AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 1 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell AGAMEMNON (MODERN TRANSLATION BY JAY LASHELL, FEB. 1995) (THIS TEXT CAN BE READ, BUT NOT PERFORMED WITHOUT PAYING THE ROYALTIES) CHARACTERS WATCHMAN CHORUS of Elders of ARGOS CLYTEMNESTRA, Wife Of Agamemnon HERALD AGAMEMNON, king of ARGOS CASSANDRA, A princess of Troy AEGISTHUS, Clytemnestra's lover; son of Thyestes SOLDIERS; GUARDS with Aegisthus **** PROLOG ====== [MUSIC SWELLS UP IN AN OVERTURE. THE HEAD OF AEGISTHUS FADES IN FRAMED BY A SPOTLIGHT.] AEGISTHUS: O happy day, when Justice comes! Now I believe that gods, who dwell above the earth, See what men suffer, and award a compensation. There was dispute between Atreus, Agamemnon's father, Who ruled Argos then, And my father Thyestes, his own brother; whom Atreus drove out from home and city. Thyestes came back; Sat as though a pitiful servant at Atreus' hearth; But Atreus, Agamemnon's father, gave his guest, my father, A host's "gift"; a gift with much Eagerness instead of brotherly love. He faked a feasting, And with the lavish meats served him his own sons' flesh. The feet and the fingers were concealed, putting The other parts, unrecognizably arranged above them. Each guest had his table; and this dish Was set before my father. He, in ignorance, At once ate that which prompted no close scrutiny, And tasted food from which, as you now see, our house Has not recovered. When he recognized, in all Its repulsion, what had been done. With one deep groan, Thyestes pushed back his chair, vomiting murdered sons flesh, he fell; Cursed Pelops' race with an inexorable curse; `So crash to ruin the whole house of Tantalus!' That deed gave birth to what you will now see here, my revenge. I planned Agamemnon's killing, as was just: I was the third Child of Thyestes, then a child in baby's clothes; Spared, and sent off with my father until, Justice restored me to my native land. I, from a distance, plotted this whole evil snare, And caught my man. Thus satisfied, I could die now, Seeing Agamemnon in the trap of Justice, dead. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 2 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell While Agamemnon went to fight in Troy, I stayed at home; Seduced CLYTEMNESTRA meanwhile; and then, against a man Who led an army, I schemed his murder! Of course, I had the help of Clytemnestra, who believes she loves me. [LIGHTS FADE; MUSIC RISES FROM BACKGROUND] [It is a little before sunrise. On the roof of Atreus' palace there is a WATCHMAN. In front of the palace are statues of Zeus, Apollo, and Hermes.] WATCHMAN: If only Zeus, or Apollo, or Hermes could ease this long tiresome watch. Twelve months of this, night after night, keeping guard On Atreus' palace. Queen Clytemnestra has me watching for the one light I long to see, a new fire, the sign, the beacon-flare To send from Troy one word, 'Victory!' - The news for Clytemnestra that her king is coming home to Greece. All night I think how this house has changed now. From the time ten years ago when the king, AGAMEMNON ruled it. Send the fire to bring back the king with good news. [ He sees the flares ] Look! Welcome flares, changing night to day, You'll get them dancing in the streets in Argos Call Clytemnestra! The Queen must rise at once and welcome The fire with words and shouts of victory, For the Trojan town of Ilion's ours! The gods have blessed my King. Now if only Heaven will bring Agamemnon safely home! [The watchman descends. Lights begin to appear in the palace. A cry of triumph is heard from CLYTEMNESTRA within, and is echoed by other women. CLYTEMNESTRA enters from the palace, with two attendants: she casts incense on the altars, and prays before he statue of Zeus. Day begins to break. From the city enter the ELDERS OF ARGOS. They do not yet see CLYTEMNESTRA.] CHORUS: Ten years have passed since the son of Atreus, Agamemnon, manned a thousand Argive ships, And with the Hellas army on these ships, Sailed to settle scores with Troy. Against Paris's guilty kidnapping of Helen Zeus sends Atreus' sons for stern revenge. Now Greece and Troy both suffer aching muscles and bloody wounds. Things will follow Fate's plan which none can alter. In vain shall Priam's people pray at their altars To their gods above. No gift to these gods and no sacrifices Can end the wrath of Heaven from its justice. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 3 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell Here the CHORUS-LEADER sees CLYTEMNESTRA. CHORUS LEADER: Queen Clytemnesta! What has happened? Why have you ordered Sacrifice throughout the city? Is there news? Altars of all gods who guard our State, Altars blaze with offerings; On every side the flames beg for Anger to melt. Why these things! Gracious, Queen: Tell what you can. For there is this haunting fear Which now creeps near, These altars fade away... Give us hope to lift the load... CLYTEMNESTRA remains silent, her back turned to the CHORUS. The CHORUS continues, addressing the audience. If you want to hear the whole story from its beginning, It was ten years ago - Those twin kings of our warlike kingdom Two leaders with one purpose, their revenge in thousands Pointing North To Troy - Great luck to these kings of that great fleet. The sons of Atreus; Thus prophesied : `Your army shall make King Priam's Troy their prey; Troy's violent doom shall terminate all. And punish Trojan pride. Still spoken by the prophet: Bless the sign we saw! Cancel all its ill, and its good fulfil! Next my anxious prayers are for Lord Apollo's power, That his Sister may not send Winds to halt the Hellene fleet; Bad blood builds a tower of hate, Mad blood to destroy its own source, Warring within the flesh of man; Bloodshed bringing in its path Kindred blood that spills again, still unending, Poisoning a kingdom's life With darkness, and strife, All for vengeance for one wife.' Let good prevail! But What is good? And who Is God? If he accept the name, Zeus I'll name him. I am still perplexed. For I have searched every hope of aid: Still I can find No belief to lift this depression, This fear that haunts without a stop - AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 4 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell The first of gods is gone, His strong successor had his hour, Then went his way, thrown over By a still stronger god. Now Zeus is lord; and he Who claims his victory Shall find the universal key: Zeus, whose will has planned for man The sole way to wisdom; Ordered one basic plan: Mankind must suffer to be wise. Man grows wiser against his will. For powers who rule us from above Force their love by ruthlessness. Agamemnon dared not admit to error; thought Of his great fleet, and in his pride Caused him to sail toward the ill wind he should have fought. His armed men lay frustrated along the shores, And cursed wind