efore we die, let us flee to
the temple, whither we lately sailed.

PYL. To fly is unendurable, nor are we accustomed [to do so,] and we must
not make light of the oracle of the God. But quitting the temple, let us
hide our bodies in the caves, which the dark sea splashes with its waters,
far away from the city, lest any one beholding the bark, inform the rulers,
and we be straightway seized by force. But when the eye of dim night shall
come, we must venture, bring all devices to bear, to seize the sculptured
image from the temple. But observe the eaves [of the roof,[22]] where there
is an empty space between the triglyphs in which you may let yourself down.
For good men dare encounter toils, but the cowardly are of no account any
where. We have not indeed come a long distance with our oars, so as to
return again from the goal.[23]

OR. But one must follow your advice, for you speak well. We must go
whithersoever in this land we can conceal our bodies, and lie hid. For the
[will] of the God will not be the cause of his oracle falling useless. We
must venture; for no toil has an excuse for young men.[24]

[ORESTES _and_ PYLADES _retire aside_.]

CHORUS. Keep silence,[25] O ye that inhabit the twain rocks of the Euxine
that face each other. O Dictynna, mountain daughter of Latona, to thy
court, the gold-decked pinnacles of temples with fine columns, I, servant
to the hallowed guardian of the key, conduct my pious virgin foot, changing
[for my present habitation] the towers and walls of Greece with its noble
steeds, and Europe with its fields abounding in trees, the dwelling of my
ancestral home. I am come. What new matter? What anxious care hast thou?
Wherefore hast thou led me, led me to the shrines, O daughter of him who
came to the walls of Troy with the glorious fleet, with thousand sail, ten
thousand spears of the renowned Atrides?[26]

IPHIGENIA. O attendants mine,[27] in what moans of bitter lamentation do I
dwell, in the songs of a songless strain unfit for the lyre, alas! alas! in
funereal griefs for the ills which befall me, bemoaning my brother, what a
vision have I seen in the night whose darkness has passed away![28] I am
undone, undone. No more is my father's house, ah me! no more is our race.
Alas! alas! for the toils in Argos! Alas! thou deity, who hast now robbed
me of my only brother, sending him to Hades, to whom I am about to pour
forth on the earth's surface these libations and this bowl for the
d