THE STORY OF ORESTES.

I. Agamemnon.

ON a tower of Agamemnon's palace at Argos a watchman is
looking forth into the night. During ten long years he has
watched there for a beacon message to tell of the king's
return from Troy, and, at last, a flame appears in the dis
tance, which he hails as the long-looked-for signal. But his
lips are sealed against telling the news to Clytemnestra, and
he is gone.
The Chorus, twelve Argive senators, recount
the departure of the fleet for Troy, and now the city is
ablaze with the fires of sacrifice, from which they infer that
the queen has heard the news. They continue the story of
the siege as far as the death of Iphigenia, when Clytemnestra
enters exultingly, telling them how the tidings have flashed
from beacon to beacon, and what she imagines to be the
scene in Troy. The Chorus, however, deplore the course of
the war, and lament the loss of the flower of the population
of Greece in a strange land, suggesting the fear that the
thunder of heaven will burst on the over-glorious. A herald
announces the approach of Agamemnon, saying,-

'Blest above mortals, lo, he comes! of men
Now living, who so worthy of all honour?'

He describes most graphically the sufferings of the besieging host; but, 'why grieve for the dead? the living only fickle fortune can afflict.'

The queen comes forward and pretends she has been awaiting him with delight; but again the Chorus harp upon the ruin which has been wrought by the ill-fated beauty of Helen, the misery which wealth brings, and the decent life which flows beneath the quiet cottage roof. Then Agamemnon enters, and they welcome him,—

'Hail! King of Atreus' race renowned,

Who Troy hast levelled with the ground.'

He tempers his exultation with regrets for the calamities of his friends, and is about to enter the palace, when the

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queen issues forth and addresses him with fulsome fondness and artful panegyric. But he hesitates to accept her proffered honours, saying,

'To be of humble mind Is God's best gift.'

He yields, however, and having asked consideration for Cassandra, he treads the purple, and the procession enters the palace. The queen returns to bid Cassandra, who has remained in her chariot, enter as a slave; upon which she appeals to Apollo, and, calling to mind the impious feast of Thyestes, her hair 'streams like a meteor in the troubled air'-she foresees the intended murder-she is tortured with visions of the horrors that have defiled the house of Pelops -she predicts the return of Orestes, and, uttering a prayer for vengeance, she goes to meet her fate. The Chorus moralise, and suddenly the majestic voice of Agamemnon is heard within,

'Woe's me, I'm stabbed-stabbed with a mortal blow!' The back of the stage then opens, and Clytemnestra is seen standing over her husband's corpse, axe in hand. She defends her deed in a long speech, but the Chorus condemn her to be outcast and abhorred, invoking Alastor, the unforgetting fury. She replies, and again the Chorus mourn in indignation the kingly head laid low by such foul treachery; but still the murderess 'keeps her fixed, unaltered mood.' Ægisthus, her paramour, then appears, rejoicing that his father, Thyestes, is now avenged. The Chorus threaten him with stoning, but he despises them, and asserts his power. They are about to use violence, when Clytemnestra interposes, and pacifies him with tenderest words, leading him away amidst the threats of the Chorus that Orestes will return, 'to set in order all things in that ancient kingly house.'

II. The Coephori; or, Libation-Bearers.

The scene is still the palace of Argos, but the tomb of Agamemnon is now seen in front of it. Orestes enters, in

the pride of youth, which his sadness cannot obscure. He offers on the tomb two locks of his hair-one to Inachus, the river-god of his home, and the other to his dead father. Then, standing aside with Pylades, his faithful companion, they watch his sister Electra and her attendant women, who come to pour libations for the departed. The women, as the Chorus, express their fears that the slain will be unavenged. Electra asks how can she fulfil her task, for the offerings are sent by the queen, and the Chorus bid her pray for the return of Orestes, and that the murderess may be slain. She discovers the locks of hair, and, whilst she hardly dares to believe, Orestes comes forward. At first, she thinks he is mocking her, but when she is convinced, she welcomes him thus:

'Oh, fondly loved, in whom
Centre four dear affections; for, perforce,
Thee must I hail as father, and on thee
Love for my mother, justly hated, falls,
And for my sister, pitilessly slain ;

My faithful brother hast thou ever been.'

