Libation Bearers

Books

• Prologue

  Orestes returns secretly to Argos and finds his sister Electra at their father's tomb. He reveals himself and they begin to plan Clytemnestra's death.

  21 lines
• Parodos

  The chorus of slave women has been sent by Clytemnestra to pour libations at Agamemnon's grave — she dreamed of nursing a serpent. They pray for vengeance.

  59 lines
• The Kommos

  Orestes, Electra and the chorus raise a great invocation at Agamemnon's tomb, summoning the dead king's spirit to support the coming act of justice.

  232 lines
• First Stasimon

  The chorus reflects on the chain of violence in the house of Atreus and the inevitability of the curse working itself out through generation after generation.

  162 lines
• The Plan

  Orestes devises his stratagem: he will arrive at the palace disguised as a Phocian traveller, bearing news of his own death.

  106 lines
• Second Stasimon

  The chorus prays for the success of the plot and meditates on the terrible women of myth — Clytemnestra among them.

  64 lines
• The Deception

  Orestes arrives at the palace in disguise and tells Clytemnestra that Orestes is dead. She receives the news with complex emotion — relief mingled with grief.

  130 lines
• The Nurse

  Cilissa, Orestes' old nurse, is sent to summon Aegisthus. The chorus intervenes, telling her to change the message so Aegisthus comes unguarded.

  53 lines
• Third Stasimon

  The chorus prays to Zeus for the deliverance of the house. The critical moment approaches.

  98 lines
• The Killing

  Aegisthus enters and is killed by Orestes. Clytemnestra bares her breast and begs for her life. Orestes hesitates, then Pylades reminds him of Apollo's command. He strikes.

  43 lines
• Exodos

  Orestes displays the bodies and justifies his act, but the Furies begin to close in on him. He flees to Delphi as madness takes hold.

  107 lines