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THE TRAGEDIES OF EURIPIDES. 
 
THE 
 
 TRAGEDIES OF EURIPIDES 
 
 IN ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR S. WAY, M.A. 
 
 Author of " The Iliad of Homer done into English Verse," and 
 " The Odyssey of Homer done into English Verse." 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 EonHon: 
 
 
 MACMILLAN AND 
 
 CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK. 
 
 
 1894 
 
 c 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " It is," remarks the author of The Ancient Classical Drama, 
 referring to Euripides, " to the disgrace of English scholar- 
 ship that we have no verse translation of this all-important 
 poet produced in our own day." Though some might per- 
 adventure challenge the inference, on the plea that our 
 scholars have been more profitably employed, the fact is 
 indisputable. The comparative neglect of Euripides by 
 translators for more than a century past is, indeed, one of 
 the enigmas of English scholarship. If this were accom- 
 panied by a corresponding paucity of editions of his works, 
 or by an increasing tendency to underrate his merits, the 
 marvel would have at least the quality of consistency. But, 
 on the one hand, Euripides has of late years received from 
 commentators his full share of attention, and, on the other, 
 nothing is more certain than that the old fashion of dis- 
 paraging his genius (in which Schlegel led the way, giving all 
 the weight of his authority to a sentence which others were 
 too uncritical or too timorous to revise), is now utterly dis- 
 credited, and that we have ceased to regard the generations 
 of Greeks and Romans who loved and reverenced him, as 
 degenerate fools and blind, and are at last making some 
 humble efforts to understand them and to recover their point 
 of view. In fact, the revived interest in Euripides has taken 
 every form but that of doing for him what has been so freely 
 done for Homer, Pindar, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. True, 
 many translators have nibbled at him during the present cen- 
 tury. The Alcestis has been translated by Banks (1849), 
 
PREFACE. J J 
 
 Kevins (1870), Williams (1871), Browning (1871), and H. B. 
 L. (1884); the Medea by Lee (1867), Cartwright (1868), Mrs. 
 Webster (1868), and Williams (1871) ; the Hippolytus by Fitz- 
 gerald (1867), Williams (1871), Miss Robinson (1881), and H. 
 B. L. (1894) ; the Hecuba by Beesley (1875) ; the Ion by H. 
 B. L. (1889), and Verrall (1890) ; the Hercuhs Furens by 
 Browning (1875) ; the IpUgeneia in Aulis and the Iphigeneia 
 in Tauris by Cartwright (1868) ; the Bacchce by M. Glouton 
 (1845), Milman (1865), and Rogers (1872). On analysing this 
 list, we find, (i) that only three plays have been translated in 
 verse within the last dozen years; (2) that out of the eighteen 
 tragedies two translators only have attempted so many as 
 three ; (3) that half of the plays have remained untouched 
 since the complete verse translations by WodhuU (1782), and 
 Potter (1781-83). These two versions, fairly faithful and in 
 many respects meritorious as they are, are wholly lacking in 
 two features which the present-day reader will hardly consent 
 to forego : — in variety in the choral metres, and in distinction 
 of the lyric portions of the dialogue from the prevailing blank- 
 verse. The measured tread of the iambus or trochee, reap- 
 pearing in stanzas of the same structure, and in lines of the 
 same average length, through chorus after chorus of eighteen 
 plays, produces an impression of monotony and heaviness 
 which is in striking contrast with the swift and ever- varying 
 movement of the metres of the original ; and the quivering 
 passion that thrills through the stormy lyric outbursts, 
 which, like cataract and rapid, so often break the even flow 
 of the scnarii, is sorely missed when merged in the tranquil 
 stream of blank-verse dialogue. To this metrical monotony 
 may be largely due the fact that the choruses, instead of 
 being, as they doubtless were to an Athenian audience, the 
 most attractive portions of the plays, are to the modern 
 reader of translations often the least attractive, the heaviest 
 • reading, and the most certain to share the general fate of 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 " moral reflections." It does seem strange that the singers 
 who during the present century have enriched English 
 poetry with wealth of metrical variety lavish beyond all 
 precedent, should have lived in vain for the translator of 
 the Greek drama, especially since those magnificent notes of 
 chorus-music were struck by the author of A talanta in CcUydon 
 and Erechtheus, after which the good old Pindaric-ode 
 pattern, with its guilelessly capricious alternations of longs 
 and shorts, seems curiously out of date. 
 
 In spite of the examples of Shelley and Swinburne, the 
 employment of rhyme in choral lyrics appears in some 
 quarters to be still regarded as an open question, certain 
 translators going so far as to pronounce the unrhymed 
 structure intrinsically superior. It is perhaps unsafe to 
 dogmatize : solvitur amhulando. The form of verse in which 
 a translator finds that he can— not, perform his task most 
 quickly, but — do his best work, the mould into which, for 
 him, the great thoughts of the ancient master most felicitously 
 run, so that his task becomes a labour of love, that is for him 
 the best, and he will not wisely let preconceived theories bar 
 his choice, or the authority of imposing names turn him out 
 of his own path. I incline to think that the translator who, 
 not from his experience in the management of it, but in com- 
 pliance with a theory, rejects rhyme in lyrical passages, is in 
 danger of making the task of worthily presenting his author 
 more rather than less arduous. He is apt to think that he 
 thereby secures closer correspondence with the original; 
 yet I am not sure that this is not more apparent than real : 
 rhymed and unrhymed choruses by the same hand (as in 
 Plumptre's and Campbell's Sophocles) differ little, if at all, in 
 fidelity (properly understood) to the original. On the other 
 hand, he who, for the sake of faithfulness, discards rhyme, 
 may find himself drifting into a new danger, that of making 
 a fetish of this faithfulness, the result of which will be to 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 deprive his work of that air of spontaneity and freedom 
 without which it is not a reproduction, but a caricature. 
 Anything of the nature of bondage to the letter, anything 
 that thrusts on the reader the reflection, " This is a trans- 
 lation ; for our writers don't set forth their own thoughts in 
 this style," is so far a departure from a true presentment of 
 an author whose countrymen never found in his diction any- 
 thing cramped or foreign. And, per contra, whatever con- 
 tributes to produce in the reader the illusion that he has 
 before him an original work, is so far a step in the direction 
 of justice to his author. Now rhyme possesses a great initial 
 advantage, in that rhymeless lyrical measures excite in the 
 English reader a sense of the unusual and the disappointing, 
 as though the writer were niggard of the wealth of his own 
 language, were content to forego half of the magic of sound — 
 that echo-music which charmed the ears of the people when 
 scholars looked askance at it, and which scholars have long 
 since forgotten to call barbarous. But the Greek no more 
 suspected a great dramatist of neglecting any means whereby 
 he might satisfy his hearers' demand, not only for noble 
 thought, but for musical expression, than of begrudging them 
 aught of his treasures of experience and imagination. In 
 both directions he felt that the poet had taxed to the utter- 
 most aU the resources of melody, as of thought, at his com- 
 mand ; and, without a similar impression, the modern reader 
 will hardly enjoy a similar satisfaction. Moreover, there is 
 in the structural basis of the group of languages to which 
 English belongs something comparatively harsh and un- 
 musical, rendering them far inferior in rhythmical possibilities 
 to Greek ; hence, no conceivable perfection of metrical exe- 
 cution could give that satisfaction to the ear which was given 
 by the Greek measures : the instinct, therefore, of northern 
 poets led them long ago to provide a compensating satis- 
 faction in the accessory of rhyme, like the rustic host who 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 trusts that his wine may recommend his coarser fare to 
 palates accustomed to delicate viands. Hence it becomes a 
 serious question for the conscientious translator, whether, 
 by discarding one element of the charm of English lyrical 
 poetry, he has not imposed upon himself the obligation of 
 filling the void with the inadequate materials left to him, of 
 achieving a consummate excellence of workmanship, the 
 difficulty of which is indicated by the rarity in English 
 literature even of attempts in this direction. 
 
 There are three classes of readers whom a translator may 
 have in view — the general reader, for whom the perfect 
 translation is that which does not suggest an original, and 
 whom it is therefore hard to satisfy ; — the scholar, to whom 
 the original is a joy, and (when improved by his own emen- 
 dations) a pride, and whom it is impossible to satisfy ; — hear 
 his lasciate ogni speranza, " no one has ever translated a Greek 
 chorus, and no one ever will! "i — and the young student, to 
 whom the original is part of the riddle of the painful earth, 
 and who is thankful for small mercies. 
 
 I must confess to having had the last of these most present 
 to my mind in the preparation of this version, perhaps because 
 experience has taught me to sympathize with him, with his 
 difiiculties in elucidation, with his despairing contemplation 
 of the outcome of his travail, with his bewildered scepticism 
 as to the merits of the ancients who seem to yield to him so 
 little gold in return for so much quarrying, with his gratitude 
 for whatever brightens his toil and helps him to understand 
 how the men of old found beauty where he finds baldness, 
 and grace where he finds stiffness. I am not sure that my 
 predecessors have consciously laboured to smooth his path : 
 even the prose versions from which he snatches a dubious 
 
 I. Prof. Goldwin Smith {Specimens of Greek Tragedy, p. xvi.) goes 
 even farther, almost placing the Greek Choruses upon the same footing 
 with " Gratiano's reMons." 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 and furtive joy embarrass his reference to the original by 
 neglecting the obvious device of numbering the Unes, of which 
 omission, indeed, most verse translators are also unaccount- 
 ably guilty. It is in his interest that I have preserved, in 
 the version here presented, a line-for-line correspondence 
 vtrith the original in the blank-verse dialogue, and, for the 
 most part, in the choruses also,i which latter wiU in many 
 cases, I think, be found by the scholar who compares them 
 minutely with the original to be more nearly literal " construes " 
 than perhaps they look. 
 
 I have regarded it as a fortunate coincidence that the 
 edition of the plays most extensively used by young students 
 is also that which has on general grounds most commended 
 itself to my judgment. Paley's insight into the spirit of 
 Euripides, his sobriety and " level-headedness " as a com- 
 mentator, his recognition of the limits of his sphere as an 
 interpreter, have impressed me more and more as I have 
 proceeded with my task. Above all, with his conservatism in 
 regard to the text I am thoroughly in accord ; indeed, I am 
 inclined occasionally to go even further than he, in retaining 
 MS. readings where he inclines to admit emendations. In 
 certain instances, of course, a strong presumptive case may 
 be made out against the MS. text on prosodical or philological 
 grounds ; and here I am thankful for the guidance of those 
 who are far better equipped specialists than I can ever hope 
 to be. But the most numerous and most serious alterations 
 proposed, nay, adopted with light-hearted confidence, by 
 some recent editors, are not of this nature. They are the 
 offspring of subjective criticism ; and a commentator is never 
 on more perilous ground than when he makes his own com- 
 prehension or appreciation of a passage the criterion of its 
 
 I. The main exceptions are due, not to diffuseness in rendering, 
 but to the employment of lines differing considerably in length from 
 those in the text, e.g., Ion, 881-911. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 genuineness. In examining these destructive-constructive 
 assaults on the text, it has more than once seemed to me 
 that the impatience of a too-clever scholar has rejected a 
 deep thought instinct with poetic feeling, in favour of an 
 obvious and commonplace sentiment. The heavy-shotted 
 dogmatism of such emendators, the contempt which they 
 pour upon the old reading, might well make the conservative 
 translator feel as if the confession of his faith were an 
 admission of imbecility. Yet no sympathetic reader will 
 tamely suffer his private judgment to be taken by storm, 
 and the more I study Euripides, and try to realize, with 
 respect to each reading thus arraigned and condemned, the 
 mental attitude of the poet and his audience, the less am I 
 satisfied that modern scholarship is doing itself credit by this 
 eagerness to reject MS. readings on purely aesthetic grounds. 
 The point of view of the critic is too often one which (to put 
 it mildly) was not demonstrably that of the Athenian audience, 
 while as for that of the poet — only from a Shakespeare could 
 we feel justified in accepting ex cathedra judgments on 
 questions of poetic taste or dramatic instinct in Euripides. 
 
 While following in the main Paley as an interpreter, I have 
 to acknowledge very considerable obligations to the editions 
 of the other scholars who have done so much to assist students 
 to appreciate Euripides. When I have ventured to differ 
 from one or other of them, it has been because I believed 
 myself to be supported by very high, or at least respectable, 
 authority. 
 
 Notes are no part of a translator's duty : a translation is in 
 itself a commentary, and a translator who claims to have 
 found a clear and relevant meaning for a reading challenged 
 on the score of unintelligibility has thereby furnished, in 
 Conington's phrase, " a piece of embodied criticism," which 
 has at any rate the merit of brevity. I have therefore limited 
 my notes almost exclusively to the defence of readings which 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 have been condemned on aesthetic grounds by scholars whose 
 censures are of too much weight in the student-world to be 
 passed by in silence, to the briefest possible explanation of 
 some of the less obvious allusions, and to the quotation of a 
 few parallel passages which, not being noted by others, seemed 
 to me peculiarly apposite, or which justified unfamiliar usages 
 of words, or which appeared to me to lend the countenance 
 of authority beyond all challenge to expressions to which 
 editors have taken exception as being unnatural, undignified, 
 or inappropriate. 
 
 I have, like other translators, occasionally worked in, 
 without special acknowledgment, a phrase from the Bible, 
 from Shakspeare, Milton, or some other immortal, which 
 has now entered into the warp and woof of cultured speech, 
 and which affects the reader with a pleasant thrill of recog- 
 nition, helping him to realize how the Muses have sometimes 
 touched to the same fine issues great souls dwelling far apart. 
 
 In a few instances I have found, on subsequent comparison, 
 that my literal rendering of the whole or a portion of a line 
 has precisely coincided with that of some previous translator. 
 In such cases the identity, being purely accidental, is in- 
 teresting rather than irritating, and I have made no alter- 
 ation : indeed, the wonder rather is that versions which in 
 the blank-verse dialogue are so frequently word-for-word 
 renderings, should so seldom slip into these verbal coinci- 
 dences. 
 
 In the lyrical parts of the plays I have marked the distinc- 
 tion of Strophe and Antistrophe, and observed the metrical 
 correspondences therein involved, not as from a pedantic 
 subservience to a detail which some might imagine to have 
 little interest for the English reader, nor yet as a tour de force 
 of metrical and rhyming ingenuity, but for a reason which, 
 though perfectly familiar to the scholar, may require a little 
 explanation for the non-classical reader. We should have a 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 very inadequate conception of a Greek play if we thought of 
 it simply as a series of stately dialogues maintained between 
 two or three actors, with chorus-chants intervening. It was, 
 in point of fact, mijch more of the nature of a grand 
 spectacular opera. The theatre, large enough to contain 
 an audience variously estimated at from 15,000 to 30,000, 
 became for the occasion a temple of Dionysus (Bacchus), 
 having his altar at its centre. The drama was the heart / 
 of an annual solemn religious festival, and the stage (200 
 to 300 feet long) was, when the action of the piece justified 
 their introduction, the' scene of the grouping and move- 
 ment of splendid pageants and processions, in which 
 armies of supernumeraries formed a magnificent setting 
 for the tragic interest of dialogue and ode. The Chorus, 
 occupying the orchestra, or dancing-area, in front of the 
 stage, grouped themselves, or executed their evolutions, 
 round the altar. While chanting Strophe i, they danced, 
 " with woven paces and with waving hands,'' from 
 the altar towards the right, returning, with precisely 
 similar music and movements, in Antistrophe i,the rhythmical 
 structure of which must accordingly correspond. In Strophe 
 2 they danced to the left, with (generally) a change of 
 music and movement, returning as before in Antistrophe z; 
 and so on through the series of pairs of stanzas. The ^ 
 occasional odd stanza {Epode, if at the end, Mesode, if ini 
 the middle) was executed round the altar. Now, it must 
 be remembered that all these movements of gliding limb 
 and swaying form were not only rhythmical accompani- 
 ments to the words and music, but were in themselves 
 significant, nay, eloquent, among a race who (like some 
 peoples of southern Europe in our own day) carried panto- 
 mimic gesture to such perfection that a conversation might 
 be carried on, or a public address delivered, without the 
 utterance of a single articulate word. Hence, the preserva- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 tion of the distinction of Strophe and Antistrophe helps the 
 reader to realize the scene — the utter absence of monotony, 
 the continual variations as melody melted into melody, the 
 ever-changing grace of posture and harmony of movement, 
 interpreting each thought, and accordant' to the ringing 
 voices, which held the audience spell-bound, with ears en- 
 tranced and faces that, " forgetting themselves to marble," 
 gazed and yearned to where " the white vests of the chorus 
 seemed to wave up a live air." The sweetest voices, the most 
 exquisite dancing, in all Hellas, the most perfect delivery of 
 the noblest poetry, tableaux vivants of gorgeous pageantry — 
 we can understand how an audience would sit out play after 
 play unwearied, and can conceive that there may have been 
 some foundation for the complaint of an economical senate, 
 that the " staging " of the plays (perhaps a dozen) at a single 
 dramatic festival was as costly as a campaign. 
 
 As to the reproduction in English of the actual metres of 
 the original (attempted by some, and thought desirable by 
 others), the prosodical structure of the two languages is so 
 fundamentally different (to say nothing of the fact that no 
 living man knows certainly how Euripides' contemporaries 
 pronounced the simplest Greek sentence), that the attempt 
 could not, even as an essay in technique, be successful, nor, 
 if it could, would the utterly unfamiliar measures have any 
 charm for English ears. 
 
 The ■' Arguments " prefixed to the plays are designed 
 rather to serve as introductions than as epitomes of con- 
 tents. To give the non-classical reader just so much inform- 
 ation as might enable him to commence intelligently the 
 perusal of the play, seemed better than the somewhat 
 ungracious practice of anticipating the poet in his story, and 
 taking the edge off the interest beforehand. In the same 
 client's interest it may here be mentioned that the chorus, 
 represented by its leader, frequently takes part with the actors 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 in the dialogue, and that a secondary function of the choral / 
 odes was to carry the audience over the interval supposed to ) 
 elapse between the acts, and which might vary from a few 
 minutes, as in the Akestis (568-605), to several days, or even 
 weeks, as in the Suppliants (598-633). The convention was 
 understood, and the illusion was no more impaired by the 
 continued presence of the same chorus in the orchestra, than 
 it is in a modern theatre by our consciousness that the same 
 actors are waiting behind the scenes ; and certainly men's 
 minds were not jarred by a seijse of discord, and brought 
 down from heaven to earth, as with, us, when the descent of 
 the curtain on a scene which has thrilled the house with 
 high-wrought emotion is followed by a babble of gossip and 
 by the shrill importunities of waiters. 
 
 Certain obvious lacunce in the text {e.g•, Akestis, 468, 
 Suppliants, 263 and 764), I have supplied, either adopting the 
 conjecture of some editor, or by inserting a relevant con- 
 nection of my own devising. 
 
 The spelling of Greek proper names is still in the transition 
 stage, and I have therefore taken the questionable benefit of 
 the license yet allowed. Old forms, familiar and firmly 
 rooted, like Hecuba, I have not disturbed ; new forms well 
 established, like Odysseus, I have adopted ; in well-known 
 names, like Kassandra, in which the pronunciation is un- 
 affected by the change of a letter, I have preferred the 
 nearer approach to the Greek ; for unfamiliar names, trans- 
 literation seemed advisable. I have retained, however, the 
 Latin termination -us, because of the apparently invincible 
 tendency of the English reader to place a secondary accent 
 on -OS, the resulting -oss producing a rhythmical discord ; 
 and I regard u and y respectively as closer equivalents 
 than ou and u for the sound of ου and v. 
 
 In the numbering of the lines, and in the arrangement of 
 the choruses (the reader who refers to the Greek text will 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 understand why, simply for appearance' sake, the latter are 
 counted by tens), I have followed Paley,i with, I believe, but 
 one deviation in this volume, viz., where, in the Hippolytus, 
 1. 817 sqq., I have adopted Mahaffy and Bury's strophic 
 arrangement. 
 
 I have taken the plays in the commonly received chrono- 
 logical order. This gives to the reader the interest of 
 tracing the development of the poet's genius (so far as can 
 be judged from eighteen plays remaining out of about 
 eighty), and seems preferable to the plan, adopted by earlier 
 translators, of grouping the plays according to subjects 
 (Trojan War, House of Thebes, etc.), since the interest of a 
 continuous story thus obtained is marred by the fact that 
 certain plays of the same group {e.g., Hecuba, Troades, 
 Helena) are inconsistent with each other, involving situations 
 mutually exclusive, the poet not having followed the same 
 legend throughout the series. Subjoined is a list of the plays 
 in chronological order (conjectural), dates being given where 
 regarded as fairly certain : — 
 
 480 Euripides born. Year of Thermopylae and Salamis. 
 
 455 First representation of a play by Euripides. 
 
 439 Alcestis. 
 
 431 Medea. Peloponnesian War begins, lasting till after 
 Euripides' death. 
 
 429 Hippolytus. 
 Hecuba. 
 Ion. 
 
 420 Suppliants. Athens allied with Argos, and at war 
 with Thebes. 
 Andromache. 
 Heracleidce. Athens at war with Argos. 
 
 1 The school editions of separate plays, where these give a later 
 opinion than his larger work. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 415 Troades. 
 Elecira. 
 413 Helena. 
 
 Hercules Fur ens. 
 
 In 413 occurred the destruction of an Athenian 
 armament in Sicily, survivors from which are said 
 by Plutarch to have been indebted to their 
 acquaintance with Euripides' works for merciful 
 treatment from their conquerors. 
 411 Phcenissce. 
 408 Orestes. 
 
 406 Euripides dies. Sophocles, with all Athens, put on 
 mourning for him. The Iphigeneia in Aulis, per- 
 haps the Iphigeneia in Tauris, and the Bacchce 
 were represented shortly after his death. The 
 Rhesus, if written by Euripides, which is disputed, 
 was probably the earliest of his extant plays. 
 405 Aristophanes' comedy of the Frogs represented, 
 having for its object to exalt the memory of 
 Aeschylus, by belittling that of Euripides. 
 404 Athens taken by the Spartan general, Lysander. 
 Plutarch records that the emotions stirred in the 
 hearts of the victors by the recitation of a passage 
 from the Electra turned them from their purpose 
 of destroying the city. 
 The life of Euripides, his relation to contemporary thought, 
 the discussion of various interesting problems, such as the 
 poet's attitude towards women and towards religion, his 
 dramatic innovations, his use of the deus ex machind, and so 
 forth, I must postpone to succeeding volumes. One literary 
 question, however, on which the right understanding of the 
 Akestis depends, could not well be postponed : I have there- 
 fore treated it in the appendix to this volume. 
 
