around her stone-built towers, dragging Paris’s head backward to cut his throat and sacking the cityThe words πόλισμα Τροίας are omitted by Monk as a gloss on πόλιν. Hartung regards 11. 773-83 as interpolated, and there is certainly much in them that Euripides can scarcely have written; both Dindorf and Kirchhoff reject large portions of what follows 1. 773. from roof to base, shall be a cause of many tears to maids andPriam’s wife. And Helen, the daughter of Zeus, shallἐσεῖται. Hermann gives εἴσεται, shall know to her cost. weep in bitter grief because she left her lord.Never may there appear to me or to my children’s childrenthe prospect which the wealthy Lydian ladies and Phrygia’s brides will havePerhaps Tyrrwhitt’s σχήσουσι should be read for στήσουσι. as at their looms they converse:Tell me, who will pluck me away from my ruined country, tightening his grasp on lovely tresses till the tears flow? it is all through you, the offspring of the long-necked swan; if indeed it is a true reportthat Leda boreReading ἔτεκεν with Musgrave for ἔτυχεν. you to a winged bird, when Zeus transformed himself there, or whether, in the tablets of the poets, fables have carried these tales to men’s earsidly, out of season.

AchillesWhere is Achaea’s general? Which of his servants will announce to him that Achilles, the son of Peleus, is at his gates seeking him? For this delay at the Euripus is not the same for all of us;there are some, for instance, who, bing still unwed, have left their houses desolate and are idling here upon the beach, while others are married but without children;Reading καὶ παῖδας with Musgrave for ἄπαιδες. so strange the longing for this expedition that has fallen on their hearts by the will of the gods.τῆσδε στρατείας οὐκ ἄνευ θεῶν τινός. Hennig rejects 11. 805-9.My own just plea I must declare, and whoever else has any wish will speak for himself. Though I have left Pharsalia, and Peleus, still I lingerKirchhoff marks a lacuna of three lines after 1. 812 on the authority of one MS.; it is possible, however, that the passage is continuous, and an attempt has been made here to treat it as such. here by reason of these light breezes at the Euripus, restraining my Myrmidons, while they are always pressing on me,saying: Why do we tarry, Achilles? how much longer must we count the days to the start for Ilium? do something if you are so minded; or lead home your men, and do not wait for the tardy action of these Atridae.ClytemnestraHail to you, son of the Nereid goddess! I heard your voicefrom within the tent and came forth.AchillesO modesty revered! who can this lady be whom I behold, so richly dowered with beauty’s gifts?ClytemnestraNo wonder you do not know me, seeing I am one you have never before set eyes on; I praise your reverent address to modesty.AchillesWho are you, and why have you come to the mustering of the Danaids—you, a woman, to a fenced camp of men?ClytemnestraI am the daughter of Leda; my name is Clytemnestra; and my husband king Agamemnon.AchillesWell and shortly answered on all important points,but it is shameful for me to stand talking to women.ClytemnestraStay; why seek to escape? give me your hand, a prelude to a happy marriage.AchillesWhat is it you say? I give you my hand? To lay a finger where I have no right, I could never meet Agamemnon’s eye.ClytemnestraThe best of rights you have, seeing it is my child you will wed, O son of the sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus.AchillesWhat wedding do you speak of? Words fail me, lady; can your wits have gone astray and are you inventing this?ClytemnestraAll men are naturally shy in the presence of new relations,when these remindμεμνημένους, so Hermann and Dindorf; if μεμνημένοις be retained from the MSS., the meaning must be when they call their marriage to mind; the latter is preferred by Kirchhoff and Monk. them of their wedding.AchillesLady, I have never courted your daughter, nor have the sons of Atreus ever mentioned marriage to me.ClytemnestraWhat can it mean? Your turn now to marvel at my words, for yours are very strange to me.AchillesHazard a guess; that we can both do in this matter; for it may be we are both correct in our statements.i.e., we may both be right, but at cross purposes. Markland proposes ἐφευδόμεθα, we may both have been deceived in what we say.ClytemnestraWhat! have I suffered such indignity? The marriage I am courting has no reality it seems; I am ashmed of it.AchillesSome one perhaps has made a mock of you and me;