CLASSICAL DRAMA

Sophocles: THE ELECTRA

Tutor: You are the son of Agamemnon,
the mighty leader of the Greeks at Troy,
And here we are at last in Argos,
The city of your mission.
Look about you...
Here is where the fly bit Io,
There the market-place of the wolf,
The temple, the treasure-house.
And this is Pelops' sons' house,
The very house of murder.
I took you from here years ago,
When your father was killed,
I've kept and reared you,
So you could return too and kill his
murderers.
So we must plan.
The starry bits of night are going,
The sun is up and the birds are singing.
It is now the time of action.

Orestes: Thankyou old valiant friend.
I'll tell you how I see it.
The Oracle at Pythis said
I should tackle it alone,
Go into the house and use my wits.
Yet I think you might help prepare it:
Tell them I'm dead,
Say it was a chariot race,
So you can find what's happening,
And they'll be the less on guard.
Me, I'll go to my father's tomb
And make offerings of drink, a lock of hair,
And I'll come back with a pot
Of ashes, as though mine, to trick them.
Isn't that allowable?
The Gods warned me to use some strategy.
This one is called resurrection.
MAY THOSE
WHO GUARD
AND PROSPER
AND RECEIVE
AND PURIFY
HELP ME IN MY OWN.

Electra: [off-stage] Ah! Ah!

Tutor: Listen, Is that some servant weeping?

Orestes: It might be Electra even.
We could wait a bit.

Tutor: It would be better to keep to a plan -
Go & honour the tomb to start.

[Exeunt Tutor & Orestes.]

[Enter Electra]

Electra: LIGHT
AND AIR
AND EARTH,
AND SADNESS!
HOUR
AND DAY
AND YEAR
FOR THE LOSS OF MY FATHER.
NO WAR KILLED HIM,
BUT MY MOTHER
AND HER LOVER
AEGISTHUS
CLAVE HIS SKULL.
ONLY I CRY FOR IT,
AND EVER SHOULD
IN LIGHT
AND AIR
AND EARTH.

HADES
AND PERSEPHONE
AND HERMES,
WRATH AND FURIES,
I AM WAITING,
FOR YOU
TO BRING
MY BROTHER HOME.

Chorus: Electra, are you ever mourning?
Electra: O friends, I cannot help
This.
Please leave me,
Let me cry a little.
Chorus: It will not help.
Electra: It is like a fable
Where a bird cannot
Change its song
Or a statue
Its fixed face.
Chorus: But you have a sister to help,
Maybe a brother too.
Electra: I am always and always
Waiting for him.
Surely he wants to come,
He must want to,
Maybe he daren't though.
Chorus: You might do better to leave
vengeance to the Gods.
The Lord of the River of Death
Keeps it in his mind.
Electra: But it is such a time,
So long,
And I'm kept like a slave
In my own father's house now.
Chorus: Or so it was called
Till they killed him.
Electra: What a bitter day
That was!
They should pay
With their glory in dust.
Chorus: You upset yourself with this.
Electra: How can't I?
Everything is terror here.
Chorus: But try.
Electra: What? luxury
And pleasantry
In this place?
Chorus: We thought we were helping.
Electra: I shouldn't chide you.
But how can I live here,
Live here with them,
And forget all that,
Seeing Aegisthus every day
In my father's place,
In my mother's bed,
And she as proud & happy
As when she killed him.
Then she will shout at me,
Or scream at me,
If I am sad
Or if I am hopeful
Orestes may come.
I can't be generous
And compliant in such a position.
Chorus: And is Aegisthus watching you
too?
Electra: He's away at present,
Or I wouldn't be here
In the open with you.
Chorus: So we can talk safely?
Electra: So long as he stays away, yes.
Chorus: It's about your brother -
Have you heard anything?
Will he be coming?
Electra: So say his messages.
Chorus: We could understand reluctance.
Electra: I wasn't slow to send him to
safety.
Chorus: True, he won't forget that.
Electra: Or I hope so.

[Enter Chrysothemis]

Chrys: Electra!
Why are you out of doors?
It only causes trouble.
You know how we are placed,
It would be better to acquiesce -
Stay a little.quieter as I do.
Electra: Is that what our father taught us?
No, it is only what aids our Mother,
What our Mother teaches -
So we must be trapped,
And cowards too.
Well, this is a sort of life,
I am proud of it even
If I can still use it
To torment my jailers.
No, I'd never go along with them.
Chorus: Keep more quiet!
Realise
You both have a point, you know.
Chrys: Oh, I've heard hers before.
I wouldn't've tried to argue
Only for the punishment they're offering
her.
Electra: What more?
Chrys: They've said,
If you won't stop complaining,
They'll make a room
And keep the daylight out
And there you'll crouch for ever.
Electra: Is it really arranged?
Chrys: Yes, when Aegisthus returns.
Electra: Well, I am glad too.
Chrys: Are you mad?
Electra: I hope he comes back now.
Chrys: You want it to happen?
Electra: It would be something
Never to see them again.
Chrys: Is it really so little?
Electra: It's awful enough for me.
Chrys: You make it so.
Electra: By not giving in?
Chrys: Well, obedience is
Nothing to be ashamed of.
Electra: Call it abasement or submission
then.
Chrys: I don't want your stubbornness
To cause you harm.
Electra: It can't - it's loyalty I feel.
Chrys: But our father wouldn't mind -
Electra: -Us taking the easy way out?
Chrys: You simply won't listen.
Electra: I'm not such a fool.
Chrys: Then I'll be off.
Electra: Where? You are carrying
offerings.
Chrys: They are our mother's,
For our father's grave.
Electra: For our father?
For someone she hated so much -
Chrys: - That she killed him?
Yes.
Electra: Why is she doing it?
Chrys: I think a dream
Frightened her.
Electra: That, that, O Gods,
Gives me some hope.
What did she see?
Chrys: I don't really know.
Electra: Oh now,
It must be something.
Chrys: She seemed to see our father
As he was living,
And he took and planted
The sceptre near his altar,
that there it grew
WITH STEM
AND LEAF
AND BRANCH
SO MASSIVE
AS TO SHADOW
THE WHOLE CITY.
Electra: I think, I think, sister,
You shouldn't carry out this errand.
Throw the things away,
These things that are an insult to the
dead.
But put on the altar
Just a lock of your shiny hair,
And here, a lock of mine,
And pray for the dream to come true,
With Orestes in his power
Returning against the killers,
Then there will be offerings rich enough!
Chorus: That is a very good plan.
Chrys: Then I'll do it.
I can see my duty.
But for heaven's sake
Don't let our mother guess.

[Exit Chrysostemis.]

Chorus: This is surely an omen
That everything
Is working better
And your father
Hasn't forgotten
The killers still,
Hasn't abandonned you,
Nor has
The great two-edged axe
Ever forgotten
The deed it did
And the deed it must do.
Why,
We can almost hear
The foot-falls
And bronze-hoofs skimming
Of the Avengers
On their way.

Yours has been a family
Of endless trouble
Since the sea claimed Myrtilus,
When Pelops' hand
Sent him hurtling from the cliffs, Received a God's son's curse
On all his kindred.
But maybe now at last...

[Enter Clytemnestra]

Clyt: Ah! Electral
Here you are,
Though you know
Aegisthus doesn't want you to go out.
You do as you like,
Then say what tyrants we are.
If I am a little strict,
So was I too when I killed your father,
Justly I think,
When he sacrificed
My own child
To win the winds to Troy.
Electra: And may I answer that?
Clyt: If you can.
Electra: Artemis I have heard
Withheld the winds,
Because my father
Without thinking
Shot a stag of the Goddess,
Patterned and complex of antler,
In her own grove.
An accident perhaps, but such
That had to be paid for.
But there's nothing that justifies
The murder of a husband!
And you would have killed Orestes too,
But I got him away.
Now if you think I've gone too far,
Recall exactly who my mother is!
Chorus: Careful.
You are losing your temper.
Clyt: I think we were right
Not to trust you,
It is a shameless way for you to go on.
Electra: And I am ashamed.
Your hatred and ill-treating
Make me violent.
Clyt: Mine? I?
Shall you be free to criticise me?
Electra: I hardly need to, do I?
Every action of yours
Speaks for itself.
Clyt: My word,
You'll suffer for this
When Aegisthus returns!
Electra: Now it's you's angry.
But you gave me permission to speak.
Clyt: And now I would ask you to be quiet
While I need to petition the Gods.
Electra: I won't interrupt.
Clyt: Put the fruit on the altar.
O PHOEBUS
LISTEN
TO MY
PRAYER
(though I can hardly speak freely in front of one
who seems determined to cause us all trouble)
I KNOW
THE DREAM
WAS SENT
FOR A PURPOSE.
IF THERE IS
ANY PLOT
AGAINST ME,
HINDER IT!
LET ME STAY QUEEN
FOR LONG,
AND LET OUR FAMILY
PROSPER
(Those of them that do not hate me),
AND, oh!
YOU know the reat,
Don't you?

