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,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 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 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.
ORESTES
A charge unenvied,virgin,and unbless'd.
IPHIGENIA
Necessity constrains:I must obey.
ORESTES
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?
IPHIGENIA
To some within the temple this belongs.
ORESTES
What tomb is destined to receive my corse?
IPHIGENIA
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,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 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,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.
(She enters the temple.)
CHORUS (chanting)
Thee,o'er whose limbs the bloody drops shall soon Be from the lavers sprinkled,I lament.
ORESTES
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
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,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
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 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 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.
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.
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 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;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.
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
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 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,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:
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;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 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.
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.
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 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;For,passing from the shrine,the virgin comes.
(IPHIGENIA enters from the temple.She is carrying a letter.)