0:06:21.947,0:06:27.277
Who from the accursed regions of the dead haleth me forth,

0:06:27.277,0:06:31.277
snatching at food which ever fleeth from my hungry lips?

0:06:31.368,0:06:38.280
Hath something worse been found than parching thirst midst water,

0:06:38.280,0:06:42.318
worse than ever-gaping hunger?

0:06:44.128,0:06:46.828
To what new suffering am I shifted?

0:06:47.968,0:06:52.267
O whoe’er thou art, harsh judge of shades,

0:06:52.267,0:06:55.787
who dost allot fresh punishments to the dead,

0:06:55.787,0:06:59.607
if aught can be added to my sufferings

0:06:59.607,0:07:03.877
whereat e’en the guardian of our dread prison-house would quake,

0:07:03.877,0:07:07.157
whereat sad Acheron would be seized with dread,

0:07:07.157,0:07:12.231
with fear whereof I, too, should tremble, seek thou it out.

0:07:15.370,0:07:23.690
Now from my seed a multitude is coming up which its own race shall out-do,

0:07:23.690,0:07:26.800
which shall make me seem innocent,

0:07:28.740,0:07:32.740
and dare things yet undared.

0:07:34.177,0:07:37.717
Whatever space is still empty in the unholy realm,

0:07:37.717,0:07:39.240
I shall fill up.

0:07:50.597,0:07:55.307
Go on, you hated shade,

0:07:55.307,0:08:00.780
and spur the wicked house-gods with your rage.

0:08:00.780,0:08:02.528
Let all compete in every crime,

0:08:02.528,0:08:06.535
let each side unsheathe the sword in turn:

0:08:06.535,0:08:10.635
no limit to this anger, no shame.

0:08:11.945,0:08:15.205
Let heedless fury goad their minds,

0:08:16.300,0:08:21.893
let the parents’ frenzy and their ceaseless sin[br]devolve upon the sons.

0:08:22.375,0:08:29.305
Let the shaky fortune of this bestial house revert from king to king,

0:08:31.977,0:08:35.977
let wretch be rendered ruler

0:08:35.977,0:08:38.150
and ruler be made wretch.

0:08:39.232,0:08:43.612
Let anger find no act taboo.

0:08:44.386,0:08:47.524
Let brother fear his brother,

0:08:47.524,0:08:51.274
father fear his son, and son his father.

0:08:51.496,0:08:54.466
O let the children die a dreadful end,

0:08:55.146,0:08:57.901
but let their birth be worse,

0:08:57.951,0:09:01.451
let the wife-abomination be a menace to her mate.

0:09:01.451,0:09:06.710
In this godless house, let incest be like any crime!

0:09:06.506,0:09:14.860
Let right, and trust, and every law lie dead for brothers.

0:09:14.547,0:09:16.287
Confuse the house-gods,

0:09:16.287,0:09:19.191
summon hatred, death, and slaughter,

0:09:19.191,0:09:22.263
and fill all the house with Tantalus.

0:09:22.545,0:09:25.944
Let blood discolor the family hearth,

0:09:25.944,0:09:28.334
let the dinner plates be set.

0:09:29.745,0:09:32.365
This day’s my gift to you.

0:09:32.365,0:09:36.365
I loose your hunger for this meal.

0:09:36.365,0:09:38.178
Sate your starvation.

0:09:39.717,0:09:43.217
I have found a feast which even you would flee—

0:09:43.217,0:09:45.590
but stop!

0:09:45.590,0:09:47.750
Where do you rush in haste?

0:09:49.159,0:09:53.560
Back to my pools and streams and fleeing waters,

0:09:53.560,0:09:57.103
back to the laden tree which shuns my very lips.

0:09:58.294,0:10:03.240
Let me return to the black couch of my prison-house;

0:10:03.240,0:10:10.154
let it be mine, if I seem too little wretched, to change my stream.

0:10:14.535,0:10:21.895
Whoe’er thou art, by the fates’ law bidden to[br]suffer allotted punishment:

0:10:22.575,0:10:29.105
believe me who know, and love your punishments.

0:10:29.422,0:10:34.802
Oh, when shall it fall to me to escape the upper world?

0:10:41.965,0:10:45.965
First convulse your home.

0:10:46.718,0:10:49.868
’Tis meet for me to suffer punishments,

0:10:49.868,0:10:51.788
not be a punishment.

0:10:54.145,0:10:57.597
I am sent as some deadly exhalation from the riven earth,

0:10:57.597,0:11:01.597
or as a pestilence, spreading grievous plague among the people,

0:11:03.772,0:11:09.682
that I a grandsire may lead my grandsons into fearful crime.

0:11:12.543,0:11:17.944
I warn ye, defile not your hands with accursed slaughter,

0:11:17.944,0:11:21.213
nor stain your altars with a madman’s crime.

0:11:23.561,0:11:27.101
Here will I stand and prevent the evil deed.

0:11:27.439,0:11:30.249
Why with thy scourge dost fright mine eyes?

0:11:30.249,0:11:39.149
Why deep in my inmost marrow dost rouse hunger pains?

0:11:46.832,0:11:48.102
I follow thee.

0:12:12.236,0:12:18.386
This delirium—deal this throughout your house,

0:12:18.386,0:12:20.866
let them rave like this,

0:12:20.866,0:12:25.306
and like this hate and thirst in turn for kindred blood.

0:12:28.488,0:12:32.488
Your home can sense that you are home,

0:12:32.488,0:12:36.488
it shrinks in every part from hell’s contagion.

0:12:41.453,0:12:45.453
And now—it’s done in full!

0:13:01.235,0:13:06.365
Daughter of Tyndareus, Queen Clytemnestra,

0:13:06.365,0:13:09.327
What is happening? What is the news?

0:13:09.327,0:13:12.718
What message has persuaded you,

0:13:12.718,0:13:16.718
that you have sent round word to make sacrifices?

0:13:26.985,0:13:32.935
I have authority to tell how the twin-throned rulers of the Achaeans

0:13:32.935,0:13:35.985
were sped with avenging spear and hand

0:13:35.985,0:13:40.705
to the Teucrian land by a fierce warlike bird of omen,

0:13:41.398,0:13:45.398
the kings of birds appearing to the kings of ships,

0:13:47.229,0:13:55.489
eating a hare, pregnant with many offspring,

0:13:57.392,0:14:03.120
her final run cut short.

0:14:04.979,0:14:08.169
And the worthy prophet to the army saw it,

0:14:08.169,0:14:11.379
and recognized the two warlike Atreidae,

0:14:11.379,0:14:13.828
different in their temper,

0:14:13.828,0:14:17.521
in the feasters on the hare who sped the rulers on their way;

0:14:17.521,0:14:21.531
and thus he spoke, interpreting the portent:

0:14:21.844,0:14:27.719
“In time this expedition will capture the city of Priam:

0:14:28.554,0:14:33.680
only let no divine resentment overshadow the great curb of Troy,

0:14:33.680,0:14:39.360
striking it before it can act, once it has been mustered.

0:14:39.668,0:14:43.738
For holy Artemis, out of pity,

0:14:43.738,0:14:47.818
bears a grudge against the winged hounds of her father

0:14:47.818,0:14:51.228
who slaughtered the wretched hare, litter and all,

0:14:51.228,0:14:55.228
before it could give birth.”

0:14:58.900,0:15:04.140
And then the senior leader of the Achaean fleet,

0:15:04.140,0:15:08.310
when the Achaean host was grievously afflicted by foul weather

0:15:08.310,0:15:11.468
which emptied their stomachs at Aulis,

0:15:13.308,0:15:17.579
and winds coming from the Strymon

0:15:17.579,0:15:22.609
making time seem twice as long

0:15:23.123,0:15:28.953
wore down and shredded the flower of the Argives;

0:15:29.947,0:15:32.770
And when the prophet also cried forth

0:15:32.770,0:15:35.582
another remedy for the hateful storms,

0:15:35.582,0:15:39.702
one more grievous for the leaders,

0:15:40.195,0:15:45.450
declaring Artemis as their cause,

0:15:45.136,0:15:51.901
so that the Atreidae struck the ground with their staffs

0:15:53.461,0:15:57.601
and could not hold back their tears—

0:15:57.601,0:16:06.161
and the senior king spoke, and said this:

0:16:14.437,0:16:18.607
Obey, obey, or a heavy doom will crush me!

0:16:18.887,0:16:22.933
Oh but doom will crush me once I rend my child,

0:16:22.933,0:16:25.503
the glory of my house—

0:16:25.503,0:16:28.416
a father’s hands are stained,

0:16:28.416,0:16:34.126
blood of a young girl streaks the altar.

0:16:36.229,0:16:38.719
Pain both ways and what is worse?

0:16:39.759,0:16:42.669
Desert the fleets, fail the alliance?

0:16:44.399,0:16:47.283
No, but stop the winds with a virgin’s blood,

0:16:47.283,0:16:51.570
feed their lust, their fury? Feed their fury!

0:16:51.570,0:16:52.976
Law is law!

0:17:00.235,0:17:01.735
Let all go well.

0:17:11.907,0:17:17.270
And when he put on the yokestrap of necessity,

0:17:19.231,0:17:23.231
from that point he turned to a mindset

0:17:26.515,0:17:30.450
that would stop at nothing.

0:17:30.450,0:17:31.750
In short,

0:17:32.661,0:17:36.921
he brought himself to become the sacrificer of his daughter.

0:17:38.845,0:17:45.577
Her pleas, her cries of “Father!” and her maiden years,

0:17:45.577,0:17:50.557
were set at naught by the war-loving chieftains.

0:17:50.557,0:17:55.297
After a prayer, her father told his attendants

0:17:57.147,0:17:59.500
to lift her right up

0:17:59.500,0:18:01.839
over the altar with all their strength,

0:18:01.839,0:18:05.339
like a yearling goat, face down,

0:18:05.339,0:18:09.943
so that her robes fell around her,

0:18:11.198,0:18:14.318
and by putting a guard on her fair face and lips

0:18:14.318,0:18:18.858
to restrain speech that might lay a curse on his house—

0:18:19.122,0:18:24.332
by force, by the silencing power of a bridle.

0:18:24.560,0:18:26.790
As she poured saffron dye

0:18:26.790,0:18:30.357
towards the ground

0:18:30.357,0:18:33.922
she cast on each of her sacrificers

0:18:33.922,0:18:36.622
a glance darted from her eye,

0:18:39.482,0:18:42.442
a glance to stir pity,

0:18:43.882,0:18:48.120
wanting to address them[br]by name

0:18:48.534,0:18:51.454
—because often

0:18:54.874,0:18:59.440
at the rich banquets in her father’s dining-chambers

0:18:59.440,0:19:01.410
she had sung.

0:19:10.297,0:19:14.787
I have come, Clytemnestra, in reverence towards your[br]power:

0:19:14.787,0:19:20.857
for it is proper to honor the wife of one’s[br]paramount ruler

0:19:20.857,0:19:26.470
when the male throne is unoccupied.

0:19:26.449,0:19:31.719
I would be glad to hear if you have learned any good news,

0:19:31.719,0:19:33.668
or if you have not

0:19:33.668,0:19:40.888
but are sacrificing in hope of receiving good tidings

0:19:41.228,0:19:45.758
—but I will bear no grudge if you keep silence.

0:19:47.462,0:19:52.720
Good news. Joy surpassing all your hopes!

0:19:52.720,0:19:56.322
The Greeks have captured Priam’s town!

0:19:59.569,0:20:01.259
What are you saying?

0:20:02.480,0:20:06.808
Your words escaped me, they were so incredible.

0:20:06.808,0:20:09.140
Troy belongs to us!

0:20:09.140,0:20:11.300
Clear?

0:20:12.502,0:20:14.752
What has persuaded you of this?

0:20:15.116,0:20:17.486
Have you any evidence for it?

0:20:17.802,0:20:18.592
I have.

0:20:18.592,0:20:21.662
Unless some god fooled me.

0:20:22.663,0:20:26.663
Have you been awed by a persuasive vision in a dream?

0:20:28.896,0:20:32.686
I would not trust a mind asleep.

0:20:35.670,0:20:41.167
Within what time has the city actually been sacked?

0:20:41.476,0:20:45.476
In the night, this past night.

0:20:47.730,0:20:51.653
And what messenger could come here with such speed?

0:20:53.361,0:20:55.364
Hephaistos, god of fire!

0:20:55.364,0:20:57.728
He sped forth a blazing flame from Ida!

0:20:57.728,0:21:02.923
Beacon after beacon as the fire messenger moved

0:21:02.923,0:21:06.468
from Ida to the rock of Lemnos,

0:21:06.468,0:21:09.715
to the crag of Athos third.

0:21:09.715,0:21:14.206
This was my lightbringing strategy,

0:21:14.206,0:21:21.666
torch to torch over the entire course.

0:21:21.666,0:21:25.373
Such is the proof and evidence I offered you,

0:21:25.373,0:21:29.373
sent by my husband from Troy to me personally.

0:21:31.537,0:21:35.537
I would like to hear these words again,

0:21:35.537,0:21:38.487
from beginning to end,[br]as you have spoken them,

0:21:38.487,0:21:42.487
and to marvel at them.

0:21:43.203,0:21:47.232
Troy is ours on this day.

0:21:47.612,0:21:55.152
Some fall on the bodies of their husbands, fathers, brothers

0:21:55.152,0:22:01.152
and cry out grief from throats no longer free.

0:22:01.806,0:22:07.216
The others quartered now in captured Trojan homes,

0:22:07.216,0:22:12.560
escaped from frost and dew,

0:22:12.560,0:22:14.216
they’ll sleep like happy men

0:22:14.216,0:22:18.446
the whole night through without watch.

0:22:23.732,0:22:26.820
Let no mad impulse strike the army

0:22:26.820,0:22:30.200
to ravish what they should not, overcome by greed.

0:22:30.200,0:22:31.191
They’re not home yet.

0:22:31.191,0:22:33.971
Yet even if they make it home without offending gods

0:22:33.971,0:22:36.911
the agony of those who died may wake again—

0:22:36.911,0:22:38.641
—I pray no sudden shift to evil.

0:22:42.242,0:22:45.975
Such are my woman words.

0:22:46.205,0:22:49.575
May the good prevail. Unambiguously.

0:22:52.611,0:22:55.239
Lady, you have spoken wisely,

0:22:56.229,0:22:59.731
like a sensible man.

0:23:17.883,0:23:22.193
Idle, inert, impotent, and unavenged:

0:23:22.193,0:23:23.863
after so many crimes,

0:23:23.863,0:23:26.100
after your brother’s treachery

0:23:26.100,0:23:27.850
and the breaking of every principle,

0:23:27.850,0:23:31.850
do you act with futile complaints—you, Atreus in anger?

0:23:32.310,0:23:35.871
This mighty house of famous Pelops itself—

0:23:35.871,0:23:40.243
—let it fall even on me, so long as it falls on my brother.

0:23:41.210,0:23:46.320
I must dare some fierce, bloody outrage,

0:23:46.320,0:23:50.320
such as my brother would have wished his own.

0:23:52.481,0:23:57.661
You do not avenge crimes unless you surpass them.

0:23:57.710,0:24:01.710
And what could be cruel enough to vanquish him?

0:24:02.208,0:24:07.228
I know the man’s intractable nature:

0:24:07.267,0:24:12.507
he cannot be bent, but he can be broken.

0:24:14.437,0:24:16.437
He must be attacked first,

0:24:16.437,0:24:18.147
lest he attack me at rest.

0:24:18.147,0:24:20.897
He will either destroy or be destroyed.

0:24:20.977,0:24:24.638
Are you not afraid the people will speak against you?

0:24:24.697,0:24:26.947
They must want what they do not want!

0:24:26.947,0:24:29.890
A king should want the good,

0:24:29.890,0:24:31.289
his wishes match his people’s.

0:24:31.644,0:24:35.924
Where a sovereign is permitted only what is honorable,

0:24:35.924,0:24:37.998
he rules on sufferance.

0:24:38.245,0:24:40.585
Remember that harming a brother,

0:24:40.585,0:24:42.515
even a bad one, is wrong.

0:24:42.515,0:24:44.540
Anything that is wrong in dealing with a brother

0:24:44.540,0:24:46.270
is right in dealing with him.

0:24:46.270,0:24:49.310
What has he left untouched by guilt,

0:24:49.310,0:24:52.545
when has he refrained from crime?

0:24:52.545,0:24:55.150
He stole my wife by adultery

0:24:55.150,0:24:56.818
and my kingdom by theft;

0:24:56.818,0:25:00.509
by deceit he obtained our ancient symbol of power,

0:25:00.509,0:25:02.879
by deceit he brought turmoil on the house.

0:25:02.879,0:25:08.141
From this act flowed all the evil of our mutual destruction.

0:25:08.141,0:25:12.361
I roamed my own realm, a trembling exile;

0:25:13.532,0:25:18.512
no part of what is mine is safe from treachery;

0:25:18.578,0:25:20.980
my wife is defiled,

0:25:20.980,0:25:22.468
my confidence in power shaken,

0:25:22.468,0:25:28.108
my house tainted, its blood uncertain;

0:25:28.108,0:25:30.468
nothing is sure—

0:25:30.468,0:25:33.380
—except my brother’s enmity.

0:25:33.380,0:25:35.796
Look to Tantalus and Pelops:

0:25:35.796,0:25:40.726
my hands are called to follow their examples.

0:25:41.544,0:25:46.856
Tell me how to slay that fearsome creature.

0:25:46.856,0:25:49.326
Let your enemy die by the sword,

0:25:49.326,0:25:50.806
and breathe his last.

0:25:50.871,0:25:52.818
You talk about punishment’s conclusion:

0:25:52.818,0:25:54.834
I want the punishment!

0:25:55.715,0:25:58.750
Slaying is for a lenient tyrant;

0:25:59.199,0:26:03.199
in my kingdom death is something people beg for.

0:26:03.528,0:26:05.868
But are you not moved by affection?

0:26:05.868,0:26:10.978
Begone, Affection, if ever you existed at all in our house!

0:26:10.978,0:26:13.541
Let the dread band of Furies come,

0:26:13.541,0:26:15.651
and the Erinys of strife

0:26:15.651,0:26:18.791
and Megaera brandishing her twin torches.

0:26:18.791,0:26:25.162
The madness firing my heart is not big enough,

0:26:25.162,0:26:29.632
I want to be filled with some greater monstrosity.

0:26:29.905,0:26:32.335
You are mad! What is your plan?

0:26:32.973,0:26:37.483
Nothing conforming to the limits of ordinary bitterness.

0:26:37.483,0:26:42.283
I shall leave no deed undone—and none is enough.

0:26:42.283,0:26:43.573
Death by the sword?

0:26:43.573,0:26:44.873
Insufficient.

0:26:44.873,0:26:46.373
Burning?

0:26:46.639,0:26:48.929
Still insufficient.

0:26:49.845,0:26:53.265
Then what means can your huge resentment use?

0:26:53.893,0:26:57.400
Thyestes himself.

0:26:57.400,0:27:00.614
Too much! even for your rage.

0:27:01.999,0:27:03.487
I admit it.

0:27:03.487,0:27:06.677
The ground moans from its lowest depths,

0:27:06.677,0:27:09.879
the sky thunders though cloudless,

0:27:09.879,0:27:13.139
the house cracks throughout its structure as if shattered,

0:27:13.139,0:27:16.310
and the house gods shake and avert their faces.

0:27:16.310,0:27:19.861
Let it be done, let it be done,

0:27:19.861,0:27:23.486
this outrage that makes you gods afraid!

0:27:23.539,0:27:26.350
So what are you planning to do?

0:27:27.547,0:27:31.304
Something more, greater than the commonplace,

0:27:31.304,0:27:34.914
beyond normal human limits,

0:27:34.914,0:27:39.500
is swelling in my spirit and jolting my sluggish hands.

0:27:40.300,0:27:46.800
What it is I do not know, but it is something mighty!

0:27:48.640,0:27:50.190
So be it.

0:27:50.190,0:27:51.789
Seize on it, my spirit!

0:27:51.789,0:27:57.589
The deed is worthy of Thyestes and worthy of Atreus:

0:27:57.589,0:27:59.603
let each perform it.

0:28:03.520,0:28:06.251
Let the father rend his children avidly,

0:28:06.251,0:28:10.810
gleefully, and eat his own flesh.

0:28:11.467,0:28:18.527
Why has Atreus remained innocent so long?

0:28:18.527,0:28:24.837
Now the whole picture of the carnage hovers before [br]my eyes—

0:28:24.837,0:28:29.700
—childlessness stuffed down the father’s throat!

0:28:30.615,0:28:34.615
Why take fright again, my spirit?

0:28:34.870,0:28:37.680
It must be dared; do it!

0:28:39.370,0:28:44.222
The principal outrage in this crime—

0:28:44.222,0:28:47.200
—he will commit it himself.

0:28:47.511,0:28:49.761
But how will you deceive him

0:28:49.761,0:28:52.881
to put his foot into our net and be trapped?

0:28:52.982,0:28:56.262
He knows you hate him; he suspects you.

0:28:56.262,0:28:58.609
He desires my kingdom.

0:28:58.609,0:29:01.904
In this desire he will do what he thinks the greatest evil:

0:29:01.904,0:29:03.464
see his brother.

0:29:03.464,0:29:05.794
But who can make him trust you?

0:29:05.794,0:29:07.894
Who can make him believe it?

0:29:08.469,0:29:13.589
I shall give my sons a mandate to take to their uncle:

0:29:13.589,0:29:17.859
that he should leave a wandering exile’s lodgings,

0:29:17.859,0:29:20.148
trade his wretchedness for a throne,

0:29:20.148,0:29:22.980
and reign in Argos as coruler.

0:29:22.980,0:29:25.800
On the one side his old passion for power,

0:29:25.800,0:29:29.621
on the other grim poverty and hard toils,

0:29:29.621,0:29:32.252
will subdue the fellow,

0:29:32.252,0:29:35.876
however toughened by so many troubles.

0:29:35.876,0:29:38.716
Pick other agents for your savage plan.

0:29:38.716,0:29:41.186
If you teach them to turn on their uncle,

0:29:41.186,0:29:43.853
they will turn on their father.

0:29:43.853,0:29:46.626
Crime often comes back round again to its teacher.

0:29:46.626,0:29:51.319
Though no one teach them the ways of deceit [br]and crime,

0:29:51.319,0:29:53.422
kingship will teach it.

0:29:53.697,0:29:55.679
You fear their becoming evil?

0:29:55.679,0:29:57.544
They are born so.

0:29:57.894,0:30:01.440
Will the boys be told of the plot?

0:30:02.547,0:30:09.870
What need is there to involve my children in my crime?

0:30:11.577,0:30:14.857
Let my hatred unfold through me—

0:30:15.690,0:30:19.540
—You are going wrong, you are retreating, my spirit!

0:30:19.909,0:30:23.549
If you spare your own, you will spare those too.

0:30:23.650,0:30:27.650
Agamemnon must serve my scheme knowingly,

0:30:27.980,0:30:30.940
and Menelaus assist his brother knowingly.

0:30:30.940,0:30:33.266
Let me gain assurance

0:30:33.266,0:30:35.956
about my questionable sons from this crime:

0:30:36.765,0:30:40.527
if they reject war and refuse to pursue the feud,

0:30:40.527,0:30:44.787
if they call him uncle, he is their father.

