70 Ernest Heinrich Klotsclie 



"... At Phcebus' oracle-hest I come 

 To Argos' soil, none privy thereunto, 

 To pay my father's murderers murder-wage." 



Orestes expresses his belief in Apollo's oracles, but has no re- 

 gard for the tribe of soothsayers : 



El. 399-400: 



Ao^iov yap efxiredoi 

 Xpt]ffh>.ol, PpoTCJV de ixavTLKr\v xaipeiv ew. 



"... ; for Loxias' oracles 

 Fail not. Of men's soothsaying will I none." 



In the end of the play the Dioscuri suddenly appear and abuse 

 Apollo on account of his oracle which has brought about the 

 dreadful events, but he is their superior and therefore they cannot 

 speak too plainly : 



El. 1296-97 : 



$ot/3a) TTivh^ avad^rjcroi 

 irpd^LV 4>ovlav. 



"... for on Phoebus I lay the guilt 

 Of the blood thou hast spilt, etc." 



Likewise lays Orestes the responsibility for the murder of Cly- 

 temnestra and its consequences at the door of Apollo : 



El. 971 and 973 : 



w <l>oI/3e, iroKKr)v 7' a/xa^iav k^eaTricras, 

 ocTTLs IX exp'jcas /jLrjTkp, fjv ov xpWj KTavelv. 



" O Phoebus, folly exceeding was thine best — 

 Who against nature bad'st me slay my mother ! " 



and El. 1190-96: 



lih ^ol^', avi/fxprjaas diKav, k. t. X. 



" Phoebus, the deed didst thou commend 



Aye whispering ' Justice.' Thou hast bared 



The deeds of darkness, and. made end. 

 Through Greece, of lust that murder dared. 



But me what land shall shield? What friend, 



What righteous man shall bear to see 



The slayer of his mother — me?" 



124 



