Euripides' ELECTRA Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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Electra: Why stands the tear-drop in thine eye, old friend? Is it
that my sorrows have been recalled to thee after an interval? or art
thou bewailing the sad exile of Orestes, and my father's fate, whom
thou didst once fondle in thy arms, in vain, alas! for thee and for
thy friends?

Old Man: Ah yes! in vain; but still I could not bear to leave him
thus; and so I added this to my journey that I sought his grave, and,
falling thereupon, wept o'er its desolation; then did I open the wine-skin,
my gift to thy guests, and poured a libation, and set myrtle-sprigs
round the tomb. And lo! upon the grave itself I saw a black ram had
been offered, and there was blood, not long poured forth, and severed
locks of auburn hair. Much I wondered, my daughter, who had dared
approach the tomb; certainly 'twas no Argive. Nay, thy brother may
perchance have come by stealth, and going thither have done honour
to his father's wretched grave. Look at the hair, compare it with
thy own, to see if the colour of these cut locks is the same; for
children in whose veins runs the same father's blood have a close
resemblance in many features.

Electra: Old sir, thy words are unworthy of a wise man, if thou thinkest
my own brave brother would have come to this land by stealth for fear
of Aegisthus. In the next place, how should our hair correspond? His
is the hair of a gallant youth trained up in manly sports, mine a
woman's curled and combed; nay, that is a hopeless clue. Besides,
thou couldst find many, whose hair is of the same colour, albeit not
sprung from the same blood. No, maybe 'twas some stranger cut off
his hair in pity at his tomb, or one that came to spy this land privily.

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