EURIPIDES’
Written in 410 B.C.
First produced circa 405 B.C.
Translated
by
George
Theodoridis
©
2007
EURIPIDES’
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
AGAMEMNON
(King of Argos)
OLD MAN
(Servant to Agamemnon)
MENELAUS
(Agamemnon’s brother, King of Sparta)
KLYTAIMESTRA
(Agamemnon’s wife)
IPHIGENEIA
(Daughter of Agamemnon and Klytaimestra)
ACHILLES
(Chief of the Myrmidons, an army)
FIRST MESSENGER
SECOND MESSENGER
FIRST CHORUS
(Of women from Chalkis)
SECOND CHORUS
(Men and women of Argos, attendants to Klytaimestra and Iphigeneia)
THE BABY ORESTES
(Silent)
GUARDS
(Silent)
VARIOUS OTHER ATTENDANTS
(Silent)
At the camp of the Greek army.
We are in front of Agamemnon’s lavish tent which has
two entrances, one of which is the larger and used only by Agamemnon and his
family. His servants use the other.
In front of the tent is a small table at which sits
Agamemnon. There is a small oil lamp on the table as well as various writing
implements.
He is writing a letter (on a scroll) an exercise
which, it seems, is difficult for him.
He writes a few words, then scratches them out and begins again. At one
point he is satisfied with what he’s written, seals it with his ring but then,
a moment later, he scratches away the seal and re-reads the letter. Later, he
becomes so angry that he picks up the wooden frame upon which the scroll rests
and throws it violently to the ground. His head falls into his arms and he
begins sobbing.
Finally, he picks up the scroll and gets up and moves
away from the table. He walks slowly about the stage for a moment, anxiously
searching the starry sky.
Just before Dawn. The sun should rise slowly until
full daylight is reached just before line 164.
Agamemnon:
Hey, old man!
Short pause of silence which agitates Agamemnon a
little.
Old man, come out here! Out here, in front of the tent!
Old Man: From within the tent.
I’m coming, my lord… I’m coming! What ever is in your mind, now, my lord Agamemnon?
Agamemnon:
Come on, hurry up!
Old Man:
I am hurrying!
Enter the old man from Agamemnon’s tent.
Old age! It has burdened me with lack of sleep and with overactive eyes.
Agamemnon: Pointing at the sky
Look there! What star could that be, that one, gliding across the sky… up there?
Old Man:
That? That’s Sirius, my lord. It’s going past those seven stars, the Pleiades, my lord… straight through the very centre of the heavens.
Agamemnon: Nods, then looks around him. Pensively, anxiously.
Not a sound to be heard anywhere, old man!
Not from any birds, not from the sea and not from any of the winds that rule over the waters between us and Epirus… Total silence!
Old Man:
So, my lord, why on earth are you wandering about out here, then? The whole city of Aulis is quiet and the guard on the walls has yet to change. Come, my lord, let’s go back inside!
Agamemnon:
I envy you, old man! I envy the man with the quiet life, the safe
life. I envy the man who knows no fame; and I don’t envy the man whose life is
heavy with the trappings of office.
20
Old Man:
But, surely, my lord, surely it is there,
in the trappings of office and power, that we find pleasure!
Agamemnon:
Pleasure!
Pleasure, my old friend, is a dubious thing, an unstable thing; and as
for all the trappings of office, all the power that goes with it, sure they
might look sweet from the distance but once you get them, they become
unbearable pains!
There are times when the gods shun you,
reject you, thwart your every effort and there are times, too, when the whining
and the moaning of your men crush you!
27
Old Man:
I… I don’t approve of words like these
coming out of the mouths of leaders.
Your father, my lord, Atreas, didn’t bring
you into this world so that you may taste only its pleasures, my lord. No, he
gave you life so that you may understand pain, as well as pleasure.
You, too, my lord are a mortal and, whether
you like it or not, this is how the gods want it: mortals must taste the good
along with the bad.
But I see a letter in your hand. I saw you
trying to write it by the light of that lamp there. You write down some words, then you scratch
them out and write other words in their place. Then you seal the letter. Then
you scratch away the seal and then you throw its pine frame onto the ground and
then you begin to cry profusely!
This is desperate behaviour, my lord and it
leaves no doubt to anyone who sees you, my lord, that you’ve gone mad!
43
What has brought on all this anxiety? Come, tell me, share your story with me. You will be doing so to a man who’s loyal and
faithful to you. Your old father-in-law,
Tyndareus, gave me to your wife, Klytaimestra, as part of her dowry, to be her
loyal servant.
Agamemnon:
My old friend, Thestius’ daughter, Leda,
had three daughters: Phoebe, Klytaimestra (my wife) and Helen. This last one, Helen,
had received the most famous, the greatest sons of the whole of Hellas as her
suitors… ferocious threats of murder were uttered by those who had missed out
on her. Tyndareus, her father was in a
dreadful dilemma: should he allow her daughter to marry or not? What would be
the best action for him to take?
Finally, my old friend, he came upon the
answer.
58
The suitors should all swear a solemn oath,
by giving their right hand and by making sacred sacrifices, that each and every
one of them would defend the man who won Helen’s hand in marriage, no matter
who that would be and to come to his aid in case someone stole her from their
home and thus deprived that man of his legal conjugal bed. And, they should
also swear that they would attack and destroy the land of the wrongdoer by the
force of arms, whether his land is Greek or foreign.
Once the wise old Tyndareus had convinced
them all to take these oaths, he allowed his daughter to choose the suitor she
liked and Helen allowed herself to be guided by the sweet, lusty sighs of
Aphrodite in her heart.
70
Well, Helen, alas, chose Menelaos!
After that, Paris, the man who, according
to the legend, judged the three goddesses, Hera, Aphrodite and Athena, for
their beauty, arrived at Sparta.
He came all the way from Troy, dressed in
all his colourful garb, and, typical of the barbarians’ love for splendour, his
whole body was sparkling with gold jewels!
