Iphigenia then gives way to her feelings. There are strangers to be sacrificed; to that she is accustomed, but these men are Greeks. Yet she herself suffered bitter things at the hands of the Greeks; should she not avenge these? By degrees, however, as she thinks of her youth, of her home, she melts, and at length withdraws into the Temple, raging against the cruel deed that she must do, and not at all sure that she can nerve herself to do it. The coming of these Greeks has brought Greece vividly back to the thoughts of the Chorus. All Greeks loved the sea and were seafarers, and the arrival of these two adventurous men reminds these exiled women of their home, and in their imagination they see the ship cross the sea, until it touches the Friendless and cruel shore. _Chorus._ But who be these, from where the rushes blow On pale Eurotas, from pure Dirces, That turn not neither falter, Seeking Her land, where no man breaketh bread, Her without pity, round whose virgin head Blood on the pillars rusts from long ago, Blood on the ancient altar. A flash of the foam, a flash of the foam, A wave on the oar-blade welling, {245} And out they passed to the heart of the blue; A chariot shell that the wild waves drew. Is it for passion of gold they come, Or pride to make great their dwelling? * * * * * Through the Clashing Rocks they burst: They passed by the Cape unsleeping Of Phineus' sons accurst: They ran by the star-lit bay Upon magic surges sweeping, Where folk on the waves astray Have seen, through the gleaming grey, Ring behind ring, men say, The dance of the old Sea's daughters. The guiding oar abaft It rippled and it dinned, And now the west wind laughed And now the south west wind; And the sail was full in flight, And they passed by the Island White: Birds, birds, everywhere, White as the foam, light as the air; And ghostly Achilles raceth there, Far in the Friendless Waters. A sail, a sail from Greece, Fearless to cross the sea, With ransom and with peace To my sick captivity. O home, to see thee still, And the old walls on the hill! {246} Dreams, dreams, gather to me! Bear me on wings over the sea; O joy of the night, to slave and free, One good thing that abideth! _Leader._ But lo, the twain whom Thoas sends, Their arms in bondage grasped sore Strange offering this, to lay before The Goddess! Hold your peace, O friends. Onward, still onward to this shrine They lead the first-fruits of the Greek. 'Twas true, the tale he came to speak, That watcher of the mountain kine. O holy one, if it afford Thee joy, what these men bring to thee, Take thou their sacrifice, which we, By law of Hellas, hold abhorred. (_Enter Orestes and Pylades, bound, and guarded by Taurians. Re-enter Iphigenia._) _Iphigenia._