and ate dwindling food supplies. While ships and sails grew rotten, deserters stole away, All felt the same: helpless, hungry, thwarted. Their warlike motivations passed. The flower of warlike Hellas withered away. Then Calchas spoke again. He said the wind Was sent by Artemis; and he revealed The remedy - a thought to break the hearts of Atreus' sons, who wept, Agamemnon spoke: 'What can I do? Disaster follows if I disobey; Surely worse disaster follows if I slaughter my own child, my home's delight, in her young innocence, and stain my hand With sadistic, unnatural cruelty in the blood I fathered! Either way, Ruin! Give up the fleet, sail home, and have A deserter's badge - The wind must turn, There must be sacrifice, a maid must bleed - The men's rage demands it - they are right! May good justify my deed!' He put on the rationalization of Necessity. Which, once his madness had passed, For that one reckless wrong, he had only Shameless self-willed egomania. Boldness to dare damnation, And start the wheels of doom to roll Relentlessly to their evil goal. So Agamemnon, offered his daughter's life To help a war fought for a faithless Helen And pay the price for a wind-stalled fleet. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 5 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell Heedless of her tears, Her cries of `Father !' and her virginity, Her judge valued more his glory and winning the war. Her father gave the word. The priest's attendants held her high Above the altar. Her father spoke to tell Someone to bring a gag, bind her mouth tightly with it. Rough hands tear off her girdle, Throw saffron silks to earth. Each man, seeing her beauty, The pity of her dumb pleading looks, Struggling for voice; The rest I could not bear to see, Nor do I speak of it . . . But this I know: What Calchas prophesies will be. The scale of Justice falls back, and The killer will be killed. The day has broken. THE QUEEN now turns and stands facing the ELDERS. CHORUS: We come at your bidding, Clytemnestra. Our king is absent, his throne unoccupied. Our duty pays observance to his wife. Have you received some message? Do these sacrifices Rise for good news? CLYTEMNESTRA: Good news! But here's richer news than you dared hope: Our men have captured Priam's town. CHORUS: Have what? I can't believe it! CLYTEMNESTRA: Troy is ours! Is that clear? CHORUS: Happiness fills our eyes with tears. CLYTEMNESTRA: Your tears show your loyalty. CHORUS: Are you sure of this fall of Troy? CLYTEMNESTRA: I am indeed; unless a god has played a trick. CHORUS: A god! Was it some dream you had? CLYTEMNESTRA: Dream! Am I one to air imaginings? CHORUS: Surely you have an unconfirmed report! CLYTEMNESTRA: You choose to criticize me? CHORUS: Well, then, when was Troy captured? CLYTEMNESTRA: In this very night! CHORUS: What messenger could fly so fast from Troy? CLYTEMNESTRA: Beacon lit beacon in relays of flame. The watchman there, rose to the message: Such, Elders, was the ritual race my torchbearers, Each at his faithful post succeeding each, fulfilled; And first and last to run share equal victory. Such, Elders, is my proof offered you, A message sent to me from Troy by Agamemnon. CHORUS: Madam, we will offer thanks to Heaven; AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 6 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell CLYTEMNESTRA: Today the Greeks hold Troy! Her walls echo with cries. Screams of the captured, shouts of those who've captured them, The unhappy and the happy. Women of Troy prostrate Over dead husbands, brothers; aged grandfathers Mourning dead sons and grandsons, and remembering Their very cries are slaves' cries now. . . . If in that captured town they are respecting the gods Whose home it was, and not profaning holy places, The victors will avoid being vanquished in their turn. But there still remains the journey home: God grant we see them safe! May good prevail beyond dispute. CHORUS: Madam, your words are like a man's, both wise and kind. Now that we have heard proof from your own lips, We will prepare again to praise the gods, Whose gracious acts require a most devout response. [CLYTEMNESTRA goes into the palace.] CHORUS: Zeus, supreme of godly powers! This is the hand of Zeus! Zeus we worship, Whose law both host and guest must fear; Who long ago against Paris had sent His bow carefully aimed, but timed to pay The debt of Justice at the appointed hour. `The hand of Zeus has thrown The proud from their high places!' As Zeus willed with foreknowledge, So was their end fulfilled. The truth shows plain: Pride now must pay its debt, and they Who laughed at Right and put their vain trust In arms and swollen wealth, Have gone their destined way. A middle course is best, Not poor nor proud.; When man has once sinned, And in his wealth and pride Ignored the high shrine of Justice, Never can his sin hope to hide In that safe dark place he enjoyed before. When his freshness once bas been Blotched and defiled with crime, and he, Lies despoiled, and shows His baseness plain to see, Then every cure only increases the ill; A deeper doom than flesh can bear; The gods will be deaf to every pleading. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 7 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell So, doomed, deluded, Paris came To eat at his host's table, and seduce HeIen, his host's wife, and shame The house of Atreus and the law of Zeus. She crossed the threshold And left her palace, fearless And took to Troy as dowry Destruction, blood, and tears. She left her husband fasting, Depressed in his stricken room. His thought across seas reach With longings, A ghost will rule the palace, A home has become a tomb! Her statue's perfection Torments his desolation; His visions of her will torture him With false and fleeting pleasures. Such are the sorrows The royal palace knows, While throughout the streets of Argos Grief more intense is growing, With all our men gathered So far from the land of Hellas; And in each home no father, Each bed widowed; where all hope has withered And angry hate prevails. They sent men forth to war, But no men return; And returning home to claim their welcome, Are their ashes in an urn. And the thoughts about `why the war?' `Yes - for another's wife, Helen!' And so From grief springs bitterness which fear must hide Let kings and their revenges go to hell! Under Troy's wall are our dead, Heirs of the earth, buried deep; A nation's voice, strikes deadly as a public curse. And fear that bad become even worse. God marks that man who counts his killed by companies; And when his proud success, Forgets the law of righteousness, Then the dark Furies launch A blow to crush his strength And cloud his brightness, The Pit of oblivion swallows him. In praise too high lies danger: God's sharp lightnings fly. I choose wealth that invites no lasting hate; AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 