Lady,whoe'er thou art,why for these things Dost thou lament?why mourn for ills,which soon 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 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.
ORESTES
If aught of pleasure that may give thee,he.
IPHIGENIA
A native of what Grecian state,declare.
ORESTES
What profit knowing this wouldst thou obtain?
IPHIGENIA
And are you brothers,of one mother born?
ORESTES
Brothers by friendship,lady,not by birth.
IPHIGENIA
To thee what name was by thy father given?
ORESTES
With just cause I Unhappy might be call'd.
IPHIGENIA
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?
ORESTES
My body thou mayst kill,but not my name.
IPHIGENIA
Wilt thou not say a native of what state?
ORESTES
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.
IPHIGENIA
By the gods,stranger,is thy birth from thence?
ORESTES
My birth is from Mycenae,once the bless'd.
IPHIGENIA
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?
ORESTES
Whate'er is foreign to my private griefs.
IPHIGENIA
To my dear wish from Argos art thou come.
ORESTES
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!
IPHIGENIA
They say she is no more,by war destroy'd.
ORESTES
It is so:you have heard no false reports.
IPHIGENIA
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.
ORESTES
At Sparta with her former lord she dwells.
IPHIGENIA
By Greece,and not by me alone abhorr'd!
ORESTES
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!
IPHIGENIA
This favour,ere thou die,I wish to obtain.
ORESTES
Ask,then:since such thy wish,I will inform thee.
IPHIGENIA
Calchas,a prophet,-came he back from Troy?
ORESTES
He perish'd at Mycenae such the fame.
IPHIGENIA
Goddess revered!But doth Ulysses live?
ORESTES
He lives,they say,but is not yet return'd.
IPHIGENIA
Perish the wretch,nor see his country more!
ORESTES
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.
IPHIGENIA
That all was fraud,as those who felt it say.
ORESTES
But who art thou,inquiring thus of Greece?
IPHIGENIA
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?
ORESTES
Who?Of the bless'd was not the chief I knew.
IPHIGENIA
The royal Agamemnon,son of Atreus.
ORESTES
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.
IPHIGENIA
Dead!By what adverse fate?O wretched me!
ORESTES
Why mourn for this?How doth it touch thy breast?
IPHIGENIA
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!
ORESTES
Now then forbear:of him inquire no more.
IPHIGENIA
This only:lives the unhappy monarch's wife?
ORESTES
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.
IPHIGENIA
An ill,but righteous deed,how justly done!
ORESTES
Though righteous,by the gods be is not bless'd.
IPHIGENIA
Hath Agamemnon other offspring left?
ORESTES
He left one virgin daughter,named Electra.
IPHIGENIA
Of her that died a victim is aught said?
ORESTES
This only,dead,she sees the light no more.
IPHIGENIA
Unhappy she!the father too who slew her!
ORESTES
For a bad woman she unseemly died.
IPHIGENIA
At Argos lives the murdered father's son?
ORESTES
Nowhere he lives,poor wretch!and everywhere.
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,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
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,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,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,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 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 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: