Stasimon 2
[Episode]
All hail, father! you did well in bringing me here to you.
Agamemnon
I know not how I am to say yes or no to that, my child.
Iphigenia
Ah! how wildly you are looking, spite of your joy at seeing me.
Agamemnon
A man has many cares when he is king and general too.
645
Iphigenia
Be mine, all mine today; do not turn to moody thoughts.
Agamemnon
Why so I am, all yours today; I have no other thought.
Iphigenia
Then smooth your knitted brow, unbend and smile.
Agamemnon
See! my child, my joy at seeing you is even as it is.
Iphigenia
And do you then have tears streaming from your eyes?
650
Agamemnon
Yes, for long is the absence from each other, that awaits us.
Iphigenia
I do not know, dear father, I do not know of what you are speaking.This line is corrupt, though the sense, so far, is preserved. Dindorf suspects 11. 652-5, and it certainly is difficult to see the connection of 1. 652 with what precedes. Paley suggests that several lines have been lost.
Agamemnon
You are moving my pity all the more by speaking so sensibly.
Iphigenia
My words shall turn to senselessness if that will cheer you more.
Agamemnon
Alas! this silence is too much. You have my thanks.
655
Iphigenia
Stay with your children at home, father.
Agamemnon
My own wish!θέλω γε· τὸ θέλειν δ᾽ but the words are probably corrupt. But to my sorrow I may not
Iphigenia
Ruin seize their wars and the woes of Menelaus!
Agamemnon
First will that, which has been my life-long ruin, bring ruin to others.ἄλλους ὀλεῖ πρόσθ᾽ ἁμὲ διολέσαντ᾽ ἔχει. None of the various proposed emendations are great improvements on this reading of Porson’s, though it is hardly likely that this is what Euripides wrote.
Iphigenia
How long you were absent in the bays of Aulis!
660
Agamemnon
Yes, and there is still a hindrance to my sending the army forward.
