(Robert Fagles Translation)
TIME AND SCENE: The FURIES
have pursued ORESTES to the temple
of APOLLO at Delphi. It is morning.
The priestess of the god appears at the
great doors and offers up her prayer.
PYTHIA:
First of the gods I honour in my prayer is Mother Earth,
the first of the gods to prophesy, and next I praise
Tradition, second to hold her Mother's mantic seat,
so legend says, and third by the lots of destiny,
by Tradition's free will - no force to bear her down - 5
another Titan, child of the Earth, took her seat
and Phoebe passed it on as a birthday gift to Phoebus,
Phoebus a name for clear pure light derived from hers.
Leaving the marsh and razorback of Delos, landing
at Pallas' headlands flocked by ships, here he came 10
to make his home Parnassus and the heights.
And an escort filled with reverence brought him on,
the highway-builders, sons of the god of fire who tamed
the savage country, civilized the wilds - on he marched
and the people lined his way to cover him with praise, 15
led by Delphos, lord, helm of the land, and Zeus
inspired his mind with the prophet's skill, with godhead,
made him fourth in the dynasty of seers to mount this throne,
but it is Zeus that Apollo speaks for, Father Zeus.
These I honour in the prelude of my prayers - these gods. 20
But Athena at the Forefront of the Temple crowns our legends.
I revere the nymphs who keep the Corycian rock's deep hollows,
loving haunt of birds where the spirits drift and hover.
And Great Dionysus rules the land. I never forget that day
he marshalled his wild women in arms--he was all god, 25
he ripped Pentheus down like a hare in the nets of doom.
And the rushing springs of Pleistos, Poseidon's force I call,
and the king of the sky, the king of all fulfilment, Zeus.
Now the prophet goes to take her seat. God speed me--
grant me a vision greater than all my embarkations past! 30
Turning to the audience.
Where are the Greeks among you? Draw your lots and enter.
It is the custom here. I will tell the future
only as the god will lead the way.
She goes through the doors and
reappears in a moment, shaken,
thrown to her knees by some terrific force.
Terrors--
terrors to tell, terrors all can see!--
they send me reeling back from Apollo's house. 35
The strength drains, it's very hard to stand,
crawling on all fours, no spring in the legs...
an old woman, gripped by fear, is nothing,
a child, nothing more.
Struggling to her feet, trying to
compose herself
I'm on my way to the vault, 40
it's green with wreaths, and there at the Navelstone
I see a man--an abomination to god--
he holds the seat where suppliants sit for purging;
his hands dripping blood, and his sword just drawn,
and he holds a branch (it must have topped an olive) 45
wreathed with a fine tuft of wool, all piety,
fleece gleaming white. So far it's clear, I tell you.
But there in a ring around the man, an amazing company--
women, sleeping, nestling against the benches .
women? No, 50
Gorgons I'd call them; but then with Gorgons
you'd see the grim, inhuman...
I saw a picture
years ago, the creatures tearing the feast
away from Phineus--
These have no wings,
I looked. But black they are, and so repulsive. 55
Their heavy, rasping breathing makes me cringe.
And their eyes ooze a discharge, sickening,
and what they wear-- to flaunt that at the gods,
the idols, sacrilege ! even in the homes of men.
The tribe that produced that brood I never saw,
or a plot of ground to boast it nursed their kind
without some tears, some pain for all its labour.
Now for the outcome. This is his concern,
Apollo the master of this house, the mighty power.
Healer, prophet, diviner of signs, he purges
the halls of others-- He must purge his own.
She leaves. The doors of the temple
open and reveal APOLLO rising over
ORESTES; he kneels in prayer at the
Navelstone, surrounded by the FURIES
who are sleeping. HERMES waits in
the background.
APOLLO:
No, I will never fail you, through to the end
your guardian standing by your side or worlds away!
I will show no mercy to your enemies! Now
look at these--
Pointing to the FURIES.
these obscenities!--I've caught them,
beaten them down with sleep.
They disgust me.
These grey, ancient children never touched
by god, man or beast--the eternal virgins.
Born for destruction only, the dark pit,
they range the bowels of Earth, the world of death,
loathed by men and the gods who hold Olympus.
Nevertheless keep racing on and never yield.
Deep in the endless heartland they will drive you,
striding horizons, feet pounding the earth for ever,
on, on over seas and cities swept by tides!
Never surrender, never brood on the labour.
And once you reach the citadel of Pallas, kneel
and embrace her ancient idol in your arms and there,
with judges of your case, with a magic spell --
with words--we will devise the master-stroke
that sets you free from torment once for all.
I persuaded you to take your mother's life.
ORESTES:
Lord Apollo, you know the rules of justice,
know them well. Now learn compassion, too.
No one doubts your power to do great things.
APOLLO:
Remember that. No fear will overcome you.
Summoning HERMES from the
shadows.
You, my brother, blood of our common Father,
Hermes, guard him well. Live up to your name,
good Escort. Shepherd him well, he is my suppliant,
and outlaws have their rights that Zeus reveres.
Lead him back to the world of men with all good speed.
APOLLO withdraws to his inner
sanctuary; ORESTES leaves with
HERMES in the lead. The GHOST OF
CLYTAEMNESTRA appears at the
Navelstone, hovering over the FURIES
as they sleep.
THE GHOST OF CLYTAEMNESTRA:
You--how can you sleep?
Awake, awake--what use are sleepers now?
I go stripped of honour, thanks to you,
alone among the dead. And for those I killed 100
the charges of the dead will never cease, never--
I wander in disgrace, I feel the guilt, I tell you,
withering guilt from all the outraged dead!
But I suffered too, terribly, from dear ones,
and none of my spirits rages to avenge me. 105
I was slaughtered by his matricidal hand.
See these gashes--
Seizing one of the FURIES weak with
sleep.
Carve them in your heart!
The sleeping brain has eyes that give us light;
we can never see our destiny by day.
And after all my libations... how you lapped 110
the honey, the sober offerings poured to soothe you,
awesome midnight feasts I burned at the hearthfire,
your dread hour never shared with gods.
