Nay,but here and in Troy Iwill show the ******* of my nature,and,as far as in me lies,do honour to Ares with my spear.Thee,lady,who hast suffered so cruelly from thy nearest and dearest,will I,by every effort in a young man's power,set right,investing thee with that amount of pity,and never shall thy daughter,after being once called my bride,die by her father's hand;for Iwill not lend myself to thy husband's subtle tricks;no!for it will be my name that kills thy child,although it wieldeth not the steel.Thy own husband is the actual cause,but Ishall no longer be guiltless,if,because of me and my marriage,this maiden perishes,she that hath suffered past endurance and been the victim of affronts most strangely undeserved.So am Imade the poorest wretch in Argos;Ia thing of naught,and Menelaus counting for a man!No son of Peleus I,but the issue of a vengeful fiend,if my name shall serve thy husband for the murder.Nay!by Nereus,who begat my mother Thetis,in his home amid the flowing waves,never shall king Agamemnon touch thy daughter,no!not even to the laying of a finger-tip upon her robe;else will Sipylus,that frontier town of barbarism,the cradle of those chieftains'line,be henceforth a city indeed,while Phthia's name will nowhere find mention.Calchas,the seer,shall rue beginning the sacrifice with his barley-meal and lustral water.Why,what is a seer?Aman who with luck tells the truth sometimes,with frequent falsehoods,but when his luck deserts him,collapses then and there.
It is not to secure a bride that Ihave spoken thus-there be maids unnumbered eager to have my love-no!but king Agamemnon has put an insult on me;he should have asked my leave to use my name as a means to catch the child,for it was Ichiefly who induced Clytaemnestra to betroth her daughter to me;verily Ihad yielded this to Hellas,if that was where our going to Ilium broke down;Iwould never have refused to further my fellow soldiers'common interest.
But,as it is,Iam as naught in the eyes of those chieftains,and little they reck of treating me well or ill.My sword shall soon know if any one is to snatch thy daughter from me,for then will Imake it reek with the bloody stains of slaughter,ere it reach Phrygia.Calm thyself then;as a god in his might Iappeared to thee,without being so,but such will Ishow myself for all that.
CHORUS
Son of Peleus,thy words are alike worthy of thee and that sea-born deity,the holy goddess.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
Ah!would Icould find words to utter thy praise without excess,and yet not lose the graciousness thereof by stinting it;for when the good are praised,they have a feeling,as it were,of hatred for those who in their praise exceed the mean.But Iam ashamed of intruding a tale of woe,since my affliction touches myself alone and thou art not affected by troubles of mine;but still it looks well for the man of worth to assist the unfortunate,even when he is not connected with them.Wherefore pity us,for our sufferings cry for pity;in the first place,Ihave harboured an idle hope in thinking to have thee wed my daughter;and next,perhaps,the slaying of my child will be to thee an evil omen in thy wooing hereafter,against which thou must guard thyself.Thy words were good,both first and last;for if thou will it so,my daughter will be saved.Wilt have her clasp thy knees in suppliant wise?'Tis no maid's part;yet if it seem good to thee,why come she shall with the modest look of free-born maid;but if Ishall obtain the self-same end from thee without ker coming,then let her abide within,for there is dignity in her reserve;still reserve must only go as far as the case allows.
ACHILLES
Bring not thou thy daughter out for me to see,lady,nor let us incur the reproach of the ignorant;for an army,when gathered together without domestic duties to employ it,loves the evil gossip of malicious tongues.After all,should ye supplicate me,ye will attain a like result as if Ihad ne'er been supplicated;for Iam myself engaged in a mighty struggle to rid you of your troubles.One thing be sure thou hast heard;Iwill not tell a lie;if Ido that or idly mock thee,may Idie,but live if Ipreserve the maid.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
Bless thee for ever succouring the distressed!
ACHILLES
Hearken then to me,that the matter may succeed.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
What is thy proposal?for hear thee Imust.
ACHILLES
Let us once more urge her father to a better frame of mind.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
He is something of a coward,and fears the army too much.
ACHILLES
Still argument o'erthroweth argument.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
Cold hope indeed;but tell me what Imust do.
ACHILLES
Entreat him first not to slay his children,and if he is stubborn,come to me.Fir if he consents to thy request,my intervention need go no further,since this consent insures thy safety.Itoo shall show myself in a better light to my friend,and the army will not blame me,if Iarrange the matter by reason rather than force;while,should things turn out well,the result will prove satisfactory both to thee and thy friends,even without my interference.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
How sensibly thou speakest!Imust act as seemeth best to thee;but should Ifail of my object,where am Ito see thee again?
whither must Iturn my wretched steps and find thee ready to champion my distress?
ACHILLES
Iam keeping watch to guard thee,where occasion calls,that none see thee passing through the host of Danai with that scared look.
Shame not thy father's house;for Tyndareus deserveth not to be ill spoken of,being a mighty man in Hellas.
CLYTAEMNESTRA
'Tis even so.Command me;Imust play the slave to thee.If there are gods,thou for thy righteous dealing wilt find them favourable;if there are none,what need to toil?
Exeunt ACHILLESand CLYTAEMNESTRA.
CHORUS
What wedding-hymn was that which raised its strains to the sound of Libyan flutes,to the music of the dancer's lyre,and the note of the pipe of reeds?
