Euripides Iphigenia in Aulis 288

Agamemnon

Ah! what is this uproar at the gates, this indecent brawling?

Menelaus

My tale, not his, has the better right to be spoken.

Agamemnon

You, Menelaus! what quarrel do you have with this man, why are you dragging him here? Exit ATTENDANT.

Menelaus

Look me in the face! May that be the prelude to my story.

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Agamemnon

Shall I, the son of Atreus, close my eyes from fear? ¹

Menelaus

Do you see this tablet, the bearer of a shameful message?

Agamemnon

I see it, yes; now, you first of all surrender it.

Menelaus

No, not till I have shown its contents to all the army.

Agamemnon

What! have you broken the seal and know already what you should never have known?

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Menelaus

Yes, I opened it and know to your sorrow the secret machinations of your heart.

Agamemnon

Where did you get it? O gods! what shameless heart you have!

Menelaus

I was awaiting your daughter’s arrival at the camp in Argos .

Agamemnon

What right have you to watch my doings? is not this a proof of shamelessness?

Menelaus

My wish to do it gave the spur, for I am no slave to you.

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Agamemnon

Infamous! Am I not to be allowed the management of my own house?

Menelaus

No, for you think crooked thoughts, one thing now, another formerly, and something different presently.

Agamemnon

Most exquisite refining on evil themes! ² A hateful thing the tongue of cleverness!

Menelaus

Yes, but a mind unstable is an unjust possession, disloyal to friends.

Now I am anxious to test you, and do not seek from rage to turn aside from the truth, nor will I on my part overstrain ³ the case. Do you remember when you were all eagerness to captain the Danaids against Troy , making a pretence of declining, though eager for it in your heart; how humble you were then, taking each man by the hand

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and keeping open doors for every fellow-townsman who cared to enter, affording each in turn chance to speak with you, even though some did not wish it, seeking by these methods to purchase popularity from all bidders? Then when you had secured the command, there came a change over your manners; you were no longer so cordial as before to former friends,

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but hard of access, seldom to be found at home. But the man of real worth ought not to change his manners in the hour of prosperity, but should then show himself most staunch to friends, when his own good fortune can help them most effectually.

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This was the first cause I had to reprove you, for it was here I first discovered your villainy;

but afterwards, when you came ⁴ to Aulis with all the gathered hosts of Hellas , you were of no account; no! the want of a favorable breeze filled you with consternation at the chance dealt out by the gods. ⁵ Then the Danaids began demanding that you should send the fleet away instead of vainly toiling on at Aulis ; what dismay and confusion was then depicted in your looks, to think that you, with a thousand

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ships at your command, had not occupied the plains of Priam with your armies! And you would ask my counsel, What am I to do? What scheme can I devise, where find one?—to save yourself being stripped of your command and losing your fair fame. Next when Calchas bade you offer your daughter in sacrifice to Artemis, declaring that the Danaids should then sail, you were overjoyed, ⁶

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and gladly undertook to offer the girl, and of your own accord—never allege compulsion—you are sending word to your wife to despatch your daughter here on pretence of wedding Achilles. And after all you turn round and have been caught casting your letter to this effect: I will no longer be my daughter’s murderer. Exactly so! ⁷

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This is the same air that heard you say it. ⁸ Countless others have done the same; they make an effort while in power, and then retire dishonorably, sometimes owing to the senselessness of the citizens, sometimes deservedly, because they are too feeble of themselves to maintain their watch upon the state.

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For my part, I am more sorry for our unhappy Hellas , whose purpose was to read these worthless foreigners a lesson, while now she will let them escape and mock her, thanks to you and your daughter. May I never appoint a man to rule my country or lead its warriors because of his courage kinship! ⁹ Sense is what the general must have;

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since any man, with ordinary intelligence, can govern a state. ¹⁰

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Chorus Leader

For brothers to come to words and blows, whenever they disagree, is terrible.