Helen fell in love with him and he fell in
love with Helen. The opportunity was
made for him to elope with her, since Menelaus was absent at the time. Paris
took it and carried her off back to his own home, in Ida, a place where the
cows graze in luxurious pastures.
Well, old man, Menelaus was outraged by
this! In his frenzy, he rushed about the
whole of Greece, calling upon everyone to remember Tyndareus’ solemn oath and
to help him, since he was the wronged husband.
80
And that’s why the whole of Greece rose up
in arms with great fervour. They picked up their spears, strapped on their
armour, and rushed over here, in Aulis, with ships, troops, and a huge number
of horses and chariots.
I, being Menelaus’ brother and for his own
good, was chosen by them to be their leader… How I wish this honour were given
to someone else, my old friend!
So, we have all gathered here and here we
are still, tied down by the weather!
After a while, Calchas, our prophet, came
up to us and suggested –much to our dismay- that we should sacrifice my own
daughter, Iphigeneia, to the goddess Artemis, whose shrine is in these parts!
90
He announced that if we did make that
offering to the goddess, we would be able to sail away and we would succeed in
sacking the Phrygian capital, Troy; otherwise we would fail.
This got me so angry that the very next
moment I ordered Talthybius to use his powerful voice and call the army to
disband. I was not going to slaughter my
own daughter, old man! That I could never do!
But my brother, using all sorts of arguments, finally persuaded me to
commit this dreadful deed!
I… wrote a letter to my wife, Klytaimestra.
100
I told her to bring our daughter here so
that she may marry Achilles. It was a lie.
In it I spoke of Achilles’ high rank, his
bravery, his honour… and told her that the man refused to sail with us unless
one of our daughters became his wife and went to live at his house, in Phthia.
And it was with this lie, about the girl’s mock-marriage, that I tried to
persuade my wife to bring her here. The
only other Greeks who know about this are Calchas, Odysseus and Menelaus.
Well, old man, I’ve reconsidered all those
dreadful decisions I’ve made back then and wrote another letter in which I am
correcting them. This is the letter
which you saw me writing in the dark, opening it and shutting it, labouring over
it.
110
Here, take it now and carry it over to
Argos. Now, I’ll tell you everything
I’ve written in this folded scroll because you are a true and loyal servant to
my house and to my wife.
Old Man:
Yes, tell me so that what I say to your
wife agrees with what you’ve written in there.
119
Agamemnon:
The words I have written here, old man, are
these:
“Leda’s daughter, Klytaimestra, I’m sending
you a second letter to replace the first. Do not send our daughter here, in
Aulis, the place whose harbours are well protected from the harsh seas and
which juts out towards Colchis. We shall make the wedding celebrations another
time.”
128
Old Man:
But how will Achilles take this? Will he not get furious with you and with
your wife if you deprive him of his bride?
This is very dangerous indeed, my lord!
Please tell me what to say to your wife.
Agamemnon:
Achilles is acting in name only and not in
deed. He knows nothing of my scheme, nothing of the marriage and nothing of my
supposed wish to give my daughter to him, to have him take her into his arms
and into his marital bed.
Old Man:
You have dared to do a most frightening
thing, my lord, Agamemnon! You have declared the girl to be the bride of a
goddess’ son, yet you bring her here to be a sacrificial offering for the
benefit of the Greeks!
Agamemnon:
I was out of my wits, old man! Out of my
senses!
But go! Go, now! Run! Forget your old age and run!
141
Old Man:
Yes, my King! I shall run!
Agamemnon:
And don’t waste any time hanging about some
watering hole in the woods… and don’t fall victim to the magic of sleep!
Old Man:
How can you say such a thing, my lord?
Agamemnon:
And… when you come across some fork in the
road, check it carefully. See that there are no wheel marks on the road. They
might be from the wagon that is bringing the girl here, to the Greek ships.
Old Man:
I’ll do that, my lord.
150
Agamemnon:
And… if she has already left the safety of
her home and if you chance to meet her retinue on the road, send them back
again… take the reins from their hands and hasten the horses towards the
shrines of the Cyclopes.
Old Man:
And, my lord, if I say all these things
you’ve just told me, will your daughter and your wife believe me?
Agamemnon:
Make sure you don’t break the seal of the
scroll!
Now go!
Look! Dawn’s light is already
being taken over by the fire of the Sun’s brilliant chariot! Go! Accomplish
your tasks, old man!
Exit
Old Man.
No man is blessed or happy for ever. No one
was ever born to a life free of misery.
Exit
Agamemnon into his tent.
Pause.
Daylight.
164
First Chorus:
We left behind us our land, Chalkis, a land
washed by the salty waters of the famous Arethousa and we’ve travelled through
the narrow straights of Euripus to come here, at Aulis, this sandy peninsula.
We came to watch the army of the Greeks,
the thousand ships of these demi-gods who, according to our husbands, are
gathered here, under the helm of Agamemnon and his fair haired brother,
Menelaus, noblemen both, to launch an expedition against Troy.
180
They’re off to bring back Helen, Menelaus’
wife, whom Paris, the Trojan cowherd, abducted from her home in Sparta, a place
by the reed-covered banks of the river, Eurotas. Helen was made a gift to Paris
by Aphrodite, one day when, near the cool springs, she won the beauty contest
from her rivals, Hera and Palas Athena.
I sped through Artemis’ woods, a place rich
with sacrifices, my youthful shyness blushing my cheeks, anxious to see the
army’s might, the tents of the Greeks and their countless horses.
190
And there I saw the two Ajaxes sitting
together: Oeleus’ son and the son of Telemon, the crown of Salamis and
Protisilaos and Palamides, whose father is Poseidon’s son. They were sitting
together on stools, joyfully immersed in a game of draughts, a game full of
complex moves. Diomedes, too, was there and
he was enjoying himself, throwing a discus.
