§88πολλὰς μὲν θρήνων ᾠδάς, §89πολλὰς δʼ ἀντήρεις ᾔσθου §90στέρνων πληγὰς αἱμασσομένων, §91ὁπόταν δνοφερὰ νὺξ ὑπολειφθῇ·
many songs of lamentation, and many matching blows upon my bleeding breast you have heard, whenever the dark night fades.
§92τὰ δὲ παννυχίδων ἤδη στυγεραὶ §93ξυνίσασʼ εὐναὶ μογερῶν οἴκων, §94ὅσα τὸν δύστηνον ἐμὸν θρηνῶ §95πατέρʼ, ὃν κατὰ μὲν βάρβαρον αἶαν §96φοίνιος Ἄρης οὐκ ἐξένισεν, §97μήτηρ δʼ ἡμὴ χὠ κοινολεχὴς §98Αἴγισθος ὅπως δρῦν ὑλοτόμοι §99σχίζουσι κάρα φονίῳ πελέκει, §100κοὐδεὶς τούτων οἶκτος ἀπʼ ἄλλης §101ἢ ʼμοῦ φέρεται, σοῦ, πάτερ, οὕτως §102αἰκῶς οἰκτρῶς τε θανόντος.
And the loathsome beds of this wretched house already know my night-long vigils, how much I bewail my unhappy father, whom in a foreign land bloody Ares did not welcome, but my mother and her bedfellow Aegisthus, just as woodcutters cleave an oak, split his head with a murderous axe; and no pity for these things comes from any other than from me, when you, father, have died so shamefully and piteously.
§103ἀλλʼ οὐ μὲν δὴ §104λήξω θρήνων στυγερῶν τε γόων, §105ἔστʼ ἂν παμφεγγεῖς ἄστρων §106ῥιπάς, λεύσσω δὲ τόδʼ ἦμαρ, §107μὴ οὐ τεκνολέτειρʼ ὥς τις ἀηδὼν §108ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ τῶνδε πατρῴων §109πρὸ θυρῶν ἠχὼ πᾶσι προφωνεῖν.
But indeed I will never cease from my loathsome laments and groans, as long as I behold the brilliant beams of the stars and this daylight, like some child-slaying nightingale to utter a cry of lamentation before these ancestral gates and proclaim my echo to all.
§110ὦ δῶμʼ Ἀΐδου καὶ Περσεφόνης, §111ὦ χθόνιʼ Ἑρμῆ καὶ πότνιʼ Ἀρὰ §112σεμναί τε θεῶν παῖδες Ἐρινύες, §113αἳ τοὺς ἀδίκως θνῄσκοντας ὁρᾶθʼ, §114αἳ τοὺς εὐνὰς ὑποκλεπτομένους, §115ἔλθετʼ, ἀρήξατε, τίσασθε πατρὸς §116φόνον ἡμετέρου, §117καί μοι τὸν ἐμὸν πέμψατʼ ἀδελφόν· §118μούνη γὰρ ἄγειν οὐκέτι σωκῶ §120λύπης ἀντίρροπον ἄχθος.
O home of Hades and Persephone, O Hermes of the underworld and venerable Curse, and holy Erinyes, daughters of the gods, who look upon those who die unjustly, who look upon those whose beds are stolen, come, help, avenge the murder of our father, and send my brother to me; for alone I no longer have the strength to bear the counter-balancing weight of grief.
§121ὦ παῖ, παῖ δυστανοτάτας §122Ἠλέκτρα ματρός, τίνʼ ἀεὶ §123τάκεις ὧδʼ ἀκόρεστον οἰμωγὰν §124τὸν πάλαι ἐκ δολερᾶς ἀθεώτατα §125ματρὸς ἁλόντʼ ἀπάταις Ἀγαμέμνονα §126κακᾷ τε χειρὶ πρόδοτον;
O child, child of a most wretched mother, Electra, why do you always waste away in this insatiable lamentation for Agamemnon, who long ago was most impiously caught by the deceits of your treacherous mother and betrayed by an evil hand?
ὡς ὁ τάδε πορὼν §127ὄλοιτʼ, εἴ μοι θέμις τάδʼ αὐδᾶν.
May he who caused this perish, if it is lawful for me to utter this.
O offspring of noble parents, you have come as a consolation for my sufferings.
§131οἶδά τε καὶ ξυνίημι τάδʼ, οὔ τί με §132φυγγάνει, οὐδʼ ἐθέλω προλιπεῖν τόδε, §133μὴ οὐ τὸν ἐμὸν στενάχειν πατέρʼ ἄθλιον.
I know and understand these things, nothing escapes me, nor do I wish to leave this aside, so as not to groan for my unhappy father.
But O you who return the grace of every kind of friendship, let me rave thus, alas, I entreat you.
But indeed you will never raise your father from the all-receiving lake of Hades either by groans or by prayers.
