Euripides
The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I.
[Enter a Messenger.420]
MESSENGER. O Agamemnon, king of all the Greeks, I am come, bringing thy daughter to thee, whom thou didst name Iphigenia in thy palace. But her mother follows, the person of thy [wife] Clytæmnestra, and the boy Orestes, that thou mayest be pleased at the sight, being away from thine home a long season. But as they have come a long way, they and their mares are refreshing their female feet by the fair-flowing fountain, and we let loose the mares in a grassy meadow, that they might taste fodder. But I am come before them to prepare you [for their reception,] for a swift report passed through the army, that thy daughter had arrived. And all the multitude comes out hastily to the spectacle, that they may behold thy child. For prosperous men are renowned and conspicuous among all mortals. And they say, "Is there a marriage on foot? or what is going on?" Or, "Has king Agamemnon, having a yearning after his daughter, brought his child hither?" But from some you would have heard this: "They are initiating421 the damsel in honor of Artemis, queen of Aulis, who will marry her." But come, get ready the baskets,422 which come next, crown thine head. And do thou, king Menelaus, prepare a nuptial lay, and through the house let the pipe sound and let there be noise of feet, for this day comes blessed upon the virgin.
AG. I commend [your words,] but go thou within the house, and it shall be well, as fortune takes its course. Alas! what shall I wretched say? Whence shall I begin? Into what fetters of necessity have I fallen! Fortune has upturned me, so as to become far too clever for my cleverness. But lowness of birth has some advantage thus. For such persons are at liberty to weep, and speak unhappy words, but to him that is of noble birth, all these things belong. We have our dignity as ruler of our life, and are slaves to the multitude. For I am ashamed indeed to let fall the tear, yet again wretched am I ashamed not to weep, having come into the greatest calamities. Well! what shall I say to my wife? How shall I receive her? What manner of countenance shall I present? And truly she hath undone me, coming uncalled amidst the ills which before possessed me. And with reason did she follow her daughter, being about to deck her as a bride,423 and to perform the dearest offices, where she will find us base. But for this hapless virgin – why [call her] virgin? Hades, as it seems, will speedily attend on her nuptials, – how do I pity her! For I think that she will beseech me thus: O father, wilt thou slay me? Such a wedding mayest thou thyself wed, and whosoever is a friend to thee. But Orestes being present will cry out knowingly words not knowing, for he is yet an infant. Alas! how has Priam's son, Paris, undone me by wedding the nuptials of Paris, who has wrought this!
CHOR. And I also pity her, as it becomes a stranger woman to moan for the misfortune of her lords.
MEN. Brother, give me thy right hand to touch.
AG. I give it, for thine is the power, but I am wretched.
MEN. I swear by Pelops, who was called the sire of my father and thine, and my father Atreus, that I indeed will tell thee plainly from my heart, and not any thing out of contrivance, but only what I think. I, beholding thee letting fall the tear from thine eyes, pitied thee, and myself let fall [a tear] for thee in return. And I have changed424 my old determinations, not being wrath against you, but I will place myself in your present situation, and I recommend you neither to slay your child, nor to take my part; for it is not just that thou shouldst groan, but my affairs be in a pleasant state, and that thine should die, but mine behold the light. For what do I wish? Might I not obtain another choice alliance, if I crave nuptials? But, having undone my brother, whom it least behooved me, shall I receive Helen, an evil in place of a good? I was foolish and young, before that, viewing the matter closely, I saw what it is to beget children. Besides, pity came over me, considering our connection, for the hapless girl, who is about to be sacrificed because of my marriage. But what has thy virgin [daughter] to do with Helen? Let the army go, being disbanded from Aulis. But cease thou bedewing thine eyes with tears, my brother, and exciting me to tears. But if I have any concern in the oracle respecting thy daughter, let me have none: to thee I yield my part. But I have come to a change425 from terrible resolutions. I have experienced426 what was meet. I have changed to regard him who is sprung from a common source. Such changes belong not to a bad man, [viz.] to follow the best always.
