hey both conspired to
compass his destruction. Clytemnestra feigned the greatest joy on beholding
her husband, and in spite of the urgent warnings of Cassandra, who was now
a captive in his train, he received her protestations of affection with the
most trusting confidence. In her well-assumed anxiety for the comfort of
the weary traveller, she prepared a warm bath for his refreshment, and at a
given signal from the treacherous queen, AEgisthus, who was concealed in an
adjoining chamber, rushed upon the defenceless hero and slew him. {306}

During the massacre of the retainers of Agamemnon which followed, his
daughter Electra, with great presence of mind, contrived to save her young
brother Orestes. He fled for refuge to his uncle Strophius, king of Phocis,
who educated him with his own son Pylades, and an ardent friendship sprung
up between the youths, which, from its constancy and disinterestedness, has
become proverbial.

As Orestes grew up to manhood, his one great all-absorbing desire was to
avenge the death of his father. Accompanied by his faithful friend Pylades,
he repaired in disguise to Mycenae, where AEgisthus and Clytemnestra reigned
conjointly over the kingdom of Argos. In order to disarm suspicion he had
taken the precaution to despatch a messenger to Clytemnestra, purporting to
be sent by king Strophius, to announce to her the untimely death of her son
Orestes through an accident during a chariot-race at Delphi.

Arrived at Mycenae, he found his sister Electra so overwhelmed with grief at
the news of her brother's death that to her he revealed his identity. When
he heard from her lips how cruelly she had been treated by her mother, and
how joyfully the news of his demise had been received, his long pent-up
passion completely overpowered him, and rushing into the presence of the
king and queen, he first pierced Clytemnestra to the heart, and afterwards
her guilty partner.

But the crime of murdering his own mother was not long unavenged by the
gods. Hardly was the fatal act committed when the Furies appeared and
unceasingly pursued the unfortunate Orestes wherever he went. In this
wretched plight he sought refuge in the temple of Delphi, where he
earnestly besought Apollo to release him from his cruel tormentors. The god
commanded him, in expiation of his crime, to repair to Taurica-Chersonnesus
and convey the statue of Artemis from thence to the kingdom of Attica, an
expedition fraught with extreme per