0:30:45.873,0:30:50.483
But great schemes betray a person

0:30:51.103,0:30:52.932
even against his will.

0:30:54.292,0:30:57.932
They must not know how great a business they are agents in.

0:30:57.932,0:31:01.962
And you, keep my venture secret.

0:31:01.962,0:31:03.659
I need no warning.

0:31:20.563,0:31:23.683
Prompted by the fire that brought good news,

0:31:23.683,0:31:27.673
word has passed swiftly through the city;

0:31:27.673,0:31:31.703
but who knows whether it is true,

0:31:31.703,0:31:35.223
or some divine deception?

0:31:38.200,0:31:42.200
I see, coming here from the seashore, a herald.

0:31:42.200,0:31:44.846
Hail, soil of my fathers, land of Argos!

0:31:44.846,0:31:46.690
On this day, after nearly ten years,

0:31:46.690,0:31:48.876
I have come back to you,

0:31:48.876,0:31:51.546
achieving one of my hopes, after the shipwreck of so many:

0:31:51.546,0:31:55.106
for I never thought that I would die in this Argive land

0:31:55.106,0:31:57.952
and be able to share my beloved family tomb.

0:31:57.952,0:31:59.918
Hail, palace, beloved home of my kings,

0:31:59.918,0:32:04.708
and august seats, and you deities who face the sun!

0:32:15.659,0:32:19.659
Let these eyes of yours be bright, if they ever have been before,

0:32:19.659,0:32:23.199
as you welcome your king home in glory at long last;

0:32:23.199,0:32:26.579
for he has come, bringing light out of darkness to you and to all these people—

0:32:26.579,0:32:29.675
—King Agamemnon!

0:32:29.675,0:32:33.625
Give him a noble welcome, for that is truly proper,

0:32:33.625,0:32:35.743
when he has dug up Troy

0:32:35.743,0:32:37.743
with the mattock of Zeus the Avenger,

0:32:39.403,0:32:45.443
with which the ground has been worked over

0:32:45.443,0:32:50.343
and the seed of the whole country destroyed.

0:32:56.613,0:32:58.300
All happiness to you,

0:32:58.300,0:33:01.193
herald of the Achaeans returning from the war.

0:33:01.193,0:33:02.423
I am happy;

0:33:02.423,0:33:05.530
if the gods decree my death, I will no longer complain.

0:33:06.508,0:33:10.968
Were you prostrated by longing for this land of your fathers?

0:33:10.968,0:33:14.567
So much so that my eyes now fill with tears of joy.

0:33:18.887,0:33:21.481
Just as much I often groaned aloud

0:33:21.481,0:33:24.392
in the gloominess of my heart.

0:33:24.543,0:33:26.263
From what source

0:33:26.263,0:33:29.930
did this miserable bitterness come over the people?

0:33:29.167,0:33:34.437
I have long used silence to protect me against harm.

0:33:34.841,0:33:36.391
Why, may I ask?

0:33:36.391,0:33:39.484
Were you afraid of someone, in the rulers’ absence?

0:33:39.484,0:33:42.676
So that now, as you put it,

0:33:43.644,0:33:47.644
even death would be a great favor.

0:33:51.367,0:33:53.797
Yes, for we have been successful!

0:33:53.797,0:33:55.897
In these affairs, over a long period,

0:33:55.897,0:33:58.817
there are some things that one can say fall out well,

0:33:58.817,0:34:02.817
and on the other hand some that do have drawbacks.

0:34:09.427,0:34:13.827
Who, except the gods, is free from pain for the whole of his lifetime?

0:34:14.857,0:34:16.767
Why should one mourn over these things?

0:34:17.477,0:34:18.724
The suffering is past!

0:34:18.724,0:34:20.496
For the dead, it is so thoroughly past

0:34:20.496,0:34:23.015
that they don’t even have to worry about reveille any more.

0:34:23.015,0:34:27.734
Why should we reckon the lost ones into the account, why should the living be expected to grieve over the spite of fortune?

0:34:27.734,0:34:29.583
Well, you have heard everything.

0:34:41.790,0:34:45.790
I raised my shout of joy a while ago.

0:34:48.358,0:34:52.108
There were of course those who rebuked me saying,

0:34:52.108,0:34:57.828
“You’ve convinced yourself that Troy is sacked because of a beacon!

0:34:57.828,0:35:00.417
How like a woman!”

0:35:02.761,0:35:07.041
And now, what need for you to tell me more?

0:35:07.041,0:35:09.835
From the king himself I shall learn everything—

0:35:09.835,0:35:11.844
—how best to welcome him[br]oh I’m excited—

0:35:11.844,0:35:14.085
—what day is sweeter for a wife

0:35:14.085,0:35:17.305
than when she runs to open the door

0:35:17.305,0:35:20.315
for her husband back from war?—

0:35:20.787,0:35:24.787
You’ll find your loyal wife just as you left her,

0:35:24.787,0:35:28.367
guarding the house like a good dog,

0:35:28.367,0:35:31.317
enemy to your enemies, quite unchanged.

0:35:31.317,0:35:35.547
She broke no seal while you were away.

0:35:35.547,0:35:39.547
And she knows no more of secret sex or scandal

0:35:39.602,0:35:44.582
than she does of dipping bronze.

0:35:51.661,0:35:56.358
That is what she has said,

0:35:56.358,0:36:01.548
and if you understand it through [br]clear interpreters it is a . . .

0:36:01.548,0:36:05.548
plausible speech.

0:36:29.133,0:36:33.415
At last I see the long-desired housetops of my homeland, the wealth of Argos,

0:36:34.335,0:36:38.335
and what seems to miserable exiles the greatest and highest good—

0:36:39.061,0:36:44.092
the reaches of my native soil

0:36:44.092,0:36:46.592
and the gods of my fathers

0:36:46.592,0:36:49.692
(if there really are gods).

0:36:50.645,0:36:52.855
Argos will come to meet me,

0:36:52.855,0:36:55.503
the people will come in crowds—

0:36:55.995,0:36:59.065
—but so will Atreus, of course.

0:37:01.395,0:37:04.553
Better hurry back to your forest refuges,

0:37:04.553,0:37:07.143
to those dense woods

0:37:07.143,0:37:11.143
and your life among the beasts and comparable to theirs.

0:37:11.733,0:37:14.685
There is no reason for this bright luster of kingship

0:37:14.685,0:37:18.138
to blind your eyes with its false glitter.

0:37:20.029,0:37:24.029
When you examine a gift, look at the giver too.

0:37:27.692,0:37:31.692
Just now, amid what everyone considers hardships,

0:37:32.183,0:37:36.183
I was courageous and happy.

0:37:39.160,0:37:43.160
But now I am relapsing into fears;

0:37:44.855,0:37:50.355
my spirit falters and wants to turn [br]my body back,

0:37:53.603,0:37:56.683
my steps are forced and reluctant.

0:37:58.463,0:38:03.343
The beast is held fast in the nets I set out.

0:38:03.343,0:38:06.104
I see both the man and, along with him,

0:38:06.104,0:38:10.762
the hopes of that detested line, joined with their father.

0:38:12.285,0:38:15.587
Now my hatred is on a firm footing.

0:38:17.147,0:38:23.537
He has come into my hands, at last [br]Thyestes has come—

0:38:23.537,0:38:25.511
—yes, in his entirety.

0:38:25.511,0:38:28.412
I can scarcely restrain my spirit,

0:38:28.412,0:38:31.415
my rancor can scarcely be reined in.

0:38:31.415,0:38:36.295
When anger senses blood, it knows no concealment.

0:38:36.295,0:38:39.685
But concealed it must be.

0:38:40.305,0:38:47.025
See how his hair is heavy with grime and shrouds his dismal face,

0:38:47.025,0:38:50.265
How foul and limp his beard.

0:38:50.265,0:38:52.475
—But good faith must be demonstrated.

0:38:53.843,0:38:56.615
I am delighted to see my brother.

0:38:56.770,0:39:02.340
Let me feel once more the embrace I have longed for!

0:39:06.523,0:39:10.193
Any anger that existed must be in the past.

0:39:10.193,0:39:16.163
From this day blood and family ties must be cherished,

0:39:16.823,0:39:21.123
and hatred must be condemned and expelled from our hearts.

0:39:28.573,0:39:31.179
I could explain everything away,

0:39:31.179,0:39:33.932
if you were not like this.

0:39:35.822,0:39:42.172
But I confess, Atreus, I confess,

0:39:42.172,0:39:45.952
I committed all that you thought I had.

0:39:45.952,0:39:50.832
The fraternal affection you show today [br]has made my case indefensible.

0:39:50.832,0:39:58.772
A man is obviously guilty if he seems guilty to such a good brother.

0:39:59.801,0:40:03.531
I must plead with tears.

0:40:04.153,0:40:07.733
You are the first to see me supplicate.

0:40:07.733,0:40:13.483
These hands, that have touched no one’s feet before, implore you;

0:40:15.363,0:40:17.696
let all anger be set aside,

0:40:17.696,0:40:21.696
let passion be erased and gone.

0:40:23.437,0:40:29.217
As hostages of my good faith take these innocents, brother.

0:40:29.232,0:40:31.818
Take your hand from my knees,

0:40:32.388,0:40:35.818
and come to my embrace instead.

0:40:37.317,0:40:42.417
You too, protectors of old men—so many youngsters!

0:40:42.417,0:40:45.337
—come cling about my neck.

0:40:49.367,0:40:51.577
Off with these filthy clothes—

0:40:51.577,0:40:54.093
—have pity on our eyes—

0:40:54.988,0:41:00.738
—and accept finery equal to mine;

0:41:00.738,0:41:06.248
prosper and take on a share of your brother’s power.

0:41:08.722,0:41:10.792
The gods grant you, brother,

0:41:10.792,0:41:14.792
the rewards you deserve so richly.

0:41:14.792,0:41:19.703
But my foul state unfits my head for the royal [br]emblem,

0:41:19.703,0:41:25.963
and my luckless hand shrinks from the scepter.

0:41:26.327,0:41:30.327
Let me just blend in with the common people.

0:41:30.327,0:41:33.613
This throne has room for two.

0:41:33.703,0:41:38.233
All that is yours, brother, I regard as mine.

0:41:39.520,0:41:43.610
Who would refuse the inflow of Fortune’s gifts?

0:41:43.746,0:41:47.746
Anyone who has experienced how easily they ebb.

0:41:49.985,0:41:54.675
You forbid your brother to win great glory?

0:41:55.088,0:41:59.088
Your glory is already complete,

0:41:59.088,0:42:01.884
mine still to be won.

0:42:01.884,0:42:05.884
It is my fixed purpose to reject the throne.

0:42:06.372,0:42:12.522
I shall abandon my share, unless you accept yours.

0:42:34.600,0:42:35.670
I accept.

0:42:36.550,0:42:39.553
I shall bear the title of king imposed on me,

0:42:39.553,0:42:43.553
but the laws and army will be subject to you, along with myself.

0:42:43.553,0:42:49.793
Wear this bond set on your venerable head.

0:42:49.793,0:42:50.993
For my part,

0:42:50.993,0:42:54.993
I shall offer the designated victims to the gods above.

0:43:42.355,0:43:45.695
Come now, my king,

0:43:45.695,0:43:50.865
sacker of Troy, offspring of Atreus,

0:43:53.553,0:43:56.213
how shall I address you?

0:43:56.213,0:43:59.143
To me, at that time,

0:43:59.143,0:44:03.373
when you were leading forth an expedition

0:44:03.373,0:44:05.823
on account of Helen—

0:44:05.823,0:44:09.383
—I will not conceal this from you—

0:44:10.283,0:44:14.690
you seemed painted in very ugly colours, but now,

0:44:14.690,0:44:19.790
from the depths of my heart and with affection,

0:44:19.790,0:44:24.680
I am friendly to those

0:44:24.680,0:44:31.030
who have made a good end of their labours.