Next to him was Myriones, son of Ares, a marvel to all men and Odysseus,
Laertes’ son, who came from the hills of his island, Ithaca. Next to him was
Nireas, first among the Greeks in beauty.
And fast-footed Achilles, too, whose feet
fly faster than the wind. He is the son of the goddess Thetis, and his tutor
was Cheiron, the most honourable of all the centaurs.
210
We saw him, racing in full armour upon the
shells of the shore, in a contest against a chariot pulled by a team of four
horses, a contest out of which he came victorious. Eumelus, Pheres’ grandson was the driver of
the chariot who, with a goad in his hand, he urged on and shouted at his
beautiful steeds whose reins were a work of wondrous design, wrought in lustrous
gold.
220
The two horses in the centre, those that
took the weight of the yoke, were dappled with spots of white; the two on the
outside carried the traces and they had to negotiate the turns on the track.
Those two had hair the colour of fire and were spotted from below the ankles of
their great hooves. There, alongside of
them, ran Achilles, Peleas’ son, in his full armour. He kept pace with the rail
and with the wheels of the chariot.
231
I came to take a look at the great number of
ships, a sight most pleasant and most able to satisfy my girlish eyes. What a
sweet joy!
The right wing of this naval force was
taken up by the fifty swift ships of the war-loving Myrmidons from Phthia. At the tip of their sterns stood the golden
statues of Nereids, the emblem of Achilles’ army.
240
Moored next to them was an equal number of
Argive ships, headed by two chiefs, Euryalus, the son of Mecisteus, who was
raised by his grandfather, Talaus and Sthenelus, Capaneus’ son.
Next to these were the Athenian ships
-sixty of them, and these were captained by Theseus’ son.
250
Their emblem was the goddess Palas Athena
standing on a chariot pulled by winged horses, an emblem that pleased and
encouraged the sailors.
I also saw the naval armament of the
Boetians, fifty in number and led by Leitus, a mortal, born of the Earth. These
ships, too, were adorned with emblems at their high sterns, this time of
Cadmus, holding a golden serpent in his hands.
260
Ships from Phocis and Locris were also
there in similar numbers and their captain was Oileus whose city is the famous
Thronium.
Atreas’ son, Menelaus, brought with him
from Mycenae, the city built by the Cyclopes, one hundred ships and all the
sailors to man them. With him also was his close friend, Adrastus, their
commander, ready to exact vengeance for Hellas’ sake, against the woman who
fled her husband’s halls so as to marry a barbarian.
272
And I saw Gerenian Nestor who came from
Pylos. On the stern of his ships was an emblem portraying the river Alpheus,
his neighbour, who, on that emblem was given four feet and made to look like a
bull.
The Aenians brought twelve ships, captained
by their king, Gouneus; and beside them were moored the lords of Elis whom
everyone called Epeians.
280
Their captain was Eurytus.
The fleet of the war-loving Taphians, with
its foaming oars, was commanded by their king, Phyleus’ son, Meges who had left
the Echinae, islands that are far too unwelcoming for sailors.
290
The left flank of the Greek armada ended
with the twelve trim and fast ships, led by Ajax whose birthplace is Salamis.
This is the naval force I saw with my own
eyes and about which I had heard earlier.
If any barbarian dared to bring his ships
against these he’d never see his home again.
So this is the armada I saw here and about
which I had heard back home earlier.
Enter
Menelaus and the Old Man. Menelaus is carrying a staff and has nearly finished
reading Agamemnon’s letter which he has torn from the Old Man’s hands.
The
Old Man is angry and tries to take the letter back from him.
303
Old Man:
Menelaus!
Oh, this is a terrible thing you’re doing! How dare you!
Agamemnon
ignores him.
No, you shouldn’t do that! Don’t…
Menelaus:
Leave!
Go away old man! You’re overdoing your loyalty to your master!
Old Man:
Your very reprimand shows the extent of my
virtue!
Menelaus:
Act according to your position, or you’ll
be very sorry, old man!
Old Man:
You should not have opened this letter!
Menelaus:
And you should not be bringing so much
trouble to the Greeks!
Old Man: Takes a hold of the letter and tries to take it from Menelaus.
Argue with others about that. Now let go of
my letter!
310
Menelaus:
No, I will not!
Old Man:
Nor will I!
Menelaus:
If you don’t let go of it I shall crack
your skull open with this staff!
Old Man:
Dying for my master will be a glorious
thing.
Menelaus:
Let go! He
gains control of the scroll. For a slave you have just too much to say!
Old Man: Shouts into Agamemnon’s tent.
Agamemnon!
Master! Come out! We’ve been robbed! My lord!
Enter
Agamemnon from his tent.
This man has forcefully and unjustly ripped
your letter from my hands, my lord!
Agamemnon:
What?
What is all this loud brawling in front of my tent?
Menelaus:
Listen to me, Agamemnon! I have a greater
right to speak than he does!
Agamemnon:
Menelaus!
Why are you arguing with this man?
Why all this violence?
320
Menelaus:
First, look at me in the eye and then I’ll
tell you!
Agamemnon:
Look at you? Why? Do you think that I, son
of Atreas the fearless, will be afraid to raise my eyes and look at you in the
eye?
Menelaus:
See this? See this letter, this…
contemptible letter with the contemptible message inside it?
Agamemnon:
Yes, I see it and, before you start you’d
better hand it back to me!
Menelaus:
No!
Not before I tell all the Greeks what it says!
Agamemnon:
So you broke its seal and read its
contents? These are things you should
know nothing about!
Menelaus:
Yes, you may well suffer now because I did
break your seal and yes, I do know the secret trickery you were concocting!
Agamemnon:
By the gods! Aren’t you ashamed of
yourself? Where did you catch him?
Menelaus:
I was waiting to see if your daughter would
leave Argos to come to the army camp.
Agamemnon:
What?
Who gave you the right to spy upon my affairs? What a disgraceful
behaviour!
330
Menelaus:
Who gave me the right? My curiosity. Do you
think I’m some slave of yours?
