No More Learning

Thou know'st we are, and yet wilt thou compel me?

THOAS: Obey thine office, not the king.

IPHIGENIA: Oh, couldst thou see the struggle of my soul,
Courageously toward the first attack
Of an unhappy doom which threatens me;
Must I implore a miracle from heaven?

THOAS: Extravagant thy interest in the fate
Of these two strangers. Tell me who they are.

IPHIGENIA: They are--they seem, at least--I think them Greeks.

THOAS: Thy countrymen; no doubt they have renewed
The pleasing picture of return.

IPHIGENIA (_after a pause_): Attend,
O king, and honour truth in me. A plot
Deceitfully and secretly is laid
Touching the captives thou dost ask in vain.
They have escaped. The eldest is Orestes,
Whom madness seized, my brother; Pylades,
His early friend and confidant, the other.
From Delphi, Phoebus sent them to this shore,
To steal away the image of Diana,
And to him bear back the sister thither.
And for this, deliverance promised he
The Fury-haunted son.

THOAS: The traitors have contrived a cunning web,
And cast it round thee, who, secluded long,
Giv'st willing credence to thine own desire.

IPHIGENIA: No, no!
I'd pledge my life these men are true;
And shouldst thou find them otherwise, O king,
Then let them perish both, and cast me forth.

[_Enter_ ORESTES, _armed_.

ORESTES (_addressing his followers_): Redouble your
exertions! Hold them back!
And keep a passage open to the ship!
(_To_ IPHIGENIA) We are betray'd; brief time remains
for flight! [_He perceives the king_.

THOAS: None in my presence with impunity
His naked weapon wears!

IPHIGENIA: Do not profane
Diana's sanctuary with rage and blood.
In him revere the king, my second father!

ORESTES: Will he permit our peaceable return?

IPHIGENIA: Thy gleaming sword forbids me to reply.

[_Enter_ PYLADES, _followed by_ ARKAS,
_with drawn swords_

PYLADES: Do not delay, our friends are putting forth
Their final strength!

ARKAS: They yield; their ship is ours!

THOAS: Let none annoy the foe while we confer.

[ARKAS _retires_.