Tragedies of Euripides (Way)/Iphigeneia at Aulis
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IPHIGENEIA AT AULIS.
ARGUMENT.
When the hosts of Hellas were mustered at Aulis beside the narrow sea, with purpose to sail against Troy, they were hindered from departing thence by the wrath of Artemis, who suffered no favouring wind to blow. Then, when they enquired concerning this, Kalchas the prophet proclaimed that the anger of the Goddess would not be appeased save by the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, eldest daughter of Agamemnon, captain of the host. Now she abode yet with her mother in Mycenæ; but the king wrote a lying letter to her mother, bidding her send her daughter to Aulis, there to be wedded to Achilles. All this did Odysseus devise, but Achilles knew nothing thereof. When the time drew near that she should come, Agamemnon repented him sorely. And herein is told how he sought to undo the evil, and of the maiden's coming, and how Achilles essayed to save her, and how she willingly offered herself for Hellas' sake, and of the marvel that befell at the sacrifice.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
Agamemnon, captain of the host.
Old Servant of Agamemnon.
Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen.
Klytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon.
Iphigeneia, daughter of Agamemnon.
Achilles, son of the sea-goddess Thetis.
Messenger.
Orestes, infant son of Agamemnon, attendants, and guards of the chiefs.
Scene:—In the Greek Camp at Aulis, outside the tent of Agamemnon.
IPHIGENEIA AT AULIS.
Night. A lamp burning in Agamemnon's tent. Old Servant waiting without. Agamemnon appears at entrance of tent.
Agamemnon.
Ancient, before this tent come stand.
Old Servant (coming forward).
I come. What purpose hast thou in hand,
Agamemnon, my king?
Agamemnon.
And wilt thou not hasten?
Old Servant.
I haste.
For the need of mine eld scant sleep provideth—
This eld o'er mine eyelids like vigilant sentry is placed. 5
Agamemnon.
What star in the heaven's height yonder rideth?[1]
Old Servant.
Sirius: nigh to the Pleiads seven
He is sailing yet through the midst of heaven.
Agamemnon.
Sooth, voice there is none, nor slumberous cheep
Of bird, nor whisper of sea; and deep 10
Is the hush of the winds on Euripus that sleep.
Old Servant.
Yet without thy tent, Agamemnon my lord,
Why dost thou pace thus feverishly?
Over Aulis yonder is night's peace poured:
They are hushed which along the walls keep ward.
Come, pass we within.
Agamemnon.
I envy thee,
Ancient, and whoso unperilled may pace
Life's pathway unheeded and unrenowned:
But little I envy the high in place.
Old Servant.
Yet the life of these is glory-crowned. 20
Agamemnon.
Ah, still with the glory is peril bound.
Sweetly ambition tempteth, I trow;
Yet is it neighbour to sore disquiet.
For the Gods' will clasheth with thy will now,
Wrecking thy life: by men that riot
With divers desires, whom ye cannot content,
Now is the web of thy life's work rent.
Old Servant.
Nay, in a king I love not this repining.
Atreus begat thee, Agamemnon, not
Only to bask in days all cloudless-shining: 30
Needs must be joy and sorrow in thy lot.
Mortal thou art: though marred be thy designing,
Still to fulfilment is the Gods' will brought.
Thou the star-glimmer of thy lamp hast litten,
Writest a letter—in thine hand yet grasped,—
Then thou erasest that which thou hast written,
Sealest, and breakest bands as soon as clasped;
Castest to earth the pine-slip, ever streaming 40
Tears from thine eyes; nor lacketh anything
Of madness in thy gestures aimless-seeming.
What is thy grief, thy strange affliction, king?
Come, let me share thy story: to the loyal
Thou wilt reveal it, to the true and tried
Whom, at thy bridal, with the dower royal
Tyndareus sent to wait upon thy bride.
Agamemnon.
Three daughters Leda, child of Thestius, bare,
Phœbê, and Klytemnestra mine own wife, 50
And Helen. Wooing this last, princes came
In fortune foremost in all Hellas-land.
With fearful threatenings breathed they murder, each
Against his rivals, if he won her not.
Then sore perplexed was Tyndareus her sire, 55
How, giving or refusing, he should 'scape
Shipwreck:[2] and this thing came into his mind,
That each to each the suitors should make oath,
And clasp right hands, and with burnt sacrifice
Should pour drink-offerings, and swear to this:— 60
Whose wife soever Tyndareus' child should be,
Him to defend: if any from her home
Stole her and fled, and thrust her lord aside,
To march against him, and to raze his town,
Hellene or alien, with their mailed array. 65
So when they had pledged them thus, and cunningly
Old Tyndareus had by craft outwitted them,
He let his daughter midst the suitors choose
Him unto whom[3] Love's sweet winds wafted her.
She chose—O had she never chosen him!— 70
Menelaus. Then from Phrygia he who judged
To Sparta came, his vesture flower-bestarred
Gleaming with gold, barbaric bravery,
Loved Helen, and was loved, stole her and fled 75
To Ida's steadings, when from home afar
Menelaus was. Through Hellas frenzy-stung
He sped, invoking Tyndareus' ancient oath,
Claiming of all their bond to help the wronged.
