Orestes: Thou hadst best be silent; for I hear some one within preparing
to go forth.
Electra: (to Orestes AND Pylades) Enter, sirs; especially as ye bring
that which no one could repulse from these doors, though he receive
it without joy. (The Paedagogus enters from the palace.)
Paedagogus: Foolish and senseless children! Are ye weary of your lives,
or was there no wit born in you, that ye see not how ye stand, not
on the brink, but in the very midst of deadly perils? Nay, had I not
kept watch this long while at these doors, your plans would have been
in the house before yourselves; but, as it is, my care shielded you
from that. Now have done with this long discourse, these insatiate
cries of joy, and pass within; for in such deeds delay is evil, and
'tis well to make an end.
Orestes: What, then, will be my prospects when I enter?
Paedagogus: Good; for thou art secured from recognition.
Orestes: Thou hast reported me, I presume, as dead?
Paedagogus: Know that here thou art numbered with the shades.
Studies
