Exodos

LEADER.Ha, see: above the roof-tree highThere shineth ... Is some spirit thereOf earth or heaven? That thin airWas never trod by things that die!What bodes it now that forth they fare,To men revealèd visibly?

(There appears in the air a vision of CASTOR and POLYDEUCES. The mortals kneel or veil their faces.)

CASTOR.Thou Agamemnon's Son, give ear! 'Tis we.Castor and Polydeuces, call to thee,God's Horsemen and thy mother's brethren twain.An Argive ship, spent with the toiling main,We bore but now to peace, and, here withalBeing come, have seen thy mother's bloody fall,Our sister's. Righteous is her doom this day,But not thy deed. And Phoebus, Phoebus ... Nay;He is my lord; therefore I hold my peace.Yet though in light he dwell, no light was thisHe showed to thee, but darkness! Which do thouEndure, as man must, chafing not. And nowFare forth where Zeus and Fate have laid thy life.The maid Electra thou shalt give for wifeTo Pylades; then turn thy head and fleeFrom Argos' land. 'Tis never more for theeTo tread this earth where thy dead mother lies.And, lo, in the air her Spirits, bloodhound eyes,Most horrible yet Godlike, hard at heelFollowing shall scourge thee as a burning wheel,Speed-maddened. Seek thou straight Athena's land,And round her awful image clasp thine hand,Praying: and she will fence them back, though hotWith flickering serpents, that they touch thee not,Holding above thy brow her gorgon shield.There is a hill in Athens, Ares' field,Where first for that first death by Ares doneOn Halirrhothius, Poseidon's son,Who wronged his daughter, the great Gods of yoreHeld judgment: and true judgments evermoreFlow from that Hill, trusted of man and God.There shalt thou stand arraignèd of this blood;And of those judges half shall lay on theeDeath, and half pardon; so shalt thou go free.For Phoebus in that hour, who bade thee shedThy mother's blood, shall take on his own headThe stain thereof. And ever from that strifeThe law shall hold, that when, for death or lifeOf one pursued, men's voices equal stand,Then Mercy conquereth.--But for thee, the bandOf Spirits dread, down, down, in very wrath,Shall sink beside that Hill, making their pathThrough a dim chasm, the which shall aye be trodBy reverent feet, where men may speak with God.But thou forgotten and far off shalt dwell,By great Alpheüs' waters, in a dellOf Arcady, where that gray Wolf-God's wallStands holy. And thy dwelling men shall callOrestes Town. So much to thee be spoke.But this dead man, Aegisthus, all the folkShall bear to burial in a high green graveOf Argos. For thy mother, she shall haveHer tomb from Menelaus, who hath comeThis day, at last, to Argos, bearing homeHelen. From Egypt comes she, and the hallOf Proteus, and in Troy hath ne'er at allSet foot. 'Twas but a wraith of Helen, sentBy Zeus, to make much wrath and ravishment.So forth for home, bearing the virgin bride,Let Pylades make speed, and lead besideThy once-named brother, and with golden storeStablish his house far off on Phocis' shore.Up, gird thee now to the steep Isthmian way,Seeking Athena's blessèd rock; one day,Thy doom of blood fulfilled and this long stressOf penance past, thou shalt have happiness.

LEADER (looking up).Is it for us, O Seed of Zeus,To speak and hear your words again!CASTOR. Speak: of this blood ye bear no stain.ELECTRA. I also, sons of Tyndareus,

My kinsmen; may my word be said?CASTOR. Speak: on Apollo's head we layThe bloody doings of this day.LEADER. Ye Gods, ye brethren of the dead,

Why held ye not the deathly herdOf Kêres back from off this home?CASTOR. There came but that which needs must comeBy ancient Fate and that dark word

That rang from Phoebus in his mood.ELECTRA. And what should Phoebus seek with me,Or all God's oracles that be,That I must bear my mother's blood?

CASTOR. Thy hand was as thy brother's hand,Thy doom shall be as his. One stain,From dim forefathers on the twainLighting, hath sapped your hearts as sand.

ORESTES (who has never raised his head, nor spoken to the Gods).After so long, sister, to seeAnd hold thee, and then part, then part,By all that chained thee to my heartForsaken, and forsaking thee!

CASTOR. Husband and house are hers. She bearsNo bitter judgment, save to goExiled from Argos.ELECTRA. And what woe,What tears are like an exile's tears?

ORESTES. Exiled and more am I; impure,A murderer in a stranger's hand:CASTOR. Fear not. There dwells in Pallas' landAll holiness. Till then endure!(ORESTES and ELECTRA embrace)

ORESTES. Aye, closer; clasp my body well,And let thy sorrow loose, and shed,As o'er the grave of one new dead,Dead evermore, thy last farewell!(A sound of weeping.)

CASTOR. Alas, what would ye? For that cryOurselves and all the sons of heavenHave pity. Yea, our peace is rivenBy the strange pain of these that die.

ORESTES. No more to see thee! ELECTRA. Nor thy breathBe near my face! ORESTES. Ah, so it ends.ELECTRA. Farewell, dear Argos. All ye friends,Farewell! ORESTES. O faithful unto death,

Thou goest? ELECTRA. Aye, I pass from you,Soft-eyed at last. ORESTES. Go, Pylades,And God go with you! Wed in peaceMy tall Electra, and be true.(ELECTRA and PYLADES depart to the left.)

CASTOR.Their troth shall fill their hearts.--But on:Dread feet are near thee, hounds of prey,Snake-handed, midnight-visaged, yea,And bitter pains their fruit! Begone!(ORESTES departs to the right.)

But hark, the far Sicilian seaCalls, and a noise of men and shipsThat labour sunken to the lipsIn bitter billows; forth go we,

Through the long leagues of fiery blue,With saving; not to souls unshriven;But whoso in his life hath strivenTo love things holy and be true,

Through toil and storm we guard him; weSave, and he shall not die!--Therefore,O praise the lying man no more,Nor with oath-breakers sail the sea:Farewell, ye walkers on the shoreOf death! A God hath counselled ye.(CASTOR and POLYDEUCES disappear.)

CHORUS.Farewell, farewell!--But he who can so fare,And stumbleth not on mischief anywhere,Blessed on earth is he!