All those rites, I see them trampled down.
And he springs free like a fawn, one light leap zig
at that-- he's through the thick of your nets,
he breaks away !
Mocking laughter twists across his face.
Hear me, I am pleading for my life.
Awake, my Furies, goddesses of the Earth!
A dream is calling--Clytaemnestra calls you now.
The FURIES mutter in their sleep.
Mutter on. Your man is gone, fled far away.
My son has friends to defend him, not like mine.
They mutter again.
You sleep too much, no pity for my ordeal.
Orestes murdered his mother--he is gone.
They begin to moan.
Moaning, sleeping--onto your feet, quickly.
What is your work? What but causing pain?
Sleep and toil, the two strong conspirators,
they sap the mother dragon's deadly fury--
The FURIES utter a sharp moan and
moan again, but they are still asleep.
FURIES:
Get him, get him, get him, get him--
there he goes.
THE GHOST OF CLYTAEMNESTRA:
The prey you hunt is just a dream--
like hounds mad for the sport you bay him on,
you never leave the kill.
But what are you doing?
Up ! don't yield to the labour, limp with sleep.
Never forget my anguish.
Let my charges hurt you, they are just;
deep in the righteous heart they prod like spurs.
You, blast him on with your gory breath,
the fire of your vitals--wither him, after him,
one last foray--waste him, burn him out!
She vanishes. The lead FURY urges on
the pack.
LEADER
Wake up 140
I rouse you, you rouse her. Still asleep?
Onto your feet, kick off your stupor.
See if this prelude has some grain of truth.
The FURIES circle, pursuing the scent
with hunting calls, and cry out singly
when they find ORESTES gone.
FURIES:
--Aieeeeee--no, no, no, they do us wrong, dear sisters.
--The miles of pain, the pain I suffer...
and all for nothing, all for pain, more pain,
the anguish, oh, the grief too much to bear.
--The quarry's slipped from the nets, our quarry lost and gone.
--Sleep defeats me... I have lost the prey.
--You--child of Zeus--you, a common thief!
-- Young god, you have ridden down the powers
proud with age. You worship the suppliant,
the godless man who tears his parent's heart--
-- The matricide, you steal him away, and you a god!
-- Guilt both ways, and who can call it justice? 155
-- Not I: her charges stalk my dreams,
Yes, the charioteer rides hard,
her spurs digging the vitals,
under the heart, under the heaving breast--
-I can feel the executioner's lash, it's searing 160
deeper, sharper, the knives of burning ice--
--Such is your triumph, you young gods,
world dominion past all rights.
Your throne is streaming blood,
blood at the foot, blood at the crowning head-- 165
--I can see the Navelstone of the Earth, it's bleeding,
bristling corruption, oh, the guilt it has to bear--
Stains on the hearth! The Prophet stains the vault,
he cries it on, drives on the crime himself.
Breaking the god's first law, he rates men first,
destroys the old dominions of the Fates.
He wounds me too, yet him he'll never free,
plunging under the earth, no freedom then:
curst as he comes for purging, at his neck
he feels new murder springing from his blood. 175
APOLLO strides from his sanctuary in
full armour, brandishing his bow and
driving back the FURIES.
APOLLO:
Out, I tell you, Out of these halls-- fast!--
set the Prophet's chamber free!
Seizing one of the FURIES, shaking
an arrow across her face.
Or take
the flash and stab of this, this flying viper
whipped from the golden cord that strings my bow!
Heave in torment, black froth erupting from your lungs, 180
vomit the clots of all the murders you have drained.
But never touch my halls, you have no right.
Go where heads are severed, eyes gouged out,
where Justice and bloody slaughter are the same...
castrations, wasted seed, young men's glories butchered,
extremities maimed, and huge stones at the chest,
and the victims wail for pity--
spikes inching up the spine, torsos stuck on spikes.
The FURIES close in on him.
So, you hear your love feast, yearn to have it all?
You revolt the gods. Your look,
your whole regalia gives you away--your kind
should infest a lion's cavern reeking blood.
But never rub your filth on the Prophet's shrine.
Out, you flock without a herdsman--out !
No god will ever shepherd you with love.
LEADER:
Lord Apollo, now it is your turn to listen.
You are no mere accomplice in this crime.
You did it all, and all the guilt is yours.
APOLLO:
No, how? Enlarge on that, and only that.
LEADER:
You commanded the guest to kill his mother.
APOLLO:
--Commanded him to avenge his father, what of it?
LEADER:
And then you dared embrace him, fresh from bloodshed.
APOLLO:
Yes, I ordered him on, to my house, for purging
LEADER:
And we sped him on, and you revile us?
APOLLO:
Indeed, you are not fit to approach this house. 205
LEADER:
And yet we have our mission and our--
APOLLO:
Authority--you? Sound out your splendid power.
LEADER:
Matricides: we drive them from their houses.
APOLLO:
And what of the wife who strikes her husband down?
LEADER:
That murder would not destroy one's flesh and blood. 210
APOLLO:
Why, you'd disgrace--obliterate the bonds of Zeus
and Hera queen of brides! And the queen of love
you'd throw to the winds at a word, disgrace love,
the source of mankind's nearest, dearest ties.
Marriage of man and wife is Fate itself,
stronger than oaths, and Justice guards its life.
But if one destroys the other and you relent--
no revenge, not a glance in anger--then
I say your manhunt of Orestes is unjust.
Some things stir your rage, I see. Others,
atrocious crimes, lull your will to act.
Pallas
will oversee this trial. She is one of us.
LEADER:
I will never let that man go free, never.
APOLLO:
Hound him then, and multiply your pains.
LEADER:
Never try to cut my power with your logic. 225
APOLLO:
I'd never touch it, not as a gift--your power.
LEADER:
Of course,
great as you are, they say, throned on high with Zeus.
But blood of the mother draws me on--must
hunt the man for Justice. Now I'm on his trail
Rushing out, with the FURIES in fill
cry.
APOLLO:
And I will defend my suppliant and save him. 230
A terror to gods and men, the outcast's anger,
once I fail him, all of my own free will.
