Page:Sophocles (Collins).djvu/191

Rh

Clytem. (within.) Ah, I am smitten!

Elec. Smite her yet again,

If thou hast strength for it.

Clytem. (within.) Ah! blow on blow!

Elec. Would that Ægisthus shared them!

Cho. Yes; the curse

Is now fulfilled. The buried live again;

For they who died long since now drain in turn

The blood of those that slew them."—(P.)

The shrieks from within have grown fainter and fainter; and then follows the stillness of the grave, until Orestes and Pylades come forth from the palace, carrying their swords unsheathed and dripping with blood. Almost at the same moment Ægisthus is seen coming from the country, and Electra hurriedly pushes back her brother and his friend behind the scene. The usurper has heard on the way a rumour of the death of Orestes, and is radiant with triumphant joy. He asks for the Phocian strangers, that he may hear these good tidings from their own lips. "And so they really report," he asks Electra, half incredulously, "that your brother is dead?" "You may see the corpse," is her guarded answer. Then he bids the palace-doors be thrown open, that all Mycenæ may behold the welcome sight. The set scene in the background opens, and the interior of the palace is discovered. There, on a bier, lies a body covered with a veil.

"Ægis. Great Jove! a grateful spectacle—if thus

May it be said unsinning; yet if she,

The awful Nemesis, be nigh and hear,