The Iphigenia of Euripides [pp. 35-40]

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appropriate place, a few years before the birth
of Christ.
Yes: the ancients were men and women with
like passions as ourselves. They ate and drank,
and laughed and talked, and loved and hated.
They had ambitions and disappoinments. They
had their glimmerings of a better life, and their
longings to lift thle veil of the unseen, and gaze
upon its mysteries. They had their ideals, and
their poets thlat strove to embody them in words;
and doubtless, then as now, their highest imag inings were but newly combined portions of the
real. So that, in examining their poetic crea tions, we have, in truth, the materials of reality,
fused by the fervid heat of a poet's genius and
cast into the mold of a poet's imagination.
And since it is the picture of woman in those
olden times that we are seeking, we turn to the
pages of their poets.
Euripides was the last of the three great
dramatists that added their brilliant lights to
the Periclean blaze of Athenian splendor. Of
his place as a dramatic writer, of the success and failure of his various plays of comparative merit with his famous predecessors,we will not speak in this article. We are seeking the testimony of Euripides as to the nature
of woman; and are amused in the outset to
find that in his day he was proverbially known
as the "woman-hlater." We attribute this unfavorable opinion largely to the unfaithfulness
of his two wives, and the consequent disappointment and vexation of his home life. Yet
this unfortunate experience should only heighten
his ideal by contrast; and we think inl his "Alcestis" and "Iphigenia," he has presented his
loftiest conception of female virtue and fortitude. Turning through the pages, we will
sketch his "I lphigenia."
King Agamemnon and the entire Greek force
were on their way to Troy, to avenge the insult
offered to Menelaus, the king's brother, and
sustain the honor of the Grecians. Because of
Iun)favorable winds they were detained at Aulis;
and Ch.alcis, the seer, declared to the leader
that Troy never would be razed to the ground
unless his oldest daughter, Iphigenia, should be
sacrificed to Diana. Urged by these severe
alternatives, he sent for his daughter, presenting as an inducement for her coming, that she
was to be wedded to Achilles, the bravest of
the Greeks. After the message was sent, the
reaction of his parental love so filled Agamemnon with grief that he sent another messenger
with a letter, countermanding the order; and
with this scene the play opens.
The old man, to whom the letter was intrusted,
is challenged by Menelaus and commanded to
give it up. Tis he refuses to do. The letter
is taken from him by force, and both proceed
to the king. Many warm words of contest pass
between the brothers, and Menelaus prevails.
A messenger appears, announcing the arrival
not only of Iphigenia, but also of his wife, Clytemnestra, and the baby boy, Orestes. The
king is greatly troubled, and breaks forth in
impassioned utterances:
"Alas! what shall I, wretched, say? Begin
From whence? What fetters of necessity
Fall close around I Fortune mny cleverness
Has turned to naught, and birth of low degree
ltath vantage I Sutch persons are at liberty
'ITo weep, and speak unhappy words. A man
Of noble birth is ruled by dignity,
And to the multitude is but a slave.
How shall I meet my wife? How her receive?
How bid her look within my countenance?
I am undone I Why came she here uncalled
Amidst the ills that now my soul possess?
And yet with reason did she come.'lo deck
Her daughter as a bride. and to perform
'lThose dearest offices where she will find
Our baseness. 0, my hapless, virgin child,
Hades thy nuptials will attend with speed I"
Menelauis seeing his grief, is overcome with
pity, and beseeches him to disband tile army
and give up the expedition. Agamemnon replies, that it is too late to take such a course;
that though the oracles have not yet been made
known to the people, hle had an enemy who will
declare them, together withl his oath to sacrifice
his daughter, and that when the multitude become aware that he has broken faith with tile
gods, both himself and kindred will fall victims
to the avenging soldiers. He then begs those
that are present to keep the truth from his wife,
so that hlie might be spared as few tears as possible. In thle chorus that follows, thl)is sentiment is found,
"'T' is a very great thing among women to find
Any virtue, save in domestic affection;
But men, having honor inherent in mind,
Dare bravely to die for their country's protection."
In the next scene, Clytemnestra and Iphigenia
enter in a chariot, and descend-the one in a
stately manner, as becomes the wife of a king;
the maiden with a quick, bounding step, hastening at once to the arms of her father. The clialogue that follows is so full of simple pathos
that we can not forbear quoting a portion:
"1/h. 0, father, joyous do I behold thee after long absence.
"Ag'a. And I, thy father, thee; thou speakest this for both.
"4/h. Well hast thou done in bringing me to thee.
"Aga. I know not how to speak and yet not say the same, my
child.
" Ith. But how uneasily dost thou regard me. Bef,re. thou
joyously beheld'st me.
"Ag'a. See, I rejoice, as I rejoice, at seeing thee, my child.
" Ipt. Why then dost let a tear fall from thy eyes?
")Aga. Long is the coming absence.
".oh. Alas I would it were fitti,g me and thee, to take me
with thee as a fellow-sailor.
THE LADIES' REPOS7TOR Y.
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