>:- 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 ALCESTIS . 
 
 MEDEA 
 
 HIPPOLYTUS 
 
 HECUBA 
 
 ION 
 
 SUPPLIANTS 
 
 APPENDIX A (oN THE CHARACTER OF ADMETUS) 
 
 APPENDIX Β (NOTE ON SUPPLIANTS) . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 vii 
 
 I 
 
 6i 
 
 125 J 
 
 195 
 
 259 
 
 357 
 421 
 424 
 
ALCESTIS 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 Apollo, being banished for a season from Olympus, 
 and condemned to do service to a mortal, became herd- 
 man of Admetus, King of Pherce in Thessaly. Yet he 
 loathed not his earthly taskmaster, but loved him, for 
 that he was a just mati, and hospitable exceedingly. 
 Wherefore he obtained from the Fates this boon for 
 Admetus, that, when his hour of death should come, they 
 should accept in ransom for his life the life of whosoever 
 should have before consented to die in his stead. Now 
 when this was made known, none of them which were 
 nearest by blood to the king would promise to be his 
 ransom in that day. Then Alcestis his wife, the daugh- 
 ter of Pelias King of lolkos, pledged her to die for him. 
 Of her love she did it, and for the honour of wifehood. 
 And the years passed by, and the tale was told in many 
 lands; and all men praised Alcestis, but Admetus bore 
 a burden of sorrow, for day by day she became dkarer to 
 him, a wife wholly true, a mother most loving, and a 
 lady to her thralls gentle exceedingly. But when it was 
 known by tokens that the day was come, Admetus repen- 
 ted him sorely, but it availed not, for no mortal may 
 recall a pledge once given to the Gods. And on that day 
 there came to the palace Apollo to plead with Death for 
 Alcestis'' sake; and a company of Elders of Pherce, to 
 ask of her state and to make mourning for her. And 
 when she was dead, ere she was borne forth to burial, 
 catne Hirakles, son of Zeus, in his journeying, seeking the 
 guest's right of meat and lodging, but not knowing 
 aught of that which had come to pass. Of him was a 
 great deliverance wrought, which is told herein. 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 Apollo 
 Death 
 
 Chorus, composed of Elders of Pherce 
 Handmaid 
 
 Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, and wife of Adtnetus 
 Admetus, King of Pherce 
 EuMELUS, son of Admetus and A^^^^i^ 
 Herakles 
 
 Pheres, /eiAir of Admetus 
 Servant, steward of the palace 
 Guards, attendants, handmaids, and mourners 
 The scene throughout is in front of the palace of Admetus 
 at Pherae. 
 
ALCESTIS. 
 
 Enter Apollo. 
 
 Apollo. 
 
 Halls of Adfnetus, where I stooped my pride 
 
 To brook the fare of serfs, yea I, a God ; — 
 
 The fault was fault of Zeus : he slew my son 
 
 Askl6pius — hurled the levin through his heart. 
 
 Wroth for the dead, his smiths of heavenly fire 5 
 
 I slew, the Cyclopes ; and, for blood-atonement. 
 
 Serf to a mortal man my father made me. 
 
 To this land came I, tended mine host's kine. 
 
 And warded still his house unto this day. 
 
 Righteous myself, I lighted on the righteous, 10 
 
 The son of Pheres : him I snatched from death, 
 
 Cozening the Fates : to me the Sisters pledged them 
 
 That imminent death Admetus should escape 
 
 If he for ransom gave another life. 
 
 To all he tsreat — all near and dear, — and asked 15 
 
 Grey sire, the mother that had given him life ; , 
 
 But, save his wife, found none that would consent 
 
 For him to die and never more see light. 
 
 Kow in his arms upborne within yon home 
 
 She gaspeth forth her life : for on this day 20 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Her weird it is to die and part from life. 
 
 I, lest pollution taint me in their house, 
 
 Go forth of yonder hall's beloved roof. [Enter Death. 
 
 Lo, yonder Death ! — I see him nigh at hand, 
 
 Priest of the dead, who comes to hale her down 25 
 
 To Hades' halls — well hath he kept his time. 
 
 Watching this day, whereon she needs must die. 
 
 Death. -J_^ 
 
 Ha, thou at the palace ! — Wilt not make room, 
 Phoebus ? — thou wrestest the right yet again. 
 Thou removest the landmarks of Gods of Gloom. 30 
 
 And thou makest their honours vain. 
 Did this not suffice thee, to thwart that doom 
 
 Of Admetus, when, all by thy cunning beguiled 
 
 Were the Fates, that thou now must be warding the 
 
 wife [35 
 
 With thine hand made ready the bowstring to strain. 
 
 Though she pledged her from death to redeem with 
 
 her life 
 
 Her lord, — she, Pelias' child ? 
 
 Apollo. 
 Fear not : fair words and justice are with me. 
 
 Death. 
 Justice with thee ! — what needeth then the bow ? 
 
 Apollo. 
 This ? — 'tis my wont to bear it evermore. 40 
 
 Death. 
 Yea, and to aid yon house in lawless wise. 
 
ALCESTIS. 
 
 Apollo. 
 Mine heart is heavy for my friend's mischance. 
 
 Death. 
 What, wilt thou wrest from me this second corpse ? 
 
 Apollo. 
 Nay, not that other did I take by force. 
 
 Death. 
 Not ? — why on earth then ? — why not underground ? 45 
 
 Apollo. 
 She was his ransom, she for whom thou comest. 
 
 Death. 
 Yea, and will hale her deep beneath the earth. 
 
 Apollo. 
 Take her and go : 1 trow I shall not bend thee — 
 
 Death. 
 To slay the victim due ? — mine oiHce this. 
 
 Apollo. 
 Nay, but to smite with death the ripe for death. 50 
 
 Death. 
 Ay, I discern thy plea,— thy zeal, good sooth ! 
 
 Apollo. 
 And may Alcestis never see old age ? 
 
 Β 2 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Death. 
 Never : — should I not love mine honours too ? 
 
 Apollo. 
 'Tis soon or late, — thou canst but take one life. 
 
 Death. 
 Yet mine the goodlier prize when die the young. 55 
 
 Apollo. 
 Think — royal obsequies if old she die ! 
 
 Death. 
 Lo, Phoebus making laws to shield the rich ! 
 
 Apollo. 
 How say'st thou ? — thou a sophist unawares ! 
 
 Death. 
 Would wealth not buy the boon of dying old ? 
 
 Apollo. 
 So then thou wilt not grant this grace to me ? 60 
 
 Death. 
 Nay surely — dost not know my wonted way ? 
 
 Apollo. 
 Hateful to mortals this, and loathed of Gods. 
 
 Death. 
 All things beyond thy rights thou canst not have. 
 
ALCESTIS. 
 
 Apollo. 
 
 Surely thou shalt forbear, though ruthless thou, 
 
 So mighty a man to Pheres' halls shall come, ; i 65 
 
 Sent of Eurystheus forth, the courser-car 
 
 From winter-dreary lands of Thrace to bring, ί.ί 
 
 Guest-welcomed in Admetus' palace here, I 
 
 By force yon woman shall he wrest from thee. 
 
 Yea, thou of me shalt have no thank for this, 70 
 
 And yet shalt do it, and shalt have mine hate. 
 
 [Exit Apollo. 
 Death. 
 
 Talk on, talk on : no profit shalt thou win. 
 
 This woman down to Hades' halls shall pass. 
 
 For her I go : my sword shall seal her ours : 
 
 For sacred to the Nether Gods is he, 75 
 
 He from whose head this sword hath shorn the hair. 
 
 [Exit Death. 
 
 Enter Chorus, dividing to right and left, so that the sec- 
 tions answer one another till they unite at I. 112. 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 
 What meaneth this hush afront of the hall ? 
 The home of Admetus, why voiceless all ? 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 No friend of the house who should speak of its plight 
 Is nigh, who should bid that we raise the keen 80 
 
 For the dead, or should tell us that yet on the light 
 Alcestis looketh, and hveth the Queen, 
 The daughter of Pelias, the noblest, I ween. 
 
 Yea, in all men's sight 
 The noblest of women on eatth that have been. 85 
 
6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Half-Chorus ι. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 
 Or hearest thou mourning or sighing 
 
 Or beating of hands, 
 
 Or the wail of bereaved ones outcrying ? 
 
 No handmaid stands 
 
 At the palace-gate. 90 
 
 Ο Healer, appear for the dying, appear as a bright 
 
 bird flying 
 
 'Twixt the surges of fate ! 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 Ah, they would not be hushed, had the life of her 
 flown ! 
 
 Half- Chorus i. 
 Not forth of the doors is the death-train gone. 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 Whence cometh thine hope, which I boast not mine 
 own ? 95 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 
 Would the King without pomp of procession have 
 yielded the Grave the possession 
 
 Of so dear, of so faithful an one ? 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 Nor the cup in the gateway appeareth, 
 
 ■ From the spring that they bear 
 To the gate that pollution feareth, 100 
 
 Nor the severed hair 
 
 In the porch for the dead, 
 
ALCESTIS. 
 
 Which the mourner in bitterness sheareth, neither 
 beating of hands one heareth 
 On maiden's head. 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 Yet surely is this the appointed day — 105 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 Ah ! what wilt thou say ? 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 Whereon of her doom she must pass to the tomb. 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 With a keen pang's smart hast thou stabbed mine heart. 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 
 It is meet, when the good are as flowers plucked away, 
 
 That in sorrow's gloom 
 Should the breast of the old tried friend have part. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 Though ye voyage all seas, 
 
 Ye shall light on no lands, 
 Nor on Lycia's leas, 
 
 Nor Ammonian sands, 115 
 
 Whence redemption shall come for the wretched, or 
 loosing of Death's dread bands. 
 
 Doom's imminent slope 
 
 Is a precipice-steep. 
 In no God is there hope, 120 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Though his altars should weep 
 With the crimson atonement, should veil them in 
 clouds of the hecatomb-sheep. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Ah, once there was one ! — 
 
 Were life's light in the eyes 
 Of Phoebus's son, 
 
 Then our darling might rise 125 
 
 From the mansions of darkness, through portals of 
 Hades return to our skies ; 
 
 For he raised up the dead. 
 
 Ere flashed from the heaven. 
 From Zeus' hand sped, 
 That bolt of the levin. 
 But now what remaineth to wait for ? — what hope of 
 her life is given ? 130 
 
 No sacrifice more 
 
 Unrendered remaineth : 
 No God, but the gore 
 
 From his altars down-raineth : 
 Yet healing is none for our ills, neither balm that the 
 spirit sustaineth. 135 
 
 [Enter Handmaid. 
 But hither cometh of the handmaids one, 
 Weeping the while. What tidings shall I hear ? 
 To grieve at all mischance unto thy lords 
 May be forgiven ; but if thy lady lives 
 Or even now hath passed, fain would we know. 140 
 
 Handmaid. 
 She liveth, and is dead : both may'st thou say. 
 
ALCESTIS. 9 
 
 Chorus. 
 Ay so ? — how should the same be dead and live ? 
 
 Handmaid. 
 Even now she droopeth, gasping out her life. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Noble and stricken — how noble she thou losest 
 
 Handmaid. 
 His depth of loss he knows not ere it come. 145 
 
 Chorus. 
 And hope — is no hope left her life to save ? 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 None — for the day foredoomed constraineth her. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Are all things meet, then, being done for her ? 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 Yea, ready is her burial-attire. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Let her be sure that glorious she dies 150 
 
 And noblest woman 'neath the sun's wide way. 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 Noblest ? — how not ? — what tongue will date gainsay ? 
 What must the woman be who passeth her ? 
 How could a wife give honour to her lord A 
 More than by yielding her to die for him ? 155 
 
ΙΟ EURIPIDES. 
 
 .nd this — ^yea, all the city knoweth this, 
 lut what within she did, hear thou, and marvel, 
 or when she knew that the appointed day 
 V&s come, in river-water her white skin 
 he bathed, and from the cedar-chests took forth i6o 
 esture and jewels, and decjked her gloriously, 
 nd stood before the hearth, and prayed, and said : 
 Queen, for I pass beneath the earth, Γ fall 
 efore thee now, and nevermore, and pray : — 
 e mother to my orphans : mate with him 165 
 
 . loving wife, with_her a noble husband. ? 
 or, as their mother dieth, so may they, 
 [y children, die untimely, but with weal 
 1 the home-land fill up a life of bliss." 
 b all the altars through Admetus' halls 170 
 
 he went, with wreaths she hung them, and she prayed, 
 lucking the while the tresses of the myrtle, 
 earless, unsighing, and the imminent fate 
 hanged not the lovely rose-tint of her cheek, 
 hen to her bower she rushed, feU on the bed; ^^ 175 
 nd there, Ο there she wept, and thus she speaks : 
 " Ο couch, whereon I loosed the maiden zone 
 or this man, for whose sake I die to-day, 
 arewell : I hate thee not. Me hast thou lost, 
 [e only : loth to fail thee and my lord 180 
 
 die : but thee another bride shall own, 
 iot more true-hearted ; happier perchance." 
 'hen falls thereon, and kisses : all the bed 
 3 watered with the flood of melting eyes. 
 
 jJut having wept her fill of many tears, 185 
 
 Drooping she goeth, reeling from the couch ; 
 
 Yet oft, as forth the bower she passed, returned. 
 
 And flung herself again upon the couch. 
 
ALCESTIS. II 
 
 And the babes, clinging to their mother's robes, 
 Were weeping : and she clasped them in her arms, igo 
 Fondhng now this, now that, as one death-doomed. 
 And all the servants 'neath the roof were weeping. 
 Pitying their lady. But to each she stretched 
 Her right hand forth ; and none there was so mean 
 To whom she spake not and received reply. 195 
 
 Such are the ills Admetus' home within. 
 Now, had he died, he had ended : but, in 'scaping, i. 
 He bears a pain that he shall ne'er forget. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Doth not Admetus groan for this affliction 
 Of such a noble wife to be bereft ? 200 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 Ay, weeps, and clasps his dear one in his arms. 
 
 And prays, " Forsake me not ! " — asking the while 
 
 The impossible, for still she wanes and wastes, 
 
 Drooping her hand, a misery-burdened weight. 
 
 But yet, albeit hardly breathing now, 205 
 
 To the sun's rays fain would she lift her eyes. 
 
 As nevermore, but for the last time then 
 
 Destined to see the sun's beam and his orb. 
 
 But I will go and make thy presence known : 
 
 For 'tis not all that love so well their kings 2fo 
 
 As to stand by them, in afflictions loyal. 
 
 But from of old my lords were loved of thee. [Exit. 
 
 [Nine members of the Chorus chant successively : — 
 / Chorus i. 
 
 Ο Zeus, for our lords is there nought but despair ? 
 ο path through the tangle of evils, no loosing of 
 
 chains that have bound them ? 
 
 /N. 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus 2. 
 
 No tidings ? — remaineth but rending of hair, 
 And the stricken ones turned to the tomb with the 
 garments of sorrow around them ? 
 
 Chorus 3. 
 
 Even so — even so ! yet uplift we in prayer 
 Our hands to the Gods, for that power from the days 
 everlasting hath crowned them. 
 
 Chorus 4. 
 
 Ο Healer-king, 220 
 
 Find thou for Admetus the balm of relief, for the 
 captive deliverance ! 
 
 Chorus 5. 
 
 Vouchsafe it, vouchsafe it, for heretofore 
 Hast thou found out a way ; even now once more 
 Pluck back our beloved from Hades' door. 
 Strike down Death's hand red-reeking with gore ! 
 
 Chorus 6. 
 
 Woe's me ! woe's me ! — let the woe-dirge ring ! 
 Ah, scion of Pheres, alas for thy lot, for love's long 
 severance ! 
 
 Chorus 7. 
 
 For such things on his sword might a man not fall, 
 
 Or knit up his throat in the noose 'twixt the heaven 
 
 and the earth that quivereth ? 230 
 
ALCESTIS. 13 
 
 Chorus 8. 
 
 For his dear one — nay, but his dearest of all 
 Shall he see on this day lying dead, while her spirit by 
 L6th6 shivereth. 
 
 Chorus 9. 
 
 Ο look ! — look yonder, where forth of the hall 
 She Cometh, and he at her side whose life by her life 
 she delivereth. 
 
 Chorus, united. 
 
 Cry, Land Pheraian, shrill the keen ! 
 Lift up thy voice to wail thy best 
 There dying, and thy queenliest 
 >, Slow wasting to the Gates Unseen ! 
 
 Tell me not this, that wedlock brm^s 
 To them that wed more bliss than woe. 
 I look back to the long-ago ; 240 
 
 I muse on these unhappiest things. 
 
 Lo, here a king — he forfeiteth 
 
 The truest heart, the noblest wife:, 
 And what shall be henceforth his life ? 
 
 A darkened day, a living death. 
 
 Enter Female Attendants bearing Alcestis, accompanied 
 by Admetus and Children. 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 Ο Sun, and the day's dear light, 
 And ye clouds through the wheeling heaven in the 
 race everlasting flying ! 
 
14 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 He seeth thee and me, two stricken ones, 
 Which wrought the Gods no wrong, that thou shouldst 
 die. 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 Ο Land, Ο stately height 
 Of mine halls, and my bridal couch in lolkos my father- 
 land lying ! 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Uplift thee, hapless love, forsake me not, 250 
 
 And pray the mighty Gods in ruth to turn. 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 I see the Boat with the oars twin-sweeping, 
 
 And, his hand on the pole as in haste aye keeping, 
 Charon the Ferryman calleth, " What ho, wilt thou 
 
 linger and linger ? 
 Hasten, — 'tis thou dost delay me ! " he crieth with 
 
 beckoning finger. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ah me ! a bitter ferrying this thou namest ! 
 Ο evil-starred, what woes endure we now ! 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 One haleth me — haleth me hence to the mansion 
 Of the dead! — dost thou mark not the darkling 
 expansion 
 Of the pinions of Hades, the blaze of his eyes 'neath 
 their caverns out-glaring ? 260 
 
ALCESTIS. 15 
 
 What wonldst thou ? — Unhand me ! — In anguish and 
 pain by what path am I faring ! 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Woeful to them that love thee : most to me 
 And to thy babes, sad sharers in this grief. 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 Let be — let me sink back to rest me : 
 There is no strength left in my feet. 
 Hades is near, and the night 
 Is darkening down on my sight. 
 Darlings, farewell : on the light 270 
 
 Long may ye look : — I have blessed ye 
 Ere your mother to nothingness fleet. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ah me ! for thy word rusheth bitterness o'er me^f 
 Bitterness passing the anguish of death ! ^^ 
 
 Forsake me not now, by the Gods I implore thee, 
 By the babes thou wilt orphan, Ο yield not thy 
 breath ! 
 
 Look up, be of cheer ; if thou diest, before me 
 Is nothingness. Living, we aye live thine. 
 And we die unto thee ; for our hearts are a shrine 
 
 Wherein for thy love passing word we adore thee ! 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 Admetus, — for thou seest all my plight, — 280 
 
 Fain would I speak mine heart's wish ere I die. 
 I, honouring thee, and setting thee in place 
 Before mine own soul still to see this light. 
 Am dying, unconstrained to die for thee. 
 
i6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 I might have wed what man Thessalian 28, 
 
 I would, have dwelt wealth-crowned in princely halls 
 
 Yet would not live on, torn away from thee. 
 
 With orphaned children : wherefore spared I not 
 
 The gifts of youth still mine, wherein I joyed. 
 
 Yet she that bare, he that begat, forsook thee, 2g( 
 
 Though fair for death their time of life was come, 
 
 ' Yea, fair, to save their son and die renowned. 
 Their only one wert thou : no hope there was 
 To get them sons thereafter, hadst thou died. 
 So had I lived, and thou, to after days : 2^ 
 
 Thou wert not groaning, of thy wife bereaved. 
 Thy children motherless. Howbeit this 
 
 /Some God hath brought to pass : it was to be. 
 Let be : — remember thou what thank is due 
 For this : I never can ask full requital ; — 30^ 
 
 For nought there is more precious than the life; — 
 Yet justly due : for these thy babes thou lovest 
 No less than I, if that thine heart be right. 
 
 /Suffer that they have lordship in mine home : 
 Wed not a stepdame to supplant our babes, 30 
 
 Whose heart shall tell her she is no Alcestis, 
 Whose jealous hand shall smite them, thine and min< 
 Do not, ah, do not this — 1 pray thee, I. 
 For the new stepdame hateth still the babes_ 
 Of her that's gone with more than viper-venom. 31 
 The boy — his father is his tower of strength 
 To whom to speak,, of whom to win reply : 
 But, Ο my child, what girlhood will be thine ? 
 To thee what would she be, thy father's yoke-mate ? 
 What if with ill report she smirched thy name, 3] 
 And in thy youth's flower marred thy marriage-hopes 
 For thee thy mother ne'er shall deck for bridal, 
 
ALCESTIS. τη 
 
 Nor hearten thee in travail, Ο my child, 
 There, where nought gentler than the mother is. 
 For I must die, nor shall it be tomorn, 320 
 
 Nor on the third day comes on me this bane : 
 Straightway of them that are not shall I be. 
 Farewell, be happy. Now for thee, my lord. 
 Abides the boast to have won the noblest wife. 
 For you, my babes, to have sprung from noblest 
 mother. ,, 325 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Fear not ; for I am bold to speak for him 
 This will he do, an if he be not mad. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 It shall, it shall be, dread not thou : for thee \ 
 Living I had ; and dead, mine only wife "'^ 
 
 Shalt thou be called : nor ever in thy stead 330 
 
 Shall bride Thessalian hail me as her lord. 
 None is there of a father so high-born. 
 None so for beauty peerless among women. 
 Children enough have I : I pray the Gods 
 For joy in these — our joy in thee is nought. 335 
 
 Not for a year's space will 1 mourn for thee. 
 But long as this my life shall last, dear wife. 
 Loathing my mother, hating mine own sire, |. 
 For in word only, not in deed, they loved me.| ^ 
 Thou gav'st in ransom for my life thine all 340 
 
 Of precious, and didst save. Do I not well 
 To groan, who lose such yokefellow in thee ? 
 Revels shall cease, and gatherings at the wine. 
 Garlands, and song, which wont to fill mine house. 
 For never more mine hand shall touch the lyre : 345 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Nor will I lift up heart to sing to flute 
 
 Of Libya : thou hast robbed my life of mirth. 
 