APOLLO leaves. The scene changes to
the Acropolis in Athens. Escorted by
HERMES, ORESTES enters and kneels,
exhausted, before the ancient shrine and
idol of ATHENA.
ORESTES:
Queen Athena,
under Apollo's orders I have come.
Receive me kindly. Curst and an outcast,
no suppliant for purging...my hands are clean. 235
My murderous edge is blunted now, worn down at last
on the outland homesteads, beaten paths of men.
On and out over seas and dry frontiers,
I kept alive the Prophet's strong commands.
Struggling towards your house, your idol--
Taking the knees of ATHENA'S idol
in his arms.
here I keep my watch,
I await the consummation of my trial.
The FURIES enter in pursuit but
cannot find ORESTES who is entwined
around ATHENA'S idol. The
LEADER sees the footprints.
LEADER:
At last!
The clear trail of the man. After it, silent
but it tracks his guilt to light. He's wounded--
go for the fawn, my hounds, the splash of blood,
hunt him, rake him down.
Oh, the labour,
the man-killing labour. My lungs are bursting...
over the wide rolling earth we've ranged in flock,
hurdling the waves in wingless flight and now we come,
all hot pursuit, outracing ships astern--and now
he's here, somewhere, cowering like a hare...
the reek of human blood--it's laughter to my heart!
Inciting a pair of FURIES.
Look, look again, you two,
scour the ground before he escapes--one dodge
and the matricide slips free.
Seeing ORESTES, one by one they
press around him and ATHENA'S idol
FURIES:
--There he is!
Clutching the knees ofpower once again,
twined in the deathless goddess' idol, look,
he wants to go on trial for his crimes.
--Never...
the mother's blood that wets the ground,
you can never bring it back, dear god,
the Earth drinks, and the running life is gone.
--No,
you'll give me blood for blood, you must!
Out of your living marrow I will drain
my red libation, out of your veins I suck my food,
my raw, brutal cups -
--Wither you alive,
drag you down and there you pay, agony
for mother-killing agony!
--And there you will see them all.
Every mortal who outraged god or guest or loving parent:
each receives the pain his pains exact.
--A mighty god is Hades. There
at the last reckoning underneath the earth
he scans all, he squares all men's accounts
and graves them on the tablets of his mind. 270
ORESTES remains impassive.
ORESTES:
I have suffered into truth. Well I know
the countless arts of purging, where to speak, 275
where silence is the rule. In this ordeal
a compelling master urges me to speak.
Looking at his hands.
The blood sleeps, it is fading on my hands,
the stain of mother's murder washing clean.
It was still fresh at the god's hearth. Apollo 280
killed the swine and the purges drove it off.
Mine is a long story
if I'd start with the many hosts I met,
I lived with, and I left them all unharmed.
Time refines all things that age with time. 285
And now with pure, reverent lips I call
the queen of the land. Athena, help me !
Come without your spear--without a battle
you will win myself, my land, the Argive people
true and just, your friends-in-arms for ever. 290
Where are you now? The scorching wilds of Libya,
bathed by the Triton pool where you were born?
Robes shrouding your feet
or shod and on the march to aid allies?
Or striding the Giants' Plain, marshal of armies, 295
hero scanning, flashing through the ranks?
Come--
you can hear me from afar, you are a god.
Set me free from this!
LEADER:
Never--neither
Apollo's nor Athena's strength can save you.
Down you go, abandoned, 300
searching your soul for joy but joy is gone.
Bled white, gnawed by demons, a husk, a wraith--
She breaks off, waiting for reply,
but ORESTES prays in silence.
No reply? you spit my challenge back?
You'll feast me alive, my fatted calf,
not cut on the altar first. Now hear my spell, 305
the chains of song I sing to bind you tight.
FURIES:
Come, Furies, dance!--
link arms for the dancing hand-to-hand,
now we long to reveal our art,
our terror, now to declare our right
to steer the lives of men, 310
we all conspire, we dance! we are
the just and upright, we maintain.
Hold out your hands, if they are clean
no fury of ours will stalk you,
you will go through life unscathed. 315
But show us the guilty - one like this
who hides his reeking hands,
and up from the outraged dead we rise,
witness bound to avenge their blood
we rise in flames against him to the end! 320
Mother who bore me,
O dear Mother Night,
to avenge the blinded dead
and those who see by day,
now hear me! The whelp Apollo 325
spurns my rights, he tears this trembling victim
from my grasp - the one to bleed,
to atone away the mother-blood at last.
Over the victim's burning head
this chant this frenzy striking frenzy 330
lightning crazing the mind
this hymn of Fury
chaining the senses, ripping cross the lyre,
withering lives of men
This, this is our right,
spun for us by the Fates,
the ones who bind the world,
and none can shake our hold.
Show us the mortals overcome,
insane to murder kin--we track them down
till they go beneath the earth,
and the dead find little freedom in the end.
Over the victim's burning head
this chant this frenzy striking frenzy
lightning crazing the mind
this hymn of Fury
chaining the senses, ripping cross the lyre,
withering lives of men!
Even at birth, I say, our rights were so ordained.
The deathless gods must keep their hands far off--
no god may share our cups, our solemn feasts.
We want no part of their pious white robes--
the Fates who gave us power made us free.
Mine is the overthrow of houses, yes,
when warlust reared like a tame beast
seizes near and dear --
down on the man we swoop, aie!
for all his power black him out!--
for the blood still fresh from slaughter on his hands.
So now, striving to wrench our mandate from the gods,
we make ourselves exempt from their control,
we brook no trial--no god can be our judge.
Reaching towards ORESTES.
His breed, worthy of loathing, streaked with blood,
Zeus slights, unworthy his contempt.
Mine is the overthrow of houses, yes,
when warlust reared like a tame beast
seizes near and dear--
down on the man we swoop, aie!
for all his power black him out!--
for the blood still fresh from slaughter on his hands.
And all men's dreams of grandeur
tempting the heavens,
all melt down, under earth their pride goes down--
lost in our onslaught, black robes swarming,
Furies throbbing, dancing out our rage.
