405 BC

IPHIGENIA AT AULIS

by Euripides

translated by E. P. Coleridge

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY -

Agamemnon

Attendant, an old man

Chorus of Women of Chalcis

Menelaus

Clytaemnestra

Iphigenia

Achilles

Messenger

IPHIGENIA AT AULIS -

The sea-coast at Aulis. Enter AGAMEMNON and ATTENDANT. -

Agamemnon.

Old man, come hither and stand before my dwelling.

Attendant.

I come; what new schemes now, king Agamemnon?

AGAMEMNON

Thou shalt hear.

ATTENDANT

I am all eagerness. 'Tis little enough sleep old age allows me and keenly it watches o'er my eyes.

AGAMEMNON

What can that star be, steering his course yonder?

ATTENDANT

Sirius, still shooting o'er the zenith on his way near the Pleiads' sevenfold track.

AGAMEMNON

The birds are still at any rate and the sea is calm; hushed are the winds, and silence broods o'er this narrow firth.

ATTENDANT

Then why art thou outside thy tent, why so restless, my lord Agamemnon? All is yet quiet here in Aulis, the watch on the walls is not yet astir. Let us go in.

AGAMEMNON

I envy thee, old man, aye, and every man who leads a life secure, unknown and unrenowned; but little I envy those in office.

ATTENDANT

And yet 'tis there we place the be-all and end-all of existence.

AGAMEMNON

Aye, but that is where the danger comes; and ambition, sweet though it seems, brings sorrow with its near approach. At one time the unsatisfied claims of Heaven upset our life, at another the numerous peevish fancies of our subjects shatter it.

ATTENDANT

I like not these sentiments in one who is a chief. It was not to enjoy all blessings that Atreus begot thee, O Agamemnon; but thou must needs experience joy and sorrow alike, mortal as thou art. E'en though thou like it not, this is what the gods decree; but thou, after letting thy taper spread its light abroad, writest the letter which is still in thy hands and then erasest the same words again, sealing and re-opening the scroll, then flinging the tablet to the ground with floods of tears and leaving nothing undone in thy aimless behaviour to stamp thee mad. What is it troubles thee? what news is there affecting thee, my liege? Come, share with me thy story; to a loyal and trusty heart wilt thou be telling it; for Tyndareus sent me that day to form part of thy wife's dowry and to wait upon the bride with loyalty.

AGAMEMNON

Leda, the daughter of Thestius, had three children, maidens, Phoebe, Clytaemnestra my wife, and Helen; this last it was who had for wooers the foremost of the favoured sons of Hellas; but terrible threats of spilling his rival's blood were uttered by each of them, should he fail to win the maid. Now the matter filled Tyndareus, her father, with perplexity; at length this thought occurred to him; the suitors should swear unto each other and join right hands thereon and pour libations with burnt sacrifice, binding themselves by this curse, "Whoever wins the child of Tyndareus for wife, him will we assist, in case a rival takes her from his house and goes his way, robbing her husband of his rights; and we will march against that man in armed array and raze his city to the ground, Hellene no less than barbarian."