" Where is Elektra?" " lt is her hour..." "The hour when she wails for her father until every wall resounds" "Did you see how she looked at us?" "As spiteful as a wild cat" "The other day she lay there, groaning" "Whenever the sun is low, she lies here groaning" "Then two of us went too close to her" "She cannot bear to be looked at" "Yes, we came too close to her and she spat at us like a cat" " ""Get away, flies!"" she screamed - ""Get away, blue-bottles!""" """Don"t land on my wounds!"" she said and struck at us with a wisp of straw" """You should not take pleasure in my pain" """You should not lick your lips at my frothing convulsions!""" """Go away and hide"" she screeched," """Eat fat things and sweet things""" """Go to bed with your husbands"", she cried." "And then you   l wasn"t slow" " You told her what"s what" """Yes, when you"re hungry" l told her, ""you eat too""" "Then she jumped up, glaring horribly she stretched out her fingers at us like claws and screamed:" """l"m nurturing a vulture in my body!""" "And you said?" """That"s why you crouch here"", I said..." """attracted by the carrion"s smell, and scratch at a rotting corpse""" "And what did she say to that?" "She just howled and threw herself into a corner imagine the queen letting such a demon roam freely in the house" "Her own child!" "If she were my child, by God, I"d keep her under lock and key" "Don"t they treat her harshly enough for you?" "Don"t they put her food-bowl down with the dogs?" "Have you never seen the master strike her?" "I want to throw myself down before her and kiss her feet ls she not a king"s daughter, yet she suffers such disgrace!" "I would like to anoint her feet and dry them with my hair" "Get inside!" "There is no one in the world more regal than she is" "She lies in rags on a doorstep, but no one no one in this house can look her in the face" "Not one of you is worthy to breathe the same air she breathes!" "I"d like to see you all hanging by the neck in a dark shed because of what you"ve done to Elektra" "Did you hear that?" "What we #have done to Elektra?" "She swept her plate off our table when they told her to eat with us" "She spat at us and called us bitches" "She said, ""No dog can sink as low as the state you"ve been brought to" """We should wash the undying blood from the floorboards with water....""" """And sweep the shame,"" she said," """the shame that is renewed each day..." """...sweep it into a corner""" """Our bodies,"" she said, ""are enslaved with a layer of filth""" "And when she sees our children she shrieks: ""Nothing, nothing can be so accursed..." """...as the children we have conceived and borne in this house..." """...where the steps are slippery with blood""" "Isn"t that what she said?" " lsn"t that what she said?" " They're beating me!" "Alone!" "Alas, all alone" "Father has gone, shovelled away into his cold grave" "Agamemnon!" "Where are you, father?" "Don"t you have the strength to drag yourself into my sight?" "It is the hour, our hour the hour when they slaughtered you your wife and that man who sleeps with her in one bed, your royal bed" "They butchered you in your bath" "The blood ran over your eyes" "And the bath steamed with your blood" "Then the coward took you by the shoulders and dragged you from the chamber, head first with your legs dragging behind" "Your staring eyes looked back into the house" "So will you come again set one foot after the other and suddenly stand there again, with both eyes wide open and a crown of royal crimson around your head fed by the open wound in your skull" "Agamemnon!" "Father!" "I want to see you!" "Don"t leave me alone today" "At least show yourself as you did yesterday as a shadow in the angle of the wall" "Show yourself to your child!" "Father!" "Agamemnon!" "Your day will come" "As all time pours down from the stars so the blood from a hundred throats will pour into your grave" "As if from spilled jars it will flow in a torrent from the chained murderers..." "Their life blood will pour forth in a swollen stream" "And for you we will slaughter the horses of your house" "We will drive them together to your grave and they will scent death and whinny in the air of death and die" "And we will slaughter your dogs who licked your feet who hunted with you and ate the scraps you threw" "They must die to serve you" "And we your blood, your son Orestes and your daughters we three - when all this has been accomplished when the fumes of blood, drawn up by the sun hang in the air like purple pavilions then we, your blood, shall dance around your grave" "And over the bodies I will raise my knees high, step by step" "Those who see me dancing even if from afar they see only my dancing shadow they will say:" "A magnificent feast is being held here for a great king by his own flesh and blood" "Happy is the man who has children to dance around