§107λέξω, κελεύεις γάρ, τὸν ἐκ φρενὸς λόγον.
Chorus: I will speak the word from my heart, for you command it.
§108λέγοις ἄν, ὥσπερ ᾐδέσω τάφον πατρός.
Electra: Speak, then, as you have reverenced my father's tomb.
§109φθέγγου χέουσα κεδνὰ τοῖσιν εὔφροσιν.
Chorus: As you pour, utter solemn words to those of goodwill.
§110τίνας δὲ τούτους τῶν φίλων προσεννέπω;
Electra: And which of my friends am I to address in this way?
§111πρῶτον μὲν αὑτὴν χὤστις Αἴγισθον στυγεῖ.
Chorus: First yourself, and anyone who hates Aegisthus.
§112ἐμοί τε καὶ σοί τἄρ᾽ ἐπεύξομαι τάδε;
Electra: Shall I then offer these prayers for myself and for you?
§113αὐτὴ σὺ ταῦτα μανθάνουσ᾽ ἤδη φράσαι.
Chorus: Do you yourself now consider and say this.
§114τίν᾽ οὖν ἔτ᾽ ἄλλον τῇδε προστιθῶ στάσει;
Electra: Whom else, then, shall I add to this company?
§115μέμνησ᾽ Ὀρέστου, κεἰ θυραῖός ἐσθ᾽ ὅμως.
Chorus: Remember Orestes, even though he is away from home.
§116εὖ τοῦτο, κἀφρένωσας οὐχ ἥκιστά με.
Electra: Well said; you have instructed me indeed not least.
§117τοῖς αἰτίοις νῦν τοῦ φόνου μεμνημένη???
Chorus: Now, remembering the perpetrators of the murder...
§118τί φῶ;
Electra: What shall I say?
δίδασκ᾽ ἄπειρον ἐξηγουμένη.
Teach me, guiding my inexperience.
§119ἐλθεῖν τιν᾽ αὐτοῖς δαίμον᾽ ἢ βροτῶν τινα???
Chorus: That some deity or some mortal may come to them...
§120πότερα δικαστὴν ἢ δικηφόρον λέγεις;
Electra: Do you mean a judge or an avenger?
§121ἅπλῶς τι φράζουσ᾽, ὅστις ἀνταποκτενεῖ.
Chorus: Say plainly, one who will kill in return.
§122καὶ ταῦτά μοὐστὶν εὐσεβῆ θεῶν πάρα;
Electra: And is this a righteous thing for me to ask from the gods?
§123πῶς δ᾽ οὐ τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἀνταμείβεσθαι κακοῖς;
Chorus: Why not? How is it not righteous to requite an enemy with evil?
§124κῆρυξ μέγιστε τῶν ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω, §124a<ἄρηξον,> Ἑρμῆ χθόνιε, κηρύξας ἐμοί, §125τοὺς γῆς ἔνερθε δαίμονας κλύειν ἐμὰς §126εὐχάς, πατρῴων δωμάτων ἐπισκόπους, §127καὶ γαῖαν αὐτήν, ἣ τὰ πάντα τίκτεται, §128θρέψασά τ᾽ αὖθις τῶνδε κῦμα λαμβάνει: §129κἀγὼ χέουσα τάσδε χέρνιβας βροτοῖς §130λέγω καλοῦσα πατέρ᾽, “ἐποίκτιρόν τ᾽ ἐμὲ §131φίλον τ᾽ Ὀρέστην: †πῶς ἀνάξομεν δόμοις.
Electra: Greatest herald of those above and those below, <help me,> underworld Hermes, by summoning for me, that the gods beneath the earth may hear my prayers, they who watch over my father's house, and Earth herself, who gives birth to all things, and having nurtured them, receives back their increase: and as I pour these lustral waters for mortals, I speak, calling upon my father: “Have pity on me and on loved Orestes; how shall we rule over our house?
§132πεπραμένοι γὰρ νῦν γέ πως ἀλώμεθα §133πρὸς τῆς τεκούσης, ἄνδρα δ᾽ ἀντηλλάξατο §134Αἴγισθον, ὅσπερ σοῦ φόνου μεταίτιος.
For now we wander as though sold by her who bore us, and she has taken in exchange as husband Aegisthus, who shared the guilt of your murder.
§135κἀγὼ μὲν ἀντίδουλος: ἐκ δὲ χρημάτων §136φεύγων Ὀρέστης ἐστίν, οἱ δ᾽ ὑπερκόπως §137ἐν τοῖσι σοῖς πόνοισι χλίουσιν μέγα.
And I am like a slave, and from his wealth Orestes is an exile, while they arrogantly revel greatly in your hard-earned wealth.
§138ἐλθεῖν δ᾽ Ὀρέστην δεῦρο σὺν τύχῃ τινὶ §139κατεύχομαί σοι, καὶ σὺ κλῦθί μου, πάτερ: §140αὐτῇ τέ μοι δὸς σωφρονεστέραν πολὺ §141μητρὸς γενέσθαι χεῖρά τ᾽ εὐσεβεστέραν.
That Orestes may come hither with some good fortune, I pray to you, and do you hear me, father: and grant to myself that I may be far more sober than my mother, and that my hand may be more reverent.
