Chapter 8

[_Enter Athena from above._

ATHENA Far off I heard the clamour of your cry, As by Scamander’s side I set my foot Asserting right upon the land given o’er To me by those who o’er Achaia’s host Held sway and leadership: no scanty part Of all they won by spear and sword, to me They gave it, land and all that grew theron, As chosen heirloom for my Theseus’ clan. Thence summoned, sped I with a tireless foot,— Hummed on the wind, instead of wings, the fold Of this mine aegis, by my feet propelled, As, linked to mettled horses, speeds a car. And now, beholding here Earth’s nether brood, I fear it nought, yet are mine eyes amazed With wonder. Who are ye? of all I ask, And of this stranger to my statue clinging. But ye—your shape is like no human form, Like to no goddess whom the gods behold, Like to no shape which mortal women wear. Yet to stand by and chide a monstrous form Is all unjust—from such words Right revolts.

CHORUS O child of Zeus, one word shall tell thee all. We are the children of eternal Night, And Furies in the underworld are called.

ATHENA I know your lineage now and eke your name.

CHORUS Yea, and eftsoons indeed my rights shalt know.

ATHENA Fain would I learn them; speak them clearly forth.

CHORUS We chase from home the murderers of men.

ATHENA And where at last can he that slew make pause?

CHORUS Where this is law—_All joy abandon here._

ATHENA Say, do ye bay this man to such a flight?

CHORUS Yea, for of choice he did his mother slay.

ATHENA Urged by no fear of other wrath and doom?

CHORUS What spur can rightly goad to matricide?

ATHENA Two stand to plead—one only have I heard.

CHORUS He will not swear nor challenge us to oath.

ATHENA The form of justice, not its deed, thou willest.

CHORUS Prove thou that word; thou art not scant of skill.

ATHENA I say that oaths shall not enforce the wrong.

CHORUS Then test the cause, judge and award the right.

ATHENA Will ye to me then this decision trust?

CHORUS Yea, reverencing true child of worthy sire.

ATHENA (_to Orestes_) O man unknown, make thou thy plea in turn. Speak forth thy land, thy lineage, and thy woes; Then, if thou canst, avert this bitter blame— If, as I deem, in confidence of right Thou sittest hard beside my holy place, Clasping this statue, as Ixion sat, A sacred suppliant for Zeus to cleanse,— To all this answer me in words made plain.

ORESTES O queen Athena, first from thy last words Will I a great solicitude remove. Not one blood-guilty am I; no foul stain Clings to thine image from my clinging hand; Whereof one potent proof I have to tell. Lo, the law stands—_The slayer shall not plead, Till by the hand of him who cleanses blood A suckling creature’s blood besprinkle him_. Long since have I this expiation done,— In many a home, slain beasts and running streams Have cleansed me. Thus I speak away that fear. Next, of my lineage quickly thou shalt learn: An Argive am I, and right well thou know’st My sire, that Agamemnon who arrayed The fleet and them that went therein to war— That chief with whom thy hand combined to crush To an uncitied heap what once was Troy; That Agamemnon, when he homeward came, Was brought unto no honourable death, Slain by the dark-souled wife who brought me forth To him,—enwound and slain in wily nets, Blazoned with blood that in the laver ran. And I, returning from an exiled youth, Slew her, my mother—lo, it stands avowed! With blood for blood avenging my loved sire; And in this deed doth Loxias bear part, Decreeing agonies, to goad my will, Unless by me the guilty found their doom. Do thou decide if right or wrong were done— Thy dooming, whatsoe’er it be, contents me.

ATHENA Too mighty is this matter, whatsoe’er Of mortals claims to judge hereof aright. Yea, me, even me, eternal Right forbids To judge the issues of blood-guilt, and wrath That follows swift behind. This too gives pause, That thou as one with all due rites performed Dost come, unsinning, pure, unto my shrine. Whate’er thou art, in this my city’s name, As uncondemned, I take thee to my side,— Yet have these foes of thine such dues by fate, I may not banish them: and if they fail, O’erthrown in judgment of the cause, forthwith Their anger’s poison shall infect the land— A dropping plague-spot of eternal ill. Thus stand we with a woe on either hand: Stay they, or go at my commandment forth, Perplexity or pain must needs befall. Yet, as on me Fate hath imposed the cause, I choose unto me judges that shall be An ordinance for ever, set to rule The dues of blood-guilt, upon oath declared. But ye, call forth your witness and your proof, Words strong for justice, fortified by oath; And I, whoe’er are truest in my town, Them will I chose and bring, and straitly charge, _Look on this cause, discriminating well, And pledge your oath to utter nought of wrong._

[_Exit Athena._

CHORUS Now are they all undone, the ancient laws, If here the slayer’s cause Prevail; new wrong for ancient right shall be If matricide go free. Henceforth a deed like his by all shall stand, Too ready to the hand: Too oft shall parents in the aftertime Rue and lament this crime,— Taught, not in false imagining, to feel Their children’s thrusting steel: No more the wrath, that erst on murder fell From us, the queens of Hell. Shall fall, no more our watching gaze impend— Death shall smite unrestrained.

