No More Learning

. . Speak: I am too far advanced;
I cannot now retract: perchance already
I am suspected by Atrides; maybe
He has the right already to despise me:
Hence do I feel constrained, e'en now, to hate him;
I cannot longer in his presence live;
I neither will, nor dare. — Do thou, Ægisthus,
Teach me a means, whatever it may be,
A means by which I may withdraw myself
From him forever.
Ægis. - Thou withdraw thyself
From him ? I have already said to thee
That now 'tis utterly impossible.
Cly. — What other step remains for me to take? . . .
Ægis. - None.
Cly. — Now I understand thee. - What a flash
Oh, what a deadly, instantaneous flash
Of criminal conviction rushes through
My obtuse mind! What throbbing turbulence
In ev'ry vein I feel! - I understand thee:
The cruel remedy . . . the only one . .
Is Agamemnon's life-blood.
Ægis. -I am silent . . .
Cly. — Yet, by thy silence, thou dost ask that blood.
Ægis. - Nay, rather I forbid it. — To our love
And to thy life (of mine I do not speak )
His living is the only obstacle;
But yet, thou knowest that his life is sacred:
To love, respect, defend it, thou art bound;
And I to tremble at it. — Let us cease:
The hour advances now; my long discourse
Might give occasion to suspicious thoughts.
At length receive . . . Ægisthus's last farewell.
Cly. — Ah! hear me . . . Agamemnon to our love . . .
And to thy life? . . . Ah, yes; there are, besides him,
No other obstacles: too certainly
His life is death to us!
Egis. - Ah! do not heed
My words: they spring from too much love.
Cly. — And love
Revealed to me their meaning.
Agis. - Hast thou not
Thy mind o'erwhelmed with horror ?


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376
VITTORIO ALFIERI
.
Cly. — Horror ?
yes;
But then to part from thee!
Ægis. - Wouldst have the courage ? .
Cly. — So vast my love, it puts an end to fear.
Ægis. — But the king lives surrounded by his friends:
What sword would find a passage to his heart?
Cly. – What sword ?
Ægis. — Here open violence were vain.
Cly. — Yet, . . treachery! . . .
Ægis. —'Tis true, he merits not
To be betrayed, Atrides: he who loves
His wife so well; he who, enchained from Troy,
In semblance of a slave in fetters, brought
Cassandra, whom he loves, to whom he is
Himself a slave .
Cly. — What do I hear!
Ægis. - Meanwhile
Expect that when of thee his love is wearied,
He will divide with her his throne and bed;
Expect that, to thy many other wrongs,
Shame will be added: and do thou alone
Not be exasperated at a deed
That rouses every Argive.
Cly. – What said'st thou ? . . .
Cassandra chosen as my rival ? .
Ægis. — So
Atrides wills.
Cly. — Then let Atrides perish.
Ægis. — How ? By what hand ?
Cly. — By mine, this very night,
Within that bed which he expects to share
With this abhorred slave.
Ægis. - O Heavens! but think . . .
Cly. — I am resolved . .
Ægis. - Shouldst thou repent ?
Cly. I do
That I so long delayed.
Ægis. — And yet .
Cly. -- I'll do it;
I, e'en if thou wilt not. Shall I let thee,
Who only dost deserve my love, be dragged
To cruel death ? And shall I let him live
Who cares not for my love? I swear to thee,
To-morrow thou shalt be the king in Argos.


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377
Nor shall my hand, nor shall my bosom tremble . . .
But who approaches ?
Ægis. —'Tis Electra .
Cly. — Heavens!
Let us avoid her. Do thou trust in me.
SCENE II
ELECTRA
Electra Ægisthus flies from me, and he does well;
But I behold that likewise from my sight
My mother seeks to fly. Infatuated
And wretched mother! She could not resist
The guilty eagerness for the last time
To see Ægisthus. — They have here, at length,
Conferred together . . . But Ægisthus seems
Too much elated, and too confident,
For one condemned to exile . . . She appeared
Like one disturbed in thought, but more possessed
With anger and resentment than with grief .
O Heavens! who knows to what that miscreant base,
With his infernal arts, may have impelled her!
To what extremities have wrought her up! . .
Now, now, indeed, I tremble: what misdeeds,
How black in kind, how manifold in number,
Do I behold! . . . Yet, if I speak, I kill
My mother: If I'm silent —? . . .
.
.
ACT V - SCENE II
ÆGISTHUS
CLYTEMNESTRA
Ægis. – Hast thou performed the deed ?
Cly. - Ægisthus . . .
Ægis. — What do I behold ? O woman,
What dost thou here, dissolved in useless tears ?
Tears are unprofitable, late, and vain;
And they may cost us dear.
Cly. — Thou here? . . . but how?
Wretch that I am! what have I promised thee?
What impious counsel ? . . .
Ægis. -- Was not thine the counsel ?
Love gave it thee, and fear recants it. — Now,
Since thou'rt repentant, I am satisfied;


