THE BOOK WAS DRENCHED - OUDL Home

and will never listen to a barbarian's weak pleading and reject his marriage
with thee for this. For thou wast no captive from Troy whom he
wedded, but the daughter of a gallant sire, with a rich dower, from a city
too of no mean prosperity. Nor will thy father forsake thee, as thou
dreadest, and allow thee to be cast out from this house. Nay, enter now,
nor show thyself before the palace, lest the sight of thee there bring reproach
upon thee, my daughter.
(The NURSE departs as ORESTES and his attendants enter.)
LEADER
Lo! a stranger of foreign appearance from some other land comes
hurrying towards us.
ORESTES
Women of this foreign land! is this the home, the palace of Achilles' son?
LEADER
Thou hast it; but who art thou to ask such a question?
ORESTES
The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, by name Orestes, on my
way to the oracle of Zeus at Dodona. But now that I am come to Phthia,
I am resolved to inquire about my kinswoman, Hermione of Sparta; is she
alive and well? for though she dwells in a land far from my own, I love
her none the less.
HERMIONE
Son of Agamemnon, thy appearing is as a haven from the storm to
sailors; by thy knees I pray, have pity on me in my distress, on me of
whose fortunes thou art inquiring. About thy knees I twine my arms with
all the force of sacred fillets.
ORESTES
Ha! what is this? Am I mistaken or do I really see before me the
queen of this palace, the daughter of Menelaus?
HERMIONE
The same, that only child whom Helen, daughter of Tyndareus, bore
my father in his halls; never doubt that.
ORESTES
O saviour Phoebus, grant us respite from our woe! But what is the
matter? art thou afflicted by gods or men?
HERMIONE
Partly by myself, partly by the man who wedded me, and partly by
some god. On every side I see ruin.