'Stranger,' he said, 'since Argos is thy goal,
Say to the parents,'—strictly mark my words,—
'Dead is Orestes;—grave it on thy mind;—
Whether the counsel of his friends prevail
To bring him home, or give him sepulture.
Alien for aye;—bear thou their mandates back;
For now the brazen urn doth shroud from sight
The ashes of the hero duly wept.'
Such words I heard, and tell thee;—if to those
Who here bear rule I speak, kin to the dead,
I know not;—but 'tis meet his sire should know."
"Tis meet his sire should know"!—did Orestes hope to "wring his mother's heart"? It was not "made of penetrable stuff." She says nothing about the dead father, who indeed knows well enough, and in his ghostly power is furthering all this act of retribution; but although the messenger's tidings are, as she pretends to think, not good, yet she admits him with welcome to the house, and goes herself away to tell the news to Ægisthus. Has she some suspicion? Does she go to seek for men to help against any violence which the strangers may intend?
Again there is a moment of suspense, during which the Chorus sing a chant of eager expectation:—
"Cho.—Dear handmaidens! Sisters dear!
When, oh when, full-voiced and clear,
Shall we, for Orestes' sake,
Loud the joyous pæan wake?"
The hour is come, they say; now must Persuasion lead the guilty ones to offer themselves to the ruin which Erinnys is preparing. As this chorus ends, there
