Parodos
[Episode]
Daughter of Leda, in addition to my first letter, I am sending you word —.
115
Old man
Say on and make it plain, that what my tongue utters may accord with what you have written.
Agamemnon
Not to despatch your daughter to
Euboea’s deep-gulfed wing, to the waveless bay of Aulis, for after all we will celebrate our child’s wedding at another time.
120
Old man
And how will Achilles, cheated of his bride,
curb the fury of his indignation against you and your wife? Here also is a danger.Paley follows Musgrave in assigning these words to Agamemnon, assuming that the king passes over the servant’s last remark and adds a new cause of alarm, viz., the fraud that is being practiced on Achilles. Make clear what you are saying.
125
Agamemnon
It is his name, not himself that Achilles is lending, knowing nothing of the marriage or of my scheming
or my professed readiness to betroth my daughter to him for a husband’s embrace.Lines 124-32 are rejected by some editors. Hennig supposes them to be the work of the younger Euripides.
130
Old man
A dreadful venture yours, king Agamemnon, you that, by promise of your daughter’s hand to the son of the goddess,
were bringing the maid here to be sacrificed for the Danaids.
135
Agamemnon
Ah me! I am utterly distraught; alas! bewilderment comes over me. Away! hurry your steps,
yielding nothing to old age.
140
Old man
I will make haste, king.
140
Agamemnon
Do not sit down by woodland fountains; scorn the witcheries of sleep.
Old man
Hush!The old man cuts short Agamemnon’s warnings, as being an un-called-for reflection on his own loyalty.
Agamemnon
And when you pass any place where roads diverge,
cast your eyes all round, taking heed that no mule-wagon eacape you, passing by on rolling wheels, bearing my child to the ships of the Danaids.
145
Agamemnon
Start then from the bolted gates,Paley retains the MSS. κλήθρων δ᾽ ἐξόρμα, omitting νιν with Monk in 1. 150; Wecklein, reading ἐξορμώσαις to agree with πομπαῖς retains νιν. Hermann transposes the verse after 1. 152, and so Nauck edits.
and if you meet the escort, start them back again, and drive at full speed to the abodes of the Cyclopes.
150
