§577ἱκέτης ὅδ᾽ ἁνὴρ καὶ δόμων ἐφέστιος §578ἐμῶν, φόνου δὲ τοῦδ᾽ ἐγὼ καθάρσιοσ— §579καὶ ξυνδικήσων αὐτός: αἰτίαν δ᾽ ἔχω
Apollo: "This man is a suppliant and a guest at my hearth, and I am the purifier of this murder— and I myself come to advocate with him.
§580τῆς τοῦδε μητρὸς τοῦ φόνου.
And I bear the blame of the murder of this man's mother.
Do you, Athena, introduce the case and, as you know how, bring this trial to its decision." Athena: "The word is yours, and I introduce the suit.
§583ὁ γὰρ διώκων πρότερος ἐξ ἀρχῆς λέγων §584γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ὀρθῶς πράγματος διδάσκαλος. §585πολλαὶ μέν ἐσμεν, λέξομεν δὲ συντόμως.
For the pursuer, speaking first from the beginning, would rightly be the instructor of the matter." Chorus: "We are many, but we shall speak briefly.
§586ἔπος δ᾽ ἀμείβου πρὸς ἔπος ἐν μέρει τιθείς.
Answer word for word in your turn.
§587τὴν μητέρ᾽ εἰπὲ πρῶτον εἰ κατέκτονας. §588ἔκτεινα: τούτου δ᾽ οὔτις ἄρνησις πέλει. §589ἓν μὲν τόδ᾽ ἤδη τῶν τριῶν παλαισμάτων. §590οὐ κειμένῳ πω τόνδε κομπάζεις λόγον. §591εἰπεῖν γε μέντοι δεῖ σ᾽ ὅπως κατέκτανες. §592λέγω: ξιφουλκῷ χειρὶ πρὸς δέρην τεμών. §593πρὸς τοῦ δ᾽ ἐπείσθης καὶ τίνος βουλεύμασι; §594τοῖς τοῦδε θεσφάτοισι: μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι. §595ὁ μάντις ἐξηγεῖτό σοι μητροκτονεῖν; §596καὶ δεῦρό γ᾽ ἀεὶ τὴν τύχην οὐ μέμφομαι. §597ἀλλ᾽ εἴ σε μάρψει ψῆφος, ἄλλ᾽ ἐρεῖς τάχα. §598πέποιθ᾽, ἀρωγὰς δ᾽ ἐκ τάφου πέμψει πατήρ. §599νεκροῖσί νυν πέπισθι μητέρα κτανών. §600δυοῖν γὰρ εἶχε προσβολὰς μιασμάτοιν.
Tell us first if you killed your mother." Orestes: "I killed her; of this there is no denial." Chorus: "This already is one of the three wrestling falls." Orestes: "You boast this word over one who is not yet thrown." Chorus: "Yet you must indeed say how you killed her." Orestes: "I speak: by cutting her throat with a sword-drawn hand." Chorus: "And by whom were you persuaded, and by whose counsels?" Orestes: "By the oracles of this god; and he bears witness to me." Chorus: "Did the prophet direct you to commit mother-slaying?" Orestes: "Yes, and up to this moment I do not blame my fortune." Chorus: "But if the vote catches you, you will soon speak otherwise." Orestes: "I trust so; and my father will send help from the grave." Chorus: "Now trust in the dead, after having killed your mother!" Orestes: "For she had the stains of two pollutions." Chorus: "How so?
§601πῶς δή; δίδαξον τοὺς δικάζοντας τάδε. §602ἀνδροκτονοῦσα πατέρ᾽ ἐμὸν κατέκτανε. §603τοιγὰρ σὺ μὲν ζῇς, ἡ δ᾽ ἐλευθέρα φόνῳ. §604τί δ᾽ οὐκ ἐκείνην ζῶσαν ἤλαυνες φυγῇ; §605οὐκ ἦν ὅμαιμος φωτὸς ὃν κατέκτανεν. §606ἐγὼ δὲ μητρὸς τῆς ἐμῆς ἐν αἵματι; §607πῶς γάρ σ᾽ ἔθρεψεν ἐντός, ὦ μιαιφόνε, §608ζώνης;
Explain this to those who judge." Orestes: "By slaying her husband, she killed my father." Chorus: "Therefore you live, while she is free by her slaughter." Orestes: "But why did you not drive her into exile while she lived?" Chorus: "She was not of the same blood as the man she killed." Orestes: "And am I of one blood with my mother?" Chorus: "How else, you blood-stained murderer, did she nourish you within her womb?
ἀπεύχι μητρὸς αἷμα φίλτατον; §609ἤδη σὺ μαρτύρησον. ἐξηγοῦ δέ μοι,
Do you disown the dearest blood of your mother?" Orestes: "Do you now bear witness, Apollo, and explain to me if I killed her with justice.
