§268supraque fines moris humani tumet
and swells beyond the limits of human custom.
and presses upon my slow hands—I know not what it is, but it is something grand.
ita sit.
Let it be so.
hoc, anime, occupa.
My soul, seize upon this.
A deed worthy of Thyestes and worthy of Atreus: one which each of them might do.
§273Odrysia mensas— fateor, immane est scelus, §274sed occupatum: maius hoc aliquid dolor §275inveniat, animum Baulis inspira parens §276sororque; causa est similis: assiste et manum §277impelle nostram, liberos avidus pater §278gaudetque Iaceret et suos artus edat.
The Odrysian table saw the tables—I confess, it is a monstrous crime, but one already forestalled: let my grief find something greater than this; inspire my mind, O mother of Daulis, and sister; the cause is similar: stand by and impel our hand; let the greedy father rejoice and tear apart and eat his own limbs.
§279bene est, abunde est.
It is well, it is abundant.
hic placet poenae modus §280tantisper, ubinam est? tam diu cur innocens §281versatur Atreus? tota iam ante oculos meos §282imago caedis errat, ingesta orbitas §283in ora patris— anime, quid rursus times
This measure of punishment pleases me for now; where is he? Why does Atreus go about innocent for so long? Already before my eyes the whole image of the slaughter wanders, the loss of children thrust into the father's face—my soul, why do you fear again and shrink before the deed?
§284et ante rem subsidis? audendum est, age: §285quod est in isto scelere praecipuum nefas, §286hoc ipse faciet,
It must be dared, come: what is the chief horror in that crime, this he himself shall perform.
Satelles: But captured by what guiles and led along, will he set his foot into our snares?
§288inimica credit cuncta,
He believes everything is hostile.
Atreus: He could not be captured unless he wished to capture.
§290hac spe minanti fulmen occurret Iovi, §291hac spe subibit gurgitis tumidi minas §292dubiumque Libycae Syrtis intrabit fretum, §293hac spe, quod esse maximum retur malum, §294fratrem videbit.
He now hopes for my kingdom: with this hope he will meet Jupiter when he threatens with his thunderbolt, with this hope he will undergo the threats of the swelling whirlpool and enter the dangerous strait of Libyan Syrtis; with this hope, he will look upon his brother, which he deems to be the greatest evil.
§294bQuis fidem pacis dabit?
Satelles: Who will give him pledge of peace?
Whom will he trust for so great a thing? Atreus: Wicked hope is credulous.
§296gnatis tamen mandata quae patruo ferant §297dabimus: relictis exul hospitiis vagus §298regno ut miserias mutet atque Argos regat
Yet we will give to my sons messages to carry to their uncle: that, leaving his exile and wandering hospitality, he may exchange his miseries for a kingdom and rule Argos as a joint ruler.
§299ex parte dominus, si nimis durus preces §300spernet Thyestes, liberos eius rudes §301malisque fessos gravibus et faciles capi §302prece commovebunt: hinc vetus regni furor, §303illinc egestas tristis ac durus labor §304quamvis rigentem tot malis subigent virum.
If Thyestes, too stubborn, despises our entreaties, his children, unpolished, wearied by heavy evils, and easy to be won, will move him by their prayer: on one side, his old madness for power, on the other, sad poverty and hard labor will subdue the man, however hardened by so many evils.
§305Iam tempus illi fecit aerumnas leves.
Satelles: By now, time has made his hardships light to him.
§306Erras: malorum sensus accrescit die.
Atreus: You err: the sense of evils increases day by day.
§307leve est miserias ferre, perferre est grave
It is light to bear miseries; to endure them to the end is heavy.
§308Alios ministros consili tristis lege.
Satelles: Choose other agents for your grim plan.
§309Peiora iuvenes facile praecepta audiunt.
Atreus: Youths easily listen to worse instructions.
Satelles: They will do to their father whatever you teach them against their uncle: often his own crimes have returned upon the teacher.
Atreus: Though no one should teach the ways of fraud and crime, kingship will teach them. Do you fear lest they become evil?
§314nascuntur, istud quod vocas saevum asperum
They are born so.
That which you call savage and harsh, and believe is done harshly and too impiously, perhaps is being done there as well.
Satelles: Will the sons know that this fraud is being prepared?
§317bTacita tam rudibus fides §318non est in annis; detegent forsan dolos: §319tacere multis discitur vitae malis.
Atreus: Silent loyalty is not in years so raw; they will perhaps detect the guiles: to keep silent is learned by many evils of life.
Satelles: And will you deceive those very ones through whom you think to deceive another?
§321bVt ipsi crimine et culpa vacent,
Atreus: So that they themselves may be free from crime and guilt.
§322quid enim necesse est liberos sceleri meos
For what need is there to involve my children in the crime?
Let our hatred unfold itself through us.— You do badly, you shrink back, my soul: if you spare your own, you will spare those as well.
§325parces et illis, consili Agamemnon mei §326sciens minister fiat et fratri sciens §327Menelaus adsit, prolis incertae fides
Let Agamemnon be made the knowing agent of my plan, and let Menelaus be present as a knowing companion to his brother.
§328ex hoc petatur scelere: si bella abnuunt §329et gerere nolunt odia. si patruum vocant. §330pater est, eatur.
Let the loyalty of doubtful offspring be tested by this crime: if they refuse wars and wish not to carry on hatred, if they call him uncle, he is their father.
—— multa sed trepidus solet §331detegere vultus, magna nolentem quoque §332consilia produnt: nesciant quantae rei §333fiant ministri, nostra tu coepta occides.
Let us proceed.——But a trembling person is wont to reveal many things by his countenance; great plans betray even him who is unwilling: let them not know of how great a thing they are made agents. Do you conceal our undertakings.
Satelles: I do not need to be warned: there are in my breast both loyalty and fear, but loyalty will more surely close it.
Chorus: What madness drives you on, to shed blood by turns, and to approach the sceptre through crime?
You know not, greedy for high citadels, in what place kingship lies.
§344regem non faciunt opes, §345non vestis Tyriae color, §346non frontis nota regiae, §347non auro nitidae trabes: §348rex est qui posuit metus §349et diri mala pectoris, §350quem non ambitio inpotens §351et numquam stabilis favor §352vulgi praecipitis movet, §353non quicquid fodit Occideris §354ant unda Tagus aurea §355claro devenit alveo, §356non quicquid Libycis terit §357fervens area messibus, §358quem non concutiet cadens §359obliqui via fulminis,
Riches do not make a king, nor the color of Tyrian garment, nor the mark of the royal brow, nor beams shining with gold: He is a king who has put aside fears and the evils of a dreadful breast, whom powerless ambition does not move, nor the never-stable favor of the headlong populace, nor whatever the West digs up, or the Tagus with its golden wave brings down in its clear channel, nor whatever the hot threshing floor rubs with Libyan harvests, whom the falling path of the slanted thunderbolt will not shake,