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Clytemnestra
reappearing from the tent.
I have come from the tent to look out for my husband, who went away and left its shelter long ago;
while my poor child, hearing of the death her father designs for her, is in tears, uttering in many keys her piteous lamentation.
Catching sight of Agamamnon. It seems I was speaking of one not far away; for there is Agamemnon,
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who will soon be detected in the commission of a crime against his own child.
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I have come from the tent to look out for my husband, who went away and left its shelter long ago;
while my poor child, hearing of the death her father designs for her, is in tears, uttering in many keys her piteous lamentation.
Catching sight of Agamamnon. It seems I was speaking of one not far away; for there is Agamemnon,
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who will soon be detected in the commission of a crime against his own child.
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Agamemnon
Daughter of Leda, it is lucky I have found you outside the tent, to discuss with you in our daughter’s absence subjects not suited for the ears of maidens on the eve of marriage.
Daughter of Leda, it is lucky I have found you outside the tent, to discuss with you in our daughter’s absence subjects not suited for the ears of maidens on the eve of marriage.
Clytemnestra
What critical moment is it that you are seizing?
What critical moment is it that you are seizing?
Agamemnon
Send the maiden out to join her father, for the lustral water stands there ready, and barley-meal to scatter with the hand on the cleansing flame, and heifers to be slain before the marriage, in honor of the goddess
Artemis, their black blood spouting from them.
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Send the maiden out to join her father, for the lustral water stands there ready, and barley-meal to scatter with the hand on the cleansing flame, and heifers to be slain before the marriage, in honor of the goddess
Artemis, their black blood spouting from them.
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Clytemnestra
Though the words you use are good, I do not know how I am to name your deeds in terms of praise.
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Come
1
forth, my daughter; well you know what is in your father’s mind; take the child Orestes, your brother, and bring him with you in the folds of your robe.
Behold! she comes, in obedience to your summons. I will speak the rest for her and for myself.
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Though the words you use are good, I do not know how I am to name your deeds in terms of praise.
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Come
1
forth, my daughter; well you know what is in your father’s mind; take the child Orestes, your brother, and bring him with you in the folds of your robe.
Behold! she comes, in obedience to your summons. I will speak the rest for her and for myself.
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Agamemnon
My child, why do you weep and no longer look cheerfully? why are you fixing your eyes upon the ground and holding your robe before them?
My child, why do you weep and no longer look cheerfully? why are you fixing your eyes upon the ground and holding your robe before them?
Clytemnestra
Ah! with which of my woes shall I begin?
for I may treat them all as first, or put them last or midway, anywhere.
2
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Ah! with which of my woes shall I begin?
for I may treat them all as first, or put them last or midway, anywhere.
2
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Agamemnon
What is it? I find you all alike, confusion and alarm in every eye.
What is it? I find you all alike, confusion and alarm in every eye.
Clytemnestra
My husband, answer frankly the questions I ask you.
My husband, answer frankly the questions I ask you.
Agamemnon
There is no necessity to order me; I am willing to be questioned.
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There is no necessity to order me; I am willing to be questioned.
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Clytemnestra
Do you mean to slay your child and mine?
Do you mean to slay your child and mine?
Agamemnon
starting.
Ha! these are heartless words, unwarranted suspicions!
Ha! these are heartless words, unwarranted suspicions!
Clytemnestra
Peace! answer me that question first.
Peace! answer me that question first.
Agamemnon
Put a fair question and you shall have a fair answer.
Put a fair question and you shall have a fair answer.
Clytemnestra
I have no other questions to put; give me no other answers.
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I have no other questions to put; give me no other answers.
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Agamemnon
O fate revered, O destiny, and my fortune!
O fate revered, O destiny, and my fortune!
Clytemnestra
Yes, and mine and hers too; the three share one bad fortune.
Yes, and mine and hers too; the three share one bad fortune.
Agamemnon
Whom have I injured?
Whom have I injured?
Clytemnestra
Do you ask this question? A thought like that itself amounts to tboughtlessness.
Do you ask this question? A thought like that itself amounts to tboughtlessness.
