Four Tragedies and Octavia (6 page)

ATREUS
: Am I a coward, sluggard, impotent,

And – what I count the worst of weaknesses

In a successful king – still unavenged?

After so many crimes, so many sleights

Committed on me by that miscreant brother

In violation of all sacred law,

Is there no more to do but make vain protests?

Is this your anger, Atreus? All the world

By now should be resounding to your arms,

The sea to east and west bearing your fleets;

Fire should be blazing over field and city,

The glint of naked sword on every side.

The thunder of our horsemen must be heard

On every quarter of the Argive land.

The woods must give the enemy no cover,

The mountain tops no site for fortresses.

The people of Mycenae, man by man,

Must take the field and sound the trump of war.

And be it known that whosoever here

Protects or shelters our detested foe,

His penalty is ignominious death.

Ay, may this mighty house of noble Pelops

Fall even on my head, if in its fall

It crush my brother too. Awake, my heart,

And do such deeds as in the time to come

No tongue shall praise, but none refuse to tell.

Some black and bloody deed must be attempted,

Such as my brother might have wished were his.

You cannot say you have avenged a crime

Unless you better it.
¹
But how to find

An act of vengeance terrible enough

To bring him down? Is he resigned or cowed?

Is he a man to celebrate success

With modesty, or calmly brook eclipse?

Not he; I know that man's rebellious temper;

Nothing will move him; but he can be broken.

Therefore, before he can collect his forces

Or steel his courage, I shall go for him,

Not let him come for me, and find me resting.

Let him destroy me now or be destroyed;

The gage of action lies upon the field

For him to seize who can be quick to take it.

MINISTER
: You do not fear your people's disapproval?

ATREUS
: Of the advantages of monarchy

The greatest is that subjects are compelled

Not only to endure but to approve

Their master's actions.

MINISTER
:                        Men compelled by fear

To praise, may be by fear compelled to hate.

He who desires to win sincere approval

Will seek it in the heart, not on the tongue.

ATREUS
: A moderate man may win sincere approval;

It takes a strong man to enforce feigned praise.

Men must be made to want what they dislike.

MINISTER
: Let the king want what's right, who will oppose him?

ATREUS
: The king who binds himself to want what's right Sits on a shaky throne.

MINISTER
:                        No throne can stand

Where there is neither shame nor law nor trust

Nor care for sanctity or piety.

ATEBUS
: Sanctity, piety, trust – are luxuries

For private life. Leave kings to go their own way.

MINISTER
: To harm a brother, even a guilty brother, Must be a sin.

ATREUS
:            Whatever might be sin

Against a brother, can be only justice

In this man's case. What has he left untouched

By his unlawful acts, what crime not dared?

He took my wife by rape, my throne by theft;

By treachery he won our ancient crown;

He brought our house to ruin by treachery.

You know that in the royal byres of Pelops

We have a famous animal, a ram

Of mystic origin, king of a flock

Of valuable beasts; its back is covered

With an abundant fleece of purest gold,

And from this fleece is made the golden sceptre

Borne by each reigning heir of Tantalus.

The owner of the ram is king; the ram

Controls the destinies of all our house.

His pasture, as befits a sacred beast,

Is in a special precinct safely guarded

By strong stone walls which circle and protect

This grazing-ground on which our fates depend.

My brother planned a bold and treacherous plot –

My wife, the partner of my nuptial bed,

Being privy to that most nefarious deed –

To steal this golden ram. And from that fount

Springs all this spate of mutual enmity.

Banished, I wandered lonely and afraid

Throughout my realm. No portion of my birthright

Was safe from his rapacity and cunning;

My wife seduced, my sovereignty disowned,

My blood disgraced, my progeny suspected.

One thing alone was certain in my life –

My brother's enmity. Then why stand idle?

Where is my resolution? Think of Pelops

And Tantalus; these are the precedents

My hand is called to follow.… Tell me, man,

How can I best destroy that hated head?

MINISTER
: A sword's point will draw out an enemy's breath.

ATREUS
: You tell me of the
end
of punishment;

I ask,
what
punishment? The kindest king

Can put a man to death; under my rule

A culprit should be made to beg for death.

MINISTER:
Is nothing sacred?

ATREUS:
                                Sanctity, begone! –

If thou wast ever known within these walls.

Come all the dread battalions of the Furies!

Come, seed of strife, Erinys! Come, Megaera,

With torches armed! My spirit yet lacks fire;

It would be filled with still more monstrous rage.

MINISTER
: What new device will your wild rage invent?

ATREUS
: No act that common anger knows. Nothing

Will I not do! Yet nothing will content me.

MINISTER
: By sword?

ATREUS
: Too light.

MINISTER
: By fire?

ATREUS
:                Not yet enough.

MINISTER
: What other tool can your dire vengeance use?

ATREUS
: Himself – Thyestes!

MINISTER
:                              This is worse than vengeance.

ATREUS
: It is. My heart is shaken with a storm

Of passion that confounds it to its centre.

