Page:Euripides and his age.djvu/223

Rh His own wild team destroyed him, and the dire Curse of thy lips. . . . The boon of the great Sire Is granted thee, O King, and thy son slain.

Will Theseus turn in fury on the speaker? Or will he even now soften? Neither.

Ye Gods! . . . And thou, Poseidon, not in vain I called thee Father. Thou hast heard my prayer.

The shock is heavy but he recovers his calm, and with it comes the horrible conviction that his curse was just and the gods have struck dead a guilty man.

How did he die? Speak on. How closed the snare Of Heaven to slay the shamer of my blood?

Then the Messenger begins his story.

Such preparations are regular in Euripides. In the Electra, Orestes has gone forth to find King Aegisthus, and if possible slay him. Electra is waiting in her hut, a drawn sword across her knees, sworn to die if Orestes fails. How is the Messenger brought on? First the Leader of the Chorus thinks she hears a noise in the distance; she is not sure. . . . Yes; a noise of fighting! She calls Electra, who comes, the sword in her hand. The noise increases; a cry; cheering. Something has happened, but what? The cheers sound