The Libation Bearers

Orestes and Pylades arrive at the palace, dressed as travelers. A servant comes to the door and Orestes demands to speak to the masters of the house, claiming he has important news for them. When Clytaemestra comes to receive them, the disguised Orestes tells her that he learned of Orestes’s death from a stranger. Clytaemestra grieves briefly at hearing the news and then tells her servants to take Orestes and Pylades into the house.

The Chorus, left alone, chants a short prayer wishing again for Orestes’s success. Soon, Orestes’s old nurse, Cilissa, enters from the palace. She is weeping profusely, having heard that Orestes is dead. She explains to the Chorus that her mistress has sent her to fetch Aegisthus. She claims that Clytaemestra put on a sad face at hearing the news but believes that she is actually happy that Orestes is dead, as she knows Aegisthus will be. Cilissa, however, is sincerely upset by the news. The Chorus speak to Cilissa and ask her to tell Aegisthus to come to the palace alone, without his bodyguards, hinting that Orestes is really alive and about to carry out his revenge. Cilissa promises to do as they ask and exits.