CHOR. Thou hast spoken generous words, and becoming Tantalus the son of Jove. Thou disgracest not thine ancestors.
AG. I commend thee, Menelaus, in that, contrary to my expectation, you have subjoined these words, rightly, and worthily of thee.
MEN. A certain disturbance427 between brothers arises on account of love, and avarice in their houses. I abhor such a relationship, mutually sore.
AG. But [consider,] for we are come into circumstances that render it necessary to accomplish the bloody slaughter of my daughter.
MEN. How? Who will compel thee to slay thy child?
AG. The whole assembly of the armament of the Greeks.
MEN. Not so, if at least thou dismiss it back to Argos.
AG. In this matter I might escape discovery, but in that I can not.428
MEN. What? One should not too much fear the multitude.
AG. Calchas will proclaim his prophecy to the army of the Greeks.
MEN. Not if he die first – and this is easy.
AG. The whole race of seers is an ambitious ill.
MEN. And in naught good or profitable, when at hand.429
AG. But dost thou not fear that which occurs to me?
MEN. How can I understand the word you say not?
AG. The son of Sisyphus knows all these matters.
MEN. It can not be that Orestes can pain thee and me.
AG. He is ever changeable, and with the multitude.
MEN. He is indeed possessed with the passion for popularity, a dreadful evil.
AG. Do you not then think that he, standing in the midst of the Greeks, will tell the oracles which Calchas pronounced, and of me, that I promised to offer a sacrifice to Diana, and then break my word. With which [words] having carried away the army, he will bid the Greeks slay thee and me, and sacrifice the damsel. And if I flee to Argos, they will come and ravage and raze the land, Cyclopean walls and all. Such are my troubles. O unhappy me! How, by the Gods, am I at a loss in these present matters! Take care of one thing for me, Menelaus, going through the army, that Clytæmnestra may not learn these matters, before I take and offer my daughter to Hades, that I may fare ill with as few tears as possible. But do ye, O stranger women, preserve silence.
CHORUS. Blest are they who share the nuptial bed of the Goddess Aphrodite,430 when she is moderate, and with modesty, obtaining a calm from the maddening stings, when Love with his golden locks stretches his twin bow of graces, the one for a prosperous fate, the other for the upturning of life. I deprecate this [bow,] O fairest Venus, from our beds, but may mine be a moderate grace, and holy endearments, and may I share Aphrodite, but reject her when excessive. But the natures of mortals are different, and their manners are different,431 but that which is clearly good is ever plain. And the education which trains432 [men] up, conduces greatly to virtue, for to have reverence is wisdom, and it possesses an equivalent advantage, viz. to perceive what is fitting by one's mind, where report bears unwasting glory to life.433 'Tis a great thing to hunt for [the praise of] virtue, among women indeed, by a secret affection,434 but among men, on the other hand, honor being inherent,435 [bears that praise, honor,] which increases a state to an incalculable extent.436
Thou earnest, O Paris, †where thou wast trained up a shepherd with the white heifers of Ida, trilling a barbarian lay, breathing an imitation of the Phrygian pipes of Olympus on a reed. And the cows with their well-filled udders browsed, when the judgment of the Goddesses drove thee mad, which sends thee into Greece,† before the ivory-decked palaces, thou who didst strike love into the eyes of Helen which were upon thee, and thyself wast fluttered with love. Whence strife, strife brings Greece against the bulwarks of Troy with spears and ships.† Alas! alas! great are the fortunes of the great.437 Behold the king's daughter, Iphigenia, my queen, and Clytæmnestra, daughter of Tyndarus, how are they sprung from the great, and to what suitable fortune they are come. The powerful, in sooth, and the wealthy, are Gods to those of mortals who are unblest. [Let us stand still, ye children of Chalcis, let us receive the queen from her chariot to the earth, not unsteadily, but gently with the soft attention of our hands, lest the renowned daughter of Agamemnon, newly coming to me, be alarmed, nor let us, as strangers to strangers, cause disturbance or fear to the Argive ladies.438]
[Enter Clytæmnestra, IPHIGENIA, and probably ORESTES in a chariot. They descend from it, while the Chorus make obeisance.]
