IPHIGENIA (to the guards)
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 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 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 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
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?
ORESTES
But will the monarch to these things assent?
IPHIGENIA
By me induced.Him I will see embark'd.
ORESTES
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.
IPHIGENIA
Thee will I send safe through the darkening rocks.
PYLADES
What god dost thou invoke to attest thy oath?
IPHIGENIA
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?
PYLADES
Never may I return.But if thou fail,And save me not?
IPHIGENIA
Then never,while I live,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.
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.
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,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.
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)
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
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 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
Or on thy house for vengeance will I call,Orestes.Twice repeated,learn the name.
ORESTES
Ye gods!
IPHIGENIA
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
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.
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,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 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
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,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.
ORESTES
Thy brother,O unhappy!is not there.
IPHIGENIA
Thee did the Spartan Tyndarus bring forth?
ORESTES
And from the son of Pelops'son I sprung,IPHIGENIAWhat say'st thou?Canst thou give me proof of this?
ORESTES
I can:ask something of my father's house.
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 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?
IPHIGENIA
O thou most dear!Thou windest near my heart.
ORESTES
And image in the web the averted sun?
IPHIGENIA
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.
ORESTES
Why to thy mother didst thou send thy locks?
IPHIGENIA
Devoted for my body to the tomb.
ORESTES
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,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?
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
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.
ORESTES
May we together from this hour be bless'd!
IPHIGENIA