[Enter Tutor]

Tutor: Ladies,
Is this the house
Of King Aegisthus?
Chorus: Certainly it is.
Tutor: And is this his wife?
She looks rather proud.
Chorus: Yes, you are right again.
Tutor: Greetings,
Your majesty,
I have news for Aegisthus.
Clyt: From whom?
Tutor: Your friend Phanoteus
At Phocis.
It is rather important.
Clyt: I am sure
It will be good news,
If he sends you.
Tutor: Just this:
Orestes is dead.
Electra: Not that! Not that!
Clyt: Ignore her.
Let me hear you once more.
Tutor: Orestes has died.
Electra: That is the end,
The end of everything!
Clyt: Quiet!
How did it happen?
Tutor: I will tell you.
Orestes had gone to Delphi,
For the Games,
He won pretty well every
Race on foot.
Then came the chariot-racing:
Sparta
And Libya,
Aetolia,
Magnesia,
Athens and Boeotia
All took part,
And Orestes for Thessaly.
They started alright,
And kept pretty much in a bunch,
And then their hubs
Got caught
And down they came.
Orestes was holding back,
And just drove clear,
Then caught the turning post
Instead,
And got so rolled along
And dragged
No one could survive that.
With tremendous honour,
They burned his body,
And I will
Have his ashes brought here
Very shortly.
It is a sad story.
Chorus: The last of Agamemnon's line, Obliterated!
Clyt: Well, this is a loss,
It hurts
And it helps me too.
Could I call it good news?
Tutor: Have I upset you?
That rather puzzles me.
Clyt: Of course I'm upset.
He was still my son.
Tutor: Perhaps I shouldn't have come.
Clyt: No, it is useful news,
And the proof of it especially.
Though I gave him life,
He prefered to ignore me:
He considered me
Guilty ot his father's death,
And swore to kill me too.
That made my life
All misery and worry,
That I'm free of now.
Electra: O Orestes,
That's how your
Mother thinks of you.
And such a wretched death,
Is that fair?
Clyt: I think he found justice,
And so will you.
Electra: O Vengeance, My Goddess,
Hear her,
Do something!
Clyt: I rather think
She just has.
Electra: How can you gloat at it?
Clyt: I might,
If you and Orestes will permit me?
Electra: Orestes and I
Are the very ones
Who can't stop you now.
Clyt: Well, sir,
If your news
Only serve to shut her mouth,
It will have been
Very valuable.
Tutor: Perhaps I should go?
Clyt: Oh no,
Join us, come in,
In duty to the friend who sent you.
She can stay out here
And cackle and cry
If she pleases.

[Exeunt Clytemnestra & Tutor]

Electra: There is a parent's grief!
A pause,
A sneer,
And she is gone.
But me, Orestes,
How can I live after this?
I will not endure
The house of murderers,
I won't go back,
Ever, ever.
Let them kill me here.
Chorus: Won't the sun burn,
Won't the Thunder crush
Their crime?
Electra: O, O.....
Chorus: Electra!
Electra: Oh....
Chorus: You mustn't cry.
Electra: Go away!
Chorus: Us?
Electra: Yes you!
How can you help me,
If Orestes is dead?
Chorus: There are legends
Even of dead kings
Who -
Electra: Ah! Ah!
Chorus: - came back in power.
Electra: Oh, never.
Chorus: And the murderess...
Electra: Was killed?
Chorus: So she was.
Electra: No doubt it took some help.
But I have lost
My only helper,
There is no one else.
Chorus: It is difficult for you.
Electra: Indeed it is.
The river of it
Is now a flood
Of misery.
Chorus: We can see your tears.
Electra: Don't try and stop them.
It is all over -
Chorus: Over?
Electra: - The hope I had,
I mean, of him,
Who shared my blood.
Chorus: Everyone may die.
Electra: But not like that,
In a mess of reins,
In the heart of
A machine of mangling hoofs.
Chorus: Dreadful, indeed.
Electra: And far away,
In a homeless country -
Electra: - Where I could
Not even
Tend to his body

[Enter Chrysthemis]

Chrys: Electra! Electra!
I have run,
How I have run,
To tell you.
What news I have!
It changes everything -
Electra: No, it will be nothing now.
Chrys: But Orestes is here!
He is here at last,
I'm sure,
I'm certain of it.
Electra: Have you gone wild?
Are you mad from it?
Chrys: No no
By our hearth and home,
It is no imagination.
He is really here.
Electra: How can you believe that?
Chrys: I know it,
Saw it with my own eyes.
Electra: What?
Is this some joke?
Chrys: For heaven's sake,
Listen,
Then you'll know
If I'm fibbing.
Electra: Go on then, if you have to.
Chrys: Of course I will.
On top of the tomb
Of our father
When I got there,
Was new milk
And flowers of every kind,
There had just been an offering!
I thought I might see them,
But it was deserted.
Only
There was
A lock of hair,
Just left,
And I knew it was Orestes',
Who else would do that?
You couldn't, you're not allowed,
Our mother wouldn't
Think of doing that.
Only Orestes might
- Isn't that marvellous news?
Electra: O you fool!
What a sad fool.
Chrys: Electra,
What is it?
What's the matter?
Electra: I think you dreamed it all.
Chrys: Dreamed? I saw it.
Saw it in daylight.
Electra: You don't understand.
Orestes is dead.
You mustn't count on Orestes.
Chrys: Oh no!
It can't be.
Who said that?
Electra: Someone
Who saw it happen.
Chrys: Impossible.
Where is he then?
Electra: Inside.
Mother is rewarding him.
Chrys: That's terrible.
Then
Who could have offered
At our father's grave?
Electra: I suppose
It was done
For Orestes.
Chrys: Then we are back
Where we started.
And I was so excited,
For nothing,
Or worse than nothing.
Electra: I think so.
Yet there is a chance....
Chrys: I cannot make the dead live.
Electra: I didn't hope for that.
Chrys: Then what?
Electra: I'll need your help.
Chrys: In something sensible?
Electra: Something we can make
possible.
Chrys: I'll try.
Electra: It's this.
We are alone now.
I always thought Orestes
Would come and help us,
Now we must do it ourselves, I mean,
Will you help me
Kill Aegisthus,
Who killed our father?
There's little we
Can live for;
He will never
Let us marry,
We are too much of a threat.
But this way,
People would say,
"Look what they did,
What courage they showed!"
Chorus: And, ideally,
What caution.
Chrys: That I agree with.
Electra,
It is madness.
What can we do?
To tangle with such a man
Is sure to finish
Us,
Or worse or more dangerous,
If we were detected
And didn't die,
Then think what our fate would be...
Chorus: Electra, listen to her.
Electra: I suppose I expected this.
Then it must be me
Who does it,
It cannot not be done.
Chrys: Then why
Didn't you do it,
The moment our father died?
Electra: I wanted to.
I couldn't then,
In that shock.
Chrys: At least that was realistic.
Electra: So you won't help me?
Chrys: No, it is bound to fail.
Electra: You are very good at caution,
But rather low on courage.
Chrys: I know.
You should be grateful.
Electra: There isn't time.
Chrys: Yes, if you will
Only wait and see
What happens.
Electra: Oh go away.
You are no help at all.
Chrys: I might be,
If you would listen.
Electra: My Mother
Would love to listen to you.
Chrys: I wouldn't betray you.
Electra: In a way, you have.
Chrys: When I'm trying to save you?
Electra: If only I see things your way?
Chrys: Till you see
More clearly yourself.
Electra: How clever you are!
How blind you are, though.
Chrys: Or you are...
Electra: Am I wrong to want justice?
Chrys: Justice
Can be too dangerous for having.
Electra: That is a terrible thing to say.
Chrys: You'll find I'm right though.
Electra: I don't care.
I mean to do it!
Chrys: Can't my advice
Dissuade you?
Electra: Not when it's bad advice.
Chrys: You seem set
On opposing me.
Electra: No, I've always
Thought like this.
Chrys: Then I'd better go.
You can't accept my view.
I can't agree with yours either.
Electra: Goodbye then.
But I think you're mistaken,
Deluding yourself.
Chrys: You know best,
Perhaps.

[Exit Chrysothemis]

Chorus: Can we
Know nothing?
Can we never
Learn a thing?
Can we
Never
See and learn?
The birds at a troop
Keep thier
Loyalties
In their way,
We cannot
Hope
To evade it.
The fire in the hand of God,
The earth that speaks
The grave
The ashes
Call out, for action.
Electra,
What a brave decision,
What a true
And honest child!

A victory of sorts
Is already yours;
And we realise it.

[Enter Orestes]

Or: Please,
We need to ask our way.
Chorus: Whither?
Or: To where Aegisthus lives.
Chorus: Here.
Or: Would one of you
Tell them
A long expected
Visitor is here?
Chorus: A member
Of the family
Could do that best.
You see her there?
Or: [to Electra]: Will you tell them,
Someone from
Phocis has come?
Electra: Is this
The proof
That was mentioned?
Or: I don't know.
My errand concerns Orestes.
Electra: Then you can tell it to me.
Or: This small urn
Is his ashes.
Electra: Yes, I see...
It is in your hands...
A proof I suppose...
(O my poor brother!)
Or: It is kind of you
To weep
For Orestes.
Yes,
These are his ashes.
Electra: I would like to hold them.
And mourn a little for him
And all our house.
Or: Why not?
(But who is she?
Some friend?
One of the family?)
Electra: Orestes -
This is all Orestes,
A palmful of voiceless ash!
If I had died,
Instead of
Smuggling you away,
What difference?
Not even
To be there
With your lost body,
Not even
To wash you for the fire.
You called me
'sister' once,
Assured me
You would
Always come back,
But it's come
As dust and shadow.
Death seems to lie
In both our tracks.
Chorus: Electra,
Your father perished,
And Orestes,
And so all of us
Sooner or later
Must suffer it.
Or: How can I answer her?
What can I say?
Electra: You also
Seem upset.
Or: You are Electra?
Electra: I am, and unhappy enough.
Or: With reason.
Electra: Can you sympathise with me?
Or: In such misactions of the Gods.
Electra: It is blasphemous to think so.
Or: In this strange, sad life, then.
Electra: Why do you look so,
And say so?
Or: You make me
See my own misluck.
Electra: Am I in some way relevant?
Or: Your hardships are.
Electra: This is but a fraction of those.
Or: More?
Electra: To live in a house of murder -
Or: Murder? Why do you say that?
Electra: My father was murdered, and
I live as a murderers' servant.
Or: Who makes you?
Electra: A Mother,
If you can call her that.
Or: How does she make you?
Electra: By forceor lack or malice.
Or: And no one exists
For you to turn to?
Electra: No one,
But the dust
You have presented me with.
Or: That is
Truly pitiable.
Electra: No one else
Has ever thought so.
Or: No one else
Could feel
That unhappiness
So akin to his own , perhaps.
Electra: You -
Are you a kinsman
Of mine?
Or: Are we with friends?
Can I speak here?
Electra: These are friends,
You can trust them.
Or: Then give me the urn,
And I will tell you.
Electra: Oh no!
You can't ask that.
Or: But I will need it...
Electra: Not more than I do.
It is all I love now,
Don't take it back!
Or: I think I must.
Electra: Orestes,
Can I
Not even be the one
To bury you?
Or: You are too hasty,
There will be no
Funeral yet.
Electra: No funeral?
But my brother is dead...
Or: You must not say so.
Electra: Why? Will the dead disown me too?
Or: No one disowns you.
Please don't cry, now.
Electra: Not cry? Over my
Brother's ashes?
Or: They aren't.
It's a sort of deception.
Electra: Where is he then?
Where is his grave?
Or: There isn't one.
Only dead men
Have real graves.
Electra: What are you saying?
Or: The truth.
Electra: He's alive?
Or: As alive as I am.
Electra: You?
Or: Look -
This is my father's ring,
Do you recognise me now?
Electra: But...
But this is wonderful
Oh this is wonderful.
Or: For me too.
Electra: Is it really
Your voice I hear?
Or: None other.
Electra:Your hand I hold?
Or: For ever.
Electra: Oh women!
It is Orestes!
Look,
Women of Argos!
It was a trick,
To speak of dying,
A trick
To come back to us.
Chorus: We see now.
We are as happy as youl
Electra: Oh my brother,
That only
Son of Agamemnon,
Home,
And here
With me, again,
Again,
At last.
Or: In reality.
But you mustn't make
Too much of it.
Electra: Why not?
Or: They may hear you,
In there.
Electra: Them! I'm not scared
Of that house-pack
Of weaklings
And women.
Or: Can't women
Be warriors too?
You should know.
Electra: Yes, I remember
And I remember...
How much there is still to do.
But all the time there is
Is our time now,
There will be time for everything.
Now the Gods
Have sent you here, you say,
It is a sign,
That all is going well.
Or: But dangerous,
To be too certain -
Though I wouldn't want
To curb your joy.
Electra: That never.
And,
Please, never, never -
Or: What?
Electra: - never leave me now,
Never let us
Be parted
Ever.
Or: They would die
That try it!
Electra:Truly?
Or: Truly so.
Electra: Oh friends, friends,
This is the one I never thought
To hear again,
The face -
How could I forget it?
Even in all
That's happened.
Or: Now settle yourself.
We've
Still got to work out
The end to the triumph
Of our enemies,
The due
To Aegisthus' crimes
And waste,
And our mother's deeds.
You must
Be weeping still,
Not let her see you
Smiling.
Electra: So I will do it.
Aegisthus is away,
But mother is in,
She'll never see me smile,
I wouldn't
For my hatred,
But maybe
I will weep for joy
That you should be back,
And
More than the
Ghost of our father,
For a victory...
Or: Hush
There's someone
At the door there.

[Enter Tutor]

Tutor: Are you mad,
To talk and talk so,
When every word
Is the very edge
Of danger?
If I hadn't guarded the door,
And kept watch,
They
Might have heard everything.
You must really
Postpone the celebrating,
Any loss of time
Could be fatal.
Electra: But brother,
Who is this?
Tell me,
You must let me know.
Or: Don't you remember?
Electra: I don't think so...
Or: Who you gave me to
As a child?
Electra: Is this him?
The only person truly I could trust
That day
My father died!
O bless you, friend,
A father almost
To us
Yet I couldn't
Tell you
How I hated you for
The news you brought,
And now I love you too,
All in one day.
Tutor: I think
There will be time
And lots of time
To tell the story
After this,
But now,
Clytemnestra's alone,
With none
But a woman or two,
If you're slow now,
It could prove
Impossible, another chance.
Or: That is certain.
We must go in.
Let me
Salute the Gods
First,
Here at the doors.

[Does so, then Orestes and
Tutor leave]

Electra: LORD APOLLO,
HEAR THEM,
HEAR ME,
WHAT
TINY
OFFERINGS
I'VE AFFORDED YOU
AS I COULD,
BUT
NOT
THE LESS SINCERELY,
OR LESS URGENTLY
THAN NOW.

Chorus: NOW WAIT.
STEP BY STEP,
THE FEUD IS MOVING,
THE HUNTERS
ARE IN THE HOUSE,
THE DOGS
ARE ON THE TRACK
OF THE EVIL ONES,
IT CANNOT
BE LONG,
WITH
THE DEFENDER
OF THE DEAD
LOOSE IN THE HOUSE,
SHARP THE SWORD,
AND SURE HIS WAY.
SURELY IT IS DONE?

Electra: In a moment,
In a moment,
As they
Give her the urn
For burial.
But oh,
I must keep some watch
For Aegisthus
Unless he comes.

Clytemnestra: [from offstage]
Oh help! help me!
They kill me!
Help me!
Ah! someone!

Electra: There! Do you hear?
Do you hear that?
Chorus: Yes,
And terrible it is.
As though
The house
Itself cries,
This must be
The end
Of every,
Every wait...

[Clytemnestra, offstage: Ah!]

Electra: Kill her! Kill her!

[Clyt, offstage: Aaah!]

Electra: And may
Aegisthus
Die the same.
Chorus: The vengeance
Is in course,
Like the dead
Speak
From the earth,
And suck blood too,
That pours
From the killer -

[Enter Orestes and Tutor]

Chorus: Here they are,
See,
And their hands are red
In the
Work of sacrifice.
Who could condemn them?
Not I.
Electra: Done?
Or: Done,
As Apollo wanted.
Electra: Dead?
Or: You'll hear her taunts
No more.
Chorus: Look out!
Here is Aegisthus.
Electra: Go in! Go in!
Or: Where is he?
Electra: Just turning
At the street,
Knowing nothing.
But
He won't be long.
Chorus: So.
Go back into the hallway,
Hide now, for
This must succeed also!
Or: Trust that to me!
Chorus: Hurry; hurry...
Or: O.K.
Electra: I'll stay
And meet him.

[Exeunt Orestes and Tutor]

Chorus: Make your greeting friendly,
If you want
To lure him
To his proper reckoning.

[Enter Aegisthus]

Aeg: I heard
Someone had been here,
Come with a story
Of death,
The death of Orestes.
Where are the men?

[pause]

Electra?
Why don't you answer?
You're usually
Quick enough.
If it's your brother,
You must
Know something.
Electra: Well I do too,
That's only natural.
Aeg: Where are they then?
Electra: Inside.
Paying their proper due
To the mistress of the house.
Aeg: And they say?
Did they really come
With a message of death?
Electra: They've said it
And proved they mean what they say.
Aeg: Proof?
Proof I can see?
Electra: Yes,
Though it's ugly enough.
Aeg: I wouldn't say so,
I'd call it
Amazing good news.
Electra: I hope so,
That you may think so,
When you come to see it.
Aeg: Well then,
Open the doors!
Let us all see!
Then maybe
The fools
Who fixed on him
For deliverer
Will be a bit
Humbler now,
Show a bit more respect
To me,
If they don't want a flogging.
Electra: No need of that.
I've learned at last,
How to face victory.

[Doors open.
The covered body of Clytemnestra
is displayed,
and Orestes stands beside it]

Aeg: Now,
There is a sight,
A miracle
Of rightful
Retribution -
If it is certain -
It is better, to be certain.
Uncover the face,
Then I shall feel free
To mourn him.
Or: It would be more fitting
If you lifted
The sheet,
It is
Your farewell.
Aeg: I suppose so.
Someone
Call Clytemnestra,
If she's handy,
Please.

[Aegisthus moves back the sheet,
and finds not Orestes'
but Clytemnestra's body]

Aeg: Ahl
God Streuth!
What is this?
Or: Is something wrong?
Startled?
At a stranger's death?
Aeg: What is going on?
What trap
Have I fallen into?
Or: Can't you really
Tell
The living from the dead?
Aeg: God help me,
Now I know you,
You are Orestes.
Or: Well
You've got
That right.
Aeg: What a mess!
Just hold back,
Listen a moment -
Electra: Oh no!
Oh, brother,
Don't hear a word.
When the time comes,
Politeness,
Fair hearing
And holding back,
What good are they?
Kill him now,
Give him
To the grave-eaters
In their out-of-sight waiting.
Nothing else
Could be called
A fit punishment
For all
We've suffered.
Or: [to Aeg.] Go on,
March inside.
There's no words
To bargain with,
Only your life
Will do.
Aeg: Why in there?
Don't you like
To do
Your good deeds
In the open?
Why not here,
And finish it?
Or: The choice is mine.
I want you to die
There where you killed
My father
There's the place to let you
Yell your offering
Of life,
As I cut.
Aeg: Will you let all the tragic suffering
Of this house
Go on and on
For ever, then...?
Or: Yours will go on a bit,
Yes,
If you want a prophecy.
Aeg: You see ahead of you
Better
Than your father did.
Or: Who can tell what
Is happening behind their backs?
But the playing is over now,
I'd prefer it
If you'd
Get moving.
Aeg: You lead the way.
Or: Oh no,
You'll go first.
Aeg: Afraid
I'll get away from you?
Or: More
That you might try
And kill yourself
All of a sudden,
I've a fancy
You won't escape your life
So easily,
At my hands.
No prophecy that but
A promise.
And if every guarantee's as strong,
Nothing will ever go wrong
Again.

[Exeunt]

Chorus: So the ancient house of Pelops
Is freed
From all it's so long suffered,
And we've concluded.

Euripides: THE WOMEN OF TROY

[Enter Poseidon]

Pos: From the heart-salt of the Sea
I, Posiedon, have come
To Troy, my city, now,
Though the Greeks have taken it,
Plundered and burned it.
By means of a wooden horse
They carried in Death
In through the gates, even in the
temples
Greeks slaughtered the Trojans,
All the gold was theirs.
All they wait for now
Is a wind to sail them home.
Athene and Hera and the Gods have
joined against me effectively.
What can I do?
When the altars crack and ruin
The Gods are left worshipless.
All the Women of Troy
have been assigned as
slaves to the Greeks.
Some are still here,
The leaders claim them, and
None is more wretched than Hecabe.
Priam her husband is dead,
And her sons; just now
Her daughter Polyxena
was sacrificed at Achilles' grave,
the other, Cassandra,
Faces death with Agamemnon.
All say farewell to Troy.

[Enter Athene ]

Ath: Poseidon, will you hear me?
Pos: Athene, what more can you
want?
Ath: Something from you, for Troy.
Pos: For Troy? Now it is black
with fire, you'll pity Troy?
You have changed sides too late.
Ath: No, it is the matter of Cassandra;
Even in Troy,
No priestess should be dragged
from my sanctuary,
Mocked by the Greeks I helped.
For that, they will suffer!
Pos: What is your plan?
Ath: When they make sail,
When they think they are home at last,
Then Jove will lend me thunder
To bolt and burn their ships,
If you will raise the sea, too,
till it is thick with the dead.
Pos: Athene, I will help you
Till thousands of them
Litter the shores, drowned home,
For how they've treated Troy.

[Exeunt Poseidon & Athene.]

[Enter Hecabe, who falls on her knees and weeps.]

Hec: Lift your neck.
Lift your head again.
Yet there's no Troy
To look at any more.
The direction of time
Has turned on us,
Taken everything.
I am left to sleep on the stones,
And the pain of thought
Makes me shudder
Like a boat of the dead.
And the new tune of time
Is one note of insistent misery.

[She gradually rises...]

How the Greek ships
Fell on us from the purple sea,
How their pipes whistled & chirped
As they landed,
For Helen's sake!
It's left me now
A prisoner, a slave
In the shadow of Agamemnon's tent.
And the widows of smoke -
you can dance with me,
women, Queen that I was,
powerless as gulls at a thief.

CHORUS: Hecabe, we heard you.
Why did you call?
As we sat thinking & crying,
Your summons frightened us.
Are the Greeks ready to sail?
Will they take us now?
Or will they kill us?
What terrors we face!
Have you heard nothing?

Hec: No. I was mad and sick
With horror, I couldn't sleep.
Old like I am,
That I should see poor
Holy Cassandra my child
Dragged to their reeking beds!
And I, too,
To a strange shore,
Some nanny or door-watch
to a Greek Lord -
Oh! I am old and useless
as a ghost!

CHORUS: What can we say?
Our weaving-time is gone,
Our sons dead;
We will be slaves and mistresses,
Haulers of water
In the hidden valleys of Greece,
The rich and rocky land.

[Enter Talthybius, the Greek Herald]

Tal: Hecabe, I think you know
Me by now. I am Herald to the Greeks.
Hec: What news?
Tal: Lots have been drawn,
You are all assigned,
To different masters.
Hec: Cassandra! what of Cassandra?
Tal: She will serve Agamemnon's bed.
Hec: She is Apollo's!
A holy life, not to be touched!
Tal: It is a new honour for her.
Hec: And Polyxena?
Tal: To Achilles, or to his tomb.
Hec: What do you mean?
What has happened to her?
Tal: She is taken care of.
You will be Odysseus's.
Hec: His?
That monster
Who speaks truth into lies,
Makes friends hate -
A decorator of evil!
That is the worst could happen.
Tal: But I have been sent for Cassandra.
Where is she?
What are those lights over there?
Are you planning to set fire to yourselves?
Hec: No, watch! don't you see?
It is a procession for Cassandra.

[Enter Cassandra ]

Cassl: Torches!
Torches for light
For my wedding!
Since no one has brought them,
Look what I have provided -
A flood of light!
Will no one celebrate with me?
Who is there
To sing my wedding song?

CHORUS: She's mad!
Hecabe, stop her,
Before she dances near the Greeks.

Hec: O God of Fire!
What a mockery
Of marriage.
Leave off this sacrilege;
Even as you are,
It is too much.
Give me that torch.
Women, help me!
Cassl: No, make me a garland
Of victory!
If Apollo is a God,
I will prove a fatal bed mate
To Agamemnon,
For I see death for him,
His whole house destroyed
About him.
Is that madness?
Who madder than Greeks?
For a no one,
A faithless lover,
They've come here & been killed,
Their bones left abroad,
Unburied,
While we were the heroes,
Keeping our home.
But mother, just see:
My marriage will bring
Destruction on them!
Hec: You are not sensible.
Tal: If Apollo hadn't driven you crazy,
You would be punished for that.
What ill-luck things to mouth
At an embarking!
Don't let Agamemnon hear you!
Now - you must come on board.
Hecabe, you to Odysseus!
Cassl: Ah! these are orders!
I could give Odysseus some guidance
When his ten years come at sea,
Through the rocky gorge,
With cannibals, and the Oxen of the
Sun,
Right the way to Hell itself
Before he gets home.
So much for his plans!
And me - why, Agamemnon,
You and I - they will
Throw our naked corpses together
On the common rubbish.
Well then! let the winds be swift,
Let me sail quick
To avenge my brothers
In Greek blood!

[Exeunt Cassandra and Herald]

[Hecabe collapses]

CHORUS: Women, Hecabe has fallen
over.
Help her, she is old & weak.
Help me lift her up.

Hec: Leave me,
Let me lie.
Misery and dust lie together - all the
Pain of yesterday, today, tomorrow.
You Gods!
Oh! Gods are trustless helpers
But I still call on them.
I was royal born.
I married a King.
And our sons the leaders of Asia -
What a world we made!
Now they are killed in battle,
Troy captured
& Priam stabbed at his altar.
My precious daughters
Are handed over,
Parted for ever.
And worse and worse,
I am shipped as a slave,
To be holding the house-keys,
Making the bread,
Teased & ridiculed when I'm ancient.
O Cassandra! O Polyxena!
What should I get up for?
Stones will be my pillows. See -
No one can be happy in life.

CHORUS: Sing a sad story, friends,
Tell of the wheeling horse
that ruined Troy;
on its legs of sky, pretty with gold,
How we welcomed it!
Everyone was singing & jumping,
Hauling the ropes
To bring the black hull in.
At night, we were dancing, fluting
Till we all tired down,
And over the city
A screaming started,
War unlocked itself
Men caught in slaughter, as they slept,
And the women left before the victors.
That's our story.

Look, Hecabe,
Coming in a Creek chariot,
Here is Andromache
Wife of Hector your son,
With their son Astyanax.
What is happening, Andromache?

[Enter Andromache ]

And: Why, the Greeks are taking
Their property home.

[Andromache kneels besides Hecabe, and in the following passage, their speeches overlap]

Hec: O Zeus, have pity!
O Zeus!
And: Zeus I should pray to,
By my husband's suffering
And mine
Hec: My children!
Oh,
My daughter!
And: We are
Your children no more,
That's ended.
Hec: Once
Troy was happy for us,
That's ended!
And: Ended,
And your children
Gone...
Hec: All gone -
Home and city -
Smoke and ashes
And: Gone!
And Hector
Dead
Hec: Hector, my son,
And Priam,
Both dead.
And: The loss of love!
Hec: The grief gained!
And: The destruction!
Hec: Only anguish survives!

[They both help each other up]

And: How the Gods have hated us,
Since Paris was born
To wreck our land, loving Helen.
Now it is a plain of vultures,
We are powerless.
Hec: O Troy! deserted, ruined,
I weep again for you.
Was ever such a loss of everything,
Such tears?

CHORUS: A time of mourning
And lamenting.

And: Do you see this,
Hector's armour -
They will take it with them.
Hec: The world is reversed
And: And we are just the winnings.
Hec: Cassandra has been taken away.
And: That is rash of them. But
Polyxena....
Hec: What of her? What more?
And: She is dead, your daughter,
At the tomb of Achilles,
An offering to his hero's soul.
Hec: Oh my child! my child!
That was what they meant
Just now, her murder.
And: She is happier than me.
Hec: No, no - life is a sort of hope;
Death, nothing.
And: Listen, Hecabe:
I think being dead
Is like never being born:
No feeling,
No pain,
No bewilderment.
As Hector's wife,
Troy was all I knew,
But now I am suddenly to start again,
Achilles' son wants me,
Am I to start
To love a new husband?
Nothing will accustom me to that.
I have no hope.
Hec: It is like a storm,
It is a picture of a ship in the sea:
When the weather goes rough,
They set to, help the ship through;
But if it is too fierce
They can only pray.
For me, it is over,
But you will have a son to raise,
A husband to work with,
And one day our city may return.

[Enter Talthybius, the Greek Herald]

Tal: Andromache,
This is harsh news,
A decision of all the Greeks.
And: Something bad you say?
Tal: Your son -
And: They will give him to another
master?
Tal: No master in Greece.
And: They will let him live here?
Tal: Not live.
And: Oh gods! to die?
Tal: Odysseus insisted.
The child is too dangerous to us.
You must see,
There was no possible alternative.
He will be thrown
From the battlements of Troy.
You must accept it;
If you anger the Greeks now
They will treat him the worse.
And: Astyanax, my precious child!
Your parents are no help now.
Hector cannot rise & catch you
When you leap down!
O the sweet smell of your skin,
How I tended you -
All for nothing!
Oh men of Greece -
What has he done to you?
You are the Sons of Murder
And Malice and Cruelty;
Did the Gods ever think
Of the tens of thousands you have
come to kill,
Did they make you beautiful
To wreck Troy?
Go on then, take him!
Throw him down!
Eat him!
Whatever you want
What can I do?
Tal: Let's finish it.
It's something I have no inclination for.

[Exeunt Herald with child, and Andromache ]

Hec: Little child,
Seized by the murderers,
What can we give you?
There is nothing left
But this endless tumble
In the gulf of our pain.

CHORUS: Once Heracles and Telamon
Came to Troy
From bee-dotted Salamis.
From the sea-circled rock
And fired our city once.
And again,
The city's a blazing heap.
The sandy races
And the river washes
Are gone,
The place is wiped out
To the last man!
Oh Zeus! O Day-Gods
How can you permit this?

[Enter Menelaus]

Men: This is the day. What glorious light. Today we will sail, and Helen, stolen from me, will be mine again, and Troy has paid for it. But I will not kill her here, she shall come to Greece for her sentence. Bring her to me! Soon, we will sail.
Hec: Zeus, whatever you are,
Sky-thing or Earth-thing or Man-thing,
Prove just at last!
Men: What does that prayer mean?
Hec: I applaud you, Menelaus, if you
will kill Helen.
But be careful of her beauty!

[Enter Helen]

Hel: Menelaus! will you frighten me?
What are you planning?
Men: Everyone voted for your death.
Hel: Can I protest? Listen, it was Hecabe mothered Paris, Priam protected him. When Paris gave his judgment against Athene she mad-dened him & sent him to Greece to win me, and you welcomed him into our house. Aphrodite awarded me to Paris, I never intended it. When Paris was dead, I tried to get out of Troy, they wouldn't let me. Oh Menelaus, shouldn't you comfort me for my suffering rather than punish me?

CHORUS: Queen, speak up for us.
She is plausible & she is wicked.

Hec:The games of the Gods never planned this end. If Aphrodite in-tended you for Paris, she would have flown you through the air to Troy and settled everything. But because he was beautiful, you couldn't wait to be unfaithful. You went with him by choice. How loud did you call for help? How hard did you try to escape from Troy? I told you "Go away! go away!" but you loved it all, just as you think you can get away with it now.

CHORUS: Menelaus, punish her!

Men: Of course. Hers is no defence. It will be done. Stoning is too good for all the slaughter she's caused.
Hel: It was the Gods to blame, not me! Spare me!
Hec: Don't listen!
Men: Not I. Take her to the ships.
Hec: Menelaus, don't sail with her!
She is too dangerous. Be careful!
Men: I think you are right.
[Exeunt Menelaus & Helen]

CHORUS: Troy is deserted by the
Gods.
Her spice-rich altars,
Her snowy-big rivers,
Her wooded mountains, lighted at
dawn,
Are empty, silent.
All our worship is meaningless.
We must leave our men unburied,
& sail to the giant castles of Greece.
Menelaus! may your ship
Be struck in the middle of the ocean,
For what you've done.

