Euripides Iphigenia in Aulis 590

Chorus of Argive men

Oh! great is the bliss the great enjoy. Behold Iphigenia, the king’s child, my lady, and Clytemnestra, the daughter of Tyndareus; how proud their lineage!

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how high their pinnacle of fortune! These mighty ones, whom wealth attends, are very gods in the eyes of less favored folk.

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Chorus

Let us stand here, maidens of Chalcis , and lift the queen from her chariot

to the ground without stumbling, supporting her gently in our arms, with kind intent, that the renowned daughter of Agamemnon, just arrived, may feel no fear; strangers ourselves, let us avoid anything that may disturb

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or frighten the strangers from Argos . ¹

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Clytemnestra

I take this as a lucky omen, your kindness and auspicious greeting, and have good hope that it is to a happy marriage

I conduct the bride. To attendants. Take from the chariot the dowry I am bringing for my daughter and convey it within with careful heed.

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My daughter, leave the horse-drawn chariot, planting your faltering footstep delicately. ² To the Chorus.

Young women, ³ take her in your arms and lift her from the chariot, and let one of you give me the support of her hand, that I may quit my seat in the carriage with fitting grace.

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Some of you stand at the horses’ heads;

for the horse has a timid eye, easily frightened; here, take this child Orestes, son of Agamemnon, baby as he still is.

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What! sleeping, little one, tired out by your ride in the chariot? Awake to bless your sister’s wedding; for you, my gallant boy,

shall get by this marriage a kinsman gallant as yourself, the Nereid’s godlike offspring. Come here to your mother, my daughter, Iphigenia, and seat yourself beside me, and stationed near show my happiness to these strangers;

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yes, come here and welcome the father you love so dearly. ⁴

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Iphigenia

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Do not be angry with me, mother, if I run from your side and throw myself on my father’s breast.

Clytemnestra

Hail! my honored lord, king Agamemnon! we have obeyed your commands and have come. ⁶

Iphigenia

O my father! I long to outrun others and embrace you after this long while; for I yearn to see your face; do not be angry with me.

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Clytemnestra

You may do so, daughter; for of all the children I have borne, you have always loved your father best.

Iphigenia

throwing herself into Agamemnon’s arms.

I see you, father, joyfully after a long time.

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Agamemnon

And I, your father, see you; your words do equal duty for both of us.

Iphigenia

All hail, father! you did well in bringing me here to you.

Agamemnon

I know not how I am to say yes or no to that, my child.

Iphigenia

Ah! how wildly you are looking, spite of your joy at seeing me.

Agamemnon

A man has many cares when he is king and general too.

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Iphigenia

Be mine, all mine today; do not turn to moody thoughts.

Agamemnon

Why so I am, all yours today; I have no other thought.

Iphigenia

Then smooth your knitted brow, unbend and smile.

Agamemnon

See! my child, my joy at seeing you is even as it is.

Iphigenia

And do you then have tears streaming from your eyes?

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Agamemnon

Yes, for long is the absence from each other, that awaits us.

Iphigenia

I do not know, dear father, I do not know of what you are speaking. ⁷

Agamemnon

You are moving my pity all the more by speaking so sensibly.

Iphigenia

My words shall turn to senselessness if that will cheer you more.

Agamemnon

Alas! this silence is too much. You have my thanks.

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Iphigenia

Stay with your children at home, father.

Agamemnon

My own wish! ⁸ But to my sorrow I may not

Iphigenia

Ruin seize their wars and the woes of Menelaus!

Agamemnon

First will that, which has been my life-long ruin, bring ruin to others. ⁹

Iphigenia

How long you were absent in the bays of Aulis !

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Agamemnon

Yes, and there is still a hindrance to my sending the army forward.

Iphigenia

Where do men say the Phrygians live, father?

Agamemnon

In a land where I wish Paris , the son of Priam, never had dwelt.

Iphigenia

It is a long voyage you are bound on, father, after you leave me.

Agamemnon

You will meet your father again, my daughter.

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Iphigenia

Ah! would it were seemly for you to take me as a fellow voyager! ¹⁰

Agamemnon

You too have ¹¹ a voyage to make to a haven where you will remember your father.

Iphigenia

Shall I sail there with my mother or alone?

Agamemnon

All alone, without father or mother.

Iphigenia

What! have you found me a new home, father?

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Agamemnon

Enough of this! it is not for girls to know such things.

Iphigenia

Please hurry home from Troy , father, as soon as you have triumphed there.

Agamemnon

There is a sacrifice I have first to offer here.

Iphigenia

Yes, it is your duty to heed religion with aid of holy rites. ¹²

Agamemnon

You will witness it, for you will be standing near the libations.

