P. 59, 1. 1029, I think I dimly see.--Compare Electra,
translation, p. 42, where Electra suddenly solves the difficulty
of slaying Clytemnestra.
P. 63, 11. 1075 ff., Be of good heart, sweet Mistress.--The women
of the Chorus are indeed "true of heart and faithful found," as
Athena says later. And one feels that Iphigenia, after her first
gush of gratitude, does not think of them much. She will save her
brother, and they will be left with very little hope of ever
seeing Greece, if indeed they are not fatally compromised by their
share in the plot.--One can hardly blame Iphigenia; but it is like
her.
P. 64, 1. 1089, Bird of the sea rocks.--A wonderful lyric, as
spoken by these exiles waiting on the shore.--In their craving
for home the island of Delos becomes the symbol for all that is
Greek. Delos, the birth-place of Apollo and of a kinder Artemis
than that which they now serve, was the meeting-place of all the
Ionians. The palm-tree, the laurel, the olive, and the Orbed Lake
of Delos were all celebrated in ritual poetry. The singing Swan is
not a myth; it is a migratory swan, with a bell-like cry, which
comes in the winter down from South Russia to Greece.
Isle of Pain and Love.--Literally, "Beloved birth-pang of Leto."
When Leto was about to give birth to her twin children and no land
would receive her, the little rock of Delos pitied her and gave
her a resting-place.
P. 64, 11. 1106 ff., Ah the old tears.--The singer's mind goes
back to her old grief, when her city was taken and she sold as a
slave from market to market till she reached Thoas. Then comes the
thought of Iphigenia's happy voyage to Greece and freedom; then a
dream-like longing to fly home, to watch the dances where once she
danced for the prize of beauty.
P. 67, 1. 1156, Iphigenia enters, carrying the Image.--It would
probably be a sort of Palladion--a rough figure with a shield
(originally typifying the moon?), not very large. She would
probably hold it in a robe of some sort, that her bare hand might
not touch a thing so holy. At sight of Thoas she would probably
cover it up altogether. It is not quite clear when she puts the
image down.
P. 67, 1. 1161, I unsay that word.--It was a bad omen for Thoas to
say at so critical a moment that a rule was broken. The priestess
declares the word unsaid--just the opposite of "accepting" an
omen.--Dr. Verrall, however, suggests to me that the line means,
"I ask Hosia (the spirit of Holiness) to take in charge what I am
going to say"; i.e. all the falsehoods into which she is about to
plunge.
This scene of the fooling of Thoas is full of wit and double
meanings. The end of it is rather like the famous scene in Forget-
me-not, where the Corsican avenger is induced to turn his back in
order to let a lady pass out of the room without being seen and
compromised, the lady in question being really the person whom he
has sworn to kill.
P. 72, 11. 1203 ff.--This change of metre denotes increasing
tension of excitement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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