Agamemnon:
This is scandalous! Am I not allowed to
manage the affairs of my own home, in my own way, now?
Menelaus:
No, you’re not! Because the workings of
your mind always have been, are now and always will be, deceitful.
Agamemnon:
An eloquent covering of a shameful act!
Eloquence, brother, begets hatred!
Menelaus:
Yes, but an unstable mind is an evil thing,
something which befuddles the minds of one’s friends.
Let me tell you of your faults, Agamemnon!
And I’ll list them all, if you don’t start getting angry or begin to deny them.
Believe me, I won’t be exaggerating.
You know very well how humble you were
during the days you wanted to be the leader of the Trojan expedition. Well, you
pretended you didn’t want the job but you did.
340
During those days you shook the hand of
everyone you came across and, whether they wanted it or not, your doors were
always wide open and ready to receive everyone. You’d greet anyone and
everyone, hoping with this behaviour to gain their approval and thus become
their leader. Then, the moment you
became one, all this nice behaviour changed and you had turned your back on all
your friends. You locked yourself up indoors and became totally unapproachable
to everyone.
A good man, my brother, must not change his
manner just because his life is going well. It is, in fact, at that time when
his friends should be able to rely on him because it is at that time, the time
when things are going well with him, that he can help them the most.
Now, that was the first of my complaints
against your character.
350
Then, you arrived here, in Aulis, with the
whole of the Greek army and immediately you lost every virtue you had. You became a nobody. The gods deserted you
and they wouldn’t give you a favourable wind for our sails. You were totally
bewildered by the change of your luck! And so, the Greeks ordered you to let
them board their ships and go back home and to stop wasting their efforts
here.
Well!
The looks your face took up at that suggestion! The thought that you would no longer lead our
thousand ships against Priam, that you would no longer conquer his city with
our soldiers – all that filled you with utter distress and dismay!
“What shall I do now?” you asked me. “Tell
me what plan I should adopt! Who can
help me here?” You were terrified of
losing face and authority!
Calchas gave you the answer and you jumped
with joy when he told you that the Greeks would be able to sail for Troy only
after you had sacrificed your daughter to Artemis. You were only too glad to
take up that offer! Too glad to commit
the girl to the goddess.
360
Then, without anyone forcing you, totally
of your accord –and don’t claim it wasn’t- you had sent a letter to your wife
to bring Iphigeneia here, in the pretence that she’d be marrying Achilles. Indicating the sky Look up there! This is the very same sky that heard your
words then and the words you chose to write afterwards, reversing your message
to your wife, telling her this time, in words to the effect that “I’ll no
longer be my daughter’s murderer!”
Isn’t it so? Of course it is!
You, Agamemnon, are doing what countless
others have also done in public life: While they’re in power they put up
enormous efforts to keep it but then, when the public makes a stupid decision
–sometimes understandably so because the leader is too weak to lead the State-
these public figures fall all in a heap and they disgrace themselves!
370
My own heart aches more for poor Hellas
than for you because Hellas was about to achieve something great against the
barbarians when you and your daughter stopped her; and now these insignificant
barbarians will be allowed to go free!
Free to mock her!
The true leader of a city and of an army is
not merely brave but intelligent. Intelligence, brother, can turn any man into
a head of State.
First Chorus:
What an awful thing it is for brothers
whose views differ to come to insults!
378
Agamemnon:
And now it’s my turn to criticise you but,
no, I won’t do so in some arrogant, contemptuous way, with my eyes looking down
on you but I shall do so in a conciliatory, brotherly way.
A sensible man usually speaks to others
with respect.
So, tell me, my brother: What is all this
violent fury? What’s with this flushed face of yours? Who’s done you wrong and
what is it that you want? Is it a good
wife you’re after? Don’t look at me for that, I can’t give you one! You already had one and you couldn’t control
her. It’s not my fault she left you for another man, so why should I pay for
your mistakes?
You talk about my ambition. No, it’s not
my ambition that’s bothering you, my brother! Rather, it’s the fact that you
need a good woman… one to fill your arms with – and, in order to get her,
you’ve lost your wits and your manners!
These are wicked pleasures for a wicked
man!
389
And then am I mad if I had changed my mind
about something which I later realised I was wrong? No, it’s not me who’s gone
mad, brother but you. You’re the one,
after all, who, even though the gods have helped you rid yourself of a bad
wife, there you are, still intent on getting her back!
Dying for a marriage about which her
lunatic suitors swore Tyndareus’ oaths.
Give thanks to the goddess Hope! Be
thankful to her because it is she who was looking after you and brought about
all this for you, because, the truth is,
neither you nor all of your power had anything to do with it.
So now, go on, take them all, take all
these lunatics, all these soldiers and lead them on to the expedition. They’d love to go precisely because they are
mad.
The gods are no fools and they know when
oaths are falsely pledged or forced upon people.
And, no, I will not murder my children and
certainly won’t do it so that you can wrongfully enjoy some sort of vengeance
exacted from a disgraceful wife, while I waste away in tears day and night
because I had committed such a godless crime against them, against my own flesh
and blood.
My words were brief, blunt and clear. If
you’re wise you’ll heed them; if not then, have no fear, I know how to settle
my own affairs well.
402
First Chorus:
Different words now but better. It’s good
that the children will be spared.
Menelaos:
Gods!
Have I no friends then?
Agamemnon:
Of course you do – so long as you don’t try
to ruin them!
Menelaos:
How else, then, can you, Agamemnon, prove
that we are brothers? How can you prove that you and I have the same father?
Agamemnon:
We are brothers when we are doing what is
reasonable, not when we do what is madness.
Menelaos:
Brothers must share each other’s pain.
Agamemnon:
Call on me when you want me to do something
reasonable, not when you want to ruin me.
Menelaos:
And what about Greece? Do you not want to fight for her?
411
Agamemnon:
I would, but some god has made both you and
Greece insane!
