Iphigenia in Tauris

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.

  1. Then rightly you desire to know what has happened there, lady.
Iphigenia
  1. What about the general, who is said to be happy?
Orestes
  1. Who? The one I knew was not happy.
Iphigenia
  1. There was said to be a certain lord, Agamemnon, son of Atreus.
Orestes
  1. I do not know; leave this subject, lady.
Iphigenia
  1. No, by the gods, but tell me, stranger, to delight me.
Orestes
  1. The wretched man is dead, and in addition he destroyed another.
Iphigenia
  1. Dead? By what fate? I am unhappy!
Orestes
  1. Why do you mourn for this? It doesn’t concern you, does it?
Iphigenia
  1. I grieve for his former prosperity.
Orestes
  1. Yes, for he was dreadfully murdered by a woman.
Iphigenia
  1. O miserable the slayer . . . and the slain!
Orestes
  1. Stop now, and do not ask further.
Iphigenia
  1. Only this much, if the wife of the wretched man is alive.
Orestes
  1. She is not; she was killed by the son that she bore.
Iphigenia
  1. O house thrown into confusion! What was his intent?
Orestes
  1. To avenge on her the death of his father.
Iphigenia
  1. Ah! How well he exacted an evil justice!
Orestes
  1. Though he is just, he does not have good fortune from the gods.
Iphigenia
  1. Did Agamemnon leave any other children in his house?