Orestes:
O Pallas Athena - you, you save my house
I was shorn of the fatherland but you
reclaim it for me. Now any Greek will say,
'He lives again, the man of Argos lives
on his fathers' great estates. Thanks to Pallas,
Apollo and Zeus, the lord of all fulfilment,
Third, Saving Zeus.' He respected father's d**h,
looked down on mother's advocates -
Indicating the furies.
he saved me.
And now I journey home. But first I swear
to you, your land and a**embled host, I swear
by the future years mat bring their growing yield
that no man, no helmsman of Argos wars on Athens,
spears in the vanguard moving out for conquest.
We ourselves, even if we must rise up from the grave,
will deal with those who break the oath I take -
baffle them with disasters, curse their marches,
send them hawks on the left at every crossing -
make their pains recoil upon their heads.
But all who keep our oath, who uphold your rights
and citadel for ever, comrades spear to spear,
we bless with all the kindness of our heart.
Now farewell, you and the people of your city.
Good wrestling - a grip no foe can break.
A saving hope, a spear to bring you triumph!
Exit Orestes, followed by Apollo.
The furies reel in wild confusion around Athena.
furies: You, you younger gods! - you have ridden down
the ancient laws, wrenched them from my grasp -
and I, robbed of my birthright, suffering, great with wrath,
I loose my poison over the soil, aieee!
poison to match my grief comes pouring out my heart,
cursing the land to burn it sterile and now rising up from its roots a cancer blasting leaf and child,
now for Justice, Justice! -
cross the face of the earth the bloody tide comes hurling, all mankind destroyed.
... Moaning, only moaning? What will I do?
The mockery of it, Oh unbearable, mortified by Athens,
we the daughters of Night, our power stripped, cast down.