Non temere Critici dubitarunt an haec fabula Euripidis γνησία* esset: tametsi enim oratio omnino eius auctoris germana esse videri possit, tamen praeter oeconomiam, quae aliquando frigidior est ac minus cohaeret, alia quoque in hac scriptione notantur ab eruditionis censoribus.# Quamquam nihil vetat quominus idem hic Euripidi, summo alioqui poetae ingenio, accidisse putemus, quod magnis viris accidere solet, ut ipsis non numquam in serio opere somnus obrepat. Potest etiam fieri ut ab aliquo aemulo Euripidis sit composita. Nos rem in medio relinquimus, nec lectori quicquam praeiudicamus. [660] Porro tragoediae nihil aliud sunt quam imagines quaedam humanarum cladium quibus subinde respublica et regna affliguntur, Deo hoc pacto ulciscente insignibus exemplis atrocia scelera. Quare et praesenti spectaculo poeta calamitosissimae Pelopidarum familiae ostendit quam horribilibus poenis Deus puniat detestabilia flagitia, parricidium et adulterium, quantumque malorum saepe unum aliquod sceleratum facinus parturiat ac secum trahat. ὅταν γὰρ οὐ καλὴ κρηπίς ἐστι τοῦ γένους (ut verbis Euripidis utar†) saepe unius sceleris vindicta perpetuis cladibus in omnem posteritatem usque propagatur: καὶ φόνος φόνῳ ἐξαμείβων δι’ αἵματος οὐ λείπει δόμους, ut idem Euripides ait.** Primum enim Tantalus ob prodita mysteria apud inferos siti ac fame in mediis aquis torquetur. Et Pelops caede Myrtili domum funestavit. Mox Atreus et Thyestes pari calamitate infelices erant: alter enim adulterio, alter parricidio familiam suam incestavit. Hinc Agamemnon et Menelaus, quorum fata quoque lacrimosa. Aegisthus se impiavit caede Agamemnonis. De Orestis calamitate haec praesens tragoedia est. Atque haec omnia spectant et faciunt ad divinam providentiam, qua Deus res humanas, contra Epicurum sine literis, sineque arte in omnes insultantem, inspicit ac procurat, atrocia scelera tragicis suppliciis vindicans, innocentes autem et indigne oppressos praesenti ope saepe eripiens. Hac de re copiose Plato ἐν τῷ β. πολιτειῶν et in Phaedone aliisque pluribus in locis.

*[Incorrect accent γνήσια in the original.]

#[An odd phrase; one wonders whether eruditionis is an error for eruditis or eruditioribus.]

†[A paraphrase reflecting the often-quoted lines Herc. Fur. 1261-2 ὅταν δὲ κρηπὶς μὴ καταβληθῆι γένους / ὀρθῶς, ἀνάγκη δυστυχεῖν τοὺς ἐκγόνους.]

**[A paraphrase of Orestes 816-18 ὅθεν φόνωι φόνος ἐξαμείβων δι’ αἵματος οὐ προλείπει δισσοῖσιν Ἀτρείδαις.]

Not without reason have the Critics doubted whether this play is a genuine work of Euripides: for although the language can be considered entirely typical of this author, nevertheless beyond the arrangement, which is sometimes more feeble and less united, the arbiters of philological learning also notice other points to blame in this composition. Although nothing forbids that we believe that here the same thing has befallen Euripides, otherwise a poet of the highest talent, as is accustomed to befall great men, namely that sleep sometimes takes by surprise those engaged in serious work. It is also possible that it was composed by someone in imitation of Euripides. We leave this topic in open consideration, nor do we judge anything beforehand for the reader. [660] Moreover, tragedies are nothing other than certain representations of human disasters with which periodically states and kingdoms are afflicted, when God punishes horrible crimes in this way with remarkable examples. Therefore, with the present spectacle of the miserable family of Pelops, the poet shows how God inflicts terrible punishments on abominable crimes, parricide and adultery, and what a mass of evils some single wicked crime often brings forth and drags with itself. ‘For when the foundation of a clan is not good’ (if I might use the words of Euripides) often the vengeance for one crime is continually prolonged into every succeeding generation with constant disasters: ‘and murder succeeding murder amidst bloodshed does not leave the household’, as the same Euripides says. For, first, Tantalus is tormented in the underworld with hunger and thirst in the middle of water because of the revealed secrets. Then Pelops polluted his house with the murder of Myrtilus. Soon Atreus and Thyestes were unhappy in their equal misfortune: for one defiled his own family with adultery, the other with parricide. After this came Agamemnon and Menelaus, whose fates were also worthy of tears. Aegisthus stained himself with the slaughter of Agamemnon. This present tragedy is about the misfortune of Orestes. And all these events look toward and fit with divine providence, by which God looks into and takes care of human affairs (contrary to Epicurus, who without education and without skill insults everyone), avenging horrible crimes with tragic punishments, often snatching out of danger, however, the innocent and undeservedly oppressed with immediate aid. About this matter Plato [writes] at length in the second book of Republics, and in Phaedo, and in many other places.

