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. Ah, woe is me! unhappy wretch, what can I say? where shall I begin? To what cruel straits have I been plunged! A god has outwitted me, proving far cleverer
  2. than any cunning of mine. What an advantage humble birth possesses! for it is easy for her sons to weep and tell out all their sorrows; while to the high-born man come these same sorrows, but we heve dignity
  3. throned over our life and are the people’s slaves.[*](The meaning seems to be that though both classes have the same sorrows, the high-born are prevented by their sense of dignity from giving way to any outward expression of them for their relief. In 1. 450 ὄγκον, the reading restored from Plutarch, is followed rather than the old δῆμον.) I, for instance, am ashamed to weep, and no less ashamed, poor wretch, to check my tears at the dreadful pass to which I am brought. Enough; what am I to tell my wife?
  4. how shall I welcome her? with what face meet her? for she too has undone me by coming uninvited in this my hour of sorrow; yet it was only natural she should come with her daughter to prepare the bride and perform the fondest duties, where she will discover my villainy.
  5. And for this poor maid—why maid? Death, it seems, will soon make her his bride—how I pity her! Thus will she plead to me, I think: My father, will you slay me? May you yourself make such a marriage, and whoever is a friend to you!
  6. While Orestes, from his station near us, will cry in childish accents, inarticulate, yet fraught with meaning. Alas! to what utter ruin Paris, the son of Priam, the cause of these troubles, has brought me by his union with Helen!
Chorus Leader
  1. I pity her myself, as a woman who is a stranger
  2. may grieve for the misfortunes of royalty.
Menelaus
  1. Your hand, brother! let me grasp it.
Agamemnon
  1. I give it; yours is the victory, mine the sorrow.
Menelaus
  1. By Pelops our reputed grandsire and Atreus our father,
  2. I swear to tell you the truth from my heart, without any covert purpose, but only what I think. The sight of you in tears made me pity you, and in return I shed a tear for you myself; I withdraw from my former proposals,
  3. ceasing to be a cause of fear to you; yes, and I will put myself in your present position;[*](Reading εἶμι of MSS. Kirchhoff proposed εἰμί, i.e., I share thy views.) and I counsel you, do not slay your child or prefer my interests to yours; for it is not just that you should grieve, while I am glad, or that your children should die, while mine still see the light of day.
  4. What is it, after all, I seek? If I am set on marriage, could I not find a bride as choice elsewhere? Was I to lose a brother—the last I should have lost—to win a Helen, getting bad for good? I was mad, impetuous as a youth, till I perceived,
  5. on closer view, what slaying children really meant. Moreover I am filled with compassion for the hapless maiden, doomed to bleed that I may wed, when I reflect that we are kin. What has your daughter to do with Helen?
  6. Let the army be disbanded and leave Aulis; dry those streaming eyes, brother, and do not provoke me to tears. Whatever concern you have in oracles that affect your child, let it be none of mine; into your hands I resign my share.
  7. A sudden change, you’ll say, from my dread proposals? A natural course for me; affection for my brother caused the change. These are the ways of a man not devoid of virtue, to pursue on each occasion what is best.
Chorus Leader
  1. A generous speech, worthy of Tantalus, the son of Zeus;
  2. you do not shame your ancestry.
Agamemnon
  1. I thank you, Menelaus, for this unexpected suggestion; it is an honorable proposal, worthy of you. Sometimes love, sometimes the selfishness of their families, causes a quarrel between brothers; I loathe