IPHIGENEIA IN TAURICA.
215
Orestes.
If I die nameless, I shall not be mocked.[1]
Iphigeneia.
Now wherefore grudge me this? So proud art thou?
Orestes.
My body shalt thou slaughter, not my name.
Iphigeneia.
Not even thy city wilt thou name to me?505
Orestes.
Thou seekest to no profit: I must die.
Iphigeneia.
Yet, as a grace to me, why grant not this?
Orestes.
Argos[2] the glorious boast I for my land.
Iphigeneia.
'Fore Heaven, stranger, art indeed her son?
Orestes.
Yea—of Mycenæ, prosperous in time past.510
- ↑ The bitterest drop in the death-cup to a Greek was the derision of foes (cf. Medea 1362, Herakles 286). If these did not even know his name, half the sting was taken away: it was like killing a man in a mask. They reached the body only, not the man.
- ↑ Argos is here the district (Argolis): the town was about six miles from Orestes' native Mycenæ.
