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 Some rite unseen? 'Tis well. Go where thou wilt.

Iphigenia.

The Image likewise must be purged of guilt.

Thoas.

The stain hath touched it of that mother's blood?

Iphigenia.

I durst not move it else, from where it stood.

Thoas.

How good thy godliness and forethought! Aye,

Small wonder all our people holds thee high.

Iphigenia.

Dost know then what I fain would have?

Thoas.

'Tis thine to speak and it shall be.

Iphigenia.

Put bondage on the strangers both.—

Thoas.

Why bondage? Whither can they flee?

Iphigenia.

Put not thy trust in any Greek.

Thoas. (To attendants)

 Ho, men! Some thongs and fetters, go!

Iphigenia.

Stay; let them lead the strangers here, outside the shrine—

Thoas.

It shall be so.

Iphigenia.

And lay dark raiment on their heads—

Thoas.

To veil them, lest the Sun should see.

Iphigenia.

And lend me some of thine own spears.

Thoas.

This company shall go with thee.

Iphigenia.

Next, send through all the city streets a herald—

Thoas.

Aye; and what to say?

Iphigenia.

That no man living stir abroad.

Thoas.
 The stain of blood might cross their way.

Iphigenia.

Aye, sin like theirs doth spread contagion.

Thoas. (To an attendant)

Forth, and publish my command—

Iphigenia.

That none stir forth—nor look—

Thoas.

Nor look. How well thou carest for the land!

Iphigenia.

For one whom I am bound to love.

Thoas.

Indeed, I think thou hat'st me not.

Iphigenia.

And thou meanwhile, here at the temple, wait, O King, and—

Thoas.

Wait for what?

Iphigenia.

Purge all the shrine with fire.

Thoas.
 'Twill all be clean before you come again.

Iphigenia.

And while the strangers pass thee close, seeking the sea—

Thoas.

What wouldst thou then?

Iphigenia.

Put darkness on thine eyes.

Thoas.

Mine eyes might drink the evil of their crime?

Iphigenia.

And, should I seem to stay too long—

Thoas.

Too long? How shall I judge the time?

Iphigenia.

Be not dismayed.

Thoas.

Perform thy rite all duly. We have time to spare.

Iphigenia.

And God grant this cleansing end as I desire!

Thoas.
 I join thy prayer.

Iphigenia.

The door doth open.

*****

(She takes up the Image again.)

There passeth here a holy thing; begone,

I charge thee, from the road.
*****
Begone and tremble from this road: fly
swiftly, lest ye be defiled.
O Queen and Virgin, Leto-born, have pity!
Let me cleanse this stain,
And pray to thee where pray I would: a
clean house shall be thine again,
And we at last win happiness. Behold, I
speak but as I dare;
The rest—Oh, God is wise, and thou, my
Mistress, thou canst read my prayer.

(The procession passes out. Thoas and the bystanders veiled;

Attendants in front, then Iphigenia with the Image, then veiled
soldiers, then Orestes and Pylades bound, the bonds held by other
veiled soldiers following them. Thoas goes into the Temple.)

Here follows a song from the Chorus which fills the interval during which
the cleansing ceremonies are supposed to be taking place. At the end of the
song there enters a messenger running.

Messenger.

Ho, watchers of the fane! Ho, altar-guard,

Where is King Thoas gone? Undo the barred
Portals, and call the King! The King I seek.
Leader.

What tidings—if unbidden I may speak?

Messenger.

The strangers both are gone, and we beguiled,

By some dark plot of Agamemnon's child:
Fled from the land! And on a barque of Greece
They bear the heaven-sent shape of Artemis.

Leader.

Thy tale is past belief.—Go, swiftly on,

And find the King. He is but newly gone.

Messenger.

Where went he? He must know of what has passed!

Leader.

I know not where he went. But follow fast And seek him. Thou wilt
light on him ere long.

Messenger.

See there! The treason of a woman's tongue!

Ye are all in the plot, I warrant ye!

Leader.

Thy words are mad! What are the men to me?

Go to the palace, go!

Messenger. (Seeing the great knocker on the Temple door.)

I will not stir

Till word be come by this good messenger
 If Thoas be within these gates or no.—
(Thundering at the door.)
Ho, loose the portals! Ye within! What ho!
Open, and tell our master one doth stand
Without here, with strange evil in his hand.
(Enter Thoas from the Temple.)

Thoas.

Who dares before this portal consecrate

Make uproar and lewd battering of the gate?
Thy noise hath broke the Altar's ancient peace.

Messenger.

Ye gods! They swore to me—and bade me cease

My search—the King was gone. And all the while—

Thoas.

