(to Pylades.) Swear; begin a pious oath. Iphigenia (to Pylades.) You must say: I will give this to your friends. Pylades I will give this letter to your friends. Iphigenia And I will see you safely outside the dark rocks. Pylades What god do you do you swear by, as witness to your oath? Iphigenia Artemis, in whose temple I hold office. Pylades And I swear by the king of heaven, revered Zeus. Iphigenia But if you leave off your oath, and wrong me? Pylades May I not return. What about you, if you do not save me? Iphigenia May I never set foot in Argos alive. Pylades Now listen to a consideration we have passed over. Iphigenia But it will be something new, if it is good. Pylades Give me this exception: if the ship suffers and the tablet is lost with its cargo in the waves, and I rescue myself only, may this oath not hinder me. Iphigenia Do you know what I will do? For many attempts hit many targets. I will tell you what is written in the folds of this tablet for you to report to my friends. For this is secure: if you preserve the writing, itself, though silent, will speak its message; if the writing is lost in the sea, when you save yourself, you will save my words. Pylades You have spoken well, on behalf of the gods and me. Make clear to whom I must bring this letter in Argos , and what I must say when I have heard it from you. Iphigenia Report to Orestes, the son of Agamemnon: the one slain at Aulis sends you this, Iphigenia, who is alive, though no longer alive to those there— Orestes Where is she? Has she come back from the dead?? Iphigenia The one you are looking at; don’t confuse me by your talk. Bring me to Argos , my brother, before I die. Take me away from the barbarian land and the sacrifices of the goddess, where I hold the office of killing foreigners. Orestes Pylades, what shall I say? Where have we found ourselves? Iphigenia Or I will be a curse to your house. Pylades Orestes? Assigned to Iphigenia in the Coleridge translation. Iphigenia (stopping to address Pylades.) So that you may know the name, hearing it twice. Pylades O gods! Iphigenia Why do you invoke the gods in my affairs? Pylades No reason; finish your words; my thoughts were elsewhere. Perhaps, if I question you, I will not arrive at things I cannot believe. Iphigenia Tell him that Artemis saved me, by giving a deer in exchange for me; my father sacrificed it,