Wherein?for Iwas ever wont to yield thee obedience.
AGAMEMNON
Here,where the bridegroom is,will!
CLYTAEMNESTRA
Which of my duties will ye perform in the mother's absence?
AGAMEMNON
Give thy child away with help of Danai.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
And where am Ito be the while?
AGAMEMNON
Get thee to Argos,and take care of thy unwedded daughters.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
And leave my child?Then who will raise her bridal torch?
AGAMEMNON
Iwill provide the proper wedding torch.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
That is not the custom;but thou thinkest lightly of these things.
AGAMEMNON
It is not good thou shouldst be alone among a soldier-crowd.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
It is good that a mother should give her own child away.
AGAMEMNON
Aye,and that those maidens at home should not be left alone.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
They are in safe keeping,pent in their maiden-bowers.
AGAMEMNON
Obey.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
Nay,by the goddess-queen of Argos!go,manage matters out of doors;but in the house it is my place to decide what is proper for maidens at their wedding.Exit.
AGAMEMNON
Woe is me!my efforts are baffled;Iam disappointed in my hope,anxious as Iwas to get my wife out of sight;foiled at every point,Iform my plots and subtle schemes against my best-beloved.But Iwill go,in spite of all,with Calchas the priest,to inquire the goddess's good pleasure,fraught with ill-luck as it is to me,and with trouble to Hellas.He who is wise should keep in his house a good and useful wife or none at all.
Exit.
CHORUS
They say the Hellenes'gathered host will come in arms aboard their ships to Simois with its silver eddies,even to Ilium,the plain of Troy beloved by Phoebus;where famed Cassandra,Iam told,whene'er the god's resistless prophecies inspire her,wildly tosses her golden tresses,wreathed with crown of verdant bay.And on the towers of Troy and round her walls shall Trojans stand,when sea-borne troops with brazen shields row in on shapely ships to the channels of the Simois,eager to take Helen,the sister of that heavenly pair whom Zeus begat,from Priam,and bear her back to Hellas by toil of Achaea's shields and spears;encircling Pergamus,the Phrygians'town,with murderous war around her stone-built towers,dragging men's heads backward to cut their throats,and sacking the citadel of Troy from roof to base,a cause of many tears to maids and Priam's wife;and Helen,the daughter of Zeus,shall weep in bitter grief,because she left her lord.
Oh!ne'er may there appear to me or to my children's children the prospect which the wealthy Lydian dames and Phrygia's brides will have,as at their looms they hold converse:"Say who will pluck this fair blossom from her ruined country,tightening his grasp on lovely tresses till the tears flow?'Tis all through thee,the offspring of the long-necked swan;if indeed it be a true report that Leda bare thee to a winged bird,when Zeus transformed himself thereto,or whether,in the pages of the poets,fables have carried these tales to men's ears idly,out of season."Enter ACHILLES.
ACHILLES
Where in these tents is Achaea's general?Which of his servants will announce to him that Achilles,the son of Peleus,is at his gates seeking him?For this delay at the Euripus is not the same for all of us;there be some,for instance,who,though still unwed,have left their houses desolate and are idling here upon the beach,while others are married and have children;so strange the longing for this expedition that has fallen on their hearts by Heaven's will.My own just plea must Ideclare,and whoso else hath any wish will speak for himself.Though Ihave left Pharsalia and Peleus,still Ilinger here by reason of these light breezes at the Euripus,restraining my Myrmidons,while they are ever instant with me saying,"Why do we tarry,Achilles?how much longer must we count the days to the start for Ilium?do something,if thou art so minded;else lead home thy men,and wait not for the tardy action of these Atridae."Enter CLYTAEMNESTRA.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
Hail to thee,son of the Nereid goddess!Iheard thy voice from within the tent and therefore came forth.
ACHILLES
Omodesty revered!who can this lady be whom Ibehold,so richly dowered with beauty's gifts?
CLYTAEMNESTRA
No wonder thou knowest me not,seeing Iam one thou hast never before set eyes on;Ipraise thy reverent address to modesty.
ACHILLES
Who art thou,and wherefore art thou come to the mustering of the Danai-thou,a woman,to a fenced camp of men?
CLYTAEMNESTRA
The daughter of Leda I;my name Clytaemnestra;and my husband king Agamemnon.
ACHILLES
Well and shortly answered on all important points!but it ill befits that Ishould stand talking to women.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
Stay;why seek to fly?Give me thy hand,a prelude to a happy marriage.
ACHILLES
What is it thou sayest?Igive thee my hand?Were Ito lay a finger where Ihave no right,Icould ne'er meet Agamemnon's eye.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
The best of rights hast thou,seeing it is my child thou wilt wed,Oson of the sea-goddess,whom Nereus begat.
ACHILLES
What wedding dost thou speak of?words fail me,lady;can thy wits have gone astray and art thou inventing this?
CLYTAEMNESTRA
All men are naturally shy in the presence of new relations,when these remind them of their wedding.
ACHILLES
Lady,Ihave never wooed daughter of thine,nor have the sons of Atreus ever mentioned marriage to me.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
What can it mean?thy turn now to marvel at my words,for thine are passing strange to me.
ACHILLES
Hazard a guess;that we can both do in this matter;for it may be we are both correct in our statements.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
What!have Isuffered such indignity?The marriage Iam courting has no reality,it seems;Iam ashamed of it.
ACHILLES
Some one perhaps has made a mock of thee and me;pay no heed thereto;make light of it.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
Farewell;Ican no longer face thee with unfaltering eyes,after being made a liar and suffering this indignity.
ACHILLES
Tis "farewell"too Ibid thee,lady;and now Igo within the tent to seek thy husband.
