§1487τί γὰρ βροτοῖς ἄνευ Διὸς τελεῖται; §1488τί τῶνδ᾽ οὐ θεόκραντόν ἐστιν; §1489ἰὼ ἰὼ βασιλεῦ βασιλεῦ, §1490πῶς σε δακρύσω; §1491φρενὸς ἐκ φιλίας τί ποτ᾽ εἴπω; §1492κεῖσαι δ᾽ ἀράχνης ἐν ὑφάσματι τῷδ᾽ §1493ἀσεβεῖ θανάτῳ βίον ἐκπνέων. §1494ὤμοι μοι κοίταν τάνδ᾽ ἀνελεύθερον §1495δολίῳ μόρῳ δαμεὶς <δάμαρτοσ> §1496ἐκ χερὸς ἀμφιτόμῳ βελέμνῳ. §1497αὐχεῖς εἶναι τόδε τοὔργον ἐμόν: §1498μηδ᾽ ἐπιλεχθῇς §1499Ἀγαμεμνονίαν εἶναί μ᾽ ἄλοχον. §1500φανταζόμενος δὲ γυναικὶ νεκροῦ §1501τοῦδ᾽ ὁ παλαιὸς δριμὺς ἀλάστωρ §1502Ἀτρέως χαλεποῦ θοινατῆρος §1503τόνδ᾽ ἀπέτισεν, §1504τέλεον νεαροῖς ἐπιθύσας. §1505ὡς μὲν ἀναίτιος εἶ §1506τοῦδε φόνου τίς ὁ μαρτυρήσων;
For what is accomplished for mortals without Zeus? Which of these things is not ordained by a god? Alas, alas, my king, my king, how shall I weep for you? What shall I say from my loving heart? You lie in this spider's web, breathing out your life in an unholy death. Woe is me for this ungenerous bed, laid low by a treacherous fate, by the wife's hand with a double-edged weapon. (Clytemnestra) You boast that this deed is mine; but do not imagine that I am the wife of Agamemnon. Appearing in the likeness of the wife of this corpse, the ancient, harsh avenger of Atreus, the cruel banqueter, has paid back this man, sacrificing a full-grown man for the young children. (Chorus) That you are guiltless of this murder, who will bear witness? How, how?
§1507πῶ πῶ; πατρόθεν δὲ συλλή- §1508πτωρ γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ἀλάστωρ. §1509βιάζεται δ᾽ ὁμοσπόροις §1510ἐπιρροαῖσιν αἱμάτων §1511μέλας Ἄρης, ὅποι δίκαν προβαίνων §1512πάχνᾳ κουροβόρῳ παρέξει. §1513ἰὼ ἰὼ βασιλεῦ βασιλεῦ, §1514πῶς σε δακρύσω; §1515φρενὸς ἐκ φιλίας τί ποτ᾽ εἴπω; §1516κεῖσαι δ᾽ ἀράχνης ἐν ὑφάσματι τῷδ᾽ §1517ἀσεβεῖ θανάτῳ βίον ἐκπνέων. §1518ὤμοι μοι κοίταν τάνδ᾽ ἀνελεύθερον §1519δολίῳ μόρῳ δαμεὶς <δάμαρτοσ> §1520ἐκ χερὸς ἀμφιτόμῳ βελέμνῳ. §1521[οὔτ᾽ ἀνελεύθερον οἶμαι θάνατον §1522τῷδε γενέσθαι. ] §1523οὐδὲ γὰρ οὗτος δολίαν ἄτην §1524οἴκοισιν ἔθηκ᾽; §1525ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὸν ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ ἔρνος ἀερθέν, §1526τὴν πολυκλαύτην Ἰφιγενείαν, §1527ἄξια δράσας ἄξια πάσχων §1528μηδὲν ἐν Ἅιδου μεγαλαυχείτω, §1529ξιφοδηλήτῳ, θανάτῳ τίσας ἅπερ ἦρξεν. §1530ἀμηχανῶ φροντίδος στερηθεὶς §1531εὐπάλαμον μέριμναν §1532ὅπα τράπωμαι, πίτνοντος οἴκου. §1533δέδοικα δ᾽ ὄμβρου κτύπον δομοσφαλῆ §1534τὸν αἱματηρόν: ψακὰς δὲ λήγει. §1535δίκην δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἄλλο πρᾶγμα θηγάνει βλάβης §1536πρὸς ἄλλαις θηγάναισι Μοῖρα. §1537ἰὼ γᾶ γᾶ, εἴθ᾽ ἔμ᾽ ἐδέξω, §1538πρὶν τόνδ᾽ ἐπιδεῖν ἀργυροτοίχου §1540δροίτας κατέχοντα χαμεύνην. §1541τίς ὁ θάψων νιν;
