Euripides' IPHIGENIA AT AULIS Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

Euripides Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Euripides in Print

80 pages - You are on Page 78

Messenger: Dear mistress, thou shalt learn all clearly; from the outset
will I tell it, unless my memory fail me somewhat and confuse my tongue
in its account. As soon as we reached the grove of Artemis, the child
of Zeus, and the meadows gay with flowers, where the Achaean troops
were gathered, bringing thy daughter with us, forthwith the Argive
host began assembling; but when king Agamemnon saw the maiden on her
way to the grove to be sacrificed, he gave one groan, and, turning
away his face, let the tears burst from his eyes, as he held his robe
before them. But the maid, standing close by him that begot her, spake
on this wise, "O my father, here am I to do thy bidding; freely I
offer this body of mine for my country and all Hellas, that ye may
lead me to the altar of the goddess and sacrifice me, since this is
Heaven's ordinance. Good luck be yours for any help that I afford!
and may ye obtain the victor's gift and come again to the land of
your fathers. So then let none of the Argives lay hands on me, for
I will bravely yield my neck without a word."

She spake; and each man marvelled, as he heard the maiden's brave,
unflinching speech. But in the midst up stood Talthybius-for his this
duty was-and bade the host refrain from word or deed; and Calchas,
the seer, drawing a sharp sword from out its scabbard laid it in a
basket of beaten gold, crowning the maiden's head the while. Then
the son of Peleus, taking the basket and with it lustral water in
his hand, ran round the altar of the goddess uttering these words,
"O Artemis, thou child of Zeus, slayer of wild beasts, that wheelest
thy dazzling light amid the gloom, accept this sacrifice, which we,
the host of the Achaeans and king Agamemnon with us, offer to thee,
even pure blood from a beauteous maiden's neck; and grant us safe
sailing for our ships and the sack of Troy's towers by our spears."

Previous Page / First / Next Page of Iphigenia At Aulis

Euripides Home Page ||| Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons
Aeschylus ||| Sophocles

Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/euripides/iphigenia-aulis.asp?pg=78