Thereat up sprang the Hellenes spear in hand, 80
Donned mail of fight, and to this narrow gorge
Of Aulis came, with galleys and with shields,
And many a horse and chariots many arrayed.
And me for Menelaus' sake they chose
For chief, his brother. Would some other man 85
Might but have won the honour in my stead!
Now when the gathered host together came,
At Aulis did we tarry weather-bound.
Then the seer Kalchas bade in our despair
Slay Iphigeneia, her whom I begat, 90
To Artemis who dwelleth in this land ;
So should we voyage, and so Phrygia smite;
But if we slew her not, it should not be.
I, when I heard this, bade Talthybius
Dismiss the host with proclamation loud, 95
Since I would never brook to slay my child.
Whereat my brother, pleading manifold pleas,
To the horror thrust me. In a tablet's folds
I wrote, and bade therein my wife to send
Her daughter, as to be Achilles' bride, 100
Extolled therein the hero's high repute,
Said, with Achaia's host he would not sail
Except a bride of our house came to Phthia.
Yea, this I counted should persuade my wife,
This framing of feigned spousals for the maid. 105
This none Achaian knoweth with me, save
Kalchas, Odysseus, Menelaus. Now
That wrong I here revoke, and write the truth
Within this scroll, which in the gloom of night
Thou saw'st me, ancient, open and reseal. 110
Up, go, this letter unto Argos bear;
And what the tablet hideth in its folds,
All things here written, will I tell to thee,
For loyal to my wife and house art thou.
Old Servant.
Speak, and declare, that the tale heard
Ring true beside the written word.
Agamemnon.
(Reads).
"This add I to my letter writ before: —
Daughter of Leda, do thou send
Thy daughter not unto the waveless shore
Of Aulis, where the bend 120
Of that sea-pinion of Euboæa lies
Gulf-shapen. Ere we celebrate
Our daughter's marriage-tide solemnities,
A season must we wait."
Old Servant.
Yet, if Achilles lose his plighted spouse,
Will not his anger's tempest swell
Against thee and thy wife? Sure, perilous
Is this!—thy meaning tell.
Agamemnon.
His name, no more, Achilles lends,—hath known
Nought of a bride, nor aught we planned, 130
Nor how to him I have, in word alone,
Given my daughter's hand.
Old Servant.
Fearfully, Agamemnon, was this done,
That thou shouldst bring thy child, O King,
Hither, named bride unto the Goddess' son,
Yet a burnt-offering!
Agamemnon.
Woe! I was all distraught:
I am reeling ruin-ward!
Speed thy foot, ancient, slacking nought
For eld.
Old Servant.
I speed, my lord. 140
Agamemnon.
Sit thee not down where the forest-founts leap,
Neither be bound by the spell of sleep.
Old Servant.
Breathe not such doubt abhorred!
Agamemnon.
When thou comest where ways part, keenly then
Watch, lest a chariot escape thy ken,
Whose rolling wheels peradventure may bear
My daughter hitherward, even to where
Be the ships of the Danaan men.
For, if thou light on her escort-train,
Thou turn them aback, grasp, shake the rein: 150
To the halls Cyclopian speed them again.
Old Servant.
Yea, this will I do.
Agamemnon.
From the gates forth go—[4]
Old Servant.
Yet how shall thy wife and thy daughter know
My faith herein, that the thing is so?
Agamemnon.
Keep thou this seal, whose impress lies
On the letter thou bearest. Away!—the skies
Already are grey, and they kindle afar
With the dawn's first flush, and the Sun-god's car.
Now help thou my strait!
[Exit Old Servant.
No man to the end is fortunate, 160
Happy is none:
[Exit.
Enter Chorus.
Chorus.
(Str. 1)
I have come to the Aulian sea-gulf's verge,
To her gleaming sands,
I have voyaged Euripus' rushing surge
From the city that stands
Queen of the Sea-gate, Chalkis mine,
On whose bosom-fold
Arethusa gleameth, the fountain divine,—
Have come to behold 170
The Achaian array, and the heroes' oars
That the pine-keels speed
Of a thousand galleys to Troyland's shores,
Whom the two kings lead,—
Who with prince Menelaus the golden-haired,
As our own lords say,
And with King Agamemnon the high-born, fared
On the vengeance-way,
On the quest of her whom the herdman drew
From beside the river 180
Of whispering reeds, his sin-wage due,—
Aphrodite the giver,—
Promised, when into the fountain down
Spray-veiled she descended,[5]
When with Hera and Pallas for beauty's crown
The Cyprian contended.
(Ant. 1)
And through Artemis' grove of sacrifice
Hasting I came,
While swift in my cheeks did the crimson rise
Of my maiden shame:
For to look on the shields, on the tents agleam 190
With arms, was I fain,
And on thronging team upon chariot team.
There marked I twain,
The Oilid Aias and Telamon's child,
Salamis' pride.
By the shifting maze of the draughts beguiled
Sat side by side
Protesilaus and he that was sprung
Of Poseidon's seed,
Palamedes: and there, by the strong arm flung
Of Diomede, 200
Did the discus leap, and he joyed therein;
And hard beside him
Was Meriones of the War-god's kin—
Men wondering eyed him.