0:44:32.513,0:44:34.403
Look for the smoke—

0:44:34.403,0:44:37.283
it is the city’s seamark, building even now.

0:44:37.283,0:44:41.237
The storms of ruin live!

0:44:43.377,0:44:48.367
For that we must thank the gods with a sacrifice

0:44:48.367,0:44:54.087
our sons will long remember:

0:44:54.657,0:45:03.747
crashing through their walls our bloody lion lapped its fill,

0:45:06.145,0:45:13.680
gorging on the blood of kings.

0:45:17.265,0:45:20.305
And your concern, old man, is on my mind.

0:45:20.305,0:45:23.705
I hear you and agree, I will support you.

0:45:24.755,0:45:28.364
And now this cause involving men and gods.

0:45:28.364,0:45:30.544
We must summon the city for a trial,

0:45:30.544,0:45:32.864
found a national tribunal.

0:45:35.591,0:45:36.986
Whatever’s healthy,

0:45:36.986,0:45:39.238
shore it up with law and help it flourish.

0:45:39.238,0:45:41.428
Wherever something calls for drastic cures

0:45:41.428,0:45:43.628
we make our noblest effort:

0:45:43.628,0:45:46.858
amputate or wield the healing iron, burn the cancer at the roots.

0:45:50.338,0:45:53.105
Now I go to my father’s house—

0:45:53.105,0:45:55.928
I give the gods my right hand, my first salute.

0:45:55.928,0:45:58.748
The ones who sent me forth have brought me home.

0:45:59.445,0:46:02.375
Victory, you have sped my way before,

0:46:02.375,0:46:04.995
now speed me to the last.

0:46:07.811,0:46:13.911
I am not ashamed to tell you of my husband loving ways.

0:46:14.793,0:46:16.523
The fact is,

0:46:16.523,0:46:24.913
life got hard for me when he was off at Troy.

0:46:27.179,0:46:32.489
It’s a terrible thing for a woman to sit alone in a house,

0:46:34.039,0:46:39.609
listening to rumors and tales of disaster one after another arriving—

0:46:42.492,0:46:49.958
why, had this man sustained as many wounds as people told me,

0:46:49.958,0:46:55.128
he’d be fuller of holes than a net!

0:46:55.128,0:46:59.290
To die as often as they reported

0:46:59.290,0:47:02.708
he’d need three bodies

0:47:02.708,0:47:05.598
and three cloaks of earth—

0:47:05.598,0:47:08.018
—one for each burial.

0:47:10.252,0:47:14.172
So often did nasty rumors reach me,

0:47:15.432,0:47:19.912
I hung up a noose for my neck more than once.

0:47:20.552,0:47:24.552
Other people had to cut me down.

0:47:32.363,0:47:34.946
That’s why our boy—yours and mine—

0:47:34.946,0:47:38.681
Orestes, is not standing here, as he should be.

0:47:38.681,0:47:40.025
Don’t worry.

0:47:40.025,0:47:46.035
Strophios has him, our Phokian ally.

0:47:46.285,0:47:50.525
So now, with all that over, with my mind grief free,

0:47:50.525,0:47:52.405
I salute my man:

0:47:52.405,0:47:54.235
he is the watchdog of the palace,

0:47:54.235,0:47:56.505
forestay of the ship,

0:47:56.505,0:47:59.752
pillar of the roof,

0:47:59.752,0:48:01.595
only son of his father.

0:48:05.130,0:48:09.130
And now, dear one—

0:48:09.130,0:48:11.550
What are you waiting for?

0:48:11.550,0:48:13.630
You have your orders—

0:48:13.630,0:48:15.996
—strew the ground with fabrics, now!

0:48:15.996,0:48:18.106
Make his path crimsoncovered!

0:48:18.106,0:48:20.276
purplepaved! redsaturated!

0:48:20.276,0:48:23.876
So Justice may lead him to the home he never hoped to see.

0:48:26.701,0:48:28.805
There is Leda’s daughter,

0:48:29.415,0:48:32.515
the keeper of my house.

0:48:32.825,0:48:35.305
And the speech to suit my absence,

0:48:35.305,0:48:38.374
much too long.

0:48:39.335,0:48:41.602
But the praise that does us justice,

0:48:41.602,0:48:45.912
let it come from others, then we prize it.

0:48:47.907,0:48:51.377
This—you treat me like a woman.

0:48:51.377,0:48:54.517
Grovelling, gaping up at me—

0:48:54.667,0:49:01.047
what am I, some barbarian peacocking out of Asia?

0:49:01.047,0:49:04.887
Never cross my path with robes and draw the lightning.

0:49:05.467,0:49:10.890
Never—only the gods deserve the pomps of honor

0:49:10.890,0:49:13.997
and the stiff brocades of fame.

0:49:13.997,0:49:15.637
To walk on them ...

0:49:15.637,0:49:19.887
I am human, and it makes my pulses stir with dread.

0:49:22.053,0:49:26.283
Give me the tributes of a man and not a god.

0:49:27.434,0:49:31.434
Oh come on, relax your principles.

0:49:31.948,0:49:34.808
My principles? Once I violate them I am lost.

0:49:35.184,0:49:40.884
Would you have done it for the gods to satisfy a vow?

0:49:42.035,0:49:47.435
Yes, if a prophet called for a last, drastic rite.

0:49:47.673,0:49:54.453
What about Priam, if he’d won the war?

0:49:56.216,0:49:59.746
Striding on the tapestries of god, I see him now.

0:49:59.961,0:50:03.581
Still you fear the blame of common men?

0:50:04.541,0:50:07.885
The voice of the people—aye, they have enormous power.

0:50:07.885,0:50:11.635
Unenvied means unenviable, you know.

0:50:12.273,0:50:16.653
And where’s the woman in all this lust for glory?

0:50:17.179,0:50:21.529
Yet a winner must acknowledge his victory.

0:50:21.989,0:50:25.226
Victory in this war of ours, it means so much to you?

0:50:25.329,0:50:26.769
Agree!

0:50:27.003,0:50:31.003
You’re still in charge if you give way to me by choice.

0:50:35.277,0:50:37.899
Enough. If you are so determined—

0:50:37.899,0:50:40.999
Let someone help me off with these at least.

0:50:47.279,0:50:51.279
Hurry, and while I tread his splendours dyed red in the sea,

0:50:51.279,0:50:55.279
may no god watch and strike me down with envy from on high.

0:50:55.578,0:50:57.798
I feel such shame—

0:50:57.798,0:51:00.328
to tread the life of the house,

0:51:00.328,0:51:04.328
a kingdom’s worth of silver in the weaving.

0:51:07.636,0:51:09.456
Done is done.

0:51:11.617,0:51:17.345
Escort this stranger in,

0:51:17.345,0:51:19.075
be gentle.

0:51:20.410,0:51:28.330
The gift of the armies, flower and pride of all the wealth we won,

0:51:28.330,0:51:30.220
she follows me from Troy.

0:51:36.458,0:51:37.568
And now,

0:51:37.568,0:51:40.318
since you have brought me down with your insistence,

0:51:40.318,0:51:43.098
just this once I enter my father’s house,

0:51:43.098,0:51:45.439
trampling royal crimson as I go.

0:52:04.339,0:52:09.759
There is the sea and who shall drain it dry?

0:52:09.759,0:52:11.989
It breeds the purple stain,

0:52:11.989,0:52:14.789
the dark red dye we use to color our garments,

0:52:14.789,0:52:15.869
costly as silver.

0:52:15.869,0:52:20.019
This house has an abundance.

0:52:20.019,0:52:23.509
Thanks be to gods, no poverty here.

0:52:28.466,0:52:30.534
Zeus, Zeus,

0:52:32.644,0:52:34.504
god of things perfect,

0:52:34.754,0:52:36.877
accomplish my prayers.

0:52:39.155,0:52:42.136
Concern yourself here.

0:52:42.136,0:52:44.416
Perfect this.

0:52:46.444,0:52:48.544
Get yourself into the house,

0:52:48.544,0:52:51.126
I'm talking to you, Kassandra.

0:52:53.803,0:52:55.753
She's just been talking to you, you know, and she's spoken very clearly.

0:52:55.753,0:52:57.813
You've been captured, caught in a deadly net; you should obey her, if you're going to--—

0:52:57.813,0:52:59.509
but perhaps you won't.

0:52:59.509,0:53:07.149
Unless she speaks some unintelligible[br]foreign tongue and chirrups like a swallow,

0:53:07.149,0:53:11.149
I should be reaching through into her understanding.

0:53:15.085,0:53:16.955
Follow her.

0:53:16.955,0:53:24.135
Leave your seat in this carriage, and comply with her words.

0:53:24.976,0:53:28.976
I can’t waste time like this in the doorway.

0:53:28.976,0:53:34.916
Already the animals stand at the hearth ready for slaughter.

0:53:35.586,0:53:39.486
So you get a move on, or you’ll miss the whole ceremony.

0:53:39.486,0:53:42.316
If you really don’t understand a word I’m saying

0:53:42.316,0:53:45.378
make some sign with your hand.

0:53:58.705,0:54:00.325
Oh she’s mad.

0:54:00.325,0:54:03.032
Hearkens only to her own mad mind.

0:54:03.032,0:54:08.782
I’ll not be insulted further.

0:54:14.649,0:54:20.049
I pity you, and I’m not going to be angry.

0:54:20.978,0:54:23.648
Come on, poor girl.

0:54:33.742,0:54:37.453
otototoi popoi da!

0:54:37.453,0:54:41.453
Apollo Apollo!

0:54:42.418,0:54:46.446
Why are you wailing like that about Loxias?

0:54:48.729,0:54:52.729
otototoi popoi da!

0:54:53.419,0:54:57.419
Apollo Apollo!

0:54:59.386,0:55:03.386
He is not the sort to come in contact with one who laments.

0:55:04.950,0:55:08.950
Apollo Apollo

0:55:10.085,0:55:13.955
waygod destroyer

0:55:16.944,0:55:19.514
where have you brought me

0:55:19.514,0:55:21.504
what house is this?

0:55:24.592,0:55:28.592
To the house of the Atreidae.

0:55:31.257,0:55:35.857
ah ah ah god-shunners kin-killers

0:55:35.857,0:55:39.494
child-charnel man-shambles

0:55:39.494,0:55:41.204
babe-spattered abattoir

0:55:42.738,0:55:47.688
The foreign woman seems to be as keen-scented as a hound;

0:55:47.688,0:55:52.524
she has got on the right trail to track down some murders.

0:55:53.480,0:55:55.030
I track down the witnesses

0:55:55.030,0:55:56.510
children babes

0:55:56.510,0:55:58.338
shrieking butcher

0:55:58.338,0:56:00.930
barbecued childflesh wolfed down by the father

0:56:05.170,0:56:08.500
Yes, we had indeed heard of your fame as a seer,

0:56:08.500,0:56:11.900
but we are not looking for any prophets.

0:56:12.249,0:56:13.807
io popoi

0:56:13.807,0:56:16.599
I see somebody evil something

0:56:16.599,0:56:19.339
agony agony more more more

0:56:19.339,0:56:21.563
no-one can bear it

0:56:21.563,0:56:23.696
no-one can stop it

0:56:23.696,0:56:26.286
help’s far away over the ocean

0:56:27.414,0:56:30.924
I do not know what this prophecy means.

0:56:32.004,0:56:37.254
The other one I did know: the whole city resounds with it.