§142ἡμῖν μὲν εὐχὰς τάσδε, τοῖς δ᾽ ἐναντίοις §143λέγω φανῆναί σου, πάτερ, τιμάορον, §144καὶ τοὺς κτανόντας ἀντικατθανεῖν δίκῃ. ” §145ταῦτ᾽ ἐν μέσῳ τίθημι τῆς καλῆς ἀρᾶς, §146κείνοις λέγουσα τήνδε τὴν κακὴν ἀράν: §147“ἡμῖν δὲ πομπὸς ἴσθι τῶν ἐσθλῶν ἄνω, §148σὺν θεοῖσι καὶ γῇ καὶ δίκῃ νικηφόρῳ. ” §149τοιαῖσδ᾽ ἐπ᾽ εὐχαῖς τάσδ᾽ ἐπισπένδω χοάς.
For us indeed these prayers, but for our adversaries I bid that your avenger appear, father, and that those who killed you may die in return by justice.” These things I place in the midst of my good prayer, as I speak that evil curse for them: “But to us, be a sender of good things above, with the gods and Earth and victorious Justice.” Upon such prayers, I pour these libations.
And it is your custom to crown them with wailings, crying out the paean of the dead.
§152ἵετε δάκρυ καναχὲς ὀλόμενον §153ὀλομένῳ δεσπότᾳ, §154πρὸς ἔρυμα τόδε κακῶν, κεδνῶν τ᾽ §155ἀπότροπον ἄγος ἀπεύχετον §156κεχυμένων χοᾶν.
Chorus: Shed a splashing tear, ruined for our ruined master, toward this barrier against evils, and for the good, an averted, loathed pollution of the poured-out libations.
κλύε δέ μοι, κλύε, §157σέβας ὦ δέσποτ᾽, ἐξ ἀμαυρᾶς φρενός.
Hear me, oh hear, revered master, from your dim mind.
§158ὀτοτοτοτοτοτοτοῖ,
Otototototototoi!
§159ἴτω τις δορυ- §160σθενὴς ἀνήρ, ἀναλυτὴρ δόμων, §161Σκυθικά τ᾽ ἐν χεροῖν παλίντον᾽ §162ἐν ἔργῳ βέλη ʼπιπάλλων Ἄρης §163σχέδιά τ᾽ αὐτόκωπα νωμῶν ξίφη.
Let some spear-mighty man come, a deliverer of the house, wielding in his hands the back-bent Scythian arrows in the work of Ares, and brandishing close-fighting, hilted swords.
Electra: My father already has the earth-drunk libations; but share with me in this new story.
§166λέγοις ἄν: ὀρχεῖται δὲ καρδία φόβῳ.
Chorus: Speak, then; my heart is dancing with fear.
§167ὁρῶ τομαῖον τόνδε βόστρυχον τάφῳ.
Electra: I see this shorn lock of hair upon the tomb.
§168τίνος ποτ᾽ ἀνδρός, ἢ βαθυζώνου κόρης;
Chorus: Of what man, indeed, or of what deep-girdled maiden?
§170εὐξύμβολον τόδ᾽ ἐστὶ παντὶ δοξάσαι.
Electra: This is easy for anyone to guess.
§171πῶς οὖν;
Chorus: How so, then?
παλαιὰ παρὰ νεωτέρας μάθω.
Let my older self learn from your younger.
§172οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις πλὴν ἐμοῦ κείραιτό νιν.
Electra: There is no one who would shear it but myself.
§173ἐχθροὶ γὰρ οἷς προσῆκε πενθῆσαι τριχί.
Chorus: For those who ought to mourn with hair are hostile.
§174καὶ μὴν ὅδ᾽ ἐστὶ κάρτ᾽ ἰδεῖν ὁμόπτερος.
Electra: And indeed, this is very like to look upon...
§175ποίαις ἐθείραις;
Chorus: To what hair?
τοῦτο γὰρ θέλω μαθεῖν.
For this I wish to learn.
§176αὐτοῖσιν ἡμῖν κάρτα προσφερὴς ἰδεῖν.
Electra: It is very close to look upon to our own.
§177μῶν οὖν Ὀρέστου κρύβδα δῶρον ἦν τόδε;
Chorus: Could this then be a secret gift from Orestes?
§178μάλιστ᾽ ἐκείνου βοστρύχοις προσείδεται.
Electra: It looks very like his locks indeed.
§179καὶ πῶς ἐκεῖνος δεῦρ᾽ ἐτόλμησεν μολεῖν;
Chorus: But how did he dare to come hither?
§180ἔπεμψε χαίτην κουρίμην χάριν πατρός.
Electra: He sent a shorn lock as a favor for his father.
Chorus: You tell me what is no less a cause for tears, if he is never to touch this land with his foot.
Electra: And upon my heart too arose a surging wave of gall, and I felt as though struck by a piercing arrow.
§185ἐξ ὀμμάτων δὲ δίψιοι πίπτουσί μοι §186σταγόνες ἄφρακτοι δυσχίμου πλημμυρίδος, §187πλόκαμον ἰδούσῃ τόνδε: πῶς γὰρ ἐλπίσω
And from my eyes there fall thirsty drops, unblocked, of a bitter flood, as I look upon this lock of hair.
§188ἀστῶν τιν᾽ ἄλλον τῆσδε δεσπόζειν φόβης;
For how can I hope that any other of the citizens owns this hair?