Orestes.
News hast thou? Welcome this, so it be fair:
If to mine hurt, sorrow have I enow.240
Electra.
Menelaus, thy sire's brother, home hath come:
In Nauplia his galleys anchored lie.
Orestes.
How say'st? As light risen on thy woes and mine
He comes, our kinsman, and our father's debtor!
Electra.
He comes—receive for surety of my words245
This—bringing Helen from the walls of Troy.
Orestes.
More blest he were had he escaped alone:
Sore bane he bringeth, if he bring his wife.
Electra.
As beacons of reproach and infamy
Through Hellas, were the daughters Tyndareus gat.250
Orestes (with sudden fury).
Be thou not like the vile ones!—this thou mayst—
Not in word only, but in inmost thought!
Electra.
Woe's me, my brother! Wildly rolls thine eye:
Swift changest thou to madness, sane but now!