Henceforth shall one unto another cry _Lo, they are stricken, lo, they fall and die Around me!_ and that other answers him, _O thou that lookest that thy woes should cease, Behold, with dark increase They throng and press upon thee; yea, and dim Is all the cure, and every comfort vain!_

Let none henceforth cry out, when falls the blow Of sudden-smiting woe, Cry out in sad reiterated strain _O Justice, aid! aid, O ye thrones of Hell!_ So though a father or a mother wail New-smitten by a son, it shall no more avail, Since, overthrown by wrong, the fane of Justice fell!

Know, that a throne there is that may not pass away, And one that sitteth on it—even Fear, Searching with steadfast eyes man’s inner soul: Wisdom is child of pain, and born with many a tear; But who henceforth, What man of mortal men, what nation upon earth, That holdeth nought in awe nor in the light Of inner reverence, shall worship Right As in the older day?

Praise not, O man, the life beyond control, Nor that which bows unto a tyrant’s sway. Know that the middle way Is dearest unto God, and they thereon who wend, They shall achieve the end; But they who wander or to left or right Are sinners in his sight. Take to thy heart this one, this soothfast word— Of wantonness impiety is sire; Only from calm control and sanity unstirred Cometh true weal, the goal of every man’s desire.

Yea, whatsoe’er befall, hold thou this word of mine: _Bow down at Justice’ shrine, Turn thou thine eyes away from earthly lure, Nor with a godless foot that altar spurn._ For as thou dost shall Fate do in return, And the great doom is sure. Therefore let each adore a parent’s trust, And each with loyalty revere the guest That in his halls doth rest. For whoso uncompelled doth follow what is just, He ne’er shall be unblest; Yea, never to the gulf of doom That man shall come. But he whose will is set against the gods, Who treads beyond the law with foot impure,

Till o’er the wreck of Right confusion broods— Know that for him, though now he sail secure, The day of storm shall be; then shall he strive and fail, Down from the shivered yard to furl the sail, And call on Powers, that heed him nought, to save And vainly wrestle with the whirling wave, Hot was his heart with pride— _I shall not fall_, he cried. But him with watching scorn The god beholds, forlorn, Tangled in toils of Fate beyond escape, Hopeless of haven safe beyond the cape— Till all his wealth and bliss of bygone day Upon the reef of Rightful Doom is hurled, And he is rapt away Unwept, for ever, to the dead forgotten world.

[_Re-enter Athena, with twelve Athenian citizens_.

ATHENA O herald, make proclaim, bid all men come. Then let the shrill blast of the Tyrrhene trump, Fulfilled with mortal breath, thro’ the wide air Peal a loud summons, bidding all men heed. For, till my judges fill this judgment-seat, Silence behoves,—that this whole city learn, What for all time mine ordinance commands, And these men, that the cause be judged aright.

[_Apollo approaches._

CHORUS O king Apollo, rule what is thine own, But in this thing what share pertains to thee?

APOLLO First, as a witness come I, for this man Is suppliant of mine by sacred right, Guest of my holy hearth and cleansed by me Of blood-guilt: then, to set me at his side And in his cause bear part, as part I bore Erst in his deed, whereby his mother fell. Let whoso knoweth now announce the cause.

ATHENA (_to the Chorus_) ’Tis I announce the cause—first speech be yours; For rightfully shall they whose plaint is tried Tell the tale first and set the matter clear.

CHORUS Though we be many, brief shall be our tale. (_To Orestes_) Answer thou, setting word to match with word; And first avow—hast thou thy mother slain?

ORESTES I slew her. I deny no word hereof.

CHORUS Three falls decide the wrestle—this is one.

ORESTES Thou vauntest thee—but o’er no final fall.

CHORUS Yet must thou tell the manner of thy deed.

ORESTES Drawn sword in hand, I gashed her neck. ’Tis told.

CHORUS But by whose word, whose craft, wert thou impelled?