 And, wrought by craftsmen's cunning hands, thy form 
 
 Imaged, upon a couch outstretched shall lie. 
 
 Falling whereon, and clasping with mine hands, 350 
 
 Calling thy name, in fancy shall mine arms 
 
 Hold my beloved, though I hold her not : — 
 
 A chill delight, I wot : yet shall I Uft 
 
 The burden from my soul. In dreams shalt thou 
 
 Haunt me and gladden : sweet to see the loved, 355 
 
 Though but a fleeting presence night-revealed. 
 
 But, were the tongue and strain of Orpheus mine. 
 
 To witch Demeter's Daughter and her lord. 
 
 And out of Hades by my song to win thee, 
 
 I had fared down : nor Pluto's Hound had stayed me, 
 
 Nor Spirit-wafter Charon at the oar, [360 
 
 Or ever I restored thy life to light. 
 
 Yet there look thou for me, whenso I die ; 
 
 Prepare ajiome, as who^shall dwelljwith jne. 
 
 For in the selfsame cedar chest, wherein 365 
 
 Thou liest, will I bid them lay my bones 
 
 Outstretched beside thee : ne'er may I be severed. 
 
 No, not in death, from thee, my one true friend. 1 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Yea, I withal will mourn, as friend with friend, 
 
 "With thee for this thy wife, for she is worthy. 370 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 My children, ye yourselves have heard all this. 
 Have heard your father pledge him ne'er to wed 
 For your oppression and for my dishonour. 
 
ALCESTIS. 19 
 
 Admetus. 
 Yea, now I say it, and I will perform. 
 
 Alcestis. 
 On these terms take the children from mine hand. 375 
 
 Admetus. 
 I take them — precious gift from precious hand. 
 
 Alcestis. 
 Be to these babes a mother in my stead. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Sore is their need, who are bereft of thee. 
 
 Alcestis. 
 Darlings, I should have lived ; and lo, I die. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ah me ! — what shall I do, forlorn of thee ? 380 
 
 Alcestis. 
 Time shall bring healing : — but the dead is nought. 
 
 Admetus. / 
 
 Take me, ah take me with thee to the grave l// 
 
 Alcestis. 
 Suffice it that one dies — she dies for thee. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ο Death, of what a wife dost thou bereave me ! 
 
 c 2 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Alcestis. 
 Dark — dark — mine eyes are drooping, heavy-laden. 385 
 
 Admetus. 
 Oh, I am lost if thou wilt leave me, wife ! 
 
 Alcestis. 
 No more — I am no more : as nought account me. 
 
 Admetus. 
 •y Uplift thy face : forsake not thine own children ! 
 
 Alcestis. 
 Sore loth do I — yet Ο farewell, my babes 1 
 
 Admetus. 
 Look unto them — Ο look ! 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 I am no more. 390 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ah, leav'st thou us ? 
 
 Alcestis. 
 
 Farewell. [Dies. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ο wretch undone ! 
 Chorus. 
 Gone, — gone ! — No more is this Admetus' wife ! 
 
ALCESTIS. zi 
 
 EUMELUS. 
 
 Woe for my lot ! — to the tomb hath my mother des-' 
 cended, descended ! 
 Never again, Ο my father, she seeth the Hght of the 
 sun! 
 In anguish she leaves us forsaken : the story is ended, 
 is ended, 
 Of her sheltering love, and the tale of the motherless 
 life is begun. 
 Look — look on her eyelids, her hands drooping nerve- 
 less ! Ο hear me, Ο hear me ! • 400 
 It is I — I beseech ^thee, my mother ! — thine own 
 little, own little bird ! 
 It is I — O, I cast me upon thee — ^thy lips are so near 
 me, so near me, 
 Unto mine &^m I pressing them, mother ! — I plead 
 for a word — but a word ! 
 
 . Admetus. 
 
 With her who heareth not, nor seeth : ye 
 
 And I are stricken with a heavy doom. 405 
 
 EuMELUS. 
 
 And I am but a little one, father— so young, and for- 
 saken, forsaken. 
 Forlorn of my mother— Ο hapless ! a weariful lot 
 shall be mine ! 
 And thou, little maiden, my sister, the burden hast 
 taken, hast taken. 
 Which thy brother may bear not alone, and a weari- 
 ful lot shall be thine. 410 
 
22 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ο father, of long-living love was thy marriage un- 
 cherished, uncherished : 
 Thou hast won not the goal of old age with the love 
 of thy youth at thy side ; 
 For, or ever she won to the fulness of days, she hath 
 perished, hath perished ; 
 And the home is a wreck and a ruin, for thou, Ο my 
 mother, hast died ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Admetus, this mischance thou needs must bear.] ' 
 Not first of mortals thou, nor shalt be last ^ 
 
 To lose a noble wife ; and, be thou sure, 
 From us, from all, this debt is due — to die. 
 
 Admetus. ' 
 
 I know it : nowise unforeseen this ill \420 
 
 Hath swooped upon me : long I grieved to know it. 
 
 But — for to burial must I bear my dead — 
 
 Stay ye, and, tarrying, echo back my wail 
 
 To that dark God whom no drink-offerings move. 
 
 And all Thessalians over whom I rule 425 
 
 I bid take part in mourning for this woman. 
 
 With shaven head and sable-shrouding robe. 
 
 And ye which yoke the cars four-horsed, or steeds 
 
 Of single frontlet, shear with steel their manes. 
 
 Music of flutes the city through, or lyres, 430 
 
 Be none, while twelve moons round their circles out : 
 
 For dearer dead, nor kinder unto me 
 
 I shall not bury : worthy of mine honour 
 
 Is she, for she alone hath died for me. [E xit. 
 
ALCESriS. 23 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 (Sir. I) 
 Ο Pelias' daughter, I hail thee : 
 
 I waft thee eternal farewell 
 To thine home where the darkness must veil thee, 
 
 Where in Hades unsunned thou shalt dwell. 
 Know, Dark-haired, thy grey Spirit-wafter 
 
 Hath sped not with twy-plashing oar 440 
 
 Woman nobler, nor shall speed hereafter 
 To Acheron's shore. 
 
 For the seven-stringed shell, or for paean 
 Unharped, shall thy fame be a song, 
 
 When o'er Sparta the moon Karnean 
 High rideth the whole night long. 
 
 And in Athens the wealthy and splendid 
 Shall thy name on her bards' lips ring, 
 
 Such a theme hast thou left to be blended 
 With the lays that they sing. 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 
 Ο that the power were but in me. 
 
 From the chambers of Hades, to light, 
 And from streams of Cocytus, to win thee 
 
 With the oar of the River of Night ! 
 Ο dear among women, strong-hearted 460 
 
 From Hades to ransom thy lord ! 
 Never spirit in such wise departed. 
 
 Light lie on thee. Lady, the sward ! 
 And, if ever thine husband shall mate him '^ 
 
 Again with a bride in thy stead, 
 I will loathe him, his children shall hate him, 
 The babes of the dead. 
 
24 EURIPIDES. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 When his mother would not be contented 
 
 To hide her for him in the tomb, 
 Nor his grey-haired father consented, 
 
 Unholpen he looked on his doom. 
 Whom they bare — the hard-hearted ! — they cared 
 not, 
 Though hoary their locks were, to save ! 470 
 
 Thou art gone, for thy great love spared not 
 
 Thy blossom of youth from the grave. 
 Ah, may it be mine, such communion 
 
 Of hearts ! — 'tis vouchsafed unto few :— 
 Then ours should be sorrowless union 
 Our life-days through. 
 Enter Herakles. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Strangers, who dwell in this Pheraian land. 
 Say, do I find Admetus in his home ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Herakles, in his home is Pheres' son. 
 
 Yet say, what brings thee to Thessalian land, 
 
 That thou shouldst come to this Pheraian town ? 480 
 
 Herakles. 
 A toil for King Eurystheus, lord of Tiryns. 
 
 Chorus. 
 And whither journeyest ? To what wanderings yoked ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 For Thracian Diomedes' four-horsed chariot. 
 
 -1*- 
 
ALCESTIS. 35 
 
 Chorus. 
 How canst thou ? Sure he is unknown to thee ! 
 
 Herakles. 
 Unknown : to land Bistonian fared I never. 485 
 
 ■ Chorus. 
 Not save by battle may those steeds be won. 
 
 flERAKLES. 
 
 Yet flinch I may not from the appointed toils. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Thy life or his — a triumph or a grave. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Not this the first time I have run such course. 
 
 Chorus. 
 What profit is it if thou slay their lord ? 490 
 
 Herakles. 
 Those steeds shall I drive back to Tiryns' king. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Hard task, to set the bit betwixt their jaws. 
 
 Herakles. 
 That shall I, if their nostrils breathe not fire. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Yea, but with ravening jaws do they rend men. 
 
26 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Go to — thus banquet mountain-beasts, not horses. 495 
 
 Chorus. 
 Nay, thou shalt see their cribs with gore bespattered. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Whom boasteth he for father, he that reared them ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 Ares, the king of Thracia's golden shield. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Thou say'st : such toil my fate imposeth still, 
 
 Harsh evermore, uphillward straining aye, 500 
 
 If I must still in battle close with sons 
 
 Gotten of Ares ; with Lykaon first, 
 
 And Kyknus then : and lo, I come to grapple^^— 
 
 The third strife this — with yon steeds and their lord. 
 
 But never man shall see Alkm^ne's child 505 
 
 Quailing before the hand of any foe. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo, there himself, the ruler of the land, 
 Admetus, cometh forth, his palace-hall. 
 Enter Admetus. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Hail, Ο thou sprung from Zeus' and Perseus' blood ! 
 
 Herakles. 
 Admetus, hail thou too, Thessalia's king. 510 
 
ALCESTIS. 27 
 
 Admetus. 
 Hale.? — Would I were ! Yet thy good heart I know. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Wherefore for mourning shaven show'st thou thus ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 This day must I commit to earth a corpse. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Now heaven forefend thou mourn'st for children dead ! 
 
 Admetus. 
 In mine home live the babes whom I begat. 515 
 
 Herakles. 
 Sooth, death-ripe were thy sire, if he be gone. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 He liveth, and my mother, Herakles. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Surely, Ο surely, not thy wife, Admetus ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 Twofold must be mine answer touching her. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Or hath she died, say'st thou, or liveth yet ? 520 
 
 Admetus. 
 She is, and she is not : here hes my sorrow. 
 
38 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Nothing the more I know : dark sayings thine. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Know'st not the doom whereon she needs must hght ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 I know she pledged herself to die for thee. 
 
 Admetus. 
 How lives she then, if she to this consented ? 525 
 
 Herakles. 
 Mourn not thy wife ere dead : abide the hour, 
 
 Admetus. 
 Dead is the doomed, and no more is the dead. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Diverse are these — to be and not to be. 
 
 Admetus. 
 This, Herakles, thy sentence : that is mine. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 But now, why weep'st thou ? What dear friend is 
 dead ? cao 
 
 Admetus. 
 A woman — hers the memory we mourn. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Some stranger born, or nigh of kin to thee ? 
 
ALCESTIS. 29 
 
 Admetus. 
 A stranger born ; yet near and dear to us. 
 
 Werakles. 
 How died a stranger then in house of thine ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 An orphan here she dwelt, her father dead. 535 
 
 Herakles. 
 Would we had found thee mourning not, Admetus. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ay so ? — what purpose lurketh neath thy word ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 On will I to another host's hearth-welcome. 
 
 Admetus. 
 It cannot be : may no such evil come ! 
 
 Herakles. 
 A burden unto mourners comes the guest. ' 540 
 
 Admetus. 
 Dead are the dead : — but enter thou mine house. 
 
 Herakles. 
 'Twere shame to banquet in the house of weeping. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Aloof the guest-bowers are where we will lodge thee. 
 
30 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Let me pass on, and have my thanks unmeasured. 
 
 Admetus. ^ 
 
 Unto another's hearth thou canst not go. 545 
 
 [To an attendant] Ho thou, lead on : open the guest- 
 bowers looking 
 Away from these our chambers. Tell my stewards 
 To set on meat in plenty. Shut withal 
 The mid-court doors : it fits not that the guests. 
 The while they feast, hear wailings, and be vexed. 550 
 
 [Exit Herakles. 
 Chorus. 
 
 What dost thou ? — such affliction at the door, 
 And guests for thee, Admetus ? Art thou mad ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 But had I driven him from my home and city 
 
 Who came my guest, then hadst thou praised me more ? 
 
 Nay, sooth ; for mine affliction so had grown 555 
 
 No less, and more inhospitable I ; 
 
 And to mine ills were added this beside. 
 
 That this my home were called " Guest-hating Hall." 
 
 Yea, and myself have proved him kindliest host 
 
 Whene'er to Argos' thirsty plain I fared. 560 
 
 Chorus. 
 Why hide then the dread Presence in the house, 
 When came a friend ? — Thyself hast named him friend. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Never had he been won to pass my doors. 
 Had he one whit of mine afflictions known. 
 
ALCESTIS. 31 
 
 To some, I wot, not wise herein I seem, 565 
 
 Nor wilt thou praise : but mine halls have not learnt 
 To thrust away nor to dishonour guests. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Sir. 1) 
 Halls thronged of the guests ever welcome, Ο dwelling 
 
 Of a hero, for ever the home of the free. 
 The Lord of the lyre-strings sweet beyond telling, 570 
 
 Apollo, hath deigned to sojourn in the^^ 
 Amid thine habitations, a shepherd of sheep. 
 The flocks of Admetus he scorned not to keep. 
 While. the shepherds' bridal-strains, soft-swelling 
 
 From his pipe, pealed over the slant-sloped lea. 
 
 {Ant. 1) 
 And the spotted lynxes for joy of thy singing 
 
 Mixed with thy flocks ; and from Othrys' dell 580 
 Trooped tawny lions : the witchery-winging 
 
 Notes brought dancing around thy shell, 
 Phoebus, the dappled fawn from the shadow 
 Of the tall-tressed pines tripping forth to the meadow, 
 Beating' time to the chime of the rapture-ringing 
 
 Music, with light feet tranced by its spell. 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 Wherefore the flocks of my lord unnumbered 
 
 By the Bcebian mere,fair-rippling stray : 590 
 
 Where the steeds of the sun halt, darkness-cumbered, 
 
 By Molossian marches, fai away 
 The borders lie of his golden grain. 
 And his rolling stretches of pasture-plain ; 
 And the havenless beach Aegean hath slumbered 
 
 Under Pelion long 'neath the peace of his sway. 
 
32 EURIPIDES. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 And now, with the tears from his eyes fast-raining, 
 
 Thrown wide are his palace-doors to the guest, 
 While newly his heart 'neath its burden is straining, 
 
 For the wife that hath died in his halls distressed. 
 For to honour's heights are the high-born lifted, [600 
 And the good are with truest wisdom gifted ; 
 And there broods on mine heart bright trust unwaning 
 
 That the god-reverer shall yet be blest. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ο kindly presence of Pheraian men, 
 
 This corpse even now, with all things meet, my servants 
 
 Bear on their shoulders to the tomb and pyre. 
 
 Wherefore, as custom is, hail ye the dead, 
 
 On the last journey as she goeth forth. 610 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo, I behold thy sire with aged foot 
 Advancing, and attendants in their hands 
 Bear ornaments to deck the dead withal. 
 
 [Enter Pheres with Attendants bearing gifts. 
 
 Pheres. 
 
 I come in thine afflictions sorrowing, son : 
 
 A noble wife and virtuous hast thou lost, 615 
 
 None will gainsay : yet these calamities 
 
 We needs must bear, how hard to bear soever. 
 
 Receive these ornaments, and let her pass 
 
 Beneath the earth : well may the corpse be honoured 
 
 Of her who for thy life's sake died, my son ; 620 
 
 Who made me not unchilded, left me not 
 
ALCESTIS. 33 
 
 Forlorn of thee to pine in wodful eld. 
 
 In all her sisters' eyes she hath crowned her life 
 
 With glory, daring such a deed as this. 
 
 Ο saviour of my son, who us upraisedst 625 
 
 In act to fall, all hail ! May bliss be thine 
 
 Even in Hades. Thus to wed, I say, 
 
 Profiteth men — or nothing worth is marriage. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Bidden of me thou com'st not to this burial, 
 Nor count I thine the presence of a friend. 630 
 
 Thine ornaments she never shall put on ; 
 She shall be buried needing nought of thine. 
 Thou grieve ! — thou shouldst have grieved in my death- 
 hour! 
 Thou stood'st aloof — the old, didst leave the young 
 To die : — and wilt thou wail upon this corpse ? 635 
 True father of my body thou wast not ; 
 Nor she that said she bare me, and was called 
 My mother, gave me birth : of bondman blood 
 To thy wife's breast was I brought privily. 
 Put to the test, thou showedst who thou art, 640 
 
 And I account me not thy true-born son. 
 Peerless of men in soulless cowardice ! 
 So old, and standing on the verge of life. 
 Yet hadst no will, yet hadst no heart to die 
 For thine own son ! — Ye suffered her, a woman 645 
 Not of our house, whom I with righteous cause 
 Might count alone my mother and my father. 
 Yet here was honour, hadst thou dared the strife, 
 In dying for thy son. A paltry space 
 To cling to life in any wise was left. 650 
 
 Then had I lived, and she, through days to come, 
 
34 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Nor I, left lorn, should thus mine ills bemoan. 
 Yet all that may the fortunate betide 
 Fell to thy lot ; in manhood's prime a king : 
 Me hadst thou son and heir unto thine house, 655 
 
 So that thou wast not, dying, like to leave 
 A childless home for stranger folk to spoil. 
 Nor canst thou say that flouting thy grey hairs 
 I gave thee o'er to death, whose reverence 
 For thee was passing word : — and this the thank 660 
 That thou and she that bear me render me ! 
 Wherefore, make haste : beget thee other sons 
 To foster thy grey hairs, to compass thee 
 With death's observance, and lay out thy corpse. 
 'Not I with this mine hand will bury thee. 665 
 
 For thee dead am I. If I see the light, — 
 Another saviour found, — -I call me son 
 To her, and loving fosterer of her age. 
 For nought the aged pray for death's release, 
 Plaining of age and weary-wearing time. 670 
 
 Let death draw near — who then would die ? Not one : 
 No more is eld a burden unto them. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 hush ! Suffice the afHiction at the doors. 
 Ο son, infuriate not thy father's soul. 
 
 Pheres. 
 
 Son, whom, think'st thou — some Lydian slave or 
 Phrygian 675 
 
 Bought with thy money ? — thus beratest thou ? 
 What, know'st thou not that I Thessalian am, 
 Sprung from Thessalian sire, free man true-born ? 
 This insolence passeth ! — hurling malapert words 
 
ALCESTIS. 35 
 
 ^•^ 
 
 On me, not lightly thus shalt thou come off ! 680 
 
 Thee I begat and nurtured, of mine house 
 
 The heir : no debt is mi ne to die fo r thee. i/"" 
 
 Not from our sires such custom we received 
 
 That sires for sons should die : no Greek law this. 
 
 Bom for thyself wast thou, to fortune good 685 
 
 Or evil : all thy dues from us thou hast. 
 
 O'er many folk thou rulest ; wide demesnes 
 
 Shall 1 leave thee : to me my fathers left them. 
 
 What is my wrong, my robbery of thee ? 
 
 For me die thou not, I die not for thee. 690 
 
 Thou joy'st to see light — shall thy father joy not ? 
 
 Sooth, I account our time b^eneath the earth 
 
 Longj^_arid our life-space short, yet is it sweet. 
 
 Shamelessly hast thou fought' against thy death : 
 
 Thy life is but transgression of thy doom 695 
 
 And murder of thy wife : — my cowardice ! 
 
 This fronTtheeTHastard ! worsted by a woman 
 
 Who died for thee, the glorious-gallant youth ! 
 
 Cunning device hast thou devised to die 
 
 Never, cajoling still wife after wife 700 , 
 
 To die for thee ! — and dost revile thy friends 
 
 Who will not so — and thou the coward, thou ? 
 
 Peace ! e'en bethink thee, if thou lov'st thy life, ji 
 
 So all love theirs. Thou, if thou speakest evil ill 
 
 Of us, shalt hear much evil, and that true. 705 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ye have said too much, thou now, and he before. 
 Refrain, old sire, from railing on thy son. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Say on, say on ; I have said : if hearing truth 
 
 D 2 
 
36 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Gall thee, thou shouldest not have done me wrong. 
 
 Pheres. 
 I had done more wrong, had I died for thee. 710 
 
 Admetus. 
 What, for the young and old is death the same ? 
 
 Pheres. 
 One life to live, not twain — this is our due. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Have thy desire — one life outlasting Zeus. 
 
 Pheres. 
 Dost curse thy parents, who hast had no wrong ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ay, whom I marked love-sick for dateless life. 715 
 
 Pheres. 
 What ? — art not burying her in thine own stead ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 A token, dastard, of thy cowardice. 
 
 Pheres. 
 / did her not to death : thou canst not say it. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Mayest thou feel thy need of me some day ! 
 
 Pheres. 
 Woo many women, that the more may die. 720 
 
ALCESTIS. 37 
 
 Admetus. 
 This taunt strikes thee — 'tis thou wast loth to die. 
 
 Pheres. 
 Sweet is yon sun-god's hght, yea, it is sweet. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Base is thy spirit, and unmeet for men. 
 
 Pheres. 
 No ag^d corpse thou bearest, inly laughing ! 
 
 Admetus. 
 Yet shalt thou die in ill fame, when thou diest. 725 
 
 Pheres. 
 Nought reck I of ill-speaking o'er my grave. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ah me ! how full of shamelessness is eld ! 
 
 Pheres. 
 Not shameless she, — but senseless hast thou found her. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Begone : leave me to bury this my dead. 
 
 Pheres. 
 
 I go : her murderer will bury her. 730 
 
 Thou shalt yet answer for it to her kin. 
 
 Surely Akastus is no more a man. 
 
 If he of thee claim not his sister's blood. [Exit Pheres. 
 
38 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Avaunt, with her that kennelleth with thee ! 
 
