Iphigenia at Aulis (950-1033)

never shall king Agamemnon touch your daughter, no! not even to the laying of a finger-tip upon her robe; or Sipylus[*], that frontier town of barbarism, the cradle of those chieftains’ line, will be henceforth a city indeed, while Phthia’s name will nowhere find mention.

Calchas, the seer, shall rue beginning the sacrifice with his barley-meal and lustral water. Why, what is a seer? A man who with luck tells the truth sometimes, with frequent falsehoods, but when his luck deserts him, collapses then and there.

It is not to secure a bride that I have spoken thus—there are maids unnumbered

eager to have my love[*]—no! but king Agamemnon has put an insult on me; he should have asked my leave to use my name as a means to catch the child, for it was I[*] chiefly who induced Clytemnestra to betroth her daughter to me;

I would had yielded this to Hellas, if that was where our going to Ilium broke down; I would never have refused to further my fellow soldiers’ common interest. But as it is, I am as nothing in the eyes of those chieftains, and little they care of treating me well or ill.

My sword shall soon know if any one is to snatch your daughter from me, for then will I make it reek with the bloody stains of slaughter, before it reach Phrygia.[*] Calm yourself then; as a god in his might I appeared to you, without being so, but such will I show myself for all that.

Son of Peleus, your words are alike worthy of you and that sea-born deity, the holy goddess.

Ah! would I could find words to utter your praise without excess, and yet not lose the graciousness of it by stinting it; for when the good are praised, they have some sort of feeling

of hatred for those who in their praise exceed the mean. But I am ashamed of intruding a tale of woe, since my affliction touches myself alone and you are not affected by troubles of mine; but still it looks well for the man of worth to assist the unfortunate, even when he is not connected with then.

Therefore pity us, for our suffering cries for pity; in the first place, I have harbored an idle hope, in thinking to have you marry my daughter; and next, perhaps, the slaying of my child will be to you an evil omen in your wooing hereafter, against which you must guard yourself.

Your words were good, both first and last; for if you will it so, my daughter will be saved.

Will you have her clasp your knees as a suppliant? it is no maid’s part; yet if it seems good to you, why, come she shall with the modest look of free-born maid;

but if I shall obtain the same end from you without her coming then let her abide within, for there is dignity in her reserve; still reserve must only go as far as the case allows.

[*]Do not bring your daughter out for me to see, lady, nor let us incur the reproach of the ignorant;

for an army, when gathered together without domestic duties to employ it, loves the evil gossip of malicious tongues. After all, should you both supplicate me, you will attain a like result as if I had never been supplicated;[*] for I am myself engaged in a mighty struggle to rid you of your troubles.

One thing be sure you have heard; I will not tell a lie; if I do that or idly mock you, may I die, but live if I preserve the girl.

Bless you for always helping the distressed!

Hearken then to me, that the matter may succeed.

What is your proposal? for hear you I must.

Let us once more urge[*] her father to a better frame of mind.

He is something of a coward, and fears the army too much.

Still argument overthrows argument.

Cold hope indeed; but tell me what I must do.

Supplicate him first not to slay his children; and if he is stubborn, come to me. For[*] if he consents to your request, my intervention need go no further, since this consent insures your safety. I too shall show myself in a better light to my friend,

and the army will not blame me, if I arrange the matter by reason rather than force; while, should things turn out well, the result will prove satisfactory both to you and your friends, even without my interference.

How sensibly you speak! I must act as seems best to you;

but should I fail of my object, where am I to see you again, where? Must I turn my wretched steps and find you ready to champion my distress?

I will keep watch to guard you, where occasion calls, that none may see you passing through the army of Danaids

with that scared look. Do not shame your father’s house; for Tyndareus does not deserve not to be ill spoken of, being a mighty man in Hellas.[*]

It will be so.[*] Command me; I must play the slave to you. If there are gods, you for your righteous dealing