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An entrance to her son Orestes' heart, And yet his uprais'd arm her bosom pierced. The weapon raise, spare not, this bosom rend, And make an outlet for its boiling streams.
[He sinks exhausted. Enter Pylades.
Pylades: Dost thou not know me, and this sacred grove, And this blest light, which shines not on the dead? Attend! Each moment is of priceless worth, And our return hangs on a slender thread. The favouring gale, which swells our parting sail, Must to Olympus waft our perfect joy. Quick counsel and resolve the time demands.
Act IV Iphigenia alone.
Iphigenia: They hasten to the sea, where in a bay Their comrades in the vessel lie concealed, Waiting a signal. Me they have supplied With artful answers should the monarch send To urge the sacrifice. Detested falsehood!
[Enter Arkas.
Arkas: Priestess, with speed conclude the sacrifice! Impatiently the king and people wait.
Iphigenia: The gods have not decreed that it should be. The elder of these men of kindred-murder Bears guilt. The dread Erinnys here within Have seized upon their prey, polluting thus The sanctuary. I hasten now to bathe The goddess' image in the sea, and there With solemn rites its purity restore.
Arkas: This hindrance to the monarch I'll announce.
[Exit Arkas. Enter Pylades.
Pylades: Thy brother is restor'd! The fire of youth
[Pg 26]
With growing glory shines upon his brow. Let us then hasten; guide me to the fane. I can unaided on my shoulder bear The goddess' image; how I long to feel The precious burden! Hast thou to the king Announced the prudent message as agreed?
Iphigenia: The royal messenger arrived, and I, According to thy counsel, fram'd my speech.
Pylades: Danger again doth hover o'er our heads. Alas! Why hast thou failed to shroud thyself Within the veil of sacerdotal rights?
Iphigenia: I never have employed them as a veil.
Pylades: Pure soul! Thy scruples will alike destroy Thyself and us. Come, let us be firm. Nor with incautious haste betray ourselves.
Iphigenia: It is an honest scruple, which forbids That I should cunningly deceive the king, And plunder him who was my second father.
Pylades: Him dost thou fly, who would have slain thy brother. If we should perish, bitter self-reproach, Forerunner of despair, will be thy portion; Necessity commands. The rest thou knowest. [Exit.
Iphigenia: I must obey him, for I see my friends Beset with peril. Yet my own sad fate Doth with increasing anguish move my heart To steal the image, sacred and rever'd, Confided to my care, and him deceive To whom I owe my life and destiny! Let not abhorrence spring within my heart!
Act V Thoas alone.
Thoas: Fierce anger rages in my riven breast, First against her whom I esteem'd so pure; Then 'gainst myself, whose foolish lenity
[Pg 27]
Hath fashion'd her for treason. Vain my hope To bind her to me. Now that I oppose Her wish, she seeks to gain her ends by fraud.
[Enter Iphigenia.
Wherefore delay the sacrifice; inform me!
Iphigenia: The goddess for reflection grants thee time.
Thoas: To thee this time seems also opportune.
Iphigenia: Are we not bound to render the distress'd The gracious kindness from the gods received? Thou know'st we are, and yet wilt thou compel me?
Thoas: Obey thine office, not the king.
Iphigenia: Oh, couldst thou see the struggle of my soul, Courageously toward the first attack Of an unhappy doom which threatens me; Must I implore a miracle from heaven?
Thoas: Extravagant thy interest in the fate Of these two strangers. Tell me who they are.
Iphigenia: They are�they seem, at least�I think them Greeks.
Thoas: Thy countrymen; no doubt they have renewed The pleasing picture of return.
Iphigenia (after a pause): Attend, O king, and honour truth in me. A plot Deceitfully and secretly is laid Touching the captives thou dost ask in vain. They have escaped. The eldest is Orestes, Whom madness seized, my brother; Pylades, His early friend and confidant, the other. From Delphi, Phoebus sent them to this shore, To steal away the image of Diana, And to him bear back the sister thither. And for this, deliverance promised he The Fury-haunted son.
Thoas: The traitors have contrived a cunning web, And cast it round thee, who, secluded long,
[Pg 28]
Giv'st willing credence to thine own desire.
Iphigenia: No, no! I'd pledge my life these men are true; And shouldst thou find them otherwise, O king, Then let them perish both, and cast me forth.
[Enter Orestes, armed.
Orestes (addressing his followers): Redouble your exertions! Hold them back! And keep a passage open to the ship! (To Iphigenia) We are betray'd; brief time remains for flight!
[He perceives the king.
Thoas: None in my presence with impunity His naked weapon wears!
