O Theseus, have I spoken: to the Boys

Who spring from those slain Argive chiefs I add;
Ismenos' city, soon as ye attain

Maturer years, shall ye in ruin lay,

Retaliating the slaughter of your Sires;
Thou too, Ægialeus, an youthful Chief,
Shalt in thy Father's stead command the host,
And marching from Ætolia's realm, the Son
Of Tydeus, Diomede by name; the down
No sooner shall o'erspread your blooming cheeks,
Than with a band of Argive warriors clad
In glittering armour, with impetuous rage,
Ye the seven Theban turrets shall assail;
Them, in your wrath, shall ye, in manhood's prime,
Like whelps of lions visit, and lay waste
The city. What I have foretold, ere long
Will be accomplish'd. By applauding Greece
Call'd the Epigoni, ye shall become

A theme for your descendants' choral songs,

66

name of Ino, who, in her flight towards the Isthmus, is said to have passed over Gerania, a mountain of Megara, which juts out into the 66 sea, and is situated between Eleusinia and the Isthmus. The Argive "chiefs were buried near the road between Eleusine and Megara, which 66 appears to have been situated at the foot of Gerania: she must there❝fore have passed through Eleusinia. Is it not probable then, that, at the "time of her being there, she should have sat down at some spot where "three roads meet, either from not knowing which path to take, or "through fatigue; or at least that such an account should have been "forged and obtained credit among the people, whence the place after"wards retained her name from the tradition of such event, whether true " or false? moreover, that no one may consider this as spoken at random, “it is proved by the testimony of Plutarch, Sympos. 5, prob. 3. that "there was a place in Megara which derived its name from the flight " of Ino." Dr. MUSGRAVE.

Had our Author's Tragedy of Ino, several fragments of which are still extant, been transmitted to us entire, it would, in all probability, have entirely cleared up this point. But the above is so satisfactory a defence of the vulgar reading and punctuation, that I omit troubling the reader with the attempts of Brodæus, Barnes, and Markland, to apply what is here said of the Deity of the Isthmus rather to Diana or Neptune.

Such squadrons ye to battle shall lead forth

Favour'd by righteous Jove.

THESEUS.

Thy dread injunctions,

Minerva, aweful Queen, will I obey:
For I, while thou direct'st me, cannot err.
I from Adrastus will exact that oath,
Deign only thou to guide my steps aright,
For to our city if thou prov'st a friend
We shall enjoy blest safety.

CHORUS.

Let us go,

Adrastus, and eternal friendship swear

To Theseus and his city, for the toils

They have endur'd, our grateful reverence claim.

PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.

AGAMEMNON.

AN AGED ATTENDANT.

CHORUS OF DAMES OF CHALCIS.

MENELAUS.

MESSENGER.

CLYTEMNESTRA.

IPHIGENIA.

ACHILLES.

SCENE-THE COAST BORDERING ON THE HAVEN OF

AULIS IN BŒOTIA.

IPHIGENIA IN AULIS.

AGAMEMNON, AN AGED ATTENDANT.

AGAMEMNON.

COME forth, my aged follower, from this tent.

ATTENDANT.

I come. But what fresh scheme employs the thoughts Of royal Agamemnon?

AGAMEMNON.

Thou shalt hear.

ATTENDANT.

I haste. Old age gives keenness to these eyes, And makes them strangers to sleep's balmy gifts.

AGAMEMNON.

What star now holds his course ?

ATTENDANT.

"Tis Sirius borne

Near the seven Pleiades in mid career.

AGAMEMNON.

No sound is heard, or from the feather'd choir, Or ocean's waves; the silent winds still keep

Euripus in a calm.

ATTENDANT.

But why rush forth,

My Sovereign, from your tent? for o'er this coast

Of Aulis still an universal rest

Prevails, and station'd on yon walls remain

The centinels, in motionless array.

Shall we go in ?

AGAMEMNON.

Thee, O thou aged man,

Happy I deem, and happy all who live