And this decisive day the State pronounces
Our doom, to die, crushed with o’erwhelming stones,
Or by th’ avenging sword plunged in our breasts.
It is strange that Helen, the sister of Clytaemnestra, who would naturally have been expected to assume an attitude of stern condemnation, assures Electra that she regards Orestes and herself as innocent, and that she transfers the guilt to Phoebus:
With thee conversing I am not polluted,
Charging the crime on Phoebus.[46]
There is a suggestion of the Attic rather than of the Argive legend in this attitude of Helen. Her words are very similar to those spoken by Castor and Pollux in the Electra in a dialogue with Orestes and the Chorus[47]:
Chorus: O sons of Jove, may we presume t’ approach
And converse with you be allowed to hold?