Chorus
[233]
It is nevertheless with goodwill, like a true-hearted mother,
[235]
that I dissuade you from begetting misery upon miseries.
Electra
[236]
But what limit has nature begot for my affliction? Tell me, how can it be right to neglect the dead? Has such a seed been sown in any mortal? May I never have such men's esteem;
[240]
never, when I am close to prosperity, may I dwell in ease, hindering the wings of shrill lamentation so as to deprive my begetter of his honors!
For if the dead is to lie a wretch, merely dust and nothingness, [245] while his slayers do not pay back to him blood for blood in penalty, [250] then shame and reverence will vanish from all humanity.