Yes! leaping down from the heights,
dead weight in the crashing footfall
down we hurl on the runner
breakneck for the finish--
cut him down, our fury stamps him down!
Down he goes, sensing nothing,
blind with defilement...
darkness hovers over the man, dark guilt,
and a dense pall overhangs his house,
legend tells the story through her tears.
Yes! leaping down from the heights,
dead weight in the crashing footfall
down we hurl on the runner
breakneck for the finish--
cut him down, our fury stamps him down!
So the centre holds. 390
We are the skilled, the masterful,
we the great fulfillers,
memories of grief, we awesome spirits
stem, unappeasable to man,
disgraced, degraded, drive our powers through; 395
banished far from god to a sunless, torchlit dusk,
we drive men through their rugged passage,
blinded dead and those who see by day.
Then where is the man
not stirred with awe, not gripped by fear 400
to hear us tell the law that
Fate ordains, the gods concede the Furies,
absolute till the end of time?
And so it holds, our ancient power still holds.
We are not without our pride, though beneath the earth 405
our strict battalions form their lines,
grouping through the mist and sun-starved night.
Enter ATHENA, armed for combat
with her aegis and her spear.
ATHENA:
From another world I heard a call for help.
I was on the Scamander's banks, just claiming Troy.
The Achaean warlords chose the hero's share 410
of what their spear had won--they decreed that land,
root and branch all mine, for all time to be,
for Theseus' sons a rare, matchless gift.
Home from the wars I come, my pace unflagging,
wingless, flown on the whirring, breasting cape 415
that yokes my racing spirit in her prime.
Unfurling the aegis, seeing ORESTES
and the FURIES at her shrine.
And I see some new companions on the land.
Not fear, a sense of wonder fills my eyes.
Who are you? I address you all as one:
you, the stranger seated at my idol, 420
and you, like no one born of the sown seed,
no goddess watched by the gods, no mortal either,
not to judge by your look at least, your features...
Wait, I call my neighbours into question.
They've done nothing wrong. It offends the rights, 425
it violates tradition.
LEADER:
You will learn it all,
young daughter of Zeus, cut to a few words.
We are the everlasting children of the Night.
Deep in the halls of Earth they call us Curses.
ATHENA:
Now I know your birth, your rightful name-- 430
LEADER:
But not our powers, and you will learn them quickly.
ATHENA:
I can accept the facts, just tell them clearly.
LEADER:
Destroyers of life: we drive them from their houses.
ATHENA:
And the murderer's flight, where does it all end?
LEADER:
Where there is no joy, the word is never used. 435
ATHENA:
Such flight for him? You shriek him on to that?
LEADER:
Yes,
he murdered his mother----called that murder just.
ATHENA:
And nothing forced him on, no fear of someone's anger?
LEADER:
What spur could force a man to kill his mother?
ATHENA:
Two sides are here, and only half is heard. 440
LEADER:
But the oath----he will neither take the oath nor give it,
no, his will is set.
ATHENA:
And you are set
on the name of justice rather than the act.
LEADER:
How? Teach us. You have a genius for refinements.
ATHENA:
Injustice, I mean, should never triumph thanks to oaths. 445
LEADER:
Then examine him yourself, judge him fairly.
ATHENA:
You would turn over responsibility to me,
to reach the final verdict?
LEADER:
Certainly.
We respect you. You show us respect.
ATHENA turns to ORESTES.
ATHENA:
Your turn, stranger. What do you say to this?
Tell us your land, your birth, your fortunes.
Then defend yourself against their charge,
if trust in your rights has brought you here to guard
my hearth and idol, a suppliant for purging
like Ixion, sacred. Speak to all this clearly,
speak to me.
ORESTES:
Queen Athena, first,
the misgiving in your final words is strong.
Let me remove it. I haven't come for purging.
Look, not a stain on the hands that touch your idol.
I have proof for all I say, and it is strong.
The law condemns the man of the violent hand
to silence, till a master trained at purging
slits the throat of a young suckling victim,
blood absolves his blood. Long ago
at the halls of others I was fully cleansed
in the cleansing springs, the blood of many victims.
Threat of pollution----sweep it from your mind.
Now for my birth. You will know at once.
I am from Argos. My father, well you ask,
was Agamemnon, sea--lord of the men--of--war,
your partisan when you made the city Troy
a city of the dead.
What an ignoble death he died
when he came home--Ai! my blackhearted mother
cut him down, enveloped him in her handsome net----
it still attests his murder in the bath.
But I came back, my years of exile weathered----
killed the one who bore me, I won't deny it,
killed her in revenge. I loved my father,
fiercely.
And Apollo shares the guilt --
he spurred me on, he warned of the pains I'd feel
unless I acted, brought the guilty down.
But were we just or not? Judge us now.
My fate is in your hands. Stand or fall
I shall accept your verdict.
ATHENA:
Too large a matter,
some may think, for mortal men to judge.
But by all rights not even I should decide
a case of murder--murder whets the passions.
Above all, the rites have tamed your wildness.
A suppliant, cleansed, you bring my house no harm.
If you are innocent, I'd adopt you for my city.
Turning to the FURIES.
But they have their destiny too, hard to dismiss,
and if they fail to win their day in court --
how it will spread, the venom of their pride,
plague everlasting blights our land, our future...
So it stands. A crisis either way.
Looking back and forth from
ORESTES to the FURIES.
Embrace the one? expel the other? It defeats me.
But since the matter comes to rest on us,
I will appoint the judges of manslaughter,
swear them in, and found a tribunal here
for all time to come.
To ORESTES and the FURIES.
My contestants,
summon your trusted witnesses and proofs,
your defenders under oath to help your cause.
And I will pick the finest men of Athens,
return and decide the issue fairly, truly--
bound to our oaths, our spirits bent on justice.
ATHENA leaves. The FURIES form
their chorus.
FURIES:
Here, now, is the overthrow
of every binding law--once his appeal,
his outrage wins the day,
his matricide! One act links all mankind,
hand to desperate hand in bloody licence.
Over and over deathstrokes
dealt by children wait their parents,
mortal generations still unborn.