his grave these royal dances of triumph!" "Agamemnon!" "Elektra!" "Ah, that face!" "is my face so hateful to you?" "What do you want?" "Speak, pour your heart out, then go and leave me!" "Why do you lift your hands?" "Father lifted his hands like that but the axe still fell and split his flesh" "What do you want?" "Daughter of my mother..." "Daughter of Clytemnestra?" "They are planning something dreadful" " The two women?" " Who?" "My mother and that other woman, that weakling Aegisthus that stout-hearted assassin he who performs heroic deeds only in bed" "What are they planning?" "They are going to lock you in a tower where you"ll never see the light of the sun or moon" "They will do it, I know they will." "I heard them" " How did you come to hear it?" " The door was open, Elektra" "Open no doors in this house!" "Stifled breath - ugh!" " and the death-rattle of strangled people" "There is nothing else within these walls!" "Open no doors!" "Do not prowl around!" "Sit at the door like me and wish for death and judgement to fall on her and on him" "I cannot sit and stare into the darkness like you" "A burning fire in my breast sends me wandering endlessly round the house I cannot bear to stay in any room I must go from one doorway to another" "Upstairs and down, it is as if something were calling me" "And when I go in, an empty room gapes back at me" "I am so afraid my knees shake night and day my throat is so choked I cannot even weep" "It is as if everything were stone" " Sister, have pity!" " On whom?" "It is you who fix me to the ground with iron clamps lf it weren"t for you, they would let us go" "Were it not for your hatred your unsleeping, uncontrollable spirit which they fear then they would let us out of this prison" "I want to get out, sister!" "I will not sleep here every night until I die!" "I want to live before I die!" "I want to have children before my body shrivels up" "Even if it were a peasant they gave me to, I would bear him children... and warm them with my body on cold nights when storms shake the hut!" "Are you listening to me?" "Speak to me, sister!" "Poor creature!" "Take pity on both of us, you and me!" "Who is to gain from such torment?" "Our father is dead" "Our brother is never coming back" "We sit forever like caged birds on a perch turning our heads from left to right, yet no one comes" "No one ever comes" "No brother..." "No messenger from our brother..." "No messenger from a messenger..." "Nothing!" "One day after another is etched in your face and mine..." "Outside the sun rises and sets and women, whom I have known slim are now heavy with blessings, and drag themselves to the well" "They can hardly lift their buckets" "Then suddenly, they are freed of their burden" "They come again to the well and out of them flows a sweet drink and a living creature clings to them, sucking and the children grow big" "No, I am a woman and I want a woman"s lot" "Far better to be dead than live a living-death" "Why are you wailing?" "Get inside where you belong!" "There"s a noise in there" "Perhaps they're preparing a wedding for you?" "I can hear them running - the whole house is up" "They're giving birth or taking a life" "Short of corpses to sleep on, they must do some murdering" "Go away and hide!" "Don"t let her see you" "Keep out of her way today" "Her every look deals death" "She has had a dream" "Go away from here" "They are coming through the hall" "They are coming this way" "She has had a dream I don"t know what it was, I heard about it from the maids" "They say she dreamt about Orestes!" "She cried out in her sleep as if she were being choked" "They are coming now." "She"s sent all the maids on ahead, with torches" "They're bringing beasts and sacrificial knives!" "Sister, when she is most afraid then she is most to be feared" "Keep away for today." "Just for this hour keep out of her way I wish to talk to my mother as I have never done!" "I will not hear it!" "What do you want?" "Look there!" "Look at that!" "See how her hackles rise and she hisses at me!" "And I let that creature roam free inside my house lf she could kill me with her looks!" "Why, ye gods, why?" "." "Why do you lay such a burden upon me?" "Why do you ravage me so?" "Why must my strength be paralysed?" "Why is my living body like a wasteland with this nettle growing out of me?" "Why have I no strength to weed it out?" "Why does this happen to me, eternal gods?" "The gods?" "But you yourself are a goddess" "You are like them!" "Did you hear that?" "Do you understand what she meant?" "That you, too, are descended from the gods" "She means it maliciously" "It sounds so familiar," "like something I"d forgotten long long ago" "She knows me well..." "But no one ever knows what she"s up to" "You are no longer yourself" "The vermin are always hanging around you" "They hiss in your ears and split your thoughts in