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. (to Pylades.)Swear; begin a pious oath.
Iphigenia
  1. (to Pylades.)You must say: I will give this to your friends.
Pylades
  1. I will give this letter to your friends.
Iphigenia
  1. And I will see you safely outside the dark rocks.
Pylades
  1. What god do you do you swear by, as witness to your oath?
Iphigenia
  1. Artemis, in whose temple I hold office.
Pylades
  1. And I swear by the king of heaven, revered Zeus.
Iphigenia
  1. But if you leave off your oath, and wrong me?
Pylades
  1. May I not return. What about you, if you do not save me?
Iphigenia
  1. May I never set foot in Argos alive.
Pylades
  1. Now listen to a consideration we have passed over.
Iphigenia
  1. But it will be something new, if it is good.
Pylades
  1. Give me this exception: if the ship suffers and the tablet is lost with its cargo in the waves, and I rescue myself only, may this oath not hinder me.
Iphigenia
  1. Do you know what I will do? For many attempts hit many targets.
  2. I will tell you what is written in the folds of this tablet for you to report to my friends. For this is secure: if you preserve the writing, itself, though silent, will speak its message; if the writing is lost in the sea,
  3. when you save yourself, you will save my words.
Pylades
  1. You have spoken well, on behalf of the gods and me. Make clear to whom I must bring this letter in Argos, and what I must say when I have heard it from you.
Iphigenia
  1. Report to Orestes, the son of Agamemnon:
  2. the one slain at Aulis sends you this, Iphigenia, who is alive, though no longer alive to those there—
Orestes
  1. Where is she? Has she come back from the dead??