Returning to the Ode about Aulis: the choros narrate how Agamemnon's expedition against Troy was disastrously held up by contrary winds and Calchas said that a maiden had to be sacrificed to Artemis Iphigeneia, Agamemnon's daughter, so that he should be forced to give up the expedition -( a maiden for a whore). When Agamemnon decided to sacrifice her the choros thought him wrong. She did not die willingly but had to be gagged -ominous in a sacrifice, so that it would bring a curse. Episode 1: Clytemnestra enters; when the choros leader asks the news she tells them that Troy is taken. They do not at first believe her, thinking that it is a woman's fancies and baseless. This annoys her and in a brilliant speech she details the beacon chain that brought the news to Argos. She then imagines sympathetically what is now going on in Troy and warns the absent Greeks to be respectful of the gods since they still have to get home safely, and if they have annoyed the gods they will be accursed.2nd Stasimon (stasimon = choral ode) The choros thank Zeus for the victory and see its justice upon the transgression of Paris and Troy. They then speak of the ruin Helen brought on Greece: the desolation of Menelaus in his empty house, and the many dead men of Argos whose death may bring a curse to the city. Suddenly the choros refuse to accept the news of the victory.2nd Episode: A travel-stained Herald approaches with the first-hand news. His first reaction is joy at being home and thankfulness to the gods. He then confirms that the Greeks have taken Troy and, ominously, have destroyed the temples of the gods there. The choros welcome the Herald and indicate that all has not been well at home. They mean (as the watchman also meant) that Clytemnestra has been sleeping with Aigisthus, Agamemnon's enemy, while he has been away, but they do not make it clear so the hint is not understood. The Herald speaks of the hardshi...
