ELECTRA.
185
Haply shall some hind or some bondswoman
Appear to us, of whom we shall enquire 105
If in some spot hereby my sister dwell.
Lo, yonder I discern a serving-maid
Who on shorn head her burden from the spring
Bears: sit we down, and of this bondmaid ask,
If tidings haply we may win of that 110
For which we came to this land, Pylades.
[Orestes and Pylades retire to rear.
Re-enter Electra.
Electra.
(Str. 1)
Bestir thou, for time presses, thy foot's speed;
Haste onward, weeping bitterly.
I am his child, am Agamemnon's seed,—
Alas for me, for me!
And I the daughter Klytemnestra bore—
Tyndareus' child, abhorred of all;—
And me the city-dwellers evermore
Hapless Electra call.
Woe and alas for this my lot of sighing, 120
My life from consolation banned!
O father Agamemnon, thou art lying
In Hades, thou whose wife devised thy dying—
Her heart, Aegisthus' hand.
(Mesode.)
On, wake once more the selfsame note of grieving:
Upraise the dirge of tears that bring relieving.
(Ant. 1)
Bestir thou, for time presses, thy foot's speed;
Haste onward weeping bitterly.
Ah me, what city sees thee in thy need,
Brother?—alas for thee! 130