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OR.
Be silent; for I hear within the house
A footstep coming forth.

EL.
(loudly).

Strangers, go in!
For none within the palace will reject
Your burden, nor be gladdened by the event.

[Enter the Old Man.]

OLD M.
O lost in folly and bereft of soul!
Is’t that your care for life hath ebbed away,
Or were you born without intelligence,
When fallen, not near, but in the midst of ill,
And that the greatest, ye perceive it not?
Had I not watched the doors this while, your deeds
Had gone within the palace ere yourselves.
But, as things are, my care hath fenced you round.
Now, then, have done with long-protracted talk,
And this insatiable outburst of joy,
And enter, for in such attempts as these
Delay is harmful: and ’tis more than time.

OR.
But how shall I find matters there within?

OLD M.
Well. You are shielded by their ignorance.

OR.
That means you have delivered me as dead.

OLD M
. Alone of dead men thou art here above.

OR.
Doth this delight them, or how went the talk?

OLD M.
I will report, when all is done. Meanwhile,
Know, all is well with them, even what is evil.

EL.
Who is this, brother? I beseech thee, tell.

OR.
Dost not perceive?

EL.
I cannot even imagine.

OR.
Know’st not into whose hands thou gav’st me once?

EL.
Whose hands? How say you?

OR.
His, who through thy care
Conveyed me secretly to Phocis’ plain.

EL.
What! is this he, whom I, of all the band,
Found singly faithful in our father’s death?

OR.
He is that man. No more!

EL.
O gladsome day!
Dear only saviour of our father’s house,
How earnest thou hither? Art thou he indeed,
That didst preserve Orestes and myself
From many sorrows? O dear hands, kind feet,
Swift in our service,–how couldst thou so long
Be near, nor show one gleam, but didst destroy
My heart with words, hiding the loveliest deeds?
Father!–in thee methinks I see my father.
O welcome! thou of all the world to me
Most hated and most loved in one short hour.

OLD M.
Enough, dear maiden! Many nights and days
Are circling hitherward, that shall reveal
In clear recountment all that came between.
But to you two that stand beside I tell,
Now is your moment, with the Queen alone,
And none of men within; but if you pause,
Know that with others of profounder skill
You’ll have to strive, more than your present foes.

OR.
Then, Pylades, we need no more to dwell
On words, but enter on this act with speed,
First worshipping the holy shrines o’ the Gods
That were my father’s, harboured at the gate.

[They pass within. ELECTRA remains in an attitude of prayer]

EL.
O King Apollo! hear them graciously,
And hear me too, that with incessant hand
Honoured thee richly from my former store!
And now, fierce slayer, I importune thee,
And woo thee with such gifts as I can give,
Be kindly aidant to this enterprise,
And make the world take note, what meed of bane
Heaven still bestows on man’s iniquity.