The Oresteia Trilogy
Agamemnon, The Libation-Bearers and The Furies
Aeschylus
- 160 pages
- English
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The Oresteia Trilogy
Agamemnon, The Libation-Bearers and The Furies
Aeschylus
About This Book
Perhaps the greatest of the Greek tragedians, Aeschylus wrote 90 plays, but only seven have survived complete. Among them is this classic trilogy dealing with the bloody history of the House of Atreus.
In Agamemnon, the warrior who defeated Troy returns to Argos and is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia before the start of the Trojan War. In The Libation-Bearers, Orestes, Agamemnon's son, avenges his father by murdering his mother. In The Furies, Orestes flees to Delphi, pursued by the divine avengers (Erinyes) of his mother. After being purified by Apollo, he makes his way to Athens and is there tried (and acquitted) at the court of Areopagus.
Written in a grand style, rich in diction and dramatic dialogue, the plays embody Aeschylus' concerns with the destiny and fate of individuals as well as the state, all played out under the watchful eye of the gods. Still powerful and provocative after 2, 500 years, these great tragedies offer unparalleled insight into the world of ancient Greece and the origins of the Western dramatic tradition.
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AGAMEMNON
Dramatis Personae
A WATCHMAN
To close the watch I keep, this livelong year;
For as a watch-dog lying, not at rest,
Propped on one arm, upon the palace-roof
Of Atreusâ race, too long, too well I know
The starry conclave of the midnight sky,
Too well, the splendours of the firmament,
The lords of light, whose kingly aspect shows â
What time they set or climb the sky in turn â
The yearâs divisions, bringing frost or fire.
When shall stream up the glow of signal-flame,
The bale-fire bright, and tell its Trojan tale â
Troy town is taâen: such issue holds in hope
She in whose womanâs breast beats heart of man.
Bathed with the dews of night, unvisited
By dreams â ah me! â for in the place of sleep
Stands Fear as my familiar, and repels
The soft repose that would mine eyelids seal.
And if at whiles, for the lost balm of sleep,
I medicine my soul with melody
Of trill or song â anon to tears I turn,
Wailing the woe that broods upon this home,
Not now by honour guided as of old.
That sets me free, wheneâer the thick night glow
With beacon-fire of hope deferred no more.
All hail! [A beaeon-light is seen reddening the distant sky.]
Fire of the night, that brings my spirit day,
Shedding on Argos light, and dance, and song,
Greetings to fortune, hail!
Of Agamemnonâs queen, that she anon
Start from her couch and with a shrill voice cry
A joyous welcome to the beacon-blaze,
For Ilionâs fall; such fiery message gleams
From yon high flame; and I, before the rest,
Will foot the lightsome measure of our joy;
For I can say, My masterâs dice fell fair â
Behold! the triple sice, the lucky flame!
Now be my lot to clasp, in loyal love,
The hand of him restored, who rules our home:
Home â but I say no more: upon my tongue
Treads hard the ox oâ the adage.
I, of set will, speak words the wise may learn,
To others, nought remember nor discern.
CHORUS
Since the twin lords of sceptred sway,
By Zeus endowed with pride of place,
The doughty chiefs of Atreusâ race,
Put forth to bear the martial band,
That with a spirit stern and strong
Went out to right the kingdomâs wrong â
Pealed, as they went, the battle-song,
In wild bereaved agony,
Around, around, in airy rings,
They wheel with oarage of their wings,
That called them to the nest of old;
But let Apollo from the sky,
Or Pan, or Zeus, but hear the cry,
The exile cry, the wail forlorn,
Of birds from whom their home is torn â
On those who wrought the rapine fell,
Heaven sends the vengeful fiends of hell.
And guardian of the hearth and board,
Speed Atreusâ sons, in vengeful ire,
âGainst Paris â sends them forth on fire,
Her to buy back, in war and blood,
Whom one did wed but many wooâd!
And many, many, by his will,
The last embrace of foes shall feel,
And many a knee in dust be bowed,
And splintered spears on shields ring loud,
Of Trojan and of Greek, before
That iron bridal-feast be oâer!
But as he willed âtis ordered all,
And woes, by heaven ordained, must fall â
Unsoothed by tears or spilth of wine
Poured forth too late, the wrath divine
Glares vengeance on the flameless shrine.
Feeble of frame, unfit were held
To join the warrior array
That then went forth unto the fray:
And here at home we tarry, fain
Our feeble footsteps to sustain,
Each on his staff â so strength doth wane,
And turns to childishness again.
For while the sap of youth is green,
And, yet unripened, leaps within,
The young are weakly as the old,
And each alike unmeet to hold
The vantage post of war!
And fleeting as a dream of night
Lost in the garish day!
That thus in sacrificial wise
Eâen to the cityâs boundaries
Thou biddest altar-fires arise?
Each god who doth our city guard,
And keeps oâer Argos watch and ward
The marketâs lesser deities,
And here and there, anear, afar,
Streams skyward many a beacon-star,
Conjurâd and charmâd and kindled well
By pure oilâs soft and guileless spell,
Hid now no more
Within the palaceâ secret store.