Praesens argumentum e superiore pendet Dramate, in quo Iphigenia in Aulide pro incolumi traiectione Graecorum ad necem ducitur ac Dianae miseratione, subiecta immolaturi iam manibus cerva, ad Tauros Scythiae populos transfertur: ubi deae servatricis sacra curaret ac ἀνθρωποθύαις* praeesset. Ad cuius simulacrum rapiendum deportandumque in Graeciam cum istuc Orestes comitante Pylade, iussu Apollinis (ut liberaretur a furiis quibus ob parricidium agitabatur) navigasset, proditur a pastoribus Scythicis, qui ipsum cum socio vinctos ad tyrannum eius loci trahunt, ac mox ex mandato istius Iphigeniae iuxta ritum Tauricae gentis mactandos tradunt. Dum autem quibus opus erat ad sacrificium appararentur, Iphigenia cognoscens Graecos esse iuvenes percontari coepit de statu Graeciae, de eventu belli Troiani, et in primis de Agamemnonis domo ac fortuna. Quin et literas Argos mittere, altero iuvenum libero dimisso, parat. Unde certamen oritur inter Orestem et Pyladem, utroque scilicet pro altero mori volente. Tandem vero Orestes obtinet ut Pylades rediret domum liber et literas perferret. Cui dum mandata Iphigenia exponit, item quae et unde sit <et>** ad quem dari literas velit, proditur ac agnoscitur subito. Hinc mutua congratulatio et lacrimae inter fratrem et sororem oriuntur, quibus hoc casu nihil nec optatius nec insperatius accidere poterat. Post haec de fuga consultant ac Iphigenia quidem simulatis lustrationibus et iuvenum et idoli (ut persuaserat Thoanti) violati se cum suis ad fugam expedit: quibus tyrannus deceptum se videns, cum imminere fugientesque persequi vellet, inhibetur a Minerva, quae placidum finem turbatis rebus imponit.

*[Either this is a misprint for ἀνθρωποθυσίαις or Stiblinus has coined a new noun meaning the same as the attested ἀνθρωποθυσία, ‘human sacrifice’.]

**[It is necessary to add et to make sense of this phrase.]

The present plot hangs from the previous drama, in which Iphigenia in Aulis was lead to death for the safe sailing of the Greeks and, by the pity of Diana (a deer having been substituted in the hands of the man about to sacrifice her), is transported to the Taurian state of Scythia: where she was to perform the religious duties of a priestess for the goddess and be in charge of human sacrifice. When Orestes with his comrade Pylades had sailed to seize and bring back home to Greece the statue of Artemis on the order of Apollo (so that Orestes would be freed from the Furies, by whom he was pursued on account of parricide), he is discovered by Scythian shepherds, who dragged him along with his comrade in bonds to the king of that country, and soon by his order delivered the men to Iphigenia for sacrifice according to the rite of the Taurian people. However, while what was needed for the sacrifice was being prepared, Iphigenia, recognizing the youths to be Greeks, began to inquire about the condition of Greece, about the outcome of the Trojan War, and first and foremost about the house and fate of Agamemnon. More than that, she prepares to send a letter to Argos, by letting one of the two youths be sent off free. From there a contest emerges between Orestes and Pylades, namely, with each willing to die for the other. At last, however, Orestes prevails so that Pylades may return home free and deliver the letter. While Iphigenia explains her orders to him (likewise who she is and from where, and to whom she wants the letter to be given), suddenly she is revealed and recognized. As a result the mutual rejoicing and tears arise between brother and sister, for whom nothing more welcome or more unexpected could have happened than this outcome. After this, they deliberate about flight and Iphigenia indeed, using pretended purification rites applying to both the youths and the defiled statue (as she had convinced Thoas it was), prepares herself for escape together with her kinsmen: and the king, seeing that he has been deceived, when he wished to threaten them and pursue them in their flight, is restrained by Minerva, who imposes a gentle end to this eventful business.