Agamemnon
Ruined! my secret betrayed!
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Ruined! my secret betrayed!
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Clytemnestra
I know all; I have heard what you are bent on doing to me.
3
Your very silence and those frequent groans are a confession; do not tire yourself by telling it.
I know all; I have heard what you are bent on doing to me.
3
Your very silence and those frequent groans are a confession; do not tire yourself by telling it.
Agamemnon
See, I am silent; for why should I tell you a falsehood,
and add effrontery to misfortune?
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See, I am silent; for why should I tell you a falsehood,
and add effrontery to misfortune?
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Clytemnestra
Well, now listen; for I will unfold my meaning and no longer employ dark riddles. In the first place—to reproach you first with this—it was not of my own free will but by force that you took and wed me,
after slaying Tantalus, my former husband, and dashing
4
my baby on the ground when you had torn him from my breast with brutal violence. Then those two sons of Zeus, who were my brothers, came flashing on horseback to war with you;
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but Tyndareus, my old father, rescued you because of your suppliant prayers, and you in turn had me to wife. Once I was reconciled to you upon this footing, you will bear me witness I have been a blameless wife to you and your family, chaste in love,
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an honor to your house, that so your coming in might be with joy and your going out with gladness. And it is seldom a man secures a wife like this, though the getting of a worthless woman Is no rarity.
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Besides three daughters, of one of whom you are heartlessly depriving me,
I am the mother of this son of yours. If anyone asks you your reason for slaying her, tell me, what will you say? or must I say it for you?
It is that Menelaus may recover Helen. An honorable exchange, indeed, to pay a wicked woman’s price in children’s lives!
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It is buying what we most detest
5
with what we hold most dear. Again, if you go forth with the army, leaving me in your halls and are long absent at
Troy
, what will my feelings be at home, do you think? when I behold each vacant chair
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and her chamber now deserted, and then sit down alone in tears, making ceaseless lamentation for her,
Ah! my child, he that begot you has slain you himself, he and no one else, nor are was it by another’s hand,
6
leaving behind him such a return to his home.
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For it needs
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now only a trifling pretext for me and the daughters remaining to give you the reception it is right you should receive. I adjure you by the gods, do not compel me to sin against you, or sin yourself.
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Well; suppose you sacrifice the child; what prayer will you utter, when it is done? what will the blessing be that you will invoke upon yourself as you are slaying our daughter? An ill returning, seeing the disgrace that speeds your going forth? Is it right that I should pray for any luck to attend you? Surely we should deem the gods devoid of sense,
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if we harbored a kindly feeling towards murder? Shall you embrace your children on your coming back to
Argos
? No, you have no right. Will any child of yours ever face you, if you have surrendered one of them to death?
8
Has this ever entered into your calculations, or does your one duty consist
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in carrying a scepter about and marching at the head of an army? When you might have made this fair proposal among the Argives;
Is it your wish, Achaeans, to sail for
Phrygia
’s shores? Why then, cast lots whose daughter has to die. For that would have been a fair course for you to pursue, instead of picking out
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your own child for the victim and presenting her to the Danaids; or Menelaus, as it was his concern, should have slain
Hermione
for her mother. As it is, I, who still am true to your bed, must lose my child; while she, who went astray,
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Well, now listen; for I will unfold my meaning and no longer employ dark riddles. In the first place—to reproach you first with this—it was not of my own free will but by force that you took and wed me,
after slaying Tantalus, my former husband, and dashing
4
my baby on the ground when you had torn him from my breast with brutal violence. Then those two sons of Zeus, who were my brothers, came flashing on horseback to war with you;
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but Tyndareus, my old father, rescued you because of your suppliant prayers, and you in turn had me to wife. Once I was reconciled to you upon this footing, you will bear me witness I have been a blameless wife to you and your family, chaste in love,
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an honor to your house, that so your coming in might be with joy and your going out with gladness. And it is seldom a man secures a wife like this, though the getting of a worthless woman Is no rarity.
