EURIPIDES
Iphigenia
"Lest memory of me should always haunt you."
The name, you must repeat it, is Orestes.
Orestes
I hear a God!
Iphigenia
You hear only a woman.
Orestes
I hear a woman—and I hear a God! 780
Let me hear more! I hear a miracle!
Iphigenia
Then tell him, "Artemis put out Her hand
And spared my life at Aulis, leaving a deer
To bleed instead/' And tell him this, "My father,
Not looking when he struck, believed me dead. -785
Artemis brought me here." The letter ends.
Pylades
No word was ever easier to keep!
Lady, keep yours or not, I keep mine now! 790
I give you this, Orestes, from your sister!
Orestes
How can I look at letters! Let me look—
Oh let me stare at you whom I had lost!
Oh let me touch you with my hands and prove 795
That you are real and hold you close, close!
The Third Maiden
Do not lay hands, whoever you may be,
Upon a vestment sacred
To Artemis! Do not profane that robe!
Orestes
You are my sister, you are my father's daughter, 800
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