48 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 



If we compare these words with v. 1015 : /cat adv TpoawTov dcnhelv, 

 it is evident that Orestes somehow or other had learned before- 

 hand that he would meet his sister in Taurica. He either inferred 

 this knowledge from the ambiguous Gvyyovos or, — as is generally 

 believed, — a portion of Orestes' argument has been lost from the 

 text after v. 1014, by which he explained how he obtained his 

 knowledge. 



The seer Calchas interprets the burnt offerings to which Aga- 

 memnon had resorted in order to learn the will of Heaven, and 

 proclaims his prophecy: 



I. T. i8fif.: 



Aya/jLe/jivov, ov fir) vavs a.4>optJ.i]CTr\ x^ovbs, 

 ■Kplv av Koprjv crijv 'lipi.yevei.av Aprefit-s 

 \a.j3ri acfiayelcrav 



"Agamemnon, thou shalt not sail from the land 

 Ere Artemis receive thy daughter slain, 

 Iphigenia, ... 

 Whom thou must ofifer." 



This time the seer safely escapes — strange though it is — the taunts 

 Euripides always has in store for soothsayers. 



From Iphigenia's lips we hear the recital of her dream-vision: 



I. T. 42 ff. : 



d Kaiva 8 T/Ket vi)^ 4>epovaa (paafxara, 



Xe^w irpbs ald^kp' , e'L t' 5i7 rob' ear' a/cos k. t. X. 



" Now the strange visions that the night has brought 

 To heaven I tell— if aught of help be there. 

 In sleep methought I had escaped this land 

 And dwelt in Argos. In my maiden-bower 

 I slept : then with an earthquake shook the ground. 

 I fled, I stood without, the cornice saw 

 Of the roof falling, — then, all crashing down, 

 Turret and basement, hurled was the house to earth. 

 . . . Now thus I read this dream of mine : 

 Dead is Orestes — him I sacrificed ; — etc." 



It was held an effectual method of averting the fulfillment of evil 

 dreams to come out into the open air and tell them to the sky, 

 as Iphigenia here does with her sinister dream, Xe^w irpbs ai'&'epa. 

 This dream-vision has convinced her that her brother Orestes 



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