See now!
They are bringing the body of
Astyanax,
Mercilessly murdered.

[Enter Talthybius the Herald ]

Tal: Hecabe, some ships still wait at anchor. Andromache has gone already. She asked you to bury Astyanax, he is already cleaned. She said Hector's shield should be the coffin. So make him ready, quickly as you can. I have dug the earth, and you must be quickly on board

[ Exit ]

Hec: Bring Hector's round shield. Oh Greeks, what cowards you are to fear this child. Fear, unreasoning fear, drove you, though you boast of your courage. If you had lived, little one, to fight and love, I wouldn't mourn you so. But you were just a child, a boy of matted hair, running to kiss me and comfort me. This is little credit to Greece. Now you will have this bronze bed of Hector's. Here your father's handgrip, here the smoothed rim from the hot battle.
Women! cover him as we can. No rich burial but we do our best. No one is safe in life, what a fool it is to trust in certainties!

CHORUS: Here are our cloaks.
Hec: These are our rites for you.
Earth will take you,
Dead but undying;
There's nothing I can heal for you,
But just say my farewell.

CHORUS: Farewell!

Hec: Oh, I see the very pits of darkness

CHORUS: Hecabe, what is it?

Hec: Think, if the Gods intended this all the time. Mocked our piety. Cast us as cruel legends for the singers and shows to come. Walked on & smiled. I think it would be better to be absolutely forgotten, to have never been...

So, we have made him ready.
It is little comfort for him.

CHORUS: The broken darling of Andromache,
The envy of the world stopped dead.

Hec: Who is that
On the heights of the city?
With their torches!

Tal: [from offstage]
Set the torches to!
Troy is to be burned!
Up with the flames!
Then to sea.

[Enter Talthybius, continues:]

You, too, when you hear the trumpet call, get on board. These men will take you. I am sorry, but you must get on with it now.

Hec: The time has come. We must sail away & leave Troy to burn. Let me look a last time. O Troy! How famous in Asia! It shall not be, at least I'll burn with you!

[She tries to leave the circle but is blocked.]

Tal: Men, stop her! Poor thing, I am not surprised at her frenzy, but she must be handed safe to Odysseus.

[Exit ]

Hec: Zeus! Zeus! Is this just?

CHORUS: He sees,
& the flames still burn.
Troy no longer is Troy.

Hec: It is a beacon, the city!
Every house in the hill is ablaze.
And the fire rushes and roars.

CHORUS: The very breath of War
Has collapsed the city,
And her beating wings!

Hec: Listen, earth!
Listen, my sons!

CHORUS: What prayers?

Hec: To the dead, -
Now I am so near.
Listen, you souls of the dead!

CHORUS: Tell them our suffering...

Hec: We are driven away like cattle.
Priam, do you hear?
Can your ghost understand?

CHORUS: Dead, and holy in death

Hec: Temples, listen to us, feel!

CHORUS: That soon must stand no more

Hec: Smoke and dust spreads thru the
sky -
I can see Troy no more,
The world is blotted out!

CHORUS: Vanished.
The land and her name, nothing.

[There is a crash]

Hec: Friends, did you hear that?
CHORUS: The city collapsing!

Hec: The crashes echo round,
The walls are giddy & falling,
Now smashed, now gone.

So... my unsteady feet
Must take me forward -
Into slavery.

CHORUS: Troy, farewell!
The oar is lifted
In readiness,
They are waiting.
Let us go to the Greek ships.

[Exeunt]

THE OCTAVIA

[Enter Octavia]

Oct: Now rosy dawn drives off the stars
and the sun again lights the world.
But for me, my troubles are such,
I should out-sing the kingfisher in grief
Or the mourning nightingale in sorrows.
Mother, if the dead have any scope,
pity me! that I lived to see you die.
Now a callous stepmother
rules my life. She carried
the torches of death, father, to your bed,
destroyed you, commander of the world,
conqueror of the Britons, & I am your child
left subdued before her tyranny.

[Exit Octavia, enter Nurse]

Nurse: If you like to follow the twists & fortunes of royalty,
now you could gasp at the tragic fall of Claudius' house,
this mighty emperor of the sea, killed by his second wife,
she by Nero her son, who poisoned the true heir.
Only Octavia is left, her brother dead, of the Claudian line,
and Nero has made her marry him, though it can only lead to ill.

[Re-enter Octavia]

Oct: I can recall Electra's revenge,
taken for her murdered father, like mine,
and my brother too is murdered.
But things change: there is nothing
I can dare do but suffer.

Nurse: That is Octavia now. How slow her grief walks with her!

Oct: O Nurse, to you at least I can show my tears without punishment!

Nurse: Is there nothing to hope for?

Oct: Maybe the day of death, for me.

Nurse: Flee the ill-luck of it, I say.

Oct: It isn't to be changed by charms.

Nurse: The Gods will give a better day.
You should be reconciled with Nero.

Oct: With lions & tigers first. Never
with that brutal man, though he be husband,
and he took the empire from us
as the gift of his mother, before he killed her.

Nurse: Hush! that is not to be spoken.

Oct: What else is there to think of but the death of all my kin?
And any day my husband will make a charge and dismiss me,
angry and brave against the woman whose brother's throne he stole.
And the ghost comes to me, a weak shade in the smokey torches,
my brother hiding with me & dragged to the sword-stroke.
Then I wake with a cry, in terror of Nero, who sent his mother
on the ship to Hell in astorm of murder. What hope for me?
He blazes with hate. Won't my own father open the earth for me now?

Nurse: What did he care? You and your brother he repudiated
even while he lived. Now he is a thoughtless shade.
He welcomed Agrippina as his second wife
And so was killed, & Britannicus your brother,
who lay like a winged god on the pyre, burning to ashes.

Oct: Let him murder me, before I take revenge.

Nurse: How could you do that, weak one?

Oct: Anguish & misery lend me the power I need.

Nurse: Rather submit to your husband, even make him care for you.

Oct: And his first present would be my brother's ashes!

Nurse: In sons of your own, your brother could live and rule again.

Oct: Poppaea will give Nero sons, I won't.

Nurse: The love of the citizens will support you against her.

Oct: That is a comfort but not a way to safety or release.

Nurse: The people are strong in power -

Oct: - The emperor is mightier in power!

Nurse: Poppaea is scorned everywhere -

Oct: - To Nero she is dear!

Nurse: They aren't married yet

Oct: - Soon though, when she begets!

Nurse: It is a youthful infatuation, a flickering flame.
She will not last long -

Oct: - There will be others soon!

Nurse: She may be pretty, but Cupid will turn & trip her up.
Even Juno found Jove a wanderer:
Sometimes like a swan, or bull-masked,
or like a shower of golden sparks
he courted many mortal women.
But Juno waited & held him
always his true wife, just as you are.

Oct: Seas & stars will be one, flame and water first,
or light and night before I unite myself to Nero.
If Jupiter would show his power, let him strike Nero.
There have been comets in the sky, predicting as much,
and men have been singled out in Hell who were saints to him.
How is it that a wrathful god ever allows him to escape?

Nurse: Nero is no fit husband to you, but all the more
be careful. Perhaps the Gods will aid you yet.

Oct: They have shown little sign of favour yet. My mother
with her own first disregard of marriage has set the Furies on us all.

Nurse: Don't weep for that: she paid sadly for her madness.

[Exeunt]

CHORUS: What rumour reaches us?
How could Nero marry again,
set aside the noble Octavia?
She is the child of Claudius, & Rome
her true home, in a virtuous tradition.
We have always respected such wives
and driven the tyrants of old from the City.
But Nero sets it all at nought.
He tricked his Mother onto a ship
sent out to sink: the timbers gave
and they all lay in the sea
shrieking & kicking in the sight of death.
Then she saw where treachery leads,
though she escaped its outcome then.
How Nero grieved to hear the news
that she was rescued! In his grief
he slew her with a sword instead.
So the monster and the mother settled it.

[enter Seneca]

Sen: Fortune has recalled me to Rome, exalted me the higher,
I suspect, to make me giddy and toss me down again.
Why, I was better in exile, safe in the crags of Corsica,
happy to watch turning Nature playing in the world.
But now the heaven ages above us, as though blind at last,
it will crash and obliterate us, wipe our world away,
to make a new one like the first of times returned to us,
with faith and peace, with trust and openness. So it was once
till the restless race started its hunt, ploughed and chased
and worked its ugly weapons for the war for gold.
So many ages of evil are we, rushing to the reckoning.
See, this is Nero approaching, the most ruthless man of all.

