§799χραίνεις ἀθίκτοις περιβαλὼν πέπλοις χέρα.
[Chorus]: You defile her, casting your hand upon her untouched robes.
§800ὦ συγκασιγνήτη τε κἀκ ταὐτοῦ πατρὸς §801Ἀγαμέμνονος γεγῶσα, μή μʼ ἀποστρέφου, §802ἔχουσʼ ἀδελφόν, οὐ δοκοῦσʼ ἕξειν ποτέ.
[Orestes]: O my sister, born of the same father, Agamemnon, do not turn away from me, since you hold a brother whom you never expected to have.
§803ἐγώ σʼ ἀδελφὸν τὸν ἐμόν;
[Iphigenia]: I hold you as my brother?
οὐ παύσῃ λέγων;
Will you not cease speaking?
§804τὸ δʼ Ἄργος αὐτοῦ μεστὸν ἥ τε Ναυπλία.
For Argos and Nauplia are full of him.
§805οὐκ ἔστʼ ἐκεῖ σός, ὦ τάλαινα, σύγγονος.
[Orestes]: Your brother, unhappy woman, is not there.
§806ἀλλʼ ἡ Λάκαινα Τυνδαρίς σʼ ἐγείνατο;
[Iphigenia]: Did the Spartan daughter of Tyndareus bear you then?
§807Πέλοπός γε παιδὶ παιδός, οὗ ʼκπέφυκʼ ἐγώ.
[Orestes]: To the son's son of Pelops, from whom I was born.
§808τί φῄς;
[Iphigenia]: What do you say?
ἔχεις τι τῶνδέ μοι τεκμήριον;
Have you any proof of this for me?
§809ἔχω· πατρῴων ἐκ δόμων τι πυνθάνου.
[Orestes]: I have; ask me something about our father’s house.
§810οὐκοῦν λέγειν μὲν χρὴ σέ, μανθάνειν δʼ ἐμέ.
[Iphigenia]: Surely then you must speak, and I must learn.
[Orestes]: I would speak, from what I first heard of Electra: Do you know of the strife that arose between Atreus and Thyestes?
§813ἤκουσα· χρυσῆς ἀρνὸς ἦν νείκη πέρι.
[Iphigenia]: I heard of it; it was about the golden lamb.
§814ταῦτʼ οὖν ὑφήνασʼ οἶσθʼ ἐν εὐπήνοις ὑφαῖς;
[Orestes]: Do you remember weaving this in fine-spun webs?
§815ὦ φίλτατʼ, ἐγγὺς τῶν ἐμῶν κάμπτεις φρενῶν.
[Iphigenia]: O dearest one, you wheel close to my heart.
§816εἰκώ τʼ ἐν ἱστοῖς ἡλίου μετάστασιν;
[Orestes]: And the image on the loom of the sun's turning away?
§817ὕφηνα καὶ τόδʼ εἶδος εὐμίτοις πλοκαῖς.
[Iphigenia]: I wove this very form too with fine threads.
§818καὶ λούτρʼ ἐς Αὖλιν μητρὸς ἀνεδέξω πάρα;
[Orestes]: And did you receive the bath-water for Aulis from your mother?
§819οἶδʼ· οὐ γὰρ ὁ γάμος ἐσθλὸς ὤν μʼ ἀφείλετο.
[Iphigenia]: I know; for that wedding, though not a happy one, did not rob me of memory.
§820τί γάρ;
[Orestes]: What then?
κόμας σὰς μητρὶ δοῦσα σῇ φέρειν;
Did you give your hair to your mother to carry back?
§821μνημεῖά γʼ ἀντὶ σώματος τοὐμοῦ τάφῳ.
[Iphigenia]: Yes, as a memorial for my tomb in place of my body.
§822ἃ δʼ εἶδον αὐτός, τάδε φράσω τεκμήρια· §823Πέλοπος παλαιὰν ἐν δόμοις λόγχην πατρός, §824ἣν χερσὶ πάλλων παρθένον Πισάτιδα §825ἐκτήσαθʼ Ἱπποδάμειαν, Οἰνόμαον κτανών, §826ἐν παρθενῶσι τοῖσι σοῖς κεκρυμμένην.
[Orestes]: And what I saw myself, these I will speak as proofs: The ancient spear of father Pelops in the house, which brandishing in his hands, to win the maid Hippodamia of Pisa, he slew Oenomaus, hidden in your maiden chambers.
§827ὦ φίλτατʼ, οὐδὲν ἄλλο, φίλτατος γὰρ εἶ, §828ἔχω σʼ, Ὀρέστα, τηλύγετον ἀπὸ πατρίδος §830Ἀργόθεν, ὦ φίλος.
