rejoicing no less than the sown field rejoices in the god-given moisture at the birth of the sheath.
O elders of Argos, since things are thus, you may rejoice, if you would rejoice; but I boast and pray.
And if it were a fitting thing to pour libations over a corpse, it would be justly done to this man, yes, more than justly.
He who filled so great a mixing-bowl of cursed evils in his house, himself returns and drinks it dry.
(Chorus) We marvel at your tongue, how bold-mouthed you are, who boast such a speech over your own husband.
§1401πειρᾶσθέ μου γυναικὸς ὡς ἀφράσμονος:
(Clytemnestra) You are trying me as though I were a witless woman.
But I speak with an undaunted heart to you who know, and whether you wish to praise or to blame me, it is all one.
This is Agamemnon, my husband, now a corpse, the work of this right hand, a righteous craftsman.
τάδ᾽ ὧδ᾽ ἔχει.
So things stand.
§1407τί κακόν, ὦ γύναι, χθονοτρεφὲς ἐδανὸν §1408ἢ ποτὸν πασαμένα ῥυτᾶς ἐξ ἁλὸς ὄρμενον §1409τόδ᾽ ἐπέθου θύος, δημοθρόους τ᾽ ἀράς;
(Chorus) O woman, what poisonous food nourished by the earth, or what drink arising from the surging sea have you tasted, that you have taken upon yourself this mad sacrifice and the curses cried by the people?
You have cast him off, you have cut him off; and you shall be exiled from the city, a heavy object of hatred to the citizens.
§1412νῦν μὲν δικάζεις ἐκ πόλεως φυγὴν ἐμοὶ §1413καὶ μῖσος ἀστῶν δημόθρους τ᾽ ἔχειν ἀράς, §1414οὐδὲν τότ᾽ ἀνδρὶ τῷδ᾽ ἐναντίον φέρων: §1415ὃς οὐ προτιμῶν, ὡσπερεὶ βοτοῦ μόρον, §1416μήλων φλεόντων εὐπόκοις νομεύμασιν, §1417ἔθυσεν αὑτοῦ παῖδα, φιλτάτην ἐμοὶ §1418ὠδῖν᾽, ἐπῳδὸν Θρῃκίων ἀημάτων.
(Clytemnestra) Now indeed you decree exile from the city for me, and the hatred of the citizens and curses cried by the people, though then you brought nothing against this man, who, caring no more than for the death of a beast among abundant sheep in fleecy pastures, sacrificed his own child, my dearest birth-pang, as a charm against Thracian winds.
Was it not he whom you should have banished from this land as a requital for pollutions?
ἐπήκοος δ᾽ ἐμῶν §1421ἔργων δικαστὴς τραχὺς εἶ.
But when you hear of my deeds, you are a harsh judge.
But I tell you to threaten me with such things, knowing that I am prepared on equal terms, so that he who conquers with his hand may rule me.
But if a god brings about the contrary, you shall be taught wisdom, though late indeed.
§1426μεγαλόμητις εἶ, περίφρονα δ᾽ ἔλακες:
(Chorus) You are great in plans, and you speak insolent things.
Just as your mind is maddened by your blood-dripping fortune, so a drop of blood is conspicuous upon your eyes.
Unhonored yet, deprived of friends, you must pay blow for blow.
§1431καὶ τήνδ᾽ ἀκούεις ὁρκίων ἐμῶν θέμιν: §1432μὰ τὴν τέλειον τῆς ἐμῆς παιδὸς Δίκην, §1433Ἄτην Ἐρινύν θ᾽, αἷσι τόνδ᾽ ἔσφαξ᾽ ἐγώ, §1434οὔ μοι φόβου μέλαθρον ἐλπὶς ἐμπατεῖ, §1435ἕως ἂν αἴθῃ πῦρ ἐφ᾽ ἑστίας ἐμῆς §1436Αἴγισθος, ὡς τὸ πρόσθεν εὖ φρονῶν ἐμοί.
(Clytemnestra) And you hear this, the sacred ordinance of my oath: by the accomplished Justice of my child, by Ruin and the Fury, to whom I slaughtered this man, expectation of fear does not tread my hall, so long as Aegisthus burns fire on my hearth, as before, well-disposed towards me.
§1437οὗτος γὰρ ἡμῖν ἀσπὶς οὐ σμικρὰ θράσους.
For he is to us no small shield of confidence.
§1438κεῖται γυναικὸς τῆσδε λυμαντήριος, §1439Χρυσηίδων μείλιγμα τῶν ὑπ᾽ Ἰλίῳ: §1440ἥ τ᾽ αἰχμάλωτος ἥδε καὶ τερασκόπος §1441καὶ κοινόλεκτρος τοῦδε, θεσφατηλόγος §1442πιστὴ ξύνευνος, ναυτίλων δὲ σελμάτων §1443ἰσοτριβής.