Versatur haec fabula ex magna parte in genere deliberativo, nisi quod duae orationes contrariae Clytaemnestrae et Electrae sint in genere iudiciali. Habet praeterea locos communes, et sententias gravissimas non paucas, quas in Scholiis indicabimus.

This story is composed in great part in the deliberative genre, except that the two opposing speeches of Clytemnestra and Electra are in the judicial genre. Besides this it has general topics and not a few very serious maxims, which we will indicate in the Scholia.

Argumentum Actus primi.

Prologus colonus Mycenaeus primum lamentabilem Agamemnonis necem et undique afflictam Pelopidarum domum, deinde Clytaemnestrae et Aegisthi crudelem impietatem spectatoribus commemorat: unde occasio et ratio omnis praesentis argumenti pendet. 2 Electra sub crepusculum aquam haustura sidera testatur se indignissime regia domo eiectam a matre simulque colonum, cui tradita erat, revocantem se ab illo labore, ut verum amicum in adversis commendat. Interea Orestes cum Pylade, perpetuo laborum et aerumnarum socio, Argis appropinquat, quaesiturus sororem et patris caedem ulturus. 3 Electra, regia quidem, sed calamitosissima puella, deplorat* miserabilem patris necem, fratrisque Orestis, qui solus in tantis malis solacio esse posset, praesentiam optat, ut postea desideratior et expectatior eiusdem adventus appareat. Inserviunt illa parasceuae sequentium Actuum.

*[Misprinted as depiorit; already corrected in Stephanus 1602.]

Argument of the First Act

1 As prologue-speaker, a Mycenean farmer recounts to the audience first the lamentable murder of Agamemnon and the completely afflicted house of Pelops, then the cruel impiety of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus: from this the entire occasion and rationale of the current plot depend. 2 Electra, while going to draw water beneath the twilight, calls the stars to witness that she has been undeservedly thrown out of her royal home by her mother, and at the same time she commends the farmer, to whom she was handed over, who tries to call her back from that work, as a true friend in adversity. Meanwhile Orestes approaches Argos with Pylades, the constant companion of his labors and hardships, intending to search for his sister and avenge the death of his father. 3 Electra, a royal but very unfortunate girl, laments the miserable murder of her father, and she wishes for the presence of her brother Orestes, who alone can be a comfort in such great evils, in such a way that later on his arrival might appear more longed for and anxiously expected. These details serve for the preparation of the following Acts.

[661] Argumentum Actus secundi.

Continet hic Actus congressum Orestis et Electrae, quo multae causae cumulantur ad iustam ultionem caedis paternae. Exaggeratur enim Aegisthi et Clytaemnestrae impietas et crudelitas, caedis Agamemnonis indignitas, Electrae vero et Orestis fortuna afflictissima. Quibus omnibus vindicandi sceleris cupiditas magis ac magis utrisque accenditur. Commendatur praeterea in hoc Actu coloni, hominis rustici et simplicis, integritas ac fides in Electram et hospitalitas in advenas navaque in procuranda re domestica industria. 2. Apostrophe Chori in expeditionem Graecorum in Asiam, qua veluti a thesi ad hypothesin in laudem Achillis digreditur, cuius arma Homerico exemplo celebrat. Quare Clytaemnestrae parricidium exaggeratur ac detestabilius fit, ut quae tantorum heroum qualis Achillis fuerit imperatorem Agamemnonem per dolum cum adultero occiderit.

[661] Argumentum of the Second Act

1 This Act contains the reunion of Orestes and Electra, through which many reasons pile up for just revenge for the murder of their father. For the impiety and cruelty of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, the unworthiness of the death of Agamemnon, and also the most wretched fortune of Electra and Orestes are amplified. By all of these things, the desire to avenge the crime is kindled more and more in each of them. Besides this, in this Act are commended the integrity and fidelity toward Electra of the farmer, a rustic and simple man, and his hospitality toward the strangers, and his diligent effort in managing domestic affairs. 2. An apostrophe of the Chorus on the expedition of the Greeks to Asia, in which it digresses, as if from a general topic to a specific subject, into praise of Achilles, whose arms it honors following the Homeric example. Hereby the parricide of Clytemnestra is magnified and made more abominable, in that she killed Agamemnon, a leader of such heroic men as Achilles was, through deceit together with an adulterer.

[662] Argumentum Actus tertii.

Antiquus alumnus domus Tantali, sed (quod fit funestantibus omnia tyrannis) nunc eiectus, adfert quaedam munera pastoralia Oresti rogatu Electrae ac cum his flavae comae pilos ab Agamemnonis sepulchro, cui obiter inferias tulerat: unde Orestem forte clam iusta parenti fecisse ex capilli similitudine senex suspicabatur. 2. Agnoscit senex Orestem ex cicatrice iuxta palpebras, quae illi olim puero ex vulnere dum cum sorore hinnulum persequeretur accepto coaluerat, unde sequitur mutua salutatio et complexus Electrae et Orestis. 3. Orestes cum sene consilia communicat de vindicanda nece patris, qua in re mira Orestis et Electrae parandarum insidiarum solertia [663] animique circumspectio est observanda. Post consultationem Orestes Iove Iunone Tellure matre et patris occisi manibus in auxilium evocatis ad facinus accingitur. 4. Chorus habet perpetuam narrationem de celebri illo agno aurei velleris et incestu Thyestis, causis multarum calamitatum domus Pelopeiae cum insigni acclamatione ista horribilia exempla ideo nobis proponi ut diis obtemperantes pie et sancte vitam instituamus ne in similes clades incidamus.