ORESTES By oracles of him who here attests me.

CHORUS The prophet-god bade thee thy mother slay?

ORESTES Yea, and thro’ him less ill I fared, till now.

CHORUS If the vote grip thee, thou shalt change that word.

ORESTES Strong is my hope; my buried sire shall aid.

CHORUS Go to now, trust the dead, a matricide!

ORESTES Yea, for in her combined two stains of sin.

CHORUS How? speak this clearly to the judges’ mind.

ORESTES Slaying her husband, she did slay my sire.

CHORUS Therefore thou livest; death assoils her deed.

ORESTES Then while she lived why didst thou hunt her not?

CHORUS She was not kin by blood to him she slew.

ORESTES And I, am I by blood my mother’s kin?

CHORUS O cursed with murder’s guilt, how else wert thou The burden of her womb? Dost thou forswear Thy mother’s kinship, closest bond of love?

ORESTES It is thine hour, Apollo—speak the law, Averring if this deed were justly done; For done it is, and clear and undenied. But if to thee this murder’s cause seem right Or wrongful, speak—that I to these may tell.

APOLLO To you, Athena’s mighty council-court, Justly for justice will I plead, even I, The prophet-god, nor cheat you by one word. For never spake I from my prophet-seat One word, of man, of woman, or of state, Save what the Father of Olympian gods Commanded unto me. I rede you then, Bethink you of my plea, how strong it stands, And follow the decree of Zeus our sire,— For oaths prevail not over Zeus’ command.

CHORUS Go to; thou sayest that from Zeus befel The oracle that this Orestes bade With vengeance quit the slaying of his sire, And hold as nought his mother’s right of kin!

APOLLO Yea, for it stands not with a common death, That he should die, a chieftain and a king Decked with the sceptre which high heaven confers— Die, and by female hands, not smitten down By a far-shooting bow, held stalwartly By some strong Amazon. Another doom Was his: O Pallas, hear, and ye who sit In judgment, to discern this thing aright!— She with a specious voice of welcome true Hailed him, returning from the mighty mart Where war for life gives fame, triumphant home; Then o’er the laver, as he bathed himself, She spread from head to foot a covering net, And in the endless mesh of cunning robes Enwound and trapped her lord, and smote him down. Lo, ye have heard what doom this chieftain met, The majesty of Greece, the fleet’s high lord: Such as I tell it, let it gall your ears, Who stand as judges to decide this cause.

CHORUS Zeus, as thou sayest, holds a father’s death As first of crimes,—yet he of his own act Cast into chains his father, Cronos old: How suits that deed with that which now ye tell? O ye who judge, I bid ye mark my words!

APOLLO O monsters loathed of all, O scorn of gods, He that hath bound may loose: a cure there is, Yea, many a plan that can unbind the chain. But when the thirsty dust sucks up man’s blood Once shed in death, he shall arise no more. No chant nor charm for this my Sire hath wrought. All else there is, he moulds and shifts at will, Not scant of strength nor breath, whate’er he do.

CHORUS Think yet, for what acquittal thou dost plead: He who hath shed a mother’s kindred blood, Shall he in Argos dwell, where dwelt his sire? How shall he stand before the city’s shrines, How share the clansmen’s holy lustral bowl?

APOLLO This too I answer; mark a soothfast word, Not the true parent is the woman’s womb That bears the child; she doth but nurse the seed New-sown: the male is parent; she for him, As stranger for a stranger, hoards the germ Of life; unless the god its promise blight. And proof hereof before you will I set. Birth may from fathers, without mothers, be: See at your side a witness of the same, Athena, daughter of Olympian Zeus, Never within the darkness of the womb Fostered nor fashioned, but a bud more bright Than any goddess in her breast might bear. And I, O Pallas, howsoe’er I may, Henceforth will glorify thy town, thy clan, And for this end have sent my suppliant here Unto thy shrine; that he from this time forth Be loyal unto thee for evermore, O goddess-queen, and thou unto thy side Mayst win and hold him faithful, and his line, And that for aye this pledge and troth remain To children’s children of Athenian seed.

ATHENA Enough is said; I bid the judges now With pure intent deliver just award.

CHORUS We too have shot our every shaft of speech, And now abide to hear the doom of law.

ATHENA (_to Apollo and Orestes_) Say, how ordaining shall I ’scape your blame?

APOLLO I spake, ye heard; enough. O stranger men, Heed well your oath as ye decide the cause.

