MEN. It behooves friends to grieve in common with friends.
AG. Admonish me by well doing, not by paining me.
MEN. Dost thou not then think fit to toil through this with Greece?
AG. But Greece, with thee, is sickening through some deity.
MEN. Vaunt then on thy sceptre, having betrayed thy brother. But I will
seek some other schemes, and other friends.
[_Enter a Messenger_.[29]]
MESSENGER. O Agamemnon, king of all the Greeks, I am come, bringing thy
daughter to thee, whom thou didst name Iphigenia in thy palace. But her
mother follows, the person of thy [wife] Clytæmnestra, and the boy Orestes,
that thou mayest be pleased at the sight, being away from thine home a long
season. But as they have come a long way, they and their mares are
refreshing their female feet by the fair-flowing fountain, and we let loose
the mares in a grassy meadow, that they might taste fodder. But I am come
before them to prepare you [for their reception,] for a swift report passed
through the army, that thy daughter had arrived. And all the multitude
comes out hastily to the spectacle, that they may behold thy child. For
prosperous men are renowned and conspicuous among all mortals. And they
say, "Is there a marriage on foot? or what is going on?" Or, "Has king
Agamemnon, having a yearning after his daughter, brought his child hither?"
But from some you would have heard this: "They are initiating[30] the
damsel in honor of Artemis, queen of Aulis, who will marry her." But come,
get ready the baskets,[31] which come next, crown thine head. And do thou,
king Menelaus, prepare a nuptial lay, and through the house let the pipe
sound and let there be noise of feet, for this day comes blessed upon the
virgin.
AG. I commend [your words,] but go thou within the house, and it shall be
well, as fortune takes its course. Alas! what shall I wretched say? Whence
shall I begin? Into what fetters of necessity have I fallen! Fortune has
upturned me, so as to become far too clever for my cleverness. But lowness
of birth has some advantage thus. For such persons are at liberty to weep,
and speak unhappy words, but to him that is of noble birth, all these
things belong. We have our dignity as ruler of our life, and are slaves to
the multitude. For I am ashamed indeed to let fall the tear, yet again
wretched am I ashamed not to weep, having come into the greatest
calamities. Well! what shall I say to my wife? How shall I receive her?
What manner of countenance shall I present? And truly she hath undone me,
coming uncalled amidst the ills which before possessed me. And with reason
did she follow her daughter, being about to deck her as a bride,[32] and to
perform the dearest offices, where she will find us base. But for this
hapless virgin--why [call her] virgin? Hades, as it seems, will speedily
attend on her nuptials,--how do I pity her! For I think that she will
beseech me thus: O father, wilt thou slay me? Such a wedding mayest thou
thyself wed, and whosoever is a friend to thee. But Orestes being present
will cry out knowingly words not knowing, for he is yet an infant. Alas!
how has Priam's son, Paris, undone me by wedding the nuptials of Paris, who
has wrought this!
CHOR. And I also pity her, as it becomes a stranger woman to moan for the
misfortune of her lords.
MEN. Brother, give me thy right hand to touch.
AG. I give it, for thine is the power, but I am wretched.
MEN. I swear by Pelops, who was called the sire of my father and thine, and
my father Atreus, that I indeed will tell thee plainly from my heart, and
not any thing out of contrivance, but only what I think. I, beholding thee
letting fall the tear from thine eyes, pitied thee, and myself let fall [a
tear] for thee in return. And I have changed[33] my old determinations, not
being wrath against you, but I will place myself in your present situation,
and I recommend you neither to slay your child, nor to take my part; for it
is not just that thou shouldst groan, but my affairs be in a pleasant
state, and that thine should die, but mine behold the light. For what do I
wish? Might I not obtain another choice alliance, if I crave nuptials? But,
having undone my brother, whom it least behooved me, shall I receive Helen,
an evil in place of a good? I was foolish and young, before that, viewing
the matter closely, I saw what it is to beget children. Besides, pity came
over me, considering our connection, for the hapless girl, who is about to
be sacrificed because of my marriage. But what has thy virgin [daughter] to
do with Helen? Let the army go, being disbanded from Aulis. But cease thou
bedewing thine eyes with tears, my brother, and exciting me to tears. But
if I have any concern in the oracle respecting thy daughter, let me have
none: to thee I yield my part. But I have come to a change[34] from
terrible resolutions. I have experienced[35] what was meet. I have changed
to regard him who is sprung from a common source. Such changes belong not
to a bad man, [viz.] to follow the best always.
CHOR. Thou hast spoken generous words, and becoming Tantalus the son of
Jove. Thou disgracest not thine ancestors.
AG. I commend thee, Menelaus, in that, contrary to my expectation, you have
subjoined these words, rightly, and worthily of thee.
MEN. A certain disturbance[36] between brothers arises on account of love,
and avarice in their houses. I abhor such a relationship, mutually sore.
AG. But [consider,] for we are come into circumstances that render it
necessary to accomplish the bloody slaughter of my daughter.
MEN. How? Who will compel thee to slay thy child?
AG. The whole assembly of the armament of the Greeks.
MEN. Not so, if at least thou dismiss it back to Argos.