And Laertes' son from the isle-hills far
Through the sea-haze gleaming;
And Nireus, of all that host of war
The goodliest-seeming.
(Mesode)
There was Achilles, whose feet are as winds for the storm-rush unreined:
Him I beheld who of Thetis was born, who of Cheiron was trained; 210
Clad in his armour he raced, over sand, over shingle he strained,
Matching in contest of swiftness his feet with a chariot of four,
Rounding the sweep of the course for the victory:— rang evermore
Shouts from Pherêtid Eumelus, and aye with the goad that he bore
Smote he his horses most goodly—I saw them, saw gold-glitter deck 220
Richly their bits; and the midmost, the car-yoke who bore on their neck,
Dappled were they, with a hair here and there like a snow-smitten fleck.
They that in traces without round the perilous turning-post swept,
Bays were they, spotted their fetlocks: Peleides beside them on-leapt:
Sheathed in his harness, unflagging by car-rail and axle he kept. 230
(Str. 2)
And I came where the host of the war-ships lies,—
A marvel past telling,—
To fill with the vision my maiden eyes
And my heart joy-swelling.
And there, on the rightward wing arrayed,
Was Phlia's Myrmidon battle-aid,
Fifty galleys swift for the war,
With the ranks of oars by their bulwarks swayed,
And high on their sterns in effigies golden
The Nereid Goddesses gleamed afar, 240
The sign by Achilles' host upholden.
(Ant. 2)
Hard by, keels equal by tale unto these
Did the Argives gather;
With Talaüs' fosterling passed they the seas,
Mekisteus his father,—
And with Sthenelus, Kapaneus' son, at his side.
And there did the galleys of Attica ride
With the scion of Theseus, the next to the left,—
Ships threescore,—and the peerless pride
Of their blazonry was a winged car, bearing 250
Pallas, with horses of hooves uncleft,
A blessed sign unto folk sea-faring.
(Str. 3)
Bœotia's barks sea-plashing
Fifty there lay:
I marked their ensigns flashing.
Kadmus had they
Whose Golden Dragon shone
On each stern's garnison;
And Leïtus Earth's son
Led their array. 260
Galleys from Phocis came;
In Locrian barks, the same
By tale, went Thronium's fame
'Neath Aias' sway.
(Ant. 3)
Atreides' Titan-palace,
Mycenae, sent
Thronged decks of five-score galleys:
Adrastus[6] went
As friend with friend, to take
Her, who the home-bonds brake 270
For alien gallant's sake,
For chastisement.
There, ships of Pylos' king,
Gerenian Nestor, bring
The weird bull-blazoning
That Alpheus lent.
(Epode)
Gouneus, King of Ainian men,
Marshalled galleys two and ten:
Hard thereby the bulwarks tower
Whom the host Epeians name:
Eurytus to lead them came;
Led the Taphians argent-oared
Therewithal, which owned for lord
Phyleus' scion Meges, who
From the Echinad Isles, whereto
No man sails, his war-host drew.
Aias, Salamis' fosterling,
Held in touch his rightward wing
With their left who nearest lay:290
Helm-obeying keels were they
Twelve, which, marshalled uttermost,
Closed the line that fringed the coast,
As I heard, and now might mark.
Whoso with barbaric bark
Meets him, from the grapple stern
Never home shall he return.
Lo, the goodly sea-array
That mine eyes have seen to-day!
Erst the great war-muster's story300
300
Through mine home rang: now its glory
In mine heart shall live for aye.
Enter Old Servant, grasping at a letter which Menelaus
has snatched from him.
Old Servant.
Menelaus, this is outrage!—shame on thee!
Menelaus.
Old Servant.
A proud reproach thou castest upon me.
Menelaus.
If thou o'erstep thy duty, thou shalt rue.
Old Servant.
'Tis not for thee to unseal the scroll I bare.
Menelaus.
Nor yet for thee to bring to all Greeks bane.
Old Servant.
With others argue that; but this restore.
Menelaus.
I will not yield it up!
Old Servant.
Nor I let go!
Menelaus.
Soon then my staff shall dash thine head with blood.
Old Servant.
Glorious it were in my lord's cause to die.
Menelaus.
Unhand!— a slave, thou art overfull of words.
Old Servant.
Ho, master! outrage!— lo, this man hath snatched
Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/319 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/320 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/321 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/322 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/323 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/324 Never I will slay my children, that in justice's despite
Thine avenging on a wife most wanton so may speed aright,
While I waste through nights of weeping, pine through days of misery
For my lawless, godless dealing with the children born to me!
Lo, mine answer, brief and clear, and easy to be understood.400
If thou turn from wisdom, yet shall mine house follow after good.
Chorus.
This controverteth that thou saidst before;
Yet good is thy resolve, to spare thy child.
Menelaus.
Alas for wretched me! Friends have I none!
Agamemnon.
Yea — if thou seek not to destroy thy friends.405
Menelaus.
How wilt thou prove thyself our father's son?
Agamemnon.
By brotherhood in wisdom, not in folly.
Menelaus.
Friends ought to feel friends' sorrow as their own.
Agamemnon.
Menelaus.
