llors of the city, should be gathered together to the palace, that
they might know the truth of the matter. And while they waited for the
Queen, they talked much of what had been in days gone by, in the
beginning of the ten years' war, when King Agamemnon, with King
Menelaues, who was his brother, sailed from that very land of Argos,
seeking vengeance for Queen Helen. And one said, "Remember ye not what
we saw when the army set forth from the city? how upon the right hand as
they marched there appeared two eagles, one black altogether and the
other with feathers of white in him, that devoured a hare big with young
ones? and how Calchas, the soothsayer, interpreted the thing, saying,
'The eagles are the two kings; and as these have devoured the hare, so
shall the kings devour the city of Troy together with her children! Only
we must needs pray that there come not wrath upon the army. For Queen
Artemis loveth not these winged dogs of her father Zeus, even the
eagles. And if her anger be kindled against us, we shall not turn it
away save by an evil sacrifice, from which also shall spring great wrath
in the time to come. Therefore may Apollo help us, who is the healer of
all evils,' So spake Calchas, the soothsayer, knowing indeed that Queen
Artemis was wroth with King Agamemnon, for that he had hunted and slain,
even in her own grove, a beautiful hart which she loved."

Then said another of the elders, "Nor indeed did the wrath of the
goddess tarry. For when the army was gathered together in Aulis she
caused that the winds blew ever from the north and hindered the ships
from their voyage, so that the men were pinched with hunger and wasted
with disease. Then said Calchas, the soothsayer, 'This is the thing
whereof I spake: the goddess asketh the sacrifice that thou knowest
of.' But when the kings heard this, they wept, and smote with their
sceptres upon the ground. And King Agamemnon said, 'How shall I do this
thing, and slay my own daughter, even Iphigenia, who is the joy and
beauty of my dwelling? Yet it were base to be false to them that have
trusted me to be their leader in this war. Therefore the Gods shall have
their will.' Thus he hardened his heart to the evil work; nor did the
chiefs have pity on her for all that she was young and fair exceedingly.
So when the priests had ended their prayers, her father bade the
ministers take her as she lay with her robes about her, and lift her up
on the altar, even as men lift a