For thou,O goddess,dost thy brother love,Deem then that I love those allied to me."The mariners responsive to her prayer Shouted loud paeans,and their naked arms,Each cheering each,to their stout oars apply.
But nearer and yet nearer to the rock The galley drove:some rush'd into the sea,Some strain'd the ropes that bind the loosen'd sails.
Straight was I hither sent to thee,O king,To inform thee of these accidents.But haste,Take chains and gyves with thee:for if the flood side not to a calm,there is no hope Of safety to the strangers.Be assured,That Neptune,awful monarch of the main,Remembers Troy;and,hostile to the race Of Pelops,will deliver to thy hands,And to thy people,as is meet,the son Of Agamemnon;and bring back to the His sister,who the goddess hath betray'd,Unmindful of the blood at Aulis shed.
LEADER
Unhappy Iphigenia,thou must die,Thy brother too must die,if thou again,Seized in thy flight,to thy lord's hands shalt come.
THOAS
Inhabitants of this barbaric land,Will you not rein your steeds,will you not fly Along the shore,to seize whate'er this skiff Of Greece casts forth;and,for your goddess roused,Hunt down these impious men?Will you not launch Instant your swift-oar'd barks,by sea,by land To catch them,from the rugged rock to hurl Their bodies,or impale them on the stake?
But for you,women,in these dark designs Accomplices,hereafter,as I find Convenient leisure,I will punish you.
The occasion urges now,and gives no pause.
(MINERVA appears above.)
MINERVA
Whither,O royal Thoas,dost thou lead This vengeful chase?Attend:Minerva speaks.
Cease thy pursuit,and stop this rushing flood Of arms;for hither,by the fateful voice Of Phoebus,came Orestes,warn'd to fly The anger of the Furies,to convey His sister to her native Argos back,And to my land the sacred image bear.
Thoas,I speak to thee:him,whom thy rage Would kill,Orestes,on the wild waves seized,Neptune,to do me grace,already wafts On the smooth sea,the swelling surges calm'd.
And thou,Orestes (for my voice thou hear'st,Though distant far),to my commands attend:
Go,with the sacred image,which thou bear'st,And with thy sister:but when thou shalt come To Athens built by gods,there is a place On the extreme borders of the Attic land,Close neighbouring to Carystia's craggy height,Sacred;my people call it Alae:there A temple raise,and fix the statue there,Which from the Tauric goddess shall receive Its name,and from thy toils,which thou,through Greece Driven by the Furies'maddening stings,hast borne;And mortals shall in future times with hymns The Tauric goddess there,Diana,hail.
And be this law establish'd;when the feast For thy deliverance from this shrine is held,To a man's throat that they apply the sword,And draw the blood,in memory of these rites,That of her honours naught the goddess lose.
Thou,Iphigenia,on the hallow'd heights Of Brauron on this goddess shalt attend Her priestess,dying shalt be there interr'd,Graced with the honours of the gorgeous vests Of finest texture,in their houses left By matrons who in childbed pangs expired.
These Grecian dames back to their country lead,I charge thee;justice this return demands,For I saved thee,when on the mount of Mars The votes were equal;and from that decree The shells in number equal still absolve.
But,son of Agamemnon,from this land Thy sister bear;nor,Thoas,be thou angry.
THOAS
Royal Minerva,he that hears the gods Commanding,and obeys not,is unwise.
My anger 'gainst Orestes flames no more,Gone though he be,and bears with him away The statue of the goddess,and his sister.
Have mortals glory 'gainst the powerful gods Contending?Let them go,and to thy land The sacred image bear,and fix it there;Good fortune go with them.To favour Greece,These dames,at thy high bidding,I will send.
My arms will I restrain,which I had raised Against the strangers,and my swift-oar'd barks,Since,potent goddess,this is pleasing to thee.
MINERVA
I praise thy resolution;for the power Of Fate o'er thee and o'er the gods prevails.
Breathe soft,ye favouring gales,to Athens bear These sprung from Agamemnon;on their course Attending,I will go,and heedful save My sister's sacred image.You too go (to the CHORUS)Prosperous,and in the fate that guards you bless'd.
(MINERVA vanishes.)
CHORUS (chanting)
O thou,among the immortal gods revered And mortal men,Minerva,we will do As thou commandest;for with transport high,Exceeding hope,our ears receive thy words.
O Victory,I revere thy awful power:
Guard thou my life,nor ever cease to crown me!
-THE END-
