Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (14 page)
Read Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Online
Authors: Aeschylus
The “Mask of Agamemnon” which was discovered at Mycenae by Heinrich
Schliemann in 1876
‘Murder of Agamemnon’ by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
‘After the murder’ (1882) by John Collier
WATCHMAN
CHORUS of Argive Elders
CLYTAEMESTRA
HERALD
AGAMEMNON
CASSANDRA
AEGISTHUS
SCENE. — Argos
TIME. — The heroic age.
DATE. — 458 B.C., at the City Dionysia.
When that Helen had
fled with Paris to Troyland, her husband Menelaüs and his brother Agamemnon,
the sons of Atreus and two-throned Kings of Argos, sought to take vengeance on
him who had done outrage to Zeus, the guardian of the rights of hospitality.
Before their palace appeared a portent, which the seer Calchas interpreted to
them: the two eagles were the Kings themselves and the pregnant hare seized in
their talons was the city which held Priam’s son and Helen and her wealth. But
Artemis, she that loves wild things of the field, was wroth with the Kings: and
when all their host was gathered at Aulis and
would sail with its thousand ships, she made adverse winds to blow; so that the
ships rotted and the crews lost heart. Then the seer, albeit in darkling words,
spake to Agamamnon: “If thou wilt appease the goddess and so free the fleet,
thou must sacrifice with thine own hand thy daughter Iphigenia.” And he did
even so, and the Greeks sailed away in their ships. Nine years did they lay
siege to Troytown, but they could not take it; for it was fated that it should
not be taken until the tenth year.
Now when King
Agamemnon fared forth from Argos, he left at home his Queen, Clytaemestra, Leda’s
child and Helen’s sister (though she had for father Tyndareus, but Helen’s was
Zeus himself); and in her loneliness and because Agamemnon had slain her
daughter, she gave ear to the whisperings of another’s love, even of Aegisthus,
son of that Thyestes who had lain with he wife of his brother Atreus; an for
revenge Atreus slew other of Thyestes’ sons and gave their father thereof to
eat; and when Thyestes learned whereof he had eaten, he cursed his brother’s
race.
With the coming of
the tenth year of the war, Queen Clytaemestra, plotting with Aegisthus against
her husband’s life, ordered that watch be kept upon the roof of her palace at Argos; for a succession of beacon-fires was to flash the
news from Troy
when the city should be captured by Agamemnon. For weary months the watchman
has been on the look-out — but at last the signal blazes forth in the night. In
celebration of the glad event, the Queen has altar-fires kindled throughout the
city. The Chorus of Elders will not credit the tidings; nor are their doubts
resolved until a herald announced the approach of Agamemnon, whose ship had
alone escaped the storm that had raged in the night just passed. Welcomed by
his Queen, Agamemnon bespeaks a kindly reception for his captive, Cassandra,
Priam’s daughter, and on his wife’s urgence consents to walk in his palace on
costly tapestries. Cassandra seeks in vain to convince the Elders of their
master’s peril; and, conscious also of her own doom, passes within. Agamemnon’s
death-shriek is heard; the two corpses are displayed. Clytaemestra exults in
her deed and defies the Elders. Aegisthus enters to declare that Agamemnon has
been slain in requital for his father’s crime. The Elders, on the point of
coming to blows with Aegisthus and his body-guard, are restrained by
Clytaemestra, but not before they utter the warning that Orestes will return to
exact vengeance for the murder of his father.
WATCHMAN
[
Upon the roof of the palace of Agamemnon at Argos
.]
[1]
Release
from this weary task of mine has been my plea to the gods throughout this long
year’s watch, in which, lying upon the palace roof of the Atreidae, upon my
bent arm, like a dog, I have learned to know well the gathering of the night’s
stars, those radiant potentates conspicuous in the firmament, bringers of
winter and summer to mankind [the constellations, when they rise and set].
[8]
So now I am still
watching for the signal-flame, the gleaming fire that is to bring news from Troy and tidings of
its capture. For thus commands my queen, woman in passionate heart and man in
strength of purpose. And whenever I make here my bed, restless and dank with
dew and unvisited by dreams — for instead of sleep fear stands ever by my side,
so that I cannot close my eyelids fast in sleep — and whenever I care to sing
or hum (and thus apply an antidote of song to ward off drowsiness), then my
tears start forth, as I bewail the fortunes of this house of ours, not ordered
for the best as in days gone by. But tonight may there come a happy release
from my weary task! May the fire with its glad tidings flash through the gloom!