0:56:38.868,0:56:39.988
io

0:56:40.287,0:56:44.537
husband bed-mate

0:56:44.920,0:56:49.180
body washed in your bath-trough

0:56:50.570,0:56:52.701
hand over hand

0:56:55.135,0:56:58.264
hauling the catch in

0:56:58.264,0:57:00.774
I still don’t understand.

0:57:03.581,0:57:08.501
e e papai papai

0:57:08.501,0:57:10.501
net hell-net

0:57:10.726,0:57:15.386
she-snare bed-mate blood-mate

0:57:15.538,0:57:19.167
the deathpack howls over its victim

0:57:19.167,0:57:23.167
the fiendswarm surrounds it for stoning

0:57:23.764,0:57:28.415
What do you mean by bidding this Fury raise a loud cry over the house?

0:57:28.791,0:57:30.078
a a

0:57:30.078,0:57:31.378
look there there look

0:57:31.378,0:57:33.908
bull cow bull cow don’t let them grapple

0:57:33.908,0:57:37.978
he’s caught in the robe-net

0:57:37.978,0:57:41.355
she gores him and gores him

0:57:43.565,0:57:46.745
butting and butting with blood-crusted horn

0:57:53.492,0:57:57.192
slumps into bathblood bloodsplash

0:57:57.192,0:58:00.482
him me him me him me

0:58:00.482,0:58:06.122
woecups mine slops over the brim

0:58:07.242,0:58:09.432
what have you brought me here for?

0:58:09.432,0:58:12.419
to die beside you what else?

0:58:13.217,0:58:18.817
Why have you uttered these words that are all too clear?

0:58:19.057,0:58:23.057
A babe hearing them could understand.

0:58:23.157,0:58:26.334
I am stricken by[br]your painful fate as if by a bloody bite,

0:58:26.334,0:58:34.214
as you cry and[br]whimper in a way that it shatters me to hear.

0:59:08.420,0:59:17.220
Off with the brideveil then.

0:59:18.519,0:59:21.019
Riddles are over.

0:59:21.269,0:59:24.513
Keep close on my track now

0:59:24.513,0:59:29.569
as I scent out the spoor of ancient transgression.

0:59:30.839,0:59:33.399
Listen. The rooftops.

0:59:33.399,0:59:39.149
Monotonous humming that drones on forever and means only terror.

0:59:39.549,0:59:46.719
The blood-bolstered fiend-swarm holds its debauches,

0:59:46.719,0:59:51.629
cacophonous squatters that can’t be evicted,

0:59:52.419,0:59:57.541
chant over and over the crime where it started

0:59:57.541,1:00:00.937
cursing a bedbond a bloodkin defiled

1:00:00.937,1:00:04.578
trampling all over the flowing bed-linen.

1:00:08.169,1:00:11.465
Have I shot wide

1:00:11.465,1:00:14.525
or am I on target?

1:00:17.325,1:00:23.705
Swear I know all the curse of this bloodclan.

1:00:25.199,1:00:27.725
I marvel at you,

1:00:27.725,1:00:33.730
that having been bred beyond the seas

1:00:33.730,1:00:40.466
you can talk so accurately about a foreign-speaking city,

1:00:41.486,1:00:45.735
as if you had been on the spot.

1:00:46.432,1:00:50.552
I’ve always thought it too shameful to tell.

1:00:51.674,1:00:55.674
Did you come together in the act of procreation?

1:00:56.089,1:00:59.599
I told him he could then later said no.

1:00:59.691,1:01:03.751
When you were already possessed by your inspired abilities?

1:01:05.679,1:01:09.679
I foretold Troy’s downfall, the Trojans’ defeat.

1:01:11.140,1:01:15.280
How then did you remain unharmed by the wrath of Loxias?

1:01:16.322,1:01:21.862
No one ever believed me, not one single word.

1:01:23.915,1:01:32.815
Well, to us your prophecies seem quite credible.

1:01:34.974,1:01:36.177
iou iou

1:01:36.177,1:01:38.007
ah ah ah ah

1:01:38.007,1:01:43.427
look on the rooftops dream-shadows children

1:01:43.427,1:01:46.527
killed by their bloodkin,

1:01:46.527,1:01:50.527
their hands full of ugh offal and giblets

1:01:50.527,1:02:00.577
their very own innards held out to their father as succulent morsels.

1:02:06.473,1:02:10.473
The lion plots vengeance

1:02:10.473,1:02:12.175
the lion that’s gutless

1:02:12.175,1:02:18.076
the lion that lolls in the master’s own chamber

1:02:18.868,1:02:23.918
Commander of triremes, crusher of Priam,

1:02:27.859,1:02:31.179
but blind to cabal, the insatiable hell-bitch,

1:02:31.553,1:02:35.553
licking his hand ears pricked in welcome.

1:02:35.553,1:02:39.553
furry and cur-like concealing a Fury

1:02:44.532,1:02:49.772
Whether I’m believed or not doesn’t matter.

1:02:50.074,1:02:54.484
Whatever you do the future will happen.

1:02:54.484,1:02:58.484
Through pity and tears you’ll know the true prophet.

1:02:59.181,1:03:04.741
I understood about Thyestes feasting on his children’s flesh,

1:03:04.741,1:03:09.971
and I shudder, and terror grips me,

1:03:09.971,1:03:13.951
now I have heard it in terms that truly were anything but figurative.

1:03:13.951,1:03:16.571
But as to the rest of what I’ve heard,

1:03:16.571,1:03:18.681
I’m running like a hound that’s lost the scent.

1:03:19.590,1:03:23.590
Agamemnon. He’s the one you’ll see dead!

1:03:24.188,1:03:27.108
Speak only of good things, poor girl; put your tongue to sleep.

1:03:27.108,1:03:31.108
And while you’re appealing his throat’s being slit!

1:03:31.677,1:03:39.022
By what man is this grievous crime being committed?

1:03:39.337,1:03:42.787
If you say man then you don’t understand.

1:03:43.636,1:03:48.466
Because I didn’t understand what method he, the perpetrator, could use.

1:03:49.459,1:03:53.459
And yet it’s your language you’re hearing me speak.

1:03:54.037,1:03:56.357
The pronouncements of Pytho are also in Greek,

1:03:56.357,1:03:58.497
but they’re still hard to understand.

1:04:04.632,1:04:07.013
ah ah

1:04:07.013,1:04:09.513
fire in me

1:04:09.513,1:04:17.007
Apollo’s two-legged lioness tupped by the wolfman

1:04:17.007,1:04:20.407
when the great lion’s gone she’ll kill Cassandra

1:04:21.764,1:04:25.830
She sharpens the swordblade to hack down her husband

1:04:25.830,1:04:29.830
a hacking he earned by bringing me with him

1:04:34.894,1:04:38.661
Why do I wear these garments that mock me,

1:04:38.661,1:04:42.101
the trappings of prophetess, rod, garb and raiment.

1:04:42.101,1:04:46.101
I’m going to die but you’ll go before me.

1:04:46.101,1:04:49.971
It’s some satisfaction to trample these trappings.

1:04:49.971,1:04:53.221
Go and bestow these gifts on another.

1:04:58.280,1:05:03.610
ah Apollo Apollo clawing my clothes off.

1:05:03.666,1:05:07.216
He grabs the prophetess garb off my body.

1:05:07.216,1:05:15.676
He mocked me, Apollo, though dressed as his prophet,

1:05:15.676,1:05:18.916
called vagabond, mountebank, pauper and starveling.

1:05:19.446,1:05:22.555
The god-seer casts his prophetess to disaster.

1:05:22.555,1:05:26.735
My father’s own priestess now mere beast

1:05:26.735,1:05:32.424
oblation lifeblood flowing hot off the hackblock.

1:05:35.912,1:05:37.604
We won’t die forgotten.

1:05:37.604,1:05:39.892
Gods always notice.

1:05:40.777,1:05:43.497
He'll come our avenger, our bloodgrudge-fulfiller.

1:05:43.497,1:05:46.727
He'll come motherkiller, wanderer, exile,

1:05:46.727,1:05:50.782
setting the copestone on this bloodclan's corruption.

1:05:53.647,1:05:57.191
the father's corpse drawing the song back to Argos.

1:05:59.071,1:06:01.996
Why these tears?

1:06:03.556,1:06:11.324
These eyes saw Troy levelled.

1:06:11.324,1:06:13.088
Now it’s for me to die.

1:06:13.088,1:06:14.968
The doorway to death.

1:06:14.968,1:06:18.089
I pray for a clean blow, no painful convulsions,

1:06:18.089,1:06:20.452
my blood ebbing gently, closing my eyes.

1:06:23.124,1:06:26.314
Woman unfortunate in so many ways

1:06:26.314,1:06:29.564
and also wise in so many ways,

1:06:29.564,1:06:32.640
you have spoken at length;

1:06:33.332,1:06:38.262
but if you truly have foreknowledge of your own death,

1:06:38.545,1:06:42.239
how comes it that you are walking boldly towards it

1:06:42.239,1:06:45.599
like an ox driven by god to the altar?

1:06:48.317,1:06:52.317
There’s no escape now. No more delay.

1:06:53.622,1:06:58.742
But people put special value on the last bit of time they have.

1:07:00.074,1:07:01.884
No hope for me though.

1:07:01.884,1:07:04.344
It’s pointless all flight.

1:07:06.083,1:07:11.868
Well, I tell you, your resolution comes from a courageous heart.

1:07:12.006,1:07:15.256
Yes only the doomed are ever called brave.

1:07:17.802,1:07:21.802
But it’s a gratification to any mortal, you know, to die creditably.

1:07:31.021,1:07:32.681
Friends!

1:07:33.927,1:07:34.917
What’s the matter?

1:07:34.917,1:07:36.137
What fear is making you turn away?

1:07:36.137,1:07:37.227
PHEU PHEU!

1:07:37.227,1:07:39.857
Why are you going “pheu” like that?

1:07:39.857,1:07:43.857
The palace! It stinks like an abattoir drain!

1:07:47.365,1:07:52.065
What on earth do you mean?

1:07:52.065,1:07:58.375
That’s the smell of sacrifices at the hearth.

1:07:58.965,1:08:02.725
It stinks like the gas from a burial urn!

1:08:06.826,1:08:08.936
I’m no frightened fledgling

1:08:08.936,1:08:12.184
flinching with fear when the bushes get shaken.

1:08:12.184,1:08:15.274
From you what I beg is the bearing of witness.

1:08:28.639,1:08:34.599
A few last words, a requiem dirgesong

1:08:36.989,1:08:41.859
I ask the sun whose last rays I’m addressing

1:08:41.859,1:08:48.299
that when the avengers cut down the assassins

1:08:49.499,1:08:54.729
one stroke’s for the slave butchered defenseless.

1:08:58.499,1:09:00.429
Man’s life!

1:09:03.238,1:09:07.660
Luck’s blotted out by the slenderest shadow.

1:09:07.660,1:09:15.020
Trouble—a wet sponge wipes the slate empty.

1:09:16.556,1:09:20.556
That pain’s also nothing makes life a heartbreak.

1:10:17.887,1:10:20.841
What wind can whirl me sky-high through the air

1:10:20.841,1:10:23.810
and wrap me in dark clouds,

1:10:23.930,1:10:27.080
to tear my eyes away from such abomination?

1:10:28.270,1:10:31.670
This house would make blush even Pelops and Tantalus.

1:10:33.365,1:10:35.377
What is your news?

1:10:36.531,1:10:38.511
What country is this?

1:10:40.521,1:10:45.511
What is this place that knows such a terrible enormity?

1:10:48.245,1:10:57.585
Tell us, reveal the evil, whatever it is.

1:10:59.059,1:11:01.132
If my heart stops fluttering,

1:11:01.132,1:11:04.622
if my body, stiff with fear, can let my limbs be free.

1:11:06.052,1:11:11.382
The vision of that crime will not go from my eyes.

