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.
- (to Pylades.)Swear; begin a pious oath.
- (to Pylades.)You must say: I will give this to your friends.
- I will give this letter to your friends.
- And I will see you safely outside the dark rocks.
- What god do you do you swear by, as witness to your oath?
- Artemis, in whose temple I hold office.
- And I swear by the king of heaven, revered Zeus.
- But if you leave off your oath, and wrong me?
- May I not return. What about you, if you do not save me?
- May I never set foot in Argos alive.
- Now listen to a consideration we have passed over.
- But it will be something new, if it is good.
- 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.
- Do you know what I will do? For many attempts hit many targets.
- 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,
- when you save yourself, you will save my words.
- 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.
- Report to Orestes, the son of Agamemnon:
- the one slain at Aulis sends you this, Iphigenia, who is alive, though no longer alive to those there—
- Where is she? Has she come back from the dead??