[1390]
They gave a cheerful shout, and struck the salt wave. The ship, while it was within the harbor, was headed for the mouth; but when it had crossed, it met with a violent swell aand was hard pressed; and the wind, rising with sudden dreadful gusts,
[1395]
forced it astern. They beat the waves strongly; but the swell was driving the ship back towards the land. Agamemnon's daughter stood up and prayed: “O daughter of Leto, bring me, your priestess, safely to Hellas
[1400]
from this barbaric land, and forgive my thefts. For you, goddess, love your brother; believe that I love mine also.” The sailors shouted the paean in response to her prayer, and applied their naked shoulders
[1405]
to the oars, at the command. But the ship came nearer and nearer to the rocks; some of us rushed into the sea, others grasped the woven ropes. And I set out here to you at once, lord,
[1410]
to tell you what has happened there.
But go, take chains and nets with you; for if the swell does not become calm, there is no hope of safety for the strangers.
[1415]
Revered Poseidon, ruler of the sea, watches over Troy and is hostile to the race of Pelops; he will now allow you and your citizens, as is right, to have in your hands the son of Agamemnon and his sister; she stands convicted as betrayer of her unremembered sacrifice to the goddess in Aulis.
Chorus Leader
[1420]
Unhappy Iphigenia, you will die with your brother, if you come again into the hands of the king.
Thoas
All citizens of this barbarian land, hurl the reins on your horses, rush to the coast and seize what the Hellene ship
[1425]
casts forth! With the goddess' help, be eager to hunt down these impious men! Drag the swift ships to the sea! So that by sea and with pursuit on horseback by land, you may take them; and hurl their bodies from the hard rock,
[1430]
or impale them on the stake.
As for you women, who knew about these plots, I will punish you later, when I am at leisure. But now in this present urgency, I will not remain still.
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Euripides. The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 1. Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938.
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