h whose?
What evil dost thou indicate by this?
_Elec._ My father's; 'tis to them, against my will
I live in bondage.
_Ores._ Who constrains thee, then?
_Elec._ My mother she is called; and yet in nought
Is she what mother should be.
_Ores._ In what acts?
By blows and stripes, or this unseemly life?
_Elec._ Both blows, unseemly life, and all vile deeds.
_Ores._ And is there none to help? Not one to check?
_Elec._ No, none. Who was . . . thou buryest him as dust.
_Ores._ O sad one! How I pitied thee long since.
_Elec._ Know, then, thou art the only pitying one. {1200}
_Ores._ For I alone am hurt by these thy woes.
_Elec._ Surely thou dost not come by line of blood
Connected with us.
_Ores._ I could tell thee all,
Were these thy friends.
_Elec._ Most friendly are they; speak
As unto faithful hearers.
_Ores._ Put away
That urn awhile that thou may'st hear the whole.
_Elec._ Ah! By the Gods, O stranger, ask not that.
_Ores._ Do what I bid thee, and thou shalt not err.
_Elec._ Now, by thy beard, deprive me not of that
I hold most dear.
_Ores._ I say it cannot be.
_Elec._ Ah me, Orestes, wretched shall I be,
Bereaved of this thy tomb.
_Ores._ Hush, hush such words;
Thou has no cause for wailing.
_Elec._ Have no cause!
Do I not wail my brother, who is dead?
_Ores._ Thou hast no call to utter speech like this.
_Elec._ And am I so dishonoured by the dead?
_Ores._ By none art thou dishonoured. But this thing
Is nought to thee.
_Elec._ And yet it needs must be,
If 'tis Orestes' body that I bear.
_Ores._ Except in show of speech it is not his.
_Elec._ Where, then, is that poor exile's sepulchre?
_Ores._ Of those that live there is no sepulchre. {1219}
_Elec._ What say'st thou, boy?
_Ores._ No falsehood what I say.
_Elec._ And does he live?
_Ores._ He lives, if I have life.
_Elec._ What, art thou he?
_Ores._ Look thou upon this seal,
My father's once, and learn if I speak truth.
_Elec._ O blessed day!
_Ores.