Agamemnon — Second Episode

The herald arrives and his first act is to fall to his knees and greet the soil of Argos. He has not expected to see it again. He greets the sun, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, the heroes of the land. He announces the news: Troy has fallen; Agamemnon is coming; the expedition has succeeded. His joy is real and uncomplicated — and it is therefore the most painful moment so far in the play, because the audience knows what is waiting.

Clytemnestra is present. The chorus cannot speak plainly. It congratulates the herald and asks how it can receive Agamemnon appropriately. Clytemnestra delivers a second speech of welcome — as elaborate and as calculated as the first — in which she describes her devoted vigil through the ten years of her husband's absence. Every sentence is technically true and completely false. The herald does not detect anything amiss. He will report her loyal words to the king when he arrives.

Then the chorus asks about Menelaus. The herald hesitates. A storm struck the Greek fleet off the coast. It was catastrophic. Many ships are gone. Menelaus himself is missing — no one knows whether he is alive or dead. The chorus receives this as bad news portending worse. For the audience, the storm is also justice — the Greek fleet sacked the temples of Troy on its way to victory, and the gods are answering. The herald, bewildered, sails away.