ELEC. Thou hast died, thou hast died, O mother, O thou that didst bring me forth, but hast killed the father, and the children of thy blood. We perish, we perish, even as two corses. For thou art among the dead, and the greatest part of my life is passed in groans, and wailings, and nightly tears; marriageless, childless, behold, how like a miserable wretch do I drag out my existence forever! CHOR. O virgin Electra, approach near, and look that thy brother has not died unobserved by thee; for by this excessive quiet he doth not please me. ORESTES, ELECTRA, CHORUS. ORES. O precious balm of sleep, thou that relievest my malady, how pleasant didst thou come to me in the time of need! O divine oblivion of my sufferings, how wise thou art, and the goddess to be supplicated by all in distress!--whence, in heaven's name, came I hither? and how brought? for I remember not things past, bereaved, as I am, of my senses. ELEC. My dearest brother, how didst thou delight me when thou didst fall asleep! wilt thou I touch thee, and raise thy body up? ORES. Raise me then, raise me, and wipe the clotted foam from off my wretched mouth, and from my eyes. ELEC. Behold, the task is sweet, and I refuse not to administer to a brother's limbs with a sister's hand. ORES. Lay thy side by my side, and remove the squalid hair from my face, for I see but imperfectly with my eyes. ELEC. O wretched head, sordid with ringlets, how art thou disordered from long want of the bath! ORES. Lay me on the couch again; when my fit of madness gives me a respite, I am feeble and weak in my limbs. ELEC. Behold, the couch is pleasant to the sick man, an irksome thing to keep, but still a necessary one. ORES. Again raise me upright--turn my body. CHOR. Sick persons are hard to be pleased from their feebleness. ELEC. Wilt thou set thy feet on the ground, putting forward thy long-discontinued[5] step? In all things change is sweet. ORES. Yes, by all means; for this has a semblance of health, but the semblance is good, though it be distant from the truth. ELEC. Hear now therefore, O my brother, while yet the Furies suffer thee to have thy right faculties. ORES. Wilt thou tell any news? and if good indeed, thou art conferring pleasure; but if it pertain at all to mischief--I have enough distress. ELEC. Menelaus has arrived, the brother of thy father, but his ships are moored in the Nauplian bay. ORES. How sayest? Is he come, a light in mine and thy sufferings, a man of kindred blood, and that hath received benefits from our father? ELEC. He is come; take this a sure proof of my words, bringing with him Helen from the walls of Troy. ORES. Had he been saved alone, he had been more blest. But if he brings his wife, he has arrived with a mighty evil. ELEC. Tyndarus begat an offspring of daughters, a conspicuous mark for blame, and infamous throughout Greece. ORES. Do thou then be unlike the bad, for it is in thy power. And not only say, but also hold these sentiments.