Pylades: Iphigenia: Troy fallen! Dear stranger, oh, say! Iphigenia: Pylades: The stately town Now lies in ruins. Many a hero's grave Will oft our thoughts recall to Ilion's shore. There lies Achilles and his noble friend; [Pg 23] Nor Palamedes, nor Ajax, e'er again The daylight of their native land beheld. Yet happy are the thousands who receiv'd Their bitter death-blow from a hostile hand, And not like Agamemnon, who, ensnared, Fell murdered on the day of his return By Clytemnestra, with Ægisthus' aid. Pylades: [Pg 23] Iphigenia: Base passion prompted then this deed of shame? Iphigenia: Pylades: And feelings, cherish'd long of deep revenge. For such a dreadful deed, that if on earth Aught could exculpate murder, it were this. The monarch, for the welfare of the Greeks, Her eldest daughter doomed. Within her heart This planted such abhorrence that forthwith She to Ægisthus hath resigned herself, And round her husband flung the web of death. Pylades: Iphigenia (veiling herself): It is enough! Thou wilt again behold me. Iphigenia Act III Iphigenia and Orestes. Act III Iphigenia Orestes Iphigenia: Unhappy man, I only loose thy bonds In token of a still severer doom. For the incensed king, should I refuse Compliance with the rites himself enjoin'd, Will choose another virgin from my train As my successor. Then, alas! with nought, pave ardent wishes, can I succour you. But tell me now, when Agamemnon fell, Orestes—did he share his sire's fate? Say, was he saved? And is he still alive? And lives Electra, too? Iphigenia: Orestes: They both survive. Half of the horror only
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