§640πέμψω πρὸς Ἄργος, ὃν μάλιστʼ ἐγὼ φιλῶ, §641καὶ δέλτος αὐτῷ ζῶντας οὓς δοκεῖ θανεῖν §642λέγουσα πιστὰς ἡδονὰς ἀπαγγελεῖ.
[Iphigenia]: I will send it to Argos, to him whom I most love; and the tablet, telling him that those are alive whom he thinks are dead, will report reliable joys.
[Chorus]: I lament for you who are the object of care of the bloody drops of lustral waters.
§646οἶκτος γὰρ οὐ ταῦτʼ, ἀλλὰ χαίρετʼ, ὦ ξέναι.
[Orestes]: For this is not a matter for pity; rather, farewell, O strangers.
[Chorus]: But you, O young man, we honor for your blessed fortune, because you will one day set foot in your fatherland.
§650ἄζηλά τοι φίλοισι, θνῃσκόντων φίλων.
[Pylades]: An unenviable thing indeed to friends, when friends are dying.
§651ὦ σχέτλιοι πομπαί.
[Chorus]: O wretched escorts!
§652φεῦ φεῦ, διόλλυσαι.
Alas, alas, you are being destroyed.
§653αἰαῖ αἰαῖ.
Alas, alas!
πότερος ὁ μᾶλλον;
Which of the two is more so?
For my mind still hesitates in double doubt, whether I should bewail you first, or you, with my groans.
§658Πυλάδη, πέπονθας ταὐτὸ πρὸς θεῶν ἐμοί;
[Orestes]: Pylades, by the gods, do you feel the same as I do?
§659οὐκ οἶδʼ· ἐρωτᾷς οὐ λέγειν ἔχοντά με.
[Pylades]: I do not know; you ask me when I am unable to say.
§660τίς ἐστὶν ἡ νεᾶνις;
[Orestes]: Who is this young woman?
ὡς Ἑλληνικῶς §661ἀνήρεθʼ ἡμᾶς τούς τʼ ἐν Ἰλίῳ πόνους §662νόστον τʼ Ἀχαιῶν τόν τʼ ἐν οἰωνοῖς σοφὸν §663Κάλχαντʼ Ἀχιλλέως τʼ ὄνομα, καὶ τὸν ἄθλιον §664Ἀγαμέμνονʼ ὡς ᾤκτιρʼ ἀνηρώτα τέ με §665γυναῖκα παῖδάς τε.
How like a Greek she questioned us about the labors in Ilium and the return of the Achaeans, and Calchas wise in bird-signs, and the name of Achilles, and how she pitied the wretched Agamemnon, and questioned me about his wife and children.
ἔστιν ἡ ξένη γένος §666ἐκεῖθεν Ἀργεία τις· οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε §667δέλτον τʼ ἔπεμπε καὶ τάδʼ ἐξεμάνθανεν, §668ὡς κοινὰ πράσσουσʼ, Ἄργος εἰ πράσσει καλῶς.
The stranger woman is some Argive by race from there; for otherwise she would never be sending a tablet and learning these things so thoroughly, as if sharing in their fortunes, whether Argos is doing well.
§669ἔφθης με μικρόν· ταὐτὰ δὲ φθάσας λέγεις, §670πλὴν ἕν· τὰ γὰρ τῶν βασιλέων παθήματα §671ἴσασι πάντες, ὧν ἐπιστροφή τις ἦν.
[Pylades]: You have anticipated me by a little; and you say the same things, having anticipated me, except for one thing: for the sufferings of the kings all know, who have any concern.
§672ἀτὰρ διῆλθον χἅτερον λόγον τινά.
But I have gone through another thought.
§673τίνʼ;
[Orestes]: What?
ἐς τὸ κοινὸν δοὺς ἄμεινον ἂν μάθοις.
If you share it in common, you will understand better.
§674αἰσχρὸν θανόντος σοῦ βλέπειν ἡμᾶς φάος·
[Pylades]: It is shameful for me to behold the light of day while you are dead.
§675κοινῇ τʼ ἔπλευσα δεῖ με καὶ κοινῇ θανεῖν.
I sailed with you in common, and I must also die with you in common.
