ENGLISH
to enter the palace by treading on the family’s finery — an act of hubris — and in encouraging this audacity Clytemnestra both tempts and seals his fate.
Agamemnon (958-74) translated by Michael MacNulty
Clytemnestra: There is the sea — who could drain it?
It laps with violet — abundant, silver’s equal, ooze without end — dip-dying our clothes. The gods are with us, my lord, This house is stocked in store and has no notion of poverty! Had the prophecies so decreed, I would have offered up more finery to crease underfoot As I planned to buy back your life! The root, as long as it lives its leaves reach roof — spreading shade in dog-star Sirius’ season. And you! Coming to the home-hearth You herald warmth coming in winter. Zeus brings strong-bodied wine from the unripened grape; So the halls are refreshed when their unsullied lord returns. Fulfil, Zeus, I pray! Fulfil, Zeus, my prayers: See to it as you see fit that all comes to fruition.
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