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Iphigenia

Am I to lead the dance then round the altar, father?

Agamemnon

I count you happier than myself because you know nothing. Go within—it is wrong for maidens to be seen—after you have given me your hand and a kiss,

on the eve of your lengthy sojourn far from your father’s side.

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Breast, cheek, and golden hair! ah, how grievous you have found Helen and the Phrygians’ city! I can speak no more; the tears come welling to my eyes, the moment I touch you.

Go into the house. Exit Iphigenia.

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Agamemnon turns to Clytemnestra. I beg your pardon, daughter of Leda, if I showed excessive grief at the thought of giving my daughter to Achilles; for though we are sending her to taste of bliss, still it wrings a parent’s heart, when he, the father who has toiled so hard for them,

commits his children to the homes of strangers.

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Clytemnestra

I am not so senseless; But I think I will go through this as well, when I lead the girl from the chamber to the sound of the marriage hymn; so I do not chide you; but custom will combine with time to make the smart grow less.

As for him, to whom you have betrothed our daughter, I know his name, it is true, but want to learn his lineage and the land of his birth.

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Agamemnon

There was one Aegina , the daughter of Asopus.

Clytemnestra

Who wedded her? Some mortal or a god?

Agamemnon

Zeus, and she bore Aeacus, the prince of Oenone. ¹³

Clytemnestra

What son of Aeacus secured his father’s halls?

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Agamemnon

Peleus, who wedded the daughter of Nereus.

Clytemnestra

With the god’s consent, or when he had taken her in spite of gods?

Agamemnon

Zeus betrothed her, and her guardian gave consent.

Clytemnestra

Where did he marry her? in the billows of the sea?

Agamemnon

In Chiron’s home, at sacred Pelion ’s foot.

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Clytemnestra

What! the abode ascribed to the race of Centaurs?

Agamemnon

It was there the gods celebrated the marriage feast of Peleus.

Clytemnestra

Did Thetis or his father train Achilles?

Agamemnon

Chiron brought him up, to prevent his learning the ways of the wicked.

Clytemnestra

Ah! wise the teacher, still wiser the one who gave his son.

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Agamemnon

Such is the future husband of your daughter.

Clytemnestra

A blameless lord; but what city in Hellas is his?

Agamemnon

He dwells on the banks of the river Apidanus, in the borders of Phthia .

Clytemnestra

Will you convey ¹⁴ our daughter there?

Agamemnon

He who takes her to himself will see to that.

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Clytemnestra

Happiness attend the pair! Which day will he marry her?

Agamemnon

As soon as the full moon comes to give its blessing

Clytemnestra

Have you already offered the goddess a sacrifice to usher in the maiden’s marriage?

Agamemnon

I am about to do so; that is the very thing I was engaged in.

Clytemnestra

And then will you celebrate the marriage feast afterwards?

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Agamemnon

Yes, when I have offered a sacrifice required by the gods of me.

Clytemnestra

But where am I to make ready the feast for the women?

Agamemnon

Here beside our gallant Argive ships.

Clytemnestra

Finely here! but still I must; ¹⁵ good come of it for all that!

Agamemnon

Do you know what to do, lady? Then obey me.

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Clytemnestra

In what matter? for I was ever accustomed to obey you.

Agamemnon

Here, where the bridegroom is, I will—

Clytemnestra

Which of my duties will you perform in the mother’s absence?

Agamemnon

Give your child away with help of Danaids.

Clytemnestra

And where am I to be then?

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Agamemnon

Go to Argos , and take care of your unwedded daughters.

Clytemnestra

And leave my child? Then who will raise her bridal torch?

Agamemnon

I will provide the proper wedding torch.

Clytemnestra

That is not the custom; but you think lightly of these things.

Agamemnon

It is not good for you to be alone among a soldier-crowd.

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Clytemnestra

It is good that a mother should give her own child away.

Agamemnon

Yes, and that those maidens at home should not be left alone.

Clytemnestra

They are well guarded in their maiden bowers.

Agamemnon

Obey.

Clytemnestra

No, by the goddess-queen of Argos !

Go, manage matters out of doors; but in the house it is my place to decide what is proper for maidens at their wedding. ¹⁶

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Agamemnon

Woe is me! my efforts are baffled; I am disappointed in my hope, anxious as I was to get my wife out of sight; foiled at every point,

I form my plots and subtle schemes against my best-beloved. But I will go, in spite of all, with Calchas the priest, to inquire the goddess’s good pleasure, fraught with ill-luck as it is to me, and with trouble to Hellas . ¹⁷ He who is wise should keep in his house

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a good and useful wife or none at all.

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