Here lies the destroyer of this woman, the darling of the Chryseises under Ilium; and this captive girl, this seer, and sharing his bed, the faithful speaker of oracles who slept with him, and who rubbed equally the rowing benches.
ἄτιμα δ᾽ οὐκ ἐπραξάτην.
And they have not fared without desert.
§1444ὁ μὲν γὰρ οὕτως, ἡ δέ τοι κύκνου δίκην §1445τὸν ὕστατον μέλψασα θανάσιμον γόον §1446κεῖται φιλήτωρ τῷδ᾽, ἐμοὶ δ᾽ ἐπήγαγεν §1447εὐνῆς παροψώνημα τῆς ἐμῆς χλιδῆς.
For he lies thus, and she, indeed, like a swan having sung her last death-lament, lies here, his lover, and has brought to me an added relish to the luxury of my bed.
§1448φεῦ, τίς ἂν ἐν τάχει, μὴ περιώδυνος, §1449μηδὲ δεμνιοτήρης, §1450μόλοι τὸν ἀεὶ φέρουσ᾽ ἐν ἡμῖν §1451Μοῖρ᾽ ἀτέλευτον ὕπνον, δαμέντος §1452φύλακος εὐμενεστάτου §1453πολέα τλάντος γυναικὸς διαί; §1454πρὸς γυναικὸς δ᾽ ἀπέφθισεν βίον.
(Chorus) This is my prayer: would that some fate, not excessively painful, nor keeping us to our beds, might come quickly, bringing to us the endless sleep, since our most kindly guardian has been laid low, having endured much for a woman's sake, and by a woman's hand he lost his life.
Alas, alas, infatuated Helen, who alone destroyed so many, so very many lives under Troy.
§1458†νῦν δὲ τελείαν. . §1459πολύμναστον ἐπηνθίσω δι᾽ αἷμ᾽ ἄνιπτον, §1460ἥτις ἦν τότ᾽ ἐν δόμοις §1461ἔρις ἐρίδματος ἀνδρὸς οἰζύσ†.
And now you have adorned yourself with a perfect, long-remembered one because of blood that cannot be washed away, she who was then in the house, a firmly-built strife, a ruin of a man.
§1462μηδὲν θανάτου μοῖραν ἐπεύχου §1463τοῖσδε βαρυνθείς: §1464μηδ᾽ εἰς Ἑλένην κότον ἐκτρέψῃς, §1465ὡς ἀνδρολέτειρ᾽, ὡς μία πολλῶν §1466ἀνδρῶν ψυχὰς Δαναῶν ὀλέσασ᾽ §1467ἀξύστατον ἄλγος ἔπραξε.
Do not pray for the fate of death, burdened by these things; nor turn your wrath upon Helen, as a slayer of men, as one who alone destroyed the lives of many Danai and wrought pain past cure.
§1468δαῖμον, ὃς ἐμπίτνεις δώμασι καὶ §1469διφυίοισι Τανταλίδαισιν, §1470κράτος <τ᾽> ἰσόψυχον ἐκ γυναικῶν §1471καρδιόδηκτον ἐμοὶ κρατύνεις.
(Chorus) O demon who falls upon the house and the double-natured descendants of Tantalus, and rules through women a power of equal soul that bites my heart.
§1472ἐπὶ δὲ σώματος δίκαν [μοι] §1473κόρακος ἐχθροῦ σταθεῖσ᾽ ἐκνόμως §1474ὕμνον ὑμνεῖν ἐπεύχεται. . . <˘¯>
And standing over the body, like a hostile raven, she boasts in lawless fashion to sing a discordant hymn.
(Clytemnestra) Now indeed you have set straight the judgment of your mouth, in calling upon the thrice-fattened demon of this race.
§1478ἐκ τοῦ γὰρ ἔρως αἱματολοιχὸς §1479νείρῃ τρέφεται, πρὶν καταλῆξαι §1480τὸ παλαιὸν ἄχος, νέος ἰχώρ.
For from him the blood-licking desire is nourished in the belly, before the old pain ceases, new pus flows.
§1481ἦ μέγαν οἰκονόμον §1482δαίμονα καὶ βαρύμηνιν αἰνεῖς, §1483φεῦ φεῦ, κακὸν αἶνον ἀτη- §1484ρᾶς τύχας ἀκορέστου: §1485ἰὴ ἰὴ διαὶ Διὸς §1486παναιτίου πανεργέτα:
(Chorus) Truly indeed, a great and heavily-wrathful demon of this house you praise, alas, alas, an evil praise of ruinous and insatiable fortune; ah, ah, through Zeus, the cause of all, the doer of all.