The Cypria: Reconstructing the Lost Prequel to Homer's Iliad

by D M Smith

  IPHIGENIA Ha! How wildly thou art looking, spite of thy joy at seeing me.

  AGAMEMNON A man has many cares when he is king and general too.

  IPHIGENIA Be mine, all mine today; turn not unto moody thoughts.

  AGAMEMNON Why so I am, all thine today; I have no other thought.

  IPHIGENIA Then smooth thy knitted brow, unbend and smile.

  AGAMEMNON Lo! My child, my joy at seeing thee is even as it is.

  IPHIGENIA And hast thou then the teardrop streaming from thy eyes?

  AGAMEMNON Aye, for long is the absence from each other that awaits us.

  IPHIGENIA I know not, dear father mine, I know not of what thou art speaking.

  AGAMEMNON Thou art moving my pity all the more by speaking so sensibly.

  IPHIGENIA My words shall turn to senselessness, if that will cheer thee more.

  AGAMEMNON (Aside) Ah, woe is me! This silence is too much. (To IPHIGENIA) Thou hast my thanks.

  IPHIGENIA Stay with thy children at home, Father.

  AGAMEMNON My own wish! But to my sorrow I may not humour it.

  IPHIGENIA Ruin seize their warring and the woes of Menelaus!

  AGAMEMNON First will that, which has been my life-long ruin, bring ruin unto others.

  IPHIGENIA How long thou wert absent in the bays of Aulis!

  AGAMEMNON Aye, and there is still a hindrance to my sending the army forward.

  IPHIGENIA Where do men say the Phrygians live, Father?

  AGAMEMNON In a land where I would Paris, the son of Priam, never had dwelt.

  IPHIGENIA ’Tis a long voyage thou art bound on, Father, after thou leavest me.

  AGAMEMNON Thou wilt meet thy father again, my daughter.

  IPHIGENIA Ah! Would it were seemly that thou shouldst take me as a fellow-voyager!

  AGAMEMNON Thou too hast a voyage to make to a haven where thou wilt remember thy father.

  IPHIGENIA Shall I sail thither with my mother or alone?

  AGAMEMNON All alone, without father or mother.

  IPHIGENIA What! Hast thou found me a new home, Father?

  AGAMEMNON Enough of this! ’Tis not for girls to know such things.

  IPHIGENIA Speed home from Troy, I pray thee, Father, as soon as thou hast triumphed there.

  AGAMEMNON There is a sacrifice I have first to offer here.

  IPHIGENIA Yea, ’tis thy duty to heed religion with aid of holy rites.

  AGAMEMNON Thou wilt witness it, for thou wilt be standing near the laver.

  IPHIGENIA Am I to lead the dance then round the altar, Father?

  AGAMEMNON (Aside) I count thee happier than myself because thou knowest nothing. (To IPHIGENIA) Go within into the presence of maidens, after thou hast given me thy hand and one sad kiss, on the eve of thy lengthy sojourn far from thy father’s side. Bosom, cheek, and golden hair! Ah, how grievous ye have found Helen and the Phrygians’ city! I can no more; the tears come welling to my eyes the moment I touch thee.

  Exit IPHIGENIA

  AGAMEMNON (Turning to CLYTEMNESTRA) Herein I crave thy pardon, daughter of Leda, if I showed excessive grief at the thought of resigning my daughter to Achilles. For though we are sending her to taste of bliss, still it wrings a parent’s heart when he, the father who has toiled so hard for them, commits his children to the homes of strangers.

  CLYTEMNESTRA I am not so void of sense. Bethink thee, I shall go through this as well, when I lead the maiden from the chamber to the sound of the marriage-hymn. Wherefore I chide thee not, but custom will combine with time to make the smart grow less. As touching him to whom thou hast betrothed our daughter, I know his name, ’tis true, but would fain learn his lineage and the land of his birth.

  AGAMEMNON There was one Aegina, the daughter of Asopus.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Who wedded her? Some mortal or a god?

  AGAMEMNON Zeus, and she bare Aeacus, the prince of Cenone.

  CLYTEMNESTRA What son of Aeacus secured his father’s halls?

  AGAMEMNON Peleus, who wedded the daughter of Nereus.

  CLYTEMNESTRA With the god’s consent, or when he had taken her in spite of gods?

  AGAMEMNON Zeus betrothed her, and her guardian gave consent.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Where did he marry her? Amid the billows of the sea?