 Childless grow old, as ye deserve, while lives 735 
 
 Your child : ye shall not come beneath one roof 
 
 With me. If need were to renounce by heralds 
 
 Thy fatherhood, I had renounced it now. 
 
 Let us — for we must bear the present ill — 
 
 Pass on, to lay our dead upon the pyre. 740 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Alas for the loving and daring ! 
 
 Farewell to the noblest and best ! 
 May Hermes conduct thee down-faring 
 
 Kindly, and Hades to rest 
 Receive thee ! If any atonement 
 
 For ills even there may betide 
 To the good, Ο thine be enthronement 
 By Hades' bride ! 
 
 [^Exeunt omnes in funeral procession. 
 Enter Servant. 
 
 Servant. 
 
 Full many a guest, from many a land which came 
 Unto Admetus' dwelling, have I known, 
 Have set before them meat : but never guest 
 More pestilent received I to this hearth : 750 
 
 Who first, albeit he saw my master mourning. 
 Entered, and passed the threshold unashamed ; 
 Then, nowise courteously received the fare 
 Found with us, though our woeful plight he knew, 
 But, what we brought not, hectoring bade us bring. 
 The ivy cup uplifts he in his hands, [755 
 
 And swills the darkling mother's fiery blood, 
 
ALCESTIS. 39 
 
 Till the wine's flame enwrapped him, heating him. 
 
 Then did he wreathe his head with myrtle sprays, 
 
 Dissonant-howling. Diverse strains were heard : 760 
 
 For he sang on, regardless all of ills 
 
 Darkening Admetus' house ; we servants wept 
 
 Our mistress : yet we showed not to the guest 
 
 Eyes tear-bedewed, for so Admetus bade. 
 
 And now within the house must I be feasting 765 
 
 This guest, — a lawless thief, a bandit rogue ! 
 
 She from the house hath passed : I followed not. 
 
 Nor stretched the hand, nor wailed unto my mistress 
 
 Farewell, who was to me and all the household 
 
 A mother, for from ills untold she saved us, 770 
 
 Assuaging her lord's wrath. Do I not well 
 
 To loathe this guest, intruder on our griefs ? 
 
 Enter Herakles. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Ho, fellow, why this solemn brooding look ? 
 The servant should not lower upon the guest, 
 But welcome him with kindly-beaming cheer. 775 
 
 Thou, seeing here in presence thy lord's friend. 
 With visage sour and cloud of knitted brows 
 Receiv'st him, fretting o'er an alien grief. 
 Hither to me, that wiser thou may'st grow. 
 The lot of man — its nature knowest thou ? 780 
 
 I trow not : how shouldst thou ? Give ear to me. 
 EjOm_all_mankind the debt of death is due. 
 Nor of all mortalsTis there one that knows 
 If through the coming morrow he shall Uve : / 
 For trackless is the way of fortune's feet, 785 
 
 Not to be taught, nor won by art of man. 
 This hearing then, and learning it from me. 
 
40 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Make merry, drink : the life from day -to day 
 Account thine own, all else in fortune's power. 
 Honour withal the sweetest of the Gods 790 
 
 To men, the Cyprian Queen — a gracious Goddess ! 
 These thoughts put by, and hearken to my words. 
 If words of wisdom unto thee they seem. 
 I trow it. Hence with sorrow overwrought ; [795 
 
 Pass through yon doors and quaff the wine with me. 
 Thy brows with garlands bound. Full well I wot. 
 From all this lowering spirit prison-pent 
 Thine anchor shall Sir Beaker's plash upheave. 
 What, man ! — the mortal must be mortal-minded. 
 So, for your solemn wights of knitted brows, 800 
 
 For each and all, — if thou for judge wilt take me, — 
 Life is not truly life, but mere affliction. 
 
 Servant. 
 
 All this we know : but now are we in plight 
 Not meet for laughter and for revelry. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 The woman dead is alien-born : grieve not 805 
 
 Exceeding much. Yet live the household's lords. 
 
 Servant. 
 Live, quotha ! — know'st thou not the house's ills ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 Yea, if thy master lied not unto me. 
 
 Servant. 
 Guest-fain he is — ah, guest-fain overmuch 
 
ALCESTIS. 41 
 
 Herakles. 
 A stranger dead — and no guest-cheer for me ? 810 
 
 Servant. 
 Ο yea, an alien she — o'ermuch an alien ! 
 
 Herakles. 
 Ha ! was he keeping some affliction back ? 
 
 Servant. 
 Go thou in peace : our lords' ills are for us. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Grief for a stranger such talk heralds not. 
 
 Servant. 
 Else had I not sore vexed beheld thy revelling. 815 
 
 Herakles. 
 How ! have I sorry handling of mine hosts ? 
 
 Servant. 
 
 Thou cam'st in hour unmeet for welcoming, 
 For grief is on us ; and thou see'st shorn hair 
 And vesture of black robes. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 But who hath died ? 
 Not of the children one, or grey-haired sire ? 820 
 
 Servant. 
 Nay, but Admetus' wife is dead, Ο guest. ^J 
 
43 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 How say'st thou ? — Ha, even then ye gave me wel- 
 come? 
 
 Servant. 
 
 For shame he could not thrust thee from these doors. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Ο hapless ! what a helpmeet hast thou lost ! 
 
 Servant. 
 We have all perished, and not she alone. 825 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 I felt it, when I saw his tear-drowned eyes, 
 
 His shaven hair, and face : yet he prevailed, , 
 
 Saying he bare a stranger-friend to burial. I 
 
 I passed this threshold in mine heart's despite. 
 
 And drank in halls of him that loves the guest, 830 
 
 When thus his plight ! — And am I revelling 
 
 With head wreath-decked ? — That thou should'st ne'er 
 
 have told. 
 When such affliction lay upon the home ! 
 Where doth he bury her ? Where shall I find her ? 
 
 Servant. 
 
 By the straight path that leads Larissa-wards 835 
 
 Shalt see the hewn-stone tomb without the walls. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Ο much-enduring heart and soul of mine, 
 Now show what son the Lady of Tiryns bare, 
 Elektryon's child Alkmene, unto Zeus. 
 
ALCESTIS. 43 
 
 For I must save the woman newly dead, j . / 840 
 And set Alcestis in this house again, | 
 And render to Admetus good for good, jl 
 I go. The sable-vestured King of Corpses, 
 Death, will I watch for, and shall find, 1 trow, 
 Drinking the death-draught hard beside the tomb. 845 
 And if I lie in wait, and dart from ambush, 
 And seize, and with mine arms' coil compass him, 
 None is there shall deliver from mine hands 
 His straining sides, or e'er he yield his prey. 
 Yea, though I miss the quarry, and he come not 850 
 Unto the blood-clot, to the sunless homes 
 Down will I fare of Kore and her king, 
 And make demand. I doubt not I shall lead 
 Alcestis up, and give to mine host's hands. 
 Who to his halls received, nor drave me thence, 855 
 Albeit smitten with affliction sore. 
 But hid it, like a prince, respecting me. 
 Who is more guest-fain of Thessalians ? 
 Who in all Hellas ? — O, he shall not say 
 That one so princely showed a base man kindness. 860 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Enter Admetus, with Chorus and Attendants, returning 
 from the funeral. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ο hateful returning ! 
 
 Ο hateful to see 
 Drear halls full of yearning 
 For the lost — ah me ! 
 What aim or what rest have I ? — silence or speech, of 
 what help shall they be ? 
 
44 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Would God I were dead ! 
 
 O, I came from the womb 
 To a destiny dread ! 
 Ah, those in the tomb — 
 How I envy them ! How I desire them, and long to 
 abide in their home ! 
 
 To mine eyes nothing sweet 
 Is the light of the heaven, 
 Nor the earth to my feet ; 
 
 Such a helpmeet is riven 870 
 
 By Death from my side, and my darling to Hades the 
 spoiler hath given. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Pass on thou, and hide thee 
 In thy chambers. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ah woe ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Wail the griefs that betide thee : 
 How canst thou but so ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ο God! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Thou hast passed through deep waters of 
 anguish — I know it, I know. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Alas and alas ! 
 
ALCESTIS. 45 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 No help bringeth this 
 To thy love in that place. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Woe! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Bitter it is 
 The face of a wife well-beloved for ever and ever to 
 miss. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Thou hast stricken mine heart 
 
 Where the wound will not heal. 
 What is worse than to part 
 
 From the loving and leal ? 880 
 
 Would God I had wedded her not, home-bliss with 
 Alcestis to feel ! 
 
 O, I envy the lot 
 
 Of the man without wife, 
 Without child : single- wrought 
 Is the strand of his life : 
 No soul-crushing burden of sorrow, no strength-over- 
 mastering strife. 
 
 But that children should sicken. 
 
 That gloom of despair 
 Over bride-beds should thicken, 
 What spirit can bearX 
 When childless, unwedded, a man through life's calm 
 journey might fare ? 
 
46 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Thee Fortune hath met, 
 
 Strong wrestler, and thrown ; 
 Yet no bounds hast thou set — 890 
 
 Admetus. 
 Woe's me ! — 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 To thy moan. 
 
 O, thy burden is heavy ! 
 
 / Admetus. 
 
 Alas! 
 
 Chorus. 
 Yet endure it : thou art not alone. 
 
 Not thou art the first 
 Of bereaved ones. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ah me ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Such tempest hath burst 
 Upon many ere thee. 
 Unto each his mischance, when the surges roll up from 
 Calamity's sea. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ο long grief and pain 
 For beloved ones passed ! 
 
ALCESTIS. 47 
 
 Why didst thou restrain 
 When myself I had cast 
 Down into her grave, with the noblest to lie peace- 
 lulled at the last ? 
 
 Not one soul, but two 900 
 
 Had been Hades' prey. 
 Souls utterly true 
 Together for aye, 
 Which together o'er waves of the underworld mere had 
 passed this day. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Of my kin was there one, 
 
 And the life's light failed 
 In his halls of a son, 
 One meet to be wailed. 
 His only beloved : howbeit the manhood within him 
 prevailed ; 
 
 And the ills heaven-sent 
 As a man did he bear, 
 Though by this was he bent 
 Unto silvered hair. 
 Far on in hfe's path, without son for his remnant of 
 weakness to care. 9"^° 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 O, how can I tread 
 
 Thy threshold, fair home ? 
 How shelter mine head 
 
 'Neath thy roof, now the doom 
 Of the Gods' dice changeth ?— ah me, what change 
 upon all things is come ! 
 
48 EURIPIDES. 
 
 For with torches aflame 
 
 Of the Pelian pine, 
 And with bride-song I came 
 In that hour divine, 
 Upbearing the hand of a wife — thine hand, Ο dariing 
 mine ! 
 
 Followed revellers, raising 
 
 Acclaim : ever broke 
 From the lips of them praising, 
 Of the dead as they spoke. 
 And of me, how the noble, the children of kings, Love 
 joined 'neath his yoke. 920 
 
 But for bridal song 
 
 Is the wail for the dead, 
 And, for white-robed throng, 
 Black vesture hath led 
 Me to halls where the ghost of delight lieth couched on 
 a desolate bed. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 To the trance of thy bliss 
 
 Sudden anguish was brought. 
 Never lesson like this 
 To thine heart had been taught : 
 Yet thy life hast thou won, and thy soul hast deliverea 
 from death : — is it nought ? 
 
 Thy wife hath departed : 
 
 Love tender and true 930 
 
 Hath she left : — stricken-hearted, 
 Wherein is this new ? 
 Hath Death not unyoked from the chariot of Love full 
 many ere you ? 
 
ALCESTIS. 49 
 
 Admetus. 
 riends, I account the fortune of my wife \ \/ 935 
 happier than mine, albeit it seems not so. " 
 or nought of grief shall touch her any more, 
 nd glorious rest she finds from many toils, 
 ut I, unmeet^to jive^ my do om outrun, ν 
 
 ^ffl^ag.outJbitteE-d4ys : I know it now. 940 
 
 !ow shall I bear to enter this mine home ? 
 peaking to whom, and having speech of whom, 
 ball I find joy of entering ? — whither turn me ? 
 he solitude within shall drive me forth, 
 /henso I see my wife's couch tenantless, 945 
 
 nd seats whereon she sat, and, 'neath the roof, 
 .11 foul the floor ; when on my knees my babes 
 ailing shall weep their mother, servants moan 
 'he peerless mistress from the mansion lost. 
 .11 this within : but from the world without 950 
 
 hall bridals of Thessalians chase me : throngs 
 Vhere women gossip ; for I shall not bear 
 •n those companions of my wife to look, 
 .nd, if a foe I have, thus shall he scoiF : 
 Lo there who basely liveth — dared not die, 955 
 
 But whom he wedded gave, a coward's ransom. 
 And 'scaped from Hades. Count ye him a man ? , 
 He hates his parents, though himself was loth / 
 
 To die ! " Such ill report, besides my griefs, 
 hall mine be. Ah, what profit is to live, 960 
 
 ) friends, in evil fame, in evil plight ? 
 
 Chorus. xf {Str i) 
 
 I have mused on the words of the wise, 
 
 Of the mighty in song ; 
 1 have lifted mine heart to the skies, 
 
50 EURIPIDES. 
 
 I have searched all truth with mine eyes ; 
 ,y But nougbt-Hiore^rong 
 
 Than Fate have I found : there is nought 
 
 In the tablets of Thrace, 
 Neither drugs whereof Orpheus taught, 
 Nor in all that Apollo brought 97 
 
 To Asklepius' race. 
 When the herbs of healing he severed, and out of thei 
 
 anguish delivered 
 '-' The pain-distraught. 
 
 {Ant. I 
 There is none other Goddess beside. 
 
 To the altars of whom 
 No man draweth near, nor hath cried 
 To her image, nor victim hath died. 
 
 Averting her doom. 
 Ο Goddess, more mighty for ill 
 
 Come not upon me 
 Than in days overpast : for his will 
 Even Zeus may in no wise fulfil 
 Unholpen of thee. 
 Steel is molten as water before thee, but never relentinj 
 came o'er thee, 981 
 
 Who art ruthless still. 
 
 {Str. 2 
 Thee, friend, hath the Goddess gripped : from he 
 
 hands never wrestler hath slipped. 
 Yet be strong to endure : never mourning shall brin| 
 our beloved returning 
 
 From the nethergloom up to the light. 
 Yea, the heroes of Gods begotten, 
 They fade into darkness, forgotten 
 
 In death's chill night. 99 
 
ALCESTIS. 51 
 
 Dear was she in days ere we lost her, 
 
 Dear yet, though she lie with the dead. 
 None nobler shall Earth-mother foster 
 Than the wife of thy bed. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Not as mounds of the dead which have died, so account 
 
 we the tomb of thy bride. 
 But O, let the worship and honour that we render to 
 Gods rest upon her : 
 
 Unto her let the wayfarer pray. 
 As he treadeth the pathway that trendeth 1000 
 Aside from the highway, and bendeth 
 
 At her shrine, he shall say : 
 " Her life for her lord's was given ; 
 
 With the Blest now abides she on high. 
 Hail, Queen, show us grace from thine 
 heaven ! " 
 Even so shall they cry. 
 
 But lo, AlkmSne's son, as seemeth, yonder, 
 Admetus, to thine hearth is journeying. 
 
 Enter Herakles, leading a woman wholly veiled. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Unto a friend behoveth speech outspoken, 
 
 Admetus, not to hide within the breast 
 
 Murmurs unvoiced. I came mid thine affliction. loio 
 
 Fair claim was mine to rank amidst thy friends. ^, 
 
 Thou told'st me not how lay thy wife a corpse : 
 
 Thou gavest me guest-welcome in thine home. 
 
 Making pretence of mourning for a stranger. 
 
 I wreathed mine head, I spilled unto the Gods 1015 
 
 Drink-offerings in a stricken house, even thine. 
 
 Ε 3 
 
52 EURIPIDES. 
 
 I blame thee, thus mishandled, yea, I blame thee. 
 
 Yet nowise is my will to gall thy grief. 
 
 But wherefore hither turning back I come, 
 
 This will I tell. Take, guard for me this maid, 102 
 
 Till, leading hitherward the Thiracian mares, 
 
 I come from slaughter of Bistonia's lord. 
 
 But if — not that, for I would fain return, — 
 
 I give her then, for service of thine halls. 
 
 Prize of hard toil unto mine hands she came : loi 
 
 For certain men I found but now arraying 
 
 An athlete-strife, toil-worthy, for all comers. 
 
 Whence I have won and bring this victor's meed. 
 
 Horses there were for them to take which won 
 
 The light foot's triumph ; but for hero-strife, 103 
 
 Boxing and wrestling, oxen were the guerdon : 
 
 A woman made it richer. Shame it seemed 
 
 To hap thereon, and slip this glorious gain. 
 
 But, as I said, this woman be thy care : [103 
 
 For no thief's prize, but toil-achieved, 1 bring her. 
 
 Yea, one day thou perchance shalt say 'twas well. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Not flouting thee, nor counting among foes. 
 
 My wife's unhappy fate I hid from thee. 
 
 But this had been but grief uppiled on grief, 
 
 Hadst thou sped hence to be another's guest ; 104 
 
 And mine own ills sufficed me to bewail. 
 
 But, for the woman — if in any wise 
 
 It may be, prince, bid some Thessalian guard her, 
 
 I pray thee, who hath suffered not as I. 
 
 In Pherse many a friend and host thou hast. 
 
 Awaken not remembrance of my grief. 104 
 
 I could not, seeing her mine halls within. 
 
ALCESTIS. 53 
 
 Be tearless : add not hurt unto mine hurt. 
 
 Burdened enough am I by mine affliction. 
 
 Nay, in mine house where should a young maid lodge ? — ■ 
 
 For (Vesture and adorning speak her young : — 1050 
 
 What, 'neath the men's roof shall her lodging be ? 
 
 And how unsullied, dwelling with young men ? 
 
 Not easy is it, Herakles, to curb 
 
 The young : herein do I take thought for thee. 
 
 Or shall I ope to her my dead wife's bower ? 1055 
 
 How ! — cause her to usurp my lost love's bed ? 
 
 Twofold reproach I dread — from mine own folk. 
 
 Lest one should say that, traitor to her kindness, 
 
 1 fall upon another woman's bed, — 
 
 And of the dead, to me most reverence-worthy, 1060 
 
 Needs must I take great heed. But, woman, thou, 
 
 Whoso thou art, know that thy body's stature j 
 
 Is as Alcestis, and thy form as hers. f 
 
 Ah me ! — lead, for the Gods' sake, from my sight 
 
 This woman ! — Take not my captivity captive. 1065 
 
 For, as I look on her, methinks I see 
 
 My wife : she stirs mine heart with turmoil : fountains 
 
 Of tears burst from mine eyes. Ο wretched 1 ! 
 
 Now first I taste this griefs full bitterness. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 In sooth thy fortune can I not commend : 1070 
 
 Yet must we brook a God's gift, whoso cometh. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Ο that such ^night I had as back to bring 
 To light thy wife from nethergloom abodes. 
 And to bestow this kindness upon thee 1 
 
54 EURIPIDE^. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Fain would'st thou, well I know. But wherefore this ? 
 It cannot be the dead, to light should come. [1075 
 
 Herakles. 
 O'ershoot not now the mark, but bear all bravely. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Easier to exhort than suffer and be strong. 
 
 Herakles. 
 But what thy profit, though for aye thou moan ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 I too know this ; yet love constraineth me. 1080 
 
 Herakles. 
 Love for the lost — ay, that draws forth the tear. 
 
 Admetus. 
 She hath undone me more than words can tell. 
 
 Herakles. 
 A good wife hast thou lost, who shall gainsay ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 So that this man hath no more joy in life. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Time shall bring healing : now is thy grief young. 1085• 
 
 Admetus. 
 Time — time ? — Ο yea, if this thy Time be Death ! 
 
ALCESTIS. 55 
 
 Herakles. 
 A wife, and yearning for new love, shall calm thee. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Hush ! — what say'st thou ? — 1 could not think thereon ! 
 
 Herakles. 
 How ? — wilt not wed, but widowed keep thy couch ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 Lives not the woman that shall couch with me. 1090 
 
 Herakles. 
 Look'st thou that this shall profit aught the dead ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 I needs must honour her where'er she be. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Good — good — yet one with folly so might charge thee. 
 
 Admetus. 
 So be it, so thou call me bridegroom never. 
 
 Herakles. 
 I praise thee for that leal thou art to her. 1095 
 
 Admetus. 
 Death be my meed, if I betray her dead. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Receive this woman now these halls within. ,' 
 
 ι 
 { 
 
 Admetus. . 
 
 Nay !— I beseech by Zeus that did beget thee ! 
 
56 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Yet shalt thou err if tiiou do not this thing. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Yet shall mine heart be grief-stung, if I do it. iioo 
 
 Herakles. 
 Yield thou : this grace may prove perchance a duty. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ο that in strife thou ne'er hadst won this maid ! 
 
 Herakles. 
 Yet thy friend's victory is surely thine. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Well said : yet let the woman hence depart. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Yea — if need be. First look well — need it be ? 1105 
 
 Admetus. 
 Needs must — save thou wilt else be wroth with me. 
 
 Herakles. 
 I too know what I do, insisting thus. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Have then thy will : thy pleasure is my pain. 
 
 Herakles. i. 
 
 Yet one day shalt thou praise me : only yield. 
 
ALCESTIS. 57 
 
 Admetus. 
 To Attendants. 
 
 Lead ye her, if mine halls must needs, receive. mo 
 
 Herakles. 
 Not to thy servants' hands will I commit her. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Thou lead her in then, if it seems thee good. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Nay, but in thine hands will I place her — thine. 
 
 Admetus. 
 I will not touch her ! — Open stand my doors. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Unto thy right hand only trust 1 her. 1115 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ο king, thou forcest me : I will not this ! 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Be strong : stretch forth thine hand and touch thy 
 guest. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 I stretch it forth, as to a headless Gorgon. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Hast her ? 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 I have. 
 
58 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 Yea, guard her. Thou shalt call 
 The child of Zeus one day a noble guest. 1120 
 
 [^Raises the veil, and discloses Alcestis. 
 Look on her, if in aught she seems to thee 
 Like to thy wife. Step forth from grief to bliss. ' 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 What shall 1 say ? — Gods ! Marvel this unhoped for ! 
 
