Andromache [11]
Yea, I deeply mourn my fatal deeds of daring; alas! I am now accursed in all men's eyes! NURSE Thy husband will pardon thee this error. HERMIONE (chanting) Oh! why didst thou hunt me to snatch away my sword? Give, oh! give it back, dear nurse, that I may thrust it through my heart Why dost thou prevent me hanging myself? NURSE What! was I to let thy madness lead thee on to death? HERMIONE (chanting) Ah me, my destiny! Where can I find some friendly fire? To what rocky height can I climb above the sea or 'mid some wooded mountain glen, there to die and trouble but the dead? NURSE Why vex thyself thus? on all of us sooner or later heaven's visitation comes. HERMIONE (chanting) Thou hast left me, O my father, left me like a stranded bark, all alone, without an oar. My lord will surely slay me; no home is mine henceforth beneath my husband's roof. What god is there to whose statue I can as a suppliant haste? or shall I throw myself in slavish wise at slavish knees? Would I could speed away from Phthia's land on bird's dark pinion, or like that pine-built ship, the first that ever sailed betwixt the rocks Cyanean! NURSE My child, I can as little praise thy previous sinful excesses, committed against the Trojan captive, as thy present exaggerated terror. Thy husband will never listen to a barbarian's weak pleading and reject his marriage with thee for this. For thou wast no captive from Troy whom he wedded, but the daughter of a gallant sire, with a rich dower, from a city too of no mean prosperity. Nor will thy father forsake thee, as thou dreadest, and allow thee to be cast out from this house. Nay, enter now, nor show thyself before the palace, lest the sight of thee there bring reproach upon thee, my daughter.
(The NURSE departs as ORESTES and his attendants enter.)
LEADER Lo! a stranger of foreign appearance from some other land comes hurrying towards us. ORESTES Women of this foreign land! is this the home, the palace of Achilles' son? LEADER Thou hast it; but who art thou to ask such a question? ORESTES The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, by name Orestes, on ply way to the oracle of Zeus at Dodona. But now that I am come to Phthia, I am resolved to inquire about my kinswoman, Hermione of Sparta; is she alive and well? for though she dwells in a land far from my own, I love her none the less. HERMIONE Son of Agamemnon, thy appearing is as a haven from the storm to sailors; by thy knees I pray, have pity on me in my distress, on me of whose fortunes thou art inquiring. About thy knees I twine my arms with all the force of sacred fillets. ORESTES Ha! what is this? Am I mistaken or do I really see before me the queen of this palace, the daughter of Menelaus? HERMIONE The same, that only child whom Helen, daughter of Tyndareus, bore my father in his halls; never doubt that. ORESTES O saviour Phoebus, grant us respite from our woe! But what is the matter? art thou afflicted by gods or men? HERMIONE Partly by myself, partly by the man who wedded me, and partly by some god. On every side I see ruin. ORESTES Why, what misfortune could happen to a woman as yet childless, unless her honour is concerned? HERMIONE My very ill! Thou hast hit my case exactly. ORESTES On whom has thy husband set his affections in thy stead? HERMIONE On his captive, Hector's wife. ORESTES An evil case indeed, for a man to have two wives! HERMIONE 'Tis even thus. So I resented it. ORESTES Didst thou with woman's craft devise a plot against thy rival? HERMIONE Yes, to slay her and her bastard child. ORESTES And didst thou slay them, or did something happen to rescue them from thee? HERMIONE It was old Peleus, who showed regard to the weaker side. ORESTES Hadst thou any accomplice in this attempted murder? HERMIONE My father came from Sparta for this very purpose. ORESTES And was he after all defeated by that old man's prowess? HERMIONE Oh no! but by shame; and
(The NURSE departs as ORESTES and his attendants enter.)
LEADER Lo! a stranger of foreign appearance from some other land comes hurrying towards us. ORESTES Women of this foreign land! is this the home, the palace of Achilles' son? LEADER Thou hast it; but who art thou to ask such a question? ORESTES The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, by name Orestes, on ply way to the oracle of Zeus at Dodona. But now that I am come to Phthia, I am resolved to inquire about my kinswoman, Hermione of Sparta; is she alive and well? for though she dwells in a land far from my own, I love her none the less. HERMIONE Son of Agamemnon, thy appearing is as a haven from the storm to sailors; by thy knees I pray, have pity on me in my distress, on me of whose fortunes thou art inquiring. About thy knees I twine my arms with all the force of sacred fillets. ORESTES Ha! what is this? Am I mistaken or do I really see before me the queen of this palace, the daughter of Menelaus? HERMIONE The same, that only child whom Helen, daughter of Tyndareus, bore my father in his halls; never doubt that. ORESTES O saviour Phoebus, grant us respite from our woe! But what is the matter? art thou afflicted by gods or men? HERMIONE Partly by myself, partly by the man who wedded me, and partly by some god. On every side I see ruin. ORESTES Why, what misfortune could happen to a woman as yet childless, unless her honour is concerned? HERMIONE My very ill! Thou hast hit my case exactly. ORESTES On whom has thy husband set his affections in thy stead? HERMIONE On his captive, Hector's wife. ORESTES An evil case indeed, for a man to have two wives! HERMIONE 'Tis even thus. So I resented it. ORESTES Didst thou with woman's craft devise a plot against thy rival? HERMIONE Yes, to slay her and her bastard child. ORESTES And didst thou slay them, or did something happen to rescue them from thee? HERMIONE It was old Peleus, who showed regard to the weaker side. ORESTES Hadst thou any accomplice in this attempted murder? HERMIONE My father came from Sparta for this very purpose. ORESTES And was he after all defeated by that old man's prowess? HERMIONE Oh no! but by shame; and