Lines 400-799. Aeschylus. 1909-14. The Furies. The Harvard Classics.

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Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.). The Furies.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

Lines 400–799


The realm of death, he cometh; neither yonder	400
In freedom shall he stand.

Hear the hymn of hell,
O’er the victim sounding,—
Chant of frenzy, chant of ill,	404
Sense and will confounding!
Round the soul entwining
Without lute or lyre—
Soul in madness pining,	408
Wasting as with fire!

When from womb of Night we sprang, on us this labour
Was laid and shall abide.
Gods immortal are ye, yet beware ye touch not	412
That which is our pride!
None may come beside us gathered round the blood feast—
For us no garments white
Gleam on a festal day; for us a darker fate is,	416
Another darker rite.
That is mine hour when falls an ancient line—
When in the household’s heart
The god of blood doth slay by kindred hands,—	420
Then do we bear our part:
On him who slays we sweep with chasing cry:
Though he be triply strong,
We wear and waste him; blood atones for blood,	424
New pain for ancient wrong.

I hold this task—’tis mine, and not another’s.
The very gods on high,
Though they can silence and annul the prayers	428
Of those who on us cry,
They may not strive with us who stand apart,
A race by Zeus abhorred,
Blood-boltered, held unworthy of the council	432
And converse of heaven’s lord.
Therefore the more I leap upon my prey;
Upon their head I bound;
My foot is hard; as one that trips a runner	436
I cast them to the ground;
Yea, to the depth of doom intolerable;
And they who erst were great,
And upon earth held high their pride and glory,	440
Are brought to low estate,
In underworld they waste and are diminished,
The while around them fleet
Dark wavings of my robes, and, subtly woven,	444
The paces of my feet.

Who falls infatuate, he sees not, neither knows he
That we are at his side;
So closely round about him, darkly flitting,	448
The cloud of guilt doth glide.
Heavily ’tis uttered, how around his hearthstone
The mirk of hell doth rise.
Stern and fixed the law is; we have hands t’ achieve it,	452
Cunning to devise.
Queens are we and mindful of our solemn vengeance.
Not by tear or prayer
Shall a man avert it. In unhonoured darkness,	456
Far from gods, we fare,
Lit unto our task with torch of sunless regions,
And o’er a deadly way—
Deadly to the living as to those who see not	460
Life and light of day—
Hunt we and press onward. Who of mortals hearing
Doth not quake for awe,
Hearing all that Fate thro’ hand of God hath given us	464
For ordinance and law?
Yea, this right to us, in dark abysm and backward
Of ages it befel:
None shall wrong mine office, tho’ in nether regions	468
And sunless dark I dwell. [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	472
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 thereon,	476
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 ægis, by my feet propelled,	480
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,	484
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.	488
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,	492
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.	496

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?	500

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.	504

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.	508

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.	512
Speak forth thy land, thy lineage, and thy woes;
The, if thou canst, avert this bitter blame—
If, as I deem, in confidence of right
Thou sittest hard beside my holy place,	516
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	520
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.	524
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,—	528
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	532
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;	536
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,	540
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;	544
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—	548
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	552
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.	556
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,	560
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:	564
Stay they, or go at my commandment forth,
Perplexity or pain must needs befal.
Yet, as on me Fate hath imposed the cause,
I choose unto me judges that shall be	568
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;	572
And I, whoe’er are truest in my town,
Them will I choose and bring, and straitly charge,
Look on this cause, discriminating well,
And pledge your oath to utter nought of wrong. [Exit Athena.	576

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.	580
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,—	584
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,	588
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	592
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	596
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,	600
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!	604

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;	608
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	612
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	616
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.	620
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.	624

Yea, whatsoe’er befal, 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.	628
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	632
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	636
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,—	640
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,	644
And vainly wrestle with the whirling wave.
Hot was his heart with pride—
I shall not fall, he cried.
But him with watching scorn	648
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	652
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.	656
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,	660
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,	664
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	668
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.	672

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.	676

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.	680

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.	684

CHORUS But by those 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.	688

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.	692

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?	696

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	700
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.	704
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,	708
The prophet-god, nor cheat you by one word.
For never spare I from my prophet-seat
One word, of man, of woman, or of state,
Save what the Father of Olympian gods	712
Commanded unto me. I rede you then,
Bethink you of my plea, how strong it stands,
And follow the decree of Zeus, or sire,—
For oaths prevail not over Zeus’ command.	716

CHORUS Go to; thou sayest that from Zeus befal
The oracle that this Orestes bade
With vengeance quit the slaying of his sire,
And hold as nought his mother’s right of kin!	720

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	724
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!—	728
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;	732
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,	736
The majesty of Greece, the fleets 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	740
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 by words!	744

APOLLO O monsters loathed of all, O scorn of gods,
He that hath bound my loose: a cure there is,
Yea, many a plan that can unbind the chain.
But when the thirsty dust sucks up man’s blood	748
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.	752

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,	756
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	760
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.	764
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	768
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,	772
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	776
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	780
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)	784
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 to judge	788
The law of bloodshed, hear me now ordain.
Here to all time for Ægeus’ Attic host
Shall stand this council-court of judges sworn,
Here the tribunal, set on Ares’ Hill	792
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,	796
And there to Ares held their sacrifice,
Where now the rock hath name, even Ares’ Hill.
And hence shall Reverence and her kinsman Fear

CONTENTS · BOOK CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

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