Poeta ergo in Fabula ista cum primis illustre exemplum amoris indivulsi et amicitiae nullo casu concutiendae in Pylade et Orestem proponit, ut qui non solum pericula et labores communes habeant, sed etiam vitam alter pro alterius salute effundere gestiant. Deinde graphice barbaros depingit, qui vere pastoralem agunt vitam, sine moribus sineque politia, incertis vagantes sedibus, crudeles in peregrinos existunt ac stolide de numine et cultu divino sentiunt. Unde barbaros et immanes ritus foedasque superstitiones, ut ξενοφονίας, et alia id genus absurda quae feris hominibus recepta sunt damnat: quibus dii non modo non afficiantur, sed etiam graviter offendantur. Et fortasse oblique sui saeculi hominum superstitiones hoc exemplo reprehendit. Furiae autem Orestem agitantes conscientiam notant malam, quae non prius quiescit nec ullis fatigatur laboribus quam suo relevetur solatio ac plane quod commisit luat. In Iphigenia mira fides et φιλόστοργος animus in fratrem, mira item mentis solertia et consilium in rebus dubiis mediisque in periculis, ut plane agnoscas in ea Graecum ingenium et regii sanguinis spiritum. Est praeterea haec Fabula cum aliqua Graeciae laude coniuncta, cuius cultura et humanitas ad extremos quoque barbarorum fines penetrarit: nihil quippe aliud significat Minerva, quae Thoantis mollierit ferociam, quam sapientiam quae sola emollit mores nec sinit esse feros. Signi Dianae translatio significat, nisi fallor, Barbaros, id est eos qui sine omni humanitate, legibus institutisque civilibus vitam traducunt, diis adeo esse invisos ut etiam cultum suum et religionem ab istis transferri velint. Praecipue vero illa in hoc Dramate tragica sunt. Recognitio funesti exitus belli Troiani, commiseratio Iphigeniae super duobus adolescentibus Graecis, deploratio extincti (ut putabat ipsa) Orestis, certatio Pyladis et Orestis, quorum uterque alterius vitam sua morte redimere contendebat, agnitio illa mutua sororis et fratris et lacrimae quas insperatum gaudium secum ferebat. Versatur autem fere in genere deliberativo habetque adiunctas narrationes et coniecturas quae in id genus saepe incidere solent.

The poet, therefore, in this play, in particular, places in Pylades and Orestes a clear example of inseparable love and friendship that is to be shattered by no stroke of fortune, in that they consider not only dangers and sufferings to be common, but are each eager to pour out his life for the safety of the other. Secondly, he depicts the barbarians in striking detail, who lead a truly pastoral life, without moral habits and without civilized government, wandering without a permanent home, behave cruelly toward traveling strangers and hold stupid opinions concerning divinity and the cult of the gods. Therefore he condemns the uncivilized race and the savage rites and the vile superstitions, like the killing of strangers, and other irrational acts of that type that are accepted by wild men: acts by which the gods are not influenced in any way, but are actually greatly offended. And perhaps he blames indirectly the superstitions of men of his own generation by this example. The Furies, however, who torment Orestes, denote bad conscience, which neither rests nor is tired by any toils until he is relieved by his own solace and clearly atones for the wrong he has done. In Iphigenia we see the remarkable loyalty and loving feeling toward her brother, likewise the remarkable skill of mind and the good counsel in the uncertain matters and in the midst of dangers, so you would clearly recognize in her Greek intelligence and the courage of a royal lineage. In addition, this story is associated with a kind of praise for Greece, whose culture and civilization reached even the farthest territories of savages: of course, Minerva symbolizes no other thing, she who has tamed the anger of Thoas, than the wisdom which alone mellows customs nor allows them to be uncivilized. The transportation of Diana’s image signifies, unless I am mistaken, that the barbarians, that is those who lead their life without any culture, laws and public institutions, are so detested by the gods that even their cult and religion desire to be relocated away from those people. In particular, however, the following features in this play are tragic: the recalling of the deadly end of the Trojan War; Iphigenia’s compassion for the two Greek youths; her lament for the dead Orestes (so she believed); the contest of Pylades and Orestes, each of whom was striving to save the life of the other by his own death; that mutual recognition of sister and brother and the tears which the unexpected joy brought to them. The play, moreover, engages generally in the deliberative mode and contains the related stories and interpretations which are accustomed to occur in that mode.

[382] Argumentum Actus primi.

Iphigenia in Prologo genus, casum, fortunamque suam praesentem exponit, deinde somnium suum refert, fraternae necis id significationem habere autumans. Insinuat autem spectatoribus totius argumenti rationem ac parasceuen. 2. Pylades et Orestes ad Dianae delubrum appulsi deliberant qua via signum deae auferri possit. Cui deliberationi Orestes querelam admiscet de Apollinis in se crudelitate, cuius monitis obsequens iam varias et calamitosas fortunas subierit, suadetque tandem fugam priusquam ad mortem iuxta morem Tauricae gentis rapiantur. Contra Pyladi placet ut interdiu abstrusi alicubi lateant et noctu rem potius tentent: id quod non displicet Oresti. 3. Plangit Iphigenia fratrem Orestem, quem ex insomnio credebat mortuum, eique inferias una cum Choro Graeco ritu parat. Generis praeterea sui fatalem calamitatem suamque calamitosam fortunam deplorat cum qua nunc apud immanissimos homines ipsa Graeca puella conflictetur.

