clothes,
And sucked the very breast that nourished me,
And mixed the sweet milk with a clot of blood,
And she in terror wailed the strange event,
So must she, as that monster dread she nourished,
Die cruel death: and I, thus serpentised,
Am here to slay her, as this dream portends;
I take thee as my dream-interpreter.

They rapidly arrange their plan to appear as foreigners, and get
admission to the Palace, or, if Aegisthus come out, strike him down at
once--with a prayer to Apollo _exeunt Electra, Orestes, and Pylades by
the Distance Sidedoor_. {575}

CHORAL INTERLUDE I

_in four Strophes and Antistrophes._

Monsters and woes are many, but most terrible of all is a
passion-driven woman: Thestias, who burnt out the mystic brand that
measured her son's life; Scylla, who robbed her father of his
life-charm; another--but the woman who slew her warrior-chief it is
meet for me to pass over in silence. Then there is the great Lemnian
Crime, foremost of all crimes; yet this might well be compared to it;
and as that race perished, so is judgment at hand here; the anvil-block
of Vengeance firm is set, and Fate is swordsmith hammering; in due time
the debt of guilt is paid. {639}

EPISODE II

_Enter by the Distance Side-door Orestes, Pylades, and attendants, and
advance to the Central Door._

_Orestes_ calls loudly for admission, telling the slave who opens that
he is a traveller, and must do his message to those within ere night
falls; to a lady if a lady rules, though a lord is seemlier. _Enter
Clytaemnestra_, who gives a formal offer of hospitality (having noticed
his irreverent tone), and to whom he bluffly gives a message from a
fellow traveller, who learning he was bound for Argos, begged him to
seek out Orestes' kinsmen and give the news of his death.
_Clytaemnestra_ affects a burst of grief; the curse has taken another
victim as he was disentangling himself from the net. _Orestes_ regrets
he cannot hope for the welcome of those who bear good news.
_Clytaemnestra_ (with a dim feeling of suspicion) assures him he shall
want for nothing 'that is fitting', orders Orestes to be led one way,
and the rest another, and goes to call Aegisthus 'and friends.'
_Exeunt Clytaemnestra by Left Inferior Door to the Women's Quarters,
Orestes and Porter through Central and Pylades, etc., through Right
Inferior Door. Chorus, in marching rhyt