Iphigenia in Tauris

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.

  1. And yet they dangled a sweet lure for my heart.
Thoas
  1. Reporting to you some charm of news from Argos?
Iphigenia
  1. That Orestes, my only brother, is happy.
Thoas
  1. So that you might save them, for the delight of their messages.
Iphigenia
  1. And that my father is alive and doing well.
Thoas
  1. But you turned to the goddess, with reason.
Iphigenia
  1. Yes, for I hate all Hellas, which has ruined me.
Thoas
  1. Tell me, what shall we do with the strangers?
Iphigenia
  1. We must reverence the law as it stands.
Thoas
  1. But the libations and your sword are not at work?
Iphigenia
  1. First I want to wash them, with holy purification.
Thoas
  1. In fountain waters, or the drops of the sea?
Iphigenia
  1. The sea washes away all men’s evils.
Thoas
  1. They would certainly be holier victims for the goddess.
Iphigenia
  1. And in this way my plans would succeed better.
Thoas
  1. Doesn’t the wave beat against this very temple?
Iphigenia
  1. This requires solitude; and I shall do more.
Thoas
  1. Then where you wish; I do not want to see what should not be seen.
Iphigenia
  1. I must purify the image of the goddess also.
Thoas
  1. Yes, if a stain from the matricide has fallen on it.