[382] Argument of the First Act.

Iphigenia in the prologue explains her family, fate, and her present fortune, then recalls her dream-vision, believing it to signify her brother’s violent death. She subtly reveals, however, the plan and background of the entire plot to the spectators. 2. Pylades and Orestes, washed ashore near the temple of Diana, consider how the statue of the goddess can to be carried off. With this deliberation Orestes mixes in a complaint about Apollo’s savagery toward himself, since by following his advice he has up to this point endured fluctuating and destructive fortunes, and at last he urges flight before they are seized and led to their death according to the custom of the Taurian people. On the contrary, it seems best to Pylades that they lie hidden somewhere during the day and instead attempt the business at night: a plan which does not displease Orestes. 3. Iphigenia mourns for her brother Orestes, whom she believed dead according to a dream, and she prepares for him funeral offerings in the proper manner together with the Greek chorus. In addition, she laments for the fated destruction of her own family and her own miserable fate, with which now, in the presence of most savage men, she, a Greek girl herself, is distressed.

Argumentum Actus secundi.

Hic Actus parasceuen habet ad secuturas epitases. Nam pastor quidam Scythicus nuntiat Iphigeniae duos Graecos iuvenes ad mare captos et ad regem Thoantem perductos esse, qui istos de more Dianae immolari praeceperit. Unde hortatur eam, huic scilicet ministerio praefectam, ut quibus opus sit ad victimam expediat. 2. Iphigenia, abeunte iam pastore, persuasa Orestem extinctum esse, infesto in Graecos animo optat sibi Helenam dari velut sui exitii et multarum cladium causam, ut ea caesa suam vindicaret caedem. Deinde queritur quod indigne a patre sub falso nuptiarum titulo domo accersita mox ad necem rapta sit. Praeterea damnat immanem morem Taurorum mactandi hospites dicitque impie id [383] Dianae imputari, quemadmodum et alia plura de diis impie conficta pro veris vulgaverit mortalium impietas. 3. Chorus primum in diaporia quadam versatur: controvertit enim secum quinam illi sint iuvenes? Quomodo tot tantaque pericula Euxini maris superaverint, aut quae vel res vel spes eos ad suscipiendam tam periculosam profectionem impulerit? Deinde Helenam pestem universae Graeciae ad Tauros venire optat ut sua nece tot tantosque motus et mala quae ipsius causa in Graecia extiterunt lueret. Denique finem malorum precatur.

Argument of the Second Act.

This act contains the background to the following epitases (complications). For a certain Scythian shepherd announces to Iphigenia that two Greek youths have been captured near the sea and have been brought to King Thoas, who ordered them to be sacrificed to Diana according to custom. Hence he urges her, inasmuch as she is placed in command of this service, to prepare what is necessary for the sacrificial victim. 2. Iphigenia, when the shepherd had departed, convinced that Orestes had been killed, wishes, with her mind hostile toward the Greeks, that Helen be given to her, as the source of her own ruin and of many disasters, so that she may avenge her own sacrifice by Helen's death. Then, she laments because, after being undeservedly summoned from her house by her father under the deceptive name of marriage, she had been immediately carried off to slaughter. In addition, she condemns the savage custom of the Taurians of sacrificing strangers and says that act is impiously [383] charged to Diana, in just the way that the impiety of mortals had circulated as true accounts many others stories wickedly counterfeited concerning the gods. 3. At first, the members of the chorus are involved in a certain doubt: for they debate with themselves, who in fact are those youths? How did they overcome so many and such great dangers of the Euxine Sea, or what thing or hope drove them to undertake such a dangerous voyage? Then they hope that Helen, the plague of all Greece, come to the Taurians and so that by her own death she may atone for so many and such great disturbances and the evils that existed in Greece on account of her. Finally they pray for an end to the misfortunes.

[384] Argumentum Actus tertii.

