PYLADES
I watch,and turn mine eye to every part.
ORESTES
And dost thou,Pylades,imagine this The temple of the goddess,which we seek,Our sails from Argos sweeping o'er the main?
PYLADES
Orestes,such my thought,and must be thine.
ORESTES
And this the altar wet with Grecian blood?
PYLADES
Crimson'd with gore behold its sculptured wreaths.
ORESTES
See,from the battlements what trophies hang!
PYLADES
The spoils of strangers that have here been slain.
ORESTES
Behooves us then to watch with careful eye.
O Phoebus,by thy oracles again Why hast thou led me to these toils?E'er since,In vengeance for my father's blood,I slew My mother,ceaseless by the Furies driven,Vagrant,an outcast,many a bending course My feet have trod:to thee I came,of the Inquired this whirling frenzy by what means,And by what means my labours I might end.
Thy voice commanded me to speed my course To this wild coast of Tauris,where a shrine Thy sister hath,Diana;thence to take The statue of the goddess,which from heaven (So say the natives)to this temple fell:
This image,or by fraud or fortune won,The dangerous toil achieved,to place the prize In the Athenian land:no more was said;But that,performing this,I should obtain Rest from my toils.Obedient to thy words,On this unknown,inhospitable coast Am I arrived.Now,Pylades (for thou Art my associate in this dangerous task),Of thee I ask,What shall we do?for high The walls,thou seest,which fence the temple round.
Shall we ascend their height?But how escape Observing eyes?Or burst the brazen bars?
Of these we nothing know:in the attempt To force the gates,or meditating means To enter,if detected,we shall die.
Shall we then,ere we die,by flight regain The ship in which we hither plough'd the sea?
PYLADES