Agamemnon E-Book

Aeschylus

• Herausgeber: Sovereign
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Serie: Plays by Aeschylus
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 76

Beschreibung

A watchman on top of the house, reporting that he has been lying restless there like a dog for a year, for so rules the expectant manly-willed heart of a woman (that woman being Clytemnestra awaiting the return of her husband, who has arranged that mountaintop beacons give the signal when Troy has fallen). He laments the fortunes of the house, but promises to keep silent: 'A huge ox has stepped onto my tongue.' However, when Agamemnon returns, he brings with him Cassandra, the enslaved daughter of the Trojan king, Priam, and a priestess of Apollo, as his concubine, further angering Clytemnestra.

Leseprobe

Aeschylus

Aeschylus

Agamemnon

LONDON ∙ NEW YORK ∙ TORONTO ∙ SAO PAULO ∙ MOSCOW

PARIS ∙ MADRID ∙ BERLIN ∙ ROME ∙ MEXICO CITY ∙ MUMBAI ∙ SEOUL ∙ DOHA

TOKYO ∙ SYDNEY ∙ CAPE TOWN ∙ AUCKLAND ∙ BEIJING

New Edition

Published by Sovereign Classic

www.sovereignclassic.net

This Edition

First published in 2016

Copyright © 2016 Sovereign Classic

ISBN: 9781911535683

Contents

AGAMEMNON

AGAMEMNON

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

A WATCHMANCHORUS OF ARGIVE ELDERSCLYTEMNESTRA, wife of AGAMEMNONA HERALDAGAMEMNON, King of ArgosCASSANDRA, daughter of Priam, and slave of AGAMEMNONAEGISTHUS, son of Thyestes, cousin of AGAMEMNONServants, Attendants, Soldiers

SCENE

Before the palace of AGAMEMNON in Argos. In front of the palace there are statues of the gods, and altars prepared for sacrifice. It is night. On the roof of the palace can be discerned a WATCHMAN.

