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Euripides · Iphigenia in Tauris Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις

Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1370–1421: Exodos: the fight, the storm and the ship driven back

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Iphigenia in Tauris / 1370–1421

The Messenger tells how the two strangers beat the Taurians with their fists until the Taurians fled to the cliff, where archers on the stern kept them off. Orestes carried his sister and the statue aboard, but a swell drove the ship back toward the land, and Iphigenia prayed to Artemis to forgive her theft. The Messenger urges Thoas to bring chains and nets, and the Chorus Leader says that Iphigenia will die if she falls into the king's hands.

Lines 1370–1421 · 410 words · click a number to copy its link

Messenger

1370–1389
1370ἐς πλευρὰ καὶ πρὸς ἧπαρ ἠκοντίζετο, ὡς τῷ ξυνάπτειν καὶ συναποκαμεῖν μέλη. δεινοῖς δὲ σημάντροισιν ἐσφραγισμένοι ἐφεύγομεν πρὸς κρημνόν, οἳ μὲν ἐν κάρᾳ κάθαιμʼ ἔχοντες τραύμαθʼ, οἳ δʼ ἐν ὄμμασιν· 1375ὄχθοις δʼ ἐπισταθέντες εὐλαβεστέρως ἐμαρνάμεσθα καὶ πέτρους ἐβάλλομεν. ἀλλʼ εἶργον ἡμᾶς τοξόται πρύμνης ἔπι σταθέντες ἰοῖς, ὥστʼ ἀναστεῖλαι πρόσω. κἀν τῷδε — δεινὸς γὰρ κλύδων ὤκειλε ναῦν 1380πρὸς γῆν, φόβος δʼ ἦν παρθένῳ τέγξαι πόδα — λαβὼν Ὀρέστης ὦμον εἰς ἀριστερόν, βὰς ἐς θάλασσαν κἀπὶ κλίμακος θορών, ἔθηκʼ ἀδελφὴν ἐντὸς εὐσήμου νεώς, τό τʼ οὐρανοῦ πέσημα, τῆς Διὸς κόρης 1385ἄγαλμα. ναὸς δʼ ἐκ μέσης ἐφθέγξατο βοή τις· ὦ γῆς Ἑλλάδος ναῦται, νεὼς λάβεσθε κώπαις ῥόθιά τʼ ἐκλευκαίνετε· ἔχομεν γὰρ ὧνπερ οὕνεκʼ ἄξενον πόρον Συμπληγάδων ἔσωθεν εἰσεπλεύσαμεν.

We were fleeing to the cliff, stamped with dreadful marks, some with bloody wounds on their heads, others on their eyes; when we stood on the heights, we fought more cautiously and hurled rocks at them. But, standing on the stern, the archers with their arrows kept us off and drove us away. And now an immense swelling wave ran the ship aground, and the maiden was afraid to get her feet wet. Orestes bore his sister on his left arm, going into the sea and quickly up the ladder, and he set her on the ship, along with the statue of Zeus’ daughter, fallen from heaven. From the middle of the ship, he cried out: Sailors of Hellas, seize the ship with the oars and make the waves white with foam; for we possess those things for which we sailed the inhospitable straits, within the clashing rocks.