[Enter Nero and Soldier]

Nero: Just do it. I want the heads of Plautus and Sulla now!

Soldier: Sir - I'm on my way now to the fort.

[Exit Soldier]

Sen: Isn't this a rash way to act against your own supporters?

Nero: I could be more just if I didn't live in fear of them.

Sen: Mercy is the most amazing substitute for fear.

Nero: To be a good ruler is to destroy your enemies when you can.

Sen: To save your citizens makes the father of the country greater still.

Nero: A gentle dolt like you should save his sermons for children.

Sen: There are young adults need them even more, in their rashness.

Nero: I think I am old enough to claim some wisdom of my own.

Sen: May your acts then be ever pleasing to the Gods.

Nero: Why! I am a god-maker, man, why should I fear them?

Sen: What an increase in your standinq reverence for the Gods would bring.

Nero: My own role on earth gives me every power.

Sen: When Fortune is most favourable, one should practice caution.

Nero: Only an idiot fails to realise his own potential.

Sen: It would be better to do what you should more than what you can.

Nero: The mob will finish you if you appear compliant -

Sen: - They tear down the tyrant.

Nero: Weapons guard royalty -

Sen: - Better to trust in loyalty.

Nero: Caesar must be feared

Sen: More he must be dear.

Nero: Men are ruled by fear -

Sen: - Compulsion can be over-severe.

Nero: Orders shall be obeyed -

Sen: - If just orders are relayed.

Nero: The sword imposes respect -

Sen: - May not the Gods object?

Nero: What am I to do? Let them work against me without check?
Plautus and Sulla still continued their conspiracies in exile:
aiming to assassinate me. Shall I stand by?
If I find anyone against me, the sword will deal with them.
Let Octavia look out, or she'll follow her brother, toppled like him!

Sen: Of course it is marvellous to be the greatest of all men,
The most caring & sparing, least cruel and angry, bringing peace to all!
So the first Augustus brought universal quiet to the world,
and earned his place in the stars, a god with his own temple.
But he learned his mission, fought and earned his way to the crown.
You have it all without war, all the world recognises you.
So the more effectively and dutifully you should look to Rome & its citizens.

Nero: The chance gift of heaven elevated me, never the Romans;
stiff and proud they mumble their grudging words of submission.
Caesar, a very Jove, on the upward path of honours,
Could have wished he had suspected and picked off Brutus earlier;
but no, the citizens struck him down, and look what followed!
In those wars, Augustus did not hesitate to proscribe
the heads of thousands; mercilessly he took the war to Egypt
and won through to peace, and kept the peace by fear,
living himself safe in the protection of his loyal guards.
So too, I hope I may pass on to my heirs this empire.

Sen: May the daughter of the Emperor fulfil your wish, bring you children.

Nero: Octavia?
Who knows whose daughter she was? Besides, we don't match.

Sen: She is young yet. With a little time she'll suit.

Nero: So I thought at first. But she cannot hide
her hatred of me. So I've found someone else to serve.

Sen: Octavia's merits should weigh with you more than another's mere beauty.
She has qualities that last; but prettiness fades with each day.

Nero: This one has all the charms the Gods could give her and I'm pleased.

Sen: Such love is never lasting, don't be taken in.

Nero: What? when Cupid is the most powerful God of all?

Sen: In our foolishness, we fashion him implacable and invincible,
but he is only a figure for the passing fancies of our own souls,
youthful indulgences that soon pass off unless we mean well.

Nero: For me it is the source of life and the pleasure of all,
making mankind immortal; so may I marry Poppaea!

Sen: Do you imagine the people would ever stand for it?

Nero: Am I alone to be denied what anyone can have?

Sen: The higher your place, the greater your duty to the state.

Nero: The state! The people! I will easily enough change their minds!

Sen: Rather accept gracefully the wishes of the citizens.

Nero: It goes badly when the mob dictates to the king.

Sen: If you won't heed them, you're bound to find things difficult.

Nero: If they won't listen to me, I can make them.

Sen: It is harsh to ignore them -

Nero: - Should a prince be forced?

Sen: He should give way in time -

Nero: - And be called a weakling?

Sen: That sort of charge is meaningless -

Nero: - But it sticks nonetheless.

Sen: Not to a man of courage -

Nero: - But it still causes damage.

Sen: Easily overcome.
Let the memory of Claudius and the merits of Octavia prevail.

Nero: Enough.
Allow me this once to do something Seneca disapproves of.
Poppaea is as keen as I. We shall be married tomorrow.

[Exeunt]

[Enter ghost of Agrippina, Nero's mother, with a torch, symbolising the passing of one nightl

Agrip: From the very Hell of Hells I have come with a torch of death
to fire their wedding and curse their rites with a blazing pyre.
Let this flame wed Poppaea to my son and symbolize their end.
I won an empire for him at the price of my own soul,
and he turned and killed me. Here too on earth
he has wiped my memory out, torn down my statues,
rooted me out of the world I handed over to him!
Here below, my husband, the emperor Claudius harasses my spirit,
charges me with his death, plagues me ceaselessly.
I will be quick. I know what must happen to Nero:
First he will flee through the land, thirsty, weary, wounded,
Friendless and penniless, until he gives his throat to his enemies.
That is little to me now. I would rather the savage Wolf
had ate you in my belly, chewed you unborn,
and left you fit at least to greet your ancestors in Hell!

[Exit ghost of Agrippina]

[Enter Octavia]

Oct: Friends, don't be caught crying at the marriage
or Nero will blame you for my sake.
This disgrace to me is little,
I am no longer the wife of a brute.
That is all, so I hope,
though who knows what further punishments
may be planned before I die.
Better to leave this place now,
a home without hope, but a dire future.

[Exit Octavia]

CHORUS: This is the day we foresaw:
Octavia is expelled and
Poppaea holds her house in triumph.
Where were the men of ancient Rome
who held their land unconquered & proud,
never to be imposed upon?
Let them throw down the statues of Poppaea,
break down the palace & drag her out!

[Enter Poppaea and Nurse]

Nurse: Child, child, why are you shaking? where are you fleeing to?
You have married Caesar, and how beautiful you looked!
All the senate admired you, you were Thetis from the ocean
come to wed Peleas. Why should you suddenly be crying so?

Pop: There was this awful dream. Last night I lay in Nero's arms,
but all I could see were the angry shouting women of Rome
and the spectre of Agrippina, with a blood-burning torch held out.
I thought they drove me into a gulf and made me fall
and there my old lovers clasped me, as though Nero had never killed them.
What terrible meaning is there - why do they threaten me?

Nurse: Dreams invert the day. The women mourned Octavia,
the torch is your fame, spread even to the world below!
And a sword sheathed in the body - is sheathed! is peace!
You should not be upset like that; why not go back to your room?

Pop: No, it would be better to visit an latar, make a sacrifice,
fend off the omen, turn the terror again to my foes.

[exit Poppaea]

Nurse: Why! she would tempt Jupiter from heaven,
So lovely a child! None of the women
of legend are anything as lovely.
But here, I think, comes some news.

[Enter meesenger]

Mes: Whoever guards the palace of the emperor, let them
look out for the terrible fury of the mob!
They are determined and mean to tear the place down,
the reinforcements coming up just seem to stir them on.

Nurse: What has roused them?

Mes: Loyalty to Octavia makes them risk anything.

Nurse: What are they after?

Mes: The plan is to restore her to her father's house,
to her share of the empire, and to Nero's bed again.

Nurse: - That Poppaea now shares?

Mes: That's it. They're in a fury against Poppaea.
All her statues are down and they threaten much more.
Now they ring the palace itself with fire. I must go.

[Exit messenger]

Nurse: Nero will be little pleased to hear.
His love will be a terrible anger,
just as love destroyed the city of Troy.
Now I tremble to think what he'll do.

[Exit Nurse]

[Enter Nero]

Nero: Soldiers are too slow, they cannot kill fast enough
to manifest my anger. I will have the fires put out with blood!
And Octavia, who inspired this, will die for it!
I will set every roof in Rome alight today -
Let them burn with the City for their ingratitude to me,
And never again will they dare to raise their hands against me!
My nod will be law, and Poppaea sacred. Here is my captain.