Menelaos:
Enjoy the glory of your sceptre then! You
have betrayed your own brother! I shall look elsewhere for friends and help…
Enter
Messenger excited with joy.
Messenger:
Agamemnon, leader of all the Greeks! I have
brought with me your daughter, Iphigeneia and her mother -your wife-
Klytaimestra, as well as your young son, Orestes. They should bring you great
joy after such a long absence from your home.
420
But, alas, the road was long, my lord and
so the women are now having a rest by the refreshing waters of a spring. We
also let the horses loose to drink and to graze at a meadow nearby. I’ve rushed
here before them so that you can be ready to receive them. The news spread quickly and so the whole army
already knows that your daughter has arrived. They’ve all rushed over there to
see her. The whole world loves to talk about the famous and to see them in
their flesh.
430
The soldiers talk and they ask questions.
“What’s going on?” some of them ask. And
others, “is there going to be a wedding?” Yet others again, “did the king call
his daughter here because he’s missed her?” Then there were others who said,
“the girl will be presented to the goddess Artemis, protector of Aulis, before
the wedding. I wonder who her groom is.”
Come, then, Lord Agamemnon, make a start on
the celebrations. Gather the baskets for the sacrifices, place wreaths on your
head. You, too, Menelaos, get everything
ready for this joyous occasion and let’s hear the flutes sing and the dancers
pound the earth with their feet. This is
a happy day for Iphigeneia!
440
Agamemnon:
Thank you, friend. Now go inside, my good
man and everything will happen according to the will of Fate.
Exit
Messenger into Agamemnon’s tent.
Wretched Fortune, to what dreadful yoke
you’ve tied me!
Where shall I begin? What can I possibly say now? Your wit is
truly far greater than mine.
Ah, but the common folk have it easy. They
cry when they wish and speak their mind freely, something which a leader cannot
do: it’s undignified, it’s an insult to the splendour of his position and his
whole life is controlled by it.
450
Leaders are but slaves to the common folk.
Here, then, I have suffered the greatest
misfortune yet I am ashamed to cry just as I am also ashamed to hold back my
tears.
What shall I say to my wife, then? With
what face shall I receive hers? Her unexpected arrival has added to my ruin.
New troubles are now added upon those I’m already suffering. Yet it is right
that she should come with her sweet daughter to give her away as a bride…
Ah! And that’s when she’ll discover my
treachery!
460
Poor, sweet young girl!
But why “girl?” Why do I not call her a
“woman?” Will she not be made Hades’
bride soon?
Oh, my girl! How I pity you! How I cry for you!
She will be begging me, my sweet young
girl!
“Daddy, do you want to kill me? Well, then, may you and your friends also
enjoy a marriage such as mine!” She will say to me!
My baby boy, Orestes, will also be there
and he, too, will cry. His baby sounds will make no sense but they’ll be full
of meaning.
Paris! You are the cause of it! You, Paris,
you son of Priam! What ruin, what
catastrophe you’ve brought upon me by running off with Helen!
First Chorus:
I, too, feel pity for you - if it is at all
proper for a foreigner to feel pity for the plight of kings.
471
Menelaus:
Brother, give me your right arm!
Agamemnon
does so.
Agamemnon:
Here, Menelaus. You win, I cry.
Menelaus:
I swear, Agamemnon, by our father, Atreas
and by our grandfather Pelops that I will tell you the truth plainly and
clearly, just as I feel it in my heart and as I know it in my mind.
Tears of pity came into my eyes just now,
when I saw your own tears roll from yours. I’ve changed my mind, brother. I no
longer want to be your enemy.
480
I’ll now stand by you and so I advise you
not to kill your daughter or put my own interests before yours. It is unjust
that you should be mourning while I’m living a life full of joy. It is unjust
that your children should die while mine still enjoy the sunlight. After all, what is it exactly that I
want? Is it marriage? Surely I could
find another wife elsewhere! Gods forbid
that I should choose to lose a brother to win a Helen! Should I exchange the good for bad?
I acted like a stupid child before but now
I thought more deeply about what it’s really like to kill your own
children.
490
And then I also realised that we’re
brothers and my heart went out for the poor girl who would be sacrificed for
the sake of my own marriage.
What does your Iphigeneia have to do with
my Helen?
Come, disband the army and leave Aulis my
brother and stop your tears and mine! If the oracle has given me some say into
your daughter’s fate then I pass that say over to you. I’ll have none of it!
500
I’ve changed, you’ll say! Gone are the
harsh words, suddenly!
That’s true, I’ve changed and I’ve changed
because I love you, brother. I’ve changed because of my love for my mother’s
son. It’s a natural thing for men with
decent hearts to do the decent thing.
First Chorus:
Honourable words, Menelaos!
Words worthy of Tantalus, Zeus’ son.
Words that will not shame your ancestors.
Agamemnon:
I praise you, Menelaos for these unexpected
words, proper words, words truly worthy of you.
Brothers fight because of lust and because of greed in their
inheritance.
510
I hate such relationships; they bring
bitter pain to all. But, my brother, we can do nothing now but go on with the
bloody murder of my darling daughter.
Menelaus:
Why is that? Who on earth could force you to
murder your own child?
Agamemnon:
The entire Greek army, Menelaus! All of them, here in Aulis.
Menelaos:
No, they can do nothing if you secretly
send her back to Argos.
Agamemnon:
Sure, that I can certainly do secretly but
there’s something else, brother; something I cannot hide…
Menelaos:
And what would that be? Don’t be so afraid of the masses!
Agamemnon:
Calchas will reveal his oracles to the men.
Menelaos:
Not if he dies first. That will be very
easy to accomplish.
520
Agamemnon:
Curse Calchas and his whole horde of
glory-loving prophets!
Menelaos:
Useless when you need them and a curse when
you don’t.
Agamemnon:
A thought just occurred to me, a thought
which might frighten you, Menelaos!
Menelaos:
Tell it and I’ll see.
