Page:Sophocles (Storr 1919) v2.djvu/183

 This too was vengeance for a daughter’s blood?

A shameful plea, if urged, for shame it is

To wed a foeman for a daughter’s sake.

But in convincing thee I waste my breath;

Thou hast no answer but to scream that I

Revile a mother; and in sooth to us

Thou art mistress more than mother, for I pine

A wretched drudge, by thee and by thy mate

Downtrodden; and that other child who scarce

Escaped thy hands, Orestes, wears away

In weary exile his unhappy days.

Oft hast thou taxed me that I reared him up

For vengeance; so I willed it, had I power.

Go to, proclaim me out of my own mouth

A shrew, a scold, a vixen—what thou wilt.

For if I be accomplished in such arts,

Methinks I show my breed, a trick o’ the blood.

I see she breathes forth fury and no more

Heeds if her words with justice harmonize.

Why then should I heed one who thus insults

A mother, at her ripe age too? Dost think

That she would stick at any deed of shame?

Nay, I am shamefast, though to thee I seem

Shameless; I know such manners in a maid

Are ill-becoming, in a daughter strange; 171