two so that you are in a constant daze, as if always in a dream" "I will go down I want to talk to her" "Today she is not offensive" "She speaks like a doctor" "She does not say what she means" "Every word is another lie" "I will not listen to you!" "What comes out of you is only the breath of Aegisthus" "At night, if I wake you, don"t you each say something different?" "is it not you who shrieks at me that my eyelids are swollen and my liver diseased?" "And don"t you whine in my other ear that you"ve seen demons with long pointed beaks sucking my blood?" "Don"t you show me the marks on my flesh and do I not follow you and slaughter, slaughter, slaughter victim after victim?" "Do you not tear me apart with what you say and what you contradict?" "I will hear no more!" "This is the truth..." "And this a lie..." "What the truth is no one can tell" "If she tells me what I am glad to hear then I will listen to what she says" "If anyone says something pleasant even my daughter   that woman over there " "...I will shed all the veils which cover my soul and let in the soft air, wherever it may come from just like the sick do, when they sit by the pool in the evening and uncover to the cool breeze their ulcers and suppurating wounds" "All they think of is how to relieve their pain" "Leave me alone with her!" "I have bad nights " "Do you know a cure for nightmares?" "You have nightmares, mother?" "As we grow older we dream" "And yet dreams can be dispelled" "There are rites..." "There must be proper rites for everything" "That"s why I wear so manyjewels, for surely each has its power" "One only has to know how to make use of them lf you wanted to you could tell me what would help me I, mother?" "Yes, you, for you are clever" "Your mind is strong and clear" "You could tell me much to help me" "Even if a word is nothing but a word" "What then is a breath?" "And yet, between day and night as I lie with my eyes open something crawls over me" "It is not a word... lt is not a pain... lt does not press on me... lt does not choke me... lt is nothing!" "Not even a nightmare..." "And yet it is so dreadful that my soul longs to be hanged and every limb of my body cries out for death!" "And yet I continue to live..." "Look at me - do I look ill?" "Can one then perish while still alive, like a rotting carcass?" "Can one crumble away when not even ill?" "Crumble away, while conscious, like a piece of clothing eaten by moths?" "And then I sleep and dream that dream that the marrow melts in my bones and I start awake but not a tenth of the water-clock has run out and what grins beneath the curtain is not yet pale morning light" "No, it is still the torch at the door flickering horribly, like a living thing, spying on my sleep" "There must be an end to these dreams" "Whoever sends them whatever demon it is, it will leave us alone as soon as the correct blood has flowed" "Every one!" "If I have to open the veins of every creature that crawls and flies if I get up and go to bed in the steam of blood like the people of ultima Thule, in their bloody mists then I will dream no more" "When the appointed victim falls beneath the axe then you will dream no more" "Then do you know which consecrated beast I must..." "An unconsecrated one!" "is it lying bound inside?" "No, it runs free" "And what sort of rites" "Marvellous rites, to be practised most strictly" "Tell me!" "Can you not guess my meaning?" "No, that is why I ask you" "Tell me the name of the beast I must sacrifice" "A woman" "One of my maids?" "Tell me!" "A child?" "A virgin?" "A woman already known by man?" "Yes, a woman known by man, that"s right!" "In what form?" "At what time, and where?" "At any place..." "At any hour of the day or night" "What rites?" "Should I make the offering myself?" "No, this time you should not hunt with your axe and net" "Who then should make the offering?" " A man" " Aegisthus?" " Did I not say a man?" " Who then?" "Answer me!" "Someone from the house, or must a stranger come here?" "Yes, yes, a stranger..." "And yet a member of the household" "Set me no riddles" "Listen to me, Elektra I am glad that at least today I don"t find you stubborn" "Won"t you let my brother come home, mother?" " l have forbidden you to speak of him" " Are you afraid of him, then?" " Who says that?" " Mother, you are trembling!" "Who should fear one who is weak in the head?" "What?" "They say he stammers, he lies in the yard with the dogs and cannot tell man from beast" "As a child he was quite healthy" "They say he had hard lodgings, with the animals I sent gold and gold again so he would be treated like a king"s son" "Liar!" "you sent gold so he would be strangled" "Who said so?" "I can see it in your eyes, but since you tremble, I know he lives" "Night and day you think only of him" "Your heart shrinks in dread, for you know he is coming" "Why should I care who