close, like Electra, to the tomb. And thus their chant begins:—
"Sent from the palace, forth I tread,
With hands shrill-clapped, a doleful train,—
Libations bearing to the dead.
Marred is my cheek with many a stain,
Nail-ploughed the furrows bleed,
The while on cries of pain
My heart doth feed.
Bending my flaxen-tissued vest,
With smileless passion, uncontrolled,
Grief doth my sorrow-stricken breast
Dismantle of the garment's decent fold.
For shrill, hair-bristling Fear,
Of Atreus' home dream-prompting seer,
Breathing forth rage in sleep,—at dead of night,
From the recesses of these royal halls,
Rang out a cry of wild affright
That heavy on the women's chambers falls.
And dream-interpreters, in Heaven's high name
To faithful utt'rance pledged, proclaim
That unavenged 'neath earth, the slain
Against their slayers wrathfully complain."[1]
This is the key-note of the earlier part of the play: this is the fear which hangs over our minds. This fear has led the queen to send forth this mourning procession, as if she might so appease the wrath of her murdered lord. But blood, says the Chorus, cannot be washed out; Atè will exact her penalty without mercy.
- ↑ For the translations throughout this and the following play the writer is indebted to Miss Swanwick's "Trilogy of Æschylus."
