Iphigenia in Tauris by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
page 17 of 103 (16%)
page 17 of 103 (16%)
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Through treachery and murder; she ere long
Bore him two children, Atreus and Thyestes; With envy they beheld the growing love Their father cherish'd for a first-born son Sprung from another union. Bound by hate, In secret they contrive their brother's death. The sire, the crime imputing to his wife, With savage fury claim'd from her his child, And she in terror did destroy herself-- THOAS. Thou'rt silent? Pause not in thy narrative! Do not repent thy confidence--say on! IPHIGENIA. How blest is he who his progenitors With pride remembers, to the list'ner tells The story of their greatness, of their deeds, And, silently rejoicing, sees himself Link'd to this goodly chain! For the same stock Bears not the monster and the demigod: A line, or good or evil, ushers in The glory or the terror of the world.-- After the death of Pelops, his two sons Rul'd o'er the city with divided sway. But such an union could not long endure. His brother's honour first Thyestes wounds. In vengeance Atreus drove him from the realm. Thyestes, planning horrors, long before Had stealthily procur'd his brother's son, |
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