§927Aegisthus arces Venere quaesitas tenet.
Aegisthus holds the citadel acquired by lust.
§928O nulla longi temporis felicitas!
O, no happiness of long duration exists!
§929Per te parentis memoriam obtestor mei, §930per sceptra terris nota, per dubios deos: §931recipe hunc Oresten ac pium furtum occule.
By you I implore the memory of my father, by the sceptres known to the lands, by the doubtful gods: receive this Orestes and conceal this dutiful theft.
§932Etsi timendum caesus Agamemnon docet, §933aggrediar et te, Oresta, furabor libens, §935cape hoc decorum ludicri certaminis, §936insigne frontis; laeva victricem tenens §937frondem virenti protegat ramo caput, §938et ista donum palma Pisaei Iovis §939velamen eadem praestet atque omen tibi.
Even if the slain Agamemnon teaches that we must fear, I will approach the task and, Orestes, will gladly steal you away, take this beautiful ornament of the playful contest, the sign for your forehead; holding the victorious foliage in your left hand, let it protect your head with its green branch, and let that palm, the gift of Pisaean Jove, afford you at once a covering and an omen.
§940tuque o paternis assidens frenis comes, §941condisce, Pylade, patris exemplo fidem, §942vos Graecia nunc teste veloces equi §943infida cursu fugite praecipiti loca.
And you, O companion sitting by your father's reins, Pylades, learn faithfulness by your father's example; you, swift horses, with Greece now as your witness, flee this treacherous place with headlong speed.
§944Excessit, abiit, currus effreno impetu
He has departed, he has gone; the chariot with unbridled force has escaped our sight.
Now safe, I will await my enemies and willingly offer my head to the wound.
Here comes the bloody vanquisher of her own husband, and she bears the signs of slaughter on her stained robe.
Her hands even now are wet with fresh blood, and her fierce looks display her crimes before her.
§951concedam ad aras.
I will withdraw to the altars.
patere me vittis tuis, §952Cassandra, iungi paria metuentem tibi.
Suffer me, Cassandra, to be joined to your fillets, fearing the same fate as you.
Enemy of your parent, impious and bold head, by what custom do you, a virgin, seek public assemblies?
§955Adulterarum virgo deserui domum.
As a virgin I have left a house of adulteresses.
§956Quis esse credat virginem?
Who would believe you are a virgin?
§956bNatam, tuam?
Your daughter?
§957Modestiae cum matre.
Have modesty with your mother.
§957bPietatem doces?
Do you teach dutifulness?
You bear a manly spirit in your swollen heart; but, subdued by misfortune, you will learn to act the woman.
§960Nisi forte fallor, feminas ferrum decet.
Unless perhaps I am mistaken, iron becomes women.
§961Et esse demens te parem nobis putas?
And do you, madwoman, think yourself equal to us?
§962Vobis? quis iste est alter Agamemnon tuus?
To you? Who is that other Agamemnon of yours?
§963ut vidua loquere: vir caret vita tuus.
Speak as a widow: your husband lacks life.
§964Indomita posthac virginis verba impiae §965regina frangam; citius interea mihi §966edissere ubi sit natus, ubi frater tuus.
Hereafter, as queen, I will break the untamed words of an impious virgin; meanwhile, tell me quickly where my son is, where is your brother?
§967Extra Mycenas.
Outside Mycenae.
§967bRedde nunc natum mihi.
Return my son to me now.
§968Et tu parentem redde.
And you return my father.
§968bQuo latitat loco?
In what place does he lurk?
Safe and quiet, not fearing the new kingdoms: enough for a just mother.
§970bAt iratae parum.
But not enough for an angry one.
§971morieris hodie.
You shall die today.
§971bDummodo hac moriar manu.
Provided I die by this hand.
§972recedo ab aris.
I withdraw from the altars.
sive te iugulo iuvat §973mersisse ferrum, praebeo iugulum tibi; §974seu more pecudum colla resecari placet, §975intenta cervix vulnus expectat tuum.
If it pleases you to plunge the steel into my throat, I offer my throat to you; or if it pleases you that my neck be cut after the manner of beasts, my stretched neck awaits your blow.
The crime is ready: cleanse your right hand, spattered with your husband's slaughter and defiled with blood, with this of mine.
§978Consors pericli pariter ac regni mei,
Partner of my danger as well as of my kingdom, Aegisthus, approach.
Impiously my daughter provokes her mother with insults, and conceals her hidden brother.
Raging virgin, suppress the sound of your unspeakable voice, and keep back words unworthy of a mother's ear.
§983Etiam monebit sceleris infandi artifex, §984per scelera gnatus, nomen ambiguum suis, §985idem sororis gnatus et patris nepos?
Shall he also advise, the contriver of unspeakable crime, born through crime, a name ambiguous to his own, at once the son of his sister and the grandson of his father?
§986Aegisthe, cessas impium ferro caput
Aegisthus, do you hesitate to cut off her impious head with the steel?
§987demetere? fratrem reddat aut animam statim.
Let her return her brother or surrender her life at once.
§988Abstrusa caeco carcere et saxo exigat §989aevum, et per omnes torta poenarum modos §990referre quem nunc occulit forsan volet §991inops egens inclusa, paedore obruta, §992vidua ante thalamos, exul, invisa omnibus §993aethere negate sero subcumbet malis.
Shut up in a blind dungeon and stone let her spend her life; and tortured by every manner of punishment, she will perhaps wish to reveal whom she now conceals, helpless, needy, enclosed, overwhelmed with filth, a widow before her bridal-bed, an exile, hated by all, denied the light of heaven, she will at last succumb to her misfortunes.
§994Concede mortem,
Grant me death.
§994bSi recusares, darem,
If you refused it, I would have given it.
§995rudis est tyrannus morte qui poenam exigit.
He is an unskilled tyrant who exacts punishment by death.
§996Mortem aliquid ultra est?
Is there anything beyond death?
§996bVita, si cupias mori.
Life, if you desire to die.
§997abripite, famuli, monstrum et avectam procul §998ultra Mycenas ultimo in regni angulo §999vincite saeptam nocte tenebrosi specus, §1000ut inquietam virginem carcer domet.
Drag away, servants, this monster, and carried far off beyond Mycenae, to the farthest corner of the kingdom, bind her shut in the darkness of a gloomy cavern, so that the prison may subdue this restless virgin.
But that captive wife, the mistress of the royal bed, shall pay the penalty with her own head.
§1003trahite, ut sequatur coniugem ereptum milli.
Drag her away, so that she may follow the husband snatched from me.
§1004Ne trahite.
Do not drag me.
vestros ipsa praecedam gradus.
I myself will precede your steps.
§1005perferre prima nuntium Phrygibus meis §1006propero: repletum ratibus eversis mare, §1007captas Mycenas, mille ductorem ducum, §1008ut paria fata Troicis lueret malis, §1009perisse dono feminae: stupro, dolo.
I hasten to be the first to carry the news to my Phrygians: that the sea is filled with overturned ships, Mycenae is captured, and the leader of a thousand leaders, to pay a fate equal to Troy's disasters, has perished by the gift of a woman: by adultery, by deceit.
§1010nihil moramur, rapite, quin grates ago.
I do not delay at all; drag me away, nay, I even render thanks.
§1011iam, iam iuvat vixisse post Troiam, iuvat.
Now, even now, it is a pleasure to have lived past Troy, it is a pleasure.
§1012Furiosa, morere.
Die, madwoman.
§1012bVeniet et vobis furor. —
Madness shall come upon you too.