by Aeschylus
What can I do? Mocked! Spit on
by the citizens!
We suffer the insufferable,
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luckless daughters of Night
who have been wronged, stripped of our honor!
ATHENA Let me persuade you not to shoulder such
a burden of grief—because you weren’t defeated,
the voting in the trial was truly equal;
you haven’t been disgraced, no. After all,
the evidence from Zeus shown clear, and he
who gave the oracle bore witness that
Orestes should not be harmed for what he did.
So don’t be angry; no longer aim your out-
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rage on this land, or send out blight against it,
the piercing vapors that eat up the seeds.
I swear wholeheartedly to you, in justice,
that you will have your seat in a vast cavern
deep in this land of justice, and there you will sit
on gleaming thrones beside your sacred altars,
forever honored by my citizens.
CHORUS IOU! IOU! You young gods—you
Refrain 1
have trampled down the age-old laws,
ripped them out of my hands!
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My honor stripped away, enraged,
aggrieved, now I
will squeeze out all the poison in my heart
against the land for all I’ve suffered,
yes, poison now will ooze and drip
unbearably into the soil.
And out of it pale fungus
blighting leaf and child (O justice!)
will quicken across
the land to cover it and all the people
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in a miasmal fog
of killing illnesses. Sorrow!
What can I do? Mocked! Spit on
by the citizens!
We suffer the insufferable,
luckless daughters of Night
who have been wronged, stripped of our honor!
ATHENA Not stripped of honor, no. You’re goddesses,
don’t in a rush of anger blast the land
of mortals. I have Zeus on my side and—
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why even bring it up?—I’m the only one
among the gods who knows where he keeps the key
to the chamber in which the lightning bolt is sealed.
No, we won’t have need of that. Please,
let me persuade you not to spew from foolish
lips such curses against the land as make
all things that bear fruit shrivel up and die.
Soothe into sleep the black wave of your rage,
its bitter surging: for you’ll be honored here,
and worshipped, and share my home. And when
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you receive the first fruits of this great land
offered up to you in hope of children
and for the fulfillment of the marriage rite,
you’ll thank me for this advice I’ve given you.
CHORUS That they would do this to me!
Refrain 2
Force me, with all my age-old wisdom,
under this earth
like some defiled contaminated thing!
I’m breathing rage, sheer rage.
OTOTOTOI POPOI! DA!
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What torture slides down over me
and through my brain!
Hear me O mother Night—the gods’
sleight of hand has snatched
my ancient rights away and made me
less than nothing.
ATHENA I’ll put up with your anger, for you are much
older than I am—and, therefore, so much wiser.
But Zeus has given me a keen mind too,
and if you leave here for a foreign country
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I warn you now you’ll long just like a lover
for this country you have left behind.
For time as it flows forward will bring great
and greater honors to the people here,
And honorably seated near the house
of Erechtheus, you’ll receive from long
processionals of men and women more gifts
than any other place on earth could give.
Don’t set the inciting whetstone of bloodshed spinning
throughout my land, sharpening the hearts of young
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men till they’re seized by a wildness not of wine.
Don’t make their hearts seethe like the seething hearts
of fighting cocks, infusing in my people
a war lust they’ll turn inward on each other.
May all their warfare be with foreigners,
and may the wars be plentiful enough
to sate their fiercest hunger for renown.
There’s nothing brave about a cock who fights
inside the nest.
So it is your choice now
to take what I am holding out to you:
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to do well and receive well and, well honored,
have your own share of this land the gods love well.
CHORUS That they would do this to me!
Refrain 2
Force me, with all my age-old wisdom,
under this earth
like some defiled contaminated thing!
I’m breathing rage, sheer rage.
OTOTOTOI POPOI! DA!
What torture slides down over me
and through my brain!
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Hear me O mother night—the gods’
sleight of hand has snatched
my ancient rights away and made me
less than nothing.
ATHENA I’ll never tire of telling you the benefits
I’m offering, so you can never say
that you, an elder goddess, have been disgraced
and driven into exile from this country,
either by me, a younger goddess, or by
the mortal keepers of the city. No!
