having sworn it, he said, "But what if a storm overtake me, and the
tablet be lost, and I only be saved?"

"I will tell thee what hath been written in the tablet; and if it
perish, thou shalt tell them again; but if not, then thou shalt give it
as I bid thee."

"And to whom shall I give it?"

"Thou shalt give it to Orestes, son of Agamemnon. And that which is
written therein is this: 'I THAT WAS SACRIFICED IN AULIS, EVEN
IPHIGENIA, WHO AM ALIVE AND YET DEAD TO MY OWN PEOPLE, BID THEE--'"

[Illustration: OFFERINGS TO THE DEAD.]

But when Orestes heard this, he brake in, "Where is this Iphigenia?
Hath the dead come back among the living?"

"Thou seest her in me. But interrupt me not 'I BID THEE FETCH ME BEFORE
I DIE TO ARGOS FROM A STRANGE LAND, TAKING ME FROM THE ALTAR THAT IS RED
WITH THE BLOOD OF STRANGERS, WHEREAT I SERVE.' And if Orestes ask by
what means I am alive, thou shalt say that Artemis put a hind in my
stead, and that the priest, thinking that he smote me with the knife,
slew the beast, and that the goddess brought me to this land."

Then said Pylades, "My oath is easy to keep. Orestes, take thou this
tablet from thy sister."

Then Orestes embraced his sister, crying--for she turned from him, not
knowing what she should think--"O my sister, turn not from me; for I am
thy brother whom thou didst not think to see."

And when she yet doubted, he told her of certain things by which she
might know him to be Orestes--how that she had woven a tapestry wherein
was set forth the strife between Atreus and Thyestes concerning the
golden lamb; and that she had given a lock of her hair at Aulis to be a
memorial of her; and that there was laid in her chamber at Argos the
ancient spear of Pelops, her father's grandsire, with which he slew
Oenomaues, and won Hippodamia to be his wife.

And when she heard this, she knew that he was indeed Orestes, whom,
being an infant and the latest born of his mother, she had in time past
held in her arms. But when the two had talked together for a space,
rejoicing over each other, and telling the things that had befallen
them, Pylades said, "Greetings of friends after long parting are well;
but we must needs consider how best we shall escape from this land of
the barbarians."

But Iphigenia answered, "Yet nothing shall hinder me from knowing how
fareth my sister Electra."

"She is married," said Orestes, "to this Pylades, whom thou seest."

"And of what country is he, and