Iphigenia: Do not profane Diana's sanctuary with rage and blood. In him revere the king, my second father!
Orestes: Will he permit our peaceable return?
Iphigenia: Thy gleaming sword forbids me to reply.
[Enter Pylades, followed by Arkas, with drawn swords
Pylades: Do not delay, our friends are putting forth Their final strength!
Arkas: They yield; their ship is ours!
Thoas: Let none annoy the foe while we confer.
[Arkas retires.
Thoas: Now, answer me; how dost thou prove thyself The priestess' brother, Agamemnon's son?
Iphigenia: See here, the mark on his right hand impress'd As of three stars, which on his natal day Were by the priest declar'd to indicate Some dreadful deed therewith to be perform'd!
Thoas: E'en though thy words had banish'd every doubt, Still must our arms decide. I see no peace; Their purpose, as thou didst thyself confess,
[Pg 29]
Was to deprive me of Diana's image!
Orestes: The image shall not be the cause of strife! We now perceive the error which the god Threw o'er our minds. His counsel I implor'd; He answer'd, "Back to Greece the sister bring, Who in the Tauris sanctuary abides." To Phoebus' sister we applied the words, And she referred to thee.
Iphigenia: Oh, let thy heart Be moved by what an honest tongue has spoken. Look on us, king; an opportunity For such a noble deed not oft occurs!
Thoas: Then go!
Iphigenia: Not so, my king! I cannot part Without thy blessing, or in anger from thee.
Thoas (extending his hand): Fare thee well!
FOOTNOTES:
Goethe's fascinating and noble drama, "Iphigenia in Tauris," was first written in prose, and recast into verse in 1786. Inspired partly by his feelings towards Frau von Stein, whom Goethe "credited with knowing every trait of his being," and partly by the "Iphigenia in Tauris" of Euripides, the play is totally different from anything that had as yet come from his pen. Although it lacks some of the pomp and circumstance of the best Greek tragedy, it is written with great dignity in the strictest classical form, admirably suggesting the best in French classical drama. The prominent motive of the piece is the struggle between truth and falsehood. "It is," one critic has remarked, "a poetic drama of the soul." On its production at Weimar, the German public received it indifferently.
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GOGOL[C]
The Inspector-General
Persons in the Play
Anton Antonovitch, governor of a small town Anna Andreyevna, his wife Marya, their daughter Luka, director of schools Khelstakov, a St. Petersburg official Osip, his servant-man Bobchinski and Dobchinski, independent gentlemen A Judge, A Charity Commissioner, A Postmaster Police Superintendent and Constables A Waiter at the Inn
Act I
Scene.�A room in the Governor's house. The Governor, a coarse and ill-educated official, and several functionaries of the town.
Governor (addressing the functionaries): I have bad news. An inspector-general is coming from St. Petersburg. You must see that your various departments are set in order. The hospital must be tidied up and the patients must be provided with nice white night-caps. The school-teachers must coach up the scholars in their subjects.
[Pg 31]
[Enter Bobchinski and Dobchinski breathlessly.
Bobchinski: What an extraordinary incident!
Dobchinski: A startling announcement!
All: What is it? What is it?
Bobchinski: I will tell you correctly. After you had received the letter from St. Petersburg, I ran out to tell the postmaster what it had announced. On the way Dobchinski pressed me to go into the inn for refreshment. Into the restaurant came an elegant young man with a fashionable aspect. The landlord told us he was an official on his way from Petersburg to Saratov, and that he is acting strangely, for he has been here more than a fortnight, and pays for nothing.
Governor: Good lord! Surely it cannot be he! Been here a fortnight? May heaven help us. You, sirs, get all your departments in proper trim. In the meantime I will take a stroll round the town, and satisfy myself that travellers are treated with due respect.
The governor orders the police to see that the street leading to the inn is well swept. He threatens to punish severely any of the townspeople who shall dare to bring complaints of any kind to the visiting official.
[Pg 32]
Act II
Scene.�A small room in the inn. Osip lying on his master's bed.
Osip: Devil take it! I am famishing. It is two months since we left St. Petersburg. This master of mine has squandered all his money on the way, and here we are penniless. The old man sends his son money, but he goes on the racket with it till all is spent, and then he has to pawn his clothes almost to the last rag. And now this landlord declares he will let us have nothing more to eat unless we pay in advance. Ah, there's the knock.
[He gets off the bed. Khelstakov enters.
Khelstakov: Go down and ask for something to eat.
Osip: No. The landlord will not let us have it. He says we are swindlers, and he threatens to have you put in prison.