[
The signal fire suddenly flashes
out.
]
[22]
Oh welcome,
you blaze in the night, a light as if of day, you harbinger of many a choral
dance in Argos
in thanksgiving for this glad event! What ho! What ho! To Agamemnon’s queen I
thus cry aloud the signal to rise from her bed, and as quickly as she can to
lift up in her palace halls a shout of joy in welcome of this fire, if the city
of Ilium truly
is taken, as this beacon unmistakably announces. And I will make an overture
with a dance upon my own account; for my lord’s lucky roll I shall count to my
own score, now that this beacon has thrown me triple six.
[34]
Ah well, may the
master of the house come home and may I clasp his welcome hand in mine!
For the rest I stay silent; a great ox stands upon my tongue — yet the house
itself, could it but speak, might tell a plain enough tale; since, for my part,
by my own choice I have words for those who know, and to those who do not know,
I’ve lost my memory.
[
He descends by
an inner stairway; attendants kindle fires at the altars placed in front of the
palace. Enter the chorus of Argive Elders.
]
CHORUS
[40]
This
is now the tenth year since Priam’s mighty adversary, king Menelaus, and with
him king Agamemnon, the mighty pair of Atreus’ sons, joined in honor of throne
and sceptre by Zeus, set forth from this land with an army of a thousand ships
manned by Argives, a warrior force to champion their cause.
[47]
Loud rang the
battle-cry they uttered in their rage, just as eagles scream which, in lonely
grief for their brood, rowing with the oars of their wings, wheel high over
their bed, because they have lost the toil of guarding their nurslings’ nest.
[54]
But some one
of the powers supreme — Apollo perhaps or Pan, or Zeus — hears the shrill
wailing scream of the clamorous birds, these sojourners in his realm, and
against the transgressors sends vengeance at last though late. Even so Zeus,
whose power is over all, Zeus, lord of host and guest, sends against Alexander
the sons of Atreus, that for the sake of a woman with many husbands he may
inflict many and wearying struggles (when the knee is pressed in the dust and
the spear is splintered in the onset) on Danaans and on Trojans alike.
[66]
The case now
stands where it stands — it moves to fulfilment at its destined end. Not by
offerings burned in secret, not by secret libations, not by tears, shall man
soften the stubborn wrath of unsanctified sacrifices.
[71]
But we, incapable
of service by reason of our aged frame, discarded from that martial mustering
of long ago, wait here at home, supporting on our canes a strength like a child’s.
For just as the vigor of youth, leaping up within the breast, is like that of
old age, since the war-god is not in his place; so extreme age, its leaves
already withering, goes its way on triple feet, and, no better than a child,
wanders, a dream that is dreamed by day.
[83]
But, O daughter
of Tyndareôs, Queen Clytaemestra, what has happened? What news do you have? On
what intelligence and convinced by what report do you send about your
messengers to command sacrifice? For all the gods our city worships, the gods
supreme, the gods below, the gods of the heavens and of the marketplace, have
their altars ablaze with offerings. Now here, now there, the flames rise high
as heaven, yielding to the soft and guileless persuasion of holy ointment, the
sacrificial oil itself brought from the inner chambers of the palace. Of all
this declare whatever you can and dare reveal, and be a healer of my uneasy
heart. This now at one moment bodes ill, while then again hope, shining with
kindly light from the sacrifices, wards off the biting care of the sorrow that
gnaws my heart.
[104]
I have the power
to proclaim the augury of triumph given on their way to princely men — since
my age still breathes Persuasion upon me from the gods, the strength of song — how
the twin-throned command of the Achaeans, the single-minded captains of
Hellas’ youth, with avenging spear and arm against the Teucrian land, was sent
off by the inspiring omen appearing to the kings of the ships — kingly birds,
one black, one white of tail, near the palace, on the spear-hand, in a
conspicuous place, devouring a hare with offspring unborn caught in the last
effort to escape. Sing the song of woe, the song of woe, but may the good
prevail!