These women? How? What sought they by such guile?

Messenger.

Of them hereafter! Give me first thine ear

For greater things. The virgin minister
That served our altar, she hath fled from this
And stolen the dread Shape of Artemis,
With those two Greeks. The cleansing was a lie.

Thoas.

She fled? What wild hope whispered her to fly?

Messenger.

The hope to save Orestes. Wonder on!

Thoas.
 Orestes—how? Not Clytemnestra's son?

Messenger.

And our pledged altar-offering. 'Tis the same.

Thoas.

O marvel beyond marvel! By what name

More rich in wonder can I name thee right?

Messenger.

Give not thy mind to that. Let ear and sight

Be mine awhile; and when thou hast heard the whole
Devise how best to trap them ere the goal.

Thoas.

Aye, tell thy tale. Our Tauric seas stretch far,

Where no man may escape my wand of war.

The Messenger gives Thoas an excited account of what has happened,

ending by saying that if he send out pursuers immediately, he may even yet
seize the fugitives. Thoas gives his orders.

Thoas.

Ho, all ye dwellers of my savage town

Set saddle on your steeds, and gallop down
To watch the heads, and gather what is cast
Alive from this Greek wreck. We shall make fast,
By God's help, the blasphemers.—Send a corps
Out in good boats a furlong from the shore;
So we shall either snare them on the seas
Or ride them down by land, and at our ease
Fling them down gulfs of rock, or pale them high
On stakes in the sun, to feed our birds and die.
Women: you knew this plot. Each one of you
 Shall know, before the work I have to do
Is done, what torment is.—Enough! A clear
Task is afoot. I must not linger here.

While Thoas is moving off, his men shouting and running before and behind
him, there comes a sudden blasting light and thunder-roll, and Athena is seen
in the air confronting them. This sudden appearance of a god to solve a
problem at the end of a play is known as the deus ex machina, and there was
actually some kind of machine by which the god appeared as if suspended in
the air.

Athena.

Ho, whither now, so hot upon the prey,

King Thoas? It is I that bid thee stay,
Athena, child of Zeus. Turn back this flood
Of wrathful men, and get thee temperate blood.
Apollo's word and Fate's ordained path
Have led Orestes here, to escape the wrath
Of Them that hate. To Argos he must bring
His sister's life, and guide that Holy Thing
Which fell from heaven, in mine own land to dwell.
So shall his pain have rest, and all be well.
Thou hast heard my speech, O King. No death from thee
May snare Orestes between rocks and sea:
Poseidon for my love doth make the sore
Waves gentle, and set free his labouring oar.

And thou, O far away—for, far or near

A goddess speaketh and thy heart must hear—
Go on thy ways, Orestes, bearing home
The Image and thy sister. When ye come
To god-built Athens, lo, a land there is
Half hid on Attica's last boundaries,
A little land, hard by Karystus' Rock,
But sacred. It is called by Attic folk
Halae. Build there a temple, and bestow
Therein thine Image, that the world may know
 The tale of Tauris and of thee, cast out
From pole to pole of Greece, a blood-hound rout
Of ill thoughts driving thee. So through the whole
Of time to Artemis the Tauropole
Shall men make hymns at Halae. And withal,
Give them this law. At each high festival,
A sword, in record of thy death undone,
Shall touch a man's throat, and the red blood run—
One drop, for old religion's sake. In this
Shall live that old red rite of Artemis.

And thou, Iphigenia, by the stair

Of Brauron in the rocks, the Key shall bear
Of Artemis. There shalt thou live and die,
And there have burial.

*****

Ye last, O exiled women, true of heart

And faithful found, ye shall in peace depart,
Each to her home: behold Athena's will.
Orestes,
Begone. Lead forth thy sister from this shore
In peace; and thou Thoas, be wroth no more.

Thoas.

Most high Athena, he who bows not low

His head to God's word spoken, I scarce know
How such a one doth live. Orestes hath
Fled with mine Image hence.—I bear no wrath.
Nor yet against his sister. There is naught,
Methinks of honour in a battle fought
'Gainst gods. The strength is theirs. Let those two fare
Forth to thy land and plant mine Image there.
I wish them well.
These bondwomen no less
I will send free to Greece and happiness,
 And stay my galleys' oars, and bid this brand
Be sheathed again, Goddess, at thy command.

Athena.

'Tis well, O King. For that which needs must be

Holdeth the high gods as it holdeth thee.

Winds of the north, O winds that laugh and run,

Bear now to Athens Agamemnon's son;
Myself am with you, o'er long leagues of foam
Guiding my sister's hallowed Image home.