Agamemnon:
Sisyphus’ son, Odysseus, knows our whole
story.
Menelaos:
Odysseus will give us no trouble.
Agamemnon:
Odysseus has a shifty mind and he’s a
rabble-rouser.
Menelaus:
True. He, too, loves glory. A dreadful
sickness!
Agamemnon:
Can you not see him standing in the midst
of all the Greeks, telling them all about Calchas’ prophesies and all about how
I’ve promised to sacrifice my daughter to Artemis but then went back on my
word?
530
He’ll have the whole army eating out of his
hand and then make them kill us and sacrifice the girl anyway! And if I tried
to run off to Argos, the whole lot of them will come over and destroy the
place, raze the whole city to the ground, Cyclopean walls and all! That’s what
I’m afraid of! See what troubles the gods have thrown at me, the poor wretch?
Be careful of one thing, Menelaos: Be
careful when you’re walking among the men not to let Klytaimestra find out
anything about the sacrifice; at least not until after I’ve sent my daughter to
Hades. This way, I hope, my pain will be lessened a little.
Turning
to the chorus
And you, foreign ladies, say nothing about
this.
Exit
Agamemnon and Menelaos
543
First Chorus:
Joy will come to those who share their marriage bed with the calm of Aphrodite’s love and not with the frenzy of Eros’ stinging arrows! This god, this god with the golden hair, lifts his bow and shoots two arrows of passion, one to bring us life’s greatest joy, the other to send us into a whirlwind of confusion.
550
Oh, Lady, goddess of love, Aphrodite!
Make sure this golden hair god stays far away from my bed chamber! I want my love for others to be moderate and my desires to be pure. I ask only for a modest share of Aphrodite’s love; let it be not excessive!
Mortals vary in body as well as in mind but true virtue, which comes from a good upbringing and a good education, always stands out.
560
It is wise to be modest because modesty gives you the rare gift of circumspection, the ability to judge what is right, what is your duty; an ability that will give you respect and will remain with you for ever.
And it is a great thing to follow the footprints of virtue like a hunter follows the footprints of his prey.
570
Women protect it well by avoiding immoderate love and men by bringing civil order in their city, thus making it great.
There you were, Paris: a man brought up to be a cowherd, looking after the grazing, white cows of Ida with their heavy udders, playing Asian tunes in your reedy pipes, airs much like those Trojan songs from Mount Olympus when, suddenly, you had to judge between three goddesses; and it was this judging that has sent you to Helen’s ivory palace in Hellas.
583
Once there, a maddened gaze of love from each of you had sent you both into Eros’ confusion and sent Greece to Troy with strife-searching ships and spears.
Happy
noises of incoming royal procession, including horses and chariot are heard
within, Stage Left.
Enter
Second Chorus.
590
Second Chorus: Indicating behind the curtains (Stage Left)
Great is the joy of the great!
Look there: our Lord’s daughter, Iphigeneia, our princess; and there, his wife and Tyndareus’ daughter, our Lady, Klytaimestra!
They are the offspring of a great and most
fortunate family.
To the lowly and weak mortals, the
fortunate always appear like gods.
First Chorus:
Come, children of Chalkis, let us go and give the Argive Queen our gentle and firm hand to help her step down safely from her carriage and let us look welcoming towards Agamemnon’s glorious daughter lest she be afraid of having arrived here at this place and at this time; and let us also make sure that the Argive women feel no distress or concern for being strangers in a strange place.
They
rush Stage Left behind the curtains.
Klytaimestra: (Within)
I take your kind welcome and gracious words
as signs of a good omen. I have brought this bride here with strong hopes for a
wonderful marriage.
610
Come, folks come and take down from the
carriage the wedding gifts I’ve brought and carefully carry them into the tent.
Come, darling Iphigeneia, come down from
the carriage now. Step gently down, onto the earth. Women, help her. Give her
your arms and bring her down safely.
And help me, too. Please lend me your arms,
so that I may get down from the seat of this carriage modestly.
Some of you stand by at the front of the
horses to quieten them.
620
Horses can panic if there’s no one to
soothe them.
Enter
from Stage Left Klytaimestra and Iphigeneia, accompanied by an entourage of men
and women, some of whom are carrying gifts into Agamemnon’s tent.
A
nanny is holding the baby Orestes in her arms.
Here, friends, take this baby to his
father, Agamemnon. It’s young Orestes, a baby still. Looking over the baby. Are you still sleeping my baby? Has the
carriage lulled you to sleep? Ah, yes!
Soon you’ll wake up a happy young man, my son. Happy to be at your sister’s wedding. I can
see you there now: a nobleman becoming a brother-in-law to a nobleman, to the
divine Achilles, the son of Thetis the Nereid.
Turning
to Iphigeneia
Come, my darling daughter, come,
Iphigeneia, come and stand near me. Let our friends here see how happy you make
me.
As
Iphigeneia approaches her, Agamemnon enters.
630
Ah, here’s your father, go to him, darling!
Iphigeneia:
Yes, mother, please let me run to him
before you do. Please don’t be offended now!
Let me hug him tightly against my breast before you do!
Iphigeneia
rushes and embraces Agamemnon.
Klytaimestra:
My dear Lord, Agamemnon! Here we are,
eagerly obedient to your wish!
Iphigeneia:
Father! Give me a big hug! It’s been such a
long time! I’ve missed you so much. Please don’t get angry with me…
Klytaimestra:
Yes, quite right, too! Of all of my children, you, Iphigeneia, have
always loved your father the most!
640
Iphigeneia:
How wonderful it is to see you again,
daddy!
Agamemnon: Awkwardly
And I’m very pleased to see you, too! I’ve also missed you!
You speak for both of us, darling.
Iphigeneia:
Oh, I’m so happy you’ve brought me here to
see you.
Agamemnon:
Are you, darling? I… I’m not so sure.
Iphigeneia:
What’s wrong, daddy? You say you’re happy to see me but your face
looks worried!
