necessitated the offering of those human sacrifices presented to Artemis.

Many years passed away, during which time the long and wearisome siege of
Troy had come to an end, and the brave Agamemnon had returned home to meet
death at the hands of his wife and Aegisthus. But his daughter, Iphigenia,
was still an exile from her native country, and continued to perform the
terrible duties which her office involved. She had long given up all hopes
of ever being restored to her friends, when one day two Greek strangers
landed on Taurica's inhospitable shores. These were Orestes and Pylades,
whose romantic attachment to each other has made their names synonymous for
devoted self-sacrificing friendship. Orestes was Iphigenia's brother, and
Pylades her cousin, and their object in undertaking an expedition fraught
with so much peril, was to obtain the statue of the Taurian Artemis.
Orestes, having incurred the anger of the Furies for avenging the murder of
his father Agamemnon, was pursued by them wherever he went, until at last
he was informed by the oracle of Delphi that, in order to pacify them, he
must convey the image of the Taurian Artemis from Tauris to Attica. This he
at once resolved to do, and accompanied by his faithful friend Pylades, who
insisted on sharing the dangers of the undertaking, he set out for Taurica.
But the unfortunate youths had hardly stepped on shore before they were
seized by the natives, who, as usual, conveyed them for sacrifice to the
temple of Artemis. Iphigenia, discovering that they were Greeks, though
unaware of their near relationship to herself, thought the {96} opportunity
a favourable one for sending tidings of her existence to her native
country, and, accordingly, requested one of the strangers to be the bearer
of a letter from her to her family. A magnanimous dispute now arose between
the friends, and each besought the other to accept the precious privilege
of life and freedom. Pylades, at length overcome by the urgent entreaties
of Orestes, agreed to be the bearer of the missive, but on looking more
closely at the superscription, he observed, to his intense surprise, that
it was addressed to Orestes. Hereupon an explanation followed; the brother
and sister recognized each other, amid joyful tears and loving embraces,
and assisted by her friends and kinsmen, Iphigenia escaped with them from a
country where she had spent so many unhappy days, and witnessed so many
scenes of horror and angui