1390–1421
Ἄγγελος 1390οἳ δὲ στεναγμὸν ἡδὺν ἐκβρυχώμενοι ἔπαισαν ἅλμην. ναῦς δʼ, ἕως μὲν ἐντὸς ἦν λιμένος, ἐχώρει στόμια, διαπερῶσα δὲ λάβρῳ κλύδωνι συμπεσοῦσʼ ἠπείγετο· δεινὸς γὰρ ἐλθὼν ἄνεμος ἐξαίφνης νεὼς 1395ὠθεῖ παλίμπρυμνʼ ἱστίʼ· οἳ δʼ ἐκαρτέρουν πρὸς κῦμα λακτίζοντες· ἐς δὲ γῆν πάλιν κλύδων παλίρρους ἦγε ναῦν. σταθεῖσα δὲ Ἀγαμέμνονος παῖς ηὔξατʼ· ὦ Λητοῦς κόρη σῷσόν με τὴν σὴν ἱερέαν πρὸς Ἑλλάδα 1400ἐκ βαρβάρου γῆς καὶ κλοπαῖς σύγγνωθʼ ἐμαῖς. φιλεῖς δὲ καὶ σὺ σὸν κασίγνητον, θεά· φιλεῖν δὲ κἀμὲ τοὺς ὁμαίμονας δόκει. ναῦται δʼ ἐπευφήμησαν εὐχαῖσιν κόρης παιᾶνα, γυμνὰς ἐκ πέπλων ἐπωμίδας 1405κώπῃ προσαρμόσαντες ἐκ κελεύσματος. μᾶλλον δὲ μᾶλλον πρὸς πέτρας ᾔει σκάφος· χὣ μέν τις ἐς θάλασσαν ὡρμήθη ποσίν, ἄλλος δὲ πλεκτὰς ἐξανῆπτεν ἀγκύλας. κἀγὼ μὲν εὐθὺς πρὸς σὲ δεῦρʼ ἀπεστάλην, 1410σοὶ τὰς ἐκεῖθεν σημανῶν, ἄναξ, τύχας. ἀλλʼ ἕρπε, δεσμὰ καὶ βρόχους λαβὼν χεροῖν· εἰ μὴ γὰρ οἶδμα νήνεμον γενήσεται, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐλπὶς τοῖς ξένοις σωτηρίας. πόντου δʼ ἀνάκτωρ Ἴλιόν τʼ ἐπισκοπεῖ 1415σεμνὸς Ποσειδῶν, Πελοπίδαις ἐναντίος, καὶ νῦν παρέξει τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονος γόνον σοὶ καὶ πολίταις, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἐν χεροῖν λαβεῖν, ἀδελφήν θʼ, ἣ φόνον τὸν Αὐλίδι ἀμνημόνευτον θεᾷ προδοῦσʼ ἁλίσκεται. Χορός 1420ὦ τλῆμον Ἰφιγένεια, συγγόνου μέτα θανῇ πάλιν μολοῦσα δεσποτῶν χέρας.

Messenger They gave a cheerful shout, and struck the salt wave. The ship, while it was within the harbor, was headed for the mouth; but when it had crossed, it met with a violent swell and was hard pressed; and the wind, rising with sudden dreadful gusts, forced it astern. They beat the waves strongly; but the swell was driving the ship back towards the land. Agamemnon’s daughter stood up and prayed: O daughter of Leto, bring me, your priestess, safely to Hellas from this barbaric land, and forgive my thefts. For you, goddess, love your brother; believe that I love mine also. The sailors shouted the paean in response to her prayer, and applied their naked shoulders to the oars, at the command. But the ship came nearer and nearer to the rocks; some of us rushed into the sea, others grasped the woven ropes. And I set out here to you at once, lord, to tell you what has happened there. But go, take chains and nets with you; for if the swell does not become calm, there is no hope of safety for the strangers. Revered Poseidon, ruler of the sea, watches over Troy and is hostile to the race of Pelops; he will now allow you and your citizens, as is right, to have in your hands the son of Agamemnon and his sister; she stands convicted as betrayer of her unremembered sacrifice to the goddess in Aulis.

Chorus Leader Unhappy Iphigenia, you will die with your brother, if you come again into the hands of the king.

People and places in this passage

Passages in other works that tell of the same people and places, oldest and closest first.

  1. Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 1433–1531Exodos: Iphigenia bids her mother farewell and goes to the altar
  2. Epic Cycle, Summaries and Fragments 5.1–38Cypria
  3. Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.43.1–8Megara: shrines of heroes, the Aesymnium, Dionysus and Aphrodite, and the grave of Coroebus
  4. Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 378–439First episode: Agamemnon refuses to kill his daughter; a messenger announces her arrival
  5. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1448–1576Kommos: the lament for Agamemnon and the Fiend of the house
  6. Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.16.1–11Sparta: the Leucippides, Lycurgus’ sanctuary and Artemis Orthia

English translation by Edward P. Coleridge (1891). Original text: Greek text: Gilbert Murray (ed.), Euripidis Fabulae, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, as digitised by Perseus. English: Edward P. Coleridge, The Plays of Euripides, London: George Bell and Sons, first published 1891 (Bohn's Classical Library; the Perseus header records a later printing).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.