Agamemnon:
A king, darling, a General is always
worried.
Iphigeneia:
Make your worries go away, daddy. From now
on, think only of me.
Agamemnon:
Yes, my darling. I shall think of nothing
else but you from now on.
Iphigeneia:
Well then, get rid of this ugly frown from
the face that I love so much!
Agamemnon:
There! Oh, what a joy it is to see you,
Iphigeneia!
650
Iphigeneia:
But… but look at you, father! Full of joy
and yet tears flow from your eyes…
Agamemnon:
Yes, dear… because our separation will be a
long one.
Iphigeneia:
Separation? I don’t understand,
father. Whatever do you mean? Why - where do they say the Phrygians live,
father?
Agamemnon:
Where, darling? They live at a place,
darling, where I wish Paris, Priam’s son, never lived!
Iphigeneia:
You’re going off on a long journey daddy
and you’re living me behind!
Agamemnon:
My thoughts exactly, my darling. For such a
young girl you are so intelligent!
I feel so sad…
Iphigeneia:
Then I shall be stupid and make you laugh!
Agamemnon: He laughs
Thank you, my sweet daughter! Sadly, softly so that she won’t hear
him. How could I ever speak the
truth now?
Iphigeneia:
Don’t leave home, daddy. Stay here with us,
with all your children!
Agamemnon:
I wish I could, my child! If only I could!
This makes me so sad!
Iphigeneia:
Damn all these spears of Menelaos! All
these troubles he has caused!
Agamemnon:
Damn them, indeed… as I am damned,
Iphigeneia, I and many others!
660
Iphigeneia:
You’ve been so long here in the harbours of
Aulis!
Agamemnon:
And still something is holding back the
expedition.
Iphigeneia:
If only it were possible to take me with
you, father.
Agamemnon:
You, too, Iphigeneia, you also have a
journey to make.
You’ll go to a place where you’ll forget
about your father.
Iphigeneia:
Will I go on my own or with mother?
Agamemnon:
Alone, darling. No mother, no father.
670
Iphigeneia:
Are you sending me to live with another
family, daddy?
Agamemnon:
Little girls should not be bothered with
such things. Enough!
Iphigeneia:
You’ll come right back after you’re done
with Troy, won’t you?
Agamemnon:
Yes but first I must make a sacrifice here,
in Aulis.
Iphigeneia:
Of course. We must do what we must do, to
please the gods.
Agamemnon:
You’ll be able to see the sacrifice. You’ll
be standing right there at the altar.
Iphigeneia:
Shall we set up choruses around it, daddy?
Agamemnon:
You are much happier than me for knowing
less than I do.
Come, go into my tent now. It’s not proper
for young girls to be in the public eye for too long.
Iphigeneia
begins towards the tent but is stopped by her father.
Hold on! First, come, give your father a
kiss. Give me your hand, my dear child.
You will be away from me for a very long
time.
He embraces
and then steps back to look at her sadly.
680
Oh, your poor cheeks, your poor beautiful,
golden hair, your youthful breasts! What an awful burden Helen and Troy have
become for us!
Ah!
I can talk no more. The more I hold you in my arms the more the tears
rush to my eyes. Go! Go inside now!
Iphigeneia
obeys.
And you, dear wife, daughter of Leda, I ask
forgiveness from you, too, for all my tears. Tears that come about from making
our daughter a bride to Achilles.
Weddings are blessed things but still very
tough on the hearts of the bride’s parents.
It is a bitter thing for a father to take,
a father who has worked hard but who must send his daughters away –away to
another household.
691
Klytaimestra:
I am not so insensitive, Agamemnon.
I, too feel the same pain so I won’t be
angry with you. I shall be accompanying our girl with the wedding song.
Have no fear, the pain will soften with
custom and with the passage of time.
Husband, I know the prospective groom’s
name but I know little about his family or his country.
Agamemnon:
Asopus, the river god, had a daughter,
Aegina…
Klytaimestra:
…who was married to whom? A god or a
mortal?
Agamemnon:
Zeus. He married her and they had a son,
Aeacus who became King of the island Oenone.
700
Klytaimestra:
Who then was the heir to the House of
Aeacus?
Agamemnon:
The heir was Peleas. He married Thetis, Nereus’ daughter.
Klytaimestra:
With Zeus’ will or against it? With
blessings or with force?
Agamemnon:
Zeus himself gave her to him. He was her
lord.
Klytaimestra:
And were they married in the sea?
Agamemnon:
No, the wedding was held in the sacred
valleys of Pelion, where Cheiron lives.
Klytaimestra:
That’s where they say the centaurs live.
Agamemnon:
Yes. That’s where all the gods held the
wedding feast.
Klytaimestra:
So, who raised the young Achilles, Thetis
or his father?
Agamemnon:
Neither. Cheiron, the centaur did, so that
the child might be brought up not knowing the behaviour of evil men.
710
Klytaimestra:
Ah! Chiron, the wise teacher, was entrusted
by a wiser parent!
Agamemnon:
Yes, so you see what sort of a man your
future son-in-law is!
Klytaimestra:
Sounds ideal to me. Where in Greece does he live?
Agamemnon:
He lives in Phthia, by the river Apidanus.
Klytaimestra:
And is that where he’ll take our daughter?
Agamemnon:
That will be his decision. She’ll be his
wife.
Klytaimestra:
May they be happy there! When is the
wedding?
Agamemnon:
It will take place at the most propitious
time: When the moon completes its cycle again.
Klytaimestra:
Have you made the pre-natal offerings to
the goddess yet?
Agamemnon:
Very soon.
We’re working on it right now.
720
Klytaimestra:
What about the wedding feast after the
ceremony?
Agamemnon:
It will take place after I make the
sacrifice.
Klytaimestra:
And the feast for us women? Where are we going to set it up?
Agamemnon:
Here, at the harbour, near our beautiful
Greek ships.