8 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell Not wealth to lay towns desolate, [The sound of women's voices excitedly shouting and cheering is heard. One or two ELDERS go out, and return immediately to report.] Since the news was heard Rumors fly through every street. Is it some deluded lie? Facts can change, and trust fail. Beacons blaze - belief rejoices; All too easily persuaded. [The CHORUS depart; and an interval representing the lapse of several days now takes place. After the interval the CHORUS re-appear in great excitement.] CHORUS: We shall soon know whether this relay-race of flame, This torch-parade, told us the truth, or If the fire made fools of us - The gods forbid all else! Now may the proof be good! He who prays otherwise For Argos - let him reap the folly of his soul! Enter a HERALD. HERALD: Argos! Dear earth of my fathers! After ten years Today I have come home! But this proves true! I dared not think my own land would find me dead. Now blessed be Argos, and the sun's light, and Zeus, God of this realm, and Pythian Apollo. Bless the returning that the sword has spared! To you, and every Argive citizen, Agamemnon Brings light in darkness; come, then, greet him royally, So harsh an enslavement Agamemnon has thrown Around Troy's neck, He now comes home victorious To claim supreme honors. CHORUS: Herald of the Greek army, Welcome home! HERALD: Thanks. For ten years I've prayed for life; now I can die. CHORUS: Longing for Argos, for your home, tormented you? HERALD: Cruelly. CHORUS: Your suffering had its happy side. HERALD: What do you mean? CHORUS: Your love was returned. HERALD: But was Argos threatened In the king's absence? CHORUS: Friend, you said just now that death Was welcome. Our hearts echo what you said. HERALD: Yes, I could die, now the war's over. We're not gods; then why expect To enjoy a lifetime of unbroken happiness? To remember what we went through! If I described it all, AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 9 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell The holes we camped in, dirt and weariness Or out at sea, with storms all night, trying to sleep On a narrow board, with half a blanket; all day, Miserable and sick, Then, when we landed, things were worse. We had to camp Close by the enemy. If I described the winter, when In cruel snow-winds birds froze on the trees; Or if I told of the fierce heat, Well, it's no time for moaning; And those who died out there - it's over for them too; They can take their rest. The Argive army conquered Troy, And brought home over land and sea These hard-won spoils. Trophies of victory. CHORUS: Well, I was wrong, I admit it. Old and ready to learn Is always young. But this great news is chiefly for Clytemnestra, whose wealth of joy we share. [ CLYTEMNESTRA has appeared at the palace door.] CLYTEMNESTRA: I sang for joy to hail this victory long ago, When the first fire message told that Troy Was sacked and shattered. Yet I made thankful sacrifice, And throughout Argos women gathered to celebrate Victory with songs of praise in temples of all the gods, And feed their scented fires with rich flesh-offerings. Let Agamemnon come; Argos longs for him; and he Will find at home a wife as faithful as he left, A watch-dog at his door; knowing one loyalty; No pleasure found with other men, or any breath Of scandal. [ Exit CLYTEMNESTRA to the palace. ] HERALD: That's a strange boast - Is it not scandal that a queen should speak such? CHORUS: Strange? No! Her style eludes you. A very proper statement - unimpeachable ! Now, Herald, tell us of our King Menelaus: Did he sail with you? ls he safely home? HERALD: That is false good news you ask for - I can't give it to you, CHORUS: Telling a tale falsely cannot hide the truth; When truth and good news part, the split shows plain. HERALD: Then here it is: Menelaus has vanished, ship and all! CHORUS : You mean, he sailed with you from Troy, and then a storm fell on the fleet? HERALD: Yes, in three words. CHORUS: But Menelaus - what was it had happened to him! Is he given up for lost? Or may he yet survive? HERALD: No one can tell, for no one knows; AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 10 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell CHORUS: You mean, I think, that when this storm had scourged our fleet... HERALD: Can it be right to spoil this fair and holy day, Telling bad news? After our thanksgiving to the gods, Such speaking is out of place. One night a terrible swell rose with a gale from Thrace; Ship against ship butted like rams; mountains Of wind and water leaped, surf swallowed and rain threshed. At dawn, where were the ships? We saw The Aegean flowering thick with faces of dead Greeks And scraps of wrecks . . . Our hull had held, and we came through. Some god, by intercession, saved our lives. Fortune sat smiling on our prow; we sprang no leak, Nor ran aground on rocks. In the next morning's light, Stunned, sickened, still incredulous We brooded, thinking of our maimed and battered fleet. And they, if any still draw breath, will say That Menelaus will yet come safe to his own home. And every word you have heard me speak is the plain truth. [The MESSENGER goes, in the direction from which he came.] CHORUS: Who was the unknown seer whose voice - Uttered with instinct a forecast of what Fate decreed - Helen, the Spoiler? On whose lips Was born that fatal name, To fill the sea with spoil of ships, Spoil souls with swords, a town with flame? The softness of her bed She left, and soon Comes hue and cry - armed thousand fly Tracing her trackless oar. And anger - roused, relentless, For love past limit, doom past cure: Love seals the minds of bride and groom; And seal of love is seal of doom. The hour is for celebration - but not for long. Wrath, claims payment due for double wrong - The outraged marriage, the god defied. And songs are drowned in tears, and soon Must Troy the old learn a new tune; On Paris, once her praise and pride, She calls reproach, that his proud wooing Has won his own and Troy's undoing: Her sons beset on every side, Her life-blood mercilessly spilled - Troy's is the loser, and Paris the guilty. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 11 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell There was a shepherd once who reared at home A lion's cub. It shared with sucking lambs Their milk - gentle, while bone and blood were young. The children loved it; the old watched and smiled. Often the shepherd held it like a child High in his arms; and often it would seek His hand with soft eyes and caressing tongue, Tense with the force of hunger. But in time It showed the nature of its kind. Repaying Its debt for food and shelter, it prepared A feast unbidden. Soon the nauseous reek Of torn flesh filled the house; a bloody slime Drenched all the ground from that slaying, While helpless weeping servants stood and stared. The lion once reared with lambs, now grown into a beast. And so to Troy there came Helen Beauty no thought can name: Enchantment of summer calm; A rarity for wealth to fawn upon; A flower to melt a man's heart with wonder and desire. But time grew ripe, and love's fulfillment turned Aside from that sweet course where it began. She, once their summer joy, Changed like the lion cub, and Now like a swift curse descended On every home, on every life Whose welcome had befriended the outlaw wife; She became a fiend sent by the gods Whose law her lover had transgressed, To break the pride of Troy. Man's good fortune, once mature, begets its heir; From life's goodness grows Calamity past cure And ultimate despair. Sin engenders grief; for these acts breed their own kind, And evil's nature is to multiply. The house whose ways are just in word and deed Sees lasting wealth and sons succeed and flourish. So, by law of consequence, Pride or Sin in the man who chooses ill, Will breed a Younger Insolence. But Justice - Lights the mean dwelling; honors those who prize Honor; searches far to find All whose hearts and hands are clean; Power and riches closely intertwined Are falsely stamped with all men's praise, AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 12 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell Win from these no reverence. Good and evil these will guide to their sure end. Enter AGAMEMNON in his chariot, followed by another chariot bearing spoils of war and CASSANDRA. CHORUS: King! Heir of Atreus! Conqueror of Troy! What shall we say to voice our devotion, And be neither too little nor too much in our love? Many, whose conscience is not innocent, Attach high value to a show of praise. Where no true sorrow pricks the heart, So now some embittered faces, forced Into a appropriate smile, will welcome you, And hide the hearts of traitors Beneath their feigned rejoice. The expressive sign of loyalty not felt. Now this I will not hide: ten years ago When you led Greece to war for Helen's sake You were sailing far off the course of wisdom. We thought you wrong, misguided, when you tried To keep morale from sagging In superstitious soldiers By offering sacrifice to stop the storm. AGAMEMNON: First, Argos, and her native gods, receive from me the conqueror's greeting, for which, As for the just revenge I wrought on Troy, Heaven shares my glory. Troy stood her trial; unfaltering The immortals cast their votes, Dooming Troy's walls to dust, Her men to the sword's edge. Smoke, rising still, marks great Troy's fall; Flames of destruction live yet; and, as they die, Stirs from the ash, incense of dead wealth and luxury. For this victory let our thanksgiving Tell of Heaven's favor. We have made Troy pay For her proud manly rape, a woman's price. The Argive beast, The lion on all our shields, at dead of night Sprang from inside the horse to grind that city's bones, And over wall and tower leaping, Punished royal blood till lust was ended. For your advice, I notice it; There are few whose inborn love Warms without envy to a friend's prosperity. Poison of jealousy usually laps the heart, Pangs for its own losses match pangs for neighbors' wealth. Life and long observation Taught me the look of men whose outward show, AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 13 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell Proves but a shadow: I speak of what I know. One man, Odysseus, who set sail unwillingly - At this hour dead or living? - he alone, burdened With good will, shared my burden. But take wise counsel; where disease wants remedy, Fire or the knife shall purge this body for its good. Now to my home, to stand at my own hearth And give Heaven my first greeting, May Victory, my guardian walk constantly at my side! Enter CLYTEMNESTRA attended by MAIDS holding a long drape of crimson silk. CLYTEMNESTRA: Elders and citizens of Argos! I will speak, unashamed, a wife's love for her husband. What I shall tell I learned Untaught, from my own long endurance, these ten years My husband spent at war with Troy. First, that a woman should sit forlorn at home, unmanned, Is a crying grief. Then, rumors one on other's heels, Dismayed the palace, each with worse news than the last. Many times despair at a cruel message Choked my throat. These fears explain Why our child is not here to give you fitting welcome, Our true love's pledge, Orestes. The torrents of my tears are all dry, not a drop left; My sleepless eyes are sore with weeping for you in vain. There is no welcome a sight than shelter after a storm; Now, storm endured, my happy heart welcomes my husband, Faithful watch-dog of his home, This praise I believe to be owed to him. May Heaven's jealousy not convict us. My past suffering has been enough. Now, dear husband, step from your chariot. But do not set to earth, a conquering foot That trod down Troy. Servants, do as you have been told: Carpet his way with red tapestries, Spread silk before your master's feet; Justice herself Shall lead him to a home he never hoped to see. All other matters foreseen, never lulled by sleep. [Clytemnestra's MAIDS spread a path of crimson cloth from the chariot to the palace door.] AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 14 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell AGAMEMNON: Dear wife and queen, guardian of my house, your speech matches its theme, my absence; Both were prolonged. Praise fitly spoken should be heard on other lips. And do not make me shy with these soft attentions. Do not bow before me like a fawning Persian. Your loud speeches, not your red tapestries, invite Envy of gods, honors due to gods alone. I count it dangerous, being a mere man to set foot On rich embroidered silks. I would be worshipped As a man, not a god. The praise of fame rings clear without Frills and fancy foot-rugs; Call him fortunate whom the end of life Finds him harbored in peace and quiet. CLYTEMNESTRA: There is the sea - who shall exhaust the sea? This house has store of crimson, enough For one outpouring; you are no king of beggars! If oracles prescribed it, I would have dedicated Twenty such cloths to trampling, if by care and cost I might ensure safe journey's end for one life. Now you are come to your dear home, your altar-hearth, Your loved return shines now like Spring warmth after winter. AGAMEMNON: I have said how I would enter with an easy mind. CLYTEMNESTRA: Tell me - against your convictions - one thing. AGAMEMNON: Be sure I shall do nothing against my beliefs. CLYTEMNESTRA: Might you have sworn to the gods such an act? AGAMEMNON: Yes, if someone with knowledge had prescribed it to me. CLYTEMNESTRA: Imagine Priam of Troy the conqueror: what would he have done? AGAMEMNON: Walked on embroidered satin, I have little doubt. CLYTEMNESTRA: Then why humble your heart to men's tongue? AGAMEMNON: Why indeed? Yet the people's voice speaks with great power. CLYTEMNESTRA: Greatness attracts hate. To be unenvied is undesirable. AGAMEMNON: It does not suit a woman to be fighting with words. CLYTEMNESTRA: But it suits greatness to accept defeat. AGAMEMNON: You continue to duel! What would you not give to win! CLYTEMNESTRA: Yield! You are already a victor: give me too my victory. AGAMEMNON: well, since you're determined - [to an attendant] Come kneel; untie my shoes; It offends modesty, that I Should dare with unwashed feet to trod these costly rugs, Worth their weight in silver! [Motions to CASSANDRA] AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 15 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell Take in this girl and treat her well. God will reward a gentle conqueror. Slavery is a yoke she should not endure willingly; and she Came to me by the army's gift, of all Troy's wealth The chosen jewel. CLYTEMNESTRA: Eleleleleu [a triumphant cry; she has won! which the CHORUS accept as a formal celebration of the victor's return, while only CASSANDRA understands its true meaning. CLYTEMNESTRA: Zeus, You now fulfil these prayers of mine; [CLYTEMNESTRA follows AGAMEMNON INTO the palace. AGAMEMNON'S chariot is taken away by attendants. CASSANDRA remains seated in the chariot. CHORUS: What is this persistent dread Haunting, hovering, revealing signs to my soul, While I ignore the prophet in my veins, Once before, though long ago, My heart knew the crisis hour, When at Troy our sailors' shouts, Chimed with my song; Then I was guessing; now I see The fleet returned. Yet my spirit knows again The warning signs. They again Sing that sad, familiar, funeral dirge. Blood in a raging pulse, and brain whirling, Nerve all tight, knowing Truth must stab. Yet may time and truth Shame my greatest fears. When fortune flowers too richly, Decay stands eager to step in; Fame's brief hours are numbered, What has flowered must fade. Bold in success, ambition Sails on, striking hidden rocks. Ambition runs aground, and the debt is paid. When, from living flesh Man's blood on earth pours out A dark, unfading stain, Who then by incantations Can bid that flesh live again? That sage's skill who summoned Dead men to rise from the dead, And live a second time; encourages evil, For fear that murder so mended Would invite men's hands to crime. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 16 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell But now I mutter in darkness, speaking The heart's distress, tormented with desire To say some timely word, and still despairing. [CLYTEMNESTRA comes to the palace door.] CLYTEMNESTRA: You too, Cassandra there, do you hear me? Get indoors. This palace bears you no hostility! You shall come near our altar and partake, With many other slaves, the cleansing ritual. Leave that chariot; do not be proud. Even Heracles once was sold, and learned to eat slaves' bread. Here you shall have your due - and more. CHORUS: It was to you she spoke. Since you're a captive in the toils of destiny Obey, if you understand. CLYTEMNESTRA: If she's not crazed, she will obey; unless she speaks some weird unheard-of tongue. CHORUS: Come, now; her order is the best that's possible. Obey, go in. CLYTEMNESTRA: I have no time to spend standing out here. Already victims for sacrifice wait at the central hearth. If you understand what I have said, come in at once; CHORUS: It's clear enough the girl needs an interpreter. CLYTEMNESTRA: Why, she is mad, hears only her own fantasy of thoughts. I will waste words no longer, only to be ignored. [CLYTEMNESTRA goes into the palace.] CHORUS: I feel pity, not anger. Yield to this necessity; wear your chains of slavery. [CASSANDRA steps down. She sees the statue of Apollo.] CASSANDRA: O Apollo! Oh, oh! No, no, no, no! O Apollo! CHORUS: Why name Apollo with this wail of agony? CASSANDRA: Oh, oh! O horror! O Apollo, Apollo! CHORUS: Again she utters blasphemy, to call Apollo, CASSANDRA: Apollo, Apollo! Leader of journeys, my destroyer! All this way you have led me, to destroy me again! CHORUS: She is inspired to speak of her own destruction! The prophetic power stays with her even in slavery. CASSANDRA: Apollo! Leader of journeys, my destroyer! Where have you lead me? What fearful house is this? CHORUS: Does not prophecy tell you this is Atreus' palace? CASSANDRA: No! but a house that hates The gods; A house whose very stones bear guilty witness To a bloody act that hides within these gates Remnants of bodies and murdered children's bones! CHORUS: This prophetess goes right to the target! CASSANDRA: See there, The witness that they bear - Those children weeping for their own blood flowing, For their own tender flesh, That cruel, nameless recipe From which their father fed on them! AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 17 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell CHORUS: We had all heard of your prophetic power; but this Requires no prophecy, it is history. CASSANDRA: A heart obsessed with hate Pollutes this house again With deadly motivations Where deepest love was due! Surprised, unarmed, he cannot fight with Fate! And help is far away. CHORUS: The first we understand - all Argos knows of it; But for this second prophecy I have no key. CASSANDRA: Shame on her! Would there were room for doubt! - How can I speak the word? This cleansing ritual Shall serve as his burial! CHORUS: Still I am baffled by her utterance; What can one make of prophecy so confusing? CASSANDRA: There, there! O terror! What is this new sight? A net, Death's weapon of attack! And she with the net is she who shared his bed. The victim bleeds: come, Fiends, and drink your fill! CHORUS: What fiends are these you call to bay at Death? Your ghastly cry has paled your face, as when men die Sword-stabbed in battle, pulse and vision fail, And life's colors fly; CASSANDRA: Look, a nightmare! What? will cow gore bull, The treacherous water's poured, She holds him in a trap, like a gown - She strikes! He crashes down! Listen! It is treachery, I say! CHORUS: Although I claim no special skill in oracles, Her words, mean no good. Yet, after all, What good news ever comes to men through oracles? Prophets find bad news useful. CASSANDRA: O fear again! O pity ! Not alone does he suffer; with his pain I mourn my own! Cruel Apollo! Why? Why have you led me here? Only that I may share The death that he must have! CHORUS: She is insane, poor girl, or god-possessed, From where do these violent miseries come? Yet devoid of meaning? Why with voice like doom Intone these horrors? CASSANDRA: [changing from the shrill declamation of prophecy to the quiet sadness of mourning]: Paris and his passion! A marriage-bed that brought death on His family and city! CHORUS: Paris's marriage! This at last is clear AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 18 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell To any child. Yet in her fear Lies more than meets the eye. With