IPHIGENIA IN AULIS
A monologue from the
play by Euripides
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from The Plays of Euripides in English, vol. i. Trans.
Shelley Dean Milman. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1920. |
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- CLYTEMNESTRA: Now hear me, for my thoughts will I
unfold
- In no obscure and coloured mode of speech.
- First then, for first with this will I upbraid thee,
- Me didst thou wed against my will, and seize
- By force; my former husband Tantalus
- By thee was slain. By thee my infant son,
- Torn from my breast by violence, was whirled
- And dashed against the ground. The sons of Jove,
- My brothers, glitt'ring on their steeds in arms
- Advanced against thee; but old Tyndarus,
- My father, saved thee, at his knees become
- A supplicant; and hence didst thou obtain
- My bed. To thee and to thy house my thoughts
- Thus reconciled, thou shalt thyself attest
- How irreproachable a wife I was,
- How chaste, with what attention I increased
- The splendour of thy house, that ent'ring there
- Thou hadst delight, and going out, with thee
- Went happiness along. A wife like this
- Is a rare prize; the worthless are not rare.
- Three daughters have I borne thee, and this son.
- Of one of these wilt thou--O piercing grief!--
- Deprive me. Should one ask thee, for what cause
- Thy daughter wilt thou kill, what wouldst thou say?
- Speak; or I must speak for thee! E'en for this,
- That Menelaus may regain Helena.
- Well would it be, if, for his wanton wife
- Our children made the price, what most we hate
- With what is dearest to us we redeem.
- But if thou lead the forces, leaving me
- At Argos, should thy absence then be long,
- Think what my heart must feel, when in the house
- I see the seats all vacant of my child,
- And her apartment vacant: I shall sit
- Alone, in tears, thus ever wailing her:
- "Thy father, O my child, hath slain thee; he
- That gave thee birth, hath killed thee, not another,
- Nor by another hand; this is the prize
- He left his house." But do not, by the gods,
- Do not compel me to be aught but good
- To thee, nor be thou aught but good to me;
- Since there will want a slight pretence alone
- For me, and for my daughters left at home,
- To welcome, as becomes us, thy return.
- Well, thou wilt sacrifice thy child: what vows
- Wilt thou then form? what blessing wilt thou ask
- To wait thee, thou, who dost thy daughter slay--
- Thou, who with shame to this unlucky war
- Art marching? Is it just that I should pray
- For aught of good to thee? Should I not deem
- The gods unwise, if they their favours shower
- On those who stain their willing hands with blood?
- Wilt thou, to Argos when returned, embrace
- Thy children? But thou hast no right: thy face
- Which of thy children will behold, if one
- With cool deliberate purpose thou shalt kill?
- Now to this point I come: if thee alone
- To bear the sceptre, thee to lead the troops
- Th' occasion called, shouldst thou not thus have urged
- Thy just appeal to Greece: "Is it your will,
- Ye Grecians, to the Phrygian shores to sail?
- Cast then the lot whose daughter must be slain."
- This had at least been equal; nor hadst thou
- Been singled out from all to give thy child
- A victim for the Greeks. Or Menelaus,
- Whose cause this is, should for the mother slay
- Hermione: but I, who to thy bed
- Am faithful, of my child shall be deprived,
- And she, that hath misdone, at her return
- To Sparta her young daughter shall bear back,
- And thus be happy. Aught if I have said
- Amiss, reply to that: but if my words
- Speak nought but sober reason, do not slay
- Thy child, and mine: and thus thou wilt be wise.
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MONOLOGUES BY EURIPIDES |
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