IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS
Away from them to cripple them and cried
To the fellow facing us,''What kind of man
Are you, stealing our Priestess and our Goddess?" 1360
"I am Orestes, son of Agamemnon,
I am her brother! Now you have the truth!
And she is bound for Greece, out of which land
I lost her long ago—bound home!" We tried
To hold her, tried to drag her from their hands, 1365
Which is the way I came by this and this.
He struck my face, first one side, then the other.
They had no weapons, we had none. We used
Our fists and they their fists, and some their feet
With kicks well-aimed at us from where they stood
Above us—at our heads and hearts. We fought 1370
And fought till we were winded. Then, with bruises
And cuts and blood-filled eyes, we climbed the cliff
And from above we pelted them with rocks. 1375
But the Greek archers had brought up their bows
And with their arrows kept us at a distance.
Then when a giant wave bore in on them,
Orestes quickly lifted up his sister
Out of the rush of it. Holding her high 1380
On his left shoulder, plunging stride by stride,
He caught a ladder, climbed aboard the ship
And set her safe on deck. And she, she held—
She had it still—the statue out of Heaven,
The image of the Daughter of High Zeus. 1385
We heard a glad voice ringing through the ship,
"O mariners of Hellas, grip your oars
And clip the sea to foam! O let your arms
Be strong, for we have won, have won, have won
What we set out to win! Soon we shall leave
The jagged Clashing Rocks behind! Pull hard!"
A shout of joy resounded and the ship 1390
Quivered with dipping oars and shot ahead.
But this was only while the shelter lasted;
For at the harbor-mouth the sharp wind threw her
High on a heavy swell shoreward again.
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