Chor. O King Apollo, rule thou o'er thine own;
But what hast thou to do with this our cause?
Apol. I am come both as witness,—for this man
Is here as suppliant, that on my hearth sat,
And I his cleanser am from guilt of blood,—
And to plead for him as his advocate:
I bear the blame of that his mother's death.
But thou, whoe'er dost act as president,
Open the suit in way well known to thee.
[515]550
Athena. [to the Erinnyes.] 'Tis yours to speak; I thus the pleadings open,
For so the accuser, speaking first, shall have,
Of right, the task to state the case to us.
Chor. Many are we, but briefly will we speak;
And answer thou [to Orestes], in thy turn, word for word;
First tell us this, did'st thou thy mother slay?
Orest. I slew her: of that fact is no denial.
Chor. Here, then, is one of our three bouts
[516] decided.
Orest. Thou boastest this o'er one not yet thrown down.
560
Chor. This thou at least must tell, how thou did'st slay her.
Orest. E'en so; her throat I cut with hand sword-armed.
Chor. By whom persuaded, and with whose advice?
Orest. [Pointing to Apollo.] By His divine command: He bears me witness.
Chor. The prophet-God prompt thee to matricide!
Orest. Yea, and till now I do not blame my lot.
Chor. Nay, when found guilty, soon thou'lt change thy tone.
Orest. I trust my sire will send help from the tomb.
Chor. Trust in the dead, thou murderer of thy mother!
Orest. Yes; for in her two great pollutions met.
570
Chor. How so, I pray? Inform the court of this.
Orest. She both her husband and my father slew.
Chor. Nay then, thou liv'st, and she gets quit by death.
Orest. Why, while she lived, did'st thou to chase her fail?
Chor. The man she slew was not one of blood with her.
[517]
Orest. And does my mother's blood then flow in me?
Chor. E'en so; how else, O murderer, reared she thee
Within her womb? Disown'st thou mother's blood?
Orest. [Turning to Apollo.] Now bear thou witness, and declare to me,
Apollo, if I slew her righteously;
580
For I the deed, as fact, will not deny.
But whether right or wrong this deed of blood
Seem in thine eyes, judge thou that these may hear.
Apol. I will to you, Athena's solemn council,
Speak truly, and as prophet will not lie.
Ne'er have I spoken on prophetic throne,
Of man, or woman, or of commonwealth,
But as great Zeus, Olympian Father, bade;
And that ye learn how much this plea avails,
I bid you [turning to the court of jurymen] follow out my Father's will;
590
No oath can be of greater might than Zeus.
[518]
Chor. Zeus, then, thou say'st, did prompt the oracle
That this Orestes here, his father's blood
Avenging, should his mother's rights o'erthrow?
Apol. 'Tis a quite other thing for hero-chief,
Bearing the honour of Zeus-given sceptre,
To die, and at a woman's hands, not e'en
By swift, strong dart, from Amazonian bow,
[519]But as thou, Pallas, now shalt hear, and those
Who sit to give their judgment in this cause;
600
For when he came successful from the trade
Of war with largest gains, receiving him
With kindly words of praise, she spread a robe
Over the bath, yes, even o'er its edge,
As he was bathing, and entangling him
In endless folds of cloak of cunning work,
She strikes her lord down. Thus the tale is told
Of her lord's murder, chief whom all did honour,
The ships' great captain. So I tell it out,
E'en as it was, to thrill the people's hearts,
Who now are set to give their verdict here.
Chor. Zeus then a father's death, as thou dost say,
610
Of highest moment holds, yet He himself
Bound fast in chains his aged father, Cronos;
[520]Are not thy words at variance with the facts?
I call on you [to the Court] to witness what he says.
Apol. O hateful creatures, loathèd of the Gods,
Those chains may be undone, that wrong be cured,
And many a means of rescue may be found:
But when the dust has drunk the blood of men,
No resurrection comes for one that's dead:
No charm for these things hath my sire devised;
But all things else he turneth up or down,
620
And orders without toil or weariness.
[521]
Chor. Take heed how thou help this man to escape;
Shall he who stained earth with his mother's blood
Then dwell in Argos in his father's house?
What public altars can he visit now?
What lustral rite of clan or tribe admit him?
[522]
Apol. This too I'll say; judge thou if I speak right:
The mother is not parent of the child
That is called hers, but nurse of embryo sown.