  AGAMEMNON In Chiron’s home, at sacred Pelion’s foot.

  CLYTEMNESTRA What! The abode ascribed to the race of Centaurs?

  AGAMEMNON It was there the gods celebrated the marriage feast of Peleus.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Did Thetis or his father train Achilles?

  AGAMEMNON Chiron brought him up, to prevent his learning the ways of the wicked.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Ah, wise the teacher, still wiser the father who entrusted his son to such hands.

  AGAMEMNON Such is the future husband of thy daughter.

  CLYTEMNESTRA A blameless lord; but what city in Hellas is his?

  AGAMEMNON He dwells on the banks of the river Apidanus, in the borders of Phthia.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Wilt thou convey our daughter thither?

  AGAMEMNON He who takes her to himself will see to that.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Happiness attend the pair! Which day will he marry her?

  AGAMEMNON As soon as the full moon comes to give its blessing.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Hast thou already offered the goddess a sacrifice to usher in the maiden’s marriage?

  AGAMEMNON I am about to do so; that is the very thing I was engaged in.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Wilt thou celebrate the marriage-feast thereafter?

  AGAMEMNON Yes, when I have offered a sacrifice required by Heaven of me.

  CLYTEMNESTRA But where am I to make ready the feast for the women?

  AGAMEMNON Here beside our gallant Argive ships.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Finely here! But still I must; good come of it for all that!

  AGAMEMNON I will tell thee, lady, what to do; so obey me now.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Wherein? For I was ever wont to yield thee obedience.

  AGAMEMNON Here, where the bridegroom is, will!

  CLYTEMNESTRA Which of my duties will ye perform in the mother’s absence?

  AGAMEMNON Give thy child away with help of Danai.

  CLYTEMNESTRA And where am I to be the while?

  AGAMEMNON Get thee to Argos, and take care of thy unwedded daughters.[66]

  CLYTEMNESTRA And leave my child? Then who will raise her bridal torch?

  AGAMEMNON I will provide the proper wedding torch.

  CLYTEMNESTRA 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.

  CLYTEMNESTRA 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.

  CLYTEMNESTRA They are in safe keeping, pent in their maiden-bowers.

  AGAMEMNON Obey.

  CLYTEMNESTRA 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 CLYTEMNESTRA

  AGAMEMNON Woe is me! My efforts are baffled; I am disappointed in my hope, anxious as I was to get my wife out of sight. Foiled at every point, I form my plots and subtle schemes against my best-beloved. But I will go, in spite of all, with Calchas the priest, to inquire the goddess’ 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 AGAMEMNON

  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, I am told, whenever 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 Hele
n, 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! Never 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 I declare, and whoso else hath any wish will speak for himself. Though I have left Pharsalia and Peleus, still I linger 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 CLYTEMNESTRA

  CLYTEMNESTRA Hail to thee, son of the Nereid goddess! I heard thy voice from within the tent and therefore came forth.

  ACHILLES Oh modesty revered! Who can this lady be whom I behold, so richly dowered with beauty’s gifts?

  CLYTEMNESTRA No wonder thou knowest me not, seeing I am one thou hast never before set eyes on; I praise 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?

  CLYTEMNESTRA The daughter of Leda I; my name Clytemnestra, and my husband King Agamemnon.

  ACHILLES Well and shortly answered on all important points! But it ill befits that I should stand talking to women.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Stay; why seek to fly? Give me thy hand, a prelude to a happy marriage.

  ACHILLES What is it thou sayest? I give thee my hand? Were I to lay a finger where I have no right, I could never meet Agamemnon’s eye.

  CLYTEMNESTRA The best of rights hast thou, seeing it is my child thou wilt wed, oh son 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?

  CLYTEMNESTRA All men are naturally shy in the presence of new relations, when these remind them of their wedding.

  ACHILLES Lady, I have never wooed daughter of thine, nor have the sons of Atreus ever mentioned marriage to me.

  CLYTEMNESTRA 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.

  CLYTEMNESTRA What! Have I suffered such indignity? The marriage I am courting has no reality, it seems; I am ashamed of it.

  ACHILLES Someone perhaps has made a mock of thee and me. Pay no heed thereto; make light of it.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Farewell; I can no longer face thee with unfaltering eyes, after being made a liar and suffering this indignity.

