Odes of Pindar With several other Pieces in Prose and Verse, Translated from the Greek. To which is added a dissertation on the Olympick games. By Gilbert West |
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 | Odes of Pindar |  |
SCENE I.
Enter Iphigenia.Iph.
From Pelops, who in Pisa's dusty Course
Won the fair Daughter of Oenomaüs,
Sprang Atreus, Father of two noble Sons,
Great Menelas, and greater Agamemnon;
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Come I, the wretched Iphigenia:
I, whom my cruel Father, on that Coast,
Where the Euripus, vex'd by frequent Storms,
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To chaste, Diana meant to offer up,
A spotless Sacrifice in Helen's Cause.
For by his Orders join'd, in Aulis' Bay
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Impatient all to seize the Spoil of Troy,
The glorious Prize of War and Victory;
Impatient to avenge the foul Affront
Done to the Bed of Helen, and to shew
The gen'ral Love to injur'd Menelas.
But in the Harbour lock'd by adverse Winds,
Their Leader Agamemnon of the Gods
By Augury and Sacrifice inquir'd,
And by the Prophets, Heav'n's Interpreters;
When Calchas, the wise Seer, this Answer gave:
“Commander of th'united Arms of Greece,
“Ne'er shall thy Fate-bound Navy quit this Shore,
“Till Iphigenia, thy fair Daughter, bleed,
“An Off'ring to Diana: By a Vow
“Thou stand'st of old engag'd to sacrifice
“The fairest Produce of the Year to her,
“Whose Radiance chears the Night; and that same Year
“Did Clytæmnestra bring this Daughter forth,
“Who (for on me the rev'rend Seer bestow'd
“The Prize of Fairest) must be now the Victim.”
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And under the Pretence of a feign'd Marriage
With young Achilles, was I brought to Aulis;
Inveigled from my Mother, and there laid
High on the Altar; and to ev'ry Eye
There did I seem to bleed; but chaste Diana
Stole me away unseen, and in my Stead
A fitter Victim gave, a sacred Hind:
Thence thro' the lucid Fields of Air convey'd,
She plac'd me here in Scythia, in whose Soil
O'er barb'rous Nations reigns a barb'rous King,
For winged Swiftness fam'd, and Thoas call'd.
Here hath the Goddess, in this sacred Fane,
Appointed me her Priestess, here to serve;
Where a detested Custom, sanctify'd
Under the specious Name of Sacrifice,
Too long hath been observ'd.—I say no more,
For dreadfull is thy Deity, Diana!
Yet thus much may I tell—Whatever Greek
(For so the ancient Statutes of the Realm
Ordain) here chanceth to arrive, forthwith
I lead him to the Altar, and begin
The solemn Sacrifice; the murd'rous Part
I leave to others, who retir'd within,
Deep in the Sanctuary's close Recess,
Perform the Rites, that may not be divulg'd.
Yet sure the Vision which last Night disturb'd
My troubled Spirit, to the empty Air
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Tho' to the empty Air, may sooth my Grief.
Methought, that having chang'd this barb'rous Land
For my dear native Argos, there once more
I dwelt and slept amid my Virgin Train;
When, lo! a sudden Earthquake shook the Ground;
I from the tott'ring Chamber frighted fled,
And where I stood aloof, methought, beheld
The Battlements disjointed, and the Roof
From its aërial Height come tumbling down.
One only Pillar, as it seem'd, remain'd
Of all my Father's House; whose Capital
Was with dishevel'd golden Tresses hung,
And, stranger yet, with human Speech endow'd.
This Pillar, reverently acting then
The Duties of the Function here enjoin'd me,
I purify'd with Water, as ordain'd
For Sacrifice, and as I wash'd, I wept.
This was my Vision; which, I fear, portends
Thy Death, Orestes, whom in Emblem thus
I wash'd and purify'd for Sacrifice;
For Sons are Pillars of a Family;
And whomsoe'er I wash is doom'd to bleed.
Nor can this Vision to my Friends belong.
For when I perish'd on the Shore of Aulis
Old Strophius had no Son: therefore to thee,
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Due to the Dead, tho' absent—With my Train
Of Grecian Women, which King Thoas gave
Here to attend me, these may I perform.
But what unusual Cause with-holds their Presence
Now in the Temple, go I to inquire.
Exit Iphi.
| Odes of Pindar | |