Chorus

and you do not see your fatherland, while through the cities a rumor goes, mistress, which hands you over to the bed of a barbarian;

just as a Naiad nymph, who sends a song of woe ringing over the hills, cries out, under the rocky hollows, with screams at the rape of Pan.

but he is still wearing out his life on the ocean swell and has not yet reached the haven of his country, wretched in his wandering life, bereft of every friend, approaching every land in his sea-going ship from the land of Troy.

what store of sorrows is here disclosed, enough to draw a tear from every eye!

But,—to tell thee all I know, old sir,— her lord is gone, with furtive step, into the hallowed tent, there to offer on this child’s behalf such gifts and victims as are offered for a birth, and with his new-found son to celebrate the feast.

how I ever hate the wicked who plot unrighteousness and then cunningly trick it out.

In the center of the shield the sun’s bright circle was shining on winged horses, and the heavenly chorus of stars, Pleiades, Hyades, bringing defeat to the eyes of Hector;

Chorus Leader:

Chorus:

Sing with me, maidens, sing the praises of Artemis, whose temple faces Chalcis, where angry spearmen madly chafe, here in the narrow havens of Aulis, because of me.

It was on the day Pieria’s lovely-haired choir came over the slopes of Pelion to the wedding of Peleus, beating the ground with print of golden sandals at the banquet of the gods, and hymning in dulcet strains the praise of Thetis and the son of Aeacus, over the Centaurs’ hill, down woods of Pelion.

Then the gods shed a blessing on the marriage of the high-born bride, who was first of Nereus’ daughters, and on the wedding of Peleus.

May we be mothers in this way, may we have such fair children, dear PalIas, you who with well-aimed stone spilled the serpent’s blood, rousing Cadmus to brood upon the task, from which a demon’s curse swooped upon this land and ravaged it.

Chorus Leader:

Chorus Leader:

Justice, the sender of the omen, will come, winning the just victory of her hands’ might.

Not to you alone of mortals, my daughter, has sorrow come, though you face it with less restraint than those girls inside, Chrysothemis and Iphianassa, whose parents and blood you share.

Ah, Electra, child of a most wretched mother, why are you always wasting away in this unsated mourning for Agamemnon, who long ago was godlessly ensnared in your false mother’s wiles and betrayed by her corrupt hand?

Chorus:

Chorus:

Chorus:

Next, I recruited the best chorus that I could, without indicting a single fine, without extorting a single pledge, and without making a single enemy.

The first, Ameinias, whom I thought a trustworthy man, belonged to the Erechtheid tribe and had been officially chosen by it to recruit and supervise its choruses at the various festivals;

Being thus occupied myself, I arranged that the needs of the chorus should be attended to by Phanostratus, a member of the same deme as my accusers here and a relative of my own (he is my son-in-law);

but to see children fall ill and bridal beds emptied by death’s ravages is too much to bear, when one might go through life without wife or child.

Chorus:

Chorus:

Many are the forms of divine things, and the gods bring to pass many things unexpectedly;

Go, Bacchus, with smiling face throw a deadly noose around the hunter of the Bacchae as he falls beneath the flock of Maenads.

There are innumerable hopes to innumerable men, and some result in wealth to mortals, while others fail.

for it was their marriage, which was no marriage but misery sent by some demon, that robbed me of my country and drove me from my home.

Chorus Leader:

Chorus Leader:

and a joyful thing too it is, I trow, to witness the good luck of friends, who till then ne’er dreamt of it.

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Chorus:

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Chorus:

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For each set looks like a troop of utensils, and the space between the sets is beautiful to see, when each set is kept clear of it, just as a troop of dancers about the altar is a beautiful spectacle in itself, and even the free space looks beautiful and unencumbered.

Thus, a chorus is a combination of human beings;