Old Servant.
Sirius: nigh to the Pleiads seven
He is sailing yet through the midst of heaven.
Agamemnon.
Sooth, voice there is none, nor slumberous cheep
Of bird, nor whisper of sea; and deep 10
Is the hush of the winds on Euripus that sleep.
Old Servant.
Yet without thy tent, Agamemnon my lord,
Why dost thou pace thus feverishly?
Over Aulis yonder is night's peace poured:
They are hushed which along the walls keep ward.
Come, pass we within.
Agamemnon.
I envy thee,
that his messenger may leave the camp unperceived, and that the latter may be in time to stop Iphigeneia at a distance from Aulis. Hence (the stars being the night-clocks of the ancients) his question betrays his fear—"Is there yet time?" The servant's answer implies that the dawn is yet distant; and the king is further reassured as he observes that the first chirp of the waking bird has not broken the stillness, and that the winds, which probably blew adversely all day, and fell to a dead calm at night, gave no token of stirring. It has been objected that Sirius is not "near the Pleiads," since, though he is indeed in the next constellation but one to theirs, there is a considerable space of sky between them. But, when we remember that the stars were to the ancients the figures on the dial of the night, we observe that Sirius is the figure next before the Pleiads. He touches the western horizon about half an hour before them.