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But if you hold in awe Persuasion’s glory,
the power of my tongue to soothe and enchant,
you might live here with us. Still, if you don’t,
if you choose not to, it would not be right
to bring the riot of your raging hate
against the city, to harm the people. The way
is free for you to be a landholder here,
enjoying honor justly and forever.
CHORUS LEADER What kind of place would be mine, Queen Athena?
ATHENA One free of pain. Will you make it yours?
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CHORUS LEADER And if I do, what honor will I have?
ATHENA No house will ever grow without your blessing.
CHORUS LEADER You’d make me as powerful as that?
ATHENA We’ll swell the fortunes of your followers.
CHORUS LEADER You promise me this power’s mine forever?
ATHENA I wouldn’t promise what I won’t fulfill.
CHORUS LEADER You might persuade me; I feel my anger easing.
ATHENA Live with me here, and you’ll have more friends, new friends.
CHORUS LEADER What blessings would you have my chant call forth?
ATHENA Blessings that bring victory without dishonor,
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blessings that come from earth, and from the water
of the sea, and from the sky that make the air
across the land breathe out in sunlit breezes;
blessings that make the earth’s yield swell, and the
thick
herds grow more bountiful as time goes on
and never fail my people. Their seed, too,
you’ll bless and protect, and may you favor most
the purest among them, make them prosper most.
I’m like a gardener, caring for the stock
of these
just men, keeping them safe from sorrow.
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These are the blessings that are yours to give
while I will shower glory on their battles,
and never fail to let the city’s fame
for victory resound in every land.
CHORUS I will accept a home
Strophe 1
here in the house of Pallas,
and won’t dishonor the city
ruled by Zeus all-mighty
and Ares as the fortress
of the gods, protector of
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the altars of the Greeks,
city that all rejoice in,
city for which I pray
and lovingly foretell
that the bright rays of the sun
will make the earth bring forth
in rich profusion all
the good things that foster life.
ATHENA Since my heart is filled with tenderness
for all my people,
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I have ensconced these powerful,
demanding goddesses here among them,
goddesses whose task it is
to oversee the lives of men.
And any man
they train their hate on doesn’t know
from where the flurry of hard blows
crashes against
his life. Ancestral crime pulls him down
before their judgment seat, and while
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he brags out loud, silently
their crushing hatred hits him, their
implacable rage
grinds him completely down to dust.
CHORUS May no fierce wind blast the trees—
Antistrophe 1
these are my words of grace—
and may no heat that sears
the plants and kills their buds,
cross this land’s boundary.
May no blight waste the crops.
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May Pan swell the swarming
flocks, double their yield
at the appointed time.
And may the land’s children
find veins of wealth within
the soil and honor the gods
with sacrifice for the luck
of their discoveries.
ATHENA Jurors, bulwark of the city,
do you hear what blessings
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she’ll bring about? The power of the great
Erinyes awes the gods above
and those below, achieves their ends
for all to see, bringing bright
joyous life
to some, life blind with tears to others.
CHORUS I ban, too, the untimely
Strophe 2
killing of young men;
and you gods who possess
the power to do so, let
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young girls find husbands—
especially you Fates,
our sisters from one mother,
goddesses whose share is just,
who have a hand in every
home, whose force weighs
heavily in every season,
whose reckoning, exact
in all ways is in all
ways honored by the gods.
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ATHENA They bless my land so lovingly
that my heart swells.
I’m glad Persuasion’s eye watched over
my lips and tongue when I first faced
their brutal “No!” But Zeus who guides
men’s speech won out. Our rivalry
in doing good
gives victory to good forever.
CHORUS I pray that the crazed voice
Antistrophe 2
of civil strife that feeds
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on evil and is never full
may never roar through this land.
And may the earth not guzzle
down the black blood of its people,
and then, hot for revenge,
welcome the city’s ruin,
murder paid back with murder.
Instead let citizens
give joy for joy,
loving the common good,
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hating a common foe:
they’ll cure most ills this way.
ATHENA These women, have they the wisdom to find
a path of blessing?