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Besides three daughters, of one of whom you are heartlessly depriving me,
I am the mother of this son of yours. If anyone asks you your reason for slaying her, tell me, what will you say? or must I say it for you?
It is that Menelaus may recover Helen. An honorable exchange, indeed, to pay a wicked woman’s price in children’s lives!
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It is buying what we most detest
5
with what we hold most dear. Again, if you go forth with the army, leaving me in your halls and are long absent at
Troy
, what will my feelings be at home, do you think? when I behold each vacant chair
1170
and her chamber now deserted, and then sit down alone in tears, making ceaseless lamentation for her,
Ah! my child, he that begot you has slain you himself, he and no one else, nor are was it by another’s hand,
6
leaving behind him such a return to his home.
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For it needs
7
now only a trifling pretext for me and the daughters remaining to give you the reception it is right you should receive. I adjure you by the gods, do not compel me to sin against you, or sin yourself.
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Well; suppose you sacrifice the child; what prayer will you utter, when it is done? what will the blessing be that you will invoke upon yourself as you are slaying our daughter? An ill returning, seeing the disgrace that speeds your going forth? Is it right that I should pray for any luck to attend you? Surely we should deem the gods devoid of sense,
1185
if we harbored a kindly feeling towards murder? Shall you embrace your children on your coming back to
Argos
? No, you have no right. Will any child of yours ever face you, if you have surrendered one of them to death?
8
Has this ever entered into your calculations, or does your one duty consist
1190
in carrying a scepter about and marching at the head of an army? When you might have made this fair proposal among the Argives;
Is it your wish, Achaeans, to sail for
Phrygia
’s shores? Why then, cast lots whose daughter has to die. For that would have been a fair course for you to pursue, instead of picking out
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your own child for the victim and presenting her to the Danaids; or Menelaus, as it was his concern, should have slain
Hermione
for her mother. As it is, I, who still am true to your bed, must lose my child; while she, who went astray,
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Chorus Leader
Hearken to her, Agamemnon, for to join in saving your children’s lives is surely a noble deed;
no one will deny this.
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Hearken to her, Agamemnon, for to join in saving your children’s lives is surely a noble deed;
no one will deny this.
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Iphigenia
10
If I had the eloquence of Orpheus, my father, to move the rocks by chanted spells to follow me, or to charm by speaking anyone I wished, I would have resorted to it. But as it is, I’ll bring my tears—the only art I know;
for that I might attempt. And about your knees, as a suppliant, I twine my limbs—these limbs your wife here bore. Do not destroy me before my time, for it is sweet to look upon the light, and do not force me to visit scenes below.
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I was the first to call you father, you the first to call me child; I was the first to sit upon your knee and give and take the fond caress. And this was what you would saythen:
Shall I see you, my child, living a happy prosperous life
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in a husband’s home one day, in a manner worthy of myself? And I in my turn would ask, as I hung about your beard, where I now am clinging,
What then will I do for you? Shall I be giving you a glad reception in my halls, father,
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in your old age, repaying all your anxious care in rearing me?
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I remember all we said, it is you who have forgotten and now would take my life. By Pelops, I entreat you spare me, by your father Atreus and my mother here, who suffers now a second time the pangs
she felt before when bearing me! What have I to do with the marriage of
Paris
and Helen? Why is his coming to prove my ruin, father? Look upon me; bestow one glance, one kiss, that this at least I may carry to my death
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as a memorial of you, though you do not heed my pleading.
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11
holding up the baby Orestes. Feeble ally though you are, brother, to your loved ones, yet add your tears to mine and entreat our father for your sister’s life; even in babies there is a natural sense of evil.
O father, see this speechless supplication made to you; pity me; have mercy on my tender years! Yes, by your beard we two fond hearts implore your pity, the one a baby, a full-grown maid the other. By summing all my pleas in one, I will prevail in what I say:
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to gaze upon the light is man’s most cherished gift; that life below is nothingness, and whoever longs for death is mad. Better live a life of woe than die a death of glory!
