412 BC IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS by Euripides translated by Robert Potter şiElectronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R) DAK Upgraded Edition, Copyright 2000, DAK Industries 2000, Inc(R)şI {CHARACTERS CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY - Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon Orestes, brother of IPHIGENIA Pylades, friend of Orestes Thoas, King of the Taurians Herdsman Messenger {^paragraph 5} Minerva Chorus of Greek Women, captives, attendants on Iphigenia in the temple {IPHIGENIA_IN_TAURIS IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS - (SCENE:-Before the great temple of Diana of the Taurians. A blood- stained altar is prominently in view. IPHIGENIA, clad as a priestess, enters from the temple.) - IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 5} To Pisa, by the fleetest coursers borne, Comes Pelops, son of Tantalus, and weds The virgin daughter of Oenomaus: From her sprung Atreus; Menelaus from him, And Agamemnon; I from him derive {^paragraph 10} My birth, his Iphigenia, by his queen, Daughter of Tyndarus. Where frequent winds Swell the vex'd Euripus with eddying blasts, And roll the darkening waves, my father slew me, A victim to Diana, so he thought, {^paragraph 15} For Helen's sake, its bay where Aulis winds, To fame well known; for there his thousand ships, The armament of Greece, the imperial chief Convened, desirous that his Greeks should snatch The glorious crown of victory from Troy, {^paragraph 20} And punish the base insult to the bed Of Helen, vengeance grateful to the soul Of Menelaus. But 'gainst his ships the sea Long barr'd, and not one favouring breeze to swell His flagging sails, the hallow'd flames the chief {^paragraph 25} Consults, and Calchas thus disclosed the fates:- "Imperial leader of the Grecian host, Hence shalt thou not unmoor thy vessels, ere Diana as a victim shall receive Thy daughter Iphigenia: what the year {^paragraph 30} Most beauteous should produce, thou to the queen Dispensing light didst vow to sacrifice: A daughter Clytemnestra in thy house Then bore (the peerless grace of beauty thus To me assigning); her must thou devote {^paragraph 35} The victim." Then Ulysses by his arts, Me, to Achilles as design'd a bride, Won from my mother. My unhappy fate To Aulis brought me; on the altar there High was I placed, and o'er me gleam'd the sword, {^paragraph 40} Aiming the fatal wound: but from the stroke Diana snatch'd me, in exchange a hind Giving the Grecians; through the lucid air Me she conveyed to Tauris, here to dwell, Where o'er barbarians a barbaric king {^paragraph 45} Holds his rude sway, named Thoas, whose swift foot Equals the rapid wing: me he appoints The priestess of this temple, where such rites Are pleasing to Diana, that the name Alone claims honour; for I sacrifice {^paragraph 50} (Such, ere I came, the custom of the state) Whatever Grecian to this savage shore Is driven: the previous rites are mine; the deed Of blood, too horrid to be told, devolves On others in the temple: but the rest, {^paragraph 55} In reverence to the goddess, I forbear. But the strange visions which the night now past Brought with it, to the air, if that may soothe My troubled thought, I will relate. I seem'd, As I lay sleeping, from this land removed, {^paragraph 60} To dwell at Argos, resting on my couch Mid the apartments of the virgin train. Sudden the firm earth shook: I fled, and stood Without; the battlements I saw, and all The rocking roof fall from its lofty height {^paragraph 65} In ruins to the ground: of all the house, My father's house, one pillar, as I thought, Alone was left, which from its cornice waved A length of auburn locks, and human voice Assumed: the bloody office, which is mine {^paragraph 70} To strangers here, respecting, I to death, Sprinkling the lustral drops, devoted it With many tears. My dream I thus expound:- Orestes, whom I hallow'd by my rites, Is dead: for sons are pillars of the house; {^paragraph 75} They, whom my lustral lavers sprinkle, die. I cannot to my friends apply my dream, For Strophius, when I perish'd, had no son. Now, to my brother, absent though he be, Libations will I offer: this, at least, {^paragraph 80} With the attendants given me by the king, Virgins of Greece, I can: but what the cause They yet attend me not within the house, The temple of the goddess, where I dwell? - {^paragraph 85} (She goes into the temple. ORESTES and PYLADES enter cautiously.) - ORESTES Keep careful watch, lest some one come this way. PYLADES {^paragraph 90} I watch, and turn mine eye to every part. ORESTES And dost thou, Pylades, imagine this The temple of the goddess, which we seek, Our sails from Argos sweeping o'er the main? {^paragraph 95} PYLADES Orestes, such my thought, and must be thine. ORESTES And this the altar wet with Grecian blood? PYLADES {^paragraph 100} Crimson'd with gore behold its sculptured wreaths. ORESTES See, from the battlements what trophies hang! PYLADES The spoils of strangers that have here been slain. {^paragraph 105} ORESTES Behooves us then to watch with careful eye. O Phoebus, by thy oracles again Why hast thou led me to these toils? E'er since, In vengeance for my father's blood, I slew {^paragraph 110} My mother, ceaseless by the Furies driven, Vagrant, an outcast, many a bending course My feet have trod: to thee I came, of the Inquired this whirling frenzy by what means, And by what means my labours I might end. {^paragraph 115} Thy voice commanded me to speed my course To this wild coast of Tauris, where a shrine Thy sister hath, Diana; thence to take The statue of the goddess, which from heaven (So say the natives) to this temple fell: {^paragraph 120} This image, or by fraud or fortune won, The dangerous toil achieved, to place the prize In the Athenian land: no more was said; But that, performing this, I should obtain Rest from my toils. Obedient to thy words, {^paragraph 125} On this unknown, inhospitable coast Am I arrived. Now, Pylades (for thou Art my associate in this dangerous task), Of thee I ask, What shall we do? for high The walls, thou seest, which fence the temple round. {^paragraph 130} Shall we ascend their height? But how escape Observing eyes? Or burst the brazen bars? Of these we nothing know: in the attempt To force the gates, or meditating means To enter, if detected, we shall die. {^paragraph 135} Shall we then, ere we die, by flight regain The ship in which we hither plough'd the sea? PYLADES Of flight we brook no thought, nor such hath been Our wont; nor may the god's commanding voice {^paragraph 140} Be disobey'd; but from the temple now Retiring, in some cave, which the black sea Beats with its billows, we may lie conceal'd At distance from our bark, lest some, whose eyes May note it, bear the tidings to the king, {^paragraph 145} And we be seized by force. But when the eye Of night comes darkling on, then must we dare, And take the polish'd image from the shrine, Attempting all things: and the vacant space Between the triglyphs (mark it well) enough {^paragraph 150} Is open to admit us; by that way Attempt we to descend: in toils the brave Are daring; of no worth the abject soul. ORESTES This length of sea we plough'd not, from this coast, {^paragraph 155} Nothing effected, to return: but well Hast thou advised; the god must be obey'd. Retire we then where we may lie conceal'd; For never from the god will come the cause, That what his sacred voice commands should fall {^paragraph 160} Effectless. We must dare. No toil to youth Excuse, which justifies inaction, brings. - (They go out. IPHIGENIA and the CHORUS enter from the temple.) - {^paragraph 165} IPHIGENIA (singing) You, who your savage dwellings hold Nigh this inhospitable main, 'Gainst clashing rocks with fury roll'd, From all but hallow'd words abstain. {^paragraph 170} Virgin queen, Latona's grace, joying in the mountain chase, To thy court, thy rich domain, To thy beauteous-pillar'd fane Where our wondering eyes behold {^paragraph 175} Battlements that blaze with gold, Thus my virgin steps I bend, Holy, the holy to attend; Servant, virgin queen, to thee; Power, who bear'st life's golden key, {^paragraph 180} Far from Greece for steeds renown'd, From her walls with towers crown'd, From the beauteous-planted meads Where his train Eurotas leads, Visiting the loved retreats, {^paragraph 185} Once my father's royal seats. CHORUS (singing) I come. What cares disturb thy rest? Why hast thou brought me to the shrine? Doth some fresh grief afflict thy breast? {^paragraph 190} Why bring me to this seat divine? Thou daughter of that chief, whose powers Plough'd with a thousand keels the strand And ranged in arms shook Troy's proud towers Beneath the Atreidae's great command! {^paragraph 195} IPHIGENIA (singing) O ye attendant train, How is my heart oppress'd with wo! What notes, save notes of grief, can flow, A harsh and unmelodious strain? {^paragraph 200} My soul domestic ills oppress with dread, And bid me mourn a brother dead. What visions did my sleeping sense appall In the past dark and midnight hour! 