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378
VITTORIO ALFIERI
Soothed by reflecting that thou art not guilty,
I shall at least expire. To thee I said
How difficult the enterprise would be;
But thou, depending more than it became thee
On that which is not in thee, virile courage,
Daredst thyself thy own unwarlike hand
For such a blow select. May Heaven permit
That the mere project of a deed like this
May not be fatal to thee! I by stealth,
Protected by the darkness, hither came,
And unobserved, I hope. I was constrained
To bring the news myself, that now my life
Is irrecoverably forfeited
To the king's vengeance .
Cly. —What is this I hear?
Whence didst thou learn it ?
Ægis. More than he would wish
Atrides hath discovered of our love;
And I already from him have received
A strict command not to depart from Argos.
And further, I am summoned to his presence
Soon as to-morrow dawns: thou seest well
That such a conference to me is death.
But fear not; for I will all means employ
To bear myself the undivided blame.
Cly. — What do I hear? Atrides knows it all ?
Ægis.
- He knows too much: I have but one choice left:
It will be best for me to 'scape by death,
By self-inflicted death, this dangerous inquest.
I save my honor thus; and free myself
From an opprobrious end. I hither came
To give thee my last warning: and to take
My last farewell. . . Oh, live; and may thy fame
Live with thee, unimpeached! All thoughts of pity
For me now lay aside; if I'm allowed
By my own hand, for thy sake, to expire,
I am supremely blest.
Cly. - Alas! . . . Ægisthus.
What a tumultuous passion rages now
Within my bosom, when I hear thee speak! . . .
And is it true? . . . Thy death . . .
Ægis. - Is more than certain. . . .
Cly. — And I'm thy murderer! . .
Ægis. - I seek thy safety.
•
-
-
-


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379
Cly. — What wicked fury from Avernus' shore,
Ægisthus, guides thy steps ? Oh, I had died
Of grief, if I had never seen thee more;
But guiltless I had died: spite of myself,
Now, by thy presence, I already am
Again impelled to this tremendous crime.
An anguish, an unutterable anguish,
Invades my bones, invades my every fibre. .
And can it be that this alone can save thee? . . .
But who revealed our love?
Ægis. — To speak of thee,
Who but Electra to her father dare ?
Who to the monarch breathe thy name but she ?
Thy impious daughter in thy bosom thrusts
The fatal sword; and ere she takes thy life,
Would rob thee of thy honor.
Cly. — And ought I
This to believe ? . . . Alas! . . .
Egis. Believe it, then,
On the authority of this my sword,
If thou believ'st it not on mine. At least
I'll die in time. . .
Cly. - O Heavens! what wouldst thou do?
Sheathe, I command thee, sheathe that fatal sword. -
Oh, night of horrors! . . . hear me . . . Perhaps Atrides
Has not resolved.
Ægis. – What boots this hesitation ? . . .
Atrides injured, and Atrides king,
Meditates nothing in his haughty mind
But blood and vengeance. Certain is my death,
Thine is uncertain: but reflect, О queen,
To what thou’rt destined, if he spare thy life.
And were I seen to enter here alone,
And at so late an hour . . . Alas, what fears
Harrow my bosom when I think of thee!
Soon will the dawn of day deliver thee
From racking doubt; that dawn I ne'er shall see:
I am resolved to die:. . . – Farewell . . . forever!
Cly. - Stay, stay. . Thou shalt not die.
Ægis. — By no man's hand
Assuredly, except my own:- or thine,
If so thou wilt. Ah, perpetrate the deed;
Kill me; and drag me, palpitating yet,
Before thy judge austere: my blood will be
A proud acquittance for thee.


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380
VITTORIO ALFIERI
Cly. - Maddning thought! .
Wretch that I am! . . . Shall I be thy assassin ? . . .
Ægis. - Shame on thy hand, that cannot either kill
Who most adores thee, or who most detests thee!
Mine then must serve.
Cly. — Ah! . . . no.
Egis. — Dost thou desire
Me, or Atrides, dead ?
Cly. — Ah! what a choice! . . .
Ægis. - Thou art compelled to choose.
Cly. - I death inflict . .
Ægis. - Or death receive; when thou hast witnessed mine.
Cly. — Ah, then the crime is too inevitable!
Ægis. — The time now presses.
Cly. — But . . . the courage . . . strength ? . .
Ægis. — Strength, courage, all, will love impart to thee.
Cly. — Must I then with this trembling hand of mine
Plunge . . . in my husband's heart . . . the sword? . . .
Ægis. - The blows
Thou wilt redouble with a steady hand
In the hard heart of him who slew thy daughter.
Cly. - Far from my hand I hurled the sword in anguish.
Ægis. - Behold a steel, and of another temper:
The clotted blood-drops of Thyestes's sons
Still stiffen on its frame: do not delay
To furbish it once more in the vile blood
Of Atreus; go, be quick: there now remain
But a few moments; go. If awkwardly
The blow thou aimest, or if thou shouldst be
Again repentant, lady, ere 'tis struck,
Do not thou any more tow'rd these apartments
Thy footsteps turn: by my own hands destroyed,
Here wouldst thou find me in a sea of blood
Immersed. Now go, and tremble not; be bold.
Enter and save us by his death. —
SCENE III
ÆGISTHUS
Ægis. -Come forth,
Thyestes, from profound Avernus; come,
Now is the time; within this palace now
Display thy dreadful shade. A copious banquet
Of blood is now prepared for thee, enjoy it;


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381
Already o'er the heart of thy foe's son
Hangs the suspended sword; now, now, he feels it:
An impious consort grasps it; it was fitting
That she, not I, did this: so much more sweet
To thee will be the vengeance, as the crime
Is more atrocious. . . . An attentive ear
Lend to the dire catastrophe with me;
Doubt not she will accomplish it: disdain,
Love, terror, to the necessary crime
Compel the impious woman. -
AGAMEMNON (within)
Aga. —Treason! Ah! . . .
My wife? . . 0 Heavens! . . I die. . 0 traitorous deed!
Ægis. Die, thou — yes, die! And thou redouble,
The blows redouble; all the weapon hide
woman,
Within his heart; shed, to the latest drop,
The blood of that fell miscreant: in our blood
He would have bathed his hands.
SCENE IV
CLYTEMNESTRA — ÆSGISTHUS
Cly. —What have I done?