[Enter Soldier]

Soldier: Some have been killed, the example has discouraged the mob.

Nero: Some? Is that what I ordered?
Is that the vengeance I'm owed?

Soldier: All the ring-leaders have fallen to the sword.

Nero: And the mob? that came to fire the very palace walls
and drag Poppaea from the house? You let them off?

Soldier: In your anger, should you fix such a general penalty?

Nero: It will be an act famous for all time.

Soldier: If your anger has no bounds, who can stop it?

Nero: And first she must suffer who has been the cause of this.

Soldier: Say who, if you want me to act now.

Nero: I mean Octavia of course, she must pay with her head.

Soldier: Horror roots me to the spot.

Nero: Is this obedience?

Soldier: Do you push me to defiance?

Nero: Would you spare my enemy?

Soldier: A woman your enemy?

Nero: If she acts so

Soldier: What did she ever do?

Nero: Raise a mob

Soldier: Them no one starts or stops.

Nero: She should have realised that. Her ill-will is plain.

Soldier: But she is powerless

Nero: - Or there would be no end
to her danger, but now she shall pay for her treason at last.
Take her by ship somewhere, anywhere, & execute her.

[Exeunt]

CHORUS: So the support of the people for Octavia
has not worked out well.
So far they carried her, then
abandonned her, like a ship on the deep.
So many examples of popular failure!
Octavia too we must see
dragged out to punishment and death.

[Enter Octavia]

Oct: Where are you taking me? to exile?
Am I to live? Or am I
condemned to death? why not allowed
to die ar least at home if so?
Ah! there is Nero's ship.
Now I know I will sail to death.
There is no piety left, no Gods,
nothing but universal Fury.
Even the wings of crying birds
would serve to lift me out of this world
If I could, to cry my pain for ever!

CHORUS: Little you have found different
though all around changes much,
and friends that had
all banished, killed.

Oct: So too I am sent off.
Why should I wait and complain?
Even the Gods will not hear me.
But let the very agents of Hell
destroy the tyrant, I pray for it.
What more is to be said?
Spread the sail.
Let us go out....

CHORUS:
If the winds and breezes could change it,
let them carry you anywhere safe.
Not even in a land of barbarlans
would she be treated as she has in Rome.

CHRISTMAS ORATORIO

I.Chorus:

Jump and rejoice now! up! glad at the tidings,
Shout out what hereon the Highest One's done.
Leave out the mourning, and give over weeping,
Sing out with gladness & jubilation!
Serve now the High One with nobelest hymnship,
Let us the name of the Almighty worship!
Jump and rejoice now! up! glad at the tidings,
Shout out what hereon the Highest One's done!

no.2 Tenor:

Joseph went to Bethlehem to be taxed and Mary his betrothed went with him though she was ready to give birth...

no.3 Alto:

Now shall my dearest bridal man,
Now shall the Brave of David's tree,
To help and heal all mankind
This once be incarnated.
Now shall the Star of Jacob shine out,
Be blazing before us.
Up, Zion, and cease this complaining:
Your Sunniness shoots up!

no.4 Alto:

Prepare yourself Zion, with lovingfull hurry
The Fairest, the Sweetest soon with you to see!
Both your cheeks must tint today a lot more pretty:
Hurry, the Bridalman hotly to cherish!
Prepare yourself Zion, with lovingfull hurry,
The Fairest, the Sweetest soon with you to see!

no.5 Chorus

How ought I then receive thee?
And how address you now?
O all the World's Attention,
O Sapphire of my heart!
O Jesu, Jesu, set down
Your torch beside me here
So that, what you find pleasing
Be clear and known to me!

no.6 Tenor:

Jesus is born and put in a manger...

no.7 Soprano, Alto, Bass:

Sop.& Alt: He has arrived on earth so poor...
Bass: Who shall this Love aright declare
That our own Saviour holds for us?
Sop.&Alt: ...that he on us could pity have...
Bass: Yo! who can see it uncovered now
Him the man-like lot has moved?
Sop.& Alt: ...and in Heaven make us rich...
Bass: The Highest's Son embodied on earth
Since Him our Saving pleases well.
Sop.& Alt: ...and to his lovely angels like.
Bass: So He Himself as man can now be born.
Sop.& Alt: Kyrieleis!

no.8 Bass

Greater Lord, O stronger King,
Lovely Saviour, oh how little
Recknest Thou the earthly pomp!
Who the whole world comprises,
All its pomp and pride directing,
Must in a woody manger slumber;
Greater Lord, O Stronger King,
Lovely Saviour, oh how little
Recknest Thou the earthly pomp!

no.9 Chorus:

Ah my heart-tender Jesuling,
Make Thee a pure soft bedding-spot
To rest in mine own hearty shrine
That I never may lack for You.


PART TWO

no.10 Shepherd-music.

no.11 Tenor:

There were shepherds in the hills....

no.l2 Chorus:

Break out O pretty morning-light
And let the sky be dawning!
You sheepy-folk, dispanic not,
For you the Angel's telling
That this same weakly babyboy
Will be our help and happiness
And more will Satan conquer
And lastly joy-times will bring.

no.l3 Tenor:

The Angel said:

Soprano:

Do not be scared, I have come to tell you about the Saviour...

no.14 Bass:

What Abraham, the shepherd, heard as a promise, you shepherds will witness as real.

no.l5 Tenor:

Happy shepherds, haste, ah hurry up
Lest you waste too long delaying;
Speed, the pleasant Child to see!
Run, the joy should be so great,
Seek the Grace-gift to be winning,
Run and wash your heart & senses.
Happy shepherds, haste, ah hurry up
Lest you waste too long delaying,
Speed, the pleasant Child to see!

no.16 Bass:

The sign is, he is in a manger..

no.17 Chorus:

Look out! there lies in darkling stall
The Power of the Universe!
Where oxen often sought a feast,
Now the Virgin's child doth rest.

no.18 Bass:

Shepherds, go and see and make a soothing song for Him.

no.l9 Alto:

Slumber, my Lovely, enjoy your short sleep:
You must wake later; for all our Salvations.
Lap at the breast, discover the Need,
In which we elate our hearts!
Slumber, my Lovely, enjoy your short sleep:
You must wake later, for all our Salvations!

no.20 Tenor:

Suddenly, there were many Angels, who said:

no.21 Chorus (as a round):

Honour be God's in the highest,
And joy on earth here,
And to mankind all happiness!

no.22 Bass:

Angels, we will join you and sing!

no.23 Chorus:

We sing to You in all our crowd
With every strength:
Praise, Power & Might!
Now you, O long awaited Guest
Are truly incarnated here.


PART THREE

no.24 Chorus:

Master of Heaven, attend to the Murmur,
Let the low murmuring sounds refresh Thee,
Now that your Zion with psalms exalts Thee!
Hear our hearts declaring our praises,
Now we show to you our Worship so clearly,
Since our salvation at last is achieved!

no.25 Tenor:

Then the shepherds said:

no.26 Chorus (as a round):

Let us Go to Bethlehem!

no.27 Bass:

He will be a help to all mankind. Look!

no.28 Chorus:

This He has done for us complete
Showing Love so great for us
It should rejoice all Christendom
And thankfull be we ever! Kyrieleis!

no.29 Sop. & Bass:

Sop: Lord, thy Pity,
Bass: Thy compassion,
Both: Comforts us & makes us free.
Sop: Your allieving Grace and Favour,
Bass: All Your wonderfullest doings,
Both: Do make this paternal Love
Ever new.
Sop: Lord, thy Pity,
Bass: Thy compassion,
Both: Comforts us & makes us free.

no.30 Tenor:

The shepherds arrived, and Mary was most happy...

no.31 Alto:

Keep tight, my mem'ry, this lucky-come marvel,
Safe within your counting-up.
Let such a mem'ry of God-likened doings
Ever restrengthen your faint-hearted crediting.
Keep tight, my mem'ry, this lucky-come marvel,
Safe within your counting-up!

no.32 Sop:

Yes, I shall remember.

no.33 Chorus:

I shall You with zeal be guarding,
I will You
Live for now,
You I shall depart with,
W'you shall I ever continue,
Full of joy,
Out of time,
In another 'xisting.

no.34 Tenor:

The shepherds went home then...

no.35 Chorus:

Rejoice so long
As our help is here,
A God and also man declared,
He is who is
The Lord and Christ
In David's town, from many distinguished.

Then repeat chorus no.24 to end Part Three.



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