Clytemnestra

thumb|Man’s mind in a woman’s heart. ~ Aeschylus thumb|Her will consenting to his will, he led ~ Homer In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra (Greek: Κλυταιμνήστρα, Klytaimnḗstrā) was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the half-sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' Oresteia, she murders Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess Cassandra, whom Agamemnon had taken as a war prize following the sack of Troy; however, in Homer's Odyssey, her role in Agamemnon's death is unclear and her character is significantly more subdued. Quotes Not Clytemnestra’s self in Beauties BloomMore charm’d, or better ply’d the various Loom: Agamemnon, on Chryseis. Homer, Iliad, I John Dryden, tr., "The First Book of Homer’s Ilias" Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700) “For we sat down in leaguer overseasDoing great feats of arms, while Aegisthus at easeDeep in horse-pasturing Argos won the soulOf Agamenmon's wife with flatteries.“And glorious Clytemnestra first for longRejected utterly the deed of wrong: For her own mind was right; and by her sideShe had for guardian a man skilled in song,“Into whose keeping Atreus' son had lent His wife, when to the Trojan land he went, Charging him well to guard her: but when fateOrdained her fall and her entanglement,“He to an island not inhabitedBore off the minstrel, and there left him dead,A prey to birds, and to his house the Queen,Her will consenting to his will, he led. Nestor to Telemachus. Homer, Odyssey, III, 239–275 J. W. Mackail, tr., The Odyssey (1903, revised 1932) Man’s mind in a woman’s heart. Watchman. Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 11 There is the sea—shall any stanch it up?—Still breeding, for its worth of silver weight, Abundant stain, freshly renewable,For purpling robes withal: nay, Heaven be praised, The house, my lord, affords us plenty such; ’Tis not acquainted yet with penury. I had vowed the trampling of a thousand robes,Had the oracles enjoined it when I sought Means for recovery of a life so precious!Still from the living root the mantling greenAgainst the Dog-star spreads a leafy screen,—So thou returning to thy hearth and home,Warmth as in winter cries Behold me come!Aye and when mellowing Zeus makes ripe and sweetWine from the young grape’s bitter, cool in heatReigns within walls where moves the man complete:—        [As Agamemnon goes in.O Zeus completer, now complete my prayer,Completion of thy plans be now thy care! Clytæmnestra. Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 958–974 All my politic speeches heretoforeShall nowise make me blush now to confessThe truth and contrary:—how else indeedWhen studying hate’s act for a hated foeSupposed friend—how else pitch the toils of DoomTo a height beyond o'erleaping? 'Twas not sudden;For me, ’twas butThe test and trial of an ancient feud,Long thought on, and at last in time arrived:—I stand here now triumphant, where I struck!And so contrived it also—I'll avow it—As neither should he scape me nor resist:I wreathed around him, like a fishing-net,Swathing in a blind maze,—deadly Wealth of robe,—And struck two blows; and with a groan for eachHis limbs beneath him slacked; and as he lay,I gave him yet a third, for grace of prayerTo God Safe-keeper—of the dead below.With that he lay still, panting his own life out:And as the gory jets he blasted forth,Rain of the sanguine drench bespattered me,Rejoicing, as in balm of heaven rejoicesCornland when the teeming ear gives birth! Clytæmnestra to the Elders. Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 1370–1385 Walter Headlam, tr., The Agamemnon of Æschylus (1910), pp. 117-119 Where e’re you walk, the Belides you meet;And Clytemnestra’s grow in ev’ry Street:But here’s the difference; Agamemnon’s WifeWas a gross Butcher, with a bloody Knife;But Murther, now, is to perfection grown,And subtle Poysons are employ’d alone:Unless some Antidote prevents their Arts,And lines with Balsom all the Noble parts:In such a case, reserv’d for such a need,Rather than fail, the Dagger does the Deed. Juvenal, Satires, VI John Dryden, tr., The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis (1693) External links Category:Greek mythology