Stasimon 2
[Episode]
And see, a king draws near, lord Menelaus; from his magnificence it is plain to see
Chorus Leader
that he belongs to the blood of the Tantalids.
350
All hail! you that set out with a thousand ships to Asia’s land; good fortune is your friend,
for you have accomplished, with divine aid, all that you prayed for.
355
Menelaus
O my home, some joy I feel to see you again on my return from Troy, but I also grieve at the sight; for never have I seen another house more closely encircled by dire affliction.
For I learned Agamemnon’s fate and the death he died at his wife’s hands, as I was trying to put in at Malea; when the sailors’ prophet, the truthful god Glaucus, Nereus’ seer, brought the news to me from the waves;
360
he stationed himself in full view and told me this: Menelaus, your brother lies dead, plunged in a fatal bath, the last his wife will ever give him. My sailors and I wept greatly at his words. When I arrived at Nauplia,
365
my wife already on the point of starting here, I was expecting to give a fond embrace to Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, and his mother, thinking that they were doing well, when I heard from a sailor the unholy murder of Tyndareus’ child.
370
And now tell me, young ladies, where to find the son of Agamemnon, who dared such evil. For he was a baby in Clytemnestra’s arms when I left my home to go to Troy, so that I would not recognize him if I saw him.
375
Orestes
Menelaus, I am Orestes, whom you are asking about. I will of my own accord inform you of my sufferings. But as my first portion, I clasp your knees as a suppliant, giving you prayers from the mouth of one without the suppliant’s bough; save me, for you have come at the crisis of my troubles.
380
Menelaus
O gods, what do I see? What living corpse greets my sight?
385
Orestes
You are right; I am dead through misery, though I still gaze upon the light.
Menelaus
How savage the look your unkempt hair gives you, poor wretch!
Orestes
It is not my looks, but my deeds that torture me.
Menelaus
Your tearless eyes glare dreadfully!
Orestes
My body is gone, though my name has not deserted me.
390
Menelaus
Unsightly apparition, so different from what I expected!
Orestes
Here I am, the murderer of my wretched mother.
Menelaus
I have heard, spare your words; evils should be seldom spoken.
Orestes
I will be sparing; but the deity is lavish of woe in my case.
Menelaus
What ails you? what is your deadly sickness?
395
Orestes
My conscience; I know that I am guilty of a dreadful crime.
Menelaus
What do you mean? Wisdom is shown in clarity, not in obscurity.
Orestes
Grief especially has ruined me—
Menelaus
Yes, she is a dreadful goddess, yet are there cures for her.
Orestes
And fits of madness, the vengeance of a mother’s blood.
400
Menelaus
When did your madness begin? Which day was it?
Orestes
On the day I was heaping the mound over my poor mother’s grave.
Menelaus
When you were in the house, or watching by the pyre?
Orestes
As I was waiting by night to gather up her bones.
