The House of Atreus Part 28

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 h.e.l.l.

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 h.e.l.l!_ 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 pa.s.s 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.dless 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.d 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