(She floats away.)

Chorus.

Some women.

Go forth in bliss, O ye whose lot

God shieldeth, that ye perish not!

Others.

O great in our dull world of clay,

And great in heaven's undying gleam,
Pallas, thy bidding we obey:
And bless thee, for mine ears have heard
The joy and wonder of a word
Beyond my dream, beyond my dream.

The play is over, and the sun is setting, so we, with the rest of the
Athenians, must wend our way homewards. As we look up at the temples on
the Acropolis, bathed in the golden evening light, we feel no surprise at the
joy beyond their dreams of the lonely, exiled Greek women, who had heard
the joy and wonder of the word that bade them return to a land of such
surpassing loveliness.
 [1] Euripides: Hippolytus, translated by Gilbert Murray.

[2] From the translation of Iphigenia in Tauris by Gilbert Murray.

CHAPTER XV

THE TEMPLES OF ATHENS

I. GREEK TEMPLES

A Greek temple was not a place where people met to worship, and it was
never intended to hold a very large number of people. The religious
ceremonies were carried on in the great spaces outside the temples, and
sacrifices were offered on the altars which were always in the open air. The
temple was the dwelling-place of the god and the treasury where the gifts
brought by the worshippers were kept.

Greek temples varied in size, but they were all built on the same general
plan. The whole building was looked upon as the home of the god, and so
the chamber in which the statue was placed was the central point, and all the
other parts of the building were so constructed that they harmonized with the
main purpose of the temple. Just as a Greek play had only one story in it and
no other episodes were allowed to distract the attention of the audience from
the working out of the plot, so a Greek temple expressed one thought and
nothing in the architecture was allowed to disturb it.

The earliest form of temple was the shrine, an oblong building with a
portico, which had at first only two pillars in front, but which were later
extended into a row of pillars across the whole front of the building. Then a
portico was built at both ends of the temple, and lastly, in some temples a
row of columns was built all round the building, with a double row in the
portico at each end. Above the portico was a triangular gable called the
pediment, which was usually filled with sculpture.

The Greeks used three kinds of columns in their buildings. The Doric
column was the simplest; it had no base and tapered very slightly up to the
capital which consisted of a thick slab of stone. The Doric was the type most
often used by the Greeks, and in its simplicity and perfection of form it
symbolized the finest Greek spirit. The Ionic column stood on a base; it was
more slender than the Doric, and the capital consisted of two very graceful
spirals. The Ionic was a lighter type of column than the Doric and was used a
great deal by the Greeks in Asia Minor. A third type was introduced later,
called the Corinthian. The capitals of this column were richly carved in the
form of leaves, but the Greeks never liked it as much as the simpler and
more graceful types, and it was not very much used until Roman times. All
the columns were fluted.

The Greeks never used ornament for the sake of ornament. The column
was used as a support and ornament was felt to be entirely out of place on it,
but the decoration on the capital served a purpose. As the eye followed the
fluting upwards to where the vertical line met the horizontal, the simple
decoration of the capital served to make the transition from one line to the
other less abrupt. In Greek architecture no part of a building that bore any
strain was ornamented, and wherever ornament was used it was always in
harmony with the general purposes of the building.

These were the main characteristics of Greek temples. Hie greatest

Athenian temples were on the Acropolis, the ancient citadel of Athens,
which had been transformed by Pericles into a dwelling-place for Athena.

II. THE ACROPOLIS IN THE TIME OF PERICLES

 The fittest place for a temple or altar was some site visible from afar,
and untrodden by foot of man, since it was a glad thing for the
worshipper to lift up his eyes afar off and offer up his prayer.

Socrates.[1]

The Acropolis was approached by a flight of steps leading to the

Propylaea or Entrance Porch. Six great Doric columns stood at the entrance,
and opening out to right and left of the main hall were other porticoes, the
walls of which were decorated with paintings showing the deeds of ancient
heroes. The roof was of white marble, and standing at this entrance one
could catch a glimpse of the sea in the distance. Tradition held that it was on
this spot that Aegeus stood to watch for the ship that should being back
Theseus, and that it was from this high rock that he cast himself down in
despair when he saw the ship returning with black sails, a sign, as he
thought, that his son was dead.

To the right of the Propylaea, in the south-west corner of the Acropolis,

was the little temple of Athena Nike, Athena of Victory. In this temple the
goddess herself represented Victory, so she had no wings, which were
always given by the Greeks to statues of Victory, and the temple came to be
known as that of the Wingless Victory. A wonderful view is to be had from
this temple, and the site for it was chosen, because from where it stands
Salamis is in sight, and it was to be forever a thank-offering to Athena for
the victory gained there over the barbarian foe.

