Pyrrhus appears with his former tutor, Phoenix, and Orestes, after some introductory compliments, makes his demand. Surely Pyrrhus must realize that the rest of Greece cannot feel at ease as long as any male of the line of Hector is left alive to raise the Trojans against them once again?
Pyrrhus is predictably irritated — first, that the other Greek states should meddle in his affairs, and second, that they should demand from him a captive fairly taken in war. Just what threat can Troy present, he demands, now that it is only a heap of ruins and dead bodies? Now that the war is over, he has no intention of murdering a child; what the hazards of fate have saved he will not destroy.
Orestes reminds him that Astyanax was saved by trickery, not by fate; another child was substituted for him and killed in his place. And if Pyrrhus does not kill him, the rest of Greece may arrive in Epirus to do it. Affronted, Pyrrhus invites Greece to attack him if it wishes — and dares; his betrothal to Hermione will not prevent him from fighting her father, Agamemnon, if necessary. If Orestes wishes, however, he may pay a visit to his cousin Hermione.
