Athena: Herald, thine office! See that yonder crowds Hold back, and let this piercer of the clouds, Filled with man’s breath, the Tuscan trumpet, blow His fiery summons to the host below. Then all be silence, while the people fill This Council Hall. Thus shall my sovran will And ordinance to this people, great and small, Be known for ever, and upheld by all Within our gates; and thus my wardens do Justice this day, discerning false from true.
Enter Apollo.
Leader: Apollo, thou! Go, reign where thou art king! What portion hast thou in this doom-saying?
Apollo: I come to bear my witness. This is one Who in great anguish came to me alone For refuge, and knelt suppliant at my shrine. Therefore the cleansing of his stain is mine. Likewise I share his plea, and on me take What guilt he bears for that dead mother’s sake.
Ope thou the court, O Pallas, and, as well Thou canst, establish justice durable.
Athena: Ho! Opened is the Court; and yours the speech.
To the Furies.
He who pursueth, speaking first, can teach Best his whole grief, and how the evil grew.
Leader: Many are we, yet shall our words be few. Make answer thou, point against point. And say First this one thing: thy mother didst thou slay?
Orestes: I slew her. … Aye. Denied it cannot be.
Leader: Aha! The first of the three bouts to me!
Orestes: Too soon ye vaunt. I am not yet outsped.
Leader: How didst thou slay? That also must be said.
Orestes: With an effort.
I will say it. I drew sword and clave her throat.
Leader: Who and what tempted thee? Who laid the plot?
Orestes: He who is with me now, and witnesseth.
Leader: God’s prophet bade thee plot thy mother’s death?
Orestes: Yes: and hath never failed me to this day.
Leader: And when the vote is cast, what wilt thou say?
Orestes: I fear not. Helpers from my father’s grave.
Leader: Go, mother-murderer! Call the dead to save!
Orestes: Two stains of death lay mingled on her hand.
Leader: How two? Let these who judge thee understand.
Orestes: A husband and a father, both, she slew.