ACH. And this same [farewell] is thine from me. But I will go seek thy husband within this house. [_The_ OLD MAN _appears at the door of the house_.] OLD M. O stranger, grandson of Æacus, remain. Ho! thee, I say, the son of the Goddess, and thee, the daughter of Leda. ACH. Who is it that calls, partially opening the doors? With what terror he calls! OLD M. A slave. I will not be nice about the title, for fortune allows it not. ACH. Of whom? for thou art not mine. My property and Agamemnon's are different. OLD M. Of this lady who is before the house, the gift of her father Tyndarus. ACH. We are still. Say if thou wantest any thing, for which thou hast stopped me. OLD M. Are ye sure that ye alone stand before these gates? CLY. Ay, so that you may speak to us only. But come out from the royal dwelling. OLD M. (Coming forward) O fortune, and foresight mine, preserve whom I wish. ACH. These words will do for[69] a future occasion, for they have some weight. CLY. By thy right hand [I beseech thee,] delay not, if thou hast aught to say to me. OLD M. Thou knowest then, being what manner of man, I have been by nature well disposed to thee and thy children. CLY. I know thee as being a faithful servant to my house. OLD M. And that king Agamemnon received me among thy dowry. CLY. Thou camest into Argos with us, and thou wast always mine. OLD M. So it is, and I am well disposed to thee, but less so to thy husband. CLY. Unfold now at least to me what words you are saying. OLD M. The father who begat her is about to slay thy daughter with his own hand. CLY. How? I deprecate thy words, old man, for thou thinkest not well. OLD M. Cutting the fair neck of the hapless girl with the sword. CLY. O wretched me! Is my husband mad? OLD M. He is in his right mind, save with respect to thee and thy daughter, but in this he is not wise. CLY. Upon what grounds? What maddening fiend impels him? OLD M. The oracles, as at least Calchas says, in order that the army may be able to proceed. CLY. Whither? Wretched me, and wretched she whom her father is about to slay? OLD M. To the house of Dardanus, that Menelaus may recover Helen. CLY. To the destruction, then, of Iphigenia, was the return of Helen foredoomed? OLD M. Thou hast the whole story. Her father is going to offer thy daughter to Diana. CLY. What! what pretext had the marriage, that brought me from home? OLD M. That thou rejoicing mightest bring thy child, as if about to wed her to Achilles. CLY. O daughter, both thou and thy mother are come to meet with destruction. OLD M. Ye twain are suffering sad things, and dreadful things hath Agamemnon dared. CLY. I wretched am undone, and my eyes no longer restrain the tear. OLD M. For bitter 'tis to mourn, deprived of one's children. CLY. But whence, old man, sayest thou that thou hast learned and knowest these things? OLD M. I went to bear a letter to thee, in reference to what was before written.