[662] Argumentum of the Third Act

An old foster-son of the house of Tantalus, but (which happens when tyrants defile everything) now driven out, brings certain shepherd's gifts to Orestes at the request of Electra and, with these, blond locks of hairs from the tomb of Agamemnon, to whom on the way he had made sacrifices in honor of the dead: whence from the resemblance of his hair the old man suspects that Orestes has secretly offered due rites to his father. 2. The old man recognizes Orestes from the scar near his eyelid, which had been formed when as a boy he had once received a wound while he was pursuing a young fawn with his sister. From this [recognition], a mutual greeting and the embrace of Electra and Orestes follow. 3. Orestes shares his intentions with the old man about avenging the death of his father, in which plan the remarkable shrewdness of Orestes and Electra in preparing a deceptive plot and their caution of mind should be noticed. After this deliberation, Orestes prepares himself for his crime, having evoked Jove, Juno, Mother Earth, and the spirit of his murdered father as help. 4. The Chorus has a continuous narration about that celebrated lamb of the golden fleece and the incest of Thyestes, the causes of many disasters of the House of Pelops: with a remarkable exclamation that these horrible examples are placed before us so that we, obeying the gods, may arrange our life piously and reverently, lest we fall into similar disasters.

[663] Argumentum Actus quarti.

Narratio prolixa est de sublato per insidias Aegistho, in qua obiter ritus sacrificandi apud priscos describitur. Hinc gratulatio et tripudium Chori ac Electrae. Solent enim mortes tyrannorum homines plausu et laetitia prosequi. Sequitur mox oratio Electrae ad Orestem invectiva per effictionem, in qua loci communes de violata semel pudicitia de inauspicatis connubiis de opibus scelere partis. 2. Deliberat Orestes et Electra de interficienda quoque matre. Qua in re invictum animum viraginis videre licet, quo mire Orestem ad impium facinus excitat, quem potius pro mulieris storgis mitigare et incitatum moderari debebat. 3. Clytaemnestra in scenam producitur multo apparatu et barbaris mancipiis superba ad excitandam maiorem spectatorum invidiam. Odiosum quippe erat illam tali pompa incedere occiso nefarie marito et exulantibus miseris liberis. Hinc sequuntur duae orationes iudiciales, quarum altera suum factum defendit Clytaemnestra, altera ab Electra defensio confutatur. 4. Chorus deplorat funestam familiam Pelopidarum cruentaque illa facinora detestatur.

[663] Argument of the Fourth Act

There is an extended narration about Aegisthus being killed through [Orestes’] plot, in which the sacrificial rite of the ancients is described in passing. From this [proceed] the congratulations and dancing of the Chorus and Electra. For men are accustomed to follow the deaths of tyrants with applause and joy. Soon there follows Electra’s speech addressed to Orestes, an invective through graphic character portrayal, in which the general topics are about virtue once violated, unlucky marriages, and the wealth acquired by the crime. 2. Orestes and Electra consider killing their mother too. In which plan the unconquered spirit of the warrior-maiden can be seen, by which she astonishingly incites Orestes to the impious crime, whom she should rather have softened in accordance with the loving feelings of a woman and should have restrained if he was stirred to action. 3. Clytemnestra is led out onto the stage glorying in her lavish equipment and barbarian slaves in order to excite greater ill will in the spectators. Surely it was hateful that she proceeded with such ostentation, when her husband had been impiously killed and her miserable children exiled. From here follows two judicial speeches, in one of which Clytemnestra defends her own deed, in the other her defense is refuted by Electra. 4. The Chorus laments the unfortunate family of the Pelopids and denounces those bloody crimes.

[664] Argumentum Actus quinti.

Orestes et Electra peracta caede in gravissimos cruciatus incidunt, ducti poenitentia tanti sceleris. Solent enim atrocia scelera horribiles conscientiae morsus sequi. 2. Castor et Pollux dii ex improviso (ut proverbio dicitur) apparentes omnia componunt et placant. 3. Ultima salutatio et flebilis separatio Orestis ac Electrae.

[664] Argument of the Fifth Act

Orestes and Electra, once the slaughter has been carried out, fall into the greatest torment, guided by penitence for such a great crime. For terrible bites of conscience are accustomed to follow hideous deeds. 2. The gods Castor and Pollux, appearing unexpectedly (as it is said in the proverb), arrange and reconcile everything. 3. The final good-bye and tearful separation of Orestes and Electra.

Translation by Meghan Bowers