ATHENA O men of Athens, ye who first do judge The law of bloodshed, hear me now ordain. Here to all time for Aegeus’ Attic host Shall stand this council-court of judges sworn, Here the tribunal, set on Ares’ Hill Where camped of old the tented Amazons, What time in hate of Theseus they assailed Athens, and set against her citadel A counterwork of new sky-pointing towers, And there to Ares held their sacrifice, Where now the rock hath name, even Ares’ Hill. And hence shall Reverence and her kinsman Fear Pass to each free man’s heart, by day and night Enjoining, _Thou shalt do no unjust thing_, So long as law stands as it stood of old Unmarred by civic change. Look you, the spring Is pure; but foul it once with influx vile And muddy clay, and none can drink thereof. Therefore, O citizens, I bid ye bow In awe to this command, _Let no man live Uncurbed by law nor curbed by tyranny;_ Nor banish ye the monarchy of Awe Beyond the walls; untouched by fear divine, No man doth justice in the world of men. Therefore in purity and holy dread Stand and revere; so shall ye have and hold A saving bulwark of the state and land, Such as no man hath ever elsewhere known, Nor in far Scythia, nor in Pelops’ realm. Thus I ordain it now, a council-court Pure and unsullied by the lust of gain, Sacred and swift to vengeance, wakeful ever To champion men who sleep, the country’s guard. Thus have I spoken, thus to mine own clan Commended it for ever. Ye who judge, Arise, take each his vote, mete out the right, Your oath revering. Lo, my word is said.

[_The twelve judges come forward, one by one, to the urns of decision; the first votes; as each of the others follows, the Chorus and Apollo speak alternately._

CHORUS I rede ye well, beware! nor put to shame, In aught, this grievous company of hell.

APOLLO I too would warn you, fear mine oracles— From Zeus they are,—nor make them void of fruit.

CHORUS Presumptuous is thy claim, blood-guilt to judge, And false henceforth thine oracles shall be.

APOLLO Failed then the counsels of my sire, when turned Ixion, first of slayers, to his side?

CHORUS These are but words; but I, if justice fail me, Will haunt this land in grim and deadly deed.

APOLLO Scorn of the younger and the elder gods Art thou: ’tis I that shall prevail anon.

CHORUS Thus didst thou too of old in Pheres’ halls, O’erreaching Fate to make a mortal deathless.

APOLLO Was it not well, my worshipper to aid, Then most of all when hardest was the need?

CHORUS I say thou didst annul the lots of life, Cheating with wine the deities of eld.

APOLLO I say thou shalt anon, thy pleadings foiled, Spit venom vainly on thine enemies.

CHORUS Since this young god o’errides mine ancient right, I tarry but to claim your law, not knowing If wrath of mine shall blast your state or spare

ATHENA Mine is the right to add the final vote, And I award it to Orestes’ cause. For me no mother bore within her womb, And, save for wedlock evermore eschewed, I vouch myself the champion of the man, Not of the woman, yea, with all my soul,— In heart, as birth, a father’s child alone. Thus will I not too heinously regard A woman’s death who did her husband slay, The guardian of her home; and if the votes Equal do fall, Orestes shall prevail. Ye of the judges who are named thereto, Swiftly shake forth the lots from either urn.

[_Two judges come forward, one to each urn._

ORESTES O bright Apollo, what shall be the end?

CHORUS O Night, dark mother mine, dost mark these things?

OSESTES Now shall my doom be life, or strangling cords.

CHORUS And mine, lost honour or a wider sway.

APOLLO O stranger judges, sum aright the count Of votes cast forth, and, parting them, take heed Ye err not in decision. The default Of one vote only bringeth ruin deep, One, cast aright, doth stablish house and home.

ATHENA Behold, this man is free from guilt of blood, For half the votes condemn him, half set free!

ORESTES O Pallas, light and safety of my home, Thou, thou hast given me back to dwell once more In that my fatherland, amerced of which I wandered; now shall Grecian lips say this, _The man is Argive once again, and dwells Again within his father’s wealthy hall, By Pallas saved, by Loxias, and by Him, The great third saviour, Zeus omnipotent—_ Who thus in pity for my father’s fate Doth pluck me from my doom, beholding these, Confederates of my mother. Lo, I pass To mine own home, but proffering this vow Unto thy land and people: _Nevermore, Thro’ all the manifold years of Time to be, Shall any chieftain of mine Argive land Bear hitherward his spears for fight arrayed._ For we, though lapped in earth we then shall lie, By thwart adversities will work our will On them who shall transgress this oath of mine, Paths of despair and journeyings ill-starred For them ordaining, till their task they rue. But if this oath be rightly kept, to them Will we the dead be full of grace, the while With loyal league they honour Pallas’ town. And now farewell, thou and thy city’s folk— Firm be thine arm’s grasp, closing with thy foes, And, strong to save, bring victory to thy spear.