CLY. I regard both your kindness and your favorable words as a good omen, and I have some hope that I am here as escort [of my daughter] to honorable nuptials. But take out of my chariot the dower-gifts which I bear for my girl, and send them carefully into the house. And do thou, my child, quit the horse-chariot, setting [carefully] thy foot delicate and at the same time tender. But you,439 maidens, receive her in your arms, and lift her from the chariot. And let some one give me the firm support of his hand, that I may beseemingly leave the chariot-seat. But do some440 of you stand in front of the horses' yoke, for the uncontrolled eye of horses is timorous, and take this boy, the son of Agamemnon, Orestes, for he is still an infant. Child! dost sleep, overcome by the ride? Wake up happily for thy sisters' nuptials. For thou thyself being noble shalt obtain relationship with a good man, the God-like son of the daughter of Nereus. [441Next come thou close to my foot, O daughter, to thy mother, Iphigenia, and standing near, show these strangers how happy I am, and come hither indeed, and address thy dear father.] O thou most great glory to me, king Agamemnon, we are come, not disobeying thy bidding.
IPH. O mother, running indeed, (but be thou not angry,) I will apply my breast to my father's breast. [442But I wish, rushing to embrace thy breast, O father, after a long season. For I long for thy face. But do not be angry.]
CLY. But, O my child, enjoy [thine embraces,] but thou wert ever most fond of thy father, of all the children I bore.
IPH. O father, joyous do I behold thee after a long season.
AG. And I, thy father, [joyously behold] thee. Thou speakest thus equally in respect to both.
IPH. Hail! But well hast thou done in bringing me to thee, O father.
AG. I know not how I shall say, yet not say so, my child.
IPH. Ah! how uneasily dost thou regard me, joyfully beholding me [before.]
AG. A king and general has many cares.
IPH. Give thyself up to me now, and turn not thyself to cares.
AG. But I am altogether concerned with thee, and on no other subject.
IPH. Relax thy brow, and open thy eyes in joy.
AG. See, I rejoice as I rejoice, at seeing thee, child.443
IPH. And then dost let fall a tear from thine eyes?
AG. For long to us is the coming absence.
IPH. I know not what you mean, I know not, dearest father mine.
AG. Speaking sensibly, thou movest me the more to pity.
IPH. I will speak foolishly, if I so may rejoice you.
AG. Alas! I can not keep silence, but I commend thee.
IPH. Remain, O father, in the house with thy children,
AG. I fain would, but not having what I would, I am pained.
IPH. Perish war and the ills of Menelaus!444
AG. What has undone me will first undo others.
IPH. How long a time wast thou absent in the recesses of Aulis!
AG. And now also there is something hinders me from sending on the army.
IPH. Where say they that the Phrygians dwell, father?
AG. Where would that Paris, Priam's son, had never dwelt.
IPH. And dost thou go a long distance, O father, when thou leavest me?
AG. Thou art come, my daughter, to the same state with thy father.445
IPH. Alas! would that it were fitting me and thee to take me with thee as thy fellow-sailor.
AG. But there is yet a sailing for thee, where thou wilt remember thy father.
IPH. Shall I go, sailing with my mother, or alone?
AG. Alone, apart from thy father and mother.
IPH. What, art thou going to make me dwell in other houses, father?
AG. Cease. It is not proper for girls to know these matters.
IPH. Hasten back from Phrygia, do, my father, having settled matters well there.
AG. It first behooves me to offer a certain sacrifice here.
IPH. But it is with the priests that thou shouldst consider sacred matters.
AG. [Yet] shalt thou know it, for thou wilt stand round the altar.
