Eksodos
Chorus Leader
I pity you for your cruel fate—a fate I would you never had met!
[Episode]
O mother that bore me! I see a throng of men approaching.
Clytemnestra
It is the goddess’ son you see, child, for whom you came here.
Iphigenia
Open the tent-door to me, servants, that I may hide myself
1340
Clytemnestra
Why seek to escape, my child?
Iphigenia
I am ashamed to face Achilles.
Iphigenia
The luckless ending to our marriage causes me to feel abashed.
Clytemnestra
No time for affectation now in face of what has happened. Stay then; reserve will do no good, if we may profit.The sentence is left unfinished, owing to the sudden address of Achilles; possibly it would have run if only we can enlist his aid.
Achilles
Daughter of Leda, lady of sorrows!
1345
Clytemnestra
No misnomer that.
1345
Achilles
A fearful cry is heard among the Argives.
Clytemnestra
What is it? tell me.
Achilles
It concerns your child.
Clytemnestra
An evil omen for your words.
Achilles
They say her sacrifice is necessary.
Clytemnestra
And is there no one to say a word against them?
Achilles
Indeed I was in some danger myself from the tumult.
Clytemnestra
In danger of what, stranger?.
Achilles
Of being stoned.
1350
Clytemnestra
Surely not for trying to save my daughter?
1350
Achilles
The very reason.
Clytemnestra
Who would have dared to lay a finger on you?
Achilles
All the men of Hellas.
Clytemnestra
Were not your Myrmidon warriors at your side?
Achilles
They were the first who turned against me.
Clytemnestra
My child! we are lost, it seems.
Achilles
They taunted me as the man whom marriage had enslaved.
Clytemnestra
And what did you answer them?
Achilles
Not to kill the one I meant to wed—
1355
Clytemnestra
Justly so.
1355
Achilles
The wife her father promised me.
Clytemnestra
Yes, and sent to fetch from Argos.
Achilles
But I was overcome by clamorous cries.
Clytemnestra
Truly the mob is a dire mischief.
Achilles
But I will help you for all that.
Clytemnestra
Will you really fight them single-handed?
Achilles
Do you see these warriors here, carrying my arms?
Clytemnestra
Bless you for your kind intent!
Achilles
Well, I shall be blessed.
1360
Clytemnestra
Then my child will not be slaughtered now?
1360
Achilles
No, not with my consent at any rate.
Clytemnestra
But will any of them come to lay hands on the maid?
Achilles
Thousands of them, with Odysseus at their head.
Clytemnestra
The son of Sisyphus?
Clytemnestra
Acting for himself or by the army’s order?
Achilles
By their choice—and his own.
Clytemnestra
An evil choice indeed, to stain his hands in blood.
Achilles
But I will hold him back.
1365
Clytemnestra
Will he seize and bear her off against her will?
1365
Achilles
Yes, by her golden hair no doubt.
Clytemnestra
What must I do, when it comes to that?
Achilles
Keep hold of your daughter.
Clytemnestra
Be sure that she shall not be slain, as far as that that can help her.
Achilles
Believe me, it will come to this.i.e., to an actual appeal to force.
Iphigenia
Mother, hear me while I speak, for I see that you are angry with your husband
to no purpose; it is hard for us to persist in impossibilities. Our thanks are due to this stranger for his ready help; but you must also see to it that he is not reproached by the army, leaving us no better off and himself involved in trouble.
1370
Listen, mother; hear what thoughts have passed across my mind.
I am resolved to die; and this I want to do with honor, dismissing from me what is mean. Towards this now, mother turn your thoughts, and with me weigh how well I speak; to me the whole of mighty Hellas looks; on me the passage over the sea depends; on me the sack of Troy;
1375
and in my power it lies to check henceforth barbarian raids on happy Hellas, if ever in the days to come they seek to seize her women, when once they have atoned by death Lines 1381-2 are corrupt. The corrections here followed are τάσδ᾽ for τὰς in l. 1381, and ὀλέθρῳ γάμον ὄν Hermann’s emendation of ὄλεθρον, ἥντιν᾽ in l. 1382. for the violation of Helen’s marriage by Paris. All this deliverance will my death insure, and my fame for setting Hellas free will be a happy one.
1380
Besides, I have no right at all to cling too fondly to my life; for you did not bear me for myself alone, but as a public blessing to all Hellas. What! shall countless warriors, armed with shields, those myriads sitting at the oar, find courage to attack the foe and die for Hellas, because their fatherland is wronged,
1385
and my one life prevent all this? WhatReading Hermann’s correction of this corrupt line, τί τὸ δίκαιον τοῦτό γ᾽; ἆρ᾽ ἔχοιμ᾽ ἂν ἀντειπεῖν ἔπος; kind of justice is that? could I find a word in answer? Now let us turn to that other point. It is not right that this man should enter into battle with all Argos or be slain for a woman’s sake. Better a single man should see the light than ten thousand women.
1390
If Artemis has decided to take my body, am I, a mortal, to thwart the goddess? no, that is impossible. I give my body to Hellas; sacrifice it and make an utter end of Troy. This is my enduring monument; marriage, motherhood, and fame—all these is it to me.