[_Exit Orestes, with Apollo._

CHORUS Woe on you, younger gods! the ancient right Ye have o’erridden, rent it from my hands.

I am dishonoured of you, thrust to scorn! But heavily my wrath Shall on this land fling forth the drops that blast and burn Venom of vengeance, that shall work such scathe As I have suffered; where that dew shall fall, Shall leafless blight arise, Wasting Earth’s offspring,—Justice, hear my call!— And thorough all the land in deadly wise Shall scatter venom, to exude again In pestilence on men. What cry avails me now, what deed of blood, Unto this land what dark despite? Alack, alack, forlorn Are we, a bitter injury have borne! Alack, O sisters, O dishonoured brood Of mother Night!

ATHENA Nay, bow ye to my words, chafe not nor moan: Ye are not worsted nor disgraced; behold, With balanced vote the cause had issue fair, Nor in the end did aught dishonour thee. But thus the will of Zeus shone clearly forth, And his own prophet-god avouched the same, _Orestes slew: his slaying is atoned_. Therefore I pray you, not upon this land Shoot forth the dart of vengeance; be appeased, Nor blast the land with blight, nor loose thereon Drops of eternal venom, direful darts Wasting and marring nature’s seed of growth.

For I, the queen of Athens’ sacred right, Do pledge to you a holy sanctuary Deep in the heart of this my land, made just By your indwelling presence, while ye sit Hard by your sacred shrines that gleam with oil Of sacrifice, and by this folk adored.

CHORUS Woe on you, younger gods! the ancient right Ye have o’erridden, rent it from my hands.

I am dishonoured of you, thrust to scorn! But heavily my wrath Shall on his land fling forth the drops that blast and burn. Venom of vengeance, that shall work such scathe As I have suffered; where that dew shall fall, Shall leafless blight arise, Wasting Earth’s offspring,—Justice, hear my call!— And thorough all the land in deadly wise Shall scatter venom, to exude again In pestilence of men. What cry avails me now, what deed of blood, Unto this land what dark despite? Alack, alack, forlorn Are we, a bitter injury have borne! Alack, O sisters, O dishonoured brood Of mother Night!

ATHENA Dishonoured are ye not; turn not, I pray. As goddesses your swelling wrath on men, Nor make the friendly earth despiteful to them. I too have Zeus for champion—’tis enough— I only of all goddesses do know. To ope the chamber where his thunderbolts Lie stored and sealed; but here is no such need. Nay, be appeased, nor cast upon the ground The malice of thy tongue, to blast the world; Calm thou thy bitter wrath’s black inward surge, For high shall be thine honour, set beside me For ever in this land, whose fertile lap Shall pour its teeming firstfruits unto you, Gifts for fair childbirth and for wedlock’s crown: Thus honoured, praise my spoken pledge for aye.

CHORUS I, I dishonoured in this earth to dwell,— Ancient of days and wisdom! I breathe forth Poison and breath of frenzied ire. O Earth, Woe, woe, for thee, for me! From side to side what pains be these that thrill? Hearken, O mother Night, my wrath, mine agony! Whom from mine ancient rights the gods have thrust, And brought me to the dust— Woe, woe is me!—with craft invincible.

ATHENA Older art thou than I, and I will bear With this thy fury. Know, although thou be More wise in ancient wisdom, yet have I From Zeus no scanted measure of the same, Wherefore take heed unto this prophecy— If to another land of alien men Ye go, too late shall ye feel longing deep For mine. The rolling tides of time bring round A day of brighter glory for this town; And thou, enshrined in honour by the halls Where dwelt Erechtheus, shalt a worship win From men and from the train of womankind, Greater than any tribe elsewhere shall pay. Cast thou not therefore on this soil of mine Whetstones that sharpen souls to bloodshedding. The burning goads of youthful hearts, made hot With frenzy of the spirit, not of wine. Nor pluck as ’twere the heart from cocks that strive, To set it in the breasts of citizens Of mine, a war-god’s spirit, keen for fight, Made stern against their country and their kin. The man who grievously doth lust for fame, War, full, immitigable, let him wage Against the stranger; but of kindred birds I hold the challenge hateful. Such the boon I proffer thee—within this land of lands, Most loved of gods, with me to show and share Fair mercy, gratitude and grace as fair.