Iphigenia in Aulis

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. to set it in a blaze, his body cased in a suit of golden mail forged by Hephaestus, a gift from his goddess-mother, from Thetis who bore him.
  2. Then the gods shed a blessing on the marriage of the high-born bride, who was first of Nereus’ daughters, and on the wedding of Peleus.
Chorus
  1. But the Argives will crown you,[*](i.e,, Iphigenia.) wreathing the lovely tresses of your hair, like a pure, dappled[*](Reading βαλιὰν for γ᾽ ἁλιᾶν with Scaliger, with Monk’s addition of ἔλαφον, and his further correction ὀρείαν ἠ.) heifer brought from some rocky cave, and staining with blood your human throat;
  2. though you were never reared among the piping and whistling of herdsmen, but at your mother’s side, to be decked as the bride of a son of Inachus. [*](From here to the end of the chorus is regarded by Paley as spurious.)Where now does the face of modesty
  3. or virtue have any strength?[*](Omitting the words δύνασιν ἔχει as a probable gloss on σθένει (MSS. σθένειν); so Paley and Weil.) seeing that godlessness holds sway, and virtue is neglected by men and thrust behind them,