_Cly._ O wicked death! _Pyl._ In Crete All men lamented him, so potent in him Were beauty, grace, and daring. _Cly._ Nay, who would not Lament him save this wretch alone? Dear son, Must I then never, never see thee more? O me! too well I see thee crossing now The Stygian stream to clasp thy father's shade: Both turn your frowning eyes askance on me, Burning with dreadful wrath! Yea, it was I, 'T was I that slew you both. Infamous mother And guilty wife!--Now art content, Aegisthus? Aegisthus still doubts, and pursues the pretended messengers with such insulting question that Orestes, goaded beyond endurance, betrays that their character is assumed. They are seized and about to be led to prison in chains, when Electra enters and in her anguish at the sight exclaims, “Orestes led to die!” Then ensues a heroic scene, in which each of the friends claims to be Orestes. At last Orestes shows the dagger Electra has given him, and offers it to Clytemnestra, that she may stab Aegisthus with the same weapon with which she killed Agamemnon: Whom then I would call mother. Take it; thou know'st how To wield it; plunge it in Aegisthus' heart! Leave me to die; I care not, if I see My father avenged. I ask no other proof Of thy maternal love from thee. Quick, now, Strike! Oh, what is it that I see? Thou tremblest? Thou growest pale? Thou weepest? From thy hand The dagger falls? Thou lov'st Aegisthus, lov'st him And art Orestes' mother? Madness! Go And never let me look on thee again! Aegisthus dooms Electra to the same death with Orestes and Pylades, but on the way to prison the guards liberate them all, and the Argives rise against the usurper with the beginning of the fifth act, which I shall give entire, because I think it very characteristic of Alfieri, and necessary to a conception of his vehement, if somewhat arid, genius. I translate as heretofore almost line for line, and word for word, keeping the Italian order as nearly as I can. SCENE I. AEGISTHUS _and Soldiers._ _Aeg._ O treachery unforseen! O madness! Freed, Orestes freed? Now we shall see.... _Enter_ CLYTEMNESTRA. _Cly._ Ah! turn Backward thy steps. _Aeg._ Ah, wretch, dost thou arm too Against me? _Cly._ I would save thee. Hearken to me, I am no longer-- _Aeg._ Traitress-- _Cly._ Stay! _Aeg._ Thou 'st promised Haply to give me to that wretch alive? _Cly._ To keep thee, save thee from him, I have sworn, Though I should perish for thee! Ah, remain And hide thee here in safety. I will be Thy stay against his fury-- _Aeg._ Against his fury My sword shall be my stay. Go, leave me! I go-- _Cly._ Whither? _Aeg._ To kill him!