Duo iuvenes a pastoribus trahuntur ad Iphigeniam ut immolentur: quorum aetatem et formam egregiam admirata puella Graecos esse agnoscit, eosque de genere, patria, denique de rebus Troianis et casu Graecorum ducum ac in primis de domo et fortuna Agamemnonis percontatur. Cognoscit autem omnia esse domi et ubique afflicta et funesta. 2. Literas Argos dare per alterum, cuius nomen ignorabat, parat, servato altero, scilicet Pylade, ad victimam, id quod Orestes pertinaciter recusat, minime aequum esse existimans sontem dimitti, culpae autem insontem plecti, amicumque prodi cuius salus non minus quam sua ipsius sibi cordi sit. Ergo rogatu Orestis mutata sententia, Pyladi dare literas statuit. Interim Orestes de suae necis conditione et modo quaerit, videlicet a quo et ubi et quomodo sit trucidandus. Quem Iphigenia illi inferias et honores sepulcri promittendo consolatur. 3. Dum Iphigenia epistolam conficit, Pylades et Orestes certant inter se pulcherrimo certaminis genere, quo uterque pro altero mori contendit, miserante interim illorum vicem et extremam necessitatem Choro. Huc Ovidius respexit in 3. de Ponto*:

Ire iubet Pylades carum moriturus Orestem:
    Hic negat, inque vicem pugnat uterque mori.
Extitit hoc unum quod non convenerit illis:
    Cetera pars concors et sine lite fuit.

Tandem eloquitur Orestes quae velit a Pylade Argis, si eo redire contingat, sibi fieri, eique commendat et sororem et totam domum patris. Prima itaque est epitaseos pars in hoc Actu, ubi turbae et rerum moles ingravescere incipiunt.

*[Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto 3.2.85-88 (in Richmond’s Teubner edition): ire iubet Pylades carum periturus Oresten; / hic negat, in que uices pugnat uterque mori. / extitit hoc unum, quo non conuenerit illis: / cetera par concors et sine lite fuit.]

[384] Argument of the Third Act.

The two youths are taken by the shepherds to Iphigenia to be sacrificed: the girl, regarding with wonder the singular appearance and age of the youths, recognizes them to be Greeks, and asks them about their birth, homeland, and finally about the Trojan affairs and the fate of the Greek leaders and especially about the house and fate of Agamemnon. She learns, moreover, that everything at home and everywhere is sorely troubled and full of death and mourning. 2. She prepares to deliver a letter to Argos by means of one of the two, the one whose name she did not know, while the other, namely Pylades, is retained as the victim, a plan that Orestes obstinately rejects, thinking that it is not at all just for the guilty one to be sent away, while the one innocent of the guilt was to be punished, and for his friend to be abandoned, whose well-being is no less dear to him than his own. Therefore, the decision having been changed because of the request of Orestes, she decides to give the letters to Pylades. Meanwhile, Orestes asks about the terms and manner of his death, specifically, by whom and where and how he was to be sacrificed. Iphigenia comforts him by promising to him offerings to the dead and the honors of the tomb. 3. While Iphigenia completes the letter, Pylades and Orestes dispute between themselves in the most noble type of contest, in which each strives to die for the other, while the Chorus voices compassion for their plight and extreme compulsion. Ovid revisited this theme in Book 3 of Epistulae ex Ponto:

Pylades, about to die, orders his dear Orestes to depart:
    He refuses this, and in turn each fights to die.
There arose this one thing that had not occurred for them:
    The rest of their friendship was harmonious and without quarrel.

At last, Orestes tells the things he would like to be done for himself by Pylades in Argos, if he succeeds in returning there, and entrusts both his sister and the entire house of his father to him. And so in this act there is the first part of the complication, in which the commotions and dangers of events begin to increase.

[385] Argumentum Actus quarti.

Actus quartus haec continet. Primo Iphigenia expedita epistola quam datura erat Pyladi, dum cui reddenda sit et quid rerum in ea scriptum sit exponit, insperato agnoscitur soror Orestis esse. Fit ergo mutua utrimque gratulatio lacrimaeque manant et fletus mixto gaudio strident. Id quod in eiusmodi fieri casibus saepenumero videmus. Mox exponunt illa quidem quo fato sit ad Tauros delata, hic quae se sors exerceat quidque ad Tauros proficisci compulerit. 2 De fuga et rapiendo simulacro Dianae consilia ineunt. tandem Iphigenia invenit qua via aggredienda res sit, et ne quid foras efferretur silentium ab Argivis mulieribus stipulatur utque consiliorum adiutrices sint orat. Id quod facile impetrat. Hinc ad simulacrum auferendum sese accingunt. 3 Chorus desiderio et recordatione prioris vitae ac fortunae et quadam miseratione sui admodum ἠθικῶς assueta quondam Graeciae loca videre, festisque celebritatibus et choreis, quibus olim affluens deliciis oblectata sit, adesse optat. Deinde quomodo ex libera serva facta ad extremae barbariae gentem avecta sit pathetice narrat: felicem interim navigationem secundosque ventos Iphigeniae precans. In hoc autem Actu mira quaedam omnium rerum conversio est. Agnoscitur enim Iphigenia, mutuo frater sororque colloquio fruuntur, nec iam de immolandis adolescentibus agitur, sed de fuga in commune deliberatur.

