Pyl.
In Crete
All men lamented him, so potent
in him
Were beauty, grace, and daring.
Cly. Nay,
who would not Lament him save this wretch alone?
Dear son, Must I then never, never see thee more?
O me! too well I see thee crossing now The
Stygian stream to clasp thy father’s shade:
Both turn your frowning eyes askance on me, Burning
with dreadful wrath! Yea, it was I, ’T
was I that slew you both. Infamous mother And
guilty wife!—Now art content, Aegisthus?
Aegisthus still doubts, and pursues the pretended
messengers with such insulting question that Orestes,
goaded beyond endurance, betrays that their character
is assumed. They are seized and about to be led
to prison in chains, when Electra enters and in her
anguish at the sight exclaims, “Orestes led
to die!” Then ensues a heroic scene, in which
each of the friends claims to be Orestes. At last
Orestes shows the dagger Electra has given him, and
offers it to Clytemnestra, that she may stab Aegisthus
with the same weapon with which she killed Agamemnon:
Whom then I would call mother.
Take it; thou know’st how
To wield it; plunge it in
Aegisthus’ heart!
Leave me to die; I care not,
if I see
My father avenged. I
ask no other proof
Of thy maternal love from
thee. Quick, now,
Strike! Oh, what is it
that I see? Thou tremblest?
Thou growest pale? Thou
weepest? From thy hand
The dagger falls? Thou
lov’st Aegisthus, lov’st him
And art Orestes’ mother?
Madness! Go
And never let me look on thee
again!
Aegisthus dooms Electra to the same death with Orestes
and Pylades, but on the way to prison the guards liberate
them all, and the Argives rise against the usurper
with the beginning of the fifth act, which I shall
give entire, because I think it very characteristic
of Alfieri, and necessary to a conception of his vehement,
if somewhat arid, genius. I translate as heretofore
almost line for line, and word for word, keeping the
Italian order as nearly as I can.
AEGISTHUS and Soldiers.
Aeg. O treachery unforseen! O madness!
Freed, Orestes freed? Now we shall see....
Enter CLYTEMNESTRA.
Cly. Ah! turn
Backward thy steps.
Aeg. Ah, wretch, dost thou arm too
Against me?
Cly. I would save thee. Hearken
to me, I am no longer—
Aeg. Traitress—
Cly. Stay!
Aeg. Thou ’st promised
Haply to give me to that wretch alive?
Cly. To keep thee, save thee from him, I have
sworn,
Though I should perish for thee! Ah, remain
And hide thee here in safety. I will be
Thy stay against his fury—