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If I had the eloquence of Orpheus, my father, to move the rocks by chanted spells to follow me, or to charm by speaking anyone I wished, I would have resorted to it. But as it is, I’ll bring my tears—the only art I know;
for that I might attempt. And about your knees, as a suppliant, I twine my limbs—these limbs your wife here bore. Do not destroy me before my time, for it is sweet to look upon the light, and do not force me to visit scenes below.
1215
I was the first to call you father, you the first to call me child; I was the first to sit upon your knee and give and take the fond caress. And this was what you would saythen:
Shall I see you, my child, living a happy prosperous life
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in a husband’s home one day, in a manner worthy of myself? And I in my turn would ask, as I hung about your beard, where I now am clinging,
What then will I do for you? Shall I be giving you a glad reception in my halls, father,
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in your old age, repaying all your anxious care in rearing me?
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I remember all we said, it is you who have forgotten and now would take my life. By Pelops, I entreat you spare me, by your father Atreus and my mother here, who suffers now a second time the pangs
she felt before when bearing me! What have I to do with the marriage of
Paris
and Helen? Why is his coming to prove my ruin, father? Look upon me; bestow one glance, one kiss, that this at least I may carry to my death
1235
as a memorial of you, though you do not heed my pleading.
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holding up the baby Orestes. Feeble ally though you are, brother, to your loved ones, yet add your tears to mine and entreat our father for your sister’s life; even in babies there is a natural sense of evil.
O father, see this speechless supplication made to you; pity me; have mercy on my tender years! Yes, by your beard we two fond hearts implore your pity, the one a baby, a full-grown maid the other. By summing all my pleas in one, I will prevail in what I say:
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to gaze upon the light is man’s most cherished gift; that life below is nothingness, and whoever longs for death is mad. Better live a life of woe than die a death of glory!
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Chorus Leader
Ah, wretched Helen! Great is the struggle that has come sons to the of Atreus and their children, thanks to you and those marriages of yours.
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Ah, wretched Helen! Great is the struggle that has come sons to the of Atreus and their children, thanks to you and those marriages of yours.
Agamemnon
While loving my own children, I yet understand what should move my pity and what should not; I would be a madman otherwise. It is terrible for me to bring myself to this, nor is it less terrible to refuse, daughter; for I must do this.
12
You see the vastness of that naval army,
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and the numbers of bronze-clad warriors from Hellas, who can neither make their way to
Ilium
’s towers nor raze the far-famed citadel of
Troy
, unless I offer you according to the word of Calchas the seer.
13
Some mad desire possesses the army of
Hellas
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to sail at once to the land of the barbarians, and put a stop to the rape of wives from
Hellas
, and they will slay my daughter in
Argos
as well as you and me, if I disregard the goddess’s commands. It is not Menelaus who has enslaved me to him, child,
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nor have I followed his wish; no, it is
Hellas
, for whom I must sacrifice you whether I will or not; to this necessity I bow my head; for her freedom must be preserved, as far as any help of yours daughter, or mine can go; or they, who are the sons of
Hellas
, must be
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pillaged of their wives by barbarian robbery.
Exit Agamemnon.
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While loving my own children, I yet understand what should move my pity and what should not; I would be a madman otherwise. It is terrible for me to bring myself to this, nor is it less terrible to refuse, daughter; for I must do this.
12
You see the vastness of that naval army,
1255
and the numbers of bronze-clad warriors from Hellas, who can neither make their way to
Ilium
’s towers nor raze the far-famed citadel of
Troy
, unless I offer you according to the word of Calchas the seer.
13
Some mad desire possesses the army of
Hellas
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to sail at once to the land of the barbarians, and put a stop to the rape of wives from
Hellas
, and they will slay my daughter in
Argos
as well as you and me, if I disregard the goddess’s commands. It is not Menelaus who has enslaved me to him, child,
1265
nor have I followed his wish; no, it is
Hellas
, for whom I must sacrifice you whether I will or not; to this necessity I bow my head; for her freedom must be preserved, as far as any help of yours daughter, or mine can go; or they, who are the sons of
Hellas
, must be
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pillaged of their wives by barbarian robbery.
Exit Agamemnon.
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Iphigenia in Aulis. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1891.
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