Orestes.
I will go in. A horror I essay![1]— 985
Yea, horrors will achieve! If this please Heaven,
So be it. Bitter strife, yet sweet, for me. [Enters hut.
Enter Klytemnestra in chariot, with attendants, captive maids of Troy.
Chorus.
Hail, Queen of the Argive land!
All hail, O Tyndareus' daughter!
Hail, sister of Zeus' sons, heroes twain 990
In the glittering heavens mid stars who stand,
And their proud right this, to deliver from bane
Men tossed on the storm-vext water.
Hail! As to the Blest, do I yield thee thy right
Of homage, for awe of thy wealth and thy bliss.
With observance[2] to compass thy fortune's height
This, Queen, is the hour, even this!
Klytemnestra.
Step from the wain, Troy's daughters; take mine hand,
That from this chariot-floor I may light down.
As the Gods' temples are with spoils adorned 1000
Of Troy, so these, the chosen of Phrygian land,
- ↑ Keene proposes δεινῶν, and interprets, "To shield me from one horror (i.e. the God's vengeance), Horrors will I achieve."
- ↑ There is a double entendre conveyed by the two meanings of which θεραπεύεσθαι is capable. Klytemnestra understands it of court (Shaksperian "observance") to be paid to her high fortunes; the Chorus, of the watchfulness which was never so necessary as now, unavailing as it must be.