Wilt thou not then with Greece this travail share? 410
Agamemnon.
Hellas, like thee, hath God's stroke driven mad.
Menelaus.
Vaunt then thy sceptre, traitor to thy brother! I will betake me unto other means And other friends. (Enter Messenger in haste.)
Messenger.
O King of Hellas' host,
Agamemnon, lo, thy child I bring to thee,
Named of thee Iphigeneia in thine halls.
Her mother Klytemnestra comes with her,
Orestes, too, the babe, to glad thine eyes
Who from thine home long time hast sojourned far.
But, after weary journeying, at a spring
Fair-flowing now the women bathe their feet,
They and their steeds-for midst the meadow-grass
We turned them loose, that they might browse therein.
I, to prepare thee, their forerunner come.
For the host knoweth it, so swiftly spread
The rumour of the coming of thy child.
And to the sight runs all the multitude
To see thy child; for folk in high estate
Famed and observed of all observers are.
"A bridal is it?"-they ask-"or what is toward? 430
Or hath the King, of yearning for his child,
Sent for his daughter?" Others might'st thou hear"To Artemis, to Aulis' Queen, they pay
The maiden's spousal-rites! The bridegroom who?"
Up then, prepare the maunds for sacrifice; 435
Garland your heads:— thou too, prince Menelaus,
Strike up the bridal hymn, and through the tents
Let the flute ring, with sound of dancing feet;
For gladsome dawns this day upon the maid.
Agamemnon.
'Tis well — I thank thee: pass thou now within.440
Well shall the rest speed as Fate marcheth on.
[Exlt Messenger.
Woe's me! What can I say, or where begin?
Into what bonds of doom have I been cast!
Me Fortune hath outwitted: she hath proved
Too cunning far for all my stratagems! 445
Lo now, what vantage cleaves to lowly birth!
For such may lightly ease their hearts with tears,
And tell out all their grief. The same pangs touch
The high-born; but our life is tyrannized
By dignity: we are the people's thralls. 450
So is it with me, for I shame to weep,
And yet shame not to weep, wretch that I am,
Who am fallen into deepest misery!
Lo now, what shall I say unto my wife, [455
Or how receive her?— with what countenance meet?
She hath undone me, coming midst mine ills
Unbidden! Yet 'twas reason she should come
With her own child, to render to the bride
Love's service—where I shall be villain found!
And the unhappy maid--why name her maid?
Hades meseems shall take her soon for bride.
O me, the pity of it! I hear her pray-
"Ah father, wilt thou slay me! Now such bridal
Mayst thou too find, and all whom thou dost love!"
Orestes at her side shall wail the grief
Unmeaning, deep with meaning, of the babe.
Alas, how Priam's son hath ruined me,
Paris, whose sin with Helen wrought all this!
Chorus.
I also-far as alien woman may Mourn for the griefs of princes-pity thee.
Menelaus.
Brother, vouchsafe to me to grasp thine hand.
Agamemnon.
I give it. Thine the triumph, mine the pang.
Menelaus.
I swear by Pelops, of my sire and thine
Named father, and by Atreus our own sire,
That from mine heart's core I will speak to thee,
To serve no end, but all mine inmost thought.
I, seeing how thine eyes are streaming tears,
Pity thee, and the answering tear I shed;
And from the words erst uttered I draw back,
"Thy foe no more: lo, in thy place I stand.
And I exhort thee, neither slay thy child,
Nor choose my good for thine. Unjust it were
That thou shouldst groan, and all my cup be sweet,
That thy seed die, and mine behold the light.
For, what would I? Can I not find a bride 485
Peerless elsewhere, if I for marriage yearn?
How, should I lose—whom least I ought to lose —
A brother, win a Helen, bad for good?
Mad was I and raw-witted, till I viewed
Things near, and saw what slaying children means.
Yea also, pity for the hapless maid [490
Doomed to be slaughtered for my bridal's sake,
Stole o'er me, on our kinship when I thought.
For what with Helen hath thy child to do?
From Aulis let the host disbanded go! 495
But thou forbear to drown thine eyes with tears,
O brother mine, nor challenge me to weep.
If thou hast part in oracles touching her,
No part be mine !— my share I yield to thee.
"Swift change is here," thou'lt say," from those grim words!" 500
Nay, but most meet: for love of him who sprang
From the same womb, I change. No knave's wont this,
Ever to cleave unto the better part.
Chorus.
Right noble speech, and worthy Tantalus,
Zeus' son! Thou shamest not thine ancestors.500
Agamemnon.
Thanks, Menelaus, that beyond all hope
Thou hast spoken rightly, worthily of thee.
Strife betwixt brethren for a woman's sake
May rise, or of ambition; but I loathe
Kinship that bringeth bitterness to both. 515
Nay, but we are tangled in the net of fate!
We needs must work the murder of my child.
Menelaus.
How?—who shall force thee to destroy thine own?
Agamemnon.
The whole array of the Achaian host.
Menelaus.
Never, if thou to Argos send her back. 515
Agamemnon.
This might I secretly — that cannot I.
Menelaus.
What? Fear not thou the rabble overmuch.
Agamemnon.
Kalchas will tell the host the oracles.
