Agamemnon cum Menelao fratre Achaiae delectis ducibus Helenam uxorem Menelai, quam Alexander Paris avexerat, repetitum ad Troiam cum irent, in Aulide tempestas eos ira Dianae retinebat, quod Agamemnon in venando cervam eius violavit superbiusque in Dianam est locutus.
Is cum haruspices convocasset et Calchas se respondisset aliter expiare non posse, nisi Iphigeniam filiam Agamemnonis immolasset, re audita Agamemnon recusare coepit. Tunc Ulixes eum consiliis ad rem pulchram transtulit; idem Ulixes cum Diomede ad Iphigeniam missus est adducendam, qui cum ad Clytaemnestram matrem eius venisset, ementitur Ulixes eam Achilli in coniugium dari.
Quam cum in Aulidem adduxisset et parens eam immolare vellet, Diana virginem miserata est et caliginem eis obiecit cervamque pro ea supposuit Iphigeniamque per nubes in terram Tauricam detulit ibique templi sui sacerdotem fecit. |
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Agamemnon, with his brother Menelaos, were chosen as leaders of the Achaeans after Alexander Paris carried Helen, the wife of Menelaos, back to Troy. A storm raised by the wrath of Artemis kept the Achaeans in Aulis: it is said because, when out hunting a deer, Agamemnon had arrogantly disparaged Diana.
When he consulted the priests, Calchas told Agamemnon that this could only be expiated if he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia. Hearing this, Agamemenon began to raise objections. Odysseus persuaded him to change his mind; Ulysses, with Diomedes, was sent to fetch Iphigenia.
When he met her mother, Clytemnestra, Ulysses pretended that Iphigenia would be given in marriage to Achilles. They returned to Aulis with her.
When her father was about to sacrifice her, Diana took pity on the young girl, and, interposing a mist, substituted a deer in her place. She bore Iphigenia through the clouds to the land of the Taurians and made her a priestess in her temple in Tauris.
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