mnestra enters with slaves carrying a long piece of crimson silk. In a long speech she tells her husband how evil life was while he was away. She is glad he is back (in fact, because she wanted the chance to murder him). Her murderous intention peeps through her words in more than one place. She says she sent Orestes away lest uncertainty lead to a coup in Argos. She flatters her husband and wants him to enter the palace walking not on the ground but on the silk, like a god. Agamemnon answers her insultingly as ..daughter of Leda " and snubs her; her speech, he says, was too long. He dislikes flattery and recognises that it would be hubristic to walk in on the cloth. Hubristic -overproud so as to compete with the gods. She argues with him and by comparing him to Priam and then appealing to his victor's generosity changes his mind. He has his shoes removed, throws a verbal pinch of salt over his shoulder towards the gods, and tells Clytemnestra to be nice to Cassandra as he goes. Clytemnestra comments that they are wealthy enough to afford a bit of ruined cloth, and is triumphant. Note: The red cloth on which he walks is a symbolic river of blood for all the dead of Greece and Troy his men and he have caused. 4th Stasimon A song foreboding evil. Too much success and wealth is ominous, life that has been destroyed will be paid for. 4th Episode: Clytemnestra comes out to fetch Cassandra so that she can kill her at the same time as Agamemnon. Ostensibly trying to help Cassandra adjust to her new slave status, she in fact rubs Cassandra's nose in it while patting herself on the back. Cassandra, by her silence, wins the argument and Clytemnestra has to go in without her, telling the Choros to make the girl understand. She thinks that Cassandra must be a barbarian -not a speaker of Greek.The Choros are gentle with Cassandra who suddenly breaks out with a cry to Apollo to great effect, disturbing the Choros. Cassandra says she is to be destroy...
