t it be well.

OR. There lacks but one thing, namely, that these women who are present
preserve our secret. But do thou beseech them, and find words that will
persuade. A woman in truth has power to move pity. But all the rest will
perchance fall out well.

IPH. O dearest women, I look to you, and my affairs rest in you, as to
whether they turn out well, or be of naught, and I be deprived of my
country, my dear brother, and dearest sister. And let this first be the
commencement of my words. We are women, a race well inclined to one
another, and most safe in keeping secret matters of common interest. Do ye
keep silence for us, and labor out our escape. Honorable is it for the man
who possesses a faithful tongue. But behold how one fortune holds the three
most dear, either a return to our father-land, or to die. But, being
preserved, that thou also mayest share my fortune, I will restore thee safe
to Greece. But, by thy right hand, thee, and thee [_addressing the women of
the chorus in succession_] I beseech, and thee by thy beloved cheek, and
thy knees, and those most dear at home, mother, and father, and children,
to whom there are such.[142] What say ye? Who of you will, or will not
[speak!] these things.[143] For if ye assent not to my words, I am undone,
and my wretched sister.

CHOR. Be of good cheer, dear mistress, and think only of being saved, since
on my part all shall be kept secret, the mighty Jove be witness! in the
things thou enjoinest.

IPH. May your words profit ye, and may ye be blest. 'Tis thy part now, and
thine [to the different women] to enter the house, as the ruler of this
land will straightway come, inquiring concerning the sacrifice of the
strangers, whether it is over. O revered Goddess, who in the recesses of
Aulis didst save me from the dire hand of a slaying father, now also save
me and these, or the voice of Loxias will through thee be no longer
truthful among mortals. But do thou with good will quit the barbarian land
for Athens, for it becomes thee not to dwell here, when you can possess a
blest city.

CHORUS. Thou bird, that by the rocky cliffs of the sea, halcyon,[144] dost
chant thy mournful elegy, a sound well understood by the skilled, namely,
that thou art ever bemoaning thine husband in song, I, a wingless bird,
compare my dirge with thine, longing for the assemblies[145] of the Greeks,
longing for Lucina, who dwells along the Cynthian height, and near the
palm[146] with its lu