A Watchman:I pray the gods to quit me of my toils,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-roofOf Atreus’ race, too long, too well I knowThe starry conclave of the midnight sky,Too well, the splendours of the firmament,The lords of light, whose kingly aspect shows—What time they set or climb the sky in turn—The year’s divisions, bringing frost or fire.And now, as ever, am I set to markWhen shall stream up the glow of signal-flame,The bale-fire bright, and tell its Trojan tale—“Troy town is ta’en:” such issue holds in hopeShe in whose woman’s breast beats heart of man.Thus upon mine unrestful couch I lie,Bathed with the dews of night, unvisitedBy dreams—ah me!—for in the place of sleepStands Fear as my familiar, and repelsThe soft repose that would mine eyelids seal.And if at whiles, for the lost balm of sleep,I medicine my soul with melodyOf trill or song—anon to tears I turn,Wailing the woe that broods upon this home,Not now by honour guided as of old.But now at last fair fall the welcome hourThat sets me free, whene’er the thick night glowWith beacon-fire of hope deferred no more.All hail!A beacon-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!Let my loud summons ring within the earsOf Agamemnon’s queen, that she anonStart from her couch and with a shrill voice cryA joyous welcome to the beacon-blaze,For Ilion’s fall; such fiery message gleamsFrom yon high flame; and I, before the rest,Will foot the lightsome measure of our joy;For I can say, “My master’s dice fell fair—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—but I say no more: upon my tongueTreads hard the ox o’ the adage.Had it voice,The home itself might soothliest tell its tale;I, of set will, speak words the wise may learn,To others, nought remember nor discern.Exit. The chorus of old men of Mycenae enter, each leaning on a staff. During their song Clytemnestra appears in the background, kindling the altars.Chorus:Ten livelong years have rolled away,Since the twin lords of sceptred sway,By Zeus endowed with pride of place,The doughty chiefs of Atreus’ race,Went forth of yore,To plead with Priam, face to face,Before the judgment-seat of War!A thousand ships from Argive landPut forth to bear the martial band,That with a spirit stern and strongWent out to right the kingdom’s wrong—Pealed, as they went, the battle-song,Wild as the vultures’ cry;When o’er the eyrie, soaring high,In wild bereavèd agony,Around, around, in airy rings,They wheel with oarage of their wings,But not the eyas-brood behold,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—On those who wrought the rapine fell,Heaven sends the vengeful fiends of hell.Even so doth Zeus, the jealous lordAnd guardian of the hearth and board,Speed Atreus’ sons, in vengeful ire,‘Gainst Paris—sends them forth on fire,Her to buy back, in war and blood,Whom one did wed but many woo’d!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, beforeThat iron bridal-feast be o’er!But as he willed ‘tis ordered all,And woes, by heaven ordained, must fall—Unsoothed by tears or spilth of winePoured forth too late, the wrath divineGlares vengeance on the flameless shrine.And we in gray dishonoured eld,Feeble of frame, unfit were heldTo join the warrior arrayThat then went forth unto the fray:And here at home we tarry, fainOur feeble footsteps to sustain,Each on his staff—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 holdThe vantage post of war!And ah! when flower and fruit are o’er,And on life’s tree the leaves are sere,Age wendeth propped its journey drear,As forceless as a child, as lightAnd fleeting as a dream of nightLost in the garish day!But thou, O child of Tyndareus,Queen Clytemnestra, speak! and sayWhat messenger of joy to-dayHath won thine ear? what welcome news,That thus in sacrificial wiseE’en to the city’s boundariesThou biddest altar-fires arise?Each god who doth our city guard,And keeps o’er Argos watch and wardFrom heaven above, from earth below—The mighty lords who rule the skies,The market’s lesser deities,To each and all the altars glow,Piled for the sacrifice!And here and there, anear, afar,Streams skyward many a beacon-star,Conjur’d and charm’d and kindled wellBy pure oil’s soft and guileless spell,Hid now no moreWithin the palace’ secret store.O queen, we pray thee, whatsoe’er,Known unto thee, were well revealed,That thou wilt trust it to our ear,And bid our anxious heart be healed!That waneth now unto despair—Now, waxing to a presage fair,Dawns, from the altar, Hope—to scareFrom our rent hearts the vulture Care.List! for the power is mine, to chant on highThe chiefs’ emprise, the strength that omens gave!List! on my soul breathes yet a harmony,From realms of ageless powers, and strong to save!How brother kings, twin lords of one command,Led forth the youth of Hellas in their flower,Urged on their way, with vengeful spear and brand,By warrior-birds, that watched the parting hour.“Go forth to Troy”, the eagles seemed to cry—And the sea-kings obeyed the sky-kings’ word,When on the right they soared across the sky,And one was black, one bore a white tail barred.High o’er the palace were they seen to soar,Then lit in sight of all, and rent and tare,Far from the fields that she should range no more,Big with her unborn brood, a mother-hare.And one beheld, the soldier-prophet true,And the two chiefs, unlike of soul and will,In the twy-coloured eagles straight he knew,And spake the omen forth, for good and ill.(Ah woe and well-a-day! but be the issue fair!)“Go forth,” he cried, “and Priam’s town shall fall.Yet long the time shall be; and flock and herd,The people’s wealth, that roam before the wall.Shall force hew down, when Fate shall give the word.But O beware! lest wrath in Heaven abide,To dim the glowing battle-forge once more,And mar the mighty curb of Trojan pride,The steel of vengeance, welded as for war!For virgin Artemis bears jealous hateAgainst the royal house, the eagle-pair,Who rend the unborn brood, insatiate—Yea, loathes their banquet on the quivering hare.”(Ah woe and well-a-day! but be the issue fair!)“For well she loves—the goddess kind and mild— The tender new-born cubs of lions bold,Too weak to range—and well the sucking child Of every beast that roams by wood and wold.So to the Lord of Heaven she prayeth still, “Nay. if it must be, be the omen true!Yet do the visioned eagles presage ill; The end be well, but crossed with evil too!”Healer Apollo! be her wrath controll›d, Nor weave the long delay of thwarting gales,To war against the Danaans and withhold From the free ocean-waves their eager sails!She craves, alas! to see a second life Shed forth, a curst unhallowed sacrifice—‹Twixt wedded souls, artificer of strife, And hate that knows not fear, and fell device.At home there tarries like a lurking snake, Biding its time, a wrath unreconciled,»«A wily watcher, passionate to slake,In blood, resentment for a murdered child.»Such was the mighty warning, pealed of yore—