But an avenger from his father's side might have been a helper. Black Ares forces his way with kindred streams of blood, advancing to where he shall provide justice for the child-devouring frost. Alas, alas, my king, my king, how shall I weep for you? What shall I say from my loving heart? You lie in this spider's web, breathing out your life in an unholy death. Woe is me for this ungenerous bed, laid low by a treacherous fate, by the wife's hand with a double-edged weapon. [(Clytemnestra) I do not think an ungenerous death has come to this man.] For did not he also bring treacherous ruin upon his house? But my shoot raised from him, the much-wept Iphigenia, having done worthy deeds and suffered worthy things, let him not boast in Hades, having paid with death by the sword for what he began. (Chorus) I am at a loss, deprived of thought, lacking any resourceful plan where to turn, while the house is falling. I fear the house-shaking crash of the rain of blood; the drizzle is ceasing. And Fate is whetting Justice for another deed of harm upon other whetstones. O earth, earth, would that you had received me, before I saw this man occupying the low bed of the silver-sided bath. Who will bury him?
τίς ὁ θρηνήσων; §1542ἦ σὺ τόδ᾽ ἔρξαι τλήσει, κτείνασ᾽ §1543ἄνδρα τὸν αὑτῆς ἀποκωκῦσαι, §1545ψυχῇ τ᾽ ἄχαριν χάριν ἀντ᾽ ἔργων §1546μεγάλων ἀδίκως ἐπικρᾶναι; §1547τίς δ᾽ ἐπιτύμβιον αἶνον ἐπ᾽ ἀνδρὶ θείῳ §1548σὺν δακρύοις ἰάπτων §1550ἀλαθείᾳ φρενῶν πονήσει; §1551οὐ σὲ προσήκει τὸ μέλημ᾽ ἀλέγειν §1552τοῦτο: πρὸς ἡμῶν §1553κάππεσε, κάτθανε, καὶ καταθάψομεν §1554οὐχ ὑπὸ κλαυθμῶν τῶν ἐξ οἴκων,. . §1555ἀλλ᾽ Ἰφιγένειά νιν ἀσπασίως §1556θυγάτηρ, ὡς χρή, §1557πατέρ᾽ ἀντιάσασα πρὸς ὠκύπορον §1558πόρθμευμ᾽ ἀχέων §1559περὶ χεῖρε βαλοῦσα φιλήσει. §1560ὄνειδος ἥκει τόδ᾽ ἀντ᾽ ὀνείδους. §1561δύσμαχα δ᾽ ἔστι κρῖναι. §1562φέρει φέροντ᾽, ἐκτίνει δ᾽ ὁ καίνων. §1563μίμνει δὲ μίμνοντος ἐν θρόνῳ Διὸς §1564παθεῖν τὸν ἔρξαντα: θέσμιον γάρ. §1565τίς ἂν γονὰν ἀραῖον ἐκβάλοι δόμων; §1566κεκόλληται γένος πρὸς ἄτᾳ. §1567ἐς τόνδ᾽ ἐνέβη ξὺν ἀληθείᾳ §1568χρησμός.
