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 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 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,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 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 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,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,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 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 Charge on the goddess:for this truth I hold;None of the gods is evil,or doth wrong.
(She enters the temple.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
Ye rocks,ye dashing rocks,whose brow Frowns o'er the darken'd deeps below;Whose wild,inhospitable wave,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;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,And touch this barbarous,stranger-hating strand,The altars where a virgin dews,And blood the pillar'd shrine imbrues?
antistrophe 1
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;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;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!
Boundless o'er some her power is shown,But some her temperate influence own.
strophe 2
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,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,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 Where once Achilles deign'd to grace?
antistrophe 2
O that from Troy some chance would bear 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;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!
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 (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 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 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 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 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 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?
But long will be your absence from your homes,For ever,in the dreary realms below.
ORESTES