I am compelled, although I know not whither,

I am compelled by forces.… Hear! the earth

Groans from its depths; the sky is clear, but thunder

Rumbles, and from the house there came a crash

As if the roof were falling; and our gods,

Shaken, have turned their backs on us. So be it!

Let a black deed be done, which gods above

Will fear to see.

MINISTER
:            What deed is in your mind?

ATREUS
: I know not what. Some deed more wonderful

Than mind can contemplate, more terrible

Than any ordinary act of man,

Beyond the bounds of human nature, fills

My soul and prompts my idle hand to action.

What it will be, I know not. It will be,

I know, something tremendous.… Yes, I have it!

Hold hard to this, my soul! This is a deed

Thyestes could be proud of, as can Atreus;

Let them be partners in the doing of it!

Was there not an abominable banquet

Seen in the house of Tereus
¹
of Odrysia?

There was; and truth to tell, it was a crime

Most horrible. But I have been forestalled;

My vengeance must contrive a better crime.

Mother and sister of Daulis,
²
give me guidance!

My case is yours; help and direct my hand!…

What if the father could be made to tear

His children into pieces, happily,

With eager appetite – eat his own flesh?…

Good, very good. I could be well content

With such a punishment.… But now, where is he?

Is Atreus to be innocent much longer?

A picture of the murder, done, complete,

Rises before my eyes… the father's mouth

Devouring his lamented little ones.…

What! Is this fear again, my heart? Dost faint

Upon the point of action? Call thy courage up!

In this vile act the most atrocious part

Will be the victim's own.

MINISTER
:                           By what device

Will he be lured to walk into our net?

He looks for danger everywhere.

ATREUS
:                                         We could not

Catch him, were he not hoping to catch us.

Already he aspires to win my throne;

To gain this end he would stand up to Jove

Armed with his thunderbolts; to gain this end

He is about to brave the angry sea,

To cross the dangerous shoals of Libyan Syrtis;

For this, he will endure what he most hates –

His brother's sight.

MINISTER
:                 How will he be persuaded

That peace is made?
¹
Whom will he trust for that?

ATREUS
: Dishonest hope is always credulous.

But I shall give a message to my sons

To carry to their uncle. They will ask him

To quit his vagrant life in foreign lands,

Exchange his penury for royal state,

And be my partner in the rule of Argos.

Should he prove obstinate and spurn these prayers,

His sons, less hardened, tired of deprivation,

And easy to deceive, will listen to them.

But his inveterate determination

To gain the kingdom, added to the weight

Of his misfortunes and dire poverty,

Albeit these have toughened his resistance,

Will surely bring him round.

MINISTER
:                                May not long habit

Seem to have lightened his afflictions?

ATREUS
:                                                  No;

The sense of suffering grows continually.

A hardship may be easy to accept,

But very irksome to endure for ever.

MINISTER
: My lord, I would advise you to employ

Some other instruments for your fell purpose.

Young men are all too apt to learn bad lessons;

The stratagems that you would have them use

Against their uncle, they may come in time

To use against their father. Very often

A counsellor of crime has found his precepts

Employed against himself.

ATREUS
:                                They'll learn the ways

Of crime and villainy, without a master;

Their kingly life will teach them. Have no fear

Of their becoming villains; they were born so.

Besides, what is to your mind harsh and cruel,

What you call heartless and inhuman conduct,

May well be happening on the other side.

MINISTER
: Your sons will know the trap you are preparing?

ATREUS
: They are not old enough to keep a secret;

They would betray the plot. It takes a man

Experienced in defeat to learn discretion.

MINISTER
: Would you deceive the very messengers

By whom you purpose to deceive your enemy?

ATREUS
: Yes, so that they at least be innocent

Of guilt, or blame for their complicity.

Why should I need to implicate my sons

In my dark deeds? Let me alone exact

My own revenge.… No, no, my heart; no bungling,

No weakening now! If you would spare your sons,

You will be sparing his. No – Agamemnon

Shall be a conscious agent of my plan,

And Menelaus help him with full knowledge.

Their handling of the deed will give me means

To test the truth of their suspected birth.

If they refuse the encounter, if they will not

Help me to my revenge, if they protest

‘He is our uncle' – then he is their father.

About it, then.… And yet, a timid face

Can give away too much; in great affairs

The unwilling hand is easily detected.

No – my assistants shall be ignorant

Of the importance of their mission…. You, sir –

Say nothing of my plan.

MINISTER
:                         I need no telling.

Your words are locked within my breast by fear

And duty – but by duty above all.

At last this royal seat, this ancient race of Inachus,

Sees its old fratricidal feud composed, strife laid to rest.
¹

What senseless folly drove our kings to shed each others'

       blood

And use such sinful means to win possession of a throne?

Were they so covetous of royal citadels of power?

Did they not know where only perfect kingship can be found?

It is not worldly wealth that makes a king,

Nor the rich diadem encompassing

His royal head, nor the proud gaudiness

Of gilded halls and Tyrian purple dress.