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Chorus Leader
A terrible anger from the gods has boiled up against the race of Tantalus and drives them through torments. Iphigenia
Before you came here, I was eager [990] to be in Argos and see you, my brother. Your wish is mine: to release you from torment, and restore our father's afflicted house, for I am not angry at the one who killed me; it is my wish. I would set my hand free from your slaughter [995] and save our house. But I worry about concealment from the goddess and the king, when he finds the stone pedestal empty of the statue. How will I escape death? What argument will I have? But if this one thing happens all together, [1000] that you take the statue and bear me away on your lovely ship, the venture is a noble one. If I am separated from this, I am lost, but you might settle your affairs well and have a safe return. Indeed, I do not shrink from it, not even if I must die [1005] to save you. No, for when a man dies and is gone from the home, he is longed for; but women are powerless. Orestes
I would not be the murderer of you as well as my mother; her blood is enough; I would rather have an equal share of life or death, in common with you. [1010] I will bring you home, if I myself escape from here, or if I die, I will remain here with you. Listen to what I think: if Artemis were hostile to this, how could Loxias have prophesied that I would take the statue of the goddess to Pallas' city . . . [1015] and see your face. Putting all these things together, I have hope of our return.
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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