Stasimon 2
[Episode]
Yes, from Mycenae, which was once prosperous.
510
Iphigenia
Have you left your country as an exile, or by what fate?
Orestes
My flight is in some manner willed and unwilled.
Iphigenia
Could you then tell me something that I wish to know?
Orestes
It will be no great addition to my own misfortune.
Iphigenia
Indeed, I am so glad that you have come from Argos!
515
Orestes
I am not; but if you are, take pleasure in it.
Iphigenia
Perhaps you know Troy, whose fame is everywhere.
Orestes
Would that I did not, even seen in a dream!
Iphigenia
They say it is no more, lost to the spear.
Orestes
It is so; you have heard nothing that has not happened.
520
Iphigenia
Has Helen come back to Menelaus’ home?
Orestes
She has; it was an unfortunate arrival for one dear to me.
Iphigenia
And where is she? She deserves an ill turn from me also.
Orestes
She lives at Sparta with her former bedfellow.
Iphigenia
Creature hated by Hellas, not by me alone!
525
Orestes
I have also had some benefit from the marriage of that woman!
Iphigenia
Have the Achaeans returned, as reported?
Orestes
How you put everything together and ask me all at once!
Iphigenia
Before you die, I want to profit by your answers.
Orestes
Question me, since you desire this; I will tell you.
530
Iphigenia
Has a certain Calchas, a prophet, come back from Troy?
Orestes
He is dead, as the story goes in Mycenae.
Iphigenia
O goddess, how good that is! What about Odysseus?
Orestes
He has not yet returned, but is alive, they say.
Iphigenia
May he die and never achieve a return to his country!
535
Orestes
Do not pray against that man; all is misery for him.
Iphigenia
But is the son of Thetis the Nereid still alive?
Orestes
He is not; his marriage at Aulis was in vain.
Iphigenia
Yes, for it was a cheat, as those who experienced it know.