Passing through the Propylaea, one came out upon the Acropolis, where
rising up in majesty was the great bronze statue of Athena Promachos,
Athena the Warrior Queen, Foremost in Fight, who went out to war with the
armies of Athens and brought them home victorious. Pheidias, the great
Athenian sculptor who had made the image of Zeus in the temple at
Olympia, had made this statue, using for it the bronze which had been found
amongst the Persian spoils after the battle of Marathon. The goddess stood
upright, clad in armour and holding a spear in her hand. The tip of this spear
was gilded, and it was said that sailors as they drew near the land could see it
gleaming in the sunshine, and when they saw it they knew that home was
near.
 A little further, on the north side of the Acropolis, was the Erechtheum,
called after the mythical King of Athens, Erechtheus. It was a very beautiful
temple, and one of the porches has always been known as the Porch of the
Maidens, because instead of being supported by columns, it is supported by
the figures of six maidens. When the figure of a woman is used for this
purpose, it is called in architecture a Caryatid.

A temple to Athena had always stood on this spot since memory began,
and it was hallowed by all kinds of associations. Near the temple was the
sacred olive tree of Athena, and within its walls was the old and most holy
wooden statue of Athena, said to have dropped from heaven. It was in this
temple that the goddess was worshipped in a more intimate way, for this was
Athena Polias, the Guardian of the City and the Home. It was for this ancient
wooden statue that specially chosen Athenian maidens wove the beautiful
robe called the peplos, which was carried at the time of the festival held
every four years to the temple and presented to the goddess.
 THE PARTHENON,
5th Century B.C.

But greater than all else on the Acropolis was the Parthenon, created by
Ictinus the architect, and Pheidias the sculptor. This most beautiful Greek
temple in the world stood on the south side of the Acropolis. It was a Doric
building surrounded by forty-six great pillars, and to the Athenian this
building was the very soul of Athens. Elsewhere on the Acropolis it was
Athena the goddess who was worshipped: Athena the Warrior, Athena the
Guardian of the City, and in one place, though without a temple, Athena the
Inspirer of all Arts and Crafts. But here in the Parthenon Athena was more
than the goddess, she symbolized Athens itself, all the achievements of
Athens in war and peace, and the spirit that guided the Athenians.

The sculpture on the east pediment represented the birth of Athena. It was
the old Homeric poem interpreted in stone.
 Her did Zeus the counsellor himself beget from his holy head, all
armed for war in shining golden mail, while in awe did the other gods
behold it. Quickly did the goddess leap from the immortal head, and
stood before Zeus, shaking her sharp spear, and high Olympus trembled
in dread beneath the strength of the grey-eyed Maiden, while Earth rang
terribly around, and the sea was boiling with dark waves, and suddenly
brake forth the foam. Yes, and the glorious son of Hyperion checked for
long his swift steeds, till the maiden took from her immortal shoulders
her divine armour, even Pallas Athena; and Zeus the counsellor rejoiced.
[2]

Zeus rejoiced not only because Athena was born, but because she
symbolized the birth of Athens; as she sprang from the head of Zeus arrayed
in all the symbols of power, so surely was it the will of the gods that Athens
should be great and powerful.

The sculpture on the west pediment represented the contest of Athena

with Poseidon for the possession of Athens. Poseidon represented material
prosperity. His gift to Athens was the sea, over which sailed her ships,
colonizing and trading and bringing wealth to the state. But Athens was not
to be ruled by Poseidon; she was to account the things of the mind and spirit
of greater value than those of material prosperity, and the victory was given
to Athena.

The pediments symbolized the will of the gods for Athens. All round the
building under the cornice were smaller groups of sculptures called metopes,
and these represented in stone the way in which Athens had fulfilled the will
of the gods for her. First, there were battles between gods and giants, the
conflict between order and disorder, and in every case order had triumphed;
then there followed battles between the ancient heroes of legend and
tradition and all kinds of evil forces in nature, and in these battles Theseus,
the hero-king, fought for Athens and prevailed.

The Parthenon was built after the Persians had been driven out of Greece.
The Greeks called all who were not of Greek blood Barbarians, and they
believed that it was the will of the gods that in every conflict between Greek
and Barbarian, the Greek should in the end prevail. The Greek of the fifth
century B.C. thought of all history as the working out of the great drama of
the victory of the Greek spirit over that of the Barbarian, and the records of
this drama are seen in political history in the development of the Athenian
Empire, in literature, in the history of Herodotus, and in art in the building of
the Parthenon.