'Tis ruin, ruin all. {^paragraph 205} My father's houses-it is no more: No more is his illustrious line. What dreadful deeds hath Argos known! One only brother, Fate, was mine; And dost thou rend him from me? Is he gone {^paragraph 210} To Pluto's dreary realms below? For him, as dead, with pious care This goblet I prepare; And on the bosom of the earth shall flow Streams from the heifer mountain-bred, {^paragraph 215} The grape's rich juice, and, mix'd with these, The labour of the yellow bees, Libations soothing to the dead. Give me the oblation: let me hold The foaming goblet's hallow'd gold. {^paragraph 220} - O thou, the earth beneath, Who didst from Agamemnon spring; To thee, deprived of vital breath, I these libations bring. {^paragraph 225} Accept them: to thy honour'd tomb, Never, ah! never shall I come; Never these golden tresses bear, To place them there, there shed the tear; For from my country far, a hind {^paragraph 230} There deem'd as slain, my wild abode I find. CHORUS (singing) To thee thy faithful train The Asiatic hymn will raise, A doleful, a barbaric strain, {^paragraph 235} Responsive to thy lays, And steep in tears the mournful song,- Notes, which to the dead belong; Dismal notes, attuned to woe By Pluto in the realms below: {^paragraph 240} No sprightly air shall we employ To cheer the soul, and wake the sense of joy. IPHIGENIA (singing) The Atreidae are no more; Extinct their sceptre's golden light; {^paragraph 245} My father's house from its proud height Is fallen: its ruins I deplore. Who of her kings at Argos holds his reign, Her kings once bless'd? But Sorrow's train Rolls on impetuous for the rapid steeds {^paragraph 250} Which o'er the strand with Pelops fly. From what atrocious deeds Starts the sun back, his sacred eye Of brightness, loathing, turn'd aside? And fatal to their house arose, {^paragraph 255} From the rich ram, Thessalia's golden pride, Slaughter on slaughter, woes on woes: Thence, from the dead ages past, Vengeance came rushing on its prey, And swept the race of Tantalus away. {^paragraph 260} Fatal to thee its ruthless haste; To me too fatal, from the hour My mother wedded, from the night She gave me to life's opening light, Nursed by affliction's cruel power. {^paragraph 265} Early to me, the Fates unkind, To know what sorrow is assign'd: Me Leda's daughter, hapless dame, First blooming offspring of her bed (A father's conduct here I blame), {^paragraph 270} A joyless victim bred; When o'er the strand of Aulis, in the pride Of beauty kindling flames of love, High on my splendid car I move, Betrothed to Thetis' son a bride: {^paragraph 275} Ah, hapless bride, to all the train Of Grecian fair preferr'd in vain! But now, a stranger on this strand, 'Gainst which the wild waves beat, I hold my dreary, joyless seat, {^paragraph 280} Far distant from my native land, Nor nuptial bed is mine, nor child, nor friend. At Argos now no more I raise The festal song in Juno's praise; Nor o'er the loom sweet-sounding bend, {^paragraph 285} As the creative shuttle flies; Give forms of Titans fierce to rise; And, dreadful with her purple spear, Image Athenian Pallas there: But on this barbarous shore {^paragraph 290} The unhappy stranger's fate I moan, The ruthless altar stain'd with gore, His deep and dying groan; And, for each tear that weeps his woes, From me a tear of pity flows. {^paragraph 295} Of these the sad remembrance now must sleep: A brother dead, ah me! I weep: At Argos him, by fate oppress'd, I left an infant at the breast, A beauteous bud, whose opening charms {^paragraph 300} Then blossom'd in his mother's arms; Orestes, born to high command, The imperial sceptre of the Argive land. LEADER OF THE CHORUS Leaving the sea-wash'd shore a herdsman comes {^paragraph 305} Speeding, with some fresh tidings to thee fraught. (A HERDSMAN enters.) HERDSMAN Daughter of Agamemnon, and bright gem Of Clytemnestra, hear strange things from me. {^paragraph 310} IPHIGENIA And what of terror doth thy tale import? HERDSMAN Two youths, swift-rowing 'twixt the clashing rocks Of our wild sea, are landed on the beach, {^paragraph 315} A grateful offering at Diana's shrine, And victims to the goddess. Haste, prepare The sacred lavers, and the previous rites. IPHIGENIA Whence are the strangers? from what country named? {^paragraph 320} HERDSMAN From Greece: this only, nothing more, I know. IPHIGENIA Didst thou not hear what names the strangers bear? HERDSMAN {^paragraph 325} One by the other was call'd Pylades. IPHIGENIA How is the stranger, his companion, named? HERDSMAN This none of us can tell: we heard it not. {^paragraph 330} IPHIGENIA How saw you them? how seized them? by what chance? HERDSMAN Mid the rude cliffs that o'er the Euxine hang- IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 335} And what concern have herdsmen with the sea? HERDSMAN To wash our herds in the salt wave we came. IPHIGENIA To what I ask'd return: how seized you them? {^paragraph 340} Tell me the manner; this I wish to know: For slow the victims come, nor hath some while The altar of the goddess, as was wont, Been crimson'd with the streams of Grecian blood. HERDSMAN {^paragraph 345} Our herds, which in the forest feed, we drove Amid the tide that rushes to the shore, 'Twixt the Symplegades: it was the place, Where in the rifted rock the chafing surge Hath hallow'd a rude cave, the haunt of those {^paragraph 350} Whose quest is purple. Of our number there A herdsman saw two youths, and back return'd With soft and silent step; then pointing, said, "Do you not see them? These are deities That sit there." One, who with religious awe {^paragraph 355} Revered the gods, with hands uplifted pray'd, His eyes fix'd on them,-"Son of the sea-nymph Leucothoe, guardian of the labouring bark, Our lord Palaemon, be propitious to us! Or sit you on our shores, bright sons of Jove, {^paragraph 360} Castor and Pollux? Or the glorious boast Of Nereus, father of the noble choir Of fifty Nereids?" One, whose untaught mind Audacious folly harden'd 'gainst the sense Of holy awe, scoff'd at his prayers, and said,- {^paragraph 365} "These are wreck'd mariners, that take their seat In the cleft rock through fear, as they have heard Our prescribed rite, that here we sacrifice The stranger." To the greater part he seem'd Well to have spoken, and we judged it meet {^paragraph 370} To seize the victims, by our country's law Due to the goddess. Of the stranger youths, One at this instant started from the rock: Awhile he stood, and wildly toss'd his head, And groan'd, his loose arms trembling all their length, {^paragraph 375} Convulsed with madness; and a hunter loud Then cried,-"Dost thou behold her, Pylades? Dost thou not see this dragon fierce from hell Rushing to kill me, and against me rousing Her horrid vipers? See this other here, {^paragraph 380} Emitting fire and slaughter from her vests, Sails on her wings, my mother in her arms Bearing, to hurl this mass of rock upon me! Ah, she will kill me! Whither shall I fly?" His visage might we see no more the same, {^paragraph 385} And his voice varied; now the roar of bulls, The howl of dogs now uttering, mimic sounds Sent by the maddening Furies, as they say. Together thronging, as of death assured, We sit in silence; but he drew his sword, {^paragraph 390} And, like a lion rushing mid our herds, Plunged in their sides the weapon, weening thus To drive the Furies, till the briny wave Foam'd with their blood. But when among our herds We saw this havoc made, we all 'gan rouse {^paragraph 395} To arms, and blew our sounding shells to alarm The neighbouring peasants; for we thought in fight Rude herdsmen to these youthful strangers, train'd To arms, ill match'd; and forthwith to our aid Flock'd numbers. But, his frenzy of its force {^paragraph 400} Abating, on the earth the stranger falls, Foam bursting from his mouth: but when he saw The advantage, each adventured on and hurl'd What might annoy him fallen: the other youth Wiped off the foam, took of his person care, {^paragraph 405} His fine-wrought robe spread over him; with heed The flying stones observing, warded of The wounds, and each kind office to his friend Attentively perform'd. His sense return'd; The stranger started up, and soon perceived {^paragraph 410} The tide of foes that roll'd impetuous on, The danger and distress that closed them round. He heaved a sigh; an unremitting storm Of stones we pour'd, and each incited each: Then we his dreadful exhortation heard:- {^paragraph 415} "Pylades, we shall die; but let us die With glory: draw thy sword, and follow me." But when we saw the enemies advance With brandish'd swords, the steep heights crown'd with wood We fell in flight: but others, if one flies, {^paragraph 420} Press on them; if again they drive these back, What before fled turns, with a storm of stones Assaulting them; but, what exceeds belief, Hurl'd by a thousand hands, not one could hit The victims of the goddess: scarce at length, {^paragraph 425} Not by brave daring seized we them, but round We closed upon them, and their swords with stones Beat, wily, from their hands; for on their knees They through fatigue had sunk upon the ground: We bare them to the monarch of this land: {^paragraph 430} He view'd them, and without delay to the Sent them devoted to the cleansing vase, And to the altar. Victims such as these, O virgin, wish to find; for if such youths Thou offer, for thy slaughter Greece will pay, {^paragraph 435} Her wrongs to thee at Aulis well avenged. LEADER These things are wonderful, which thou hast told Of him, whoe'er he be, the youth from Greece Arrived on this inhospitable shore. {^paragraph 440} IPHIGENIA 'Tis well: go thou, and bring the strangers hither: What here is to be done shall be our care. (The HERDSMAN departs.) O my unhappy heart! before this hour {^paragraph 445} To strangers thou wast gentle, always touch'd With pity, and with tears their tears repaid, When Grecians, natives of my country, came Into my hands: but from the dreams, which prompt To deeds ungentle, showing that no more {^paragraph 450} Orestes views the sun's fair light, whoe'er Ye are that hither come, me will you find Relentless now. This is the truth, my friends: My heart is rent; and never will the wretch, Who feels affliction's cruel tortures, bear {^paragraph 455} Good-will to those that are more fortunate. Never came gale from Jove, nor flying bark, Which 'twixt the dangerous rocks of the Euxine sea Brought Helen hither, who my ruin wrought, Nor Menelaus; that on them my foul wrongs {^paragraph 460} I might repay, and with an Aulis here Requite the Aulis there, where I was seized, And, as a heifer, by the Grecians slain: My father too, who gave me birth, was priest. Ah me! the sad remembrance of those ills {^paragraph 465} Yet lives: how often did I stroke thy cheek, And, hanging on thy knees, address thee thus:- "Alas, my father! I by thee am led A bride to bridal rites unbless'd and base: Them, while by thee I bleed, my mother hymns, {^paragraph 470} And the Argive dames, with hymeneal strains, And with the jocund pipe the house resounds: But at the altar I by thee am slain; For Pluto was the Achilles, not the son Of Peleus, whom to me thou didst announce {^paragraph 475} The affianced bridegroom, and by guile didst bring To bloody nuptials in the rolling car." But, o'er mine eyes the veil's fine texture spread, This brother in my hands who now is lost, I clasp'd not, though his sister; did not press {^paragraph 480} My lips to his, through virgin modesty, As going to the house of Peleus: then Each fond embrace I to another time Deferr'd, as soon to Argos to return. If, O unhappy brother, thou art dead, {^paragraph 485} From what a state, thy father's envied height Of glory, loved Orestes, art thou torn!