Menelaus.
Not if he first have died — this were not hard.
Agamemnon.
The whole seer-tribe is one ambitious curse!520
Menelaus.
Agamemnon.
The fear that steals o'er me — is this not thine?
Menelaus.
If thou tell not, how should I understand?
Agamemnon.
All this the seed of Sisyphus doth know.
Menelaus.
Odysseus cannot injure thee and me. 525
Agamemnon.
He is aye shifty— a mob-partizan.
Menelaus.
Thrall to ambition is he — perilous bane.
Agamemnon.
Will he not rise, think'st thou, in the Argive midst
And tell the oracles that Kalchas spake,
And how I promised Artemis her victim, 530
And now play false? And, rousing so the host,
Shall bid them slay thee, me, and sacrifice
The maiden? Though to Argos I escape,
Yet will they come, destroy it, to the ground
Raze it with all its walls Cyclopian. 535
Even this is mine affliction, woe is me!
How by the Gods I am whelmed amidst despair!
Take heed for one thing, brother, through the host
Passing, that Klytemnestra hear this not,
Till I to Hades shall have sealed my child, 540
That mine affliction be with fewest tears.
And, stranger damsels, hold your peace hereof.
[Exit Menelaus.
Chorus.
(Str.)
O well for them for whom the Queen
Of Love shall temper passion's fire,
And bring fruition of desire
With gentle pace and sober mien,
Whose souls are seas at rest, are spared
The frenzy-thrill, the fever-pain,
The spells that charm the arrows twain,
The shafts of Love the golden-haired,
Whereof one flieth tipt with bliss, 550
And one with ruin of unrest:—
O Queen of Beauty, from my breast,
My bridal bower, avert thou this!
Let love's sweet spells in measure meet
Rest on me; pure desires be mine:
May Aphrodite's dayspring shine
On me — avaunt her midnoon heat!
(Ant.)
The hearts of men be diverse-wrought,
Diverse their lives: but, ever clear
Through all, true goodness shall appear; 560
And each high lesson throughly taught
Lends wings to soar to virtue's heaven:
For in self-reverence wisdom is;
And to discern the right — to this
Fadeless renown is shed thereby
On life by Fame. Ah, glorious
The quest of virtue is!— for us
The cloistered virtue, chastity:
But, for the man — his inborn grace570
Of law and order maketh great,
By service of her sons, the state:
His virtue works by thousand ways.
(Epode.)
Thou earnest, Paris, back to where,
Mid Ida's heifers snowy fair,
A neatherd, thou didst pipe such strain
That old Olympus' spirit there
Awoke again.
Full-uddered kine in dreamy peace
Browsed, when the summons came to thee
To judge that Goddess-rivalry 580580
Whose issue sped thee unto Greece,
Before the ivory palaces
To stand, to see in Helen's cyne
That burned on thine, the lovelight shine,
To thrill with Eros' ecstasies.
For which cause strife is leading all
Hellas, with ships, with spears, to fall
Upon Troy's tower-coronal.
Lo, lo, the great ones of the earth,
How blest they be! 590
Iphigeneia, proud in birth
From princes, see;
Of Tyndareus—O stately name Of mighty sires! O crowned with fame Their destiny! They that be lifted high in wealth, in might, Are even as Gods in meaner mortals' sight. Enter, riding in a chariot, Klytemnestra and Iphigeneia, with attendants. Stand we, Chalkis' daughters, near, Stretching hands of kindly aid: So unstumbling to the ground 600 Down the Queen shall step, nor fear Shall the princess know, upstayed, Agamemnon's child renowned. Strangers we, no tumult here Make we: entrance undismayed Be of Argos' strangers found.
Klytemnestra.
An omen of good fortune count I this, Thy kindness and fair greeting of thy speech. Good hope have I that I am come to lead The bride to happy bridal. From the car 610 Take ye the dower that for the maid I bring, And bear to the pavilion with good heed. And thou, my daughter, from the horse-wain step, Daintily setting down thy tender feet; And ye receive her, damsels, in your arms, 615 And from the chariot help her safely forth. And let one lend to me a propping hand That I may leave the wain-seat gracefully. Some, pray you, stand before the horses' yoke, or timorous is the horse's restive eye.1 620 And this child take ye, Agamemnon's boy, Orestes, who is yet a wordless babe. How ?— lulled to sleep, child, by the swaying car? Wake for thy sister's bridal smilingly; For thine heroic strain shall get for kin 625 A hero, even the Nereid's godlike child. Hither, my daughter, seat thee at my side: Hard by thy mother, Iphigeneia, take Thy place, and to these strangers show my bliss. Lo, thy beloved father!— welcome him. 630
Enter Agamemnon.
Iphigeneia (running to his arms).
O mother, I outrun thee — be not wroth — And heart to heart I clasp my father close.
Klytemnestra.
O most of me revered, Agamemnon King, We come, obedient unto thy behest.
Iphigeneia.
Fain am I, father, on thy breast to fall, 635 After so long! Though others I outrun, — For O, I yearn for thy face !— be not wroth.
Klytemnestra.
Child, this thou mayst: yea, ever, most of all
The children I have borne, thou lov'st thy sire. Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/336 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/337 Iphigeneia.
