Iphigenia in Tauris | Page 5

Atreus' eldest son

Was Agamemnon; he, O king, my sire:?But I may say with truth, that, from a child,?In him the model of a perfect man?I witness'd ever. Clytemnestra bore?To him, myself, the firstling of their love,?Electra then. Peaceful the monarch rul'd,?And to the house of Tantalus was given?A long-withheld repose. A son alone?Was wanting to complete my parent's bliss;?Scarce was this wish fulfill'd, and young Orestes,?The household's darling, with his sisters grew,?When new misfortunes vex'd our ancient house.?To you hath come the rumour of the war,?Which, to avenge the fairest woman's wrongs,?The force united of the Grecian kings?Round Ilion's walls encamp'd. Whether the town?Was humbl'd, and achiev'd their great revenge?I have not heard. My father led the host?In Aulis vainly for a favouring gale?They waited; for, enrag'd against their chief,?Diana stay'd their progress, and requir'd,?Through Chaleas' voice, the monarch's eldest daughter.?They lur'd me with my mother to the camp,?And at Diana's altar doom'd this head.--?She was appeas'd, she did not wish my blood,?And wrapt me in a soft protecting cloud;?Within this temple from the dream of death?I waken'd first. Yes, I myself am she;?Iphigenia,--I who speak to thee?Am Atreus' grandchild, Agamemnon's child,?And great Diana's consecrated priestess.
THOAS.?I yield no higher honour or regard?To the king's daughter than the maid unknown;?Once more my first proposal I repeat;?Come, follow me, and share what I possess.
IPHIGENIA.?How dare I venture such a step, O king??Hath not the goddess who protected me?Alone a right to my devoted head??'Twas she who chose for me this sanctuary,?Where she perchance reserves me for my sire,?By my apparent death enough chastis'd,?To be the joy and solace of his age.?Perchance my glad return is near; and how?If I, unmindful of her purposes,?Had here attach'd myself against her will??I ask'd a signal, did she wish my stay.
THOAS.?The signal is that still thou tarriest here.?Seek not evasively such vain pretexts.?Not many words are needed to refuse,?By the refus'd the no alone is heard.
IPHIGENIA.?Mine are not words meant only to deceive;?I have to thee my inmost heart reveal'd.?And doth no inward voice suggest to thee,?How I with yearning soul must pine to see?My father, mother, and my long-lost home??Oh let thy vessels bear me thither, king!?That in the ancient halls, where sorrow still?In accents low doth fondly breathe my name,?Joy, as in welcome of a new-born child,?May round the columns twine the fairest wreath.?Thou wouldst to me and mine new life impart.
THOAS.?Then go! the promptings of thy heart obey;?Despise the voice of reason and good counsel.?Be quite the woman, sway'd by each desire,?That bridleless impels her to and fro.?When passion rages fiercely in her breast,?No sacred tie withholds her from the wretch?Who would allure her to forsake for him?A husband's or a father's guardian arms;?Extinct within her heart its fiery glow,?The golden tongue of eloquence in vain?With words of truth and power assails her ear.
IPHIGENIA.?Remember now, O king, thy noble words!?My trust and candour wilt thou thus repay??Thou seem'dst, methought, prepar'd to hear the truth.
THOAS.?For this unlook'd-for answer not prepar'd.?Yet 'twas to be expected; knew I not?That 'twas with woman I had now to deal?
IPHIGENIA.?Upbraid not thus, O king, our feeble sex!?Though not in dignity to match with yours,?The weapons woman wields are not ignoble.?And trust me, Thoas, in thy happiness?I have a deeper insight than thyself.?Thou thinkest, ignorant alike of both,?A closer union would augment our bliss;?Inspir'd with confidence and honest zeal?Thou strongly urgest me to yield consent;?And here I thank the gods, who give me strength?To shun a doom unratified by them.
THOAS.?'Tis not a god, 'tis thine own heart that speaks.
IPHIGENIA.?'Tis through the heart alone they speak to us.
THOAS.?To hear them have I not an equal right?
IPHIGENIA.?The raging tempest drowns the still, small voice.
THOAS.?This voice no doubt the priestess hears alone.
IPHIGENIA.?Before all others should the prince attend it.
THOAS.?Thy sacred office, and ancestral right?To Jove's own table, place thee with the gods?In closer union than an earth-born savage.
IPHIGENIA.?Thus must I now the confidence atone?Thyself extorted from me!
THOAS.
I'm a man,

And better 'tis we end this conference.?Hear then my last resolve. Be priestess still?Of the great goddess who selected thee;?And may she pardon me, that I from her,?Unjustly and with secret self-reproach,?Her ancient sacrifice so long withheld.?From olden times no stranger near'd our shore?But fell a victim at her sacred shrine.?But thou, with kind affection (which at times?Seem'd like a gentle daughter's tender love,?At times assum'd to my enraptur'd heart?The modest inclination of a bride),?Didst so inthral me, as with magic