Agamemnon

I wish to rebuke you in turn, ¹¹ briefly, not lifting my eyes too high shamelessly, but in more sober fashion,

as a brother; for it is a good man’s way to be considerate. Tell me, why this burst of fury, these bloodshot eyes? who wrongs you? what is it you want? are you longing to have a virtuous wife? WeIl , I cannot supply you; for she, whom you once had, was ill-controlled by you. Am I then, a man who never went astray, to suffer for your sins?

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or is it my popularity that galls you? No! it is the longing you have to keep a beautiful woman in your embrace, casting reason and honor to the winds. A bad man’s pleasures are like himself. Am I mad, if I change to wiser counsels, after previously deciding amiss? Yours is the madness rather in wishing to recover

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a wicked wife, once you had lost her—a stroke of heaven-sent luck. Those foolish suitors swore that oath to Tyndareus in their longing to wed; but Hope was the goddess that led them on, ¹² I think, and she it was that brought it about rather than you and your strength. So take the field with them; they are ready for it ¹³ in the folly of their hearts; for the deity is not without insight, but is able to discern

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where oaths have been wrongly pledged or forcibly extorted. I will not slay my children, nor ¹⁴ shall your interests be prospered by justice in your vengeance for a worthless wife, while I am left wasting, night and day, in sorrow for what I did to one of my own flesh and blood, contrary to all law and justice.

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Here is your answer shortly given, clear and easy to understand; and if you will not come to your senses, I shall do the best for myself.

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Chorus Leader

This differs from your previous declaration, but there is good in it, your child’s reprieve.

Menelaus

Ah me, how sad my lot! I have no friends then after all.

Agamemnon

Friends you have, if you do not seek their destruction.

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Menelaus

Where will you find any proof that you are sprung from the same father as I?

Agamemnon

It is your moderation, not your madness, that I share by nature.

Menelaus

Friends should sympathize with friends in sorrow.

Agamemnon

Claim my help by kindly service, not by paining me.

Menelaus

So you have no mind to share this trouble with Hellas ?

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Agamemnon

No, Hellas is diseased like you, according to some god’s design.

Menelaus

Go boast of your scepter, after betraying your own brother! while ¹⁵ I will seek some different means and other friends.

Messenger

entering hurriedly.

Agamemnon, lord of Hellas !

I have come and bring you your daughter, whom you call Iphigenia in your home; and her mother, your wife Clytemnestra, is with her, and the child Orestes, a sight to gladden ¹⁶ you after your long absence from your home;

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but they had been travelling long and far, they are now resting their tender feet at the waters of a fair spring, they and their horses, for we turned these loose in the grassy meadow to browse their fill. But I have come as their forerunner to prepare you for their reception;

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for the army knows already of your daughter’s arrival, so quickly did the rumor spread; and all the people are running together to the sight, that they may see your child; for Fortune’s favorites enjoy world-wide fame and have all eyes fixed on them.

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Some say: Is it a wedding, or what is happening? or has king Agamemnon from fond yearning summoned his daughter here? From others you would have heard: They are presenting the maiden to Artemis, queen of Aulis , previous to marriage; who can the bridegroom be, that is to lead her home?

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Come, then, begin the rites, that is the next step, by getting the baskets ready; crown your heads—you too, ¹⁷ lord Menelaus; prepare the wedding hymn; let flutes sound throughout the tents with noise of dancer’s feet; for this is a happy day, that has come for the maid.

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Agamemnon

You have my thanks; now go within; for the rest it will be well, as Fate proceeds. Exit Messenger.

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Ah, woe is me! unhappy wretch, what can I say? where shall I begin? To what cruel straits have I been plunged! A god has outwitted me, proving far cleverer

than any cunning of mine. What an advantage humble birth possesses! for it is easy for her sons to weep and tell out all their sorrows; while to the high-born man come these same sorrows, but we heve dignity

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throned over our life and are the people’s slaves. ¹⁸ I, for instance, am ashamed to weep, and no less ashamed, poor wretch, to check my tears at the dreadful pass to which I am brought. Enough; what am I to tell my wife?

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how shall I welcome her? with what face meet her? for she too has undone me by coming uninvited in this my hour of sorrow; yet it was only natural she should come with her daughter to prepare the bride and perform the fondest duties, where she will discover my villainy.

