AGAMEMNON.
[The Watchman is discovered reclining on the flat roof of the palace.]
Watchman.
I PRAY the gods deliverance from these toils,
Release from year-long watch, which, couch'd aloft
On these Atreidan roofs, dog-like, I keep,
Marking the stars which nightly congregate;
And those bright potentates who bring to mortals
Winter and summer, signal in the sky,
†What time they wane I note, their risings too.
And for the beacon's token now I watch,
The blaze of fire, bearing from Troy a tale,
†Tidings of capture; for so proudly hopes 10[1]
A woman's heart, with manly counsel fraught.
Dew-drenched and restless is my nightly couch,
By dreams unvisited, for at my side,
Fear stands, in place of sleep, nor suffers me
- ↑ The figures correspond to the number of lines in the original.
† The obelisks refer to the conjectural emendations of the text at the end of each drama.
