Then King Agamemnon came forth from his tent, saying:
"What meaneth this uproar and disputing that I hear?"
But even as he spake there came a messenger, saying:
"King Agamemnon, I am come, as thou badest me, with thy daughter Iphigenia. Also her mother, Queen Clytæmnestra, is come, bringing with her her little son, Orestes. And now they are resting themselves and their horses by the side of a spring, for indeed the way is long and weary. And all the army is gathered about them. And men question much wherefore they are come, saying, 'Doth the King make a marriage for his daughter; or hath he sent for her, desiring to see her?'"
King Agamemnon was sore dismayed when he knew that the Queen was come, and spake to himself:
"Now what shall I say to my wife? For that she is rightly come to the marriage of her daughter who can deny? But what will she say when she knoweth my purpose? And of the maiden, what shall I say? Unhappy maiden whose bridegroom shall be Death! For she will cry to me, 'Wilt thou kill me, my father?' And the little Orestes will wail, not knowing what he doeth, seeing he is but a babe."
And now King Menelaus came, saying that he repented, "For why should thy child die for me? What hath she to do with war? Let the army be scattered, so that wrong be not done."
Then said King Agamemnon:
"But how shall I escape from this strait? For the whole host will compel me to this deed?"
"Not so," said King Menelaus, "if thou wilt send back the maiden to Argos."