"
ANOTHER
Better, I deem, ourselves to bear the aid,
And drag the deed to light, while drips the blade.
ANOTHER
Better, I deem, ourselves to bear the aid,
And drag the deed to light, while drips the blade.
Aeschylus
'tis ill to enter here!
_
Lo! this our lord hath trodden down,
By grace of heaven, old Priam's town,
And praised as god he stands once more
On Argos' shore!
Yet now--if blood shed long ago
Cries out that other blood shall flow--
His life-blood, his, to pay again
The stern requital of the slain--
Peace to that braggart's vaunting vain,
Who, having heard the chieftain's tale,
Yet boasts of bliss untouched by bale!
[_A loud cry from within. _
VOICE OF AGAMEMNON
O I am sped--a deep, a mortal blow.
CHORUS
Listen, listen! who is screaming as in mortal agony?
VOICE OF AGAMEMNON
O! O! again, another, another blow!
CHORUS
The bloody act is over--I have heard the monarch cry--
Let us swiftly take some counsel, lest we too be doomed to die.
ONE OF THE CHORUS
'Tis best, I judge, aloud for aid to call,
"Ho! loyal Argives! to the palace, all!
"
ANOTHER
Better, I deem, ourselves to bear the aid,
And drag the deed to light, while drips the blade.
ANOTHER
Such will is mine, and what thou say'st I say:
Swiftly to act! the time brooks no delay.
ANOTHER
Ay, for 'tis plain, this prelude of their song
Foretells its close in tyranny and wrong.
ANOTHER
Behold, we tarry--but thy name, Delay,
They spurn, and press with sleepless hand to slay.
ANOTHER
I know not what 'twere well to counsel now--
Who wills to act, 'tis his to counsel how.
ANOTHER
Thy doubt is mine: for when a man is slain,
I have no words to bring his life again.
ANOTHER
What? e'en for life's sake, bow us to obey
These house-defilers and their tyrant sway?
ANOTHER
Unmanly doom! 'twere better far to die--
Death is a gentler lord than tyranny.
ANOTHER
Think well--must cry or sign of woe or pain
Fix our conclusion that the chief is slain?
ANOTHER
Such talk befits us when the deed we see--
Conjecture dwells afar from certainty.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
I read one will from many a diverse word,
To know aright, how stands it with our lord!
[_The scene opens, disclosing Clytemnestra, who comes forward. The
body of Agamemnon lies, muffled in a long robe, within a silver-sided
laver; the corpse of Cassandra is laid beside him.
Lo! this our lord hath trodden down,
By grace of heaven, old Priam's town,
And praised as god he stands once more
On Argos' shore!
Yet now--if blood shed long ago
Cries out that other blood shall flow--
His life-blood, his, to pay again
The stern requital of the slain--
Peace to that braggart's vaunting vain,
Who, having heard the chieftain's tale,
Yet boasts of bliss untouched by bale!
[_A loud cry from within. _
VOICE OF AGAMEMNON
O I am sped--a deep, a mortal blow.
CHORUS
Listen, listen! who is screaming as in mortal agony?
VOICE OF AGAMEMNON
O! O! again, another, another blow!
CHORUS
The bloody act is over--I have heard the monarch cry--
Let us swiftly take some counsel, lest we too be doomed to die.
ONE OF THE CHORUS
'Tis best, I judge, aloud for aid to call,
"Ho! loyal Argives! to the palace, all!
"
ANOTHER
Better, I deem, ourselves to bear the aid,
And drag the deed to light, while drips the blade.
ANOTHER
Such will is mine, and what thou say'st I say:
Swiftly to act! the time brooks no delay.
ANOTHER
Ay, for 'tis plain, this prelude of their song
Foretells its close in tyranny and wrong.
ANOTHER
Behold, we tarry--but thy name, Delay,
They spurn, and press with sleepless hand to slay.
ANOTHER
I know not what 'twere well to counsel now--
Who wills to act, 'tis his to counsel how.
ANOTHER
Thy doubt is mine: for when a man is slain,
I have no words to bring his life again.
ANOTHER
What? e'en for life's sake, bow us to obey
These house-defilers and their tyrant sway?
ANOTHER
Unmanly doom! 'twere better far to die--
Death is a gentler lord than tyranny.
ANOTHER
Think well--must cry or sign of woe or pain
Fix our conclusion that the chief is slain?
ANOTHER
Such talk befits us when the deed we see--
Conjecture dwells afar from certainty.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
I read one will from many a diverse word,
To know aright, how stands it with our lord!
[_The scene opens, disclosing Clytemnestra, who comes forward. The
body of Agamemnon lies, muffled in a long robe, within a silver-sided
laver; the corpse of Cassandra is laid beside him.
