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.
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 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)
strophe 1
O bird,that round each craggy height Projecting o'er the sea below,Wheelest thy melancholy flight,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:
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,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;Then,to the Muses soaring high,The homage pay of melody.
antistrophe 1
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 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,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;
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.
strophe 2
Thee,loved virgin,freed from fear Home the Argive bark shall bear:
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 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.
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 Light shall o'er the billows glide.
antistrophe 2
Might I through the lucid air 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,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,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;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 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.
(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 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?
IPHIGENIA
Things ominous:that word I,holy,speak.
THOAS
To what is tuned thy proem?Plainly speak.
IPHIGENIA
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.
THOAS
Spontaneous turn'd,or by an earthquake moved?
IPHIGENIA
Spontaneous,and,averted,closed its eyes.
THOAS
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?
IPHIGENIA
They came polluted with domestic blood.
THOAS
What blood?I have a strong desire to know.
IPHIGENIA
They slew their mother with confederate swords.
THOAS
O Phoebus!This hath no barbarian dared.
IPHIGENIA
All Greece indignant chased them from her realms.
THOAS
Bear'st thou for this the image from the shrine?
IPHIGENIA
To the pure air,from stain of blood removed.
THOAS
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.
IPHIGENIA
Now with sweet blandishments they soothe my soul.
THOAS
Some glozing tale from Argos telling thee?
IPHIGENIA
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.
THOAS
But on the goddess well thy thoughts are turn'd.
IPHIGENIA
I hate all Greece;for it hath ruin'd me.
THOAS
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?
IPHIGENIA
First I would cleanse them with ablutions pure.
THOAS
In fountain waters,or the ocean wave?
IPHIGENIA
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.
THOAS
Doth not the wave ev'n 'gainst the temple beat?
IPHIGENIA
This requires solitude:more must I do.
THOAS
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.
IPHIGENIA
I could not else have borne it from its base.
THOAS