- These false rules of the goddess much I blame: Whoe'er of mortals is with slaughter stain'd, Or hath at childbirth given assisting hands, {^paragraph 490} Or chanced to touch aught dead, she as impure Drives from her altars; yet herself delights In human victims bleeding at her shrine. Ne'er did Latona from the embrace of Jove Bring forth such inconsistence: I then deem {^paragraph 495} The feast of Tantalus, where gods were guests, Unworthy of belief, as that they fed On his son's flesh delighted; and I think These people, who themselves have a wild joy In shedding human blood, their savage guilt {^paragraph 500} Charge on the goddess: for this truth I hold; None of the gods is evil, or doth wrong. (She enters the temple.) CHORUS (singing) - {^paragraph 505} strophe 1 - Ye rocks, ye dashing rocks, whose brow Frowns o'er the darken'd deeps below; Whose wild, inhospitable wave, {^paragraph 510} From Argos flying and her native spring, The virgin once was known to brave, Tormented with the brize's maddening sting, From Europe when the rude sea o'er She pass'd to Asia's adverse shore; {^paragraph 515} Who are these hapless youths, that dare to land, Leaving those soft, irriguous meads, Where, his green margin fringed with reeds, Eurotas rolls his ample tide, Or Dirce's hallow'd waters glide, {^paragraph 520} And touch this barbarous, stranger-hating strand, The altars where a virgin dews, And blood the pillar'd shrine imbrues? - antistrophe 1 {^paragraph 525} - Did they with oars impetuous sweep (Rank answering rank) the foamy deep, And wing their bark with flying sails, To raise their humble fortune their desire; {^paragraph 530} Eager to catch the rising gales, Their bosoms with the love of gain on fire? For sweet is hope to man's fond breast; The hope of gain, insatiate guest, Though on her oft attends Misfortune's train; {^paragraph 535} For daring man she tempts to brave The dangers of the boisterous wave, And leads him heedless of his fate Through many a distant barbarous state. Vain his opinions, his pursuits are vain! {^paragraph 540} Boundless o'er some her power is shown, But some her temperate influence own. - strophe 2 - {^paragraph 545} How did they pass the dangerous rocks Clashing with rude, tremendous shocks? How pass the savage-howling shore, Where once the unhappy Phineus held his reign, And sleep affrighted flies its roar, {^paragraph 550} Steering their rough course o'er this boisterous main, Form'd in a ring, beneath whose waves The Nereid train in high arch'd caves Weave the light dance, and raise the sprightly song, While, whispering in their swelling sails, {^paragraph 555} Soft Zephyrs breathe, or southern gales Piping amid their tackling play, As their bark ploughs its watery way Those hoary cliffs, the haunts of birds, along, To that wild strand, the rapid race {^paragraph 560} Where once Achilles deign'd to grace? - antistrophe 2 - O that from Troy some chance would bear {^paragraph 565} Leda's loved daughter, fatal fair (The royal virgin's vows are mine) That her bright tresses roll'd in crimson dew, Her warm blood flowing at this shrine The altar of the goddess might imbrue; {^paragraph 570} And Vengeance, righteous to repay Her former mischiefs, seize her prey! But with what rapture should I hear his voice, If one this shore should reach from Greece, And bid the toils of slavery cease! {^paragraph 575} Or might I in the hour of rest With pleasing dreams of Greece be bless'd; So in my house, my native land rejoice; In sleep enjoy the pleasing strain For happiness restored again {^paragraph 580} (IPHIGENIA enters from the temple.) IPHIGENIA But the two youths, their hands fast bound in chains, The late-seized victims to the goddess, come. Silence, my friends; for, destined at the shrine {^paragraph 585} To bleed, the Grecian strangers near approach; And no false tidings did the herdsman bring. LEADER OF THE CHORUS Goddess revered, if grateful to thy soul This state presents such sacrifice, accept {^paragraph 590} The victims, which the custom of this land Gives thee, but deem'd unholy by the Greeks. (Guards lead in ORESTES and PYLADES, bound.) IPHIGENIA No more; that to the goddess each due rite {^paragraph 595} Be well perform'd shall be my care. Unchain The strangers' hands; that, hallow'd as they are, They may no more be bound. (The guards release ORESTES and PYLADES.) Go you, prepare {^paragraph 600} Within the temple what the rites require. Unhappy youths, what mother brought you forth, Your father who? Your sister, if perchance Ye have a sister, of what youths deprived? For brother she shall have no more. Who knows {^paragraph 605} Whom such misfortunes may attend? For dark What the gods will creeps on; and none can tell The ills to come: this fortune from the sight Obscures. But, O unhappy strangers, say, Whence came you? Sail'd you long since for this land? {^paragraph 610} But long will be your absence from your homes, For ever, in the dreary realms below. ORESTES Lady, whoe'er thou art, why for these things Dost thou lament? why mourn for ills, which soon {^paragraph 615} Will fall on us? Him I esteem unwise, Who, when he sees death near, tries to o'ercome Its terrors with bewailings, without hope Of safety: ill he adds to ill, and makes His folly known, yet dies. We must give way {^paragraph 620} To fortune; therefore mourn not thou for us: We know, we are acquainted with your rites. IPHIGENIA Which of you by the name of Pylades Is call'd? This first it is my wish to know. {^paragraph 625} ORESTES If aught of pleasure that may give thee, he. IPHIGENIA A native of what Grecian state, declare. ORESTES {^paragraph 630} What profit knowing this wouldst thou obtain? IPHIGENIA And are you brothers, of one mother born? ORESTES Brothers by friendship, lady, not by birth. {^paragraph 635} IPHIGENIA To thee what name was by thy father given? ORESTES With just cause I Unhappy might be call'd. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 640} I ask not that; to fortune that ascribe. ORESTES Dying unknown, rude scoffs I shall avoid. IPHIGENIA Wilt thou refuse? Why are thy thoughts so high? {^paragraph 645} ORESTES My body thou mayst kill, but not my name. IPHIGENIA Wilt thou not say a native of what state? ORESTES {^paragraph 650} The question naught avails, since I must die. IPHIGENIA What hinders thee from granting me this grace? ORESTES The illustrious Argos I my country boast. {^paragraph 655} IPHIGENIA By the gods, stranger, is thy birth from thence? ORESTES My birth is from Mycenae, once the bless'd. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 660} Dost thou an exile fly, or by what fate? ORESTES Of my free will, in part not free, I fly. IPHIGENIA Wilt thou then tell me what I wish to know? {^paragraph 665} ORESTES Whate'er is foreign to my private griefs. IPHIGENIA To my dear wish from Argos art thou come. ORESTES {^paragraph 670} Not to my wish; but if to thine, enjoy it. IPHIGENIA Troy, whose fame spreads so wide, perchance thou know'st. ORESTES O that I ne'er had known her, ev'n in dreams! {^paragraph 675} IPHIGENIA They say she is no more, by war destroy'd. ORESTES It is so: you have heard no false reports. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 680} Is Helena with Menelaus return'd? ORESTES She is; and one I love her coming rues. IPHIGENIA Where is she? Me too she of old hath wrong'd. {^paragraph 685} ORESTES At Sparta with her former lord she dwells. IPHIGENIA By Greece, and not by me alone abhorr'd! ORESTES {^paragraph 690} I from her nuptials have my share of grief. IPHIGENIA And are the Greeks, as Fame reports, return'd? ORESTES How briefly all things dost thou ask at once! {^paragraph 695} IPHIGENIA This favour, ere thou die, I wish to obtain. ORESTES Ask, then: since such thy wish, I will inform thee. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 700} Calchas, a prophet,-came he back from Troy? ORESTES He perish'd at Mycenae such the fame. IPHIGENIA Goddess revered! But doth Ulysses live? {^paragraph 705} ORESTES He lives, they say, but is not yet return'd. IPHIGENIA Perish the wretch, nor see his country more! ORESTES {^paragraph 710} Wish him not ill, for all with him is ill. IPHIGENIA But doth the son of sea-born Thetis live? ORESTES He lives not: vain his nuptial rites at Aulis. {^paragraph 715} IPHIGENIA That all was fraud, as those who felt it say. ORESTES But who art thou, inquiring thus of Greece? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 720} I am from thence, in early youth undone. ORESTES Thou hast a right to inquire what there hath pass'd. IPHIGENIA What know'st thou of the chief, men call the bless'd? {^paragraph 725} ORESTES Who? Of the bless'd was not the chief I knew. IPHIGENIA The royal Agamemnon, son of Atreus. ORESTES {^paragraph 730} Of him I know not, lady; cease to ask. IPHIGENIA Nay, by the gods, tell me, and cheer my soul. ORESTES He's dead, the unhappy chief: no single ill. {^paragraph 735} IPHIGENIA Dead! By what adverse fate? O wretched me! ORESTES Why mourn for this? How doth it touch thy breast? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 740} The glories of his former state I mourn. ORESTES Dreadfully murdered by a woman's hand. IPHIGENIA How wretched she that slew him, he thus slain! {^paragraph 745} ORESTES Now then forbear: of him inquire no more. IPHIGENIA This only: lives the unhappy monarch's wife? ORESTES {^paragraph 750} She, lady, is no more, slain by her son. IPHIGENIA Alas, the ruin'd house! What his intent? ORESTES To avenge on her his noble father slain. {^paragraph 755} IPHIGENIA An ill, but righteous deed, how justly done! ORESTES Though righteous, by the gods be is not bless'd. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 760} Hath Agamemnon other offspring left? ORESTES He left one virgin daughter, named Electra. IPHIGENIA Of her that died a victim is aught said? {^paragraph 765} ORESTES This only, dead, she sees the light no more. IPHIGENIA Unhappy she! the father too who slew her! ORESTES {^paragraph 770} For a bad woman she unseemly died. IPHIGENIA At Argos lives the murdered father's son? ORESTES Nowhere he lives, poor wretch! and everywhere. {^paragraph 775} IPHIGENIA False dreams, farewell; for nothing you import. ORESTES Nor are those gods, that have the name of wise, Less false than fleeting dreams. In things divine, {^paragraph 780} And in things human, great confusion reigns. One thing is left; that, not unwise of soul, Obedient to the prophet's voice he perish'd; For that he perish'd, they who know report. LEADER {^paragraph 785} What shall we know, what of our parents know? If yet they live or not, who can inform us? IPHIGENIA Hear me: this converse prompts a thought, which gives Promise of good, ye youths of Greece, to you, {^paragraph 790} To these, and me: thus may it well be done, If, willing to my purpose, all assent. Wilt thou, if I shall save thee, go for me A messenger to Argos, to my friends Charged with a letter, which a captive wrote, {^paragraph 795} Who pitied me, nor murderous thought my hand, But that he died beneath the law, these rites The goddess deeming just? for from that hour I have not found who might to Argos bear Himself my message, back with life return'd, {^paragraph 800} Or send to any of my friends my letter. Thou, therefore, since it seems thou dost not bear Ill-will to me, and dost Mycenae know, And those I wish to address, be safe, and live, No base reward for a light letter, life {^paragraph 805} Receiving; and let him, since thus the state Requires, without thee to the goddess bleed. ORESTES Virgin unknown, well hast thou said in all Save this, that to the goddess he should bleed {^paragraph 810} A victim; that were heavy grief indeed. I steer'd the vessel to these ills; he sail'd Attendant on my toils: to gain thy grace By his destruction, and withdraw myself From sufferings, were unjust: thus let it be: {^paragraph 815} Give him the letter; to fulfil thy wish, To Argos he will bear it: me let him Who claims that office, slay: base is his soul, Who in calamities involves his friends, And saves himself; this is a friend, whose life, {^paragraph 820} Dear to me as my own, I would preserve. IPHIGENIA Excellent spirit! from some noble root It shows thee sprung, and to thy friends a friend Sincere; of those that share my blood if one {^paragraph 825} Remains, such may he be! for I am not Without a brother, strangers, from my sight Though distant now. Since then thy wish is such, Him will I send to Argos; he shall bear My letter; thou shalt die; for this desire {^paragraph 830} Hath strong possession of thy noble soul. ORESTES Who then shall do the dreadful deed, and slay me? IPHIGENIA I: to atone the goddess is my charge. {^paragraph 835} ORESTES A charge unenvied, virgin, and unbless'd. IPHIGENIA Necessity constrains: I must obey. ORESTES {^paragraph 840} Wilt thou, a woman, plunge the sword in men? IPHIGENIA No: but thy locks to sprinkle round is mine. ORESTES Whose then, if I may ask, the bloody deed? {^paragraph 845} IPHIGENIA To some within the temple this belongs. ORESTES What tomb is destined to receive my corse? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 850} The hallow'd fire within, and a dark cave. ORESTES O, that a sister's hand might wrap these limbs! IPHIGENIA Vain wish, unhappy youth, whoe'er thou art, {^paragraph 855} Hast thou conceived; for from this barbarous land Far is her dwelling. Yet, of what my power Permits (since thou from Argos draw'st thy birth), No grace will I omit: for in the tomb I will place much of ornament, and pour {^paragraph 860} The dulcet labour of the yellow bee, From mountain flowers extracted, on thy pyre. But I will go, and from the temple bring The letter; yet 'gainst me no hostile thought Conceive. You, that attend here, guard them well, {^paragraph 865} But without chains. To one, whom most I love Of all my friends, to Argos I shall send Tidings perchance unlook'd for; and this letter, Declaring those whom he thought dead alive, Shall bear him an assured and solid joy. {^paragraph 870} (She enters the temple.) CHORUS (chanting) Thee, o'er whose limbs the bloody drops shall soon Be from the lavers sprinkled, I lament. ORESTES {^paragraph 875} This asks no pity, strangers: but farewell. CHORUS (chanting) Thee for thy happy fate we reverence, youth Who to thy country shall again return. PYLADES {^paragraph 880} To friends unwish'd, who leave their friends to die. CHORUS (chanting) Painful dismission! Which shall I esteem Most lost, alas, alas! which most undone? For doubts my wavering judgment yet divide, {^paragraph 885} If chief for thee my sighs should swell, or thee. ORESTES By the gods, Pylades, is thy mind touch'd In manner like as mine? PYLADES {^paragraph 890} I cannot tell; Nor to thy question have I to reply. ORESTES Who is this virgin? With what zeal for Greece Made she inquiries of us what the toils {^paragraph 895} At Troy, if yet the Grecians were return'd, And Calchas, from the flight of birds who form'd Presages of the future. And she named Achilles: with what tenderness bewail'd The unhappy Agamemnon! Of his wife {^paragraph 900} She ask'd me,-of his children: thence her race This unknown virgin draws, an Argive; else Ne'er would she send this letter, nor have wish'd To know these things, as if she bore a share (If Argos flourish) in its prosperous state. {^paragraph 905} PYLADES Such were my thoughts (but thou hast given them words, Preventing me) of every circumstance, Save one: the fate of kings all know, whose state Holds aught of rank. But pass to other thoughts. {^paragraph 910} ORESTES What? Share them; so thou best mayst be inform'd. PYLADES That thou shouldst die, and I behold this light, Were base: with thee I sail'd, with thee to die {^paragraph 915} Becomes me; else shall I obtain the name Of a vile coward through the Argive state, And the deep vales of Phocis. Most will think (For most think ill) that by betraying the I saved myself, home to return alone; {^paragraph 920} Or haply that I slew thee, and thy death Contrived, that in the ruin of thy house Thy empire I might grasp, to me devolved As wedded to thy sister, now sole heir. These things I fear, and hold them infamous. {^paragraph 925} Behooves me then with thee to die, with the To bleed a victim, on the pyre with thine To give my body to the flames; for this Becomes me as thy friend. who dreads reproach. ORESTES {^paragraph 930} Speak more auspicious words: 'tis mine to bear Ills that are mine; and single when the wo, I would not bear it double. What thou say'st Is vile and infamous, would light on me, Should I cause thee to die, who in my toils {^paragraph 935} Hast borne a share: to me, who from the gods Suffer afflictions which I suffer, death Is not unwelcome: thou art happy, thine An unpolluted and a prosperous house; Mine impious and unbless'd: if thou art saved, {^paragraph 940} And from my sister (whom I gave to thee, Betroth'd thy bride) art bless'd with sons, my name May yet remain, nor all my father's house In total ruin sink. Go then, and live: Dwell in the mansion of thy ancestors: {^paragraph 945} And when thou comest to Greece, to Argos famed For warrior-steeds, by this right hand I charge the Raise a sepulchral mound, and on it place A monument to me; and to my tomb Her tears, her tresses let my sister give; {^paragraph 950} And say, that by an Argive woman's hand I perish'd, to the altar's bloody rites A hallow'd victim. Never let thy soul Betray my sister, for thou seest her state, Of friends how destitute, her father's house {^paragraph 955} How desolate. Farewell. Of all my friends, Thee have I found most friendly, from my youth Train'd up with me, in all my sylvan sports Thou dear associate, and through many toils Thou faithful partner of my miseries. {^paragraph 960} Me Phoebus, though a prophet, hath deceived, And, meditating guile, hath driven me far From Greece, of former oracles ashamed; To him resign'd, obedient to his words, I slew my mother, and my meed is death. {^paragraph 965} PYLADES Yes, I will raise thy tomb: thy sister's bed I never will betray, unhappy youth, For I will hold thee dearer when thou art dead, Than while thou livest; nor hath yet the voice {^paragraph 970} Of Phoebus quite destroy'd thee, though thou stand To sometimes mighty but sometimes mighty woes Yield mighty changes, so when Fortune wills. ORESTES Forbear: the words of Phoebus naught avail me; {^paragraph 975} For, passing from the shrine, the virgin comes. - (IPHIGENIA enters from the temple. She is carrying a letter.) - IPHIGENIA (to the guards) {^paragraph 980} Go you away, and in the shrine prepare What those, who o'er the rites preside, require. (The guards go into the temple.) Here, strangers, is the letter folded close: What I would further, hear. The mind of man {^paragraph 985} In dangers, and again, from fear relieved, Of safety when assured, is not the same: I therefore fear lest he, who should convey To Argos this epistle, when return'd Safe to his native country, will neglect {^paragraph 990} My letter, as a thing of little worth. ORESTES What wouldst thou then? What is thy anxious thought? IPHIGENIA This: let him give an oath that he will bear {^paragraph 995} To Argos this epistle to those friends, To whom it is my ardent wish to send it. ORESTES And wilt thou in return give him thy oath? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1000} That I will do, or will not do, say what. ORESTES To send him from this barbarous shore alive. IPHIGENIA That's just: how should he bear my letter else? {^paragraph 1005} ORESTES But will the monarch to these things assent? IPHIGENIA By me induced. Him I will see embark'd. ORESTES {^paragraph 1010} Swear then; and thou propose the righteous oath. IPHIGENIA This, let him say, he to my friends will give. PYLADES Well, to thy friends this letter I will give. {^paragraph 1015} IPHIGENIA Thee will I send safe through the darkening rocks. PYLADES What god dost thou invoke to attest thy oath? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1020} Diana, at whose shrine high charge I hold. PYLADES And I heaven's potent king, the awful Jove. IPHIGENIA But if thou slight thy oath, and do me wrong? {^paragraph 1025} PYLADES Never may I return. But if thou fail, And save me not? IPHIGENIA Then never, while I live, {^paragraph 1030} May I revisit my loved Argos more! PYLADES One thing, not mention'd, thy attention claims. IPHIGENIA If honour owes it, this will touch us both. {^paragraph 1035} PYLADES Let me in this be pardon'd, if the bark Be lost, and with it in the surging waves Thy letter perish, and I naked gain The shore; no longer binding be the oath. {^paragraph 1040} IPHIGENIA Know'st thou what I will do? For various ills Arise to those that plough the dangerous deep. What in this letter is contain'd, what here Is written, all I will repeat to thee, {^paragraph 1045} That thou mayst bear my message to my friends. 'Gainst danger thus I guard: if thou preserve The letter, that though silent will declare My purport; if it perish in the sea, Saving thyself, my words too thou wilt save. {^paragraph 1050} PYLADES Well hast thou said touching the gods and me. Say then to whom at Argos shall I bear This letter? What relate as heard from thee? IPHIGENIA (reading) {^paragraph 1055} This message to Orestes, to the son Of Agamemnon, bear:-She, who was slain At Aulis, Iphigenia, sends thee this: She lives, but not to those who then were there. ORESTES {^paragraph 1060} Where is she? From the dead return'd to life? IPHIGENIA She whom thou seest: but interrupt me not. To Argos, O my brother, ere I die, Bear me from this barbaric land, and far {^paragraph 1065} Remove me from this altar's bloody rites, At which to slay the stranger is my charge.- ORESTES What shall I say? Where are we, Pylades? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1070} Or on thy house for vengeance will I call, Orestes. Twice repeated, learn the name. ORESTES Ye gods! IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1075} In my cause why invoke the gods? ORESTES Nothing: proceed: my thoughts were wandering wide: Strange things of thee unask'd I soon shall learn. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1080} Tell him the goddess saved me, in exchange A hind presenting, which my father slew A victim, deeming that he plunged his sword Deep in my breast: me in this land she placed. Thou hast my charge: and this my letter speaks. {^paragraph 1085} PYLADES O, thou hast bound me with an easy oath: What I have sworn with honest purpose, long Defer I not, but thus discharge mine oath. To thee a letter from thy sister, lo, {^paragraph 1090} I bear, Orestes; and I give it thee. (PYLADES hands the letter to ORESTES.) ORESTES I do receive it, but forbear to unclose its foldings, greater pleasure first to enjoy {^paragraph 1095} Than words can give. My sister, O most dear, Astonish'd ev'n to disbelief, I throw Mine arms around thee with a fond embrace, In transport at the wondrous things I hear. LEADER OF THE CHORUS {^paragraph 1100} Stranger, thou dost not well with hands profane Thus to pollute the priestess of the shrine, Grasping her garments hallow'd from the touch. ORESTES My sister, my dear sister, from one sire, {^paragraph 1105} From Agamemnon sprung, turn not away, Holding thy brother thus beyond all hope. IPHIGENIA My brother! Thou my brother! Wilt thou not Unsay these words? At Argos far he dwells. {^paragraph 1110} ORESTES Thy brother, O unhappy! is not there. IPHIGENIA Thee did the Spartan Tyndarus bring forth? ORESTES {^paragraph 1115} And from the son of Pelops' son I sprung, IPHIGENIA What say'st thou? Canst thou give me proof of this? ORESTES I can: ask something of my father's house. {^paragraph 1120} IPHIGENIA Nay, it is thine to speak, mine to attend. ORESTES First let me mention things which I have heard Electra speak: to thee is known the strife {^paragraph 1125} Which fierce 'twixt Atreus and Thyestes rose. IPHIGENIA Yes, I have heard it; for the golden ram,- ORESTES In the rich texture didst thou not inweave it? {^paragraph 1130} IPHIGENIA O thou most dear! Thou windest near my heart. ORESTES And image in the web the averted sun? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1135} In the fine threads that figure did I work. ORESTES For Aulis did thy mother bathe thy limbs? IPHIGENIA I know it, to unlucky spousals led. {^paragraph 1140} ORESTES Why to thy mother didst thou send thy locks? IPHIGENIA Devoted for my body to the tomb. ORESTES {^paragraph 1145} What I myself have seen I now as proofs Will mention. In thy father's house, hung high Within thy virgin chambers, the old spear Of Pelops, which he brandish'd when he slew Oenomaus, and won his beauteous bride, {^paragraph 1150} The virgin Hippodamia, Pisa's boast. IPHIGENIA O thou most dear (for thou art he), most dear Acknowledged, thee, Orestes, do I hold, From Argos, from thy country distant far? {^paragraph 1155} ORESTES And hold I thee, my sister, long deem'd dead? Grief mix'd with joy, and tears, not taught by woe To rise, stand melting in thy eyes and mine. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1160} Thee yet an infant in thy nurse's arms I left, a babe I left thee in the house. Thou art more happy, O my soul, than speech Knows to express. What shall I say? 'tis all Surpassing wonder and the power of words. {^paragraph 1165} ORESTES May we together from this hour be bless'd! IPHIGENIA An unexpected pleasure, O my friends, Have I received; yet fear I from my hands {^paragraph 1170} Lest to the air it fly. O sacred hearths Raised by the Cyclops! O my country, loved Mycenae! Now that thou didst give me birth, T thank thee; now I thank thee, that my youth Thou trainedst, since my brother thou has train'd, {^paragraph 1175} A beam of light, the glory of his house. ORESTES We in our race are happy; but our life, My sister, by misfortunes is unhappy. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1180} I was, I know, unhappy, when the sword My father, frantic, pointed at my neck. ORESTES Ah me! methinks ev'n now I see thee there. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1185} When to Achilles, brother, not a bride, I to the sacrifice by guile was led, And tears and groans the altar compass'd round. ORESTES Alas, the lavers there! {^paragraph 1190} IPHIGENIA I mourn'd the deed My father dared; unlike a father's love; Cruel, unlike a father's love, to me. ORESTES {^paragraph 1195} Ill deeds succeed to ill: if thou hadst slain Thy brother, by some god impell'd, what griefs Must have been thine at such a dreadful deed! IPHIGENIA (chanting) Dreadful my brother, O how dreadful! scarce {^paragraph 1200} Hast thou escaped a foul, unhallow'd death, Slain by my hands. But how will these things end? What Fortune will assist me? What safe means Shall I devise to send thee from this state, From slaughter, to thy native land, to Argos, {^paragraph 1205} Ere with thy blood the cruel sword be stain'd? This to devise, O my unhappy soul! This to devise is thine. Wilt thou by land, Thy bark deserted, speed thy flight on foot? Perils await thee mid these barbarous tribes, {^paragraph 1210} Through pathless wilds; and 'twixt the clashing rocks, Narrow the passage for the flying bark, And long. Unhappy, ah, unhappy me! What god, what mortal, what unlook'd-for chance Will expedite our dangerous way, and show {^paragraph 1215} Two sprung from Atreus a release from ills? LEADER What having seen and heard I shall relate, Is marvellous, and passes fabling tales. PYLADES {^paragraph 1220} When after absence long, Orestes, friend Meets friend, embraces will express their joy. Behooves us now, bidding farewell to grief, And heedful to obtain the glorious name Of safety, from this barbarous land to fly. {^paragraph 1225} The wise, of fortune not regardless, seize The occasion, and to happiness advance. ORESTES Well hast thou said; and Fortune here, I ween, Will aid us; to the firm and strenuous mind {^paragraph 1230} More potent works the influence divine. IPHIGENIA Nothing shall check, nothing restrain my speech: First will I question thee what fortune waits Electra: this to know would yield me joy. {^paragraph 1235} ORESTES With him (pointing to Pylades) she dwells, and happy is her life, IPHIGENIA Whence then is he? and from what father sprung? ORESTES {^paragraph 1240} From Phocis: Strophius is his father named. IPHIGENIA By Atreus' daughter to my blood allied? ORESTES Nearly allied: my only faithful friend. {^paragraph 1245} IPHIGENIA He was not then, me when my father slew. ORESTES Childless was Strophius for some length of time. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1250} O thou, the husband of my sister, hail ORESTES More than relation, my preserver too. IPHIGENIA But to thy mother why that dreadful deed? {^paragraph 1255} ORESTES Of that no more: to avenge my father's death. IPHIGENIA But for what cause did she her husband slay? ORESTES {^paragraph 1260} Of her inquire not: thou wouldst blush to hear. IPHIGENIA The eyes of Argos now are raised to thee. ORESTES There Menelaus is lord; I, outcast, fly. {^paragraph 1265} IPHIGENIA Hath he then wrong'd his brother's ruin'd house? ORESTES Not so: the Furies fright me from the land. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1270} The madness this, which seized thee on the shore? ORESTES I was not first beheld unhappy there. IPHIGENIA Stern powers! they haunt thee for thy mother's blood. {^paragraph 1275} ORESTES And ruthless make me champ the bloody bit. IPHIGENIA Why to this region has thou steer'd thy course? ORESTES {^paragraph 1280} Commanded by Apollo's voice, I come. IPHIGENIA With what intent? if that may be disclosed. ORESTES I will inform thee, though to length of speech {^paragraph 1285} This leads. When vengeance from my hands o'ertook My mother's deeds-foul deeds, which let me pass In silence-by the Furies' fierce assaults To flight I was impell'd: to Athens then Apollo sent me, that, my cause there heard, {^paragraph 1290} I might appease the vengeful powers, whose names May not be utter'd: the tribunal there Is holy, which for Mars, when stain'd with blood, Jove in old times establish'd. There arrived, None willingly received me, by the gods {^paragraph 1295} As one abhorr'd; and they, who felt the touch Of shame, the hospitable board alone Yielded; and though one common roof beneath, Their silence showing they disdain'd to hold Converse with me, I took from them apart {^paragraph 1300} A lone repast; to each was placed a bowl Of the same measure; this they filled with wine, And bathed their spirits in delight. Unmeet I deem'd it to express offence at those Who entertain'd me, but in silence grieved, {^paragraph 1305} Showing a cheer as though I mark'd it not, And sigh'd for that I shed my mother's blood. A feast, I hear, at Athens is ordain'd From this my evil plight, ev'n yet observed, In which the equal-measured bowl then used {^paragraph 1310} Is by that people held in honour high. But when to the tribunal on the mount Of Mars I came, one stand I took, and one The eldest of the Furies opposite: The cause was heard touching my mother's blood, {^paragraph 1315} And Phoebus saved me by his evidence: Equal, by Pallas number'd, were the votes And I from doom of blood victorious freed Such of the Furies as there sat, appeased By the just sentence, nigh the court resolved {^paragraph 1320} To fix their seat; but others, whom the law Appeased not, with relentless tortures still Pursued me, till I reach'd the hallow'd soil Of Phoebus: stretch'd before his shrine, I swore Foodless to waste my wretched life away, {^paragraph 1325} Unless the god, by whom I was undone, Would save me: from the golden tripod burst The voice divine, and sent me to this shore, Commanding me to bear the image hence, Which fell from Jove, and in the Athenian land {^paragraph 1330} To fix it. What the oracular voice assign'd My safety, do thou aid: if we obtain The statue of the goddess, I no more With madness shall be tortured, but this arm Shall place thee in my bark, which ploughs the waves {^paragraph 1335} With many an oar, and to Mycenae safe Bear thee again. Show then a sister's love, O thou most dear; preserve thy father's house, Preserve me too; for me destruction waits, And all the race of Pelops, if we bear not {^paragraph 1340} This heaven-descended image from the shrine. LEADER The anger of the gods hath raged severe, And plunged the race of Tantalus in woes. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1345} Ere thy arrival here, a fond desire To be again at Argos, and to see Thee, my loved brother, fill'd my soul. Thy wish Is my warm wish, to free thee from thy toils, And from its ruins raise my father's house; {^paragraph 1350} Nor harbour I 'gainst him, that slew me, thought Of harsh resentment: from thy blood my hands Would I keep pure, thy house I would preserve. But from the goddess how may this be hid? The tyrant too I fear, when he shall find {^paragraph 1355} The statue on its marble base no more. What then from death will save me? What excuse Shall I devise? Yet by one daring deed Might these things be achieved: couldst thou bear hence The image, me too in thy gallant bark {^paragraph 1360} Placing secure, how glorious were the attempt! Me if thou join not with thee, I am lost Indeed; but thou, with prudent measures form'd, Return. I fly no danger, not ev'n death, Be death required, to save thee: no: the man {^paragraph 1365} Dying is mourn'd, as to his house a loss; But woman's weakness is of light esteem. ORESTES I would not be the murderer of my mother, And of thee too; sufficient is her blood. {^paragraph 1370} No; I will share thy fortune, live with thee, Or with thee die: to Argos I will lead thee, If here I perish not; or dying, here Remain with thee. But what my mind suggests, Hear: if Diana were averse to this, {^paragraph 1375} How could the voice of Phoebus from his shrine Declare that to the state of Pallas hence The statue of the goddess I should bear, And see thy face? All this, together weigh'd, Gives hope of fair success, and our return. {^paragraph 1380} IPHIGENIA But how effect it, that we neither die, And what we wish achieve? For our return On this depends: this claims deliberate thought. ORESTES {^paragraph 1385} Have we not means to work the tyrant's death? IPHIGENIA For strangers full of peril were the attempt. ORESTES Thee would it save and me, it must be dared. {^paragraph 1390} IPHIGENIA I could not: yet thy promptness I approve. ORESTES What if thou lodge me in the shrine conceal'd? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1395} That in the shades of night we may escape? ORESTES Night is a friend to frauds, the light to truth. IPHIGENIA Within are sacred guards; we 'scape not them. {^paragraph 1400} ORESTES Ruin then waits us: how can we be saved? IPHIGENIA I think I have some new and safe device. ORESTES {^paragraph 1405} What is it? Let me know: impart thy thought, IPHIGENIA Thy sufferings for my purpose I will use,- ORESTES To form devices quick is woman's wit. {^paragraph 1410} IPHIGENIA And say, thy mother slain, thou fledd'st from Argos. ORESTES If to aught good, avail thee of my ills. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1415} Unmeet then at this shrine to offer thee. ORESTES What cause alleged? I reach not thine intent. IPHIGENIA As now impure: when hallow'd, I will slay thee. {^paragraph 1420} ORESTES How is the image thus more promptly gain'd? IPHIGENIA Thee I will hallow in the ocean waves. ORESTES {^paragraph 1425} The statue we would gain is in the temple. IPHIGENIA That, by thy touch polluted, I would cleanse. ORESTES Where? On the watery margin of the main? {^paragraph 1430} IPHIGENIA Where thy tall bark secured with cables rides. ORESTES And who shall bear the image in his hands? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1435} Myself; profaned by any touch, but mine. ORESTES What of this blood shall on my friend be charged? IPHIGENIA His hands, it shall be said, like thine are stain'd. {^paragraph 1440} ORESTES In secret this, or to the king disclosed? IPHIGENIA With his assent; I cannot hide it from him. ORESTES {^paragraph 1445} My bark with ready oars attends thee near. IPHIGENIA That all be well appointed, be thy charge. ORESTES One thing alone remains; that these conceal {^paragraph 1450} Our purpose: but address them, teach thy tongue Persuasive words: a woman hath the power To melt the heart to pity: thus perchance All things may to our warmest wish succeed. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1455} Ye train of females, to my soul most dear, On you mine eyes are turn'd, on you depends My fate; with prosperous fortune to be bless'd, Or to be nothing, to my country lost, Of a dear kinsman and a much-loved brother {^paragraph 1460} Deprived. This plea I first would urge, that we Are women, and have hearts by nature form'd To love each other, of our mutual trusts Most firm preservers. Touching our design, Be silent, and assist our flight: naught claims {^paragraph 1465} More honour than the faithful tongue. You see How the same fortune links us three, most dear Each to the other, to revisit safe Our country, or to die. If I am saved, That thou mayst share my fortune, I to Greece {^paragraph 1470} Will bring thee safe: but thee by this right hand, Thee I conjure, and thee; by this loved cheek Thee, by thy knees, by all that in your house Is dearest to you, father, mother, child, If you have children. What do you reply? {^paragraph 1475} Which of you speaks assent? Or which dissents? But be you all assenting: for my plea If you approve not, ruin falls on me, And my unhappy brother too must die. LEADER {^paragraph 1480} Be confident, loved lady and consult Only thy safety: all thou givest in charge, Be witness, mighty Jove, I will conceal. IPHIGENIA O, for this generous promise be you bless'd. {^paragraph 1485} (To ORESTES and PYLADES) To enter now the temple be thy part, And thine: for soon the monarch of the land Will come, inquiring if the strangers yet Have bow'd their necks as victims at the shrine. {^paragraph 1490} Goddess revered, who in the dreadful bay Of Aulis from my father's slaughtering hand Didst save me; save me now, and these: through thee, Else will the voice of Phoebus be no more Held true by mortals. From this barbarous land {^paragraph 1495} To Athens go propitious: here to dwell Beseems thee not; thine be a polish'd state! (ORESTES, PYLADES, and IPHIGENIA enter the temple.) CHORUS (singing) - {^paragraph 1500} strophe 1 - O bird, that round each craggy height Projecting o'er the sea below, Wheelest thy melancholy flight, {^paragraph 1505} Thy song attuned to notes of woe; The wise thy tender sorrows own, Which thy lost lord unceasing moan; Like thine, sad halcyon, be my strain, A bird, that have no wings to fly: {^paragraph 1510} With fond desire for Greece I sigh, And for my much-loved social train; Sigh for Diana, pitying maid, Who joys to rove o'er Cynthus' heights. Or in the branching laurel's shade, {^paragraph 1515} Or in the soft-hair'd palm delights, Or the hoar olive's sacred boughs, Lenient of sad Latona's woes; Or in the lake, that rolls its wave Where swans their plumage love to lave; {^paragraph 1520} Then, to the Muses soaring high, The homage pay of melody. - antistrophe 1 - {^paragraph 1525} Ye tears, what frequent-falling showers Roll'd down these cheeks in streams of woe, When in the dust my country's towers Lay levell'd by the conquering foe; And, to their spears a prey, their oars {^paragraph 1530} Brought me to these barbaric shores! For gold exchanged, a traffic base, No vulgar slave, the task is mine, Here at Diana's awful shrine, Who loves the woodland hind to chase, {^paragraph 1535} The virgin priestess to attend, Daughter of rich Mycenae's lord; At other shrines her wish to bend, Where bleeds the victim less abhorr'd: No respite to her griefs she knows; {^paragraph 1540} Not so the heart inured to woes, As train'd to sorrow's rigid lore: Now comes a change; it mourns no more: But lo long bliss when ill succeeds, The anguish'd heart for ever bleeds. {^paragraph 1545} - strophe 2 - Thee, loved virgin, freed from fear Home the Argive bark shall bear: {^paragraph 1550} Mountain Pan, with thrilling strain, To the oars that dash the main In just cadence well agreed, Shall accord his wax-join'd reed: Phoebus, with a prophet's fire {^paragraph 1555} Sweeping o'er his seven-string'd lyre, And his voice attuning high To the swelling harmony, Thee shall guide the wild waves o'er To the soft Athenian shore. {^paragraph 1560} Leaving me, thy oars shall sweep Eager o'er the foaming deep: Thou shalt catch the rising gales Swelling in thy firm-bound sails; And thy bark in gallant pride {^paragraph 1565} Light shall o'er the billows glide. - antistrophe 2 - Might I through the lucid air {^paragraph 1570} Fly where rolls yon flaming car, O'er those loved and modest bowers, Where I pass'd my youthful hours, I would stay my weary flight, Wave no more my pennons light, {^paragraph 1575} But, amid the virgin band, Once my loved companions, stand: Once mid them my charms could move, Blooming then, the flames of love; When the mazy dance I trod, {^paragraph 1580} While with joy my mother glow'd; When to vie in grace was mine, And in splendid robes to shine; For, with radiant tints impress'd, Glow'd for me the gorgeous vest; {^paragraph 1585} And these tresses gave new grace, As their ringlets shade my face. (THOAS and his retinue enter.) THOAS Where is the Grecian lady, to whose charge {^paragraph 1590} This temple is committed? Have her rites Hallow'd the strangers? Do their bodies burn In the recesses of the sacred shrine? LEADER OF THE CHORUS She comes, and will inform thee, king, of all. {^paragraph 1595} - (IPHIGENIA comes out of the temple. She is carrying the sacred statue of Diana.) - THOAS Daughter of Agamemnon, what means this? The statue of the goddess in thine arms {^paragraph 1600} Why dost thou bear, from its firm base removed? IPHIGENIA There in the portal, monarch, stay thy step. THOAS What of strange import in the shrine hath chanced? {^paragraph 1605} IPHIGENIA Things ominous: that word I, holy, speak. THOAS To what is tuned thy proem? Plainly speak. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1610} Not pure the victims, king, you lately seized. THOAS What showd thee this? Or speak'st thou but thy thought? IPHIGENIA Back turn'd the sacred image on its base. {^paragraph 1615} THOAS Spontaneous turn'd, or by an earthquake moved? IPHIGENIA Spontaneous, and, averted, closed its eyes. THOAS {^paragraph 1620} What was the cause? The blood-stain'd stranger's guilt? IPHIGENIA That, and naught else; for horrible their deeds. THOAS What, have they slain some Scythian on the shore? {^paragraph 1625} IPHIGENIA They came polluted with domestic blood. THOAS What blood? I have a strong desire to know. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1630} They slew their mother with confederate swords. THOAS O Phoebus! This hath no barbarian dared. IPHIGENIA All Greece indignant chased them from her realms. {^paragraph 1635} THOAS Bear'st thou for this the image from the shrine? IPHIGENIA To the pure air, from stain of blood removed. THOAS {^paragraph 1640} By what means didst thou know the stranger's guilt? IPHIGENIA I learn'd it as the statue started back. THOAS Greece train'd thee wise: this well hast thou discern'd. {^paragraph 1645} IPHIGENIA Now with sweet blandishments they soothe my soul. THOAS Some glozing tale from Argos telling thee? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1650} I have one brother: he, they say, lives happy,- THOAS That thou mayst save them for their pleasing news? IPHIGENIA And that my father lives, by fortune bless'd. {^paragraph 1655} THOAS But on the goddess well thy thoughts are turn'd. IPHIGENIA I hate all Greece; for it hath ruin'd me. THOAS {^paragraph 1660} What with the strangers, say then, should be done? IPHIGENIA The law ordain'd in reverence we must hold. THOAS Are then thy lavers ready, and the sword? {^paragraph 1665} IPHIGENIA First I would cleanse them with ablutions pure. THOAS In fountain waters, or the ocean wave? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1670} All man's pollutions doth the salt sea cleanse. THOAS More holy to the goddess will they bleed. IPHIGENIA And better what I have in charge advance. {^paragraph 1675} THOAS Doth not the wave ev'n 'gainst the temple beat? IPHIGENIA This requires solitude: more must I do. THOAS {^paragraph 1680} Lead where thou wilt: on secret rite I pry not. IPHIGENIA The image of the goddess I must cleanse. THOAS If it be stain'd with touch of mother's blood. {^paragraph 1685} IPHIGENIA I could not else have borne it from its base. THOAS Just is thy provident and pious thought; For this by all the state thou art revered. {^paragraph 1690} IPHIGENIA Know'st thou what next I would? THOAS 'Tis thine thy will To signify. {^paragraph 1695} IPHIGENIA Give for these strangers chains. THOAS To what place can they fly? IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1700} A Grecian knows Naught faithful. THOAS Of my train go some for chains. (Some attendants go out.) {^paragraph 1705} IPHIGENIA Let them lead forth the strangers. THOAS Be it so, IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1710} And veil their faces. THOAS From the sun's bright beams? IPHIGENIA Some of thy train send with me. {^paragraph 1715} THOAS These shall go, Attending thee. IPHIGENIA One to the city send. {^paragraph 1720} THOAS With what instructions charged? IPHIGENIA That all remain Within their houses. {^paragraph 1725} THOAS That the stain of blood They meet not? IPHIGENIA These things have pollution in them. {^paragraph 1730} THOAS Go thou, and bear the instructions. (An attendant departs.) IPHIGENIA That none come {^paragraph 1735} In sight, THOAS How wisely careful for the city! IPHIGENIA Warn our friends most. {^paragraph 1740} THOAS This speaks thy care for me. IPHIGENIA Stay thou before the shrine. THOAS {^paragraph 1745} To what intent? IPHIGENIA Cleanse it with lustral fires. THOAS That thy return {^paragraph 1750} May find it pure? IPHIGENIA But when the strangers come Forth from the temple,- THOAS {^paragraph 1755} What must I then do? IPHIGENIA Spread o'er thine eyes a veil. THOAS That I receive not {^paragraph 1760} Pollution? IPHIGENIA Tedious if my stay appear,- THOAS What bounds may be assign'd? {^paragraph 1765} IPHIGENIA Deem it not strange. THOAS At leisure what the rites require perform. IPHIGENIA {^paragraph 1770} May this lustration as I wish succeed! THOAS Thy wish is mine. - (ORESTES and PYLADES, bound, are led from the temple in {^paragraph 1775} solemn procession by the guards. THOAS and his retinue veil their heads as it slowly moves past.) - IPHIGENIA (chanting) But from the temple, see, {^paragraph 1780} The strangers come, the sacred ornaments, The hallow'd lambs-for I with blood must wash This execrable blood away,-the light Of torches, and what else my rites require To purify these strangers to the goddess. {^paragraph 1785} But to the natives of this land my voice Proclaims, from this pollution far remove, Art thou attendant at the shrine, who liftest Pure to the gods thy hands, or nuptial rites Dost thou prepare, or pregnant matron; hence, {^paragraph 1790} Begone, that this defilement none may touch. Thou, daughter of Latona and high Jove, O royal virgin, if I cleanse the stain Of these, and where I ought with holy rites Address thee, thou shalt hold thy residence {^paragraph 1795} In a pure mansion; we too shall be bless'd. More though I speak not, goddess, unexpress'd, All things to thee and to the gods are known. - (IPHIGENIA, carrying the statue, joins the procession as is goes {^paragraph 1800} out. THOAS and his retinue enter the temple.) - CHORUS (singing) - strophe {^paragraph 1805} - Latona's glorious offspring claims the song, Born the hallow'd shades among, Where fruitful Delos winds her valleys low; Bright-hair'd Phoebus, skill'd to inspire {^paragraph 1810} Raptures, as he sweeps the lyre, And she that glories in the unerring bow. From the rocky ridges steep, At whose feet the hush'd waves sleep, Left their far-famed native shore, {^paragraph 1815} Them the exulting mother bore To Parnassus, on whose heights Bacchus shouting holds his rites; Glittering in the burnish'd shade, By the laurel's branches made, {^paragraph 1820} Where the enormous dragon lies, Brass his scales, and flame his eyes, Earth-born monster, that around Rolling guards the oracular ground; Him, while yet a sportive child, {^paragraph 1825} In his mother's arms that smiled, Phoebus slew, and seized the shrine Whence proceeds the voice divine: On the golden tripod placed, Throne by falsehood ne'er disgraced, {^paragraph 1830} Where Castalia's pure stream flows, He the fates to mortal shows. - antistrophe - {^paragraph 1835} But when Themis, whom of yore Earth, her fruitful mother, bore, From her hallow'd seat he drove, Earth to avenge her daughter strove, Forming visions of the night, {^paragraph 1840} Which, in rapt dreams hovering light, All that Time's dark volumes hold Might to mortal sense unfold, When in midnight's sable shades Sleep the silent couch invades: {^paragraph 1845} Thus did Earth her vengeance boast. His prophetic honours lost, Royal Phoebus speeds his flight To Olympus, on whose height At the throne of Jove he stands, {^paragraph 1850} Stretching forth his little hands, Suppliant that the Pythian shrine Feel no more the wrath divine; That the goddess he appease; That her nightly visions cease. {^paragraph 1855} Jove with smiles beheld his son Early thus address his throne, Suing with ambitious pride O'er the rich shrine to preside; He, assenting, bow'd his head. {^paragraph 1860} Straight the nightly visions fled; And prophetic dreams no more Hover'd slumbering mortals o'er: Now to Phoebus given again, All his honours pure remain; {^paragraph 1865} Votaries distant regions send His frequented throne to attend: And the firm decrees of fate On his faithful voice await. (A MESSENGER enters.) {^paragraph 1870} MESSENGER Say you, that keep the temple, and attend The altar, where is Thoas, Scythia's king? Open these strong-compacted gates, and cal Forth from the shrine the monarch of the land. {^paragraph 1875} LEADER OF THE CHORUS Wherefore? at thy command if I must speak. MESSENGER The two young men are gone, through the device Of Agamemnon's daughter: from this land {^paragraph 1880} They fly; and, in their Grecian galley placed, The sacred image of the goddess bear. LEADER Incredible thy tale: but whom thou seek'st, The monarch, from the temple went in haste. {^paragraph 1885} MESSENGER Whither? for what is doing he should know. LEADER We know not: but go thou, and seek for him: Where'er thou find him, thou wilt tell him this. {^paragraph 1890} MESSENGER See, what a faithless race you women are! In all that hath been done you have a part. LEADER Sure thou art mad! what with the strangers' flight {^paragraph 1895} Have we to do? But wilt thou not, with all The speed thou mayst, go to the monarch's house? MESSENGER Not till I first am well inform'd, if here