  ACHILLES ’Tis “farewell” too I bid thee, lady; and now I go within the tent to seek thy husband.

  ATTENDANT (Calling through the tent-door) Stranger of the race of Aeacus, stay awhile! Ho there! Thee I mean, oh goddess-born, and thee, daughter of Leda.

  ACHILLES Who is it calling through the half-opened door? What fear his voice betrays!

  ATTENDANT A slave am I; of that I am not proud, for fortune permits it not.

  ACHILLES Whose slave art thou? Not mine, for mine and Agamemnon’s goods are separate.

  ATTENDANT I belong to this lady who stands before the tent; a gift to her from Tyndareus her father.

  ACHILLES I am waiting. Tell me, if thou art desirous, why thou hast stayed me.

  ATTENDANT Are ye really all alone here at the door?

  CLYTEMNESTRA To us alone wilt thou address thyself; come forth from the king’s tent.

  ATTENDANT (Coming out) Oh Fortune and my own foresight, preserve whom I desire!

  ACHILLES That speech will save them—in the future; it has a certain pompous air.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Delay not for the sake of touching my right hand, if there is aught that thou wouldst say to me.

  ATTENDANT Well, thou knowest my character and my devotion to thee and thy children.

  CLYTEMNESTRA I know thou hast grown old in the service of my house.

  ATTENDANT Likewise thou knowest it was in thy dowry King Agamemnon received me.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Yes, thou camest to Argos with me, and hast been mine this long time past.

  ATTENDANT True; and though I bear thee all goodwill, I like not thy lord so well.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Come, come, unfold whatever thou hast to say.

  ATTENDANT Her father, he that begat her, is on the point of slaying thy daughter with his own hand.

  CLYTEMNESTRA How? Out upon thy story, old dotard! Thou art mad.

  ATTENDANT Severing with a sword the hapless maid’s white throat.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Ah, woe is me! Is my husband haply mad?

  ATTENDANT Nay; sane, except where thou and thy daughter are concerned—there he is mad.

  CLYTEMNESTRA What is his reason? What vengeful fiend impels him?

  ATTENDANT Oracles—at least so Calchas says, in order that the host may start.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Whither? Woe is me, and woe is thee, thy father’s destined victim!

  ATTENDANT To the halls of Dardanus, that Menelaus may recover Helen.

  CLYTEMNESTRA So Helen’s return then was fated to affect Iphigenia?

  ATTENDANT Thou knowest all; her father is about to offer thy child to Artemis.

  CLYTEMNESTRA But that marriage—what pretext had it for bringing me from home?

  ATTENDANT An inducement to thee to bring thy daughter cheerfully, to wed her to Achilles.

  CLYTEMNESTRA On a deadly errand art thou come, my daughter—both thou, and I, thy mother.

  ATTENDANT Piteous the lot of both of you—and fearful Agamemnon’s venture.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Alas! I am undone; my eyes can no longer stem their tears.

  ATTENDANT What more natural than to weep the loss of thy children?

  CLYTEMNESTRA Whence, old man, dost say thou hadst this news?

  ATTENDANT I had started to carry thee a letter referring to the former writing.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Forbidding or combining to urge my bringing the child to her death?

  ATTENDANT Nay, forbidding it, for thy lord was then in his sober senses.

  CLYTEMNESTRA How comes it then, if thou wert really bringing me a letter, that thou dost not now deliver into my hands?

  ATTENDANT Menelaus snatched it from me—he who caused this trouble.

  CLYTEMNESTRA Dost thou hear that, son of Peleus, the Nereid’s child?

  ACHILLES I have been listening to the tale of thy sufferings, and I am indignant to think I was used as a tool.

  CLYTEMNESTRA They will slay my child; they have tricked her with thy marriage.

  ACHILLES Like thee I blame thy lord, nor do I view it with mere indifference.

  CLYTEMNESTRA No longer will I let shame prevent
my kneeling to thee, a mortal to one goddess-born; why do I affect reserve? Whose interests should I consult before my child’s? (Throwing herself before ACHILLES) Oh! Help me, goddess-born, in my sore distress, and her that was called thy bride in vain, ’tis true, yet called she was. For thee it was I wreathed her head and led her forth as if to marriage, but now it is to slaughter I am bringing her. On thee will come reproach because thou didst not help her; for though not wedded to her, yet wert thou the loving husband of my hapless maid in name at any rate.