Chrys. How can I not know what I clearly saw?
Elec. He, thou poor soul, is dead, and with him goes
All hope of safety. Think no more of him.
Chrys. Ah, wretched me! From whom hast thou heard this?
Elec. From one who stood hard by when he was killed.
Chrys. And where is he? Strange wonder thrills through me.
Elec. Within, our mother's not unwelcome guest.
Chrys. Ah me! And yet what man was it that left
These many offerings at my father's grave?930
Elec. I for my part must think that some one placed them
Memorials of Orestes who is dead.
Chrys. Ah me! I hastened, joyous, with my tale,
Not knowing in what depths of woe we were;
And now, when I have come, I find at once
My former woes, with fresh ones in their train.
Elec. So stands it with thee. But if thou wilt list
To me, thou shalt cast off this weight of woe.
Chrys. What! shall I ever bring the dead to life?840
Elec. I meant not that: I am not quite so mad.
Chrys. What bidd'st thou, then, that I can answer for?
Elec. That thou should'st dare to do what I shall bid.
Chrys. Well! If it profit, I will not refuse.
Elec. See! without labour nothing prospers well.
Chrys. I see, and I with all my strength will work.
Elec. Hear, then, what I am purposed to perform.
Thou knowest, e'en thou, that we behold no more
The presence of our friends, but Hades dark
Has snatched them, and we twain are left alone.950
And I, as long as I still heard and deemed
My brother strong and living, still had hopes
That he would come to avenge our father's death;
