Aiskhylos — Agammemnon. The Khoros recalls how the war began, then watches Queen Klytaimnestra enter

Note: For more, please see Aiskhylos — Agamemnon.

Agamemnon

The Khoros recalls how the war began, then watches Queen Klytaimnestra enter
(lines 40-103)

by Aiskhylos (Aeschylus)

Translated by William P. Coleman

Khoros

It’s ten years since Priam’s
great adversary
Lord Menelaos and Agamemnon —
on twin thrones by the will of Zeus, twin scepters
yoked firmly by honor — raised
a force of Argive sons of Atreus
to go from this country
with a thousand ships, as armed help.

The soldiers yelped great Ares from their hearts —
as vultures do at extreme of pain for
their children stolen from their beds. They eddy
round in the heights
and row the oars of their wings,
the care they’ve given their nesting chicks
destroyed.
Highest of all, Apollo — or Pan or Zeus —
sensing their visitors’ shrill,
howling bird cries
sends an avenging Fury
to go with them.

Aiskhylos — Agammemnon. Watchman’s Prologue: Ten years of waiting and now, finally, victory so the King can return

Note: For more, please see Aiskhylos — Agamemnon.

Agamemnon

Watchman’s Prologue: Ten years of waiting and now, finally, victory so the King can return
(lines 1-39)

by Aiskhylos (Aeschylus)

Translated by William P. Coleman

Watchman

I ask this of the gods — release from pain, from
years of watching — so many sleepy years
on the Atreids’ roofs, chin on my hands, the way a dog lies;
I learned by heart the assembly of nightly stars
as they’ve brought winter and summer too to mortals,
brilliant lords, shining stars clear in the
skies — the times they set — and their rising.