1:11:12.808,1:11:16.347
Do not keep us suffering in suspense!

1:11:16.347,1:11:18.427
Tell us what you shudder at!

1:11:18.427,1:11:20.147
Reveal the criminal!

1:11:20.147,1:11:23.468
I ask not “Who?” but “Which of them?” it was.

1:11:23.788,1:11:25.118
Out with it!

1:11:27.744,1:11:29.148
On top of the citadel,

1:11:29.148,1:11:32.982
one side of Pelops’ castle is turned towards the south.

1:11:33.875,1:11:37.135
An ancient grove buried in a deep valley,

1:11:37.135,1:11:40.945
at the centre of the kingdom,

1:11:40.945,1:11:45.749
where no tree blossomed or put forth fruit;

1:11:45.749,1:11:49.325
no gardener pruned them.

1:11:50.304,1:11:53.634
The yew and cypress and the black holm-oak

1:11:55.346,1:11:57.586
swayed in that shadowy wood.

1:11:57.586,1:12:03.746
Above them all the oak tree dominates the grove from its great height.

1:12:03.832,1:12:07.832
From here the sons of Tantalus begin their reigns

1:12:08.252,1:12:13.052
from here they ask for help when things look bleak or doubtful.

1:12:13.537,1:12:15.707
Gifts hang from the trees;

1:12:16.147,1:12:21.394
there is the trumpet, the broken chariot, spoils of the Myrtoan Sea;

1:12:21.394,1:12:25.394
the wheels hang down from the pole that deceived the king.

1:12:26.074,1:12:28.284
All the family’s history is here.

1:12:30.575,1:12:33.325
Under the shadows is set a dismal fountain,

1:12:33.325,1:12:35.935
stuck in a black and stagnant pool;

1:12:36.002,1:12:39.362
most like the ugly water of terrible Styx,

1:12:39.362,1:12:42.712
by which the gods swear faith.

1:12:42.712,1:12:47.752
They say the spirits groan here in the dead o night,

1:12:47.752,1:12:51.862
the grove resounds with the clattering of chains,

1:12:51.862,1:12:53.662
and the ghosts howl.

1:12:53.662,1:12:57.022
All things that make one shudder even to hear, are there made visible.

1:12:57.022,1:13:01.022
Old tombs break open, releasing hordes of wandering dead.

1:13:01.022,1:13:06.472
Everywhere spring unprecedented wonders.

1:13:11.671,1:13:18.361
This was the place where angry Atreus dragged his brother’s children.

1:13:18.361,1:13:21.431
The altars are adorned—

1:13:21.431,1:13:23.121
—how can I say this?—

1:13:24.411,1:13:28.425
the little princes have their hands tied back;

1:13:28.895,1:13:32.895
he binds their poor little heads with a purple band.

1:13:33.219,1:13:36.804
Incense was not forgotten, or the holy juice of Bacchus,

1:13:36.804,1:13:40.134
and with the knife he daubed the victims with salted grains.

1:13:40.323,1:13:42.778
All due ritual was observed,

1:13:42.778,1:13:46.778
in case such a horrible crime be done improperly.

1:13:47.655,1:13:51.655
Who held the sword?

1:13:52.073,1:13:54.240
He was the priest himself,

1:13:54.240,1:13:58.780
he was the one who gabbled out the deadly prayers,

1:13:58.780,1:14:00.902
the rites of murder.

1:14:00.902,1:14:02.912
He stood there at the altar,

1:14:02.912,1:14:04.877
he checked the victim’s bodies,

1:14:04.877,1:14:08.457
and he himself arranged them for the knife,

1:14:08.457,1:14:10.117
and acted as the audience.

1:14:10.557,1:14:12.697
No part of the rite was lost.

1:14:13.764,1:14:15.664
The woods were trembling,

1:14:16.094,1:14:18.284
the whole ground was shaken,

1:14:18.284,1:14:20.604
making the courtyard totter:

1:14:20.604,1:14:24.028
it seems to hesitate,[br]unsure where it can set its weight.

1:14:24.028,1:14:30.868
The dedicated wine is changed to blood and flows into the fire.

1:14:30.868,1:14:35.008
His royal crown kept falling down.

1:14:35.008,1:14:37.428
In the temples the statues wept.

1:14:38.002,1:14:40.800
All were aghast,

1:14:41.870,1:14:45.870
but Atreus himself alone remained unmoved.

1:14:46.327,1:14:53.487
Without delay he stood at the altar and scowled.

1:14:54.734,1:14:58.111
He wonders which to slaughter first,

1:14:58.111,1:15:01.431
and which to butcher second.

1:15:01.472,1:15:03.560
It makes no difference,

1:15:03.560,1:15:06.922
but he ponders, and enjoys order in brutality.

1:15:08.696,1:15:11.676
So which did he strike?

1:15:14.105,1:15:18.415
Do not imagine he lacked family feeling:

1:15:18.415,1:15:21.135
first to be killed was his father’s namesake, Tantalus.

1:15:21.135,1:15:25.789
The wild murderer buried his sword in a deep thrust,

1:15:25.789,1:15:29.139
and pressing down[br]he fixed his hand on his throat;

1:15:29.139,1:15:31.535
when he drew out the sword[br]the corpse still stood;

1:15:31.535,1:15:34.965
it was unclear for a while where it should fall,

1:15:34.965,1:15:36.805
but it fell on the uncle.

1:15:36.805,1:15:40.805
Then that barbarian dragged Plisthenes to the altar,

1:15:41.378,1:15:43.738
and added him to his brother.

1:15:44.032,1:15:46.532
He cut through his neck;

1:15:48.065,1:15:51.548
the body without its head flopped to the ground,

1:15:51.548,1:15:55.548
while the head rolled down, protesting indistinctly.

1:16:02.032,1:16:07.588
After the double murder what did he do?

1:16:10.788,1:16:17.538
Did he spare the little one, or heap more crime on crime?

1:16:17.836,1:16:21.836
Atreus rages and swells with his rage,

1:16:21.836,1:16:25.836
holding out the sword drenched in the two boys’ blood,

1:16:25.836,1:16:30.220
careless where his fury leads him, cruelly,

1:16:30.220,1:16:34.060
he drives the blade in the chest of the child, right through,

1:16:34.060,1:16:37.050
and all at once it pokes out from his back.

1:16:37.520,1:16:42.550
He fell and put the fires out with his blood,

1:16:42.550,1:16:46.290
wounded on both sides, he died.

1:16:46.926,1:16:49.686
What savagery!

1:16:50.690,1:16:52.360
Are you horrified?

1:16:53.534,1:16:57.444
If the crime stopped there,[br]Atreus would be holy.

1:16:57.570,1:16:59.645
What more could he do?

1:16:59.818,1:17:06.123
Did he throw the bodies to wild beasts to tear, refuse cremation?

1:17:06.123,1:17:08.343
If only he had!

1:17:08.808,1:17:12.098
If only they lay unburied, uncremated corpses,

1:17:12.098,1:17:17.498
dragged away to be a dismal dinner for wild beasts.

1:17:17.498,1:17:20.368
This man makes normal pain desirable:

1:17:20.434,1:17:23.594
if only the father could see his children unburied!

1:17:23.594,1:17:29.284
Incredible evil! Historians will deny it.

1:17:31.312,1:17:34.622
The father rips apart his sons,

1:17:34.622,1:17:38.622
putting into his murderous mouth his own dear flesh and blood.

1:17:40.120,1:17:43.950
His hair is wet and shiny with perfume,

1:17:44.917,1:17:47.157
his body heavy with wine;

1:17:47.157,1:17:49.185
his mouth is overstuffed,

1:17:49.185,1:17:51.775
his jaws can hardly hold new morsels.

1:17:52.405,1:17:59.905
O Thyestes, your only blessing is your ignorance.

1:18:01.488,1:18:03.568
But you will lose that too.

1:18:04.750,1:18:08.240
We must see this evil; all is now revealed.

1:18:31.476,1:18:34.422
OIMOI!

1:18:34.422,1:18:37.222
Struck deep—the death-blow, deep—

1:18:38.146,1:18:39.786
Hush!

1:18:39.786,1:18:44.246
Who’s that screaming about being struck and mortally wounded?

1:18:44.443,1:18:49.763
OIMOI, again—second blow—struck home.

1:18:50.929,1:18:57.839
To judge by the king’s cries, I think the deed has been done.

1:18:59.273,1:19:01.943
Are we to divine that the man is dead

1:19:01.943,1:19:07.333
just from the evidence of some cries we hear?

1:19:10.188,1:19:14.188
Peer of the stars I stride, out-topping all men,

1:19:14.188,1:19:18.188
my proud head [br]reaching to the lofty sky.

1:19:20.022,1:19:23.502
Now I hold the kingdom’s glories,

1:19:23.502,1:19:26.882
now my father’s throne.

1:19:27.062,1:19:29.082
I discharge the gods:

1:19:29.189,1:19:32.519
I have reached the pinnacle.

1:19:33.551,1:19:35.914
But why should it be enough?

1:19:35.914,1:19:40.744
I shall go on, and fill the father with the death of his sons.

1:19:41.363,1:19:47.483
I long to see what color he turns as he looks on his sons’ heads,

1:19:47.483,1:19:50.613
what words his first torment pours forth,

1:19:50.613,1:19:56.973
how his body stiffens, breathless with shock.

1:19:57.499,1:20:01.190
This is the fruit of my work:

1:20:01.190,1:20:07.110
I do not want to see him broken, but being broken.

1:20:16.508,1:20:20.508
I said a lot of things before that sounded nice.

1:20:20.508,1:20:24.148
I’m not ashamed to contradict them now.

1:20:24.148,1:20:29.268
I stand where I struck with the deed done!

1:20:29.327,1:20:33.327
I did it. I make no denial.

1:20:33.680,1:20:37.680
So he could neither flee nor save himself

1:20:38.520,1:20:41.715
I threw round him a cloth with no way out—

1:20:41.715,1:20:45.715
—a sort of dragnet—evil wealth of cloth.

1:20:45.939,1:20:48.059
I strike him twice.

1:20:48.770,1:20:53.600
Two screams and his limbs go slack.

1:20:53.901,1:20:55.101
He falls.

1:20:55.101,1:20:57.541
I strike him one more time—

1:20:57.639,1:21:02.939
—three for Zeus the savior of corpses!

1:21:03.242,1:21:06.280
And as he sputters out his life in blood

1:21:06.760,1:21:14.070
he sprays me with black drops like dew

1:21:14.070,1:21:17.188
gladdening me no less than when

1:21:17.188,1:21:23.468
the green buds of the corn feel showers from heaven!

1:21:25.474,1:21:36.014
This man has the libation he deserves.

1:21:36.014,1:21:40.424
He filled this house like a mixing bowl to the brim with evils,

1:21:40.424,1:21:45.454
now he has drunk it down.

1:21:47.435,1:21:51.435
Opened up, the house is bright with myriad torches.

1:21:51.448,1:21:56.878
He is lying on purple and gold, sprawled backward,

1:21:56.878,1:22:00.440
propping his wine-heavy head on his left hand.

1:22:00.440,1:22:01.970
He belches!

1:22:02.279,1:22:08.029
Oh, I am highest of heavenly gods, and [br]king of kings!

1:22:08.029,1:22:11.469
I have surpassed my own prayers.

1:22:12.188,1:22:14.088
He is stuffed,

1:22:14.088,1:22:17.378
he imbibes pure wine from a great silver cup.

1:22:17.378,1:22:19.238
Do not stint your drinking!

1:22:19.238,1:22:23.968
There still remains the blood [br]of so many victims;

1:22:23.968,1:22:28.308
the color of vintage wine will [br]disguise it.

1:22:28.308,1:22:33.908
Yes, let this be the cup to close the feast!

