PYL.  Then the circumstances of the moment will point out what steps to take.

ORES.  To kill Helen, I understand the sign.

PYL.  Thou seest:  but hear on what honorable principles I meditate it.  For, if we draw our sword on a more modest woman, the murder will blot our names with infamy.  But in the present instance, she shall suffer vengeance for the whole of Greece, whose fathers she slew, and made the brides bereaved of their spouses; there shall be a shout, and they will kindle up fire to the Gods, praying for many blessings to fall to thee and me, inasmuch as we shed the blood of a wicked woman.  But thou shalt not be called the matricide, when thou hast slain her, but dropping this name thou shalt arrive at better things, being styled the slayer of the havoc-dealing Helen.  It never, never were right that Menelaus should be prosperous, and that thy father, and thou, and thy sister should die, and thy mother; (this I forbear, for it is not decorous to mention;) and that he should seize thy house, having recovered his bride by the means of Agamemnon’s valor.  For may I live no longer, if I draw not my black sword upon her.  But if then we do not compass the murder of Helen, having fired the palace we will die, for we shall have glory, succeeding in one of these two things, nobly dying, or nobly rescued.

CHOR.  The daughter of Tyndarus is an object of detestation to all women, being one that has given rise to scandal against the sex.

ORES.  Alas!  There is no better thing than a real friend, not riches, not kingdoms; but the popular applause becomes a thing of no account to receive in exchange for a generous friend.  For thou contrivedst the destruction that befell AEgisthus, and wast close to me in my dangers.  But now again thou givest me to revenge me on mine enemies, and art not out of the way—­but I will leave off praising thee, since there is some burden even in this “to be praised to excess.”  But I altogether in a state of death, wish to do something to my foes and die, that I may in turn destroy those who betrayed me, and those may groan who also made me unhappy.  I am the son of Agamemnon, who ruled over Greece by general consent; no tyrant, but yet he had the power as it were of a God, whom I will not disgrace, suffering a slavish death, but breathe out my soul in freedom, but on Menelaus will I revenge me.  For if we could gain this one thing, we should be prosperous, if from any chance safety should come unhoped for on the slayers then, not the slain:  this I pray for.  For what I wish is sweet to delight the mind without fear of cost, though with but fleeting words uttered through the mouth.

ELEC.  I, O brother, think that this very thing brings safety to thee, and thy friend, and in the third place to me.

ORES.  Thou meanest the providence of the Gods:  but where is this? for I know that there is understanding in thy mind.

ELEC.  Hear me then, and thou too give thy attention.