 My wife do I behold in very sooth, 
 
 Or doth some god-sent mockery -joy distract me ? 11 25 
 
 Herakles. 
 Not so ; but this thou seest is thy wife. 
 
 Admetus. 
 What if this be some phantom from the shades ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 No ghost-upraiser hast thou ta'en for guest. 
 
 Admetus. 
 How ? — whom I buried do I see — my wife ? 
 
 Herakles. [1130 
 
 Doubt not : yet might'st thou well mistrust thy fortune. 
 
 Admetus. 
 As wife, as living, may I touch, address her ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 Speak to her : all thou didst desire thou hast. 
 
ALCESTIS. 59 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ο face, Ο form of my beloved wife, 
 
 Past hope I have thee, who ne'er thought to see thee ! 
 
 Herakles. 
 Thou hast : may no God of thy bliss be jealous. 1135 
 
 Admetus. 
 Ο scion nobly-born of Zeus most high, 
 Blessings on thee ! The Father who begat thee 
 Keep thee ! Thou only hast restored my fortunes. 
 How didst thou bring her from the shades to light ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 1 closed in conflict with the Lord of Spirits. 1140 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Where, say'st thou, didst thou fight this fight with 
 Death ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 From ambush by the tomb mine hands ensnared him. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Now wherefore speechless standeth thus my wife ? 
 
 Herakles. 
 
 'Tis not vouchsafed thee yet to hear her voice. 
 
 Ere to the Powers beneath the earth she be , 1145 
 
 Unconsecrated, and the third day come. y"^ 
 
 But lead her in, and, just man as thou art, 
 
 Henceforth, Admetus, reverence still the guest. 
 
 Farewell. But I must go, and work the work 
 
 Set by the king, the son of Sthenelus. 11 50 
 
6ο EURIPIDES. 
 
 Admetus. 
 Abide with us, a sharer of our hearth. 
 
 Herakles. 
 Hereafter this : now must I hasten on. 
 
 Admetus. 
 
 Ο prosper thou, and come again in peace ! 
 
 Through all my realm I publish to my folk 
 
 That, for these blessings, dances they array, 115 
 
 And that atonement-fumes from altars rise. 
 
 For now to happier days than those o'erpast 
 
 Have we attained. 1 own me blest indeed. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ο the works of the Gods — in manifold forms the 
 
 reveal them : 
 
 Manifold things unhoped-for the Gods to accomplisl 
 
 ment bring. 116 
 
 And the things that we looked for, the Gods deign nc 
 
 to fulfil them ; 
 And the paths undiscerned of our eyes, the God 
 unseal them. ** 
 
 So fell this marvellous thing. 
 
 [Exeunt omne: 
 
MEDEA. 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 When the Heroes, who sailed in the ship Argo to bring 
 home the Golden Fleece, came to the land of Kolchis, 
 they found that to win that treasure was a deed passing 
 the might of mortal man, so terribly was it guarded by 
 monsters magical, even fire-breathing bulls and an un- 
 sleeping dragon. But Aphrodite caused Medea the 
 sorceress, daughter of Aiites the king of the land, to 
 love yason their captain, so that by her magic he over- 
 came the bulls and the dragon. Then jfason took the 
 Fleece, and Medea withal, for that he had pledged him 
 to wed her in the land of Greece. But as they fled, 
 A bsyrtus her brother pursued them with a host of war, 
 yet by Medea's devising was he slain. So they came to 
 the land of lolkos, and to Pelias, who held the kingdom 
 which was Jason's of right. But Medea by her magic 
 wrought upon Pelias' daughters so that they slew their 
 father. Yet by reason of tnen's horror of the deed might 
 not jfason and Medea abide in the land, and they came to 
 Corinth. But there all men rejoiced for the coming of a 
 hero so mighty in war and a lady renowned for wisdom 
 unearthly, for that Medea was grandchild of the Sun- 
 
IV 
 
 god. But after ten years, Kreon the king of the lana 
 spake to yason, saying, " Lo, I will give thee my daugh- 
 ter to wife, and thou shall reign after me, if thou will 
 put away thy wife Medea; but her and her two son: 
 will I banish from the land." So jfason consented 
 And of this befell things strange and awful, which an 
 told herein. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 Nurse of Medea's Children. 
 
 Children's Guardian* 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Chorus of Corinthian Ladies. 
 
 Kreon, King of Corinth. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 AiGEUs, King of Athens. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Children of Medea. 
 
 The Scene is in front of Jason's House at Corinth. 
 
 * Padagogus. — A trusted servant, responsible for keeping the boj 
 out of harm's way : he was present at their sports, accompanie 
 them to and from school, and never let them be out of his sight. . 
 similar institution is familiar to Englishmen resident in India. 
 
MEDEA. 
 
 'inter Nurse of Medea's Children. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 ^'^ouLD God that Argo's hull had never flown 
 
 Through those blue Clashing Rocks to Kolchis-land, 
 
 Sior that in Pelion's glens had fallen ever 
 
 The axe-hewn pine, nor filled with oars the hands 
 
 3f hero-princes, who at Pelias' hest 5 
 
 Juested the Golden Fleece ! My mistress then, 
 
 Medea, to lolkos' towers had sailed not 
 
 Λ^ith love for Jason thrilled through all her soul, 
 
 Slor had on Pelias' daughters wrought to slay 
 
 Their sire, nor now in this Corinthian land 10 
 
 Dwelt with hear lord and children, gladdening 
 
 By this her exile them whose land received her, 
 
 ^ea,'and in all things serving Jason's weal, 
 
 Which is the chief salvation of the home. 
 
 When wife stands not at variance with her lord. 15 
 
 !^ow all is hatred : love is sickness-stricken. 
 
 ?or Jason, traitor to his babes and her, 
 
 Vly mistress, weddeth with a child of kings, 
 
 Daughter of Kreon ruler of the land. 
 
 Vnd, slighted thus, Medea, hapless wife, 20 
 
 ^ries on the oaths, invokes that mightiest pledge 
 
62 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Of the right hand, and calls the Gods to witness 
 
 From Jason what requital she receives. 
 
 Foodless she lies, her frame to griefs resigned. 
 
 Wasting in tears all those long weary hours 25 
 
 Since first she knew her outraged by her lord, 
 
 Never uplifting eye, nor turning ever 
 
 From earth her face ; but like a rock or sea-wave 
 
 So hearkens she to friends that counsel her ; 
 
 Saving at whiles, when, turning her white neck, 30 
 
 All to herself she wails her sire beloved. 
 
 Her land, her home, forsaking which she came 
 
 Hither with him who holds her now dishonoured. 
 
 Now knows she, hapless, by affliction's teaching, 
 
 How good is fatherland unforfeited. 35 
 
 She loathes her babes, joys not beholding them. 
 
 I fear her, lest some mischief she devise. 
 
 Grim is her spirit, one that will not brook 
 
 Mishandling : yea, I know her, and I dread 
 
 Lest through her heart she thrust the whetted knife, 40 
 
 Through the halls stealing silent to her bed. 
 
 Or slay the king and him that weds his child, 
 
 And get herself therefrom some worse misfortune : 
 
 For dangerous is she : who begins a feud 
 
 With her, not soon shall sing the triumph-song. 45 
 
 But lo, her boys, their racing-sport put by. 
 
 Draw near, unwitting of their mother's ills, 
 
 For the young heart loves not to brood in grief. 
 
 Enter Children's Guardian, with hoys. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 Ο ancient chattel of my mistress' home, 
 Why at the gates thus lonely standest thou, 50 
 
 Thyself unto thyself discoursing ills ? 
 
MEDEA. 63 
 
 How wills Medea to be left of thee ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Ο grey attendant of the sons of Jason, 
 
 The hearts of faithful servants still are touched 
 
 By ill-betiding fortunes of their lords. 55 
 
 For I have come to such a pass of grief, 
 
 That yearning took me hitherward to come 
 
 And tell to earth and heaven my lady's fortunes. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 Ceaseth not yet the hapless one from moan ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 Cease ! — her pain scarce begun, the midst far off! 60 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 Ah fool ! — if one may say it of his lords — 
 Little she knoweth of the latest blow. 
 
 Nurse. 
 What is it, ancient ? Grudge not thou to tell me. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 Nought : I repent me of the word that 'scaped me. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Nay, by thy beard, from fellow-thrall hide not — 65 
 Silence, if need be, will I keep thereof. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 I heard one saying — feigning not to hear, 
 As I drew near the marble thrones,^ where sit 
 The ancients round PeirfinS's hallowed fount, — 
 
 1 So Mahaffy, adopted by Paley. 
 
 F 3 
 
64 EURIPIDES. 
 
 That Kreon, this land's lord, will shortly drive 70 
 
 These boys from soil Corinthian with their mother ? 
 Howbeit, if the tale I heard be true 
 I know not : fain were I it were not so. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Will Jason brook his children suffering this, 
 
 What though he be estranged from their mother ? 75 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 The old ties in the race lag far behind 
 The new : — no friend is he unto this house. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 We are undone then, if we add fresh iU 
 To old, ere lightened be our ship of this. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 But thou — for 'tis not season that thy lady 80 
 
 Should know — keep silence, and speak not the tale. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Hear, babes, what father this is unto you ! 
 
 I curse him — not : he is my master still : 
 
 But to his friends he stands convict of baseness. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 What man is not ? — Hast learnt this only now, 85 
 
 ,j That each man loves self better than his neighbour, 
 For just cause some, and some for greed of gain ? 
 So, for a bride's sake, these their father loves not. 
 
MEDEA. 65 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Pass in, dear children, for it shall be well. 
 
 But thou, keep these apart to the uttermost : 90 
 
 Bring them not nigh their mother angry-souled. 
 
 For late I saw her glare, as glares a bull 
 
 On these, as 'twere for mischief ; nor her wrath, 
 
 I know, shall cease, until its lightning strike. 
 
 To foes may she work ill, and not to friends ! 95 
 
 Medea (behind the scenes). 
 
 Ο hapless I ! — Ο miseries heaped on mine head ! 
 Ah me ! ah me ! would God I were dead ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Lo, darlings, the thing that I told you ! 
 
 Lo the heart of your mother astir ! 
 And astir is her anger : withhold you 100 
 
 From her sight, come not nigh unto her. 
 Haste, get you within : Ο beware ye 
 
 Of the thoughts as a wild-beast brood, 
 Of the nature too ruthless to spare ye 
 In its desperate mood. 
 
 Pass ye within now, departing 
 
 With all speed. It is plain to discern 
 How a cloud of lamenting, upstarting 
 
 From its viewless beginnings, shall burn 
 In lightnings of fury yet fiercer. 
 
 What deeds shall be dared of that soul, 
 So haughty, when wrong's goads pierce her, 
 
 So hard to control ? no 
 
 \_Exeunt Children with Guardian. 
 
66 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Medea (behind the scenes). 
 
 Woe ! I have suffered, have suffered, foul wrongs that 
 may waken, may waken. 
 Mighty lamentings full well ! Ο ye children accursed 
 from the womb, 
 Hence to destruction, ye brood of a loathed one for- 
 saken, forsaken ! 
 Hence with your father, and perish our home in the 
 blackness of doom ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Ah me, in the father's offences 
 
 What part have the babes, that thine hate 
 Should blast them ? — forlorn innocences. 
 
 How sorely I fear for your fate ! 
 Ah princes — how fearful their moods are ! — 
 
 Long ruling, unschooled to obey, — 120 
 
 Unforgiving, unsleeping their feuds are. 
 Better life's level way. 
 
 Be it mine, if in greatness I may not, 
 
 Γη quiet and peace to grow old. 
 Sweeter name than " The Mean " shall ye say not ; 
 
 But to taste it is sweetness untold. 
 But to men never weal above measure 
 
 Availed : on its perilous height 
 The Gods in their hour of displeasure 
 
 The heavier smite. 130 
 
 Enter Chorus of Corinthian Ladies. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 I have hearkened the voice of the daughter of Kolchis, 
 the sound of the crying 
 
MEDEA . 67 
 
 Of the misery-stricken ; nor yet is she stilled. Now 
 the tale of her tell, 
 Grey woman ; for moaned through the porch from her 
 
 chamber the wail of her sighing ; 
 And I cannot, I cannot be glad while the home in 
 affliction is lying, 
 
 The house I have loved so well. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Home ? — home there is none : it hath vanished away : 
 For my lord to a bride of the princes is thrall ; 140 
 
 And my lady is pining the livelong day 
 
 In her bower, and for nought that her friends' lips say 
 On her heart may the dews of comfort fall. 
 
 Medea (behind the scenes). 
 
 Would God that the flame of the lightning from heaven 
 descending, descending. 
 Might burn through mine head ! — for in living wherein 
 any more is my gain ? 
 Alas and alas ! Would God I might bring to an ending, 
 an ending. 
 The life that I loathe, and behind me might cast all 
 its burden of pain ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str.) 
 
 Ο Zeus, Earth, Light, did ye hear her. 
 How waileth the woe-laden breath 
 Of the bride in unhappiest plight ? 
 What yearning for vanished delight, 150 
 
 Ο passion-distraught, should have might 
 To cause thee to wish death nearer — 
 The ending of all things, death ? 
 
68 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Make thou not for this suppHcation ! 
 
 If thine husband hath turned and adored 
 New love, that estranged he is, 
 Ο harrow thy soul not for this. 
 It is Zeus that shall right thee, I wis. 
 Ah, pine not in over-vexation 
 Of spirit, bewailing thy lord ! 
 
 Medea [behind the scenes). 
 
 Ο Lady of Justice, Ο Artemis' Majesty, see it, Ο se( 
 it— i6( 
 
 Look on the wrongs that I suffer, by oaths ever 
 lasting who tied 
 The soul of mine husband, that ne'er from the curse h( 
 might free it, nor free it 
 From your vengeance ! — Ο may I behold him a 
 last, even hirh and his bride, 
 Them, and these halls therewithal, all shattered ii 
 ruin, in ruin ! — 
 Wretches, who dare unprovoked to do to Medej 
 despite ! 
 Ο father, Ο city, whom erst I forsook, for undoing, un 
 doing. 
 And for shame, when the blood of my brother I spil 
 on the path of my flight ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Do ye hear what she saith, and uplifteth her cry 
 Unto Themis and Zeus, to the Suppliant's King, 
 
 Oath-steward of men that be born but to die ? 170 
 
 Ο my lady will lay not her anger by 
 
 Soon, making her vengeance a little thing. 
 
MEDEA. 69 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 (Ant.) 
 If she would but come forth where we wait her, 
 If she would but give ear to the sound 
 Of our speech, that her spirit would learn 
 From its fierceness of anger to turn. 
 And her lust for revenge not burn ! 
 Ο ne'er may my love prove traitor, 
 Never false to my friends be it found ! 
 
 But go thou, and forth of the dwelling 180 
 
 Thy mistress hitherward lead. 
 Say to her that friends be we all. 
 Ο hasten, ere mischief befall 
 The lords of the palace-hall. 
 For her grief, like a tempest upswelling. 
 Resistless shall ruin-ward speed. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 I will do it : but almost my spirit despaireth 
 To win her ; yet labour of love shall it be. 
 But my queen on her thralls as a mad bull glareth. 
 Or a lioness couched mid her whelps, whoso dareth 
 With speech to draw near her, so tameless is she. 
 
 He should err not, who named the old singers in 
 singing 190 
 
 Not cunning, but left-handed bards, for their lays 
 Did they frame for the mirth-tide, the festal in-bringing 
 Of the wine, and the feast, when the harp-strings are 
 ringing 
 To sweeten with melody life's sweet days : 
 
70 EURIPIDES. 
 
 But the dread doom of mortals, the anguish heart 
 
 rending — 
 Never minstrel by music hath breathed on then 
 
 peace, 
 Nor by song with his harp-notes in harmony blending 
 Albeit of these cometh death's dark ending 
 
 Unto many a home that is wrecked of these. 
 
 And yet were it surely a boon to bring healing 
 
 Of sorrow to mortals with song : but in vain 20( 
 Mid the fulness of feasting ring voices clear-pealing, 
 And the banquet itself hath a glamour, concealing 
 From mortals their doom, flinging spells over pain 
 
 [Exit Nurse 
 Chorus. 
 
 I have heard it, the sigh-laden cry of the daughter 
 Of Kolchis, the woe-shrilling anguish of wailing 
 For the traitor to love who Avith false vows caught her 
 Who in strength of her wrongs chideth Heaven 
 
 assailing 
 
 The Oath-queen of Zeus, who with cords all-pre 
 
 vailing [21^ 
 
 Forth haled her, and brought her o'er star-litten water 
 
 Where the brine-mists hover o'er Pontus' Key, 
 
 Unto Hellas far over the boundless sea. 
 
 Enter Medea. ,, 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Corinthian dames, I have come forth my doors 
 Lest ye should blame me. Many folk I know 21 
 
 Accounted haughty, some, for proud staid mien,^ 
 Some, stranger-shy :'■' and some, that softly go, 
 
 1 lit. "from their looks.'' 
 
 2 lit. " as being σεμνοί (reserved) when amongst strangers 
 
MEDEA. 71 
 
 Have gotten ill repute of indolence. 
 
 For justice sits not in the eyes of man, 
 
 Who, ere he hath discerned his neighbour's heart, 220 
 
 Hates him at sight, albeit nowise wronged. 
 
 The sojourner must learn the city's wont ; 
 
 Nor praise 1 citizens-born, law to themselves, 
 
 Mannerless churls, which flout their fellow-folk. 
 
 But me— unlooked-for fell this blow on me, 225 
 
 And brake mine heart. Undone I am ; have lost 
 
 All grace of life, and long to die, my friends. 
 
 For he that was mine all, — thou know'st it well, — ^ 
 
 My lord, of all men basest hath become. 
 
 Surely, of creatures that have life and wit, 230 
 
 We women are of all things wretchedest, 
 
 Who, first, must needs, as buys the highest bidder, 
 
 Thus buy a husband, and our body's master 
 
 So win — for deeper depth of ill is this. 
 
 Nay, risk is dire herein, — or shall we gain 235 
 
 An evil lord or good ? For change is shame 
 
 To woman, nor may she renounce her spouse. 
 
 And, coming to new customs, habits new, 
 
 Seer need she be, to know the thing unlearnt. 
 
 What manner of man her couch's mate shall be. 240 
 
 But if we learn our lesson, if our lord 
 
 Dwell with us, plunging not against the yoke, 
 
 Haplpy our lot : if not — no help but death. 
 
 For the man, when at home they fret his soul. 
 
 Goes forth, and stays his loathing heart's disgust, 245 
 
 Unto a friend or age-mate turning him. 
 
 We have but one, one heart to seek for comfort. 
 
 But we, say they, live an unperilled life 
 
 1 Or, reading -γίγνώσ-κειν — " For he, to know whom 
 rightly was mine all." 
 
72 EURIPIDES. 
 
 I 
 
 At home, while they do battle with the spear. 
 
 Falsely they deem : twice would I under shield 2; 
 
 Stand, rather than bear childbirth peril once. 
 
 Yet thee and me the selfsame reasons touch not. 
 
 Thine is this city, thine a father's home ; 
 
 Hast bliss of life and fellowship of friends. 
 
 But I, lone, cityless, and outraged~FFitis- 2; 
 
 Of him who kidnapped me from foreign shores, 
 
 Mother nor brother have I, kinsman none, 
 
 For port of refuge from calamity. 
 
 Wherefore I fain would win of thee this boon : — 
 
 If any path be found me, or device, 2( 
 
 Whereby to avenge these wrongs upon mine husbanc 
 
 On her who weds, on him who gives the bride, 
 
 Keep silence. Woman quails at every peril, 
 
 Faint-heart to face the fray and look on steel ; 
 
 But when in wedlock-rights she suffers wrong, ii 
 
 No spirit more bloodthirsty shall be found. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 This will I ; for 'tis just that thou, Medea, 
 Requite thy lord : no marvel thou dost grieve. 
 But I see Kreon, ruler of this land. 
 Advancing, herald of some new decree. 2' 
 
 Enter Kreon. 
 
 Kreon. 
 
 Thee the black-lowering, wroth against thy lord, 
 
 Medea, bid I forth this land to fare 
 
 An exile, taking thy two sons with thee. 
 
 And make no tarrying : daysman of this cause 
 
 Am I, and homeward go I not again 2 
 
 Ere from the land's boimds I have cast thee forth. 
 
MEDEA . 73 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Ah me ! undone am I in utter ruin ! 
 
 My foes crowd sail pursuing : landing-place 
 
 Is none from surges of calamity. 
 
 Yet, howso wronged, one question will I ask — 280 
 
 For what cause, Kreon, dost thou banish me ? 
 
 Rreon. 
 
 I fear thee — need is none to cloak my words — 
 Lest on my child thou wreak some ill past cure. 
 And to this dread do many things conspire. 
 Wise art thou, cunning in much evil lore ; 285 
 
 Chafed art thou, of thine husband's couch bereft : 
 I hear thou threatenest, so they bring me word, 
 To wreak on sire, on bridegroom, and on bride 
 Mischief. I guard mine head ere falls the blow. 
 Better be hated, woman, now of thee, 290 
 
 Than once relent, and sorely groan too late. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Not now first, Kreon, — many a time ere now 
 Rumour hath wronged and wrought me grievous harm. 
 Ne'er should the man whose heart is sound of wit 
 Let teach his sons more wisdom than the herd. 295 
 They are burdened with unprofitable lore, 
 And spite and envy of other folk they earn. 
 For, if thou bring strange wisdom unto dullards, 
 Useless shalt thou be counted, and not wise : 
 And, grant thy name o'ertop the self-extolled 300 
 
 Wits, in the city odious shalt thou be. 
 Myself too in this fortune am partaker. 
 Of some my wisdom wins me jealousy, 
 
74 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Some count me idle ; some, o'erbusy ; some 
 Unsocial : — yet not over- wise am I. 305 
 
 And thou, thou fear'st me, lest I mar thy music. 
 Not such am I — Ο Kreon, dread not me — 
 That against princes I should dare transgress. 
 How hast thou wronged me ? Thou hast given thy 
 child [310 
 
 To whomso pleased thee. But — I hate mine husband : 
 And, doubtless, this in prudence hast thou done ? 
 Nay, but I grudge not thy prosperity. 
 Wed ye, and prosper. But in this your land 
 Still let me dwell : for I, how wronged soe'er, 
 Will hold my peace, o'ermastered by the strong. 315 
 
 Kreon. 
 