approaches the house?" "Here I live and command I have enough servants to guard the gates and if I so desire three sentries can keep vigil outside my room day and night" "And one way or another I will get the right words out of you" "You admitted you knew what rites and what sacrifice would help me lf you won"t tell me freely, you"ll tell me in chains lf you will not speak when fed, you will when starved" "One can be freed from dreams" "Whoever has nightmares and doesn"t seek a cure, is a fool I will discover whose blood must flow so I can sleep again" "Whose blood?" "Blood from your own neck, when the hunter gets you!" "I hear him coming through the rooms, lifting the canopy from the bed" "Who kills the victim in its sleep?" "He wakes you, you run screaming, but he"s at your heels!" "He chases you through the house!" "Turn to the right, there"s the bed!" "Run to the left - the bath, foaming like blood!" "Darkness and torches throw grim red nets of death over you" "Down the steps and through the vaults goes the chase" "And I..." "And I, who sent him after you I stand here and watch as at last you die!" "Then you will dream no more, and I need dream no more" "And those who still live can celebrate the joy of life!" "Lights!" "More lights!" "What did they say to her?" "She looks pleased I can"t imagine what it is." "What can the woman be pleased about?" "Orestes is dead!" "Be quiet!" "Orestes is dead!" "They all knew already when I came out..." "They were all standing around and they all knew" "Only we did not!" "Nobody can know that" "They all know" "No one can know that because it"s untrue" "It is not true!" "It is not true!" "I said, it"s not true!" "The strangers stood by a wall, two strangers sent to announce it" "There were two of them, an old man and a young one" "They had told them already" "They were all standing around them and they all knew already" "It is not true!" "No one thinks of us" "Dead, Elektra!" "He has died in a strange land - dead!" "Perished in a foreign land!" "Killed and dragged along by his own horses!" "Move aside!" "Who hangs around a doorway like this?" "I might have guessed!" "You there, in the stable, come here!" "What do you want from the groom?" "Saddle a mount, and be quick about it!" "A horse, a mule, even a cow, anything will do but be quick!" " For whom?" " For him who orders you!" """For whom"" indeed..." "For me, who else?" "I have to go into the fields and find the master to give him news" "Great news!" "Important enought to ride one of your nags to death" "Then you and I must do it!" " Elektra..." " Us!" "The two of us must do it!" "What, Elektra?" " Best done today, best done tonight" " Do what, sister?" "You ask me that?" "The task that now falls to us, since he cannot come" "What sort of task?" "You and I must now kill the woman and her husband" "Sister, do you speak of our mother?" "Of her, and of him." "Now it must be done" "Be still!" "There"s nothing to say, nothing to think, only how we will do it" " Me?" " Yes, you and I" "Who else?" "Us?" "The two of us do the deed?" "Us two?" "With our own hands?" "Leave that to me" "The axe!" " The axe with which our father..." " Oh horror!" "You have it?" "I was keeping it for our brother." "Now we must bear it" "You?" "Kill Aegisthus with your own hands?" "First her, then him, or him then her - it"s all the same" " l"m frightened" " No one guards their chamber" " Kill them in their sleep!" " Sleep disarms the victim lf they didn"t sleep together, I"d do it by myself" " As it is, you must help me - l, Elektra?" "Yes, you!" "For you are strong!" "How strong you are!" "Your virgin nights have made you strong" "There"s such strength in you" "You have sinews like a filly, your feet are slender" "Your hips are slim and supple, I can circle them with my arms" "You could slip through any crevice, climb through windows" "Let me feel your arms." "How cool and strong they are!" "As you struggle to push me away, I can feel their strength" "Let me go!" "No, I will hold you!" "With my sad, withered arms, I embrace your body" "As you struggle, you only pull the bonds tighter" "I will surround you, sink my roots into you and pour my will into your blood!" "Let me go!" "No!" "I won"t let you go" "Elektra, listen to me!" "You are so clever..." "Help us escape this house, help us break free!" "Elektra help us, help us break free!" "From now on I will be your sister as I"ve never been your sister before" "I will sit faithfully in your room awaiting your bridegroom with you" "I will anoint you for him and into the perfumed bath you will plunge, like a young swan" "You will hide your head against my breast..." "And then, through your bridal veil, you will glow like a torch.... ...as he leads you with his strong arms to your marriage-bed" "No, sister, no!" "Don"t speak of such things in this house" "I won"t let you go, until you swear