The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume I Part 31

PYLADES

Danger again doth hover o'er our heads!

Alas! Why hast thou failed to shroud thyself Within the veil of sacerdotal rites?

IPHIGENIA

I never have employ'd them as a veil.

PYLADES

Pure soul! thy scruples will destroy alike Thyself and us. Why did I not forsee Such an emergency, and tutor thee This counsel also wisely to elude?

IPHIGENIA

Chide only me, for mine alone the blame.

Yet other answer could I not return To him, who strongly and with reason urged What my own heart acknowledg'd to be right.

PYLADES

The danger thickens; but let us be firm.

Nor with incautious haste betray ourselves; Calmly await the messenger's return, And then stand fast, whatever his reply: For the appointment of such sacred rites Doth to the priestess, not the king, belong.

Should he demand the stranger to behold, Who is by madness heavily oppress'd, Evasively pretend, that in the fane, Well guarded, thou retainest him and me.

Thus you secure us time to fly with speed, Bearing the sacred treasure from this race, Unworthy its possession. Phoebus sends Auspicious omens, and fulfils his word, Ere we the first conditions have perform'd.

Free is Orestes, from the curse absolv'd!

Oh, with the freed one, to the rocky isle Where dwells the G.o.d, waft us, propitious gales.

Thence to Mycene, that she may revive; That from the ashes of the extinguish'd hearth, The household G.o.ds may joyously arise, And beauteous fire illumine their abode!

Thy hand from golden censers first shall strew The fragrant incense. O'er that threshold thou Shalt life and blessing once again dispense, The curse atone, and all thy kindred grace With the fresh bloom of renovated life.

IPHIGENIA

As doth the flower revolve to meet the sun, Once more my spirit to sweet comfort turns, Struck by thy words' invigorating ray.

How dear the counsel of a present friend, Lacking whose G.o.dlike power, the lonely one In silence droops! for, lock'd within his breast, Slowly are ripen'd purpose and resolve, Which friendship's genial warmth had soon matur'd.

PYLADES

Farewell! I haste to re-a.s.sure our friends, Who anxiously await us: then with speed I will return, and, hid within the brake, Attend thy signal.--Wherefore, all at once, Doth anxious thought o'ercloud thy brow serene?

IPHIGENIA

Forgive me! As light clouds athwart the sun, So cares and fears float darkling o'er my soul.

PYLADES

Oh, banish fear! With danger it hath form'd A close alliance,--they are constant friends.

IPHIGENIA

It is an honest scruple, which forbids That I should cunningly deceive the king, And plunder him who was my second father.

PYLADES

Him thou dost fly, who would have slain thy brother.

IPHIGENIA

To me, at least, he hath been ever kind.

PYLADES

What Fate commands is not ingrat.i.tude.

IPHIGENIA Alas! it still remains ingrat.i.tude; Necessity alone can justify it.

PYLADES

Thee, before G.o.ds and men, it justifies.

IPHIGENIA

But my own heart is still unsatisfied.

PYLADES

Scruples too rigid are a cloak for pride.

IPHIGENIA

I cannot argue, I can only feel.

PYLADES

Conscious of right, thou shouldst respect thyself.

IPHIGENIA

Then only doth the heart know perfect ease.

When not a stain pollutes it.

PYLADES

In this fane Pure hast thou kept thy heart. Life teaches us To be less strict with others and ourselves; Thou'lt learn the lesson too. So wonderful Is human nature, and its varied ties Are so involv'd and complicate, that none May hope to keep his inmost spirit pure, And walk without perplexity through life.

Nor are we call'd upon to judge ourselves; With circ.u.mspection to pursue his path, Is the immediate duty of a man; For seldom can he rightly estimate, Of his past conduct or his present deeds.

IPHIGENIA

Almost thou dost persuade me to consent.

PYLADES