Perish their wars, and Menelaus' wrongs!
Agamemnon.
My ruin shall be others' ruin first.
Iphigeneia.
Long absence thine hath been in Aulis' gulf. 660
Agamemnon.
Still hindered is the army's speeding forth.
Iphigeneia.
Where dwell the Phrygians, father, as men say?
Agamemnon.
Where—O that Priamid Paris ne'er had dwelt!
Iphigeneia.
Far dost thou voyage, father, leaving me.
Agamemnon.
Thou art in like case with thy father, child. 665
Iphigeneia.
(Sighs) Wouldit were meet that I might voyage with thee!
Agamemnon.
Thou too must voyage where thou shalt think on me.
Iphigeneia.
Agamemnon.
Alone, from mother severed and from sire.
Iphigeneia.
How, hast thou found me, father, a new home? 670
Agamemnon.
Enough! It fits not maidens know such things.
Iphigeneia.
Speed back from Phrygia, father, victor there.
Agamemnon.
A sacrifice must I first offer here.
Iphigeneia.
Yea, thou must reverence heaven with holy rites.
Agamemnon.
This thou shalt see — shalt by the laver stand. 675
Iphigeneia.
Father, shall I lead dances round the altar?
Agamemnon.
O happier thou in ignorance than I!
Pass thou within where none but maids shall see.
One sad kiss first, one clasp of thy right hand,
Ere thy long sojourn from thy father far. 680
O bosom, O ye cheeks, O golden hair!
On you what burden Phrygia's Town hath laid
And Helen! But no more — the sudden flood
Bursts o'er me from mine eyes as I touch thee!
Pass into the pavilion. (Exit Iph.) Pardon me, 685
O Leda's child, if well-nigh breaks my heart
To yield to Achilles' hand my daughter, mine.
Such partings make for bliss, but none the less
They wring the heart, when fathers to strange homes
Yield children for whose sake they have laboured long.
[690
Klytemnestra.
I am not so dull; be sure that I no less
Shall feel this pang— wherefore I chide thee not—
When I with marriage-hymns lead forth the maid.
But custom joined with time shall deaden pain.
His name, to whom thou hast betrothed my child, 695
I know; his land, his lineage, would I learn.
Agamemnon.
The Nymph Aegina was Asopus' child:—
Klytemnestra.
And did a mortal wed her, or a God?
Agamemnon.
Zeus. Aiakus he begat, Oenone's lord.
Klytemnestra.
Which son of Aiakus possessed his house? 700
Agamemnon.
Peleus; and Peleus wedded Nereus' child.
Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/341 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/342 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/343 Agamemnon.
I will provide such bridal torch as fits.
Klytemnestra.
All custom outraged!— nought is that to thee!
Agamemnon.
To mingle with armed hosts beseems not thee, — 735
Klytemnestra.
Beseems that mother give away her child!
Agamemnon.
Nor that those maids at home be left alone.
Klytemnestra.
They in safe maiden-bowers be warded well.
Agamemnon.
Nay, hear me—
Klytemnestra.
No! by the Argives' Goddess-queen! Go, order things without: within doors I 740 Will order what is fitting for a bride. [Exit.
Agamemnon.
Ah me, vain mine essay! My hope is foiled,
Who out of sight was fain to send my wife.
With subtle schemes against my best-beloved
I weave plots, yet am baffled everywhere. 745
But none the less with Kalchas will I go, Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/345 He shall make for her maids a lamenting,
And the queen of Priam shall moan, 780
And the daughter of Zeus shall know
In that day, and the flood shall flow
Of Helen's tears of repenting,
Who hath left her husband lone.
Over me, over mine, may there loom—
No, not in the third generation —
Never such shadow of doom
As shall haunt each gold-decked bride
Of the Lydian, the Phrygian, nation,
As, communing their looms beside,
They shall murmur fearful-eyed,
"Ah, who on the braids of my shining hair 790
Clenching his grip till my tears down shower,
Me from my perishing country shall tear
As one plucketh a flower?—
For thy sake, child of the swan arch-necked,
If credence-worthy the story be
That Leda bare to a winged bird thee,
When Zeus with its plumes had his changed form decked,
Or whether in scrolls of minstrelsy
Such tales unto mortals hath Fable brought,
Told out of season, and all for nought"
Enter Achilles.
Achilles.
Where is Achaia's battle-chief hereby?
What henchman will bear word that Peleus' son,
Achilles, at his gates is seeking him?
For some there are of us who, yet unwed, 805
Have left their dwellings wardenless, and here
Sit idle on the shore, some that have wives
And children: such strange longing for this war
Hath upon Hellas fallen by heaven's will.
Mine own, my righteous grievance, must I speak,—
Let whoso will beside, his own cause plead:—810
Pharsalia's land and Peleus have I left,
And through these light airs of Euripus wait,
Checking my Myrmidons: yet urgent aye
They cry, "Why dally, Achilles,? How long time815
Yet must the Troyward-bound array wait on?
Act,1 if thou canst; else lead thy war-host home,
Waiting no more on Atreus' son's delays.
Enter Klytemnestra.
Klytemnestra.
