Monologue

Cassandra Monologue from The Agamemnon of Aeschylus Translated into English Rhyming Verse with Explanatory Notes

From The Agamemnon of Aeschylus Translated into English Rhyming Verse with Explanatory Notes by Aeschylus

female · anguished · 1:40 min

(By an effort she regains mastery of herself, and speaks directly to the Leader.) ’Fore God, mine oracle shall no more hide With veils his visage, like a new-wed bride! A shining wind out of this dark shall blow, Piercing the dawn, growing as great waves grow, To burst in the heart of sunrise … stronger far Than this poor pain of mine. I will not mar With mists my wisdom. Be near me as I go, Tracking the evil things of long ago, And bear me witness. For this roof, there clings Music about it, like a choir which sings One-voiced, but not well-sounding, for not good The words are. Drunken, drunken, and with blood, To make them dare the more, a revelling rout Is in the rooms, which no man shall cast out, Of sister Furies. And they weave to song, Haunting the House, its first blind deed of wrong, Spurning in turn that King’s bed desecrate, Defiled, which paid a brother’s sin with hate…. Hath it missed or struck, mine arrow? Am I a poor Dreamer, that begs and babbles at the door? Give first thine oath in witness, that I know Of this great dome the sins wrought long ago.

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