Sophocles' ELECTRA Complete

Translated by R. Jebb.

Sophocles Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Sophocles in Print

71 Pages

Page 7

Electra: Ah, noble-hearted maidens, ye have come to soothe my woes.
I know and feel it, it escapes me not; but I cannot leave this task
undone, or cease from mourning for my hapless sire. Ah, friends whose
love responds to mine in every mood, leave me to rave thus,- Oh leave
me, I entreat you!

Chorus: (antistrophe 1)

But never by laments or prayers shalt thou recall thy sire from that
lake of Hades to which all must pass. Nay, thine is a fatal course
of grief, passing ever from due bounds into a cureless sorrow; wherein
there is no deliverance from evils. Say, wherefore art thou enamoured
of misery?

Electra: Foolish is the child who forgets a parent's piteous death.
No, dearer to my soul is the mourner that laments for Itys, Itys,
evermore, that bird distraught with grief, the messenger of Zeus.
Ah, queen of sorrow, Niobe, thee I deem divine,- thee, who evermore
weepest in thy rocky tomb!

Chorus: (strophe 2)

Not to thee alone of mortals, my daughter, hath come any sorrow which
thou bearest less calmly than those within, thy kinswomen and sisters,
Chrysothemis and Iphianassa,I who still live,- as he, too, lives,
sorrowing in a secluded youth, yet happy in that this famous realm
of Mycenae shall one day welcome him to his heritage, when the kindly
guidance of Zeus shall have brought him to this land, Orestes.

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