Child of the Nereid Goddess, from within
Thy voice I heard, and come without the tent.815
Achilles.
Great Queen of Shamefastness,[8] what lady here Behold I crowned with peerless loveliness?
Klytemnestra.
No marvel thou shouldst know me not, unseen
Ere this:— thy shrinking modesty I praise.
Achilles.
[825
Who art thou? Why cam'st thou to Achaia's host—
A woman unto men with bucklers fenced?
Klytemnestra.
I am Leda's daughter; Klytemnestra named
Am I: King Agamemnon is my lord.
Achilles.
Well hast thou said in brief what most imports:—
Yet shame were this, that I with women talk! 830
Klytemnestra.
Stay — wherefore flee? Nay, give me thy right hand
To clasp, the prelude to espousals blest.
Achilles.
How say'st?— mine hand in thine? Ashamed were I
Before thy lord of such unsanctioned touch.
Klytemnestra.
'Tis wholly sanctioned, since thou art to wed 835
My child, O son of the Lady of the Sea.
Achilles.
What wedding this ?— I know not what to say —
Except of crazed wits this strange utterance come.
Klytemnestra.
'Tis all men's nature so in shame to shrink
Before new kin and talk of spousal-rites. 840
Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/349 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/350 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/351 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/352 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/353 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/354 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/355 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/356 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/357 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/358 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/359 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/360 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/361 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/362 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/363 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/364 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/365 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/366 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/367 Oh impious thought! What child shall meet thy look,
If thou have given up one of them to death?
Hast ta'en account of this? Or is it thine
Only to flaunt a sceptre, lead a host? 1195
This righteous proffer shouldest thou have made —
"Will ye, Achaians, sail to Phrygia-land?
E'en then cast lots whose daughter needs must die."
This had been fair — not that thou choose thine own
The Danaans' victim, rather than that he 1200
Whose quarrel this is, Menelaus, slay
Hermione for her mother. Now must I,
The loyal wife, be of my child bereft,
While she, the harlot, brings her daughter home
To dwell in Sparta mid prosperity! 1205
Herein if I plead ill, thou answer me:
But if my words ring true, ah, slay not thou1
Thy child and mine, and so shalt thou be wise.
Chorus.
Heed her; for good it is thou join to save Thy child, Agamemnon: none shall gainsay this. 1210
Iphigeneia.
Had I the tongue of Orpheus, O my sire, To charm with song the rocks to follow me, And witch with eloquence whomsoe'er I would, I had essayed it. Now — mine only cunning — Tears will I bring, for this is all I can. 1215 And suppliant will I twine about thy knees
My body, which this mother bare to thee Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/369 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/370 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/371 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/372 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/373 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/374 Klytemnestra.
Ah, thy words with evil presage ring!
Achilles.
"Slain she must be!" cry they.
Klytemnestra.
Is there none whose words with theirs contend?
Achilles.
Yea, myself in tumult's peril was, —
Klytemnestra.
What peril, stranger friend?
Achilles.
Even to be stoned with stones.
Klytemnestra.
Since thou hadst fain my daughter spared? 1350
Achilles.
Even so.
Klytemnestra.
But lay a hand on thee! And who such deed had dared?
Achilles.
All the Hellenes.
Klytemnestra.
Achilles.
First were these to turn against me, —
Klytemnestra.
Oh my daughter, we are lost!
Achilles.
Taunted me as thrall to marriage.
Klytemnestra.
And what answer didst thou frame?
Achilles.
" Slay my destined bride," I said, " ye shall not," — 1355
Klytemnestra.
Yea, a righteous claim.
Achilles.
"Whom her father promised!"
Klytemnestra.
Yea, to Argos sent withal to bring.
Achilles.
Yet was I outclamoured.
Klytemnestra.
Ah, the rabble is a baneful thing!
Achilles.
Klytemnestra.
Singly fight against a multitude?
Achilles.
Seest thou these who bear mine armour?:
Klytemnestra.
Blessings on thy dauntless mood!
Achilles.
Yea, I shall be blest.
Klytemnestra.
She shall not now be on the altar laid? 1360
Achilles.
Not while I am living.
Klytemnestra.
How, will any come to seize the maid?
Achilles.
Thousands—and Odysseus leading—
Klytemnestra.
He, the seed of Sisyphus?
Achilles.
Even he.
Klytemnestra.
Self-bidden, or did all the host appoint it thus? Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/378 uselessly: 'twere hard for us inevitable doom to brave. 1370
Meet it is we thank the stranger-hero for his will to save.
Yet, that he be not reproached of Hellas' host must we beware;
So should ruin seize him, and ourselves in no wise better fare.
Hear the thing that flashed upon me, mother, as I thought hereon.
Lo, resolved I am to die; and fain am I that this be done 1375
Gloriously — that I thrust ignoble craven thoughts away.
Prithee, mother, this consider with me: mark how well I say.
Unto me all mighty Hellas looks: I only can bestow
Boons upon her — sailing of her galleys, Phrygia's over- throw,
Safety for her daughters from barbarians in the days to come, 1380
That the ravisher no more may snatch them from a happy home,
When the penalty is paid for Paris' victim, Helen'sshame.