 Soft words to hear : but lurks mine heart within 
 
 Dread lest thou plottest mischief all the while ; 
 
 And all the less I trust thee than before. 
 
 The vehement-hearted woman — ^yea, or man — 
 
 Is easier watched-for than the silent-cunning. 320 
 
 But forth with all speed : plead me pleadings none. 
 
 For this is stablished : no device hast thou 
 
 To bide with us, who art a foe to me. 
 
 Medea. 
 Nay, — by thy knees, and by the bride, thy child ! 
 
 Kreon. 
 Thou wastest words ; thou never shalt prevail. 325 
 
 Medea. 
 Wilt drive me fbrth, respecting nought my prayers ? 
 
MEDEA . 75 
 
 Kreon. 
 Ay : more I love not thee than mine own house. 
 
 Medea. 
 O, how I call thee now to mind, my country ! 
 
 Kreon. 
 Ay, dear to me is Corinth, next my children. 
 
 Medea. 
 Alas ! to mortals what a curse is love ! 330 
 
 Kreon. 
 Blessing or curse, I trow, as fortune falls. 
 
 Medea. 
 Zeus, may the cause of this 'scape not thy ken ! γ 
 
 Kreon. 
 Hence, passionate fool, and rid me of my trouble. 
 
 Medea. 
 Troubled am I, nor need I troubles new. 
 
 Kreon. 
 Soon shalt thou be by servants' hands thrust out. 335 
 
 Medea. 
 Nay — nay — not this, Ο Kreon, I beseech thee ! 
 
 Kreon. 
 A coil thou wilt make, woman, as it seems. 
 
76 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Medea. 
 I will flee forth : — not this the boon I crave. 
 
 Kreon. 
 Why restive then ? — why rid not Corinth of thee ? 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Suffer me yet to tarry this one day, 340 
 
 And somewhat for our exile to take thought, 
 
 And find my babes a refuge, since their sire 
 
 Cares nought to make provision for his sons. 
 
 Compassionate these : a father too art thou 
 
 Of children : meet it is thou show these grace. 345 
 
 Not for myself I fret, if I be banished : 
 
 For them in their calamity I mourn. 
 
 Kreon. 
 
 My spirit least of all is tyrannous. 
 Many a plan have my relentings marred : 
 And, woman, now I know I err herein, 350 
 
 Yet shalt thou win this boon. But 1 forewarn thee. 
 If thee the approaching Sun-god's torch behold 
 Within this country's confines with thy sons. 
 Thou diest : — the word is said that shall not lie. 
 Now, if remain thou must, remain one day — 355 
 
 Too short for thee to do the deeds I dread. [Exit. 
 
 Chorus. 
 O.hapless thou ! 
 Woe's me for ^hy niisery, woe for the trouble and 
 
 anguish that meet thee ! 
 Whitherward wilt thou turn thee ? — what welcoming 
 hand mid the strangers shall greet«thee ? 
 
MEDEA. 77 
 
 What home or what land to receive thee, deliverance 
 from evils to give thee, 360. 
 
 Wilt thou find for thee now ? 
 How mid surge of despair to o'erwhelm thee in ruin 
 God's hand on thine helm 
 
 Hath steered, Ο Medea, thy prow ! 
 
 Medea. 
 
 'Tis ill done every way ; who shall gainsay ? 
 
 Yet nowise ill in this : deem not so yet. 365 
 
 Bridegroom and bride grim conflicts yet await ; 
 
 Nor troubles light abide these marriage-makers. 
 
 Think'st thou that I had cringed to yon man ever, 
 
 Except to gain some gain, or work some wile ? [370 
 
 Nor word nor touch of hand had I vouchsafed him. 
 
 But to such height of folly hath he come, 
 
 That, when he might forestall mine every plot 
 
 By banishment, this day of grace he grants me 
 
 To stay, wherein three foes will I lay dead. 
 
 The father, and the daughter, and mine husband. 375 
 
 And, having for them many paths of death. 
 
 Which first to take in hand 1 know not, friends ; 
 
 Whether to set the bridal bower aflame. 
 
 Or through the heart to thrust the whetted knife, 
 
 Through yon halls stealing silent to their couch. 380 
 
 Yet one thing bars the way — if I be found 
 
 Crossing the threshold of the house and plotting. 
 
 Die shall I, and make mirth unto my foes. 
 
 Best the straight path, wherein my. nature's cunning 
 
 Excels, by poisons to destroy them : — yea. ' 385 
 
 Now, grant them dead : what city will receive me. 
 
 What host vouchsafe a land of refuge, home 
 
 Secure, and from the avenger shield nrty life ? 
 
78 EURIPIDES. 
 
 There is none. Tarrying then a little space, 
 
 If any tower of safety shall appear, 390 
 
 These deaths by guile and silence will I compass ; 
 
 But if misfortune drive me desperate forth, 
 
 Myself will grip the sword, — yea, though I die, — 
 
 And slay, and dare the strong hand's reckless deed : 
 
 For, by the Queen of Night, whom I revere 395 
 
 Above all, and for fellow- worker chose, 
 
 Hekate, dweller by mine hearth's dark shrine. 
 
 Not one shall vex my soul, and rue it not. 
 
 Bitter and woeful bridal will 1 give them, 
 
 Bitter troth-plight and banishing of me. 400 
 
 Up then ! — spare nought of all thy sorcery-lore, 
 
 Medea, of thy plotting and contriving ; 
 
 On to the dread deed ! Now is need of daring. 
 
 Look on thy wrongs : thou must not make derision 
 
 For sons of Sisyphus, for Jason's bride, — 405 
 
 Thou, sprung from royal father, from the Sun ! 
 
 Thou know'st means. Yea, our woman-nature 'tis — 
 
 Say they — to be most helpless for all good, 
 
 But fashioners most cunning of all ill. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. I.) 
 Upward aback to their fountains the sacred rivers are 
 stealing ; 
 Justice is turned to injustice, the order of old to con- 
 fusion : 410 
 The thoughts of the hearts of men are treachery wholly, 
 and, reeling 
 From its ancient foundations, the faith of the Gods 
 is become a delusion. 
 Changes — and changes ! — the voice of the people shall 
 crown me with honour : 
 
MEDEA . 79 
 
 My life shall be sunlit with glory ; for woman the 
 old-time story 
 Is ended, the slanders hoary no more shall as chains 
 be upon her. 
 
 {Ant. I.) 
 And the strains of the singers of old generations for 
 shame shall falter, 420 
 
 Which sang evermore of the treason of woman, her 
 faithlessness ever. 
 Alas, that our lips are not touched with the fire of song 
 from the altar 
 Of Phoebus, the Harper-king, of the inspiration- 
 giver ! 
 Else had I lifted my voice in challenge of song high- 
 ringing 
 Unto men : for the roll of the ages shall find for the 
 poet-sages 
 Proud woman-themes for their pages, heroines worthy 
 their singing. 
 
 {Str. 2.) 
 
 But thou from the ancient home didst sail over leagues 
 of foam, 430 
 
 On-sped by a frenzied heart, and the sea-gates sawest 
 dispart, 
 
 The Twin Rocks. Now, in the land 
 Of the stranger, thy doom is to waken 
 To a widowed couch, and forsaken 
 Of thy lord, and woe-overtaken. 
 To be cast forth shamed and banned. 
 
 {Ant. 2.) 
 Disannulled is the spell of the oath : no shame for the 
 
 . broken troth 
 In Hellas the wide doth remain, but heavenward its 
 flight hath it ta'en. 
 
8ο EURIPIDES. 
 
 No home of a father hast thou 440 
 
 For thine haven when trouble-storms lower. 
 Usurped is thy bridal bower 
 Of another, in prride of her power, 
 
 Ill-starred, overqueening thee now. 
 
 Enter jfason. \ 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Not now first, nay, but ofttimes have I marked 
 
 What desperate mischief is a froward spirit. 
 
 For in this land, this home, when thou might'st stay 
 
 Bearing unfractiously thy rulers' pleasure. 
 
 Banished thou art for wild and whirling words. 450 
 
 Me they vex not — cease never, an thou wilt. 
 
 Clamouring, " Jason is of men most base ! " 
 
 But, for thy words against thy rulers spoken, 
 
 Count it all gain — mere exile punishing thee. 
 
 For me — still strove I to appease the wrath 455 
 
 Of kings incensed : fain would I thou shouldst stay. 
 
 But thou rein'st not thy folly, speaking still 
 
 Evil of dignities ; art therefore banished. 
 
 Yet, for all this, not wearied of my friends, 
 
 With so much forethought come I for thee, lady, 460 
 
 That, banished with thy babes, thou lack not gold, 
 
 Nor aught beside. Full many an ill is brought 
 
 In exile's train. Yea, though thou hatest me, 
 
 Ne'er can I harbour evil thought of thee. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Caitiff of caitiffs ! — -blackest of reproaches 465 
 
 My tongue for thine unmanliness can frame — 
 Thou com'st to me — thou com'st, most hateful proved 
 To heaven, to me, to all the race of men ! 
 
MEDEA . 8i 
 
 This is not daring, no, nor courage this, [470 
 
 To wrong thy friends, and blench not from their eyes. 
 But, of all plagues infecting men, the worst, 
 Even shamelessness. And yet 'tis well thou cam'st, 
 For I shall ease the burden of mine heart 
 Reviling thee, and thou be galled to hear. 
 And with the first things first will I begin. 475 
 
 I saved thee, as they know, what Greeks soe'er 
 Entered with thee the self-same Argo's hull. 
 Thee, sent to quo-U the flame-outbreathing bulls 
 With yoke-bands, and to sow the tilth of death. 
 The dragon, warder of the Fleece of Gold, 480 
 
 That sleepless kept it with his manifold coils, 
 I slew, and raised deliverance-light for thee. 
 Myself forsook my father and mine home. 
 And to lolkos under Pelion came 
 
 With thee, more zealous in thy cause than wise, 485 
 And Pelias slew by his own children's hands — 
 Of all deaths worst, — so cast out all thyi fear. 
 And thus of me, basest of men, entreated. 
 For a new bride hast thou forsaken me. 
 Though I had born thee children. Wert thou child- 
 less, 490 
 Not past forgiving were this marriage-craving. 
 But faith of oaths hath vanished. I know not 
 Whether thou deem'st the olden Gods yet rule, 
 Or that new laws are now ordained for men ; 
 For thine heart speaks thee unto me forsworn. 495 
 Out on this right hand, which thou oft wouldst clasp, — 
 These knees ! — how vainly have we been embraced 
 By a base man, thus frustrate of our hopes ! 
 
 1 Or " Yea, cast out all their fear." 
 
82 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Come, as a friend will I commune with thee — 
 
 Yet what fair dealing should I hope from thee ? — 500 
 
 Yet will I : questioned, baser shalt thou show. 
 
 Now, whither turn I ? — to my father's house, 
 
 Which, with my country, 1 for thee cast off? 
 
 To Pelias' hapless daughters ? — Graciously 
 
 Their father's slayer would they welcome home ! 505 
 
 For thus it is : a foe am I become 
 
 To mine own house. Whom I should ne'er have 
 
 harmed. 
 For grace to thee I made mine enemies. 
 So then midst Hellas' daughters hast thou made me 
 Blest in return for all : in thee have I — 510 
 
 Ο wretched I !^a wondrous spouse and leal,i 
 If from the land cast forth I pass to exile 
 Forlorn of friends, alone with children lone. 
 A proud reproach for our new bridegroom this — 
 In poverty thy babes, thy saviour, wander ! 515 
 
 Ο Zeus, ah wherefore hast thou given to men 
 Plain signs for gold which is but counterfeit, 
 But no assay-mark nature-graven shows 
 On man's form, to discern the base withal ? 
 
 y Chorus. 
 
 Awful is wrath, and past all balm of healing, 520 
 
 When they that once loved clash in feud of hate. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Needs must I be not ill at speech, meseems. 
 But, like the careful helmsman of a ship, 
 With close-reefed canvas run before the gale, 
 
 1 Or, reading κατηστον, " Woe's me ! — a marvellous 
 spouse beyond belief," 
 
MEDEA . 83 
 
 Woman, of thy tempestuous-railing tongue. 525 
 
 I — for thy kindness tower-high thou pilest — 
 
 Deem Kypris saviour of my voyaging, 
 
 Her, and none other or of Gods or men. 
 
 A subtle wit thou hast — what need to force me 
 
 To tell the tale how Love, by strong compulsion 530 
 
 Of shafts unerring, made thee save my life ? ^ 
 
 Yet take I not account too strict thereof ; "Λ- 
 
 For, in that thou didst save me, thou didst well. 
 
 Howbeit, more hast thou received than given 
 
 Of this my safety, as my words shall prove : — 535 
 
 First, then, in Hellas dwell'st thou, in the stead ^ • 
 
 Of land barbaric, knowest justice, learnest 
 
 To live by law without respect of force. 
 
 And all the Greeks have heard thy wisdom's fame. 
 
 RenowQjs_lbine : but if on earth's far bourn $f 540 
 
 Thou dwelledst yet, thou hadst not lived in story. 
 
 Now mine be neither gold mine halls within, 
 
 Nor sweeter song be mine than Orpheus sang, 
 
 If my fair fortune be to fame unknown. 
 
 Thus far of my great labours have I spoken, — 545 
 
 Since thou flung'st down this challenge to dispute : — 
 
 But, for thy railings on my royal marriage, 
 
 Herein will I show, first, that wise I was ; 
 
 Then, temperate ; third, to thee the best of friends 
 
 And to my children — nay, but hear me out. 550 
 
 When I came hither from lolkos-land 
 
 With many a desperate fortune in my train. 
 
 What happier treasure-trove could I have found . 
 
 Than to wed — I, an exile — with a princess ? 
 
 Not — where it galls thee — loathing couch of thine, 555 
 
 And for a new bride smitten with desire, / 
 
 Nor eager I to multiply mine offspring ; — 
 
84 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Suffice these born to me : no fault in them : — 
 But that we might with honour live — grave import, — 
 And be not straitened,^for I know full well 560 
 
 How all friends from the poor man stand aloof, — 
 And I might nurture as beseems mine house 
 Our sons, and to these born of thee beget 
 Brethren, and, knitting in one family all, [565 
 
 Live happy days. Thou, what wouldst thou of children ? 
 But me it profits, through sons to be born 
 To help the living. Have I planned so ill ? 
 1/ Not thou wouldst say it, butjhejbst couch^ gallsjhee. 
 But ye — ye women — so unreasoning are 
 That, wedlock-rights unmarred, ye count all well ; 570 
 But to the couch if aught untoward hap, 
 With the best, fairest lot are j'e at feud 
 Most bitter. Would that mortals otherwise 
 Could get them babes, that womankind were not. 
 And so no curse had lighted upon men. 575 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 J-Words, Jason, words, tricked out full cunningly : 
 Yet to me — though I speak not to thy mind — 
 Unjust thou seem'st, betraying thus thy wife. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Of many things 1 think not as think many. 
 
 For in my sight the villain subtle-tongued 580 
 
 Getteth himself for gain exceeding loss, 
 
 Who, confident his tongue can gloze the wrong. 
 
 Becomes a bold knave : — no great wisdom this. 
 
 So be not thou, as touching me, fair-seeming [585 
 
 And crafty-tongued : one word shall overthrow thee : 
 
MEDEA . S5 
 
 Thou shouldest, if not base, have wed this bride y 
 
 With my consent, not hid it from thy friends. j/V^ 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Ay, nobly hadst thou helped in this my purpose. 
 
 Had I a marriage named, who even now 
 
 Canst not refrain thy heart's exceeding wrath ! 590 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Not this thine hindrance, but the alien wife 
 No crown of honour was as eld drew on. 
 
 Tason. 
 
 Now know this well — not for the woman's sake 
 I wed the royal bride whom I have won, 
 But, as I said, of my desire to save 593 
 
 /Thee, and beget seed royal, to my sons 
 Brethren, and for mine house a tower of strength. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 No prosperous life 'neath sorrow's cloud for me, 1/ 
 
 Nor weal, with thorns of conscience in mine heart ! 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Know'st how to change thy prayer, and show the wiser ? 
 May thy good never seem to thee thy sorrow ; [600 
 Nor in fair fortune deem thy lot misfortune. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Ο yea, insult ! — Thou hast a refuge, thou ; 
 But desolate I am banished from this land. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Thyself hast chosen this : none other blame. 605 
 
86 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Medea. 
 I ? — sooth, by wedding and betraying thee ! 
 
 Jason. 
 By cursing princes with an impious curse. 
 
 Medea. 
 Even so, — and thus am cursing now thine house ? 
 
 Jason. 
 With thee no more I wrangle touching this, 
 ^ut if, or for the children or thyself, 6io 
 
 ^For help in exile thou wilt take my gold, 
 Speak : ready am I to give with hand ungrudging. 
 And send guest-tokens which shall find thee friends. 
 If this thou wilt not, foolish shalt thou be : 
 Refrain wrath, and advantaged shalt thou be. 615 
 
 Medea. 
 Thy friends ! — nothing will I of friends of thine. 
 No whit will I receive, nor offer thou. 
 No profit is there in a villain's gifts. 
 
 Jason. 
 In any wise I call the Gods to witness 
 That all help would I give thee and thy sons ; 620 
 
 But thy good likes thee not : thy stubborn pride 
 Spurns friends : the more thy grief shall therefore be. 
 
 Medea. 
 Away ! — impatience for the bride new-trapped 
 Consumes thee while thou loiterest at the doors ! [625 
 Wed : for perchance— and God shall speed the word — 
 Thine shall be bridal thou wouldst fain renounce. 
 
 [Exit Jason. 
 
MEDEA. 87 
 
 u 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. I.) 
 Love bringeth nor glory nor honour to men when it 
 
 Cometh restraining 
 Not its unscanted excess : but if Kypris, in measure 
 raining 630 
 
 Her joy, cometh down, there is none other Goddess 
 so winsome as she. 
 Not upon me, Ο Queen, do thou aim from thy bow all- 
 golden 
 The arrow desire-envenomed that none may avoid — 
 not on me ! 
 
 (Ant. I.) 
 But let Temperance shield ^ me, the fairest of gifts of 
 
 the Gods ever-living : 
 Nor evei: with passion of jarring contention, nor feuds 
 unforgiving. 
 In her terrors may Love's Queen visit me, smiting 
 with maddened unrest 
 For a couch mismated my soul : but the peace of the 
 bride-bed be holden 640 
 
 In honour of her, and her keen eyes choose for us 
 bonds that be best. 
 
 {Str. 2.) 
 Ο fatherland, Ο mine home, 
 Not mine be the exile's doom ! 
 Into poverty's pathways hard to be trod may my feet 
 not be guided ! 
 
 Most piteous anguish were this. 
 By death — Ο by death ere then may the conflict of life 
 be decided, 
 
 ' στέγοι (Verrall), vice MSS. στερ-γοι, "befriend." 
 
88 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ended be life's little day ! To be thus from the home- 
 land divided — 650 
 No pang more bitter there is. 
 
 {Ant. 2). 
 We have seen, and it needeth nought 
 That of others herein we be taught : 
 For thee not a city, for thee not a friend hath com- 
 passionated 
 
 When affliction most awful is thine. 
 But he, who regardeth not friends, accursed may he 
 / perish, and hated, 660 
 
 / Who opes not his heart with sincerity's key to the 
 ; hapless-fated — 
 
 Never such shall be friend of mine ! 
 Enter Aigeus. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Medea, hail ! — for fairer greeting-word 
 None knoweth to accost his friends withal. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 All hail thou also, wise Pandion's son, 665 
 
 Aigeus. Whence art thou journeying through this 
 land? 
 
 Aigeus. 
 
 Leaving the ancient oracle of Phoebus. 
 
 Medea. 
 Why didst thou fare to earth's prophetic navel ? 
 
 Aigeus. 
 To ask how seed of children might be mine. 
 
MEDEA. 
 
 Medea. 
 'Fore Heaven ! — aye childless is thy life till now ? 670 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Childless I am, by chance of some God's will. 
 
 Medea. 
 This, with a wife, or knowing not the couch ? 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Nay, not unyoked to wedlock's bed am I. 
 
 Medea. 
 Now what to thee spake Phoebus touching issue ? 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Deep words of wisdom not for man to interpret. 675 
 
 Medea. 
 Without sin might I know the God's reply ? 
 
 Aigeus. 
 Ο yea — good sooth, it needs the wise heart most. 
 
 Medea, 
 What said he ? Say, if sin be not to hear. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 The wine-skin's prominent foot I should not loose. 
 
 Medea. [680 
 
 Till thou shouldst do what thing, or reach what land ? 
 
go EURIPIDES. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Till to the hearth ancestral back I came. 
 
 Medea. 
 And thou, what wouldst thou sailing to this shore ? 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 There is one Pittheus, king of Troezen he, — 
 
 Medea. 
 A man most pious, Pelops' son, they say. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 To him the God's response I fain would tell. 685 
 
 Medea. 
 Yea — a wise man, and having skill herein. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Yea, and my best-beloved spear-ally. 
 
 Medea. 
 Now prosper thou, and win thine heart's desire. 
 
 Aigeus. 
 Why droops thine eye ? — why this wan-wasted hue ? 
 
 Medea. 
 Aigeus, of all men basest is mine husband. 690 
 
 Aigeus. 
 What say'st thou ? Clearly tell me thine heart's pain. 
 
MEDEA. 91 
 
 Medea. 
 He wrongs me — Jason, nothing wronged of me. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 What hath he done ? More plainly tell it out. 
 
 Medea. 
 Another wife he takes, his household's mistress. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Ha ! hath he dared in truth this basest deed ? 695 
 
 Medea. 
 Yea : I am now dishonoured, once beloved. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Another love was this ? — or hate of thee ? 
 
 Medea. 
 Love ?— yea, of the highest :— traitor he to love ! 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Away with him, if he be base as this ! 
 
 Medea. 
 His love was for affinity with princes. 700 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Who giveth him his daughter ? End the tale. 
 
 Medea. 
 Kreon, who ruleth this Corinthian land. 
 