Who will lament him? Will you dare to do this, having slain your own husband, to wail for him, and to perform for his soul an ungracious favor, unjustly, in return for his great deeds? And who, pouring out a funeral praise over the godlike man with tears, will labor with truth of mind? (Clytemnestra) It does not concern you to care for this matter; by our hands he fell, he died, and we shall bury him, not with wailings from the house, but Iphigenia his daughter, as is fitting, meeting her father gladly at the swift-flowing ferry of grief, shall throw her arms around him and kiss him. (Chorus) Reproach comes in return for reproach. It is difficult to judge. The spoiler is spoiled, and the slayer pays. It remains, while Zeus remains on his throne, that the doer must suffer; for it is the law. Who can cast out the cursed brood from the house? The race is glued to ruin. (Clytemnestra) With truth did this oracle come upon this man.
ἐγὼ δ᾽ οὖν §1569ἐθέλω δαίμονι τῷ Πλεισθενιδῶν §1570ὅρκους θεμένη τάδε μὲν στέργειν, §1571δύστλητά περ ὄνθ᾽: ὃ δὲ λοιπόν, ἰόντ᾽ §1572ἐκ τῶνδε δόμων ἄλλην γενεὰν §1573τρίβειν θανάτοις αὐθένταισι: §1574κτεάνων τε μέρος §1575βαιὸν ἐχούσῃ πᾶν ἀπόχρη μοι μανίας μελάθρων §1576ἀλληλοφόνους ἀφελούσῃ. §1577ὦ φέγγος εὖφρον ἡμέρας δικηφόρου. §1578φαίην ἂν ἤδη νῦν βροτῶν τιμαόρους §1579θεοὺς ἄνωθεν γῆς ἐποπτεύειν ἄχη, §1580ἰδὼν ὑφαντοῖς ἐν πέπλοις Ἐρινύων §1581τὸν ἄνδρα τόνδε κείμενον φίλως ἐμοί, §1582χερὸς πατρῴας ἐκτίνοντα μηχανάς. §1583Ἀτρεὺς γὰρ ἄρχων τῆσδε γῆς, τούτου πατήρ, §1584πατέρα Θυέστην τὸν ἐμόν, ὡς τορῶς φράσαι, §1585αὑτοῦ δ᾽ ἀδελφόν, ἀμφίλεκτος ὢν κράτει, §1586ἠνδρηλάτησεν ἐκ πόλεώς τε καὶ δόμων. §1587καὶ προστρόπαιος ἑστίας μολὼν πάλιν §1588τλήμων Θυέστης μοῖραν ηὕρετ᾽ ἀσφαλῆ, §1589τὸ μὴ θανὼν πατρῷον αἱμάξαι πέδον. §1590[αὐτοῦ] ξένια δὲ τοῦδε δύσθεος πατὴρ §1591[Ἀτρεύς, προθύμως μᾶλλον ἢ φίλως,] πατρὶ §1592τὠμῷ, κρεουργὸν ἦμαρ εὐθύμως ἄγειν §1593δοκῶν, παρέσχε δαῖτα παιδείων κρεῶν. §1594τὰ μὲν ποδήρη καὶ χερῶν ἄκρους κτένας §1595ἔθρυπτ᾽ ἄνωθεν ἀνδρακὰς καθήμενος §1596ἄσημ᾽: ὁ δ᾽ αὐτῶν αὐτίκ᾽ ἀγνοίᾳ λαβὼν
But I, at any rate, am willing, having made oaths with the demon of the Pleisthenidae, to be content with these things, hard to bear though they are; and for the rest, that he leave this house, and wear out another race with kindred murders. Even a small portion of wealth is completely sufficient for me, having rid the house of mutual madness of slaughter. (Aegisthus) O kindly light of the day of justice! Now I would say that the gods, protectors of mortals, look down from above upon the griefs of the earth, seeing this man lying in the woven robes of the Furies, to my great joy, paying for the plots of his father's hand. For Atreus, the ruler of this land, this man's father, banished from the city and the house my father Thyestes, to speak clearly, and his own brother, being disputed in power. And returning as a suppliant of the hearth, the wretched Thyestes found a safe portion, so as not to stain his ancestral soil with his death. But this man's ungodly father Atreus, [more eagerly than kindly,] to my father, pretending to celebrate cheerfully a day of meat-carving, provided a banquet of his children's flesh. The parts of the feet and the outermost combs of the hands he broke off above, sitting apart, so they were unrecognizable; and my father, taking them in ignorance, immediately...