
§1149νῦν δʼ ἐκλέλοιπε ταῦτʼ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ §1150θανόντι σὺν σοί· πάντα γὰρ συναρπάσας §1151θύελλʼ ὅπως βέβηκας.
But now these things have failed in a single day with you dead; for snatching everything away like a whirlwind, you are gone.
οἴχεται πατήρ· §1152τέθνηκʼ ἐγὼ σοί· φροῦδος αὐτὸς εἶ θανών· §1153γελῶσι δʼ ἐχθροί· μαίνεται δʼ ὑφʼ ἡδονῆς §1154μήτηρ ἀμήτωρ, ἧς ἐμοὶ σὺ πολλάκις §1155φήμας λάθρᾳ προύπεμπες ὡς φανούμενος §1156τιμωρὸς αὐτός.
Our father is gone; I am dead to you; you yourself are vanished in death; our enemies laugh; and mad with pleasure is our mother who is no mother, about whom you often sent word to me secretly that you would appear yourself as an avenger.
ἀλλὰ ταῦθʼ ὁ δυστυχὴς §1157δαίμων ὁ σός τε κἀμὸς ἐξαφείλετο, §1158ὅς σʼ ὧδέ μοι προύπεμψεν ἀντὶ φιλτάτης §1159μορφῆς σποδόν τε καὶ σκιὰν ἀνωφελῆ.
But this the unhappy daimon, yours and mine, has snatched away, who sent you back to me thus, instead of your dearest form, as dust and a useless shadow.
§1160οἴμοι μοι.
Alas, alas.
§1161ὦ δέμας οἰκτρόν.
O pitiful body.
φεῦ φεῦ.
Alas, alas.
O sent upon most terrible, alas, journeys, dearest one, how you have destroyed me!
§1164ἀπώλεσας δῆτʼ, ὦ κασίγνητον κάρα.
You have destroyed me indeed, O brotherly head.