Then I discern in their dread faces
great gain for all my people. Revere them,
be kindly to these kindly ones,
and you will keep the land and city
on the straight path
of justice, and shine in everything.
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CHORUS Farewell! Rejoice amid
Strophe 3
the wealth you’ve earned! Goodbye,
you people of the city
dwelling near the throne
of Zeus, loving the goddess
who loves you well, wiser
with every passing day,
safe in the wings of Pallas
whose father honors you.
ATHENA Goodbye to you! I’ll go before you
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and show you to
your chambers by the sacred light
these escorts hold. Now go, and take
with you these holy offerings.
Hurry beneath the ground and hide
down deep within it
whatever’s harmful to the city;
whatever’s to the city’s gain
send up, so she
may always be triumphant! You sons
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of Cranaus, keepers of the city,
lead the way for them, our new
inhabitants, and may the people
receive with good
hearts all the goodness they are given.
CHORUS Farewell! Goodbye again
Antistrophe 3
I say, to everyone
within the city, gods
as well as mortals. Watch over
Athena’s city well,
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revere my dwelling here
among you, and the lives
you lead will give you nothing
ever to complain of.
A group of women equal in number to
the Chorus enters, carrying crimson robes, preceded
by torchbearers, and followed by one or more sacrificial
animals led by attendants.
ATHENA I thank you for the blessings you have spoken.
I’ll lead you by the dancing light of torches
to your deep chamber underneath the earth,
accompanied by my attendants, the women appointed
in justice to guard my image. I invite you
into the very heart of Theseus’ land.
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And now, you honorable band of young
girls, women, aged ladies, dress them
as suits their dignity in purple robes,
and let the torches flare and dance, so that
they’ll always show their kindness to the land
in blessings that bring glory to our men.
The ESCORT, made up of the jurors and
the band of women and led by the torchbearers,
accompanies the Erinyes to the right.
ESCORT Go on to your new home, you awesome children
of Night, you aged children,
childless children, covetous of honor,
under a kind escort.
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Hush now, people, all of you, speak well,
only auspicious words.
Deep in earth’s oldest caverns, you’ll be graced
with worship and sacrifices—
Hush now, citizens, all of you, speak well,
only auspicious words.
Gracious and favoring the land that favors you,
come this way, venerable ones,
radiant in the t
orch-devouring flame,
rejoicing as you go.
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Lift up a joyous cry in rhythm to our song.
There will be peace forever
among the people of Pallas. All-seeing
Zeus and Fate have helped
us make it so. Lift up a joyous cry
together and crown our song!
NOTES
AGAMEMNON
1–47 / 1–39 Prologue The prologue consists of a short speech, but one in which the tensions of the drama to come are foreshadowed. Indeed the shape of this speech sets the pattern that the play will display again and again, moving from hopeful anticipation to foreboding. If, as there is no real reason to doubt, the Watchman appeared on the roof as the play began, it will also have provided a striking and probably novel scenic effect. It is possible that a permanent wooden stage was first erected in the Theater of Dionysus shortly before the first performance of the Oresteia, and this may well be the first time that the roof of the scene building was used for an entrance. See N.G.L. Hammond, “Conditions of Dramatic Production to the Death of Aeschylus,” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 13 (1972), 387–450.
6 / 6 the unignorable bright potentates The major stars or constellations whose movements through the heavens mark the changing seasons.
33–34 / 28 a shout / of triumph This cry, ololugmos in Greek, is heard again at strategic points in the trilogy. At 669 / 587, Clytemnestra says that she “cried in triumph” when she first had news of Agamemnon’s return; and at 1413–14 / 1236, Cassandra foresees, as if it had already happened, how Clytemnestra “trumpeted / her triumph” at Agamemnon’s slaughter. At Libation Bearers 441 / 387, the Chorus looks forward to sounding a “shrill triumphant cry” when Clytemnestra and Aegisthus are slain in turn, and at 1071–75 / 942–45 they call for a song of triumph for what they hope is the rescue of the house. Only at the end of Eumenides does the ololugmos become truly “a joyous cry” (1221 and 1225 / 1043 and 1047) of celebration.