CLY. Leaving thy mother--

IPH. As thou seest, though, not worthily.

CLY. Hold! Do not leave me.

IPH. I do not suffer thee to shed tears. But, ye maidens, raise aloft the
paean for my sad hap, [celebrate] Diana, the daughter of Jove,[95] and let
the joyful strain go forth to the Greeks. And let some one make ready the
baskets, and let flame burn with the purifying cakes, and let my father
serve the altar with his right hand, seeing I am going to bestow upon the
Greeks safety that produces victory.[96]

Conduct me, the conqueror of the cities of Troy and of the Phrygians.
Surround[97] me with crowns, bring them hither. Here is my hair to crown.
And [bear hither] the lustral fountains.[98] Encircle [with dances] around
the temple and the altar, Diana, queen Diana, the blessed, since by my
blood and offering I will wash out her oracles, if it needs must be so. O
revered, revered mother, thus + indeed + will we [now] afford thee our
tears, for it is not fitting during the sacred rites. O damsels, join in
singing Diana, who dwells opposite Chalcis, where the warlike ships have
been eager [to set out,] being detained in the narrow harbors of Aulis here
through my name.[99] Alas! O my mother-land of Pelasgia, and my Mycenian
handmaids.

CHOR. Dost thou call upon the city of Perseus, the work of the Cyclopean
hands?

IPH. Thou hast nurtured me for a glory to Greece, and I will not refuse to
die.

CHOR. For renown will not fail thee.

IPH. Alas! alas! lamp-bearing day, and thou too, beam of Jove, another,
another life and state shall we dwell in. Farewell for me, beloved light!

CHOR. Alas! alas! Behold[100] the destroyer of the cities of Troy and of
the Phrygians, wending her way, decked as to her head with garlands and
with lustral streams, to the altar of the sanguinary Goddess, about to
stream with drops of gore, being stricken on her fair neck. Fair dewy
streams, and lustral waters from ancestral sources[101] await thee, and the
host of the Greeks eager to reach Troy. But let us celebrate Diana, the
daughter of Jove, queen of the Gods, as upon a prosperous occasion. O
hallowed one, that rejoicest in human sacrifices, send the army of the
Greeks into the land of the Phrygians, and the territory of deceitful Troy,
and grant that by Grecian spears Agamemnon may place a most glorious crown
upon his head, a glory ever to be remembered.

[_Enter a_ MESSENGER.[102]]

MESS. O daughter of Tyndarus, Clytaemnestra, come