IPH. A vain prayer hast thou uttered, whoever thou art, O stranger, for she
dwells far from this barbarian land. Nevertheless, since thou art an
Argive, I will not fail to do thee kindness in what is possible. For on thy
tomb will I place much adornment, and with the tawny oil will I cause thy
body to be soon consumed,[83] and on thy pyre will I pour the flower-sucked
riches of the swarthy bee. But I will go and fetch the letter from the
shrines of the Goddess. But do thou not bear ill will against me. Guard
them, ye servants, [but] without fetters.[84] Perchance I shall send
unexpected tidings to some one of my friends at Argos, whom I chiefly love,
and the letter, telling to him that she lives whom he thinks dead, will
announce a faithful pleasure.
CHOR. I deplore thee now destined to the gory streams of the lustral
waters.[85]
OR. 'Tis piteous, truly;[86] but fare ye well, stranger ladies.
CHOR. But thee, (_to Pylades_) O youth, we honor for thy happy fortune,
that at some time thou wilt return to thy country.
PYL. Not to be coveted[87] by friends, when friends are to die.
CHOR. O mournful journeying! Alas! alas! thou art undone. Woe! woe! which
is the [victim] to be? For still my mind resolves[88] twain doubtful
[ills,] whether with groans I shall bemoan thee (_to Orestes_) or thee (_to
Pylades_) first.
OR. Pylades, hast thou, by the Gods, experienced the same feeling as
myself?
PYL. I know not. Thou askest me unable to say.
OR. Who is this damsel? With what a Grecian spirit she asked us concerning
the toils in Troy, and the return of the Greeks, and Calchas wise in
augury, and about Achilles, and how she pitied wretched Agamemnon, and
asked me of his wife and children. This stranger lady is[89] some Greek by
race; for otherwise she never would have been sending a letter and making
these inquiries, as sharing a common weal in the well-doing of Argos.
PYL. Thou hast outstripped me a little, but thou outstrippest me in saying
the same things, save in one respect--for all, with whom there is any
communication, know the fate of the king. But I was[90] considering another
subject.
OR. What? laying it down in common, you will better understand.
PYL. 'Tis base that I should behold the light, while you perish; and,
having sailed with you, with you I must needs die also. For I shall incur
the imputation of both cowardice and baseness in Argos and the Phocian land
with its many dells, and I shall seem to the many, for the many are evil,
to have arrived alone in safety to mine home, having deserted thee, or even
to have murdered thee, taking advantage of the sickly state of thine house,
and to have devised thy fate for the sake of reigning, in order that,
forsooth, I might wed thy sister as an heiress[91]. These things, then, I
dread, and hold in shame, and it shall not be but I will breathe my last
with thee, be slain, and have my body burned with thee, being a friend, and
dreading reproach.
OR. Speak words of better omen. I must needs bear my troubles, but when I
may [endure] one single trouble, I will not endure twain. For what thou
callest bitter and reproachful, that is my portion, if I cause thee to be
slain who hast shared my toils. For, as far as I am concerned, it stands
not badly with me, faring as I fare at the hands of the Gods, to end my
life. But thou art prosperous, and hast a home pure, not sickening, but I
[have] one impious and unhappy. And living thou mayest raise children from
my sister, whom I gave thee to have[92] as a wife, and my name might exist,
nor would my ancestral house be ever blotted out. But go, live, and dwell
in my father's house; and when thou comest to Greece and chivalrous Argos,
by thy right hand, I commit to thee this charge. Heap up a tomb, and place
upon it remembrances of me, and let my sister offer tears and her shorn
locks upon my sepulchre. And tell how I died by an Argive woman's hand,
sacrificed as an offering by the altar's side. And do thou never desert my
sister, seeing my father's connections and home bereaved. And fare thee
well! for I have found thee best among my friends. Oh thou who hast been my
fellow-huntsman, my mate! Oh thou who hast borne the weight of many of my
sorrows! But Phœbus, prophet though he be, has deceived me. For, artfully
devising, he has driven me as far as possible from Greece, in shame of his
former prophecies. To whom I, yielding up mine all, and obeying his words,
having slain my mother, myself perish in turn.
PYL. Thou shalt have a tomb, and never will I, hapless one, betray thy
sister's bed, since I shall hold thee more a friend dead than living. But
the oracle of the God has never yet wronged thee, although thou art indeed
on the very verge of death. But excessive mischance is very wont, is very
wont to present changes, when the matter so falls.
OR. Be silent--the words of Phœbus avail me naught, for the lady is coming
hither without the temple.
IPH. Depart ye, and go and make ready the things within for those who
superintend the sacrifice. These, O stranger, are the many-folded
inclosures of the letter, but hear thou what I further wish. No man is the
same in trouble, and when he changes from fear into confidence. But I fear,
lest he having got away from this land, will deem my letter of no account,
who is about to bear this letter to Argos.[93]
OR. What wouldst thou? Concerning what art thou disturbed?
IPH. Let him make me oath that he will ferry these writings to Argos, to
those friends to whom I wish to send them.
OR. Wilt thou in turn make the same assertion to him?
IPH. That I will do, or will not do what thing? say.
OR. That you will release him from this barbarian land, not dying.
IPH. Thou sayest justly; for how could he bear the message?
OR. But will the ruler also grant this?
IPH. Yea. I will persuade him, and will myself embark him on the ship's
hull.
OR. Swear, but do thou commence such oath as is holy.