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are passing strange to me。

  ACHILLES

    Hazard a guess; that we can both do in this matter; for it may

be we are both correct in our statements。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    What! have I suffered such indignity? The marriage I am courting

has no reality; it seems; I am ashamed of it。

  ACHILLES

    Some one perhaps has made a mock of thee and me; pay no heed

thereto; make light of it。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Farewell; I can no longer face thee with unfaltering eyes; after

being made a liar and suffering this indignity。

  ACHILLES

    'Tis 〃farewell〃 too I bid thee; lady; and now I go within the tent

to seek thy husband。

  ATTENDANT (Calling through the tent…door)

    Stranger of the race of Aeacus; stay awhile! Ho there! thee I

mean; O goddess…born; and thee; daughter of Leda。

  ACHILLES

    Who is it calling through the half…opened door? what fear his

voice betrays!

  ATTENDANT

    A slave am I; of that I am not proud; for fortune permits it not。

  ACHILLES

    Whose slave art thou? not mine; for mine and Agamemnon's goods are

separate。

  ATTENDANT

    I belong to this lady who stands before the tent; a gift to her

from Tyndareus her father。

  ACHILLES

    I am waiting; tell me; if thou art desirous; why thou hast

stayed me。

  ATTENDANT

    Are ye really all alone here at the door?

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    To us alone wilt thou address thyself; come forth from the

king's tent。

  ATTENDANT (Coming out)

    O Fortune and my own foresight; preserve whom I desire!

  ACHILLES

    That speech will save them…in the future; it has a certain pompous

air。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Delay not for the sake of touching my right hand; if there is

aught that thou wouldst say to me。

  ATTENDANT

    Well; thou knowest my character and my devotion to thee and thy

children。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    I know thou hast grown old in the service of my house。

  ATTENDANT

    Likewise thou knowest it was in thy dowry king Agamemnon

received me。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Yes; thou camest to Argos with me; and hast been mine this long

time past。

  ATTENDANT

    True; and though I bear thee all goodwill; I like not thy lord

so well。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Come; come; unfold whate'er thou hast to say。

  ATTENDANT

    Her father; he that begat her; is on the point of slaying thy

daughter with his own hand。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    How? Out upon thy story; old dotard! thou art mad。

  ATTENDANT

    Severing with a sword the hapless maid's white throat。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Ah; woe is me! Is my husband haply mad?

  ATTENDANT

    Nay; sane; except where thou and thy daughter are concerned; there

he is mad。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    What is his reason? what vengeful fiend impels him?

  ATTENDANT

    Oracles…at least so Calchas says; in order that the host may start

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Whither? Woe is me; and woe is thee; thy father's destined victim!

  ATTENDANT

    To the halls of Dardanus; that Menelaus may recover Helen。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    So Helen's return then was fated to affect Iphigenia?

  ATTENDANT

    Thou knowest all; her father is about to offer thy child to

Artemis。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    But that marriage…what pretext had it for bringing me from home?

  ATTENDANT

    An inducement to thee to bring thy daughter cheerfully; to wed her

to Achilles。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    On a deadly errand art thou come; my daughter; both thou; and I;

thy mother。

  ATTENDANT

    Piteous the lot of both of you…and fearful Agamemnon's venture。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Alas! I am undone; my eyes can no longer stem their tears。

  ATTENDANT

    What more natural than to weep the loss of thy children?

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Whence; old man; dost say thou hadst this news?

  ATTENDANT

    I had started to carry thee a letter referring to the former

writing。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Forbidding or combining to urge my bringing the child to her

death?

  ATTENDANT

    Nay; forbidding it; for thy lord was then in his sober senses。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    How comes it then; if thou wert really bringing me a letter;

that thou dost not now deliver into my hands?

  ATTENDANT

    Menelaus snatched it from me…he who caused this trouble。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    Dost thou hear that; son of Peleus; the Nereid's child?

