Even Menelaus feels it the moment he recovers from
his wrath.
"What hath she to do,
The virgin daughter, with my Helena!
* * Its former reasonings now
My soul foregoes. * * * *
For it is not just
That thou shouldst groan, while my affairs go pleasantly,
That those of thy house should die, and mine see the light."
Indeed, the overwhelmed aspect of the king of men might well move him.
"_Men_. Brother, give me to take thy right hand.
_Aga_. I give it, _for_ the victory is thine, and I am wretched.
I am, indeed, ashamed to drop the tear,
And not to drop the tear I am ashamed."
How beautifully is Iphigenia introduced; beaming more and more softly
on us with every touch of description! After Clytemnestra has given
Orestes (then an infant) out of the chariot, she says:
"Ye females, in your arms
Receive her, for she is of tender age.
Sit here by my feet, my child,
By thy mother, Iphigenia, and show
These strangers how I am blessed in thee,
And here address thee to thy father.
_Iphi_. O, mother! should I run, wouldst thou be angry?
And embrace my father heart to heart?"
With the same sweet, timid trust she prefers the request to himself,
and, as he holds her in his arms, he seems as noble as Guido's
Archangel; as if he never could sink below the trust of such a being!
The Achilles, in the first scene, is fine.
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