Enter MESSENGER.

MESSENGER
Agamemnon, lord of all Hellenes! I am come and bring thee thy

daughter, whom thou didst call Iphigenia in thy home; and her
mother, thy wife Clytemnestra, is with her, and the child Orestes, a

sight to gladden thee after thy long absence from thy palace; but,
as they had been travelling long and far, they are now refreshing

their tender feet at the waters of a fair spring, they and their
horses, for we turned these loose in the grassymeadow to browse their

fill; but I am come as their forerunner to prepare thee for their
reception; for the army knows already of thy daughter's arrival, so

quickly did the rumour spread; and all the folk are running together
to the sight, that they may see thy child; for Fortune's favourites

enjoy a worldwide fame and have all eyes fixed on them. "Is it a
wedding?" some ask, "or what is happening? or has king Agamemnon

from fond yearning summoned his daughter hither?" From others thou
wouldst have heard: "They are presenting the maiden to Artemis,

queen of Aulis, previous to marriage; who can the bridegroom be,
that is to lead her home?"

Come, then, begin the rites-that is the next step-by getting the
baskets ready; crown your heads; prepare the wedding-hymn, thou and

prince Menelaus with thee; let flutes resound throughout the tents
with noise of dancer's feet; for this is a happy day, that is come for

the maid.
AGAMEMNON

Thou hast my thanks; now go within; for the rest it will be
well, as Fate proceeds.

Exit MESSENGER.
Ah, woe is me! unhappywretch, what can I say? where shall I

begin? Into what cruel straits have I been plunged! Fortune has
outwitted me, proving far cleverer than any cunning of mine. What an

advantage humble birth possesses! for it is easy for her sons to
weep and tell out all their sorrows; while to the high-born man come

these same sorrows, but we have dignity throned o'er our life and
are the people's slaves. I, for instance, am ashamed to weep, nor

less, poor wretch, to check my tears at the awful pass to which I am
brought. Oh! what am I to tell my wife? how shall I welcome her?

with what face meet her? for she too has undone me by coming uninvited
in this my hour of sorrow; yet it was but natural she should come with

her daughter to prepare the bride and perform the fondest duties,
where she will discover my villainy. And for this poor maid-why

maid? Death, methinks, will soon make her his bride-how I pity her!
Thus will she plead to me, I trow: "My father will thou slay me? Be

such the wedding thou thyself mayst find, and whosoever is a friend to
thee!" while Orestes, from his station near us, will cry in childish

accents, inarticulate, yet fraught with meaning. Alas! to what utter
ruin Paris, the son of Priam, the cause of these troubles, has brought

me by his union with Helen!
CHORUS

I pity her myself, in such wise as a woman, and she a stranger,
may bemoan the misfortunes of royalty.

MENELAUS (Offering his hand)
Thy hand, brother! let me grasp it.

AGAMEMNON
I give it; thine is the victory, mine the sorrow.

MENELAUS
By Pelops our reputed grandsire and Atreus our father I swear to

tell thee the truth from my heart, without any covert purpose, but
only what I think. The sight of thee in tears made me pity thee, and

in return I shed a tear for thee myself; I withdraw from my former
proposals, ceasing to be a cause of fear to thee; yea, and I will

put myself in thy present position; and I counsel thee, slay not thy
child nor prefer my interests to thine; for it is not just that thou

shouldst grieve, while I am glad, or that thy children should die,
while mine still see the light of day. What is it, after all, I

seek? If I am set on marriage, could I not find a bride as choice
elsewhere? Was I to lose a brother-the last I should have lost-to

win a Helen, getting bad for good? I was mad, impetuous as a youth,
till I perceived, on closer view, what slaying children really

meant. Moreover I am filled with compassion for the haplessmaiden,
doomed to bleed that I may wed, when I reflect that we are kin. What

has thy daughter to do with Helen? Let the army be disbanded and leave
Aulis; dry those streaming eyes, brother, and provoke me not to tears.

Whatever concern thou hast in oracles that affect thy child, let it be
none of mine; into thy hands I resign my share therein. A sudden

change, thou'lt say, from my fell proposals! A natural course for
me; affection for my brother caused the change. These are the ways

of a man not void of virtue, to pursue on each occasion what is best.
CHORUS

A generous speech, worthy of Tantalus, the son of Zeus! Thou
dost not shame thy ancestry.

AGAMEMNON
I thank thee, Menelaus, for this unexpectedsuggestion; 'tis an

honourable proposal, worthy of thee.
MENELAUS

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.
AGAMEMNON

'Tis useless, for circumstances compel me to carry out the
murderous sacrifice of my daughter.

MENELAUS
How so? who will compel thee to slay thine own child?

AGAMEMNON
The whole Achaean army here assembled.

MENELAUS
Not if thou send her back to Argos.

AGAMEMNON
I might do that unnoticed, but there will be another thing I

cannot.
MENELAUS

What is that? Thou must not fear the mob too much.
AGAMEMNON

Calchas will tell the Argive host his oracles.
MENELAUS

Not if he be killed ere that-an easy matter.
AGAMEMNON

The whole tribe of seers is a curse with its ambition.
MENELAUS

Yes, and good for nothing and useless, when amongst us.
AGAMEMNON

Has the thought, which is rising in my mind, no terrors for thee?
MENELAUS

How can I understand thy meaning, unless thou declare it?
AGAMEMNON

The son of Sisyphus knows all.
MENELAUS

Odysseus cannot possibly hurt us.
AGAMEMNON

He was ever shifty by nature, siding with the mob.
MENELAUS

True, he is enslaved by the love of popularity, a fearful evil.
AGAMEMNON

Bethink thee then, will he not arise among the Argives and tell
them the oracles that Calchas delivered, saying of me that I undertook

to offer Artemis a victim, and after all am proving false? Then,
when he has carried the army away with him, he will bid the Argives

slay us and sacrifice the maiden; and if I escape to Argos, they
will come and destroy the place, razing it to the ground, Cyclopean

walls and all. That is my trouble. Woe is me! to what straits Heaven
has brought me at this pass! Take one precaution for me, Menelaus,

as thou goest through the host, that Clytemnestra learn this not, till
I have taken my child and devoted her to death, that my affliction may