ACH.  We guards will watch thee when there is occasion, lest any one behold thee going in agitation through the host of the Greeks.  But do not shame thy ancestral home, for Tyndarus is not worthy of an evil reputation, seeing he is great among the Greeks.

CLY.  These things shall be.  Command; it is meet that I obey thee.  But if there are Gods, you, being a just man, will receive a good reward; but if not, why should one toil?

CHOR.  What was that nuptial song that raised[77] its strains on the Libyan reed, and with the dance-loving lyre, and the reedy syrinx, when o’er Pelion at the feast of the Gods the fair-haired muses, striking their feet with golden sandals against the ground, came to the wedding of Peleus, celebrating with melodious sounds Thetis, and the son of AEacus, on the mountains of the Centaurs, through the Palian wood.

But the Dardan,[78] [Phrygian Ganymede,] dear delight of Jove’s bed, poured out the nectar in the golden depths of the goblets, and along the white sands the fifty daughters of Nereus, entwining in circles, adorned the nuptials of Nereus with the dance.  But with darts of fir, and crowns of grass, the horse-mounted troop of the Centaurs came to the banquet of the Gods and the cup of Bacchus.  And the Thessalian girls shouted loud,[79] “O daughter of Nereus,” and the prophet Phoebus, and Chiron, skilled in letters, declared, “Thou shalt bring forth a mighty light, who shall come to the [Trojan] land with Myrmidons armed with spear and shield, to burn the renowned city of Priam, around his body armed with a covering of golden arms wrought by Vulcan, having them as a gift from his Goddess Thetis, who begat him blessed.”  Then the deities celebrated the nuptials of the noble daughter of Nereus first,[80] and of Peleus.  But thee, [O Iphigenia,] they will crown on the head with flowery garlands, like as a pure spotted heifer from a rocky cave, making bloody the mortal throat [of one] not trained up with the pipe, nor amidst the songs of herdsmen, but as a bride[81] prepared by thy mother for some one of the Argives.  Where has the face of shame, or virtue any power to prevail?  Since impiety indeed has influence, but virtue is left behind and disregarded by mortals, and lawlessness governs law, and it is a common struggle for mortals, lest any envy of the Gods befall.

CLY.  I have come out of the house to seek for my husband, who has been absent, and has quitted the house a long time.  But my hapless daughter is in tears, casting forth many a change of complaint, having heard the death her father devises for her.  But I was mindful of Agamemnon who is now coming hither,[82] who will quickly be detected doing evil deeds against his own children.

AG.  Daughter of Leda, opportunely have I found you without the house, that I may tell thee, apart from the virgin, words which it is not meet for those to hear who are about to marry.

CLY.  And what is it, on which your convenience lays hold?