§610Ἄπολλον, εἴ σφε σὺν δίκῃ κατέκτανον. §611δρᾶσαι γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐστὶν οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα: §612ἀλλ᾽ εἰ δικαίως εἴτε μὴ τῇ σῇ φρενὶ §613δοκεῖ τόδ᾽ αἷμα, κρῖνον, ὡς τούτοις φράσω. §614λέξω πρὸς ὑμᾶς τόνδ᾽ Ἀθηναίας μέγαν §615θεσμὸν δικαίως, μάντις ὢν δ᾽ οὐ ψεύσομαι.
For we do not deny having done the deed, even as it is; but judge whether this bloodshed seems to you to have been done justly or not, so that I may speak to these people." Apollo: "I shall speak to you, this great council of Athena, with justice, and being a prophet I shall not lie.
§616οὐπώποτ᾽ εἶπον μαντικοῖσιν ἐν θρόνοις, §617οὐκ ἀνδρός, οὐ γυναικός, οὐ πόλεως πέρι, §618ὃ μὴ κελεύσαι Ζεὺς Ὀλυμπίων πατήρ.
Never yet have I spoken on my prophetic seat, concerning man, woman, or city, what Zeus, the Father of the Olympians, did not command.
§619τὸ μὲν δίκαιον τοῦθ᾽ ὅσον σθένει μαθεῖν, §620βουλῇ πιφαύσκω δ᾽ ὔμμ᾽ ἐπισπέσθαι πατρός. §621ὅρκος γὰρ οὔτι Ζηνὸς ἰσχύει πλέον. §622Ζεύς, ὡς λέγεις σύ, τόνδε χρησμὸν ὤπασε, §623φράζειν Ὀρέστῃ τῷδε, τὸν πατρὸς φόνον §624πράξαντα μητρὸς μηδαμοῦ τιμὰς νέμειν;
Learn how much power this justice has, and I bid you to follow the counsel of the Father; for an oath has no greater power than Zeus." Chorus: "Zeus, as you say, bestowed this oracle, to tell Orestes here to avenge his father's murder and to pay no respect at all to his mother's honour?" Apollo: "For it is not the same thing for a noble man to die, honoured with Zeus-given sceptres, and that too at the hands of a woman, not indeed by furious, far-shooting bows, as if by an Amazon, but in the way you shall hear, Pallas, and those who sit to decide this matter by vote.
§625οὐ γάρ τι ταὐτὸν ἄνδρα γενναῖον θανεῖν §626διοσδότοις σκήπτροισι τιμαλφούμενον, §627καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς γυναικός, οὔ τι θουρίοις §628τόξοις ἑκηβόλοισιν, ὥστ᾽ Ἀμαζόνος, §629ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἀκούσει, Παλλὰς οἵ τ᾽ ἐφήμενοι §630ψήφῳ διαιρεῖν τοῦδε πράγματος πέρι. §631ἀπὸ στρατείας γάρ νιν ἠμποληκότα §632†τὰ πλεῖστ᾽ ἄμεινον εὔφροσιν δεδεγμένη, §633δροίτῃ περῶντι λουτρὰ κἀπὶ τέρματι §634φᾶρος παρεσκήνωσεν†, ἐν δ᾽ ἀτέρμονι §635κόπτει πεδήσασ᾽ ἄνδρα δαιδάλῳ πέπλῳ.
For when he returned from his expedition, having negotiated most things for the better, she received him with friendly mind, and as he was passing through the bath at its edge, she draped a robe over him, and in an endless intricate garment she fettered the man and struck him down.
This is the fate of the man I have described to you, the all-revered leader of the ships.
§638ταύτην τοιαύτην εἶπον, ὡς δηχθῇ λεώς, §639ὅσπερ τέτακται τήνδε κυρῶσαι δίκην. §640πατρὸς προτιμᾷ Ζεὺς μόρον τῷ σῷ λόγῳ:
I have described her in this way so that the people may be stung, who have been appointed to decide this trial." Chorus: "Zeus, by your account, holds a father's death of higher value; yet he himself bound his aged father Cronus.
How do you say this not in contradiction to that?
I call upon you judges as witnesses to hear these things." Apollo: "O utterly detested beasts, loathed of the gods!
Fetters indeed might be undone, there is a remedy for this, and very many means of deliverance.
But when the dust has once sucked up the blood of a man who is dead, there is no resurrection.
§649τούτων ἐπῳδὰς οὐκ ἐποίησεν πατὴρ §650οὑμός, τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα πάντ᾽ ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω §651στρέφων τίθησιν οὐδὲν ἀσθμαίνων μένει.
My father made no spells for these things, though he turns all other things upside down and disposes them by his might without panting." Chorus: "See how you advocate for this man's acquittal!
§652πῶς γὰρ τὸ φεύγειν τοῦδ᾽ ὑπερδικεῖς ὅρα: §653τὸ μητρὸς αἷμ᾽ ὅμαιμον ἐκχέας πέδοι §654ἔπειτ᾽ ἐν Ἄργει δώματ᾽ οἰκήσει πατρός;
Having poured out his mother's kindred blood upon the ground, shall he then dwell in his father's house in Argos?
§655ποίοισι βωμοῖς χρώμενος τοῖς δημίοις;
What public altars shall he use?"