§676καὶ δειλίαν γὰρ καὶ κάκην κεκτήσομαι §677Ἄργει τε Φωκέων τʼ ἐν πολυπτύχῳ χθονί, §678δόξω δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖσι — πολλοὶ γὰρ κακοί — §679προδοὺς σεσῷσθαί σʼ αὐτὸς εἰς οἴκους μόνος §680ἢ καὶ φονεύσας ἐπὶ νοσοῦσι δώμασι §681ῥάψαι μόρον σοι σῆς τυραννίδος χάριν, §682ἔγκληρον ὡς δὴ σὴν κασιγνήτην γαμῶν.
For I shall acquire a reputation for cowardice and wickedness both in Argos and in the deep-valleyed land of the Phocians, and I shall seem to the majority — for the majority are evil — to have saved myself by betraying you, returning home alone, or even to have murdered you in your sick house, framing your death for the sake of your kingdom, so that indeed I might marry your sister, the heiress.
§683ταῦτʼ οὖν φοβοῦμαι καὶ διʼ αἰσχύνης ἔχω, §684κοὐκ ἔσθʼ ὅπως οὐ χρὴ συνεκπνεῦσαί μέ σοι §685καὶ σὺν σφαγῆναι καὶ πυρωθῆναι δέμας, §686φίλον γεγῶτα καὶ φοβούμενον ψόγον.
These things, therefore, I fear and hold in shame, and there is no way that I must not breathe my last with you, and be slaughtered with you, and have my body consumed by fire, since I am your friend and I fear reproach.
§687εὔφημα φώνει·
[Orestes]: Speak words of good omen!
τἀμὰ δεῖ φέρειν κακά, §688ἁπλᾶς δὲ λύπας ἐξόν, οὐκ οἴσω διπλᾶς.
I must bear my own evils, and when it is possible to bear single griefs, I will not bear double.
For what you call painful and reproachful, that same thing is mine if I kill you who are laboring with me.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ εἰς ἔμʼ οὐ κακῶς ἔχει, §692πράσσονθʼ ἃ πράσσω πρὸς θεῶν, λῦσαι βίον.
For my part, it is not bad to end my life, suffering what I suffer from the gods.
But you are prosperous, and you have a pure, not sick house, while mine is impious and unfortunate.
§695σωθεὶς δέ, παῖδας ἐξ ἐμῆς ὁμοσπόρου §696κτησάμενος, ἣν ἔδωκά σοι δάμαρτʼ ἔχειν — §697ὄνομά τʼ ἐμοῦ γένοιτʼ ἄν, οὐδʼ ἄπαις δόμος §698πατρῷος οὑμὸς ἐξαλειφθείη ποτʼ ἄν.
If you are saved, and get children from my sister whom I gave you to have as a wife — my name would survive, and my ancestral house would never be wiped out childless.
§699ἀλλʼ ἕρπε καὶ ζῆ καὶ δόμους οἴκει πατρός.
But go and live and dwell in your father's house.
§700ὅταν δʼ ἐς Ἑλλάδʼ ἵππιόν τʼ Ἄργος μόλῃς, §701πρὸς δεξιᾶς σε τῆσδʼ ἐπισκήπτω τάδε· §702τύμβον τε χῶσον κἀπίθες μνημεῖά μοι, §703καὶ δάκρυʼ ἀδελφὴ καὶ κόμας δότω τάφῳ.
And when you come to Greece and to horse-breeding Argos, by this right hand of yours I charge you with these things: heap up a tomb and place a monument for me, and let my sister give tears and shorn hair to my grave.
And report how I perished by some Argive woman, purified by blood around the altar.
And do not ever betray my sister, seeing her relations abandoned and my father's house empty.
§708καὶ χαῖρʼ· ἐμῶν γὰρ φίλτατόν σʼ ηὗρον φίλων, §709ὦ συγκυναγὲ καὶ συνεκτραφεὶς ἐμοί, §710ὦ πόλλʼ ἐνεγκὼν τῶν ἐμῶν ἄχθη κακῶν.
And farewell; for I have found you the dearest of my friends, O my companion in the hunt and fellow-foster brother, O you who have borne many burdens of my evils.
§711ἡμᾶς δʼ ὁ Φοῖβος μάντις ὢν ἐψεύσατο· §712τέχνην δὲ θέμενος ὡς προσώταθʼ Ἑλλάδος §713ἀπήλασʼ, αἰδοῖ τῶν πάρος μαντευμάτων.
But Phoebus, though being a prophet, deceived us; and practicing a device, he drove us as far as possible from Greece, out of shame for his former prophecies.
To whom having given all my possessions and having trusted his words, having slain my mother, I myself perish in return.