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And for this poor maid—why maid? Death, it seems, will soon make her his bride—how I pity her! Thus will she plead to me, I think: My father, will you slay me? May you yourself make such a marriage, and whoever is a friend to you!

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While Orestes, from his station near us, will cry in childish accents, inarticulate, yet fraught with meaning. Alas! to what utter ruin Paris , the son of Priam, the cause of these troubles, has brought me by his union with Helen!

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Chorus Leader

I pity her myself, as a woman who is a stranger

may grieve for the misfortunes of royalty.

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Menelaus

offering his hand.

Your hand, brother! let me grasp it.

Agamemnon

I give it; yours is the victory, mine the sorrow.

Menelaus

By Pelops our reputed grandsire and Atreus our father,

I swear to tell you the truth from my heart, without any covert purpose, but only what I think. The sight of you in tears made me pity you, and in return I shed a tear for you myself; I withdraw from my former proposals,

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ceasing to be a cause of fear to you; yes, and I will put myself in your present position; ¹⁹ and I counsel you, do not slay your child or prefer my interests to yours; for it is not just that you should grieve, while I am glad, or that your children should die, while mine still see the light of day.

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What is it, after all, I seek? If I am set on marriage, could I not find a bride as choice elsewhere? Was I to lose a brother—the last I should have lost—to win a Helen, getting bad for good? I was mad, impetuous as a youth, till I perceived,

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on closer view, what slaying children really meant. Moreover I am filled with compassion for the hapless maiden, doomed to bleed that I may wed, when I reflect that we are kin. What has your daughter to do with Helen?

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Let the army be disbanded and leave Aulis ; dry those streaming eyes, brother, and do not provoke me to tears. Whatever concern you have in oracles that affect your child, let it be none of mine; into your hands I resign my share.

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A sudden change, you’ll say, from my dread proposals? A natural course for me; affection for my brother caused the change. These are the ways of a man not devoid of virtue, to pursue on each occasion what is best.

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Chorus Leader

A generous speech, worthy of Tantalus, the son of Zeus;

you do not shame your ancestry.

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Agamemnon

I thank you, Menelaus, for this unexpected suggestion; it is an honorable proposal, worthy of you. Sometimes love, sometimes the selfishness of their families, causes a quarrel between brothers; I loathe

a relationship of this kind which is bitterness to both. ²⁰ But it is useless, for circumstances compel me to carry out the murderous sacrifice of my daughter.

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Menelaus

How so? who will compel you to slay your own?

Agamemnon

The whole Achaean army here assembled.

Menelaus

Not if you send her back to Argos .

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Agamemnon

I might do that unnoticed, but there will be another thing I cannot.

Menelaus

What is that? You must not fear the mob too much.

Agamemnon

Calchas will tell the Argive army his oracles.

Menelaus

Not if he should die before that—an easy matter.

Agamemnon

The whole tribe of seers is a curse with its ambition.

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Menelaus

Yes, and good for nothing and useless, when among us.

Agamemnon

Has the thought, which is rising in my mind, no terrors for you?

Menelaus

How can I understand your meaning, unless you declare it?

Agamemnon

The son of Sisyphus knows all.

Menelaus

Odysseus cannot possibly hurt us.

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Agamemnon

He was ever shifty by nature, siding with the mob.

Menelaus

True, he is enslaved by the love of popularity, a fearful evil.

Agamemnon

Don’t you think, then, he will arise among the Argives and tell them the oracles that Calchas delivered,

saying of me that I undertook to offer Artemis a victim, and after all am proving false? Then, when he has carried the army away with him, he will bid the Argives slay us and sacrifice the girl; and if I escape to Argos , they will come and destroy the place,

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razing it to the ground, Cyclopean walls and all. That is my trouble. Woe is me! to what perplexities the gods have brought me at this pass! Take one precaution for me, Menelaus, as you go through the army, that Clytemnestra does not learn this,

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till I have taken my child and devoted her to death, that my affliction may be attended with the fewest tears. Turning to the Chorus. And you, foreign women, keep silence. Exit Menelaus.

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