stunning pain, Her whispered cry crashes on my ear. CASSANDRA: Ilion and her passion! City burnt and razed! Fires my father kindled To keep his towers defiant! Blood of beasts he ordered From every herd that grazed! Yet no sacrifices Could save her sons from dying And I will join them And soon the ground will soak up My warm and flowing blood. CHORUS: Tell us, what god is he, so merciless, Whose hand can strike deathly music from your soul, I try, but cannot guess. CASSANDRA: Then listen. My prophecy shall no more hint From under shy veils like a new-made bride, A crime more fearful than my murder shall Sweep into blinding light. I will instruct you; but first confirm how close I followed the trail of bloody guilt. The crime performed, in turn They spew out the defiler of his brother's bed! Do I miss? Or has my insight found a mark you know? Or am I `lying prophet', `gipsy', `tale-spinner'? Come, on your oath, the foul history Of Atreus' palace, Sin for sin, is known to me! CHORUS: I marvel that you, bred overseas in a foreign tongue, unfold Our city's past as truly as if you had been here. CASSANDRA: Apollo, god of prophecy, gave me this ability. CHORUS: Did he lust for your mortal body, even though a god? CASSANDRA: Yes. Until now I was ashamed to speak of it. CHORUS: We all are more reserved when we are wealthy. CASSANDRA: He urged me hard, made warmest pleas of his love. CHORUS: And did you lie together? Had you child by him? CASSANDRA: To the God of words, I gave my word, and broke it. CHORUS: Were you already god-possessed with the prophetic art? CASSANDRA: I had foretold already the whole doom of Troy. CHORUS: Surely the god was angry? Did he punish you? CASSANDRA: My punishment was that no one believed one word I spoke. CHORUS: To us your prophecies seem all too credible. CASSANDRA: Horror and sin! Again the anxiety of true vision - Sin and horror! - racks and ravages my brain. Look! See them sit like forms in dreams, Children butchered like lambs by their own kin. See, What do they carry in their hands? AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 19 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell It is their own flesh - limb and rib and heart they hold, Distinct and horrible, the food their father ate! I tell you, for this crime revenge grows strong! A lion who plots against his master absent at the war; While the Commander Lion who uprooted Troy, Met by the fawning tongue, the bright obsequious ear, Of the vile plotting lioness does not know what wounds Poisoned with hidden vengeance she prepares for him. Female shall murder male: what kind of brazenness Is that? She has been dreaming of steel Thrust at her husband's unarmed flesh? You heard her superb bluff, that cry of triumph, raised As if from a hard battle won, disguised as joy At his safe home-coming? You do not believe -- No matter - I say, what will come will come. Soon you will see with your own eyes, and pity me, CHORUS: Thyestes' feast of children's flesh we understand; The rest outstrips our understanding. We give up. CASSANDRA: I said, Agamemnon shall lie dead before your eyes. CHORUS: Silence, you wretched outcast - speak wholesome words! CASSANDRA: Wholesome words can never erase the poison of that truth. CHORUS: None, if it is to be. CASSANDRA: While you turn to prayer, others prepare to kill. CHORUS: What man can be the source of such polluting sin? CASSANDRA: What man? You miss the main point of my prophecies. CHORUS: How could such murder be contrived? This baffles me. CASSANDRA: Yet I speak good Greek - all too good. CHORUS: The oracles Of Delphi are good Greek, but hard to understand. CASSANDRA: For pity, Apollo! Where can I escape? She, this lioness in human form, Was absent paired with a lover, will take my wretched life. Now, while she whets the dagger for her husband's heart, This robe - why should I wear what mocks me? Why still keep This scepter. [trampling them on the ground] Go, make some other woman rich in misery! Let Apollo see, and witness what I do - And now Apollo, who gave a portion of his own science to me, Brings me from Ilion here to this death, Where I shall never have disbelief again, Where only the slaughterer's block Waits for me, warm still with victim's blood. Why then should I grieve? Am I so pitiable? I have watched Fate unfold her pattern: Troy endured What she endured; I am through with tears. I will endure my death. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 20 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell Let me receive, I pray, a single mortal stroke, Embrace death for my comfort, and so close my eyes. CHORUS: O woman deep in wisdom, You have told us much. But, if you have true forecast Of your own death, why, like an ox for sacrifice, Move towards the altar with each step? CASSANDRA: Friends, there is no escape, none. CHORUS: Yet last to go gains longest time. CASSANDRA: This is the day. CHORUS: Courage and destiny in you are equally matched. CASSANDRA: The happy never hear such praise. CHORUS: A brave death gives brightness to mortal beings. CASSANDRA: O my countrymen! All your brightness dead! . . . I go, and will mourn my end and Agamemnon's. I have lived. [She goes towards the door; then with a cry turns back.] CHORUS: What is it? What do you see? What turns you back? [CASSANDRA gasps, with a sound of choking.] CASSANDRA: There is a smell of murder. The walls drip with blood. CHORUS: The altar's ready. This is the smell of sacrifice. CASSANDRA: It is most like the air that comes from a grave. CHORUS. You mean the Syrian perfume sprinkled for the feast? CASSANDRA: I am not like a bird scared at an empty bush, Trembling for nothing. Wait - these and all my prophecies Were utter truth. This I request your witness before I die. CHORUS: To die is sad: sadder, to know death predicted. CASSANDRA: Yet one more, a prophecy , but At least not mine alone. In this my last sun's light I pray: when the sword's edge makes AGAMEMNON'S blood flow, Then may his murderers die, and pay their debt, too For myself, they killed in chains, their unresisting prey! Alas for humankind! Man's happiest hours Are pictures drawn in phantasy. Then ill fortune comes, And with two strokes wipes the picture out. [She goes into the palace.] CHORUS: Of fortune no man gets his fill. While others pointing in envy notices his store, And words will advertise his happiness, Man, satiated will hunger still. For who grows weary of success? Or turns good fortune from his door? Agamemnon, whom Fortune loves to bless, has taken Troy, And honor crowns his safe return. For blood shed long ago, In penance due his blood must flow, And if his murderers must earn Death upon death, I ask, what mortal man can claim That he alone was born to enjoy AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 21 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell A quiet life, and an untarnished name? [AGAMEMNON'S voice