[385] Argument of the Fourth Act.

The fourth act contains the following events. First, once the letter was prepared which Iphigenia was to give to Pylades, while she explains to whom it ought to be delivered and what matters are written in it, by an unexpected twist she is recognized to be the sister of Orestes. Therefore, mutual rejoicing takes place on both sides and tears are shed and crying sounds forth mixed with delight. This is something that we repeatedly see in events of this kind. Soon they explain their situations, she telling by what fate she was carried to the Taurians, he telling what fortune torments him and what compelled him to depart to the Taurians. 2. They discuss plans for flight and for seizing the image of Diana. At last Iphigenia discovers a way by which the deed may be accomplished, and to prevent anything from being reported openly she obtains a promise of silence from the Argive women and begs them to be accomplices of the plan. She succeeds at this task with ease. Henceforth they prepare themselves to carry off the statue. 3. The chorus, expressing longing for and memory of their former life and prosperity, and some pity for themselves, desires in a quite calmly expressive way to see the formerly accustomed places of Greece, and to be present at festivals and celebrations and choral performances, the delights in which they had formerly been rich and taken pleasure. Then in a strongly emotional style they narrate how, having been made a slave instead of a free woman, she was carried away to a people of extreme cruelty: at the same time praying for Iphigenia a safe voyage and favorable winds. In this act, moreover, there is a certain extraordinary turning about of all events. For Iphigenia is recognized, brother and sister delight in their mutual exchange, and now it is no longer a matter of sacrificing the youths, but plans are being made together for flight.

[387] Argumentum Actus quinti.

Thoas Tauricae regionis tyrannus dolo tractatur ab Iphigenia. Dum enim quaerit causas morae in immolandis peregrinis, artificiose mulier vera falsis miscens, exemplo Sinonis illius Vergiliani*, omnem doli mali suspicionem barbaro adimit. Nam docet ipsos prius ad mare abluendos esse ut parricidio impiatos et una contrectatum ab impuris simulacrum quoque lustrandum. Servo etiam exponit quid fieri eo in sacrificio oporteat, ut videlicet cives sint e medio ipseque interea apud delubrum operiatur, ac stipatores tantum paucos poscit quibus facile pares futuri erant nautae; ut denique omnes sedulo in officio maneant, monet. 2 Chorus, ne otiosa scena esset, Apollinis laudes prosequitur, in cuius oratione celebratur et natalis dies ipsius et oraculum Delphicum quod pulsa Themide occuparit. 3 Nuntius omnem rem, id est fugam, imposturam et dolum Graecorum ac Iphigeniae, Thoanti exponit, qui cum iam cives suos exhortaretur ad bellum, ac immineret transfugarum exitio essetque vindice dignus (ut Horatius** loquitur) nodus, ex improviso Minerva adest quae barbari conatum inhibeat et periculum instans discutiat.

*[Vergil, Aeneid 2.57-198]

**[Horace, Ars Poetica 191-2, nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus / inciderit, "and let a god not be involved (in the action of a tragedy), unless a knotty problem worthy of a protecting champion has occurred": one a series of rules for authors of tragedy developed by post-Aristotelian ancient critics.]

[387] Argument of the Fifth Act.

Thoas, the king of the Taurian country, is handled by Iphigenia with a trick. For while he seeks the reasons for the delay in sacrificing the strangers, the woman skillfully mingles the truth with lies, as with the case of the famous Sinon of Vergil, and she removes all suspicion of evil deceit from the barbarian. For first she instructs that the victims themselves must be washed at the sea as men who are polluted with parricide, and that at the same time the statue, having been touched by impure men, must be cleansed. Likewise, she explains to a slave what must be done in this sacrifice, namely that the citizens should be out of their midst and that meanwhile the king himself wait in the temple, and she asks for only a few attendants, to whom the sailors would easily be equal; finally, she reminds them all to remain assiduously in their duty. 2. The Chorus, lest the stage be without action, proceed with praises of Apollo; in their speech they honor the day of his birth and the Delphic Oracle which he took over when Themis was expelled. 3. The messenger explains to Thoas the entire affair – that is, the flight, deceit and the trickery of the Greeks and Iphigenia. When the king was already inciting his citizens to go to war, and was threatening the death of the fugitives and the knot was worthy of a protector (as Horace says), Minerva appears unexpectedly to restrain the attempt of the barbarian and dispel the imminent danger.

Translation by Risa Takenaka