IPH. What, shall we stand in chorus round the altar, my father?446
AG. I deem thee happier than myself, for that thou know-est nothing. But go within the house, that the girls may behold thee,447 having given me a sad kiss and thy right hand, being about to dwell a long time away from thy sire. O bosom and cheeks, O yellow tresses, how has the city of the Phrygians proved a burden to us, and Helen! I cease my words, for swift does the drop trickle from mine eyes when I touch thee. Go into the house. But I, I crave thy pardon, (to Clytæmnestra,) daughter of Leda, if I showed too much feeling, being about to bestow my daughter on Achilles. For the departure [of a girl] is a happy one, but nevertheless it pains the parents, when a father, who has toiled much, delivers up his children to another home.
CLY. I am not so insensible – but think thou that I shall experience the same feelings, (so that I should not chide thee,) when I lead forth my girl with nuptial rejoicings, but custom wears away these thoughts in course of time. I know, however, the name of him to whom thou hast promised thy daughter, but I would fain know of what race, and whence [he is.]
AG. Ægina was the daughter of her father Asopus.
CLY. And who of mortals or of Gods wedded her?
AG. Jove, and she gave birth to Æacus, prince of Œnone.
CLY. But what son obtained the house of Æacus?
AG. Peleus, and Peleus obtained the daughter of Nereus.
CLY. By the gift of the God, or taking her in spite of the Gods?
AG. Jove acted as a sponsor, and bestowed her, having the power.448
CLY. And where does he wed her? In the wave of the sea?
AG. Where Chiron dwells at the sacred foot of Pelion.
CLY. Where they say that the race of Centaurs dwells?
AG. Here the Gods celebrated the nuptial feast of Peleus.
CLY. But did Thetis, or his father, train up Achilles?
AG. Chiron, that he might not learn the manners of evil mortals.
CLY. Hah! wise was the instructor, and wiser he who intrusted him.
AG. Such a man will be the husband of thy child.
CLY. Not to be found fault with. But what city in Greece does he inhabit?
AG. Near the river Apidanus in the confines of Phthia.
CLY. Thither will he lead thy virgin [daughter] and mine.
AG. This shall be the care of him, her possessor.
CLY. And may the pair be happy; but on what day will he wed her?
AG. When the prospering orb of the moon comes round.
CLY. But hast thou already sacrificed the first offerings for thy daughter to the Goddess?
AG. I am about to do so. In this matter we are now engaged.
CLY. And wilt thou then celebrate a wedding-feast afterward?
AG. [Ay,] having sacrificed such offerings as it behooves me to sacrifice to the Gods.
CLY. But where shall we set out a banquet for the women?
AG. Here, by the fair-pooped ships of the Greeks.
CLY. Well, and poorly,449 forsooth! but may it nevertheless turn out well.
AG. Do then thou knowest what, O lady, and obey me.
CLY. In what? for I am accustomed to obey thee.
AG. We indeed in this place, where the bridegroom is —
CLY. Will do what without the mother, [of those things] which it behooves me to do?
AG. – will bestow your daughter among the Greeks.
CLY. But where must I be in the mean time?
AG. Go to Argos, and take care of your virgins.
CLY. Leaving my child? And who will bear the [nuptial] torch?
AG. I will furnish the light that becomes the nuptials.
CLY. The custom is not thus, but you think these matters trifles.
AG. It is not proper that thou shouldst mingle in the crowd of the army.
CLY. It is proper that I, the mother, should bestow at least my own daughter.
AG. And it [is proper] that the damsels at home should not be alone.
CLY. They are well guarded in their close chambers.
AG. Obey me.
