Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/337

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IPHIGENEIA AT AULIS.
309

Iphigeneia.

And yet—and yet—thine eyes are welling tears! 650


Agamemnon.

Yea, for the absence yet to come is long.


Iphigeneia.

I know not, know not, dear my sire, thy meaning.[1]


Agamemnon.

Thy wise discernment stirs my grief the more.


Iphigeneia.

So I may please thee, folly will I talk.


Agamemnon.

Ah me! (aside) This silence breaks my heart! (aloud) I thank thee. 655


Iphigeneia.

Stay, father, with thy children stay at home!


Agamemnon.

I would. My wish is barred: there lies my grief.

  1. ↑ Commentators are agreed that this line cannot have been written as it stands, on the ground that 651, which is (on the face of it), natural and intelligible, does not suggest it, nor, again, does this suggest 653. Something like
    "Nor thou nor I, dear father, know how long,"
    would seem to be required. The line may, however, as it stands, mean, expanded, "A father does not talk in such terms of the parting due to a daughter's marriage:—is there some hidden meaning in what you say?" Then the reference to her penetration, in Agamemnon's answer, would be natural.
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