Euripides' IPHIGENIA AT AULIS Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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80 pages - You are on Page 69

Achilles: Keep hold of thy daughter.

Clytaemnestra: Be sure that she shall not be slain, as far as that
can help her.

Achilles: Believe me, it will come to this.

Iphigenia: Mother, hear me while I speak, for I see that thou art
wroth with thy husband to no purpose; 'tis hard for us to persist
in impossibilities. Our thanks are due to this stranger for his ready
help; but thou must also see to it that he is not reproached by the
army, leaving us no better off and himself involved in trouble. Listen,
mother; hear what thoughts have passed across my mind. I am resolved
to die; and this I fain would do with honour, dismissing from me what
is mean. Towards this now, mother, turn thy thoughts, and with me
weigh how well I speak; to me the whole of mighty Hellas looks; on
me the passage o'er the sea depends; on me the sack of Troy; and in
my power it lies to check henceforth barbarian raids on happy Hellas,
if ever in the days to come they seek to seize her daughters, when
once they have atoned by death for the violation of Helen's marriage
by Paris. All this deliverance will my death insure, and my fame for
setting Hellas free will be a happy one. Besides, I have no right
at all to cling too fondly to my life; for thou didst not bear me
for myself alone, but as a public blessing to all Hellas. What! shall
countless warriors, armed with shields, those myriads sitting at the
oar, find courage to attack the foe and die for Hellas, because their
fatherland is wronged, and my one life prevent all this? What kind
of justice is that? could I find a word in answer? Now turn we to
that other point. It is not right that this man should enter the lists
with all Argos or be slain fox a woman's sake. Better a single man
should see the light than ten thousand women. If Artemis is minded
to take this body, am I, a weak mortal, to thwart the goddess? Nay,
that were impossible. To Hellas I resign it; offer this sacrifice
and make an utter end of Troy. This is my enduring monument; marriage,
motherhood, and fame-all these is it to me. And it is but right, mother,
that Hellenes should rule barbarians, but not barbarians Hellenes,
those being slaves, while these are free.

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