Within the temple be the king, or not. {^paragraph 1900} (Shouting) Unbar the gates (to you within I speak); And tell your lord that at the portal here I stand, and bring him tidings of fresh ills. - {^paragraph 1905} (THOAS and his attendants enter from the temple.) - THOAS Who at the temple of the goddess dares This clamour raise, and, thundering at the gates, {^paragraph 1910} Strikes terror through the ample space within? MESSENGER With falsehoods would these women drive me hence, Without to seek thee: thou wast in the shrine. THOAS {^paragraph 1915} With what intent? or what advantage sought? MESSENGER Of these hereafter; what more urgent now Imports thee, hear: the virgin, in this place Presiding at the altars, from this land {^paragraph 1920} Is with the strangers fled, and bears with her The sacred image of the goddess; all Of her ablutions but a false pretence. THOAS How say'st thou? What is her accursed design? {^paragraph 1925} MESSENGER To save Orestes: this too will amaze thee. THOAS Whom? What Orestes? Clytemnestra's son? MESSENGER {^paragraph 1930} Him at the altar hallow'd now to bleed. THOAS Portentous! for what less can it be call'd? MESSENGER Think not on that, but hear me; with deep thought {^paragraph 1935} Reflect: weigh well what thou shalt hear; devise By what pursuit to reach and seize the strangers. THOAS Speak: thou advisest well: the sea though nigh, They fly not so as to escape my spear. {^paragraph 1940} MESSENGER When to the shore we came, where station'd rode The galley of Orestes, by the rocks Conceal'd to us, whom thou hadst sent with her To hold the strangers' chains, the royal maid {^paragraph 1945} Made signs that we retire, and stand aloof, As if with secret rites she would perform The purposed expiation: on she went, In her own hands holding the strangers' chains Behind them: not without suspicion-this, {^paragraph 1950} Yet by thy servants, king, allow'd. At length, That we might deem her in some purpose high Employ'd, she raised her voice, and chanted loud Barbaric strains, as if with mystic rites She cleansed the stain of blood. When we had sat {^paragraph 1955} A tedious while, it came into our thought, That from their chains unloosed, the stranger youths Might kill her, and escape by flight: yet fear Of seeing what we ought not, kept us still In silence; but at length we all resolved {^paragraph 1960} To go, though not permitted, where they were. There we behold the Grecian bark with oars Well furnish'd, wing'd for flight; and at their seats, Grasping their oars, were fifty rowers; free From chains beside the stern the two youths stood {^paragraph 1965} Some from the prow relieved the keel with poles; Some weigh'd the anchors up; the climbing ropes Some hasten'd, through their hands the cables drew, Launch'd the light bark, and gave her to the main. But when we saw their treacherous wiles, we rush'd {^paragraph 1970} Heedless of danger, seized the priestess, seized The halsers, hung upon the helm, and strove To rend the rudder-bands away. Debate Now rose:-"What mean you, sailing o'er the seas, The statue and the priestess from the land {^paragraph 1975} By stealth conveying? Whence art thou, and who, That bear'st her, like a purchased slave, away?" He said, "I am her brother; be of this Inform'd; Orestes, son of Agamemnon: My sister, so long lost, I bear away, {^paragraph 1980} Recover'd here." But naught the less for that Held we the priestess, and by force would lead Again to thee: hence dreadful on our cheeks The blows; for in their hands no sword they held, Nor we; but many a rattling stroke the youths {^paragraph 1985} Dealt witb their fists, against our sides and breasts Their arms fierce darting, till our batter'd limbs Were all disabled: now with dreadful marks Disfigured, up the precipice we fly, Some bearing on their heads, some in their eyes {^paragraph 1990} The bloody bruises: standing on the heights, Our fight was safer, and we hurl'd at them Fragments of rocks; but, standing on the stern, The archers with their arrows drove us thence; And now a swelling wave roll'd in, which drove {^paragraph 1995} The galley towards the land. The sailors fear'd The sudden swell: on his left arm sustain'd, Orestes bore his sister through the tide, Mounted the bark's tall side, and on the deck Safe placed her, and Diana's holy image, {^paragraph 2000} Which fell from heaven; from the midship his voice He sent aloud:-"Ye youths, that in this bark From Argos plough'd the deep, now ply your oars, And dash the billows till they foam: those things Are ours, for which we swept the Euxine sea. {^paragraph 2005} And steer'd our course within its clashing rocks." They gave a cheerful shout, and with their oars Dash'd the salt wave. The galley, while it rode Within the harbour, work'd its easy way; But having pass'd its mouth, the swelling flood {^paragraph 2010} Roll'd on it, and with sudden force the wind Impetuous rising drove it back: their oars They slack'd not, stoutly struggling 'gainst the wave; But towards the land the refluent flood impell'd The galley: then the royal virgin stood, {^paragraph 2015} And pray'd:-"O daughter of Latona, save me, Thy priestess save; from this barbaric land To Greece restore me, and forgive my thefts: For thou, O goddess, dost thy brother love, Deem then that I love those allied to me." {^paragraph 2020} The mariners responsive to her prayer Shouted loud paeans, and their naked arms, Each cheering each, to their stout oars apply. But nearer and yet nearer to the rock The galley drove: some rush'd into the sea, {^paragraph 2025} Some strain'd the ropes that bind the loosen'd sails. Straight was I hither sent to thee, O king, To inform thee of these accidents. But haste, Take chains and gyves with thee: for if the flood side not to a calm, there is no hope {^paragraph 2030} Of safety to the strangers. Be assured, That Neptune, awful monarch of the main, Remembers Troy; and, hostile to the race Of Pelops, will deliver to thy hands, And to thy people, as is meet, the son {^paragraph 2035} Of Agamemnon; and bring back to the His sister, who the goddess hath betray'd, Unmindful of the blood at Aulis shed. LEADER Unhappy Iphigenia, thou must die, {^paragraph 2040} Thy brother too must die, if thou again, Seized in thy flight, to thy lord's hands shalt come. THOAS Inhabitants of this barbaric land, Will you not rein your steeds, will you not fly {^paragraph 2045} Along the shore, to seize whate'er this skiff Of Greece casts forth; and, for your goddess roused, Hunt down these impious men? Will you not launch Instant your swift-oar'd barks, by sea, by land To catch them, from the rugged rock to hurl {^paragraph 2050} Their bodies, or impale them on the stake? But for you, women, in these dark designs Accomplices, hereafter, as I find Convenient leisure, I will punish you. The occasion urges now, and gives no pause. {^paragraph 2055} (MINERVA appears above.) MINERVA Whither, O royal Thoas, dost thou lead This vengeful chase? Attend: Minerva speaks. Cease thy pursuit, and stop this rushing flood {^paragraph 2060} Of arms; for hither, by the fateful voice Of Phoebus, came Orestes, warn'd to fly The anger of the Furies, to convey His sister to her native Argos back, And to my land the sacred image bear. {^paragraph 2065} Thoas, I speak to thee: him, whom thy rage Would kill, Orestes, on the wild waves seized, Neptune, to do me grace, already wafts On the smooth sea, the swelling surges calm'd. And thou, Orestes (for my voice thou hear'st, {^paragraph 2070} Though distant far), to my commands attend: Go, with the sacred image, which thou bear'st, And with thy sister: but when thou shalt come To Athens built by gods, there is a place On the extreme borders of the Attic land, {^paragraph 2075} Close neighbouring to Carystia's craggy height, Sacred; my people call it Alae: there A temple raise, and fix the statue there, Which from the Tauric goddess shall receive Its name, and from thy toils, which thou, through Greece {^paragraph 2080} Driven by the Furies' maddening stings, hast borne; And mortals shall in future times with hymns The Tauric goddess there, Diana, hail. And be this law establish'd; when the feast For thy deliverance from this shrine is held, {^paragraph 2085} To a man's throat that they apply the sword, And draw the blood, in memory of these rites, That of her honours naught the goddess lose. Thou, Iphigenia, on the hallow'd heights Of Brauron on this goddess shalt attend {^paragraph 2090} Her priestess, dying shalt be there interr'd, Graced with the honours of the gorgeous vests Of finest texture, in their houses left By matrons who in childbed pangs expired. These Grecian dames back to their country lead, {^paragraph 2095} I charge thee; justice this return demands, For I saved thee, when on the mount of Mars The votes were equal; and from that decree The shells in number equal still absolve. But, son of Agamemnon, from this land {^paragraph 2100} Thy sister bear; nor, Thoas, be thou angry. THOAS Royal Minerva, he that hears the gods Commanding, and obeys not, is unwise. My anger 'gainst Orestes flames no more, {^paragraph 2105} Gone though he be, and bears with him away The statue of the goddess, and his sister. Have mortals glory 'gainst the powerful gods Contending? Let them go, and to thy land The sacred image bear, and fix it there; {^paragraph 2110} Good fortune go with them. To favour Greece, These dames, at thy high bidding, I will send. My arms will I restrain, which I had raised Against the strangers, and my swift-oar'd barks, Since, potent goddess, this is pleasing to thee. {^paragraph 2115} MINERVA I praise thy resolution; for the power Of Fate o'er thee and o'er the gods prevails. Breathe soft, ye favouring gales, to Athens bear These sprung from Agamemnon; on their course {^paragraph 2120} Attending, I will go, and heedful save My sister's sacred image. You too go (to the CHORUS) Prosperous, and in the fate that guards you bless'd. (MINERVA vanishes.) CHORUS (chanting) {^paragraph 2125} O thou, among the immortal gods revered And mortal men, Minerva, we will do As thou commandest; for with transport high, Exceeding hope, our ears receive thy words. - {^paragraph 2130} O Victory, I revere thy awful power: Guard thou my life, nor ever cease to crown me! - - THE END