[122]
Then the wise
seer of the host, noticing how the two warlike sons of Atreus were two in
temper, recognized the devourers of the hare as the leaders of the army, and
thus interpreted the portent and spoke: “In time those who here issue forth
shall seize Priam’s town, and fate shall violently ravage before its towered
walls all the public store of cattle. Only may no jealous god-sent wrath cast
its shadow upon the embattled host, the mighty bit forged for Troy’s mouth, and strike it before it reaches
its goal! For, in her pity, holy Artemis is angry at the winged hounds of her
father, for they sacrifice a wretched timorous thing, together with her young,
before she has brought them forth. An abomination to her is the eagles’ feast.”
Sing the song of woe, the song of woe, but may the good prevail!
[140]
”Although,
O Lovely One, you are so gracious to the tender whelps of fierce lions, and
take delight in the suckling young of every wild creature that roams the field,
promise that the issue be brought to pass in accordance with these signs,
portents auspicious yet filled with ill. And I implore Paean, the healer, that
she may not raise adverse gales with long delay to stay the Danaan fleet from
putting forth, by urging another sacrifice, one that knows no law, unsuited for
feast, worker of family strife, dissolving wife’s reverence for husband. For
there abides wrath — terrible, not to be suppressed, a treacherous guardian of
the home, a wrath that never forgets and that exacts vengeance for a child.”
[156]
Such utterances
of doom, derived from auguries on the march, together with many blessings, did
Calchas proclaim to the royal house; and in harmony with this. Sing the song of
woe, the song of woe, but may the good prevail!
[160]
Zeus,
whoever he may be, — if by this name it pleases him to be invoked, by this name
I call to him — as I weigh all things in the balance, I have nothing to compare
save “Zeus,” if in truth I must cast aside this vain burden from my heart. He
who once was mighty, swelling with insolence for every fight, he shall not even
be named as having ever existed; and he who arose later, he has met his
overthrower and is past and gone. But whoever willingly sings a victory song
for Zeus, he shall gain wisdom altogether — Zeus, who sets mortals on the path
to understanding, Zeus, who has established as a fixed law that “wisdom comes
by suffering.” But even as trouble, bringing memory of pain, drips over the
mind in sleep, so wisdom comes to men, whether they want it or not. Harsh, it
seems to me, is the grace of gods enthroned upon their awful seats.
[183]
So then the
captain of the Achaean ships, the elder of the two — holding no seer at fault,
bending to the adverse blasts of fortune, when the Achaean folk, on the shore
over against Chalcis in the region where Aulis’ tides surge to and fro, were
very distressed by opposing winds and failing stores. The breezes that blew
from the Strymon, bringing harmful leisure, hunger, and tribulation of spirit
in a cruel port, idle wandering of men, and sparing neither ship nor cable,
began, by doubling the season of their stay, to rub away and wither the flower
of Argos; and when the seer, pointing to Artemis as cause, proclaimed to the chieftains
another remedy, more oppressive even than the bitter storm, so that the sons of
Atreus struck the ground with their canes and did not stifle their tears —
[205]
Then the
elder king spoke and said: “It is a hard fate to refuse obedience, and hard, if
I must slay my child, the glory of my home, and at the altar-side stain a
father’s hand with streams of virgin’s blood. Which of these courses is not
filled with evil? How can I become a deserter to my fleet and fail my allies in
arms? For that they should with all too impassioned passion crave a sacrifice
to lull the winds — even a virgin’s blood — stands within their right. May all
be for the best.”
[217]
But when he had
donned the yoke of Necessity, with veering of mind, impious, unholy,
unsanctified, from that moment he changed his intention and began to conceive
that deed of uttermost audacity. For wretched delusion, counsellor of ill,
primal source of woe, makes mortals bold. So then he hardened his heart to
sacrifice his daughter so that he might further a war waged to avenge a woman,
and as an offering for the voyage of a fleet!
[227]
For her
supplications, her cries of “Father,” and her virgin life, the commanders in
their eagerness for war cared nothing. Her father, after a prayer, bade his
ministers lay hold of her as, enwrapped in her robes, she lay fallen forward,
nd with stout heart to raise her, as if she were a young goat, high above the
altar; and with a gag upon her lovely mouth to hold back the shouted curse
against her house — by the bit’s strong and stifling might.