before me, now, that you will do it!" "Let me go!" "Swear to come tonight, when all is quiet, to the foot of the stairs" "Let me go!" "I cannot!" "Curse you!" "I shall do it alone, then!" "What do you want, stranger?" "Why do you wander around here at nightfall, spying on people?" "I have work to do here." "What is it do to with you?" "Leave me in peace" "I must wait here" "Wait?" "You must belong to the household" "Are you one of the maids of this house?" "Yes, I serve in this house" "But you have no business here" "Now, if you please, go your way!" "I told you... I must wait here until they call me" "The people in there?" "You lie!" "I know the master is not at home..." "And the woman..." "What has she to do with you?" "I and another man who"s come with me we have a message for the lady" "We have been sent to her because we can bear witness that her son Orestes perished before our very eyes" "He was killed by his horses" "I was the same age and his constant companion" "Must I see you?" "Must you come creeping into my mournful hideout..." "Oh, you herald of misfortune!" "Can you not take your message and blare it out in there where it will make them happy?" "." "Your eyes stare at me  while his eyes are rotting away" "Your mouth opens and shuts  while his is filled with earth" "You are alive while he - he who was better than you..." "He who is a thousand times more noble, more eminent than you..." "He, who should have lived is no more" "Let Orestes be" "He enjoyed his life too much" "The gods cannot tolerate such a feast ofjoy" "So he had to die" "But what of me?" "But what of me?" "To lie there, constantly aware that the boy will never return, never!" "Knowing that this young boy now dwells in the abyss of horrors while those inside there, are alive and enjoying life!" "While those foul creatures sprawl in their lair eating and drinking and sleeping!" "And I, in worse horror and solitude than the beasts of the forest I am here alone" "Who are you then?" "What does it matter to you who I am?" "You must be of the same blood as those who died, Agamemnon and Orestes" "Of the same blood?" "I am that blood!" "I am the shamefully spilled blood of King Agamemnon" " Elektra is my name" " No!" "He denies it!" "He scorns me and robs me of my name!" " Elektra!" " Without a father and a brother I am a laughing-stock for knaves!" "Elektra!" "is it really you I see?" "Have they been starving you, have they beaten you?" "Ignore my dress, don"t stare at it" "With what horrors have they filled your nights?" " Your eyes are terrified" " Leave me alone!" "Your cheeks are hollow!" "Go in and talk to my sister who is saving herself for the festivities!" "Elektra, listen to me I don"t want to know who you are." "I don"t want to see anyone" "Listen to me, I have no time:" "Orestes is alive!" "If you move, you"ll betray him" " ls he free then?" "Where is he?" " He is safe and sound as I am" "Save him, before they kill him" "By my father"s body, that is why I came here" "Who are you then?" "Who are you then?" "I am frightened" "The dogs in the yard know me yet my own sister doesn"t?" "Orestes!" "Orestes!" "No one moves" "Let my eyes gaze on you..." "A vision in a dream..." "A dream which was granted to me..." "A vision far more beautiful than any dream!" "Noble, divine, sublime vision, stay by me!" "Do not melt into air, do not vanish from my sight" "If I were to die now, I would die happier than I lived for you have shown yourself to me, you have come to fetch me" "Orestes!" "You must not embrace me!" "Go, I am ashamed to be seen by you I dread to think what I must look like to you I am only the corpse of the sister you have known" "My poor boy... I know..." "You are horrified at the sight of me" "Yet I was a king"s daughter" "I think I was beautiful" "When I blew out the lamp by my mirror" "I felt my beauty in innocent wonder" "I felt it when the flimsy beams of the moon bathed, as in a pool, in the white nakedness of my body" "And my hair my hair that once made men tremble..." "This hair is now dishevelled, filthy, degrading..." "Do you understand, brother?" "I have had to give up all that I was" "I renounced my precious modesty, that sweetest gift of all..." "The modesty which is like the milky, silvery vapours of the moon" "That cloak of modesty which wraps a woman and safeguards her body and soul" "Do you understand, brother?" "Why do you look so anxiously around?" "Talk to me!" "Your whole body trembles!" "Let it tremble. I already see the path it will tread" "You will do it alone?" "My poor boy!" "They who imposed this task on me, the gods" " You will do it!" " they will be there to help me" "Happy the man who does this deed I will do it, here and now!" "This deed is like a bed on which the soul may repose... I shall do it!" "It is a bed of balsam which soothes the wounded soul when it burns like a torch, an ulcer, a flame!" "I shall do it!" "Happy he who goes to his deed..." "Happy he who longed for him, happy he who at last beholds him..." "Happy he who recognises him, happy he who touches him..." "Happy he who digs the axe out of the ground for him!" "Happy he who holds the torch for him..." "And happy is he who opens the door for him" "Are you crazy to speak so freely when a breath, a sound, a gasp can destroy us?" "She waits within, her maids seek you" "There"s no man in there, Orestes" "I did not give him the axe!" "They are gone, and I couldn"t give them the axe!" "There are no gods in heaven!" "Strike again!" "Something must have happened!" "So she screams in her sleep" "There must be men inside" " All the doors are bolted - l heard men going in!" "There are murderers in the house!" "Look, one stands at the door!" "That is Elektra!" "Elektra, why don"t you speak?" " l will run and get some help!" " Open the door for us, Elektra!" "Elektra, let us into the house!" "Aegisthus is here!" "Back to our rooms!" "Aegisthus comes!" "If he finds us here... lf something has happened inside, he will have us killed!" "Back!" "Back!" "Lights!" "is no-one here to light me?" "None of those rascals awake?" "is none of the rogues stirring?" "Have they no discipline?" "What strange woman is this?" "I ordered that no unknown face should ever come near me!" "is it you?" "Who told you to come and meet me?" "May I give you some light?" "Well, the latest news seems to have affected you" "Where can I find the strangers who brought the news of Orestes?" "Inside... they have met a charming hostess and they relish her company" "And have they really reported that he"s dead?" "Can they confirm it beyond any possible doubt?" "Sir, they confirm it notjust in words but also in the liveliest gestures which leave no room for doubt" "What is that tone in your voice?" "What has come over you?" "You repeat everything I say..." "You stagger about with your torch..." "The reason is only that I have at last grown wise and have realised that I am now on the side of the strongest" "Will you permit me to go on before you with a light?" "As far as the door" "Why are you dancing?" "Look out" "Here, mind the steps!" "Mind you don"t fall" "Why is it dark in here?" "Who are those men in there?" "They are people who only wish to attend upon you in person, sir" "And I, who have intruded upon you so often in the past with audacity and presumption will now at long last learn my lesson and take my leave at the right moment" "Help!" "Murder!" "Help your master!" "Murder!" "They're murdering me!" "Can no one hear me?" "Agamemnon can hear you!" "Elektra!" "Sister!" "Come with us!" "It must be our brother, inside the house lt"s Orestes - it"s he who has done it!" "Hail Orestes!" "Come!" "He is in the hall" "Everyone crowds around him" "They're kissing his feet" "All those who hated Aegisthus in their hearts have attacked the others" "Every courtyard is littered with bodies" "Those who survive are covered with the blood of their wounds and yet they are all smiling" "They are embracing each other and rejoicing" "A thousand torches have been lit" "Can"t you hear it?" "Can"t l hear it?" "Not hear the music?" "Doesn"t it come from inside me?" "The footsteps of all those thousands, carrying torches..." "The rumble of those endless myriad footsteps echoes throughout the world" "They are all waiting for me I know they are all waiting for me for l must lead the dance" "And yet I cannot do it" "For all the weight of the vast ocean, multiplied twenty times over drags me down into its depths and I cannot raise myself" "Can you not hear?" "They're carrying him, bearing him on their shoulders" "We are in the gods" keeping, we who accomplish our fate" "The gods judge like the sharpness of a sword judges us..." " What transformation!" "Their eyes shine and are wet with tears - l have sown the seeds of adversity" "and reaped joy upon joy" " The gods are good!" "I was only a corpse among the living" " Life begins anew I am the fire of life - for you and me and all men!" "and my flame consumes all the world"s darkness" "The gods" goodness has poured forth and made this happen" "My face must be paler than the glowing pallor of the moon" "Who has ever loved us?" "Whoever dares look at me must embrace death or waste away with joy" "Who has ever loved us?" "Can you see my face?" "Can you see the light that shines out of me?" "Now our brother is here we are bathed in love, like oil and myrrh" "Love is everything!" "Who can live without love?" "Ah, love kills!" "But no one dies without having known love!" "Elektra!" "I must be with my brother!" "Elektra!" "Be silent and dance" "Come here to me, all of you" "Close your ranks I bear the burden ofjoy and I shall lead you in the dance" "There is only one course open to those as happy as we are:" "to be silent and dance!" "Orestes!"