[Iphigenia]: O dearest one, nothing else, for you are dearest, I hold you, Orestes, far from our fatherland, from Argos, O my friend.
§831κἀγώ σε τὴν θανοῦσαν, ὡς δοξάζεται.
[Orestes]: And I hold you, who were thought to be dead.
[Iphigenia]: Tears and groans mingled with joy wet your eyes, and mine likewise.
[Orestes]: You were still a baby whom I left young in the arms of your nurse in the house.
[Iphigenia]: O my soul, more fortunate than words can say, what shall I speak?
θαυμάτων §840πέρα καὶ λόγου πρόσω τάδʼ ἐπέβα.
This has turned out beyond wonders and far from speech.
§841τὸ λοιπὸν εὐτυχοῖμεν ἀλλήλων μέτα.
[Orestes]: For the future, may we be happy with each other.
[Iphigenia]: I have received a strange pleasure, O friends; but I fear lest he fly away from my hands into the air.
§845ἰὼ Κυκλωπὶς ἑστία·
O Cyclopean hearth!
ἰὼ πατρίς, §846Μυκήνα φίλα, §847χάριν ἔχω ζόας, χάριν ἔχω τροφᾶς, §848ὅτι μοι συνομαίμονα τόνδε δόμοις §849ἐξεθρέψω φάος.
O fatherland, dear Mycenae, I thank you for my life, I thank you for my nurture, because you reared this brother for my house as a light.
[Orestes]: We are fortunate in our birth, but as to our fortunes, O sister, our life was born unhappy.
[Iphigenia]: I, wretched one, know, I know when my father put the sword to my neck.
§855οἴμοι.
[Orestes]: Alas!
δοκῶ γὰρ οὐ παρών σʼ ὁρᾶν ἐκεῖ.
For though not present, I seem to see you there.
§856ἀνυμέναιος, ὦ σύγγονʼ, Ἀχιλλέως §857ἐς κλισίαν λέκτρων §859δολίαν ὅτʼ ἀγόμαν· §860παρὰ δὲ βωμὸν ἦν δάκρυα καὶ γόοι.
[Iphigenia]: Unwedded, O brother, when I was led to the tent of Achilles by guile; and at the altar there were tears and groans.
§861φεῦ φεῦ χερνίβων τῶν ἐκεῖ.
[Orestes]: Alas, for the lustral waters there!
§862ᾤμωξα κἀγὼ τόλμαν ἣν ἔτλη πατήρ.
[Iphigenia]: I too lamented the daring deed my father dared.
§864ἀπάτορʼ ἀπάτορα πότμον ἔλαχον.
A fatherless, fatherless lot I received.
But one thing follows upon another by some fortune of a god.
§866εἰ σόν γʼ ἀδελφόν, ὦ τάλαινʼ, ἀπώλεσας.
[Orestes]: If you had destroyed your brother, O wretched one.
§868ὦ μελέα δεινᾶς τόλμας.
[Iphigenia]: O wretched for that terrible daring!
δείνʼ ἔτλαν §870δείνʼ ἔτλαν, ὤμοι σύγγονε.
I dared a terrible thing, I dared a terrible thing, alas, my brother.
By a little did you escape an unholy destruction, slaughtered by my hands.
§873ἁ δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοῖσι τίς τελευτά;
And what is the end of these things?
§874τίς τύχα μοι συγχωρήσει;
What fortune will grant me a way?
§875τίνα σοι πόρον εὑρομένα — §878πάλιν ἀπὸ πόλεως, ἀπὸ φόνου πέμψω §879πατρίδʼ ἐς Ἀργείαν, §880πρὶν ἐπὶ ξίφος αἵματι σῷ πελάσαι;
What path can I find for you— to send you back from this city, from slaughter, to your Argive fatherland, before the sword draws near your blood?
This, this is your duty, O wretched soul, to find.
§884πότερον κατὰ χέρσον, οὐχὶ ναΐ —;
Whether by land, and not by ship—?
But by the speed of your feet you will draw near to death, passing through barbarian tribes and walking through pathless ways.
By ship indeed, through the dark blue narrow rocks, a long voyage in flight.
§894τάλαινα, τάλαινα.
Wretched, wretched!
§895τίς ἂν οὖν τάδʼ ἂν ἢ θεὸς ἢ βροτὸς ἢ §896τί τῶν ἀδοκήτων, §897πόρον ἄπορον ἐξανύσας, δυοῖν §898τοῖν μόνοιν Ἀτρείδαιν φαίνοι §899κακῶν ἔκλυσιν;
What god, or mortal, or what unexpected event, having accomplished an impossible path, would show to the only two remaining children of Atreus a release from evils?
[Chorus]: These things I saw myself, among wonders and beyond legends, and I shall not report them from hearing.