[238]
Then, as she
shed to earth her saffron robe, she struck each of her sacrificers with a
glance from her eyes beseeching pity, looking as if in a picture, wishing she
could speak; for she had often sung where men met at her father’s hospitable
table, and with her virgin voice would lovingly honor her dear father’s
prayer for blessing at the third libation —
[248]
What happened
next I did not see and do not tell. The art of Calchas was not unfulfilled.
Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. But
the future, that you shall know when it occurs; till then, leave it be — it is
just as someone weeping ahead of time. Clear it will come, together with the
light of dawn. [
Enter Clytaemestra.
] But as for what shall follow, may
the issue be happy, even as she wishes, our sole guardian here, the bulwark of
the Apian land, who stands nearest to our lord.
[258]
I have come,
Clytaemestra, in obedience to your royal authority; for it is fitting to do
homage to the consort of a sovereign prince when her husband’s throne is empty.
Now whether the news you have heard is good or ill, and you do make sacrifice
with hopes that herald gladness, I wish to hear; yet, if you would keep
silence, I make no complaint.
CLYTAEMESTRA
[264]
As herald
of gladness, with the proverb, may Dawn be born from her mother Night! You
shall hear joyful news surpassing all your hopes — the Argives have taken Priam’s
town!
CHORUS
[268]
What have
you said? The meaning of your words has escaped me, so incredible they seemed.
CLYTAEMESTRA
[269]
I said
that Troy is in
the hands of the Achaeans. Is my meaning clear?
CHORUS
[270]
Joy
steals over me, and it challenges my tears.
CLYTAEMESTRA
[271]
Sure
enough, for your eye betrays your loyal heart.
CHORUS
[272]
What then
is the proof? Have you evidence of this?
CLYTAEMESTRA
[273]
I have,
indeed; unless some god has played me false.
CHORUS
[274]
Do you
believe the persuasive visions of dreams?
CLYTAEMESTRA
[275]
I
would not heed the fancies of a slumbering brain.
CHORUS
[276]
But can it
be some pleasing rumor that has fed your hopes?
CLYTAEMESTRA
[277]
Truly you
scorn my understanding as if it were a child’s.
CHORUS
[278]
But at
what time was the city destroyed?
CLYTAEMESTRA
[279]
In the
night, I say, that has but now given birth to this day here.
CHORUS
[280]
And
what messenger could reach here with such speed?
CLYTAEMESTRA
[281]
Hephaestus, from Ida speeding forth his brilliant blaze. Beacon passed beacon
on to us by courier-flame: Ida, to the Hermaean crag in Lemnos; to the mighty
blaze upon the island succeeded, third, the summit of Athos sacred to
Zeus; and, soaring high aloft so as to leap across the sea, the flame,
travelling joyously onward in its strength the pinewood torch, its golden-beamed
light, as another sun, passing the message on to the watchtowers of Macistus.
He, delaying not nor carelessly overcome by sleep, did not neglect his
part as messenger. Far over Euripus’ stream came the beacon-light and signalled
to the watchmen on Messapion. They, kindling a heap of withered heather, lit up
their answering blaze and sped the message on. The flame, now gathering
strength and in no way dimmed, like a radiant moon overleaped the plain of
Asopus to Cithaeron’s ridges, and roused
another relay of missive fire. Nor did the warders there disdain the far-flung
light, but made a blaze higher than their commands. Across Gorgopus’ water shot
the light, reached the mount of Aegiplanctus, and urged the ordinance of fire
to make no delay. Kindling high with unstinted force a mighty beard of flame,
they sped it forward so that, as it blazed, it passed even the headland that
looks upon the Saronic gulf; until it swooped down when it reached the lookout,
near to our city, upon the peak of Arachnaeus; and next upon this roof of the
Atreidae it leapt, this very fire not undescended from the Idaean flame. Such
are the torch-bearers I have arranged, completing the course in succession one
to the other; and the victor is he who ran both first and last. This is the
kind of proof and token I give you, the message of my husband from Troy to me.