Agamemnon
I count you happier than myself because you know nothing. Go within—it is wrong for maidens to be seen—after you have given me your hand and a kiss,
[680]
on the eve of your lengthy sojourn far from your father's side. Breast, cheek, and golden hair! ah, how grievous you have found Helen and the Phrygians' city! I can speak no more; the tears come welling to my eyes, the moment I touch you.
[685]
Go into the house. Exit Iphigenia. Agamemnon turns to Clytemnestra. I beg your pardon, daughter of Leda, if I showed excessive grief at the thought of giving my daughter to Achilles; for though we are sending her to taste of bliss, still it wrings a parent's heart, when he, the father who has toiled so hard for them,
[690]
commits his children to the homes of strangers.
Clytemnestra
I am not so senseless; But I think I will go through this as well, when I lead the girl from the chamber to the sound of the marriage hymn; so I do not chide you; but custom will combine with time to make the smart grow less.
[695]
As for him, to whom you have betrothed our daughter, I know his name, it is true, but want to learn his lineage and the land of his birth.
Agamemnon
There was one Aegina, the daughter of Asopus.
Clytemnestra
Who wedded her? Some mortal or a god?
Agamemnon
Zeus, and she bore Aeacus, the prince of Oenone.
Clytemnestra
[700]
What son of Aeacus secured his father's halls?
Agamemnon
Peleus, who wedded the daughter of Nereus.
Clytemnestra
With the god's consent, or when he had taken her in spite of gods?
Agamemnon
Zeus betrothed her, and her guardian gave consent.
Clytemnestra
Where did he marry her? in the billows of the sea?
Agamemnon
[705]
In Chiron's home, at sacred Pelion's foot.
Clytemnestra
What! the abode ascribed to the race of Centaurs?
Agamemnon
It was there the gods celebrated the marriage feast of Peleus.
Clytemnestra
Did Thetis or his father train Achilles?
Agamemnon
Chiron brought him up, to prevent his learning the ways of the wicked.
Clytemnestra
[710]
Ah! wise the teacher, still wiser the one who gave his son.
Agamemnon
Such is the future husband of your daughter.
Clytemnestra
A blameless lord; but what city in Hellas is his?
Agamemnon
He dwells on the banks of the river Apidanus, in the borders of Phthia.
Clytemnestra
Will you convey our daughter there?
Agamemnon
[715]
He who takes her to himself will see to that.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, translated by E. P. Coleridge. Volume II. London. George Bell and Sons. 1891.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.