92 EURIPIDES. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Sooth, lady, reason was that thou shouldst grieve. 
 
 Medea. 
 'Tis death to me ! Yea, also am I banished. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Of whom ? A new ill this thou namest is.^ 705 
 
 Medea. 
 Kreon from Corinth driveth me an exile. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Doth Jason suffer this ? — I praise it not. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 In pretence, no : but to stand firm — not he ! 
 But 1 beseech thee, touching this thy beard, 
 Clasping thy knees, and so become thy suppliant ; — 
 Pity, Ο pity me the evil-starred, [710 
 
 And see me not cast forth to homelessness : 
 Receive to a hearth-place in thy land and homes. 
 So by heaven's blessing fruitful be thy love 
 In children, and in death thyself be blest. 715 
 
 Thou know'st not what good fortune thou hast found : 
 For I will end thy childlessness, will cause 
 Thy seed to grow to sons ; such drugs I know. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 For many causes am I minded, lady, 
 
 This grace to grant thee : for the Gods' sake first ; 720 
 
 Then, for the seed of children thou dost promise ; 
 
 1 Or " Another's crime thou namest now," reading 
 άλλον vice άλλο (Verrall). 
 
MEDEA . 93 
 
 For herein wholly extinct is Aigeus' name. V, 
 
 But thus it is — if to my land thou come, ' 
 
 I thy defence essay, in bounds of justice. 
 
 Howbeit of this do I forewarn thee, lady, 725 
 
 From this land will I not consent to lead thee. 
 
 But, if thou reachest of thyself mine homes. 
 
 Safe shalt thou bide : to no man will I yield thee. ' 
 
 But from this land thou must thyself escape ; 
 
 For blameless will I be to aUies too. 730/ 
 
 Medea. 
 
 So be it. Yet, were oath-pledge given for this 
 To me, then had I all I would of thee. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Ha, dost not trust me ? — Or at what dost stumble ? 
 Medea. 
 
 I trust thee : but my foes are Pehas' house [735 
 
 And Kreon. Oath-bound, thou couldst never yield me 
 To these, when they would drag me from the land. 
 Hadst thou but promised, to the Gods unpledged,^ 
 Thou mightest turn their friend, might'st lightly yield 
 To herald-summons. Strengthless is my cause : 
 Wealth is on their side, and a princely house. 740 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 Foresight exceeding, lady, in thy words ! ^ 
 Yet, if this be thy will, I draw not back ; 
 
 1 Reading άνωμοτοζ (737) and τάχ (739) 
 
 2 v.l. προθυμίαν : " Much eagerness to help thy words 
 imply ! " (ironical). 
 
94 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Since for myself is this the safest course, 
 
 To have a plea to show unto thy foes ; 
 
 And surer is thy part. The Oath-gods name. 745 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Swear by Earth's plain, and by my father's father 
 The Sun, and join the Gods' whole race thereto. 
 
 AlGEUS. 
 
 That 1 will do or not do — what ? Say on. 
 Medea. 
 
 That from thy land thyself wilt never cast me. 
 
 Nor, if a foe of mine would hale me thence, 750 
 
 Wilt, while thou liv'st, consenting yield me up. 
 
 Aigeus. 
 
 By Earth, the Sun's pure majesty, and all 
 
 The Gods,' I swear to abide by this thou hast said. 
 
 Medea. 
 Enough. For broken troth what penalty ? 
 
 Aigeus. 
 
 Whatso befalleth God-despising men. 755 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Pass on thy way rejoicing : all is well. 
 I too will come with all speed to thy burg, 
 When mine intent is wrought, my wish attained. 
 
 [Exit Aigeus. 
 
MEDEA. 95 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Now the Scion of Maia, the Wayfarer's King, 
 
 Bring thee safe to thine home, and the dream of thine 
 heart, 760 
 
 The sweet visions that wing thy feet, may'st thou bring 
 To accomplishment, Aigeus, for now this thing 
 JA^Xh. taught me how noble thou art. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Zeus, Justice child of Zeus, and Light of the Sun, 
 
 Over my foes triumphant now, my friends, 765 
 
 Shall we become : our feet are on the path. 
 
 Now is there hope of vengeance on my foes. 
 
 For this man, there where lay my chiefest weakness. 
 
 Hath for my plots a haven in storm appeared. 
 
 To him my bark's stern-hawser make I fast, 770 
 
 To Pallas' burg and fortress when I go. 
 
 And all my plots to thee now will I tell ; 
 
 Nor look I that my words should pleasure thee : — 
 
 One of mine household will I send to Jason, 
 
 And will entreat him to my sight to come ; 775 
 
 And soft words, when he cometh, will I speak, ^ ^< 
 
 Saying, " Thy will is mine," and, " It is well." j^-fc 
 
 How that his royal marriage, my betrayal, / 
 
 Is our advantage, and right well devised. 
 
 I will petition that my sons may stay — 780 
 
 Not for that I would leave on hostile soil 
 
 Children of mine for foes to trample on. 
 
 But the king's daughter so by guile to slay. 
 
 For I will send them bearing gifts in hand 
 
 Unto the bride, that they may not be banished, 785 
 
 A robe fine-spun, a golden diadem. 
 
 Η t 
 
96 EURIPIDES. 
 
 If she receive and don mine ornaments, 
 
 Die shall she wretchedly, and all who touch her. 
 
 With drugs so dread will I anoint my gifts. 
 
 Howbeit here 1 pass this story by, 790 
 
 And wail the deed that yet for me remains 
 
 To bring to pass ; for I will slay my children, 
 
 Yea, mine : no man shall pluck them from mine hand. 
 
 Then, having brought all Jason's house to wrack, 
 
 I leave the land, fleeing my dear babes' blood, 795 
 
 And having dared a deed most impious. 
 
 For unendurable are mocks of foes. 
 
 Let all go : what is life to me ? Nor country 
 
 Nor home have I, nor refuge from mine ills. 
 
 Then erred I, in the day when I forsook 800 
 
 My father's halls, by yon Greek's words beguiled, 
 
 Who with God's help shall render me requital. 
 
 For never living shall he see hereafter 
 
 The sons I bare him, nor shall he beget 
 
 Of his new bride a son, for doomed is she, 805 
 
 Wretch, to die wretchedly by drugs of mine. 
 
 Let none account me impotent, nor weak. 
 
 Nor meek of spirit ! — Nay, in other sort. 
 
 Grim to my foes, and kindly to my friends, 
 
 For of such is the life most glorious. 810 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Since thou hast made me partner of this tale, — 
 Wishing to help thee, championing withal 
 The laws of men, I say, do thou not this. 
 
 Medea. 
 It cannot be but so : yet reason is 
 That thou say this, who art not wronged as I. 815 
 
MEDEA. 97 
 
 Chorus. 
 Woman, wilt have the heart to slay thy sons ? 
 
 Medea. 
 Yea : so mine husband's heart shall most be wrung. 
 
 Chorus. 
 But thou of wives most wretched shouldst become. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 So be it : wasted are all hindering words. [820 
 
 But ho ! [ίο the Nurse] go thou and Jason bring to me — 
 Thou whom I use for every deed of trust. 
 And look thou tell. none aught of mine intent, 
 If thine is loyal service, thou a woman. 
 
 lExit Medea and Nurse. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 Ο happy the race in the ages olden 
 
 Of Erechtheus, the seed of the blest Gods' line, 
 In a land unravaged, peace-enfolden. 
 
 Aye quaffing of Wisdom's glorious wine, 
 Ever through air clear-shining brightly 830 
 
 As on wings uplifted pacing lightly. 
 Where they tell how Harmonia of tresses golden 
 
 Bare the Pierid Muses, the stainless Nine. 
 
 (Ant. i) 
 And the streams of Cephisus the lovely-flowing 
 
 They tell how the Lady of Cyprus drew, 
 And in Zephyr-wafts of the winds sweet-blowing 
 
 Breathed far over the land their dew. 
 And she sendeth her Loves which, throned in glory 
 
98 EURIPIDES. 
 
 By Wisdom, fashion all virtue's story, 840 
 
 Over her tresses throwing, throwing, 
 Roses in odorous wreaths aye new. 
 Re-enter Medea. {Str. 2) 
 
 How then should the hallowed city, 
 The city of sacred waters. 
 
 Which shields with her guardian hand 
 All friends that would fare through her land. 
 Receive a murderess banned, 
 Who had slaughtered her babes without pity, 
 
 A pollution amidst of her daughters ? 850 
 
 In thine heart's thoughts set it before thee — 
 To murder the fruit of thy womb ! 
 Ο think what it meaneth to slay 
 Thy sons — what a deed this day 
 Thou wouldst do ! — By thy knees we pray, 
 By heaven and earth we implore thee, 
 Deal not to thy babes such a doom ! 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 
 Ο whence, and Ο whence wilt thou gain thee 
 Such desperate hardihood 
 
 That for spirit so fiendish shall serve, 
 • That shall strengthen thine heart, that shall nerve 
 Thine hand, that it shall not swerve 
 From the ruthless deed that shall stain thee 
 With horror of children's blood ? 
 
 Ο how, when thine eyes thou art turning 860 
 
 On thy little ones, wilt thou refrain 
 The motherhood in thee, to feel 
 No upwelling of tears ? — -Canst thou steel 
 Thy breast when thy children kneel, 
 To crimson thine hand, with unyearning 
 Heart for thy darlings slain ? 
 
MEDEA . 99 
 
 Enter Jason . 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Summoned I come : for, though thou be my foe, 
 This grace thou shalt not miss ; but I will hear 
 What new thing, lady, thou dost wish of me. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Jason, I ask thee to forgive the words 
 
 Late-spoken, and to bear with that my mood ; 870 
 
 Well mayst thou, for remembrance of old loves^ 
 
 Now have I called myself to account, and railed 
 
 Upon myself — " Wretch, wherefore am I mad ? 
 
 And wherefore rage against good counsellors. 
 
 And am at feud with rulers of the land, 875 
 
 And with my lord, who works my veriest good, 
 
 Wedding a royal house, to raise up brethren 
 
 Unto my sons ? Shall I not cease from wrath ? 
 
 What aileth me, when the Gods proffer boons ? 
 
 Have I not children ? Know I not that we 880 
 
 Are exiles from our own land, lacking friends ? " 
 
 Thus musing, was I ware that I had nursed 
 
 Folly exceeding, anger without cause. 
 
 Now then I praise thee ; wise thou seem'st to me 
 
 In gaining us this kinship, senseless I, 885 
 
 Who in these counsels should have been thine ally, 
 
 Have furthered all, have decked the bridal couch, ^.d 
 
 And joyed to minister unto the bride. 
 
 But we are — women : needs not harsher word. 
 
 Yet evil shouldst thou not for evil render, 890 
 
 Nor pit against my folly folly of thine. 
 
 1 yield, confessing mine unwisdom then. 
 
 But unto better counsels now am come. 
 
 Children, my children, hither : leave the house ; 
 
100 EURIPIDES. 
 
 [Enter Children. 
 Come forth, salute your father, and with me 895 
 
 Bid him farewell : be reconciled to friends 
 Ye, with your mother, from the hate o'erpast. 
 Truce is between us, rancour hath given place. 
 Clasp ye his right hand. — Woe for ambushed ills ! 
 I am haunted by the shadow of hidden things ! 900 
 Ah children, will ye thus, through many a year 
 Living, still reach him loving arms ? Ah me, 
 How swift to weep am I, how full of fear ! 
 Feuds with your father ended — ah, so late ! — 
 Have filled with tears these soft-relenting eyes. 905 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 And from mine eyes start tears of pale dismay. 
 Ah may no evil worse than this befall ! 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Lady, I praise this mood, yet blame not that : 
 
 'Tis nothing strange that womankind should rage 
 
 When the spouse trafficketh in alien marriage. 910 
 
 But now to better thoughts thine heart hath turned, 
 
 And thou, though late, ΐφοη the victor side 
 
 Hast voted : a wise woman's deed is this. 
 
 And for you, children, not unheedfully 
 
 Your sire hath ta'en much forethought, so help heaven. 
 
 For ye, I ween, in this Corinthian land [915 
 
 Shall with your brethren stand the foremost yet. 
 
 Grow ye in strength : the rest shall by your sire. 
 
 And whatso God is gracious, be wrought out. 
 
 You may I see to goodly stature grown, 920 
 
 In manhood's prime, triumphant o'er my foes. 
 
 Thou, why bedew'st thou with wan tears thine eyes, 
 
MEDEA . ΙΟΙ 
 
 Turning aback from them thy pallid cheek, 
 And dost not hear with gladness this my speech ? 
 
 Medea. 
 
 'Tis nought : but o'er these children broods mine 
 heart. 925 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Fear not : all will I order well for them. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 This will I : — ' Tis not I mistrust thy words. : 
 But woman is but woman — born for tears . 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Why, hapless one, dost make moan over these ? 
 
 Medea. 
 
 1 bare them. When thou prayedst life for them, 930 
 Pity stole o'er me, whispering, " Shall this be ? " 
 But that for which thou cam'st to speech of me 
 In part is said ; to speak the rest is mine : — ^ 
 Since the king pleaseth forth the land to send me. 
 For me too this is best, — I know it well,— 935 
 
 That I bide not, a stumblingblock to thee 
 And the land's lords, whose house's foe I seem, 
 So fare I forth to exile from this land. I 
 
 But, that my sons by thine hand may be reared, 1 
 Entreat thou Kreon that they be not banished. / 940 
 
 1 Verrall here says " There is no apparent reason for the 
 emphatic pronoun," (εγώ). Is it not that the object of the 
 interview was twofold, first, to ask Jason's pardon, — ^that 
 had now been spoken by him, — secondly, to introduce a 
 proposal of her own, involving independent action on her 
 part ? 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Jason. 
 Prevail I may not, yet must I essay. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Nay then, thy bride bid thou to pray her sire 
 That thy sons be not banished from this land. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Yea surely ; and, I trow, her shall I win. 
 
 If of her sister women she is one. 945 
 
 Medea. 
 
 I too will bear a part in thine endeavour ; 
 
 For I will send her gifts unmatched for beauty 
 
 Of all that men see now, I know, by far, 
 
 A robe fine-spun, a golden diadem ; 
 
 Our sons to bear them. Now must an attendant 950 
 
 With all speed hither bring the ornaments. 
 
 Blessings shall hers be, not one, but untold. 
 
 Who winneth thee for lord, a peerless spouse. 
 
 Who owneth ornaments which once the Sun, 
 
 My father's father, gave unto his offspring ! 955 
 
 Take in your hands, my sons, these bridal gifts, 
 
 And to the happy princess-bride bear ye 
 
 And give : with gifts shall she be satisfied. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 But, fond one, why make void thine hands of these ? 
 Deem'st thou a royal house hath lack of robes, 960 
 Or gold, deem'st thou ? Keep these and give them not. 
 For, if my wife esteems me aught, my wish 
 Will she prefer to treasures, well I wot. 
 
MEDEA . 103 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Nay, speak not so : gifts sway the Gods, they say. 
 Gold weigheth more with men than words untold, 965 
 Hers fortune is ; God favoureth now her cause ; 
 Young is her power. Life would I give for ransom 
 Of my sons' banishment, not gold alone. 
 Now, children, enter ye the halls of wealth. 
 Unto your sire's new wife, my lady-queen, 970 
 
 Make supplication, pray ye be not exiled, 
 Giving mine ornaments. Most importeth this, 
 That she into her hands receive my gifts. 
 Haste ye, and to your mother bring glad tidings 
 Of good success in that she longs to win. 975 
 
 l_Exeunt yason and Children. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. I) 
 
 Now for the life of the children mine hope hath been 
 
 turned to despairing. 
 No hope any more ! On the slaughter ward path even 
 
 now are they faring ! 
 The bride shall receive it, the diadem-garland that 
 
 beareth enfolden 
 
 Doom for the hapless mid glittering sheen : 
 And to set the adorning of Hades about her tresses 
 
 golden 980 
 
 She shall take it her hands between. 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 For its glamour of beauty, its splendour unearthly, 
 
 shall swiftly persuade her 
 To bedeck her with robe and with gold- wrought crown : 
 
 she shall soon have arrayed her 
 
104 EURIPIDES. 
 
 In attire as a bride in the presence of phantoms fror 
 Hades uprisen ; 
 
 In such dread gin shall her feet be ta'en : 
 In the weird of death shall the hapfess be whelmed 
 and from Doom's dark prison 
 
 Shall she steal forth never again. 
 
 {Str. 2 
 
 And thou, wretch, bridegroom accurst, who art fain c 
 
 a princely alliance, ggi 
 
 Blasting thou bringest — unknowing, un 
 
 thinking ! — 
 
 Of life on thy sons, and thy bride shall to foul deatl 
 
 plight her affiance. 
 
 How far from thy fortune of old art thoi 
 sinking ! 
 
 (Ant. 2 
 And amidst my lamentings I mourn for thine anguish 
 Ο hapless mother 
 
 Of children, who makest thee ready t( 
 
 slaughter 
 
 Thy babes, to avenge thee on him who would lawless!] 
 
 wed with another, ioo( 
 
 Would forsake thee to dwell with a prince'i 
 
 daughter. 
 
 Enter Children's Guardian, with Children. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 Mistress, remission for thy sons of exile ! 
 Thy gift the princess-bride with joy received 
 In hand ; and there is peace unto thy sons. 
 
 Medea. 
 Alas! 
 
MEDEA. 105 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 Why dost thou stand confounded mid good hap ? 1005 
 Now wherefore turnest thou thy face away, 
 And dost not hear with gladness this my speech ? 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Woe's me ! 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 This cry is to the tidings not attuned. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Woe yet again ! 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 Can I have brought ill hap 
 Unwitting — erred in deeming these glad tidings ? loio 
 
 Medea. 
 
 As they are, are thy tidings : thee I blame not. 
 
 , Children's Guardian. 
 
 Why down-drooped is thine eye ? Why flow thy 
 
 tears ? 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Needs must they, ancient ; for these things the Gods 
 And I withal— Ο fool !— have ill contrived. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 Fear not : thy children yet shall bring thee home. 1015 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Others ere then shall wretched I send home. 
 
io6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Children's Guardian. 
 
 Not thou alone art severed from thy sons. 
 Submissively must mortals bear mischance. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 This will I : but within the house go thou, 
 And for my children's daily needs prepare. 1020 
 
 [^Exit Children's Guardian, 
 Ο children, children, yours a city is. 
 And yours a home, where, leaving wretched me. 
 Dwell shall ye, of your mother aye bereft. 
 I shall go exiled to another land, 
 
 Ere I have joyed in you, have seen your bliss, 1025 
 Ere I have decked for you the couch, the bride, 
 The bridal bower, and held the torch on high. 
 Ο me accurst in this my ruthless mood ! 
 For nought, for nought, my babes, I nurtured you, 
 And all for nought I laboured, travail-worn, 1030 
 
 Bearing sharp anguish in your hour of birth. 
 Ah for the hopes — unhappy ! — all mine hopes 
 Of ministering hands about mine age, 
 Of dying folded round with loving arms, 
 All men's desire ! But now — 'tis past — 'tis past, 1035 
 That sweet imagining ! Forlorn of you 
 A bitter life and woeful shall I waste. 
 Your mother never more with loving eyes 
 Shall ye behold, passed to another life. [1040 
 
 Woe ! woe ! why gaze your eyes on me, my darlings ? 
 Why smile to me the latest smile of all ? 
 ( Alas ! what shall I do ? — Mine heart is failing 
 As I behold my children's laughing eyes ! 
 Women, I cannot ! farewell, purposes 
 
MEDEA. 107 
 
 O'erpast ! I take my children from the land. 1045 
 
 What need to wring the father's heart with ills 
 
 Of these, to gain myself ills twice so many ? 
 
 Not I, not I ! — Ye purposes, farewell ! 
 
 Yet — yet — what ails me ? "Would I earn derision, 
 
 Letting my foes slip from mine hand unpunished ? 1050 
 
 I must dare this. Out on my coward mood 
 
 That from mine heart let loose relenting words ! 
 
 Children, pass ye within. [Exeunt Children. 
 
 Now, whoso may not 
 Sinless be present at my sacrifice. 
 On his head be it : mine hand faltereth not. 1055 
 
 Oh ! oh ! 
 
 Ο heart, mine heart, do not — do not this deed ! 
 Let them be, wretched heart, spare thou thy babes ! 
 There dwelling with me shall they gladden thee. — 
 No ! — by the nether fiends that dwell with Hades, 
 Never shall this betide, that I will leave 1060 
 
 My children for my foes to trample on. 
 They needs must die. And, since it needs must be, 
 Even I will slay them, I, who gave them life. 
 All this is utter doom : — she shall not 'scape ! 
 Yea, on her head the wreath is ; in my robes 1065 
 
 The princess-bride is perishing — I know it. 
 But — for I fare on journey most unhappy. 
 And shall speed these on yet unhappier — 
 I would speak to my sons. [Re-enter Children. 
 
 Give, Ο my babes. 
 Give to your mother the right hand to kiss. 1070 
 
 Ο dearest hand, Ο hps most dear to me, 
 Ο form and noble feature of my children. 
 Blessing be on you — there ! — for all things here 
 Your sire hath reft. Ο sweet, Ο sweet embrace ! 
 
io8 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ο children's roseleaf skin, Ο balmy breath ! 1075 
 
 Away, away ! Strength faileth me to gaze 
 On you, but I am overcome of evil. 
 
 [Exeunt Children. 
 Now, now, I learn what horrors I intend : 
 But passion overmastereth sober thought : 
 And this is cause of direst ills to men. 1080 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 I 
 
 Full oft ere this my soul hath scaled 
 
 Lone heights of thought, empyrean steeps, 
 Or plunged far down the darkling deeps. 
 
 Where woman's feebler heart hath failed. 
 
 Yet wherefore failed ? Should woman find 
 No inspiration thrill her breast. 
 Nor welcome ever that sweet guest 
 
 Of Song, that uttereth Wisdom's mind ? 
 
 Alas ! not all ! Few, few are they, — 
 Perchance amid a thousand one 
 Thou shouldest find, — ^for whom the sun 
 
 Of poesy makes an inner day. 
 
 II 
 
 Now this I say — calm bliss, that ne'^er 1090 
 
 Knew love's wild fever of the blood, 
 The pains, the joys, of motherhood, 
 
 Passeth all parents' joy-blent care. 
 
 The childless, they that never prove 
 If sunshine comes, or cloud, to men 
 With babes, far lie beyond their ken 
 
 The toils, the griefs, of parent-love. 
 
MEDEA. 109 
 
 But they whose halls with laughter sweet 
 Of children ring — I mark them aye 
 Care-fretted, travailing alway iioo 
 
 To win their loved ones nurture meet. 
 