  ACHILLES

    I have been listening to the tale of thy sufferings; and I am

indignant to think I was used as a tool。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    They will slay my child; they have tricked her with thy marriage。

  ACHILLES

    Like thee I blame thy lord; nor do I view it with mere

indifference。

  CLYTAEMNESTRA

    No longer will I let shame prevent my kneeling to thee; a mortal

to one goddess…born; why do I affect reserve? whose interests should I

consult before my child's? (Throwing herself before ACHILLES)

  Oh! help me; goddess…born; in my sore distress; and her that was

called thy bride…in vain; 'tis true; yet called she was。 For thee it

was I wreathed her head and led her forth as if to marriage; but now

it is to slaughter I am bringing her。 On thee will come reproach

because thou didst not help her; for though not wedded to her; yet

wert thou the loving husband of my hapless maid in name at any rate。

By thy beard; right hand; and mother too I do implore thee; for thy

name it was that worked my ruin; and thou art bound to stand by

that。 Except thy knees I have no altar whereunto to fly; and not a

friend stands at my side。 Thou hast heard the cruel abandoned scheme

of Agamemnon; and I; a woman; am come; as thou seest; to a camp of

lawless sailor…folk; bold in evil's cause; though useful when they

list; wherefore if thou boldly stretch forth thine arm in my behalf;

our safety is assured; but if thou withhold it; we are lost。

  CHORUS

    A wondrous thing is motherhood; carrying with it a potent spell;

wherein all share; so that for their children's sake they will

endure affliction。

  ACHILLES

    My proud spirit is stirred to range aloft; but it has learnt to

grieve in misfortune and rejoice in high prosperity with equal

moderation。 For these are the men who can count on ordering all

their life aright by wisdom's rules。 True; there are cases where

'tis pleasant not to be too wise; but there are others; where some

store of wisdom helps。 Brought up in godly Chiron's halls myself; I

learnt to keep a single heart; and provided the Atridae lead aright; I

will obey them; but when they cease therefrom; no more will I obey。

Nay; but here and in Troy I will show the freedom of my nature; and;

as far as in me lies; do honour to Ares with my spear。 Thee; lady; who

hast suffered so cruelly from thy nearest and dearest; will I; by

every effort in a young man's power; set right; investing thee with

that amount of pity; and never shall thy daughter; after being once

called my bride; die by her father's hand; for I will not lend

myself to thy husband's subtle tricks; no! for it will be my name that

kills thy child; although it wieldeth not the steel。 Thy own husband

is the actual cause; but I shall no longer be guiltless; if; because

of me and my marriage; this maiden perishes; she that hath suffered

past endurance and been the victim of affronts most strangely

undeserved。 So am I made the poorest wretch in Argos; I a thing of

naught; and Menelaus counting for a man! No son of Peleus I; but the

issue of a vengeful fiend; if my name shall serve thy husband for

the murder。 Nay! by Nereus; who begat my mother Thetis; in his home

amid the flowing waves; never shall king Agamemnon touch thy daughter;

no! not even to the laying of a finger…tip upon her robe; else will

Sipylus; that frontier town of barbarism; the cradle of those

chieftains' line; be henceforth a city indeed; while Phthia's name

will nowhere find mention。 Calchas; the seer; shall rue beginning

the sacrifice with his barley…meal and lustral water。 Why; what is a

seer? A man who with luck tells the truth sometimes; with frequent

falsehoods; but when his luck deserts him; collapses then and there。

It is not to secure a bride that I have spoken thus…there be maids

unnumbered eager to have my love…no! but king Agamemnon has put an

insult on me; he should have asked my leave to use my name as a

means to catch the child; for it was I chiefly who induced

Clytaemnestra to betroth her daughter to me; verily I had yielded this

to Hellas; if that was where our going to Ilium broke down; I would

never have refused to further my fellow soldiers' common interest。

But; as it is; I am as naught in the eyes of those chieftains; and

little they reck of treating me well or ill。 My sword shall soon

know if any one is to snatch thy daughter from me; for then will I

make it reek with the bloody stains of slaughter; ere it reach

Phrygia。 Calm thyself then; as a god in his might I appeared to

thee; without being so; but such will I show myself for all that。

  CHORUS

    Son

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