We are the Furies still, yes,
but now our rage that patrolled the crimes of men,
that stalked their rage dissolves --
we loose a lethal tide to sweep the world!
Man to man foresees his neighbour's torments,
groping to cure his own --
poor wretch, there is no cure, no use,
the drugs that ease him speed the next attack.
Now when the sudden blows come down,
let no one sound the call that once brought help,
Justice, hear me--Furies throned in power I'
Oh I can hear the father now 525
or the mother sob with pain
at the pain's onset...hopeless now,
the house of Justice falls.
There is a time when terror helps,
the watchman must stand guard upon the heart. 530
It helps, at times, to suffer into truth.
Is there a man who knows no fear
in the brightness of his heart,
or a man's city, both are one,
that still reveres the rights? 535
Neither the life of anarchy
nor the life enslaved by tyrants, no,
worship neither.
Strike the balance all in all and god will give you power;
the laws of god may veer from north to south-- 540
we Furies plead for Measure.
Violence is Impiety's child, true to its roots,
but the spirit's great good health breeds all we love
and all our prayers call down,
prosperity and peace. 545
All in all I tell you people,
bow before the altar of the rights,
revere it well.
Never trample it underfoot, your eyes set on spoils;
revenge will hunt the godless day and night -- 550
the destined end awaits.
So honour your parents first with reverence, I say,
and the stranger guest you welcome to your house,
turn to attend his needs,
respect his sacred rights. 555
All of your own free will, all uncompelled,
be just and you will never want for joy,
you and your kin can never be uprooted from the earth.
But the reckless one--I warn the marauder
dragging plunder, chaotic, rich beyond all rights: 560
he'll strike his sails,
harried at long last,
stunned when the squalls of torment break his spars to bits.
He cries to the deaf, he wrestles walls of sea
sheer whirlpools down, down, with the gods' laughter 565
breaking over the man's hot heart--they see him flailing, crushed.
The one who boasted never to shipwreck
now will never clear the cape and steer for home,
who lived for wealth,
golden his life long, 570
rams on the reef of law and drowns unwept, unseen.
The scene has shifted to the Areopagus,
the tribunal on the Crag of Ares.
ATHENA enters in procession with a
herald and ten CITIZENS she has
chosen to be judges.
ATHENA:
Call for order, herald, marshal our good people.
Lift the Etruscan battle-trumpet,
strain it to full pitch with human breath,
crash out a stabbing blast along the ranks. 575
The trumpet sounds. The judges take
up positions between the audience and
the actors. ATHENA separates the
FURIES and ORESTES, directing him
to the Stone of Outrage and the leader
to the Stone of Unmercifulness, where
the FURIES form their chorus. Then
ATHENA takes her stand between two
urns that will receive the ballots.
And while this court of judgement fills, my city,
silence will be best. So that you can learn
my everlasting laws. And you too,
To ORESTES and the FURIES.
that our verdict may be well observed by all.
APOLLO enters suddenly and looms
behind ORESTES.
Lord Apollo - rule it over your own sphere!
What part have you in this? Tell us.
APOLLO:
I come
as a witness. This man, according to custom,
this suppliant sought out my house and hearth.
I am the one who purged his bloody hands.
His champion too, I share responsibility
for his mother's execution.
Bring on the trial.
You know the rules, now turn them into justice.
ATHENA turns to the FURIES.
ATHENA:
The trial begins! Yours is the first word--
the prosecution opens. Start to finish,
set the facts before us, make them clear.
LEADER:
Numerous as we are, we will be brief.
To ORESTES.
Answer count for count, charge for charge.
First, tell us, did you kill your mother?
ORESTES:
I killed her. There's no denying that.
LEADER:
Three falls in the match. One is ours already. 595
ORESTES:
You exult before your man is on his back.
LEADER:
But how did you kill her? You must tell us that.
ORESTES:
I will. I drew my sword - more, I cut her throat.
LEADER:
And who persuaded you? who led you on?
ORESTES:
This god and his command.
Indicating APOLLO.
He bears me witness. 600
LEADER:
The Seer? He drove you on to matricide?
ORESTES:
Yes,
and to this hour I have no regrets.
LEADER:
If the verdict
brings you down, you'll change your story quickly.
ORESTES:
I have my trust; my father will help me from the grave.
LEADER:
Trust to corpses now! You made your mother one. 605
ORESTES:
I do. She had two counts against her, deadly crimes.
LEADER:
How? Explain that to your judges.
ORESTES:
She killed her husband--killed my father too.
LEADER:
But murder set her free, and you live on for trial.
ORESTES:
She lived on. You never drove her into exile--why?
LEADER:
The blood of the man she killed was not her own.
ORESTES:
And I? Does mother's blood run in my veins?
LEADER:
How could she breed you in her body, murderer?
Disclaim your mother's blood? She gave you life.
ORESTES turns to APOLLO.
Bear me witness--show me the way, Apollo!
Did I strike her down with justice?
Strike I did, I don't deny it, no.
But how does our bloody work impress you now?--
Just or not? Decide.
I must make my case to them.
Looking to the judges.
APOLLO:
Just,
I say, to you and your high court, Athena.
Seer that I am, I never lie. Not once
from the Prophet's thrones have I declared
a word that bears on man, woman or city
that Zeus did not command, the Olympian Father.
This is his justice--omnipotent, I warn you.
Bend to the will of Zeus. No oath can match
the power of the Father.
LEADER:
Zeus, you say,
gave that command to your oracle? He charged
Orestes here to avenge his father's death
and spurn his mother's rights?
APOLLO:
--Not the same
for a noble man to die, covered with praise,
his sceptre the gift of god--murdered, at that,
by a woman's hand, no arrows whipping in
from a distance as an Amazon would fight. 635
But as you will hear, Athena, and your people
poised to cast their lots and judge the case.
Home from the long campaign he came, more won
than lost on balance, home to her loyal, waiting arms,
the welcome bath...
he was just emerging at the edge, 640
and there she pitched her tent, her circling shroud --
she shackled her man in robes,
in her gorgeous never-ending web she chopped him down!
