Sending to thine ear venomous messages,
Telling of dreams from Agamemnon sent,
Telling how Gods of the Underworld abhorred
Aegisthus' couch,—a hateful thing on earth,—620
Till the house blazed with fire unnatural.
Menelaus, this I warn thee—yea, will do:—
If thou regard mine hate, our tie of kin,
Shield not this man from death in heaven's despite.
Leave him to die by stoning of the folk,625
Or never set thou foot in Spartan land!
Thou hast heard—remember! Choose the impious not,
To thrust aside the friends that reverence God.
My servants, lead me from this dwelling hence.
Orestes.
Go, that unharassed what I yet would say630
May reach his ears, escaped thine hindering age.
Menelaus, why pace to and fro in thought,
Treading the mazes of perplexity?
Menelaus.
Let be: somewhat I muse within myself:
I know not whither in this chance to turn.635
Orestes.
End not thy pondering straightway: hearken first
Unto my pleading, and resolve thee then.
Menelaus.
Speak; thou hast well said. Silence is sometimes
Better than speech, and speech sometimes than silence.
