For thou,O goddess,dost thy brother love,Deem then that I love those allied to me."The mariners responsive to her prayer Shouted loud paeans,and their naked arms,Each cheering each,to their stout oars apply.
But nearer and yet nearer to the rock The galley drove:some rush'd into the sea,Some strain'd the ropes that bind the loosen'd sails.
Straight was I hither sent to thee,O king,To inform thee of these accidents.But haste,Take chains and gyves with thee:for if the flood side not to a calm,there is no hope Of safety to the strangers.Be assured,That Neptune,awful monarch of the main,Remembers Troy;and,hostile to the race Of Pelops,will deliver to thy hands,And to thy people,as is meet,the son Of Agamemnon;and bring back to the His sister,who the goddess hath betray'd,Unmindful of the blood at Aulis shed.
LEADER
Unhappy Iphigenia,thou must die,Thy brother too must die,if thou again,Seized in thy flight,to thy lord's hands shalt come.
THOAS
Inhabitants of this barbaric land,Will you not rein your steeds,will you not fly Along the shore,to seize whate'er this skiff Of Greece casts forth;and,for your goddess roused,Hunt down these impious men?Will you not launch Instant your swift-oar'd barks,by sea,by land To catch them,from the rugged rock to hurl Their bodies,or impale them on the stake?
But for you,women,in these dark designs Accomplices,hereafter,as I find Convenient leisure,I will punish you.
The occasion urges now,and gives no pause.
(MINERVA appears above.)
MINERVA
Whither,O royal Thoas,dost thou lead This vengeful chase?Attend:Minerva speaks.