Such was the outrage of his death, I tell you,
the lord of the squadrons, that magnificent man. 645
Her I draw to the life to lash your people,
marshalled to reach a verdict.
LEADER:
Zeus, you say,
sets more store by a father's death? He shackled
his own father, Kronos proud with age.
Doesn't that contradict you? 650
To the judges.
Mark it well. I call you all to witness.
APOLLO:
You grotesque, loathsome - the gods detest you!
Zeus can break chains, we've cures for that,
countless ingenious ways to set us free.
But once the dust drinks down a man's blood, 655
he is gone, once for all. No rising back,
no spell sung over the grave can sing him back--
not even Father can. Though all things else
he can overturn and never strain for breath.
LEADER:
So
you'd force this man's acquittal? Behold, Justice! 660
Exhibiting APOLLO and ORESTES.
Can a son spill his mother's blood on the ground,
then settle into his father's halls in Argos?
Where are the public altars he can use?
Can the kinsmen's holy water touch his hands?
APOLL0:
Here is the truth, I tell you - see how right I am. 665
The woman you call the mother of the child
is not the parent, just a nurse to the seed,
the new-sown seed that grows and swells inside her.
The man is the source of life - the one who mounts.
She, like a stranger for a stranger, keeps
the shoot alive unless god hurts the roots.
I give you proof that all I say is true.
The father can father forth without a mother.
Here she stands, our living witness. Look--
Exhibiting ATHENA.
Child sprung full-blown from Olympian Zeus,
never bred in the darkness of the womb
but such a stock no goddess could conceive!
And I, Pallas, with all my strong techniques
will rear your host and battlements to glory.
So I dispatched this suppliant to your hearth
that he might be your trusted friend for ever,
that you might win a new ally, dear goddess.
He and his generations arm-in-arm with yours,
your bonds stand firm for all posterity--
ATHENA:
Now
have we heard enough? May I have them cast
their honest lots as conscience may decide?
LEADER:
For us, we have shot our arrows, every one.
I wait to hear how this ordeal will end.
ATHENA:
Of course.
And what can I do to merit your respect?
APOLLO:
You have heard what you have heard.
To the judges.
Cast your lots, my friends,
ATHENA:
And now
if you would hear my law, you men of Greece,
you who will judge the first trial of bloodshed.
Now and forever more, for Aegeus' people
this will be the court where judges reign.
This is the Crag of Ares, where the Amazons
pitched their tents when they came marching down
on Theseus, full tilt in their fury, erecting
a new city to overarch his city, towers thrust
against his towers--they sacrificed to Ares,
named this rock from that day onward Ares' Crag.
Here from the heights, terror and reverence,
my people's kindred powers
will hold them from injustice through the day
and through the mild night. Never pollute
our law with innovations. No, my citizens,
foul a clear well and you will suffer thirst.
Neither anarchy nor tyranny, my people.
Worship the Mean, I urge you,
shore it up with reverence and never
banish terror from the gates, not outright.
Where is the righteous man who knows no fear?
The stronger your fear, your reverence for the just,
the stronger your country's wall and city's safety.
stronger by far than all men else possess
in Scythia's rugged steppes or Pelops' level plain.
Untouched by lust for spoil, this court of law
majestic, swift to fury, rising above you
as you sleep, our night watch always wakeful,
guardian of our land--I found it here and now.
So I urge you, Athens. I have drawn this out
to rouse you to your future. You must rise,
each man must cast his lot and judge the case,
reverent to his oath. Now I have finished.
The judges come forward, pass between
the urns and cast their lots.
LEADER:
Beware. Our united force can break your land.
Never wound our pride, I tell you, never.
APOLLO:
The oracles, not mine alone but Zeus's, too--
dread them, I warn you, never spoil their fruit.
The LEADER turns to APOLLO.
LEADER:
You dabble in works of blood beyond your depth.
Oracles, your oracles will be stained forever.
APOLLO:
Oh, so the Father's judgement faltered when Ixion,
the first man-slayer, came to him for purging?
LEADER:
Talk on, talk on. But if I lose this trial
I will return in force to crush the land.
APOLLO:
Never--among the gods, young and old,
you go disgraced. I will triumph over you!
LEADER:
Just as you triumphed in the house of Pheres,
luring the Fates to set men free from death.
APOLLO:
What?--is it a crime to help the pious man,
above all, when his hour of need has come?
LEADER:
You brought them down, the oldest realms of order,
seduced the ancient goddesses with wine.
APOLLO:
You will fail this trial-- in just a moment
spew your venom and never harm your enemies.
LEADER:
You'd ride me down, young god, for all my years?
Well here I stand, waiting to learn the verdict.
Torn with doubt... to rage against the city or--
ATHENA:
My work is here, to render the final judgement.
Orestes,
Raising her arm, her hand clenched as
if holding a ballot-stone.
I will cast my lot for you.
No mother gave me birth.
I honour the male, in all things but marriage.
Yes, with all my heart I am my Father's child.
I cannot set more store by the woman's death--
she killed her husband, guardian of their house.
Even if the vote is equal, Orestes wins.
Shake the lots from the urns. Quickly,
you of the jury charged to make the count.
Judges come forward, empty the urns,
and count the ballot-stones.
ORESTES:
O God of the Light, Apollo, how will the verdict go?
LEADER:
O Night, dark mother, are you watching now?
ORESTES:
Now for the goal-- the noose, or the new day!
LEADER:
Now we go down, or forge ahead in power.
APOLLO:
Shake out the lots and count them fairly, friends.
Honour Justice. An error in judgement now
can mean disaster. The cast of a single lot
restores a house to greatness.
Receiving the fudges' count, ATHENA
hits her arm once more.
ATHENA:
The man goes free,
cleared of the charge of blood. The lots are equal.
ORESTES:
O Pallas Athena-- you, you save my house!
