238
EURIPIDES.
Klytemnestra.
Nay, tis his mood: stiff-necked thou also art,
Electra.
For grief am I; yet will I cease from wrath.[1]
Klytemnestra.
Yea?—then he too shall cease from troubling thee.
Electra.
He is haughty, seeing he dwelleth in mine home. 1120
Klytemnestra.
Lo there!—thou kindlest fires of strife anew.
Electra.
I am dumb: I fear him—even as I fear.[2]
Klytemnestra.
Cease from this talk. Why didst thou summon me?
Electra.
Touching my travailing thou hast heard, I wot.
- ↑ Lines 1118, 1119, 1120, 1122 are examples of Tragic Irony, Electra using expressions to which the audience, from their knowledge of what has happened, attach a meaning unsuspected by Klytemnestra; while Klytemnestra uses words which bear a construction unsuspected by herself. Perhaps "a son's time accomplished" (1133), may be another instance, since her own son's time of waiting was fulfilled.
- ↑ i.e. Not at all, since he is dead: but Klytemnestra would understand this in the usual sense, "more than I can express."
