Epeisodion 1
[Episode]
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?
490
Menelaus
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.
495
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.
500
Chorus Leader
A generous speech, worthy of Tantalus, the son of Zeus;
you do not shame your ancestry.
505
Agamemnon
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
a relationship of this kind which is bitterness to both.Lines 508-10 are rejected by most editors as an interpolation; omitting them, Agamemnon’s speech goes on naturally at 1. 511. Hernann, retaining them, replaces γε by δὲ and continues them to Agamemnon. But it is useless, for circumstances compel me to carry out the murderous sacrifice of my daughter.
510
Menelaus
How so? who will compel you to slay your own?
Agamemnon
The whole Achaean army here assembled.
Menelaus
Not if you send her back to Argos.
515
Agamemnon
I might do that unnoticed, but there will be another thing I cannot.
Menelaus
What is that? You must not fear the mob too much.
Agamemnon
Calchas will tell the Argive army his oracles.
Menelaus
Not if he should die before that—an easy matter.
Agamemnon
The whole tribe of seers is a curse with its ambition.
520
Menelaus
Yes, and good for nothing and useless, when among us.
Agamemnon
Has the thought, which is rising in my mind, no terrors for you?
Menelaus
How can I understand your meaning, unless you declare it?
Agamemnon
The son of Sisyphus knows all.
Menelaus
Odysseus cannot possibly hurt us.
525
