Epeisodion 3
Achilles
Hazard a guess; that we can both do in this matter; for it may be we are both correct in our statements.i.e., we may both be right, but at cross purposes. Markland proposes ἐφευδόμεθα, we may both have been deceived in what we say.
845
Clytemnestra
What! have I suffered such indignity? The marriage I am courting has no reality it seems; I am ashmed of it.
Achilles
Some one perhaps has made a mock of you and me;
pay no heed to it; make light of it.
850
Clytemnestra
Farewell; I can no longer face you with unfaltering eyes, after being made a liar and suffering undeservedly.
Achilles
It is farewell I bid you too, lady; and I go within the tent to seek your husband.
[Episode]
Stranger of the race of Aeacus, stay awhile! Ho there! I mean you, O goddess-born, and you, daughter of Leda.
855
Achilles
Who is it calling through the half-opened door? What fear his voice betrays!
Old man
A slave; of that I am not proud, for fortune does not permit it.
Achilles
Whose slave are you? not mine; for mine and Agamemnon’s goods are separate.
Old man
I belong to this lady who stands before the tent, a gift to her from Tyndareus her father.
860
Achilles
I am waiting; tell me, if you are desirous, why you have stopped me.
Old man
Are you really all alone here at the door?
Achilles
To us alone will you address yourself; come forth from the king’s tent.
Old man
O Fortune and my own foresight, preserve whom I desire!
Achilles
That speech will saveReading σώσει, Monk’s correction for ἀν ὤση. Others read ἀνοίσε with Markland, or ὀνήσει with Böckh. them in the future; it has a certain pompous air.
865
Clytemnestra
Delay not for the sake of touching my right hand, if there is anything that you would say to me.
Old man
Well, you know my character and my devotion to you and your children.
Clytemnestra
I know you have grown old in the service of my house.
Old man
Likewise you know it was in your dowry king Agamemnon received me.