1395
And it is right, mother, that Hellenes should rule barbarians, but not barbarians Hellenes, those being slaves, while these are free.
1400
Chorus Leader
You play a noble part, maiden; but the whims of Fate and the goddess are diseased.
Achilles
Daughter of Agamemnon! some god was bent
on blessing me, if I could have won you for my wife. In you I consider Hellas happy, and you in Hellas; for this that you have said is good and worthy of your fatherland; since you, abandonIng a strife with heavenly powers, which are too strong for you, have fairly weighed advantages and needs.Τhese two lines 1409-10 are rejected by Monk; Dindorf thinks the entire passage from 1. 1408-33 spurious, an opinion in which Paley does not concur.hese two lines 1409-10 are rejected by Monk; Dindorf thinks the entire passage from 1. 1408-33 spurious, an opinion in which Paley does not concur.
1405
But now that I have looked into your noble nature, I feel still more a fond desire to win you for my bride. Look to it; for I want to serve you and receive you in my halls; and, Thetis be my witness, how I grieve to think I shall not save your life by doing battle with the Danaids.
1410
Reflect, I say; a dreadful ill is death.
1415
Iphigenia
This I say, without regard to anyone.The words οὐδὲν οὐδέν᾽ εὐλαβουμένη have small MSS. authority, and were probably inserted by a grammarian to complete the verse. Enough that the daughter of Tyndareus is causing wars and bloodshed by her beauty; then be not slain yourself, stranger, nor seek to slay another on my account;
but let me, if I can, save Hellas.
1420
Achilles
Heroic spirit! I can say no more to this, since you are so minded; for yours is a noble resolve; why should not one speak the truth? Yet I will speak, for you will perhaps change your mind;
that you may know then what my offer is, I will go and place these arms of mine near the altar, resolved not to permit your death but to prevent; for brave as you are at sight of the knife held at your throat, you will soon avail yourself of what I said.
1425
So I will not let you perish through any thoughtlessness of yours, but will go to the goddess with these arms and await your arrival there.Lines 1431-3 are rejected by Monk. Nauck, on Dindorf’s authority, also incloses 1. 1426 and ll. 1429-33 in brackets. Exit Achilles.
1430
Iphigenia
Mother, why so silent, your eyes wet with tears?
Clytemnestra
I have reason, woe is me! to be sad at heart.
Iphigenia
Stop; do not make me a coward; here in one thing obey me.
1435
Clytemnestra
Tell me, my child, for at my hands you shall never suffer injury.
Iphigenia
Cut not off the tresses of your hair for me, nor clothe yourself in sable garb.This line was rejected by Hermann, Burges, and most other editors.
Clytemnestra
Why, my child, what is it you have said? When I have lost you?The aposiopesis may be supplied by forbear to mourn.
Iphigenia
You wll not lose me; I am saved and you renowned, as far as I can make you.
1440
Clytemnestra
How so? Must I not mourn your death?
Iphigenia
By no means, for I shall have no tomb heaped over me.
Clytemnestra
What then? It is death, not the tomb, that is rightly mourned.
Iphigenia
The altar of the goddess, Zeus’s daughter, will be my tomb.
Clytemnestra
Well, my child, I will let you persuade me, for you speak well.
1445
Iphigenia
Yes, as one who prospers and does Hellas service.
Clytemnestra
What message shall I carry to your sisters?
Iphigenia
Do not put mourning raiment on them either.
Clytemnestra
But is there no fond message I can give the maidens from you?
Iphigenia
Yes, my farewell words; and promise me to rear Orestes to manhood.
1450
Clytemnestra
Press him to your bosom; it is your last look.
Iphigenia
O you that are most dear to me! you have helped your friends as you had means.
Clytemnestra
Is there anything I can do in Argos to please you?
Iphigenia
Yes, do not hate my father, your own husband.
Clytemnestra
Fearful are the trials through which he has to go because of you.
1455
Iphigenia
It was against his will he ruined me for the sake of Hellas.
Clytemnestra
Ah! but he employed base treachery, unworthy of Atreus.
Iphigenia
Who will escort me from here, before my hair is torn?
Clytemnestra
I will go with you—
Iphigenia
No, not you; that is not well saidl.
Clytemnestra
Clinging to your robes.
1460
Iphigenia
Be persuaded by me, mother, stay here; for this is the better way both for me and you; but let one of these attendants of my father conduct me to the meadow of Artemis, where I shall be sacrificed.
1460
Clytemnestra
Are you gone from me, my child?
Iphigenia
Yes, and with no chance of ever returning.
Clytemnestra
Leaving your mother?
1465
Iphigenia
Yes, as you see, undeservedly.
1465
Clytemnestra
Hold! do not leave me!
Iphigenia
I cannot let you shed a tear. To the Chorus. May it be yours, maidens, to hymn in joyous strains Artemis, the child of Zeus, for my hard lot; and let the order for a solemn hush go forth to the Danaids.
Begin the sacrifice with the baskets, let the fire blaze for the purifying meal of sprinkling, and my father pace from left to right about the altar; for I come to bestow on Hellas safety crowned with victory.
1470