He that begets is parent:
[523] she, as stranger,
630
For stranger rears the scion, if God mar not;
And of this fact I'll give thee proof full sure.
A father there may be without a mother:
Here nigh at hand, as witness, is the child
Of high Olympian Zeus, for she not e'en
Was nurtured in the darkness of the womb,
[524]Yet such a scion may no God beget.
I, both in all else, Pallas, as I know,
Will make thy city and thy people great,
And now this man have sent as suppliant
Upon thy hearth, that he may faithful prove
640
Now and for ever, and that thou, O Goddess,
May'st gain him as ally, and all his race,
And that it last as law for evermore,
That these men's progeny our treaties own.
Athena. [To jurors.] I bid you give, according to your conscience,
A verdict just; enough has now been said.
Chor. We have shot forth our every weapon now:
I wait to hear what way the strife is judged.
Athena. [To Chorus.] How shall I order this, unblamed by you?
Chor. [To jurors.] Ye heard what things ye heard, and in your hearts
Reverence your oaths, and give your votes, O friends.
650
Athena. Hear ye my order, O ye Attic people,
In act to judge your first great murder-cause.
And henceforth shall the host of Ægeus' race
[525]For ever own this council-hall of judges:
And for this Ares' hill, the Amazons' seat
And camp when they, enraged with Theseus, came
[526]In hostile march, and built as counterwork
This citadel high-reared, a city new,
And sacrificed to Ares, whence 'tis named
As Ares' hill and fortress: in this, I say,
660
The reverent awe its citizens shall own,
And fear, awe's kindred, shall restrain from wrong
By day, nor less by night, so long as they,
The burghers, alter not themselves their laws:
But if with drain of filth and tainted soil
Clear river thou pollute, no drink thou'lt find.
[527]I give my counsel to you, citizens,
To reverence and guard well that form of state
Which is not lawless, nor tyrannical,
And not to cast all fear from out the city;
[528]For what man lives devoid of fear and just?
But rightly shrinking, owning awe like this,
670
Ye then would have a bulwark of your land,
A safeguard for your city, such as none
Boast or in Skythia's
[529] or in Pelops' clime.
This council I establish pure from bribe,
Reverend, and keen to act, for those that sleep
[530]An ever-watchful sentry of the land.
This charge of mine I thus have lengthened out
For you, my people, for all time to come.
And now 'tis meet ye rise, and take your ballots,
[531]And so decide the cause, maintaining still
Your reverence for your oath. My speech is said.
680
Chor. And I advise you not to treat with scorn
A troop that can sit heavy on your land.
Apol. And I do bid you dread my oracles,
And those of Zeus, nor rob them of their fruit.
Chor. Uncalled thou com'st to take a murderer's part;
No longer pure the oracles thou'lt speak.
Apol. And did my father then in purpose err,
Then the first murderer he received, Ixion?
[532]
Chor. Thou talk'st, but should I fail in this my cause,
I will again dwell here and vex this land.
Apol. Alike among the new Gods and the old
690
Art thou dishonoured: I shall win the day.
Chor. This did'st thou also in the house of Pheres,
[533]
Winning the Fates to make a man immortal.
Apol. Was it not just a worshipper to bless
In any case,—then most, when he's in want?
Chor. Thou did'st o'erthrow, yea, thou, laws hoar with age,
And drug with wine the ancient Goddesses.
[534]
Apol. Nay, thou, non-suited in this cause of thine,
Shall venom spit that nothing hurts thy foes.
700
Chor. Since thou, though young, dost ride me down, though old,
I wait to hear the issue of the cause,
Still wavering in my wrath against this city.
Athena. 'Tis now my task to close proceedings here;
And this my vote I to Orestes add;
For I no mother own that brought me forth,
And saving that I wed not, I prefer
The male with all my heart, and make mine own
The father's cause, nor will above it place
A woman's death, who slew her own true lord,
The guardian of her house. Orestes wins,
710
E'en though the votes be equal. Cast ye forth
With all your speed the lots from out the urns,
Ye jurors unto whom that office falls.
Orest. Phœbos Apollo! what will be the judgment?
Chor. Dark Night, my mother! dost thou look on this?
Orest. My goal is now the noose, or full, clear day.
Chor. Ours too to come to nought, or work on still.