Khelstakov: Go to the devil! Call the landlord. (Osip goes.) How fearfully hungry I am. And I was cheated at cards and cleaned right out at Penza by that infantry captain. What a miserable little town this is. They give no credit at the provision shops.
[Enter Waiter.
Waiter: The landlord asks what you want.
Khelstakov: Please bring my dinner at once. I must be busy directly I have dined.
The waiter replies that the landlord refuses to supply anything more, and seems likely to complain to the governor. But presently dinner is brought in. To Khlestakov's great consternation Osip announces that the governor has come and is asking for him.
Khelstakov: What? The landlord has reported me! I'll put on an aristocratic air, and ask him how he dares��
Governor, entering in trepidation and saluting humbly, astonishes him by profuse offers of hospitality and entertainment, though when at first mention is made of taking him to other
[Pg 33]
quarters, the guest in horror ejaculates that he supposes the gaol is meant, and he asks what right the governor has to hint at such a thing.
Khelstakov (indignantly): How dare you? I�I�I am a government official at St. Petersburg. I�I�I��
Governor (aside): Good heavens, what a rage he is in! He knows everything. Those confounded merchants have told him all.
Banging the table, Khelstakov declares he will not go to the gaol, but will complain to the Minister of the Interior; and the governor, trembling and terrified, pleads that he has a wife and little children, and begs that he may not be ruined. The ridiculous misunderstanding on both sides grows more confused every minute. The governor pours forth the most abject apologies; declares that if the people accuse him of oppression and extortion, and even of flogging women, they are a slandering mob.
Khelstakov: What have I to do with your enemies or the women you have flogged? Don't attempt to flog me. Now, look here, I will pay this landlord's account, but just now I have not the money. That is why I am staying here.
Governor (aside): Sly rogue, trying to mystify me! (Aloud) If you really are short of money, I am ready to serve you at once.
The visitor says that he will in that case borrow 200 roubles, and the money is readily handed over; in fact, the governor quietly slips in 200 extra roubles. The governor, convinced that the inspector-general is simply determined to keep up his incognito, resolves to act accordingly, and to tell falsehoods appropriate for mutual deception. He invites the guest to visit Various institutions, and a round is made.
Act III
Scene.�A room in the Governor's house. Governor, Khelstakov, and other functionaries.
Khelstakov: Fine establishments! In other towns they showed me nothing.
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Governor: In other towns I venture to say that the officials think most about their own profit; here we only aim at winning the approbation of the government.
Khelstakov: That lunch was very good! The fish was delicious! Where was it that we lunched? Was it not at the hospital? I saw the beds, but there were not many patients. Have the sick recovered?
Governor: Yes. Since I became governor they all get well like flies, not so much by doctoring as by honesty and regularity. Thank God, everything goes satisfactorily here! Another governor would undoubtedly look after his own advantage; but, believe me, when I lie down to sleep, my prayer is, "O Thou my Lord, may the government perceive my zeal and be satisfied." So I have an easy conscience.
Khelstakov: Are there any clubs here where a game at cards could be had?
Governor: God forbid! Here such a thing as a card-club is never heard of. I am disgusted at the sight of a card, and never dealt one in my life. Once to amuse the children I built a house of cards, and had accursed dreams all night.
Luka (aside): But the villain cheated me yesterday out of a hundred roubles!
Introduced to the governor's wife and daughter, Khlestakov addresses them in the manner of a gallant from the metropolis, and chatters boastfully of his influence, his position, and his connections. His house is the first in St. Petersburg. Meantime, the various functionaries meet in the house of the governor to concert measures for propitiating this great courtier. They resolve to present him with a substantial token of regard. With great trepidation they wait on him.
Judge (entering very nervously): I have the honour to present myself. I have been judge here since 1816, and have been decorated with the Vladimir of the Fourth Class.
Khelstakov: What have you there in your hand?
Judge (in bewilderment drops banknotes on the floor): Nothing.
[Pg 35]
Khelstakov: How nothing? I see some money has been dropped.
Judge (trembling and aside): O heaven, I am already before the tribunal, and they have brought the cart to take me into exile.
Khelstakov picks up the notes, and asks that the money may be lent him, as he has spent all his cash on the journey. He promises to return it as soon as he reaches home, but the judge protests that the honour of lending it is enough, and he begs that there shall be no injunction against him.
Next to present himself is the postmaster, in full uniform, sword in hand. After a little conversation with this functionary, Khlestakov thinks he may just as well borrow of him also, and he forthwith mentions that a singular thing has happened to him, for he has lost all his money on the way, and would be glad to be obliged with the loan of three hundred roubles. It is instantly counted out with alacrity, and the postmaster hastily retires. Also, in a very nervous state, Luka, the School Director, the Charity Commissioner, Bobchinski and Dobchinski, come to pay their homage, and Khlestakov borrows easily from each in turn.