All this great deliverance I in death shall compass, and my name,
As of one who gave to Hellas freedom, shall be blessing-crowned.
Must I live, that clutching life with desperate hand I should be found? 1385
Iphigeneia.
Zeus' Daughter's altar is my sepulchre.1445
Klytemnestra.
Child, I will do thy bidding. Thou say'st well.
Iphigeneia.
As one blest, benefactor of our Greece.
Klytemnestra.
What message to thy sisters shall I bear?
Iphigeneia.
Them too array thou not in sable stole.
Klytemnestra.
Shall I bear them some word of love from thee? 1450
Iphigeneia.
Only "Farewell!" Orestes rear to man.
Klytemnestra.
Embrace him: for the last time look on him.
Iphigeneia (to Orestes).
Dearest, thou gav'st us all the help thou couldst!
Klytemnestra.
Can I do aught at home to pleasure thee?
Iphigeneia.
My father and thine husband hate not thou. 1455
Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/384 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/385 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/386 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/387 Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/388 Proclaiming silence and a reverent hush.And the seer Kalchas in a golden maund 1565
Laid down a keen knife which his hand had drawn
Out of its sheath, then crowned the maiden's head.
Then Peleus' son took maund and lustral bowl,
And round the altar of the Goddess ran,
And cried, "Zeus' Daughter, slayer of wild beasts, 1570
Whose wheels of light roll splendours through the gloom,
Accept this offering which we render thee,
Achaia's host, with Agamemnon King,
The unsullied blood from a fair maiden's neck;
And grant the galleys voyaging un vexed;1575
And grant our spears may spoil the towers of Troy."
With bowed heads Atreus' sons and all the host
Stood. The priest took the knife and spake the prayer,
And scanned her throat for fittest place to strike.
Then through my soul exceeding anguish thrilled: 1580
Mine head drooped:— lo, a sudden miracle!
For each man plainly heard the blow strike home;
But the maid — none knew whither she had vanished.
Loud cried the priest: all echoed back the cry,
Seeing a portent by some God sent down 1585
Unlooked-for, past belief, albeit seen.
For gasping on the ground there lay a hind
Most huge to see, and passing fair to view,
With whose blood all the Goddess' altar ran.
Then Kalchas cried — how gladly ye may guess:—1590
"O chieftains of this leagued Achaian host,
See ye this victim by the Goddess laid
Before her altar, even a mountain hind?
This holds she more acceptable than the maid,
That she stain not with noble blood her altar.
Gladly she hath accepted this, and grants
To us fair voyage and onset upon Troy.
Be of good cheer then every mariner!
Hence to the galleys; for this day must we
Fleet out of Aulis' hollow bays, and cross 1600
The Aegean surge." So when the victim all
Was burnt to ashes in the Fire-god's flame,
Meet prayer he offered for the host's return.
Me Agamemnon sped to tell thee this,
And say what heaven-sent fortune fair he hath, 1605
What deathless fame through Hellas he hath won.
Lo, I was there, and speak as one who saw.
Doubtless thy child was wafted to the Gods.
Forbear grief, cease from wrath against thy lord.
Of mortals unforeseen the Gods' ways are, 1610
And whom they love they save: for this same day
Dying and living hath beheld thy child.
Chorus.
How glad I hear the messenger's report!
He saith thy child bides living midst the Gods.
Klytemnestra.
O daughter, of what God stolen art thou? 1615
How shall I bid farewell to thee?— how
Know this for aught but a sweet lie, spoken
To heal the heart that for thee is broken?
Chorus.
Lo there King Agamemnon draweth nigh
Bearing the selfsame tale to tell to thee. 1620
Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/391
- ↑ Agamemnon, absorbed in his occupation within, has taken no note of the lapse of time. Now he suddenly recognises that the element of time is all-important, both that his messenger may leave the camp unperceived, and that the latter may be in time to stop Iphigeneia at a distance from Aulis. Hence (the stars being the night-clocks of the ancients) his question betrays his fear—"Is there yet time?" The servant's answer implies that the dawn is yet distant; and the king is further reassured as he observes that the first chirp of the waking bird has not broken the stillness, and that the winds, which probably blew adversely all day, and fell to a dead calm at night, gave no token of stirring. It has been objected that Sirius is not "near the Pleiads," since, though he is indeed in the next constellation but one to theirs, there is a considerable space of sky between them. But, when we remember that the stars were to the ancients the figures on the dial of the night, we observe that Sirius is the figure next before the Pleiads. He touches the western horizon about half an hour before them.
- ↑ ἄθραυστα (England).
- ↑ ὅποι (England).
- ↑ Adopting Nauck's arrangement and reading for 11. 149—152.
- ↑ See Andromache, 284—5.
- ↑ There is nowhere else any mention of an Adrastus in this connection. Hence others read ?de?f??, "his brother," others ?t?est??, "the dauntless."
- ↑ Reading (Greek characters) (Nauck) for (Greek characters) "For nothing good."
- ↑ This invocation of the Goddess of Modesty (as though to protect him), reminds us that in Euripides' time the same reserve towards strangers, especially those of the opposite sex, was expected from a well-brought-up Greek youth, that we expect from girls.