He explains how Apollo has sent him as their avenger, and then he the Chorus and Electra 'chant anthems drear,' sometimes in despair, sometimes in exultation that 'hereafter gladder notes shall sound.' In answer to his inquiry why the queen should send libations? the Chorus tell him she has dreamt that a dragon was sucking her breasts, and that remorse has come to her at last. He interprets the dream as an omen of success, and retires with Pylades, to reappear with him as strangers at the palace gates. The Chorus sing of the ill deeds that women have perpetrated, but that justice is unerring in her aim. Clytemnestra herself comes out to receive Orestes and his attendants. feigns to bring tidings of her son's death, and, inviting them into the palace, she goes to tell the news to Ægisthus. As the Chorus are chanting their eager expectation, Orestes' old nurse, Cilissa, enters, and, talking garrulously of his childhood, proceeds on her errand to summon the usurper. Soon he comes, and asks the Chorus if the report be true. They reply,

'Second-hand reports Avail not, as to hear the tale oneself.'

He

He goes to seek the messenger, the Chorus invoke Jupiter to crown with success the enterprise of the rightful heir, a cry is heard, and a servant rushes in with the news that Ægisthus is slain, and shouts aloud for Clytemnestra. She comes forth, calling for an axe; but when Orestes confronts her, she assumes the guise of tenderness, and reminds him of having been nurtured at her breasts. He wavers, but Pylades bids him not forget Apollo's command, and 'choose. all for foemen, rather than the gods.' Then he drags his mother within the palace; and, whilst the terrible deed is being done, the Chorus sing a hymn of exultation, in which they use the simile of being reft for a while of the sun, and anon its cheering light is rekindled. The scene opens, and Orestes, standing beside the corpse, recounts his mother's and her paramour's crimes, in justification of his deed. But the Chorus still prophesy woe, and, as he turns to seek the protection of Apollo at Delphi, he sees the Furies gathering round him,—

'Their locks entwined

With clustering snakes;

he rushes in frenzy from the stage, and the play ends with a prayer from the Chorus that the stormy ire against him may be abated.

III. The Eumenides.

A priestess is praying in front of the temple at Delphi, calling on the different deities by their names, and then she enters the folding doors from within which the mysterious oracles are uttered. But she rushes forth again in an agony of terror, while the scenery reveals Orestes sitting on the Omphalos, Apollo standing near him, the Furies asleep, and, in the background, Mercury. Apollo promises his protection to Orestes, and bids him hasten to Athens, and supplicate the statue of Pallas there. As soon as he is gone, the ghost of Clytemnestra appears and urges the Furies to pursue him. They rouse up, and reproach Apollo for his interference. He defends whilst they accuse Orestes, and they separate with mutual defiance.

The scene now changes to the temple of Minerva on the Acropolis at Athens, where Orestes is clasping her image and pleading for her decision in his favour. The Furies, however, have tracked him, their leader saying,

'With keenest joy I sniff the scent of blood.'

Minerva arrives in her chariot, and, silencing the Furies, desires Orestes to state his case, which he proceeds to do. The goddess shrinks from giving any decision herself, but founds a solemn tribunal to judge such causes. The Furies renew their chant, setting forth the evils that will ensue if their victim escapes.

The next scene is the Areopagus, and Minerva enters with the twelve judges of the new court, who take their places round the altar in front of the stage. The goddess bids the herald proclaim silence, that the stranger's cause may be fairly tried. Apollo enters the court, and the pleadings begin. The Furies make Orestes admit his crime, and Apollo argues in his favour. Then Minerva charges the court (and her words are meant for the assembled citizens), establishing it as a bulwark such as no other mortals can boast of, to unborn ages reaching, and calling upon the judges to assume the pebbles and decide the cause, their oaths revering. One by one they drop their pebbles into the urns, and last of all the goddess gives the casting vote in Orestes' favour. The pebbles are counted, and Minerva herself declares the verdict thus :

'Orestes has escaped the doom of blood,

For equal are the number of the votes.'

He breathes forth his thanks, promising eternal friendship between Argos and Athens, and departs homewards. The Furies, at first indignant, are appeased by the eloquence of Minerva, and accept a temple in her city, charged by the goddess that through them good gifts, instead of curses, fail not the citizens for evermore. They now invoke the choicest blessings on Athens, and, their title being changed to Eumenides, or the kind deities, they are led forth to their sanctuary under the Acropolis amidst a general chorus of jubilee.