I was shorn of the fatherland but you
reclaim it for me. Now any Greek will say, 770
'He lives again, the man of Argos lives
on his fathers' great estates. Thanks to Pallas,
Apollo and Zeus, the lord of all fulfilment,
Third, Saving Zeus.' He respected father's
death, looked down on mother's advocates--
Indicating the FURIES.
he saved me. 775
And now I journey home. But first I swear
to you, your land and assembled host, I swear
by the future years that bring their growing yield
that no man, no helmsman of Argos wars on Athens,
spears in the vanguard moving out for conquest.
We ourselves, even if we must rise up from the grave,
will deal with those who break the oath I take--
baffle them with disasters, curse their marches,
send them hawks on the left at every crossing--
make their pains recoil upon their heads.
But all who keep our oath, who uphold your rights
and citadel for ever, comrades spear to spear,
we bless with all the kindness of our heart.
Now farewell, you and the people of your city.
Good wrestling-- a grip no foe can break.
A saving hope, a spear to bring you triumph!
Exit ORESTES, followed by APOLLO.
The FURIES reel in wild confusion
around ATHENA.
FURIES:
You, you younger gods!--you have ridden down
the ancient laws, wrenched them from my grasp--
and I, robbed of my birthright, suffering, great with wrath,
I loose my poison over the soil, aieee!--
poison to match my grief comes pouring out my heart,
cursing the land to burn it sterile and now
rising up from its roots a cancer blasting leaf and child,
now for Justice, Justice!-- cross the face of the earth
the bloody tide comes hurling, all mankind destroyed.
...Moaning, only moaning? What will I do?
The mockery of it, Oh unbearable,
mortified by Athens,
we the daughters of Night,
our power stripped, cast down.
ATHENA:
Yield to me.
No more heavy spirits. You were not defeated--
the vote was tied, a verdict fairly reached
with no disgrace to you, no, Zeus brought
luminous proof before us. He who spoke
god's oracle, he bore witness that Orestes
did the work but should not suffer harm.
And now you'd vent your anger, hurt the land?
Consider a moment. Calm yourself: Never
render us barren, raining your potent showers
down like spears, consuming every seed.
By all my rights I promise you your seat
in the depths of earth, yours by all rights--
stationed at hearths equipped with glistening thrones,
covered with praise! My people will revere you.
FURIES:
You, you younger gods!-- you have ridden down 820
the ancient laws, wrenched them from my grasp--
and I, robbed of my birthright, suffering, great with wrath,
I loose my poison over the soil, aieee!--
poison to match my grief comes pouring out my heart,
cursing the land to bum it sterile and now 825
rising up from its roots a cancer blasting leaf and child,
now for Justice, Justice!-- cross the face of the earth
the bloody tide comes hurling, all mankind destroyed.
...Moaning, only moaning? What will I do?
The mockery of it, Oh unbearable,
mortified by Athens,
we the daughters of Night,
our power stripped, cast down.
ATHENA:
You have your power,
you are goddesses-- but not to turn
on the world of men and ravage it past cure. 835
I put my trust in Zeus and... must I add this?
I am the only god who knows the keys
to the armoury where his lightning-bolt is sealed.
No need of that, not here.
Let me persuade you.
The lethal spell of your voice, never cast it
down on the land and blight its harvest home.
Lull asleep that salt black wave of anger--
awesome, proud with reverence, live with me.
The land is rich, and more, when its first fruits,
offered for heirs and the marriage rites, are yours
to hold forever, you will praise my words.
FURIES:
But for me to suffer such disgrace... I,
the proud heart of the past, driven under the earth,
condemned, like so much filth,
and the fury in me breathing hatred--
O good Earth,
what is this stealing under the breast,
what agony racks the spirit?...Night, dear Mother Night!
All's lost, our ancient powers torn away by their cunning,--
ruthless hands, the gods so hard to wrestle down
obliterate us all.
ATHENA:
I will bear with your anger.
You are older. The years have taught you more,
much more than I can know. But Zeus, I think,
gave me some insight, too, that has its merits.
If you leave for an alien land and alien people,
you will come to love this land, I promise you.
As time flows on, the honours flow through all
my citizens, and you, throned in honour
before the house of Erechtheus, will harvest
more from men and women moving in solemn file
than you can win throughout the mortal world.
Here in our homeland never cast the stones
that whet our bloodlust. Never waste our youth,
inflaming them with the burning wine of strife.
Never pluck the heart of the battle cock
and plant it in our people-- intestine war
seething against themselves. Let our wars
rage on abroad, with all their force, to satisfy
our powerful lust for fame. But as for the bird
that fights at home-- my curse on civil war.
This is the life I offer, it is yours to take.
Do great things, feel greatness, greatly honoured.
Share this country cherished by the gods.
FURIES:
But for me to suffer such disgrace .. I,
the proud heart of the past, driven under the earth,
condemned, like so much filth,
and the fury in me breathing hatred--
O good Earth,
what is this stealing under the breast,
what agony racks the spirit?... Night, dear Mother Night!
All's lost, our ancient powers torn away by their cunning,--
ruthless hands, the gods so hard to wrestle down
obliterate us all.
ATHENA:
No, I will never tire
of telling you your gifts. So that you,
the older gods, can never say that I,
a young god and the mortals of my city
drove you outcast, outlawed from the land.
But if you have any reverence for Persuasion,
the majesty of Persuasion,
the spell of my voice that would appease your fury--
Oh please stay...
and if you refuse to stay,
it would be wrong, unjust to afflict this city
with wrath, hatred, populations routed. Look,
it is all yours, a royal share of our land--
justly entitled, glorified for ever.
LEADER:
Queen Athena,
where is the home you say is mine to hold?
ATHENA:
Where all the pain and anguish end. Accept it.
LEADER:
And if I do, what honour waits for me?
ATHENA:
No house can thrive without you.
LEADER:
You would do that,
grant me that much power?
ATHENA:
Whoever reveres us-- 905
we will raise the fortunes of their lives.
LEADER:
And you will pledge me that, for all time to come?
ATHENA:
Yes-- I must never promise things I cannot do.
LEADER:
Your magic is working .. I can feel the hate,
the fury slip away.
ATHENA:
At last! And now take root
in the land and win yourself new friends.