is heard from inside the palace.] AGAMEMNON: Help, help! I am murdered, here in the inner room! CHORUS: Who cried `Murder'? Do you know that voice? AGAMEMNON: Help, Murder - a second, mortal blow! CHORUS That groan tells me the deed is done. It was the king. This is what I advise - to gather citizens to assemble here armed. Too slow. I say we should burst in at once, and catch Murder in the act, before the blood dries on the sword. It's plain what this beginning points to: the assassins Mean to establish a tyrannical regime. Yes - while we talk and talk. I can suggest no plan that might prove practical. If the king is dead, I know no way to make him live by argument. Then shall we patiently live out our years? No, no! Intolerable! Who would not rather die? - A better fate than living under tyranny! Wait; not too fast. What is our evidence? Those groans? Are we to assume from them that the king's dead? We must be certain; Guessing and certain knowledge are two different things. CHORUS: I find the view supported that we Make full enquiry what has happened to the king. [The palace doors open, revealing CLYTEMNESTRA. At her feet AGAMEMNON lies dead, in a silver tub and wrapped in a huge purple robe. Over his body lies CASSANDRA, also dead. CLYTEMNESTRA: I have said many things to match the occasion. All which, without shame I here take back.. How else could I speak? Following AEGISTHUS' plans.... When one prepares death for an enemy Who seems a friend - how else prepare the deadly trap High enough to prevent the victim's escape? A great while we have pondered on this. At long last the battle came, and victory: Here I stand and see my task achieved. Yes, this is our work, and I claim it. To prevent Resistance foiling death, I threw on him, A vast robe, that walled him in with woven folds; And then I struck him, twice. Twice he cried out and groaned; And then fell limp. And so I gave a third And final blow, my thanks for prayers fulfilled, to Zeus, So falling he coughed forth his life; There spurted from him bloody foam, And spreading, spattered me with drops of crimson stain; So stands the case, Elders of Argos. You may be Glad or sorry; I am jubilant. So enriched a wine Of wickedness This man stored in his house, and now Drains his own cup to the last dregs. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 22 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell CHORUS: The brutality of your speech amazes us. To boast so shamelessly over his corpse! CLYTEMNESTRA: You speak as to some thoughtless woman: My pulse beats steadily, without fear. Approve or censure, as you will; all's the same to me. This is my husband, Agamemnon, now dead; His death the work of our plans. There lies the simple truth. CHORUS: Vile woman ! What malignant root Transformed you, that you did not shrink From this foulest guilt? Argos will condemn Your act of murder with one voice of hate, And drive you from our gate. CLYTEMNESTRA: Yes! Now you righteously threaten me with banishment, Why did you not dare oppose this man? Who with as slight compunction as men butcher sheep, sacrificed His child, and my own darling, whom my pain brought forth - He killed her to stop the Thracian wind! Marked with his daughter's blood, he was ripe for punishment. But my act shocks your ears, Your threats doubtless rely on force - you have your men And weapons: try your men in fair fight against mine. Win, and you may condemn me. If you lose, Old as you are, you shall be taught some wisdom yet. CHORUS: Such threats show madness in a crafty mind. So surely as your robe advertises your crime By those bloody drops, shall your own head bow Under a bloody stroke. Wait the time: Friendless, dishonored, outcast, you shall find Your debt fall due, and suffer blow for blow. CLYTEMNESTRA: Is that so? Then you shall hear the oath I swear. By Justice, guardian of my child, By her avenging Fury, at whose feet I poured His blood: I have no fear that his avenger's tread Shall shake this house, While my staunch ally, Aegisthus, kindles on my hearth the fire. With such a shield, as AEGISTHUS, strength marches boldly on. Meanwhile, He who was sweet to every Trojan whore And soured my life, lies here; with him his prisoner, His faithful soothsayer, Who shared his bed, and knew any Sailors' lasciviousness; their ends were both richly earned. She sang her death-song, and now lies in her lover's clasp. He brought her as variety to the pleasures of my bed. CHORUS: Come, look on him, O that some merciful swift fate, Would bid me share his ever-endless sleep! Low lies this kindly guardian of our State, Who fought ten years to win Revenge for Helen's sin; Now slain by a woman. AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 23 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell Helen! You who spilled the seed Beneath Troy's wall lives without number! You Now on your house have brought a lasting guilt Which every age will tell again. Surely, that day you fled your husband-king. A curse of grief already sprouted Deep-rooted in this royal hall. CLYTEMNESTRA: Is fact so gross a burden? Don't turn your spleen on Helen, As if her act had ordered The death of fighting thousands And robbed their souls of life. Not from her fault alone Such cureless grief has grown. CHORUS: Spirit of hate, whose strong curse presses Hard on this house and heirs of Tantalus, Your power gives birth like this In a woman's brain such evil art, And darkens all my days. CLYTEMNESTRA: You now speak more in wisdom, Naming the Fury That hates and haunts our race. It is the unquenchable thirst for slaughter, Which, with each wrong revenged, A new thirst takes its place. CHORUS: O piteous mystery! Is Zeus not lord? Zeus, Zeus, alas! doer and source of all? Could even this horror be with his blessing? Sad, silent king! How shall I speak of your death? How can I find the heart's true word, To prove me friend? Here where you breathed your dying breath, Caught by the evil falsehood of a wife, In that foul spider's web bound you lay. That man like beast should die Pierced with a two-edged knife! CLYTEMNESTRA: I was his wife; but henceforth My name from his be freed! On that obscene ancestor, Atreus, For his abhorrent deed, Has poured this blood in payment, That here on Justice' altar A man for babes should bleed. CHORUS: And are you, too, guiltless? But of this blood who could acquit you? Hour by hour On his course the black-robed King, Swells the endless flood of living blood By pride and hate released AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 24 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell From brothers' veins - till the due reckoning, When the dried gore shall melt, and bring Justice at last for that unnatural feast. Sad, silent king! How shall I mourn your death? That man like beast should die Pierced with a two-edged knife! CLYTEMNESTRA: The deception I used to kill him He used himself first, when he by uprooted The tender daughter he gave me, And made this house accurst. When on my virgin daughter His savage sword descended, My tears ran in rivers. So, now by savage sword His ageing days are ended, Where he pays forfeit For wrong his deceptions began. CHORUS; Where, where lies Right? Reason despairs. Mind numbly gropes. Our throne is endangered, and disaster is near, Where can I turn? The deluge is in store: Justice, in harmony with Fate's intent, Hardens her hold to shake the earth once more. Lord of this silver-vessel inheritance! Who will inter him? Will you wear mourning as a disguise? Weep for the husband whom your own hand killed? Offer gifts of lies? For his high glories? Justice answers, No! By whom shall tears of honesty be shed, His graveside ritual of praise fulfilled? CLYTEMNESTRA: That question's not your business. I felled him; I dispatched him; And I will bury his bones. But, as is fit, his daughter Shall meet him at the gates of the hereafter, His loved Iphigenia with loving arms shall greet him, With a gagged and silent tongue. CHORUS: Reproach answers our reproach; truth is hidden still. She strikes the striker; She who dared to kill will Pay the full forfeit. While Zeus holds his throne, This maxim holds on earth: the sinner dies. That is God's law. Oh, who can exorcize this breeding curse, This cancer that has grown to plague us at its will? AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 25 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell CLYTEMNESTRA: The sinner dies: you have reached the truth at last. AS to the Powers that persecute Our race I offer a pact: With this deed and bitter fact I am content; let them forget the past, Leave us for ever, and oppress Some other kingdom with wickedness. I ask no great amount of wealth ; For me it will be enough To purchase, at this price, health. [Enter AEGISTHUS] AEGISTHUS: O happy day, when Justice comes! Now I believe that gods, who dwell above the earth, See what men suffer, and award a compensation. Here he lies, a sight to warm my heart; And pays with his blood for his father's treacherous crime: There was dispute between Atreus, Agamemnon's father, Who ruled Argos then, And my father Thyestes, his own brother; whom Atreus drove out from home and city. Thyestes came back; Sat as a pitiful servant at Atreus' hearth; But Atreus, Agamemnon's father, gave his guest, my father, A host's gift; a gift more full Of eagerness than love. He faked a feasting, And amidst lavish meats served him his own sons' flesh. The feet and the fingers were concealed, putting The other parts, unrecognizably arranged above them. Each guest had his table; and this dish Was set before my father. He, in ignorance, At once ate that which prompted no close scrutiny, And tasted food from which, as you now see, our house Has not recovered. When he recognized, in all Its repulsion, what had been done. With one deep groan, Thyestes pushed back his chair, vomiting murdered sons flesh, he fell; Cursed Pelops' race with an inexorable curse; `So crash to ruin the whole house of Tantalus!' That deed gave birth to what you now see here, this death. I planned his killing, as was just: I was the third Child of Thyestes, then a child in baby's clothes; Spared, and sent off with my father until, Justice restored me to my native land. I, from a distance, plotted this whole evil snare, And caught my man. Thus satisfied, I could die now, Seeing Agamemnon in the trap of Justice, dead. CHORUS: Aegisthus, we can acquit you of insults to the dead. But since you claim that you alone laid the whole plot, I tell you plainly, your own life is forfeited; Justice will curse you, Argive hands will stone you dead. AEGISTHUS: So, this is how you lecture, from below, To your master? Then you shall learn, though old, AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 26 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell How harsh a thing discipline can be, when reverend years Lack wisdom. Chains and the stress of hunger are A medicine, of great power to school the mind. CHORUS: You woman! While he went to fight, you stayed at home; Seduced CLYTEMNESTRA meanwhile; and then, against a man Who led an army, you could scheme this murder! Trash! AEGISTHUS: You still use words that have in them the seed of tears; Your childish yelps Annoy us, and will fasten bonds on you, yourselves. With hard control you will prove more amenable. CHORUS: Control! Are we to see you king of Argos - you, Who, after plotting the king's murder, did not dare To lift the sword yourself? AEGISTHUS: To lure him to the trap Was woman's work; I, an old enemy, was a suspect. Now, helped by his wealth, I will attempt To rule in Argos. The population shall not Be fed fat like cattle, but shall feel the yoke of slaves, A heavy one. Hunger and darkness joined will soon Soften resistance. CHORUS: Then, if you're so bold, why not Yourself with your own hands plunder your enemy? Instead, you use a woman, whose life makes this earth unclean And flouts the gods of Argos, helped you murder him! AEGISTHUS: Then, since your treason's militant, you shall soon learn That it is foolish to insult authority. Ready, there! Forward, guards! [Armed soldiers rush in.] Here's work for you. Each man Handle his sword. CHORUS: Our swords are ready. We can die. AEGISTHUS: `Die'! We accept the omen. Fortune hold the stakes! CLYTEMNESTRA: Stop, stop, Aegisthus, dearest! No more violence! When this first harvest ripens we'll reap grief enough. Crime and despair are fed to bursting; let us not Plunge deeper still in blood. Elders, I beg of you, Yield in good time to Destiny; go home, before You come to harm; what we have done was fore-ordained. AEGISTHUS: Then are these crude-tongued men to aim their pointed gibes At random, and forget the fate they've richly earned? CHORUS: You'll find no Argive grovel at your feet. AEGISTHUS: Enough! Some later day I'll settle scores with you. CHORUS: Not if Fate sets Orestes on the Argos road. AEGISTHUS: For men in exile hopes are meat and drink; I know. CHORUS: Rule on, grow fat defiling Justice - while you can. AEGISTHUS: You are a fool; in time you'II pay me for those words. CHORUS: Brag blindly on - a cock that struts before his hen! AGAMEMNON (A MODERN VERSION) PAGE 27 Copyright February 1995 by Jay Lashell [During these last lines the CHORUS have gone out two by two, the last man vanishing with the last insult, leaving CLYTEMNESTRA and AEGISTHUS alone.] CLYTEMNESTRA: Pay no attention to this howling. You and I, Joint rulers, will enforce due reverence for our throne. ~~END~~ NOTE: FOR INFORMATION ABOUT ROYALTIES FOR STAGE, TV, ETC., PRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONTACT J. LASHELL, P. O. BOX 3831O, LOS ANGELES, CA 9OO38 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE TEXT ONLY VERSION MAY BE FREELY DISTRIBUTED. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~