AG. But dost thou not fear that which occurs to me?
MEN. How can I understand the word you say not?
AG. The son of Sisyphus knows all these matters.
MEN. It can not be that Orestes can pain thee and me.
AG. He is ever changeable, and with the multitude.
MEN. He is indeed possessed with the passion for popularity, a dreadful
evil.
AG. Do you not then think that he, standing in the midst of the Greeks,
will tell the oracles which Calchas pronounced, and of me, that I promised
to offer a sacrifice to Diana, and then break my word. With which [words]
having carried away the army, he will bid the Greeks slay thee and me, and
sacrifice the damsel. And if I flee to Argos, they will come and ravage and
raze the land, Cyclopean walls and all. Such are my troubles. O unhappy me!
How, by the Gods, am I at a loss in these present matters! Take care of one
thing for me, Menelaus, going through the army, that Clytæmnestra may not
learn these matters, before I take and offer my daughter to Hades, that I
may fare ill with as few tears as possible. But do ye, O stranger women,
preserve silence.
CHORUS. Blest are they who share the nuptial bed of the Goddess
Aphrodite,[39] when she is moderate, and with modesty, obtaining a calm
from the maddening stings, when Love with his golden locks stretches his
twin bow of graces, the one for a prosperous fate, the other for the
upturning of life. I deprecate this [bow,] O fairest Venus, from our beds,
but may mine be a moderate grace, and holy endearments, and may I share
Aphrodite, but reject her when excessive. But the natures of mortals are
different, and their manners are different,[40] but that which is clearly
good is ever plain. And the education which trains[41] [men] up, conduces
greatly to virtue, for to have reverence is wisdom, and it possesses an
equivalent advantage, viz. to perceive what is fitting by one's mind, where
report bears unwasting glory to life.[42] 'Tis a great thing to hunt for
[the praise of] virtue, among women indeed, by a secret affection,[43] but
among men, on the other hand, honor being inherent,[44] [bears that praise,
honor,] which increases a state to an incalculable extent.[45]
Thou earnest, O Paris, †where thou wast trained up a shepherd with the
white heifers of Ida, trilling a barbarian lay, breathing an imitation of
the Phrygian pipes of Olympus on a reed. And the cows with their
well-filled udders browsed, when the judgment of the Goddesses drove thee
mad, which sends thee into Greece,† before the ivory-decked palaces, thou
who didst strike love into the eyes of Helen which were upon thee, and
thyself wast fluttered with love. Whence strife, strife brings Greece
against the bulwarks of Troy with spears and ships.† Alas! alas! great are
the fortunes of the great.[46] Behold the king's daughter, Iphigenia, my
queen, and Clytæmnestra, daughter of Tyndarus, how are they sprung from the
great, and to what suitable fortune they are come. The powerful, in sooth,
and the wealthy, are Gods to those of mortals who are unblest. [Let us
stand still, ye children of Chalcis, let us receive the queen from her
chariot to the earth, not unsteadily, but gently with the soft attention of
our hands, lest the renowned daughter of Agamemnon, newly coming to me, be
alarmed, nor let us, as strangers to strangers, cause disturbance or fear
to the Argive ladies.[47]]
[_Enter_ Clytæmnestra, IPHIGENIA, _and probably_ ORESTES _in a chariot.
They descend from it, while the Chorus make obeisance_.]
CLY. I regard both your kindness and your favorable words as a good omen,
and I have some hope that I am here as escort [of my daughter] to honorable
nuptials. But take out of my chariot the dower-gifts which I bear for my
girl, and send them carefully into the house. And do thou, my child, quit
the horse-chariot, setting [carefully] thy foot delicate and at the same
time tender. But you,[48] maidens, receive her in your arms, and lift her
from the chariot. And let some one give me the firm support of his hand,
that I may beseemingly leave the chariot-seat. But do some[49] of you stand
in front of the horses' yoke, for the uncontrolled eye of horses is
timorous, and take this boy, the son of Agamemnon, Orestes, for he is still
an infant. Child! dost sleep, overcome by the ride? Wake up happily for thy
sisters' nuptials. For thou thyself being noble shalt obtain relationship
with a good man, the God-like son of the daughter of Nereus. [[50]Next come
thou close to my foot, O daughter, to thy mother, Iphigenia, and standing
near, show these strangers how happy I am, and come hither indeed, and
address thy dear father.] O thou most great glory to me, king Agamemnon, we
are come, not disobeying thy bidding.
IPH. O mother, running indeed, (but be thou not angry,) I will apply my
breast to my father's breast. [[51]But I wish, rushing to embrace thy
breast, O father, after a long season. For I long for thy face. But do not
be angry.]
CLY. But, O my child, enjoy [thine embraces,] but thou wert ever most fond
of thy father, of all the children I bore.
IPH. O father, joyous do I behold thee after a long season.
AG. And I, thy father, [joyously behold] thee. Thou speakest thus equally
in respect to both.
IPH. Hail! But well hast thou done in bringing me to thee, O father.
AG. I know not how I shall say, yet not say so, my child.