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. Will you really fight them single-handed?
Achilles
  1. Do you see these warriors here, carrying my arms?
Clytemnestra
  1. Bless you for your kind intent!
Achilles
  1. Well, I shall be blessed.
Clytemnestra
  1. Then my child will not be slaughtered now?
Achilles
  1. No, not with my consent at any rate.
Clytemnestra
  1. But will any of them come to lay hands on the maid?
Achilles
  1. Thousands of them, with Odysseus at their head.
Clytemnestra
  1. The son of Sisyphus?
Achilles
  1. The very same.
Clytemnestra
  1. Acting for himself or by the army’s order?
Achilles
  1. By their choice—and his own.
Clytemnestra
  1. An evil choice indeed, to stain his hands in blood.
Achilles
  1. But I will hold him back.
Clytemnestra
  1. Will he seize and bear her off against her will?
Achilles
  1. Yes, by her golden hair no doubt.
Clytemnestra
  1. What must I do, when it comes to that?
Achilles
  1. Keep hold of your daughter.
Clytemnestra
  1. Be sure that she shall not be slain, as far as that that can help her.
Achilles
  1. Believe me, it will come to this.[*](i.e., to an actual appeal to force.)