HKB
KOMMOS, OR LYRIC CONCERTO
by Orestes, Electra and Chorus, in highly intricate and interwoven Strophes and Antistrophes, with funereal gesture. The jaws of flame do not reduce the corpse to senselessness; they can hear below this our Rite and will send answer--what a fate was Agamemnon's, not that of the warrior who dies leaving high fame at home and laying strong and sure his children's paths in life, but to be struck down by his own kin! But there is a sense of Vengeance being at hand, Erinnys and the Curses of the slain; they make the heart quiver: the Dirge crescendoes till it breaks into the 'Arian rhythm,' a foreign funeral rhythm with violent gestures (proper to the Chorus as Asiatics); and so as a climax breaks up into two semi-choruses: one sings of woe, the other of vengeance, and then the formal Dirge terminates and the Blank Verse recommences. {469}
In a composed frame (and in Blank Verse) Orestes and Electra repeat the distinct prayer for Vengeance and the death of Aegisthus and then address themselves to the means. Orestes enquires as to the meaning of the Sepulchral rites, and the dream is narrated, which he interprets as good omen.
Orest. And have ye learnt the dream, to tell it right? {517} Chor. As she doth say, she thought she bare a snake. Orest. How ends the tale, and what its outcome then? Chor. She nursed it, like a child, in swaddling clothes. Orest. What food did the young monster crave for then? Chor. She in her dream her bosom gave to it. Orest. How 'scaped her breast by that dread beast unhurt? Chor. Nay, with the milk it sucked out clots of blood. Orest. Ah, not in vain comes this dream from her lord. Chor. She, roused from sleep, cries out all terrified, And many torches that were quenched in gloom Blazed for our Mistress' sake within the house. Then these libations for the dead she sends, Hoping they'll prove good medicine of ills. Orest. Now to earth here, and my sire's tomb I pray, They leave not this strange vision unfulfilled. So I expound it that it all coheres; For if, the self-same spot that I left leaving, The snake was then wrapt in my swaddling clothes, And sucked the very breast that nourished me, And mixed the sweet milk with a clot of blood, And she in terror wailed the strange event, So must she, as that monster dread she nourished, Die cruel death: and I, thus serpentised, Am here to slay her, as this dream portends; I take thee as my dream-interpreter.
They rapidly arrange their plan to appear as foreigners, and get admission to the Palace, or, if Aegisthus come out, strike him down at once--with a prayer to Apollo exeunt Electra, Orestes, and Pylades by the Distance Sidedoor. {575}
CHORAL INTERLUDE I
in four Strophes and Antistrophes.
Monsters and woes are many, but most terrible of all is a passion-driven woman: Thestias, who burnt out the mystic brand that measured her son's life; Scylla, who robbed her father of his life-charm; another--but the woman who slew her warrior-chief it is meet for me to pass over in silence. Then there is the great Lemnian Crime, foremost of all crimes; yet this might well be compared to it; and as that race perished, so is judgment at hand here; the anvil-block of Vengeance firm is set, and Fate is swordsmith hammering; in due time the debt of guilt is paid. {639}
EPISODE II
Enter by the Distance Side-door Orestes, Pylades, and attendants, and advance to the Central Door.