But the Parthenon symbolized more than the history of Athens, it was
also the symbol of her religious life. On the outer wall, under the colonnade,
was the great frieze symbolizing the Panathenaic procession, that great
procession which every four years wound its way up to the Acropolis. This
was the festival of Athena, and at the east end of the building was a group of
gods and goddesses waiting for her coming. They were waiting for her in her
own city, where she would take the foremost place. In the solemn procession
all classes of Athenians were represented: noble maidens, bearing baskets
with offerings for the sacrifice; youths with offerings, and youths on
horseback; chariots; grave elders and priests; and cattle for the sacrifice.
Aliens, too, were there, for it was not only Athens that was symbolized, but
the Athenian Empire; symbol of what Athens hoped would be a united
Greece. It is very difficult to distinguish between Athenian patriotism and
religion. To the Athenian, the city was Athena, and Athena the city, and the
Parthenon was the crown of both.

The Parthenon was entered by the eastern porch. The light inside was
dim, but as the eye grew accustomed to the dimness, the statue of Athena
slowly became clearly visible. There she stood, a great figure nearly forty
feet high. She was clad in a sleeveless garment that reached to her feet,
bracelets in the form of serpents were on her arms, the aegis with the head of
Medusa covered her breast. In her right hand the goddess bore an image of
Victory, and her left hand rested on a shield, inside of which was coiled a
snake. The statue was made of gold and ivory, and it was to the Athenians
the symbol of all that was best in the Athenian ideals. Their passionate desire
for freedom, their unfaltering search for truth, their great love of beauty were
all personified for them in the calm and queenly figure of her whose battles
were won, of Athena Parthenos. Having offered their sacrifices outside, they
entered her temple with awe, believing that "he who enters the incense-filled
temple must be holy; and holiness is to have a pure mind."[3]
 III. LATER HISTORY OF THE ACROPOLIS

Such was the Acropolis of the fifth century B.C. But now the statues and
the altars have disappeared, the columns are broken, and the temples stand in
ruins. Is it just the lapse of time that has wrought such destruction on those
matchless buildings? When Plutarch saw them, they had been standing for
about five hundred years, and he said that there was still a bloom of newness
upon them that seemed to preserve them from the touch of time, as if the
hand that had wrought such buildings gave them the spirit of eternal youth.

At the beginning of the fifth century A.D. Alaric the Goth invaded
Greece, but he left Athens undisturbed. The great statue of Athena
Promachos was still standing, and the story was told later that as the
barbarian chieftain approached the Acropolis, the goddess Athena appeared
before him, clad in mail, with her spear outstretched in defence of her city.
He was so much awed by the vision that he withdrew and troubled Athens
no more, and he sent messengers to the Roman rulers of the city and made
peace with them.

Not long after, an edict was passed ordering all pagan temples in the
Roman Empire, for Greece then formed part of it, to be closed or else
converted into Christian churches, and from that time onwards nothing has
been heard of the statue of Athena Parthenos, though a small copy of it was
found later. The Parthenon itself was changed into a Christian church,
dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and it remained so until Athens was captured
by the Turks in 1458. They changed the Christian church into a Turkish
mosque and built a minaret at one corner. No further changes took place
until the end of the seventeenth century, when during a war of the Turks with
Venice, the Venetians were bombarding the Acropolis. The Venetians were
told that powder was being stored in the Acropolis, and for several days they
directed their fire against it. At first there was no result, even the guns, it was
said, refusing to do such deadly work on so glorious a building. But at length
a shell was thrown into it, the powder exploded, the roof crashed in and a
part of the walls collapsed.
 The Parthenon was nothing but a ruin, and for more than a hundred years
the sculptures of Pheidias lay neglected on the ground, broken and defaced.
But at the beginning of the nineteenth century the attention of Lord Elgin,
who was British Ambassador at Constantinople, was called to the danger
that threatened them from the ignorance and indifference of the Turks and
the unscrupulousness of travellers and visitors, who often defaced and
carried off pieces of sculpture, and he made arrangements by which the
British Government was allowed to buy the Parthenon sculptures and
remove them to the British Museum.

Yet in spite of the ruin, the destruction and the loss, what is still left of the
ancient temples and statues is of such beauty, that those who look upon it
believe with the Greek poet that it will "live as a song for all who love
music, living and yet to be, as long as earth or sun remain."

[1] Xenophon: Memorabilia.

[2] Homeric Hymn to Athena.

[3] Author Unknown: From Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology,
translated by J. W. Mackail.

CHAPTER XVI

THE DOWNFALL OF ATHENS

I. RIVALRY BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPARTA AND THE

BEGINNING OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR