Sorrow's great burden in the balance cast.120
Chor. Ο child, Electra dear,
Child of a mother guilty above all,
Why dost thou ever wear thyself away
In ceaseless, wailing cry,
For him thy father, Agamemnon, slain,
Long years ago by godless subtlety,
Thy mother's, steeped in guile,
By coward hand betrayed?
May he who did the deed
(If this my wish be right)
Perish for evermore!
Elec. Offspring of noble souls,
Ye come to soothe my woes;130
I know it, yea, I comprehend it all,
Nothing escapes my ken;
And yet I will not leave my task undone,
Nor cease to wail my hapless father's fate.
Ye then who give me every token kind
Of true affection's bond,
Leave me, I pray, ah! leave
To vent my sorrow thus.
Chor. And yet with groans and prayers,
From Hades' pool, where all that live must go,
Thy sire thou can'st not raise, but passest on,
Lamenting ceaselessly,
From evil one might bear140
To woe that baffles every remedy,
Where respite from our sorrows there is none.
Why, why, I ask, dost thou
Still in thy spirit seek
Those evils hard to bear?
Elec. Childish and weak is he
Who learneth to forget