Klytaimestra: displeased
The girl deserves better… still, may the
gods be with us!
Agamemnon: suddenly angry
Wife, do as I say! Listen to me!
Klytaimestra:
… What’s wrong? I always have!
Agamemnon: Looking around him
And I shall… here where the groom is, I
shall…
Klytaimestra:
You? What, you’ll be performing a mother’s
duties now?
Agamemnon:
… I, with all the Greeks as witnesses shall
give Iphigeneia away…
Klytaimestra:
Really?
And where will I be at the time?
730
Agamemnon:
You?
You’ll be back in Argos, taking care of our other daughters.
Klytaimestra:
And leave my darling behind? But… who’ll carry the bridal torch?
Agamemnon:
I’ll carry bridal torch.
Klytaimestra:
That’s not what the laws of the custom say.
You shouldn’t go against them!
Agamemnon:
And you shouldn’t be hanging around here,
among all the soldiers!
Klytaimestra:
What I should be doing –as a mother- is to
be the one who gives Iphigeneia, my daughter, away to her groom. It is what a
mother must do!
Agamemnon:
What you must do is not leave your other
daughters alone, back at the house.
Klytaimestra:
Our other daughters are looked after well
and they are safe in their quarters.
Agamemnon:
Listen to me!
739
Klytaimestra:
Never!
By the goddess Hera, protector of Argos and
of marriage, I shall not do so!
No, you look after everything outside the
household and I shall take care of things within it! Our daughter’s marriage is
my concern!
Klytaimestra
turns away angrily and enters the tent.
Agamemnon:
I have failed miserably! I have tried
desperately to send Klytaimestra away from here but I’ve failed. I’ve tried all
manner of subtle tricks to get my closest friends to agree with me and there,
too, I’ve failed.
Failed utterly at every turn…
I shall go to the priest. Calchas will find
out for me what it is the goddess will be satisfied with… though, I know, it
will be something which will bring me misery and a great deal of hard suffering
for the rest of Greece…
Ah, Menelaos! A wise man must keep in his house a good and
faithful woman, or else he should never marry!
Exit
Agamemnon. Only the two choruses are now present. They fuse into one.
751
Chorus:
And so the Greek ships will sail. Stuffed
full with men and spears. They will reach the silvery eddies of the Simois
river that runs through Apollo’s stronghold, the rocky plains of Troy. They
tell me that Cassandra, Apollo’s priestess is there. Cassandra who shakes loose
her golden hair beneath the green garland of laurel whenever the god grips her
with his prophetic gasp.
762
There, upon the city’s towers and round
about its high walls, the Trojan folk will stand when the warriors with their
bronze shields bring their ships closer, over the river’s waters, after their
long journey over the ocean.
There they will arrive with their
war-whetted spears and shields to wrest Helen from Priam’s city and bring her
back to Greece. Helen, the sister of the Heaven-dwelling twins, the Dioscuri.
773
And they will surround the city Pergamum,
all about its stone towers with murderous war-men who’ll smash the heads of the
Trojans, cut through their necks and tear their city down to its foundations.
And the weeping and wailing of Priam’s
daughters and of his wife will be bitter and piercing. And Helen, Zeus’ daughter, will shed bitter
tears, too, for betraying her husband.
785
Oh, I hope I’ll never see the day, nor
should my children nor my grand children, should see the day when I suffer the
torture that the golden Lydian women will suffer, the wives of those Trojan
men, who will be suffering when, years later, working at their looms they’d be
talking of this!
790
Do you hear them, Helen? Listen! Listen to
their words:
“Who
will it be, I wonder, who will bring tears to my eyes, drag me by my beautiful
hair and pluck me from my ruined land?”
Do you hear them, Helen? That’s what they’ll be saying; and all this
because of you, Helen! Yes, you, daughter of the long-necked swan!
That is, if what they say about you being
Leda’s daughter is true.
They say that Zeus had transformed himself
into a bird and then slept with your mother.
Is this true or is it yet another one of these tales conjured up by the
poets and then spread idly about the world through the ages?
Enter
Achilles, angry.
801
Achilles: to the chorus
Where is the leader of the Greek army? I
know he’s around here somewhere. One of his servants go and tell him that
Achilles, Peleas’ son is here, waiting for him, at the entrance of his tent!
A
member of the chorus rushes into the tent.
Are we not all wasting our time here, by
the banks of Epirus? All of us? Married and single alike? The single men have
left their houses empty and uncared for and the married ones have left their
wives and children behind. They’re all just sitting idly around by the shore.
What a lusty fervour the whole of Greece has stirred up for this
expedition! Aided and abetted by the
gods! The whole thing is a game played
by the heavens!
810
Let me tell you why I am angry. Other men
may have different views but let me give you my own. I have left Pharsalia and
Peleas, my father, to come here. I have my army, the famous Myrmidons, wasting
their time hanging about the quiet waters of Epirus, getting angrier and more
impatient by the minute. Anger and impatience which I must control.
They yell at me!
“Achilles,” they say. “Why are we wasting
our time around here? How much more time do we need to waste on this expedition
to Troy? Be a leader! If you really want
to do something against Troy then do it, or else just take us all back home.
Stop waiting for those indecisive sons of Atreas to tell you what to do…”
He is
interrupted by Klytaimestra’s entrance.
Klytaimestra:
Achilles, son of the Nereid! I just heard your voice from inside and came
out to greet you.
821
Achilles:
By the goddess Modesty! Who is this
exquisite looking woman I see here?
Klytaimestra:
I’m not surprised you don’t recognise me.
We’ve never met before. I’m very pleased
that you, too, honour the goddess Modesty, Achilles!
Achilles:
But who are you, madam? And how is it that
you, a woman, is here, where the whole army of the Greek men and their shields
is gathered?
Klytaimestra:
I am Klytaimestra, Leda’s daughter and Agamemnon’s
wife.
Achilles:
A brief but adequate answer!
Still, it’s not proper for me to be talking
with a woman.