1:22:34.025,1:22:38.565
Let the father drink the blended blood of his sons:

1:22:39.385,1:22:41.971
he would have drunk mine.

1:22:45.857,1:22:50.447
Heart made dreary by long troubles,

1:22:52.050,1:22:56.050
now set aside your fretful cares.

1:22:58.783,1:23:04.193
Away with grief, away with fear,

1:23:04.910,1:23:09.530
away with the comrade of anxious exile,

1:23:10.502,1:23:15.842
gloomy poverty, and shame [br]that weighs upon misfortune.

1:23:19.291,1:23:22.001
Smile once more at happiness,

1:23:22.500,1:23:25.990
cast from your heart the old Thyestes.

1:23:28.567,1:23:33.417
Why hold me back and forbid my celebrating this festive day,

1:23:36.576,1:23:38.610
why bid me weep,

1:23:38.610,1:23:41.430
pain arising without a cause?

1:23:42.715,1:23:48.275
Who prevents me from binding my hair with comely flowers?[br]

1:23:50.528,1:23:54.528
I long to utter ill-omened laments,

1:23:54.528,1:23:59.458
I long to rend these garments steeped in Tyrian purple,

1:23:59.962,1:24:02.452
I long to howl.

1:24:10.183,1:24:18.283
What griefs, what upheavals are you conjuring for [br]yourself, you madman?

1:24:20.078,1:24:27.178
Your fear of whatever is [br]either groundless or too late now.

1:24:28.846,1:24:30.420
—Poor me, I resist,

1:24:30.420,1:24:34.560
but terror roves and prowls inside me,

1:24:35.163,1:24:41.843
my eyes pour forth these sudden tears, based on no cause.

1:24:43.916,1:24:46.306
Is it grief or fear?

1:24:48.404,1:24:52.404
Or does great pleasure make [br]for weeping?

1:25:03.254,1:25:07.334
We are amazed at your language,

1:25:09.198,1:25:12.658
the arrogance of it,

1:25:12.658,1:25:19.518
uttering boastful words like these over your husband!

1:25:23.141,1:25:24.791
Don’t squawk at me.

1:25:24.791,1:25:27.381
I’m not some witless female.

1:25:27.381,1:25:31.381
I am fearless and you know it.

1:25:31.381,1:25:37.051
Whether you praise or blame me I don’t care.

1:25:37.380,1:25:40.110
Here lies Agamemnon,

1:25:40.422,1:25:44.802
my husband, a dead body,

1:25:44.802,1:25:48.963
work of my righteous right hand.

1:25:48.963,1:25:50.583
That’s how things stand.

1:25:52.228,1:25:54.738
What evil thing have you tasted, lady,

1:25:54.738,1:25:57.848
what food or what drink, whether growing from the earth

1:25:57.848,1:26:01.431
or having its origin in the flowing seas,

1:26:01.431,1:26:05.581
to make you bring on your head this slaughter and loud public curses?

1:26:06.369,1:26:08.849
You have cast them aside, you have cut them off;

1:26:08.849,1:26:10.819
you shall be banished from the city.

1:26:14.008,1:26:19.134
My own brother, we must celebrate this festive [br]day

1:26:19.134,1:26:21.738
in mutual harmony.

1:26:23.946,1:26:27.946
I am stayed by a surfeit of fine fare, and equally of wine.

1:26:27.946,1:26:31.946
The final addition that could increase my pleasure

1:26:31.946,1:26:35.946
would be the chance to enjoy my happiness with my boys.

1:26:46.568,1:26:52.028
Consider your sons as here in their father’s embrace.

1:26:52.028,1:26:55.188
Here they are, and will stay.

1:26:55.188,1:27:01.008
No portion of your offspring will be taken from you.

1:27:01.008,1:27:04.488
I shall show you shortly the faces you long for,

1:27:04.488,1:27:09.718
and give the father his fill of his own dear throng.

1:27:09.718,1:27:12.757
You will be surfeited, never fear!

1:27:13.106,1:27:16.186
At the moment, in company [br]with mine,

1:27:16.186,1:27:21.420
they are observing the sweet communion of the young men’s table.

1:27:21.420,1:27:23.550
But they will be summoned.

1:27:24.162,1:27:31.892
Take this cup of our bloodline, with an infusion of wine.

1:27:35.806,1:27:38.896
Oh now you pull out your code of justice—

1:27:38.896,1:27:43.064
call me accursed, demand my exile!

1:27:43.064,1:27:44.774
What about them?

1:27:44.774,1:27:46.527
What about him?

1:27:46.527,1:27:50.477
This man who, without a second thought,

1:27:50.477,1:27:55.983
as if it were a goat dying, sacrificed his own child—

1:27:55.983,1:27:59.153
—my most beloved, my birthpang, my own—

1:27:59.153,1:28:02.201
and he had flocks of animals to charm the winds of Thrace!

1:28:02.201,1:28:06.824
Isn’t it this man you should have sent into exile,

1:28:06.824,1:28:09.024
to pay for that polluted deed?

1:28:09.024,1:28:12.414
Instead you pass judgment on me!

1:28:16.074,1:28:22.704
Well I warn you, threaten me all you like.

1:28:27.534,1:28:30.794
I take the gift, as part of my brother’s feast.

1:28:31.084,1:28:34.674
The wine shall be poured to our fathers’[br]gods,

1:28:34.674,1:28:37.614
then swallowed.

1:28:53.068,1:28:55.088
But what is this?

1:29:00.158,1:29:02.228
My hands will not obey.

1:29:05.608,1:29:09.608
When raised, the wine flees from my very lips,

1:29:11.391,1:29:14.421
cheats my mouth[br]and swirls around my open jaws.

1:29:17.665,1:29:19.025
What is this?

1:29:19.465,1:29:22.805
Darkness gathers more thickly amid dense [br]shadows,

1:29:22.805,1:29:26.805
and night buries itself in night.

1:29:31.147,1:29:36.377
Whatever it is, I pray it may spare my brother and sons.

1:29:37.353,1:29:39.563
Now return my sons to me!

1:29:40.147,1:29:45.927
I shall return them, and no day will steal them from you.

1:29:47.983,1:29:53.493
What is this turmoil that shakes my guts?

1:29:54.239,1:29:56.599
What trembles inside me?

1:29:57.629,1:30:01.209
My breast groans[br]with groaning not my own.

1:30:02.631,1:30:09.211
Come, sons, your[br]unhappy father calls you, come!

1:30:11.876,1:30:15.876
Once I see you[br]this pain will vanish.

1:30:17.111,1:30:21.111
They interrupt—but from where?

1:30:21.215,1:30:24.545
Unfold your welcoming arms, father:

1:30:24.696,1:30:26.556
They have come.

1:30:29.429,1:30:34.609
I suppose you recognize your sons?

1:30:40.444,1:30:44.444
Hope does not walk the halls of fear in me

1:30:44.444,1:30:48.444
so long as Aigisthos lights the fire on my hearth.

1:30:48.671,1:30:51.879
Aigisthos is loyal.

1:30:51.879,1:30:53.971
A good defender.

1:30:53.971,1:30:56.071
My personal shield.

1:30:56.146,1:30:59.510
Here lies the man who despoiled me,

1:30:59.510,1:31:02.580
darling of every fancy girl at Troy.

1:31:02.580,1:31:08.382
And by his side the little prophetess who sweetened his sheets.

1:31:08.382,1:31:14.482
Sweetened the whole army’s sheets, I shouldn’t doubt.

1:31:17.002,1:31:19.702
They got what they deserve those two.

1:31:20.162,1:31:22.052
Yes here he lies.

1:31:22.542,1:31:27.752
And she like a swan that has sung its last song beside him,

1:31:27.752,1:31:32.052
his truelove, his little spiceberry.

1:31:32.052,1:31:38.012
You know, to look at them kind of excites me.

1:31:41.123,1:31:44.503
IO IO, demented Helen,

1:31:45.333,1:31:47.883
who alone brought death to so many,

1:31:47.883,1:31:52.413
so very many souls at Troy,

1:31:53.207,1:31:57.281
now you have adorned yourself with a final adornment,

1:31:57.281,1:31:59.510
never to be forgotten,

1:31:59.510,1:32:03.020
through the shedding of blood that nothing can wash away!

1:32:03.747,1:32:06.667
Truly the house then contained[br]a spirit that stirred up strife

1:32:06.667,1:32:10.667
and brought woe to the man.

1:32:18.287,1:32:21.557
I recognize my brother.

1:32:23.826,1:32:28.736
Oh stop whining.

1:32:28.736,1:32:31.871
And why get angry at Helen?

1:32:31.871,1:32:36.861
As if she singlehandedly destroyed those multitudes of men.

1:32:36.861,1:32:40.861
As if she all alone made this wound in us.

1:32:40.861,1:32:45.104
Spirit that assails this house

1:32:45.104,1:32:50.128
and the two Tantalids so different in their nature,

1:32:50.128,1:32:53.648
and controls it, in a way that rends my heart,

1:32:53.648,1:32:59.798
through the agency of women whose souls were alike!

1:33:00.188,1:33:03.508
Standing over the corpse,

1:33:03.508,1:33:08.264
in the manner of a loathsome raven,

1:33:08.264,1:33:13.254
it glories[br]in tunelessly singing a song.

1:33:16.849,1:33:19.790
Come now, rather than this,

1:33:19.790,1:33:23.489
receive with joy[br]the boys you missed so long.

1:33:24.209,1:33:27.719
Your brother is not stopping you.

1:33:27.879,1:33:30.549
Enjoy them, kiss them,

1:33:30.549,1:33:33.119
split your embraces among the three of them.

1:33:36.914,1:33:39.354
Is this our agreement?

1:33:40.122,1:33:45.742
Is this your goodwill, your brotherly promise?

1:33:46.048,1:33:48.798
Is this how you set aside hatred?

1:33:50.344,1:33:56.394
I do not ask as a father to have my sons safe.

1:33:56.787,1:34:05.797
What can be granted with no damage to your crime and hatred,

1:34:06.348,1:34:10.348
I ask you brother to brother:

1:34:11.279,1:34:13.469
let me bury them.

1:34:13.854,1:34:17.014
I ask you for nothing [br]to keep as a father,

1:34:17.683,1:34:20.407
only something to lose.

1:34:20.407,1:34:26.637
All that remains of your children you have,

1:34:26.887,1:34:30.887
all that does not remain you have.

1:34:31.759,1:34:36.509
Are they lying as fodder for cruel birds,

1:34:36.640,1:34:40.240
or being devoured [br]by sea monsters,

1:34:40.595,1:34:42.965
or feeding beasts of the field?

1:34:43.496,1:34:47.496
You yourself banqueted on your sons—

1:34:47.496,1:34:51.156
a sacrilegious meal.

1:34:58.575,1:35:01.315
Now you’re making sense—

1:35:01.315,1:35:07.245
to call upon the thricegorged evil demon of[br]this family.

1:35:07.245,1:35:14.705
Deep in its nerves is a lust to lick blood

1:35:14.705,1:35:20.565
and no wound heals[br]before the next starts oozing.

1:35:23.526,1:35:30.346
IO IO, my king, my king,

1:35:30.755,1:35:33.005
how shall I weep for you?

1:35:34.372,1:35:39.612
Here you lie in this spider’s web

1:35:39.612,1:35:46.652
after breathing your life out in an impious death—

1:35:48.569,1:35:55.129
OIMOI MOI—lying in a state unfit for a free man,

1:35:56.014,1:35:59.774
laid low in treacherous murder

1:35:59.774,1:36:03.994
by this hand with a two-edged weapon.

1:36:04.419,1:36:08.509
You call this deed mine?

1:36:08.509,1:36:12.534
And I his wife? You’re wrong.

1:36:12.534,1:36:15.354
Some ancient bitter spirit of revenge

1:36:15.354,1:36:18.544
disguised as Agamemnon’s wife

1:36:21.334,1:36:23.724
arose from Atreus’ brutal feast

1:36:23.724,1:36:29.214
to sacrifice this man for those little children.

1:36:36.478,1:36:39.488
What words shall I utter in such wretchedness,

1:36:39.488,1:36:41.206
what laments?

1:36:43.069,1:36:47.069
What speech will suffice me?

1:36:47.558,1:36:50.474
I see the lopped-off heads,

1:36:50.474,1:36:52.031
the wrenched-off hands,

1:36:52.031,1:36:55.853
the feet torn from broken legs.

1:36:58.716,1:37:05.976
This is what the [br]greedy father could not take in!

1:37:07.774,1:37:11.979
The flesh churns within me,

1:37:11.979,1:37:16.599
the imprisoned horror struggles with no way[br]out,

1:37:16.599,1:37:21.189
seeking to escape.

1:37:25.772,1:37:28.582
Give me your sword, brother—

1:37:28.582,1:37:32.288
it already has much of my blood:

1:37:33.577,1:37:37.947
the blade must give my children a path.

1:37:39.801,1:37:41.871
You refuse the sword?

1:37:44.036,1:37:46.646
Let me batter my breast,

1:37:47.006,1:37:49.876
smash resounding blows against it—

1:37:49.876,1:37:53.876
no, hold your hand, poor wretch,

1:37:55.756,1:37:58.866
we must spare[br]the dead.

1:38:00.485,1:38:04.485
Who has ever seen such horror?

1:38:05.876,1:38:10.156
See, a father burdening his sons,

1:38:10.646,1:38:13.536
and burdened by his sons.

1:38:14.646,1:38:19.366
Is there some limit to crime?

1:38:23.173,1:38:28.323
Even this is too little for me.

1:38:30.127,1:38:32.717
Straight from the wound

1:38:32.717,1:38:37.517
I should have poured the hot blood into your mouth,

1:38:37.517,1:38:41.517
so you could drink their lifeblood while they lived.

1:38:43.341,1:38:47.292
I dealt wounds, pressing the blade home,

1:38:47.292,1:38:50.142
I slaughtered at the altar,

1:38:50.142,1:38:55.442
I propitiated the hearth with votive killing,

1:38:55.442,1:38:58.357
I chopped up the lifeless bodies,

1:38:58.747,1:39:01.529
pulled the flesh into small pieces

1:39:01.919,1:39:06.959
and plunged some into boiling cauldrons,

1:39:07.508,1:39:13.308
bade others drip over slow fires.

1:39:16.410,1:39:21.170
Did he not bring lies and ruin on this house?

1:39:21.170,1:39:26.820
My poor little green shoot Iphigeneia—

1:39:42.408,1:39:49.198
she’s the one[br]who suffered unworthy.

1:39:49.258,1:39:52.473
He has nothing to complain about.

1:39:52.473,1:39:56.973
He paid by the sword for what he himself began.

1:40:03.739,1:40:08.749
I cut away limbs and sinews from the[br]living bodies,

1:40:08.749,1:40:12.908
pierced the organs with thin spits

1:40:12.908,1:40:15.598
and watched them moan,

1:40:15.598,1:40:19.476
piled up fires[br]with my own hands:

1:40:20.633,1:40:27.273
All this the father could[br]have done better.

1:40:27.273,1:40:30.443
My anger was to no avail.

1:40:30.968,1:40:35.878
He tore his sons in his sacrilegious mouth,

1:40:35.920,1:40:40.550
but he did not know it, they did not know it.

1:40:42.686,1:40:49.086
Robbed of the rich resources of thought,

1:40:49.086,1:40:52.856
I am at a loss for an idea

1:40:55.705,1:40:58.151
which way to turn,

1:40:58.151,1:41:00.655
now the house is falling.

1:41:03.649,1:41:09.469
Who will bury him?

1:41:11.774,1:41:15.680
Who will sing his lament?

1:41:15.680,1:41:18.830
Will you dare to do it—

1:41:18.830,1:41:22.400
—after slaying your own husband, to wail for him

1:41:22.400,1:41:26.380
and to perform, without right,

1:41:28.600,1:41:33.160
a favor that will be no favor to his soul,

1:41:33.333,1:41:36.743
in return for his great deeds?

1:41:42.077,1:41:46.517
Now I commend my hands,

1:41:46.517,1:41:50.458
now the true pain is won.

1:41:51.146,1:41:56.266
My crime would have been wasted if you did not feel pain like this.

1:41:56.991,1:42:02.421
Now I believe that the children are mine,

1:42:02.421,1:42:07.821
and that my bed is faithful and chaste once more!

1:42:09.862,1:42:14.172
That’s not your concern.

1:42:14.172,1:42:17.942
By me he fell, by me he died,

1:42:17.942,1:42:19.652
I shall bury him.

1:42:19.652,1:42:22.580
Not with wailing from this house.

1:42:22.580,1:42:26.018
No, Iphigeneia will open her arms

1:42:26.018,1:42:29.108
and run to meet him in Hades—

1:42:29.108,1:42:33.718
a father-daughter embrace,

1:42:33.718,1:42:36.288
won’t that be perfect!

1:43:04.706,1:43:08.216
What was my children’s guilt?

1:43:08.849,1:43:11.384
That they were yours.

1:43:12.831,1:43:18.072
You gave sons to their father—

1:43:18.072,1:43:19.422
I admit it: [br]

1:43:20.212,1:43:22.891
and definitely your own sons,

1:43:22.891,1:43:25.221
I am delighted to say.

1:43:30.956,1:43:35.976
I for one propose to swear a truce with [br]the demon of this house.

1:43:35.976,1:43:39.250
I’ll be content with where we’ve got to now,

1:43:39.250,1:43:41.816
hard though it is to bear.

1:43:41.816,1:43:49.766
Let the demon go grind out murders on [br]some other family.

1:43:49.861,1:43:56.381
I’m happy with a tiny share of the wealth here

1:43:56.381,1:44:02.191
if I can stop us all killing one another.

1:44:13.715,1:44:21.815
O genial sun that lights the day of justice!

1:44:22.691,1:44:29.261
At last I think the gods above look down

1:44:29.261,1:44:32.561
on the earth’s pain and vindicate us mortals,

1:44:35.521,1:44:39.231
now that I see the man who lies here

1:44:39.231,1:44:44.071
wearing the robe the Furies wore—

1:44:44.791,1:44:48.361
—heartwarming sight!—

1:44:48.361,1:44:53.663
and paying for the trap

1:44:53.663,1:44:58.543
set by his father [br]who reigned here, Atreus.

1:44:58.932,1:45:03.893
That man, in plain terms,[br]banished Thyestes—

1:45:03.893,1:45:05.743
—my own father—

1:45:05.743,1:45:10.533
—though he was his brother,

1:45:10.533,1:45:14.953
from his home and city,

1:45:14.953,1:45:19.853
when the right to rule this country was disputed.

1:45:21.313,1:45:26.017
On his return to Atreus’ hearth for mercy,

1:45:26.017,1:45:30.867
wretched Thyestes’ life remained secure—

1:45:30.867,1:45:37.067
which means he didn’t bloody native ground[br]with his own death.

1:45:38.933,1:45:43.883
But this man’s godless father

1:45:43.883,1:45:47.513
made a show of sacrifice[br]on the special day,

1:45:48.523,1:45:53.703
but served up children’s flesh.

1:45:57.160,1:46:03.500
Then, when Thyestes sensed the monstrous thing he’d done,

1:46:04.262,1:46:08.262
he fell back, howling, retching out the slaughter,

1:46:09.803,1:46:13.803
and called down harrowing doom on Pelops’ sons.

1:46:13.905,1:46:17.995
The table he kicked over sealed the curse:

1:46:18.364,1:46:24.064
annihilation for the race of Pleisthenes;

1:46:29.414,1:46:33.204
so on these grounds, he’s there to look at, fallen,

1:46:33.204,1:46:36.684
and I’m the one who—justly—stitched this murder.

1:46:37.103,1:46:43.503
Atreus drove out my poor father and me—

1:46:43.503,1:46:45.688
the third born,

1:46:46.768,1:46:49.838
still in my baby clothes,

1:46:51.323,1:46:57.843
and Justice brought me back when I was grown.

1:47:00.607,1:47:05.457
I fastened this whole grim device together

1:47:06.400,1:47:13.140
and caught him in my hand before I came here.

1:47:20.112,1:47:22.943
Aegisthus,

1:47:22.943,1:47:28.163
I am not in the habit of being insolent at a time of trouble;

1:47:28.163,1:47:31.953
but I say that you will not escape getting what you deserve—

1:47:31.953,1:47:35.953
—curses flung at your head like stones by the people.

1:47:37.510,1:47:40.440
You’re not too old to learn

1:47:40.440,1:47:45.570
how hard a lesson prudent obedience can be—

1:47:45.570,1:47:50.293
—at your age.

1:47:51.163,1:47:54.614
Kick back when goaded?

1:47:54.614,1:47:58.634
You’ll grow sore from beatings.

1:48:02.693,1:48:08.203
As though I’ll let you be tyrant of the Argives—

1:48:08.574,1:48:13.544
you who, when you’d planned the death of this man,

1:48:13.544,1:48:19.724
didn’t have the courage to do the deed with your own hands!

1:48:22.589,1:48:27.299
Plainly, it was a woman’s job to trick him,

1:48:28.233,1:48:32.883
while I, the clan’s old enemy, was suspect.

1:48:36.963,1:48:37.673
Now

1:48:43.212,1:48:46.127
I’ll deploy his property to rule the citizens,

1:48:46.127,1:48:49.032
and set a heavy yoke[br]on those who won’t obey.

1:48:54.862,1:49:05.102
Why were you so cowardly as not to slay this man yourself?

1:49:08.114,1:49:12.114
Does Orestes somewhere still look on the light of day,

1:49:12.114,1:49:16.434
so that with fortune’s favor he may come back here

1:49:16.434,1:49:20.434
and be the triumphant killer of both these two?

1:49:27.982,1:49:34.632
You choose to say and do this—

1:49:35.572,1:49:38.242
—soon you’ll learn.

1:49:38.471,1:49:42.471
No, no, no, no, my dear darling,

1:49:42.471,1:49:45.211
no more evil.

1:49:45.697,1:49:47.687
The harvest is in:

1:49:47.687,1:49:52.397
we have enough pain, enough bloodshed.

1:49:52.397,1:49:55.577
Venerable elders, go back to your homes, before you suffer.

1:49:55.577,1:49:58.547
What we did had to be done.

1:49:58.547,1:50:01.400
And if it ends here, we’re content.

1:50:01.696,1:50:05.446
Some demon of luck has clipped us with a sharp hoof.

1:50:05.446,1:50:09.446
That’s a woman’s opinion, for what it’s worth.

1:50:09.856,1:50:15.436
These people talk as if they’re picking flowers,

1:50:15.436,1:50:20.456
pelt me with silly words—and take their chance.

1:50:34.334,1:50:45.984
It would not be the Argive way to fawn on a wicked man.

1:50:47.841,1:50:57.431
I’ll settle with you in the days ahead.

1:51:01.201,1:51:06.641
Not if god guides Orestes to come back here.

1:51:07.352,1:51:16.042
I know myself that exiles feed on hope.

1:51:17.322,1:51:19.464
Brag away confidently,

1:51:19.464,1:51:22.294
like a cock standing next to his hen!

1:51:22.294,1:51:24.914
Ignore their yelpings.

1:51:24.914,1:51:27.024
You and I, as masters of this house,

1:51:27.024,1:51:29.424
will dispose all things as they should be.

1:51:29.424,1:51:32.624
Beautifully.