LEADER:
A spell--
what spell to sing? to bind the land for ever? Tell us.
ATHENA:
Nothing that strikes a note of brutal conquest. Only peace--
blessings, rising up from the earth and the heaving sea,
and down the vaulting sky let the wind-gods breathe
a wash of sunlight streaming through the land,
and the yield of soil and grazing cattle flood
our city's life with power and never flag
with time. Make the seed of men live on,
the more they worship you the more they thrive.
I love them as a gardener loves his plants,
these upright men, this breed fought free of grief
All that is yours to give.
And I,
in the trials of war where fighters burn for fame,
will never endure the overthrow of Athens--
all will praise her, victor city, pride of man.
The FURIES assemble, dancing around
ATHENA, who becomes their leader.
FURIES:
I will embrace
one home with you, Athena,
never fail the city
you and Zeus almighty, you and Ares 930
hold as the fortress of the gods, the shield
of the high Greek altars, glory of the powers.
Spirit of Athens, hear my words, my prayer
like a prophet's warm and kind,
that the rare good things of life 935
come rising crest on crest,
sprung from the rich black earth and
gleaming with the bursting flash of sun.
ATHENA:
These blessings I bestow on you, my people, gladly.
I enthrone these strong, implacable spirits here 940
and root them in our soil.
Theirs,
theirs to rule the lives of men,
it is their fated power.
But he who has never felt their weight,
or known the blows of life and how they fall, 945
the crimes of his fathers hale him towards their bar,
and there for all his boasts--destruction,
silent, majestic in anger,
crushes him to dust.
FURIES:
Yes and I ban
the winds that rock the olive-- 950
hear my love, my blessing--
thwart their scorching heat that blinds the buds,
hold from our shores the killing icy gales,
and I ban the blight that creeps on fruit and withers--
God of creation, Pan, make flocks increase 955
and the ewes drop fine twin lambs
when the hour of labour falls.
And silver, child of Earth,
secret treasure of Hermes,
come to light and praise the gifts of god.
ATHENA:
Blessings--now do you hear, you guards of Athens, 960
all that she will do?
Fury the mighty queen, the dread
of the deathless gods and those beneath the earth,
deals with mortals clearly, once for all. 965
She delivers songs to some, to others
a blinding life of tears--
Fury works her will.
FURIES:
And the lightning stroke
that cuts men down before their prime, I curse,
but the lovely girl who finds a mate's embrace, 970
the deep joy of wedded life--O grant that gift, that prize,
you gods of wedlock, grant it, goddesses of Fate!
Sisters born of the Night our mother,
spirits steering law,
sharing at all our hearths, 975
at all times bearing down
to make our lives more just,
all realms exalt you highest of the gods.
ATHENA:
Behold, my land, what blessings Fury kindly,
gladly brings to pass-- 980
I am in my glory! Yes, I love Persuasion;
she watched my words, she met their wild refusals.
Thanks to Zeus of the Councils who can turn
dispute to peace-- he won the day.
To the FURIES.
Thanks to our duel for blessings; 985
We win through it all.
FURIES:
And the brutal strife,
the civil war devouring men, I pray
that it never rages through our city, no
that the good Greek soil never drinks the blood of Greeks,
shed in an orgy of reprisal life for life-- 990
that Fury like a beast will never
rampage through the land.
Give joy in return for joy,
one common will for love,
and hate with one strong heart:
such union heals a thousand ills of man.
ATHENA:
Do you hear how Fury sounds her blessings forth,
how Fury finds the way?
Shining out of the terror of their faces
I can see great gains for you, my people.
Hold them kindly, kind as they are to you.
Exalt them always, you exalt your land,
your city straight and just--
its light goes through the world.
FURIES:
Rejoice,
rejoice in destined wealth, 1005
rejoice, Athena's people--
poised by the side of Zeus,
loved by the loving virgin girl,
achieve humanity at last,
nestling under Pallas' wings 1010
and blessed with Father's love.
ATHENA:
You too rejoice! and I must lead the way
to your chambers by the holy light of these,
your escorts bearing fire.
Enter ATHENA'S entourage of women,
bearing offerings and victims and
torches still unlit.
Come, and sped beneath the earth 1015
by our awesome sacrifices,
keep destruction from the borders,
bring prosperity home to Athens,
triumph sailing in its wake.
And you,
my people born of the Rock King, 1020
lead on our guests for life, my city--
May they treat you with compassion,
compassionate as you will be to them.
FURIES:
Rejoice!--
rejoice--the joy resounds--
all those who dwell in Athens, 1025
spirits and mortals, come,
govern Athena's city well,
revere us well, we are your guests;
you will learn to praise your Furies,
you will praise the fortunes of your lives. 1030
ATHENA:
My thanks! And I will speed your prayers, your blessings--
lit by the torches breaking into flame
I send you home, home to the core of Earth,
escorted by these friends who guard my idol
duty-bound.
ATHENA'S entourage comes forward,
bearing crimson robes.
Bright eye of the land of Theseus,
come forth, my splendid troupe. Girls and mothers,
trains of aged women grave in movement,
dress our Furies now in blood-red robes.
Praise them-- let the torch move on!
So the love this family bears towards our land
will bloom in human strength from age to age.
The women invest the FURIES and
sing the final chorus. Torches blaze; a
procession forms, including the actors
and the judges and the audience.
ATHENA leads them from the theatre
and escorts them through the city.
On, on, good spirits born for glory,
Daughters of Night, her children always young,
now under loyal escort--
Blessings, people of Athens, sing your blessings out. 1045
Deep, deep in the first dark vaults of Earth,
sped by the praise and victims we will bring,
reverence will attend you--
Blessings now, all people, sing your blessings out.
You great good Furies, bless the land with kindly hearts, 1050
you Awesome Spirits, come-- exult in the blazing torch,
exultant in our fires, journey on.
Cry, cry in triumph, carry on the dancing on and on!
This peace between Athena's people and their guests
must never end. All-seeing Zeus and Fate embrace,
down they come to urge our union on--
Cry, cry, in triumph, carry on the dancing on and on!