Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/173

 EURiriDES' ELECTRA. 155 interior of the palace a covered body lying on a bed. Orestes stands beside it and bids yEgisthus uncover it : lie suddenly beholds the bloody corpse of Clytsemnestra, and finds himself lost past redemption. He desires to be allowed to speak, which, however, Electra forbids. Orestes compels him to go into the house, that he may slay him on the selfsame spot where ^gisthus had murdered his father. The scene of Euripides' Electra lies, not in Mycenae, but on the borders of the Argolic territory, in the open country, in front of a poor solitary cottage. The inhabitant, an old peasant, comes out, and in the prologue tells the audience how matters stand in the royal house ; partly what was known already, but moreover, that not content to treat Electra with ignominy and leave her un wedded, they had married her beneath her rank to him ; the reasons he assigns for this procedure are strange enough, but he assures the audience he has too much respect for her to debase her in reality to the condition of his wife. They are therefore living in virgin wed- lock. Electra comes out, before it is yet day-break, bearing on her head, which is shorn in servile fashion, a pitcher with which she is going to fetch water ; her husband conjures her not to trouble hei'self with such unwonted labours, but she will not be kept from the performance of her housewifely duties, and the two depart, he to his work in the field, she upon her errand. Orestes now enters with Pylades, and in a speech to his friend states that he has already sacrificed at his father's grave, but that he does not venture into the city, but wishes to look about for his sister (who, he is aware, is married and lives hereabout on the frontier), that he may learn from her the posture of affairs. He sees Electra coming with the water-pitcher, and retires. She strikes up a song of lamentation over her own fate and that of her father. The Chorus, consisting of rustic women, comes and exhorts her to take part in a festival of Juno, which she however, in the dejection of her sorrow, and pointing to her tattered garments, declines. They offer to lend her a supply of holiday gear, but she is fixed in her purpose. She espies Orestes and Pylades in their lurking-place, takes them for robbers, and is about to flee into her cottage; upon Orestes coming forth and stopping her, she thinks he is going to kill her; he pacifies her and gives her tidings that her brother lives. Hereupon he inquires about her situation, and then the whole matter is drilled into the audience once more. Orestes still forbears to make himself known, but merely promises to do Electra's commission to her brother, and testifies his sympathy as a stranger. The Chorus think this too good an oppor- tunity to be lost of gratifying their own ears also with a little news from town ; whereupon Electra, after describing her own miserable condition, depicts the wanton and insolent behaviour of her mother and ^gisthus : this wretch, she says, capers upon Agamemnon's grave and pelts it with stones. The peasant returns from his work, and finds it not a little indecorous in his wife to be gossiping with young men ; but when he hears they are the bearers of intelligence from Orestes, he invites them into his house in the most friendly manner. Orestes, at sight of this worthy man, enters into a train of moral reflections, how often it does happen that the most estimable men are found in low families, and under an unpromising exterior. Electra reprove's her husband for inviting them, knowing as he does that they have nothing in the house ; he is of opinion that even were it so, the strangers would goodnaturedly put up with it ; but a good housewife can always manage to get together all sorts of dishes, her stores will surely hold out for one day. She sends him to Orestes' old keeper, and former preserver, who lives hard by in the country, to bid him come and bring along wnth him something for their entertainment. The peasant departs with saws upon riches and moderation. Off flies the Chorus into an ode upon the expedi-