§140ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τῶν μετρίων ἐπʼ ἀμήχανον §141ἄλγος ἀεὶ στενάχουσα διόλλυσαι, §142ἐν οἷς ἀνάλυσίς ἐστιν οὐδεμία κακῶν.
But from moderate grief to an unmanageable sorrow, you are always ruining yourself by groaning, in which there is no release from evils.
§143τί μοι τῶν δυσφόρων ἐφίει;
Why do you long for painful things?
Foolish is he who forgets his piteously perished parents.
§146ἀλλʼ ἐμέ γʼ ἁ στονόεσσʼ ἄραρεν φρένας, §147ἃ Ἴτυν, αἰὲν Ἴτυν ὀλοφύρεται, §148ὄρνις ἀτυζομένα, Διὸς ἄγγελος.
But the sorrowful bird fits my heart, who ever laments 'Itys, Itys', the bewildered bird, messenger of Zeus.
O all-suffering Niobe, I indeed count you a god, who in a rocky tomb weep forever.
§153οὔτοι σοὶ μούνᾳ, τέκνον, §155ἄχος ἐφάνη βροτῶν, §156πρὸς ὅ τι σὺ τῶν ἔνδον εἶ περισσά, §157οἷς ὁμόθεν εἶ καὶ γονᾷ ξύναιμος, §158οἵα Χρυσόθεμις ζώει καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα, §159κρυπτᾷ τʼ ἀχέων ἐν ἥβᾳ, §160ὄλβιος, ὃν ἁ κλεινὰ §161γᾶ ποτε Μυκηναίων §162δέξεται εὐπατρίδαν, Διὸς εὔφρονι §163βήματι μολόντα τάνδε γᾶν Ὀρέσταν.
Not to you alone, child, has grief appeared among mortals, in which you exceed those within, with whom you are of the same blood and parentage, such as Chrysothemis and Iphianassa who live, and he who is in his youth hidden from sorrows, happy, whom the famous land of Mycenaeans will one day receive as a noble son, coming to this land by the kindly guidance of Zeus, Orestes.
§164ὅν γʼ ἐγὼ ἀκάματα προσμένουσʼ, ἄτεκνος, §165τάλαινʼ, ἀνύμφευτος αἰὲν οἰχνῶ, §166δάκρυσι μυδαλέα, τὸν ἀνήνυτον §167οἶτον ἔχουσα κακῶν· ὁ δὲ λάθεται §168ὧν τʼ ἔπαθʼ ὧν τʼ ἐδάη.
For him I wait unweariedly, childless, wretched, unmarried ever I walk, wet with tears, holding an endless lot of evils; but he forgets both what he suffered and what he learned.
τί γὰρ οὐκ ἐμοὶ §170ἔρχεται ἀγγελίας ἀπατώμενον;
For what message comes to me that is not deceived?
For he is always longing, but though longing, he does not deign to appear.
§173θάρσει μοι, θάρσει, τέκνον.
Take courage, take courage, child.
§175ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ §176Ζεύς, ὃς ἐφορᾷ πάντα καὶ κρατύνει· §177ᾧ τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ χόλον νέμουσα §178μήθʼ οἷς ἐχθαίρεις ὑπεράχθεο μήτʼ ἐπιλάθου· §179χρόνος γὰρ εὐμαρὴς θεός.
Still great in heaven is Zeus, who sees all and rules; to whom commit your exceeding anger and neither be too vexed with those you hate, nor forget them; for time is an easy god.
§180οὔτε γὰρ ὁ τὰν Κρῖσαν §181βούνομον ἔχων ἀκτὰν §182παῖς Ἀγαμεμνονίδας ἀπερίτροπος §183οὔθʼ ὁ παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα θεὸς ἀνάσσων.
For neither he who has the ox-pasturing shore of Crisa, the son of Agamemnon, is heedless, nor the god who rules by Acheron.
§185ἀλλʼ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη §186βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδʼ ἔτʼ ἀρκῶ· §187ἅτις ἄνευ τεκέων κατατάκομαι, §188ἇς φίλος οὔτις ἀνὴρ ὑπερίσταται, §189ἀλλʼ ἁπερεί τις ἔποικος ἀναξία §190οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους πατρός, ὧδε μὲν §191ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ, §192κεναῖς δʼ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις.
But the greater part of my life has already left me without hope, and I can no longer hold out; I who waste away without children, for whom no beloved husband stands up to protect, but like some unworthy resident alien I manage the chambers of my father, thus in shameful attire, and I stand around empty tables.
§193οἰκτρὰ μὲν νόστοις αὐδά, §194οἰκτρὰ δʼ ἐν κοίταις πατρῴαις §195ὅτε οἱ παγχάλκων ἀνταία §196γενύων ὡρμάθη πλαγά.
Piteous was the voice at the return, and piteous in the paternal bed when the hostile blow of all-bronze weapons was driven at him.