Parodos
[Episode]
Daughter of Leda, in addition to my first letter, I am sending you word —.
115
Old man
Say on and make it plain, that what my tongue utters may accord with what you have written.
Agamemnon
Not to despatch your daughter to
Euboea’s deep-gulfed wing, to the waveless bay of Aulis, for after all we will celebrate our child’s wedding at another time.
120
Old man
And how will Achilles, cheated of his bride,
curb the fury of his indignation against you and your wife? Here also is a danger.Paley follows Musgrave in assigning these words to Agamemnon, assuming that the king passes over the servant’s last remark and adds a new cause of alarm, viz., the fraud that is being practiced on Achilles. Make clear what you are saying.
125
Agamemnon
It is his name, not himself that Achilles is lending, knowing nothing of the marriage or of my scheming
or my professed readiness to betroth my daughter to him for a husband’s embrace.Lines 124-32 are rejected by some editors. Hennig supposes them to be the work of the younger Euripides.
130
Old man
A dreadful venture yours, king Agamemnon, you that, by promise of your daughter’s hand to the son of the goddess,
were bringing the maid here to be sacrificed for the Danaids.
135
Agamemnon
Ah me! I am utterly distraught; alas! bewilderment comes over me. Away! hurry your steps,
yielding nothing to old age.
140
Old man
I will make haste, king.
140
Agamemnon
Do not sit down by woodland fountains; scorn the witcheries of sleep.
Old man
Hush!The old man cuts short Agamemnon’s warnings, as being an un-called-for reflection on his own loyalty.
Agamemnon
And when you pass any place where roads diverge,
cast your eyes all round, taking heed that no mule-wagon eacape you, passing by on rolling wheels, bearing my child to the ships of the Danaids.
145
Agamemnon
Start then from the bolted gates,Paley retains the MSS. κλήθρων δ᾽ ἐξόρμα, omitting νιν with Monk in 1. 150; Wecklein, reading ἐξορμώσαις to agree with πομπαῖς retains νιν. Hermann transposes the verse after 1. 152, and so Nauck edits.
and if you meet the escort, start them back again, and drive at full speed to the abodes of the Cyclopes.
150
Old man
But tell me, how shall my message find credit with your wife or child?
Agamemnon
Preserve the seal which you bear on this tablet. Away! Already the dawn is growing grey, lighting the lamp of day and the fire of the sun’s four steeds;
155
help me in my trouble. Exit Old man.
No mortal is prosperous or happy to the last, for no one was ever born to a painless life. Exit Agamemnon.
160
[Choral 1]
To the sandy beach
Chorus
of sea-coast Aulis I have come after a voyage through the tides of narrow Euripus, leaving Chalcis, my city which feeds the waters
165
of far-famed Arethusa near the sea, so that I might behold the army of the Achaeans and the ships rowed by those godlike heroes; for our husbands tell us
170
that fair-haired Menelaus and high-born Agamemnon are leading them to Troy on a thousand ships in quest of Helen, whom Paris the herdsman
175
carried off from the banks of reedy Eurotas, his gift from Aphrodite, when that queen of Cyprus entered beauty’s contest with Hera and Pallas at the gushing fountain.Dindorf, with whom Paley agrees, regards 11. 171-84 as the work of a later hand, and gives good reasons for his opinion.
180
Through the grove of Artemis, rich with sacrifice, I sped my course, my cheek stained with red from maiden modesty, in my eagerness to see the soldiers’ camp,
185
the tents of the mail-clad Danaids, and their crowd of horses. The whole of the following long passage from l.192-302 is inclosed in brackets by Paley. Dindorf and Hermann condemn the greater part, retaining a few lines here and there.I saw two met together in council; one was Aias, son of Oileus; the other Aias, son of Telamon, crown of glory to the men of Salamis;
190