Khelstakov (alone): There are many officials here; it seems to me, however, that they take me for a government functionary. What fools! I must write about it all to Tryapitchkin at Petersburg; he will write sketches of it in the papers. Here, Osip, bring me paper and ink! I will just see how much money I have got. Oh, more than a thousand!
While he is writing a letter Osip interrupts him with earnest assurances that it will be prudent to depart speedily from the town; for people have been mistaking him for somebody else, and awkward complications may ensue. It is really time to go. There are splendid horses here, and these can be secured for the journey. Khlestakov consents, tells Osip to take the letter to the post, and to obtain good posthorses. Suddenly some merchants present themselves with petitions, bringing with them gifts of sugar-loaves and wine. They pour forth bitter complaints against the governor. They accuse him of constant and outrageous extortion. They beg Khlestakov to secure his deposition from office. When they offer the sugar-loaves and the wine, Khlestakov protests that he cannot accept bribes, but if they would offer him a loan of three hundred roubles that would be another matter. They do so and go out.
[Pg 36]
[Enter Marya nervously.
Marya: Ach!
Khelstakov: Why are you so frightened?
Marya: No; I am not frightened. I thought mamma might be here. I am disturbing you in your important business.
Khelstakov: But your eyes are more attractive than important business.
Marya: You are talking in St. Petersburg style.
Khelstakov: May I venture to be so happy as to offer you a chair? But no; you should be offered a throne, not a chair! I offer you my love, which ever since your first glance��
Marya: Love! I do not understand love!
He kisses her on the shoulder, and, when she rises angrily to go, falls on his knees. At that moment her mother enters. With a show of indignation she orders Marya away.
Khelstakov (kneeling at her feet): Madame, you see I burn with love.
Anna Andreyevna: But permit me, I do not quite comprehend you. If I am not mistaken, you were making a proposal to my daughter?
Khelstakov: No; I am in love with you.
Anna Andreyevna: But I am married!
Khelstakov: That is nothing. Let us flee under the canopy of heaven. I crave your hand!
Marya enters, and seeing Khlestakov on his knees, shrieks. The mother scolds her for her bad manners, and declares that he was, after all, asking for the daughter's hand. Then enters the governor. He breathlessly begins to bewail the base, lying conduct of the merchants who have been slandering him, and swears he is innocent of oppressing anybody.
To his profound amazement, Anna informs her husband that the great man has honoured them by asking for their daughter's hand. On recovering from his amazement, he sees the couple kissing, and gives them his blessing. Osip enters at this juncture to say the horses are ready, and Khlestakov informs the governor that he is only off to visit for a day a rich uncle. He will quickly return. He presently rides off after affectionate farewell expressions on both sides.
[Pg 37]
Act IV
Scene.�As before. The Governor, Anna Andreyevna, and Marya. A police-officer enters.
Governor (addressing the policeman): Ivan Karpovitch, summon the merchants here, brother. Complaining of me, indeed! Cursed lot of Jews! Little turtle doves! Ascertain who brought petitions; and take care to let them know how heaven has honoured the governor. His daughter is going to marry a man without an equal in the world; who can achieve everything, everything, everything. Let everybody know! Shout it out to everybody! Ring the bells! Devil take it; now that at length I triumph, triumph I will!
The police-officer retires. The governor and Anna indulge in roseate prospects of their coming prosperity. Of course they will not stay in these mean surroundings, but will remove to St. Petersburg. Suddenly the merchants enter. The governor receives them with the utmost indignation, assails them with a shower of vituperation. They abjectly entreat pardon. They promise to make amends by sending very handsome presents, and they are enjoined not to forget to do so. The wedding gifts are to be worthy of the occasion. The merchants retire crestfallen, and callers stream in with profuse congratulations. Anna, with studied haughtiness, makes them fully understand that the family will now be far above them all. All the people secretly express to each other their hatred and contempt for the governor and his family.
Postmaster (breathlessly entering with an open letter in his hand): An astonishing fact, gentlemen! The official which we took for an inspector-general is not one! I have discovered this from a letter which he wrote and which I saw was addressed "Post Office Street." So, as I said to myself that he had been reporting to the authorities something he had found wrong in the postal department, I felt a supernatural impulse constraining me to open the letter.
Governor: You dared to open the letter of so powerful a personage?
[Pg 38]
Postmaster: That is just the joke; that he is neither powerful nor a personage. I will read the letter. (Reads) "I hasten to i