Epeisodion 5
Peleus
Ye dames of Phthia, answer my questions. I heard a vague rumour that the daughter of Menelaus had left these halls
and fled; so now am I come in hot haste to learn if this be true; for it is the duty of those who are at home to labour in the interests of their absent friends.
1050
Chorus
Thou hast heard aright, O Peleus; ill would it become me to hide the evil case in which I now find myself;
our queen has fled and left these halls.
1055
Peleus
What was she afraid of? explain that to me.
Chorus
She was fearful her lord would cast her out
Peleus
In returnNauck reads ἀντίποινα for MSS ἀντὶ παιδὸς. for plotting his child’s death? surely not?
Chorus
Yea, and she was afraid of yon captive.
Peleus
With whom did she leave the house? with her father?
1060
Chorus
The son of Agamemnon came and took her hence.
Peleus
What view hath he to furtherNauck προτείνων. thereby? Will he marry her?
Chorus
Yes, and he is plotting thy grandson’s death.
Peleus
From an ambuscade, or meeting him fairly face to face?
Chorus
In the holy place of Loxias, leagued with Delphians.
1065
Peleus
God help us! This is an immediate danger. Hasten one of you with all speed to the Pythian altar and tell our friends there what has happened here, ere Achilles’ son be slain by his enemies. Enter a Messenger.
Messenger
Woe worth the day! what evil tidings have I brought for thee, old sire, and for all who love my master! woe is me!
1070
Peleus
Alas! my prophetic soul hath a presentiment.
Messenger
Aged Peleus, hearken! Thy grandson is no more; so grievously is he smitten
by the men of Delphi and the strangeri.e. Orestes. from Mycenae.
1075
Chorus
Ah! what wilt thou do, old man? Fall not; uplift thyself.
Peleus
I am a thing of naught; death is come upon me. My voice is choked, my limbs droop beneath me.
Messenger
Hearken; if thou art eager alsoReading εἰ καὶ, for which Hermann has εἴπερ. Dindorf εἴ τι. to avenge thy friends,
lift up thyself and hear what happened.
1080
Peleus
Ah, destiny! how tightly hast thou caught me in thy toils, a poor old man at life’s extremest verge! But tell me how he was taken from me, my one son’s only child; unwelcome as such news is, I fain would hear it.
Messenger
As soon as we reached the famous soil of Phoebus, for three whole days were we feasting our eyes with the sight. And this, it seems, caused suspicion; for the folk, who dwell near the god’s shrine, began to collect in groups,
1085
while Agamemnon’s son, going to and fro through the town, would whisper in each man’s ear malignant hints: Do ye see yon fellow, going in and out of the god’s treasure-chambers, which are full of the gold stored there by all mankind? He is come hither a second time on the same mission as before,
1090
eager to sack the temple of Phoebus. Thereon there ran an angry murmur through the city, and the magistrates flocked to their council-chamber, while those, who have charge of the god’s treasures, had a guard privately placed amongst the colonnades.
1095
But we, knowing naught as yet of this, took sheep fed in the pastures of Parnassus, and went our way and stationed ourselves at the altars with vouchers and Pythian seers. And one said: What prayer, young warrior,
1100
wouldst thou have us offer to the god? Wherefore art thou come? And he answered: I wish to make atonement to Phoebus for my past transgression; for once I claimed from him satisfaction for my father’s blood. Thereupon the rumour, spread by Orestes, proved to have great weight,
1105
suggesting that my master was lying and had come on a shameful errand. But he crosses the threshold of the temple to pray to Phoebus before his oracle,Also explained by the Schol. as = πρὸ τῶν θυσῶν, i.e. before sacrificing. and was busy with his burnt-offering; when a body of men armed with swords set themselvesHermann’s ἀνθυφειστήκει. in ambush against him
1110
