IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS
Go launch my galleys, lest one man of them
Should die untortured! Run them down by sea
And land! Go hurl them from the cliffs!
Oh catch them, crush them, crucify them—kill them! 1430
And as for you, you miserable women,
Count on the punishment which you have earned
By treachery! That punishment can wait—
With this to do. But oh when this is donel
(Above the confusion appears, with instant
dominion, Pallas Athena.)
Athena
Quiet, King Thoas! What is all this tumult? 1435
Hold the chase back and listen to Athena.
Hold all your soldiers back. Yes, all of them.
Apollo sent Orestes to your country
To set him free from the Avenging Furies,
Ordered him, through an oracle, to bring 3L44°
Iphigenia home again to Argos
And the sacred statue home to Her own land.
You have the story. But there's one addition—
The fact that this Orestes you would hunt
Is gliding on a comfortable sea.
Poseidon made it smooth. I asked Him to. M45
Orestes! Gods are heard at any distance.
Though you are far away, you still can hear me.
Do this. Take back your sister and the statue
Safely to Hellas. Pause at God-built Athens.
Then, passing through, continue to the end 145°
Of Attica and find a holy place
Close to Carystus' hill, a place called Halae.
There build a temple. There set up the image,
That men may flock to Her with happy hymns.
Name it for Tauris, to immortalize
Your flight from home, your rescue from the Furies,
Your penitence and your deliverance. 1455
And let this be the law. When they observe
Her festival, the priest shall hold,
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