CLY. [No,] by the Argive Goddess queen. But go you, and attend to matters abroad, but I [will mind] the affairs at home, as to the things which should be present to virgins at their wedding.450
AG. Alas! In vain have I toiled,451 and have been frustrated in my hope, wishing to send my wife out of my sight. But I am using stratagems, and finding contrivances against those I best love, overcome at all points. But nevertheless with the prophet Calchas I will go and ask the pleasure of the Goddess, not fortunate for me, the trouble of Greece.452 But it behooves a wise man either to support a useful and good wife in his house or not to marry at all.453
CHORUS. The assembly of the Grecian army will come to Simois, and to the silver eddies, both with ships and with arms, to Ilium, and to the Phœbeian plain of Troy, where I hear that Cassandra, adorned with a green-blossoming crown of laurel, lets loose her yellow locks, when the prophetic influence of the Gods breathes upon her. And the Trojans will stand upon the towers of Troy and around its walls, when brazen-shielded Mars, borne over the sea in fair-prowed ships, approaches the beds of Simois by rowing, seeking to bear away Helen, [the sister] of the twain sons of Jove in heaven, into the land of Greece, by the war-toiling shields and spears of the Greeks. But having surrounded Pergamus,454 the city of the Phrygians, around its towers of stone, with bloody Mars, having torn off the heads [of the citizens] cut from their necks, having completely ravaged the city of Troy, he will make the daughters and wife of Priam shed many tears. But Helen, the daughter of Jove, will sit† in sad lamentation, having left her husband. Never upon me or upon my children's children may this expectation come, such as the wealthy Lydian and Phrygian wives possess while at their spinning, conversing thus with each other. Who,455 dragging out my fair-haired tresses, will choose me as his spoil despite my tears, while my country is perishing? Through thee [forsooth,] the offspring of the long-necked swan, if indeed the report is true, that Leda † met with456 a winged bird, when the body of Jove was transformed, and then in the tablets of the muses fables spread these reports among men, inopportunely, and in vain.
[Enter ACHILLES.]
ACHILLES. Where about here is the general of the Greeks? Who of the servants will tell him that Achilles, the son of Peleus, is seeking him at the gates? For we do not remain by the Euripus in equal condition; for some of us being unyoked in nuptials, having left our solitary homes, sit here upon the shore, but others, having wives and children:457 so violent a passion for this expedition has fallen upon Greece, not without the will of the Gods. It is therefore right that I should speak of what concerns me, and whoever else wishes will himself speak for himself. For leaving the Pharsalian land, and Peleus, I am waiting for these light gales of Euripus,458 restraining the Myrmidons, who are continually pressing me, and saying, "Achilles, why tarry we? what manner of time must the armament against Troy yet measure out? At any rate act, if you are going to do any thing, or lead the army home, not abiding the delays of the Atrides."
CLY. O son of the Goddess, daughter of Nereus, hearing from within thy words, I have come out before the house.
ACH. O hallowed modesty, who can this woman be whom I behold here, possessing a fair-seeming form?
CLY. It is no wonder that you know me not, whom you have never seen before, but I commend you because you respect modesty.
ACH. But who art thou? And wherefore hast thou come to the assembly of the Greeks, a woman to men guarded with shields?
CLY. I am the daughter of Leda, and Clytæmnestra is my name, and my husband is king Agamemnon.
ACH. Well hast thou in few words spoken what is seasonable. But it is unbecoming for me to converse with women. (Is going.)
CLY. Remain, (why dost thou fly?) at least join thy right hand with mine, as a happy commencement of betrothal.
ACH. What sayest thou? I [give] thee my right hand? I should be ashamed of Agamemnon, if I touched what is not lawful for me.
CLY. It is particularly lawful, since you are going to wed my daughter, O son of the sea Goddess, daughter of Nereus.
ACH. What marriage dost thou say? Surprise possesses me, lady, unless, being beside yourself, you speak this new thing.
CLY. This is the nature of all people, to be ashamed when they behold new friends, and are put in mind of nuptials.
ACH. I never wooed thy daughter, lady, nor has any thing been said to me on the subject of marriage by the Atrides.
CLY. What can it be? Do you in turn marvel at my words, for thine are a marvel to me.
ACH. Conjecture; these matters are a common subject for conjecture, for both of us perhaps are deceived in our words.459
CLY. But surely I have suffered terrible things! I am acting as match-maker in regard to a marriage that has no existence. I am ashamed of this.
ACH. Perhaps some one has trifled with both me and thee. But pay no attention to it, and bear it with indifference.
CLY. Farewell, for I can no longer behold thee with uplifted eyes, having appeared as a liar, and suffered unworthy things.
ACH. And this same [farewell] is thine from me. But I will go seek thy husband within this house.