 π I 
 
 One toils with love more strong than death : 
 Yet — yet — who knoweth whether he 
 A wise man or a fool shall be 
 
 To whom he shall his wealth bequeath ? 
 
 But last, but worst, remains to tell : 
 For though ye get you wealth enow, 
 And though your sons to manhood grow, 
 
 Fair sons and good : — if Death the fell, 
 
 To Hades vanishing, bears down mo 
 
 Your children's lives, what profit is 
 That Heaven hath laid, with all else, this 
 
 Upon mankind, this sorrow's crown ? 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Friends, long have 1, abiding fortune's hap, 
 
 Expected what from yonder shall befall. 
 
 And lo, a man I see of Jason's train 
 
 Hitherward coming, and my eager heart 
 
 Foretelleth him the herald of new ills. 11 20 
 
 Enter Messenger. , 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Ο thou who hast wrought an awful deed and lawless, 
 Flee, Ο Medea, flee, nor once leave thou 
 The sea-wain, or the car that scours the plain. 
 
no EURIPIDES. 
 
 Medea. 
 Now what hath happed that calleth for such flight ? 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Dead is the princess even now, and dead 1125 
 
 Kreon her father, by thy poison-drugs. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 A glorious tale thou tellest : thou henceforth 
 Art of my benefactors and my friends. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 What say'st ? — Of sound mind art thou, and not mad, 
 Who, hearing of the havoc of the hearth 1130 
 
 Of kings, art glad, and hast no fear for this ? 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Ο yea ; I too with words of controversy 
 Could answer thee : — yet be not hasty, friend. 
 But tell how died they : thou shouldst gladden me 
 Doubly, if these most horribly have perished. 1135 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 When, with their father, came thy children twain, 
 And passed into the halls for marriage decked. 
 Glad were we thralls who sorrowed for thy woes. 
 And straightway buzzed from ear to ear the tale 
 Of truce to old feuds 'twixt thy lord and thee. 1 140 
 The hand one kisseth, one the golden head 
 Of those thy sons : myself by joy on-drawn 
 Followed thy children to the women's bowers. 
 Now she which had our worship in thy stead, 
 
MEDEA. 
 
 Ere she beheld thy chariot -yoke of sons, 1 145 
 
 Aye upon Jason turned her yearning gaze. 
 
 But then her veil before her eyes she cast, 
 
 And swept aback the scorn of her white neck, 
 
 Loathing thy sons' approach : but now thy lord. 
 
 To turn the maiden's wrath and spite aside, 1155 
 
 Thus spake : " Nay, be not hostile to thy friends : 
 
 Cease from thine anger, turn thine head again, 
 
 Accounting friends whomso thy spouse accounts. 
 
 Their gifts receive, and plead thou with thy sire 
 
 To pardon these their exile : — for my sake." 11 55 
 
 She, when she saw the attire, could not refrain, 
 
 But yielded her lord all. And ere their father 
 
 Far from her bower with those thy sons had gone. 
 
 She took the rich- wrought robes and clad herself, 
 
 Circling her ringlets with the golden crown, 1160 
 
 And by a shining mirror ranged her tresses. 
 
 Smiling at her own phantom image there. 
 
 Then, rising from her seat, she paced adown 
 
 The halls with mincing tread of ivory feet. 
 
 Exulting in the gifts, and oftentimes 1165 
 
 Sweeping her glance from neck to ankle-hem. 
 
 But then was there a fearful sight to see. 
 
 Suddenly changed her colour : reeling back 
 
 With trembling limbs she goes ; and scarce in time 
 
 Drops on the couch to fall not on the ground. 11 70 
 
 Then a grey handmaid, deeming peradventure 
 
 That frenzy was of Pan or some God sent. 
 
 Raised the prayer-cry, before she saw the foam 
 
 White-frothing from her lips, or marked how rolled 
 
 Her eyeballs, and her face's bloodless hue. 11 75 
 
 Then a scream, unaccordant, long and loud. 
 
 She shrilled forth. Straight to her father's chambers one 
 
 I 2 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Darted, and one unto her new-made spouse, 
 To tell the bride's mischance : and all the roof 
 Echoed with multitudinous-hurrpng feet. i i8o 
 
 And a swift athlete's straining limbs had won 
 By this the goal of the six-plethra course : 
 Then she from trance all speechless of closed eyes 
 Awoke — ah wretch !— rwith horrible-shrilling shriek : 
 For like two charging hosts her agony came : — 
 The golden coil about her head that lay 1185 
 
 'Gan spurt a marvellous stream of ravening fire ; 
 While the fine robes, the gift thy children brought, 
 Devoured the white flesh of the unhappy one. 
 Upstarting from her seat she flees, all flame, 1190 
 
 Shaking her hair, her head, this way and that, 
 To cast from her the crown ; but firmly fixed 
 The gold held fast its clasp : the fire, whene'er 
 She shook her locks, with doubled fury blazed. 
 Then misery -vanquished falls she on the floor, 1 195 
 Past recognising, save for a father, marred. 
 No more was seen her eyes' imperial calm. 
 No more her comely features ; but the gore 
 Dripped from her head's crown flecked Avith blended 
 fire. [1200 
 
 The flesh-flakes from her bones, like the pinfe's tears, 
 'Neath that mysterious drug's devourings melted, — 
 Dread sight ! — and came on all folk fear to touch 
 The corpse : her hideous fate had we for warning. 
 But, ignorant of all, her wretched sire, 
 Suddenly entering, falls upon her corpse, 1205 
 
 And straightway wailed and clasped the body round, 
 And kissed it, crying, " Ο my hapless child. 
 What God thus horribly hath thee destroyed ? 
 Who maketh this old sepulchre bereft 
 
ί MEDEA. 
 
 "3 
 
 Of thee ? Ah me, would I might die with thee ! " 1210 
 
 But, when from wailing and from moans he ceased, 
 
 Fain would he have upraised his aged frame, 
 
 Yet clave, as ivy clings to laurel boughs. 
 
 To those fine robes : then was a ghastly wrestling : 
 
 For, while he laboured to upraise his knee, 121 5 
 
 She strained against him : if by force he haled. 
 
 Then from the bones he tare his aged flesh. 
 
 At last refrained he, and gave up the ghost. 
 
 Ill-starred, who could no more withstand his bane. 
 
 There lie the corpses, child by aged sire 1220 
 
 Clasped ; — such affliction tears, not words, must mourn. 
 
 And of thy part no word be said by me : — 
 
 Thyself from punishment wilt find escape. 
 
 But man's lot now, as oft, I count a shadow. 
 
 Nor fear to say that such as seem to be 1225 
 
 Wise among men and cunning in speech-lore, 
 
 Even these are chargeable with deepest folly ; 
 
 ]For among mortals happy man is no ng,^,. 
 
 In foxtune!s,A3Qji £tide might a man beconie [1230 
 
 More prosperous than his neighbour : happy ? — no ! 
 
 I 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Exit. 
 
 Meseems the God with many an ill this day 
 
 Will compass Jason, — yea, and rightfully. 
 
 But Ο the pity of thy calamity. 
 
 Daughter of Kreon, who to Hades' halls 
 
 Hast passed, because with thee would Jason wed ! 1235 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Friends, my resolve is taken, with all speed 
 To slay my children, and to flee this land, 
 And not to linger and to yield my sons 
 
114 EURIPIDES. 
 
 To death by other hands more merciless. [1240 
 
 They needs must die : and, since it needs must be, 
 Even I will give them death, who gave them life. 
 Up, gird thee for the fray, mine heart ! Why loiter 
 To do the dread ill deeds that must be done ? 
 Come, wretched hand of mine, grasp thou the sword ; 
 Grasp it ; — ^πηγρ toward life's bitter starting-post, 1245 
 And turn not craven : think not on thy babes. 
 How dear they are, how thou didst bear them : nay. 
 For this short day do thou forget thy sons. 
 Thereafter mourn them. For, although thou slay. 
 Yet• dear they are, and I a wretched woman. 1250 
 
 [Exit Medea. 
 Chorus. 
 
 (Sir.) 
 Ο Earth, Ο all-revealing splendour 
 
 Of the Sun, look down on a woman accurst, 
 Orever she slake the murder-thirst 
 Of a mother whose hands would smite the tender 
 
 Fruit of her womb. 
 Look down, for she sprang of thy lineage golden. 
 And by terror of men is the Gods' seed holden^ 
 
 And the shadow of doom. 
 But thou, Ο heaven-begotten glory. 
 Restrain her, refrain her : the wretched, the gory 
 Erinnys by demons dogged, we implore thee, 1260 
 Cast forth of the home ! 
 
 (Ant.) 
 For nought was the childbirth-travail wasted ; 
 For nought didst thou bear them, the near and 
 
 the dear, 
 Ο thou who hast fled through the Pass of Fear, 
 
 ^ Conjecturing πίτνα for MSS. ττίτνειν. 
 
MEDEA. 115 
 
 From the dark-blue Clashing Crags who hast 
 hasted 
 
 Speeding thy flight ! 
 Alas for her ! — wherefore hath grim wrath stirred 
 
 her 
 Through depths of her soul, that ruthless murder 
 
 Her wrongs must requite ? 
 For stern upon mortals the vengeance falleth 
 For kin's blood spilt ; from the earth it calleth, 
 A voice from the Gods, and the slayers appalleth 
 
 On whose homes it shall light. 1270 
 
 {Children's cries behind the scenes.] 
 
 Child i. 
 What shall I do } — How flee my mother's hands ? 
 
 Child 2. 
 / know not, dearest brother. Death is here ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ah the cry ! — dost thou hear it ? — the children's cry ! 
 Wretch ! — woman of curs6d destiny ! 
 Shall I enter ? — My heart crieth, " Rescue the children 
 from murder drawn nigh ! " 
 
 Child i. 
 Yea, for the Gods' sake, help ! Sore is our need — 
 
 Child 2. 
 
 FoT now we are hemmed in by the sword's death-toils ! 
 
ii6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Wretch ! of what rock is thy breast ? — of what steel is 
 
 the heart of thee moulded, 
 That the babes thou hast born, with the selfsame hands 
 that with love have enfolded 1280 
 
 These, thou hast set thee to slay ? 
 Of one have I heard that laid hands on her loved ones 
 
 of old, one only. 
 Even Ino distraught of the Gods, when Zeus' bride 
 drave her, lonely 
 
 And lost, from her home to stray : 
 And she fell — ah wretch ! — on the brink as phe 
 
 stood 
 Of the sea-scaur : guilt of her children's blood 
 Dragged downwards her feet to the salt sea-flood, 
 
 And she died with her children twain. 
 What ghastlier horror remains to be wrought ? 
 Ο bride-bed of women, with anguish fraught, 1290 
 What scathe upon mortals ere now hast thou 
 brought. 
 
 What manifold bane ! 
 
 Enter jfason. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Women, which stand anear unto this roof — 
 
 Is she within the halls, she who hath wrought 
 
 Dread deeds, Medea, or in flight passed thence ? 1295 
 
 For either must she hide her 'neath the earth. 
 
 Or lift on wings her frame to heaven's far depths, 
 
 Or taste the vengeance of a royal house. 
 
 How, trusts she, having murdered the land's lords, 
 
 Scatheless herself from these halls forth to flee ? 1300 
 
MEDEA. 117 
 
 Yet not for her care I, but for my sons. 
 
 Whom she hath wronged shall recompense her wrong : 
 
 But I to save my children's life am come, 
 
 Lest to my grief the kinsmen of the dead 
 
 Avenge on them their mother's impious murder. 1305 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Wretch, thou know'st not what depth of woe thou hast 
 
 reached, 
 Jason, or thou hadst uttered not such words. 
 
 Jason. 
 What now ? — and is she fain to slay me too ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 Thy sons are dead, slain by the mother's hand. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Ah me ! — what say'st thou ? — thou hast killed me, 
 woman ! 1310 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Thy children are no more : so think of them. 
 
 Jason. 
 How ? — slew them ? — Where ? — within, without, the 
 
 halls ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Open, and thou shalt see thy children's corpses. 
 Jason. 
 
 Shoot back the bolts with all speed, serving-men ! 
 Unbar, that 1 may see this twofold woe, — 1315 
 
 The dead, and her, with slaughter to requite her. 
 
II& EURIPIDES. 
 
 Medea appears in mid air in a chariot drawn by 
 dragons. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Why shakest thou these doors and wouldst unbar, 
 Seeking thy dead and me who wrought the deed ? 
 Cease this essay. If thou wouldst aught of me, [1320 
 Say what thou wilt : thine hand shall touch me never. 
 Such chariot hath my father's sire, the Sun, 
 Given me, a defence from foeman's hand. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Ο thing abhorred ! Ο woman hatefuUest 
 
 To Gods, to me, to all the race of men. 
 
 Thou that couldst thrust the sword into the babes 1325 
 
 Thou bar'st, and me hast made a childless ruin ! 
 
 Thus hast thou wrought, yet look'st thou on the sun 
 
 And earth, who hast dared a deed most impious ? 
 
 Now ruin seize thee ! — clear I see, who saw not 
 
 Then, when from halls and land barbarian 1330 
 
 To a Greek home I bare thee, utter bane. 
 
 Traitress to sire and land that nurtured thee ! 
 
 Thy guilt's curse-bolt on me the Gods have launched ; 
 
 For thine own brother by his hearth thou slewest 
 
 Ere thou didst enter fair-prowed Argo's hull. 1335 
 
 With such deeds thoμ begannest. Wedded then 
 
 To this man, and the mother of my sons. 
 
 For wedlock-right's sake hast thou murdered them. 
 
 There is no Grecian woman that had dared 
 
 This : — yet I stooped to marry thee, good sooth, 1340 
 
 Rather than these, a hateful bride and fell, 
 
 A tigress, not a woman, harbouring 
 
MEDEA. 119 
 
 A fiercer nature than Tyrrhenian Scylla. 
 
 But — for untold revihngs would not sting 
 
 Thee, in thy nature is such hardihood : — 1345 
 
 Avaunt, thou miscreant stained with thy babes' blood ! 
 
 For me remains to wail my destiny, 
 
 Who of my new-wed bride shall have no joy, 
 
 And to the sons whom I begat and nurtured 
 
 Living I shall not speak — lost, lost to me ! 1350 
 
 Medea. 
 
 I might have lengthened out long controversy 
 
 To these thy words, if Father Zeus knew not 
 
 How I have dealt with thee and thou with me. 
 
 'Twas not for thee to set my couch at nought 
 
 And hve a life of bliss, bemocking me ! 1355 
 
 Nor for thy princess, and thy marriage-kinsman, 
 
 Kreon, unscathed to banish me this land ! 
 
 Wherefore a tigress call me, an thou wilt, 
 
 Or Scylla, haunter of Tyrrhenian shore ; 
 
 For thine heart have I wrung, as well behoved. 1360 
 
 Jason. 
 Ha, but thou sorrowest too, thou shar'st mine ills ! 
 
 Medea. 
 Ο yea : yet grief is gain, so thou laugh not. 
 
 Jason. 
 Ο children mine, what miscreant mother had ye ! 
 
 Medea. 
 Ο sons, destroyed by your own father's lust ! 
 
120 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Jason. 
 Sooth, 'twas no hand of mine that murdered them. 1365 
 
 Medea. 
 Nay, but thine insolence and thy new-forged bonds. 
 
 Jason. 
 How, claim the right for wedlock's sake to slay them ! 
 
 Medea. 
 A light affliction count'st thou this to woman ? 
 
 Jason. 
 So she be wise : — in thy sight nought were good. 
 
 Medea. 
 These live no more : this, this shall cut thine heart ! 1370 
 
 Jason. 
 They live — ah me ! — avengers on thine head. 
 
 Medea. 
 The Gods know who began this misery. 
 
 Jason. 
 Yea, verily, thy spirit abhorred they know. 
 
 Medea. 
 Abhorred art thou : I loathe thy bitter tongue. 
 
 Jason. 
 And I thine : — yet were mutual riddance easy. 1375 
 
MEDEA. 
 
 Medea. 
 How then ? — what shall I do ? — fain would I this. 
 
 Jason. 
 Yield me my dead to bury and bewail. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Never : with this hand will I bury them, 
 
 To Mountain Herd's precinct bearing them, 
 
 That never foe may do despite to them, 1380 
 
 Rifling their tomb. This land of Sisyphus 
 
 Will I constrain with solemn festival 
 
 And rites to atone for this unhallowed murder. 
 
 But I — I go unto Erechtheus' land, 
 
 With Aigeus to abide, Pandion's son. 1385 
 
 Thou, as is meet, foul wretch, shalt foully die, 
 
 By Argo's wreckage smitten on the skull. 
 
 Now thou hast seen this bridal's bitter ending. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Now the Fury-avenger of children smite thee. 
 
 And Justice that looketh on murder requite thee ! 1390 
 
 Medea. 
 
 What God or what spirit will heed thy request. 
 Caitiff forsworn, who betrayest the guest ? 
 
 Jason. 
 Avaunt, foul thing by whose deed thy children have 
 
 died ! 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Go hence to thine halls, thence lead to the grave thy 
 bride ! 
 
122 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 I go, a father forlorn of the two sons reft from his 
 home ! 1395 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Not yet dost thou truly mourn : abide till thine old age 
 come. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Ο children beloved above all ! 
 
 Medea. 
 Of their mother beloved, not of thee. 
 
 Jason. 
 Yet she slew them ! 
 
 Medea. 
 
 ■ That thou mightest fall in the net that 
 thou spreadest for me. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Woe's me ! I yearn with my lips to press 
 
 My sons' dear lips in my wretchedness. 1400 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Ha, now art thou calling upon them, now wouldst thou 
 
 kiss, 
 Who rejectedst them then ? 
 
 Jason. 
 
 For the Gods' sake grant me but this, 
 The sweet soft flesh of my children to feel ! 
 
MEDEA. 123 
 
 Medea. 
 No — wasted in air is all thine appeal. 
 
 Jason. 
 
 Ο Zeus, dost thou hear it, how spurned I am ? — 
 
 What outrage I suffer of yonder abhorred [1405 
 
 Child-murderess, yonder tigress-dam ? 
 
 Yet out of mine helplessness, out of my shame, 
 
 I bewail my beloved, I call to record 
 
 High heaven, 1 bid God witness the word, 1410 
 
 That my sons thou hast slain, and withholdest me 
 That mine hands may not touch them, nor bury 
 
 their clay ! 
 Would God I had gotten them never, this day 
 
 To behold them destroyed of thee ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 All dooms be of Zeus in Olympus ; 'tis his to reveal 
 them. 1415 
 
 Manifold things unhoped-for the Gods to accomplish- 
 ment bring. 
 And the things that we looked for, the Gods deign not 
 
 to fulfil them ; 
 And the paths undiscerned of our eyes, the Gods unseal 
 them. 
 
 So fell this marvellous thing. 
 
 [Exeunt Omnes. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 HiPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, bore to Theseus, king 
 of Athens and Trcezen, a son whom he named from her, 
 Hippolytus. Now this youth grew up of all men most 
 pure in heart, reverencing chiefly Artemis the Maiden, 
 Goddess of the chase, and utterly contemning the worship 
 of Aphrodite. Wherefore the wrath of the Queen of 
 Love was kindled against him, and she made Phcedra, 
 his father's young wife, mad with love for him ; and 
 although she wrestled with her malady, and strove to 
 hide it in her heart, till by the fever of it she was 
 brought nigh to death's door, yet in the end it was re- 
 vealed, and was made destruction to her and to Hippolytus 
 also. 
 
 κ ζ 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 Aphrodite (or Kypris), the Queen of Love. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUs, son of Theseus and Hippolyta Queen of the 
 
 Amazons. 
 PHiEDRA, daughter of Minos king of Crete, and wife of Theseus. 
 Nurse of Ph^dra. 
 Theseus, king of Athens and Trcezen. 
 Artemis, Goddess of Hunting. 
 Servant of Hippolytus. 
 Messenger, henchman of Hippolytus. 
 Chorus, composed of women of Trcezen. 
 Attendants, huntsmen, and handmaids. 
 Scene : — Before the palace of Theseus at Trcezen, where 
 
 Theseus dwelt, being self-exiled for a year from Athens, 
 
 to expiate the shedding of the blood of kinsmen who 
 
 had sought to dethrone him. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Enter Aphrodite. 
 
 Aphrodite. 
 
 Mighty on earth, and named by many a name 
 Am I, the Goddess Kypris, as in heaven. 
 And of all dwellers 'twixt the Pontic Sea 
 And Atlas' bourn, which look on the sun's light, 
 \l honour them which_js3£erejiceaiij powerl , 5 
 
 But bring ftbe proud hearts that de^TineTow . "^^ 
 P'or even to the GodsJ± i.s..a.np£rtaiiLS. 
 That in the homage of mankind they joy. 
 And" I win give swift proof of these my words. 
 For Theseus' son, born of the Amazon, 10 
 
 Hippolytus, pure-hearted Pittheus' ward. 
 Sole mid the folk of this Trcezenian land 
 Sayeth that vilest of the Gods am I ; 
 Rejects the couch ; of marriage will he none ; ' 
 
 But Phoebus' sister Artemis, Zeus' child,. '■ 15 
 
 Honours, of all Gods chiefest holding her : 
 And through the greenwood in the Maid's train still 
 With swift hounds sweeps the wild beasts from the 
 earth, ,/> 
 
 Linked with companionship for men too high. 
 Yet this Fgrudge not : what is this to me ? 20 
 
 But that his wrong to me will I avenge 
 
 / 
 
126 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Upon Hippolytus this day : the path 
 Well-nigh is cleared ; scant pains it needeth yet. 
 For, as from halls of Pittheus once he sought 
 Pandion's land, to see and to be sealed 25 
 
 In the Great Mysteries, Phaedra, high-born wife 
 Of his own father, saw him ; and her heart 
 ^f fierce lovewas^nthralled_liy--aiy^evice. \ 
 And, ere she came to this Trcezenian land, 
 Hard by the Rock of Pallas, which looks down 30 
 
 On this land, built she unto me a shrine 
 For love of one afar ; and his memorial 
 That fane divine she named for days to be. 
 But since from Kekrops' land forth Theseus passed 
 Fleeing the blood-guilt of the sons of Pallas, 35 
 
 And unto this shore with his wife hath sailed. 
 From his land brooking one year's banishment, 
 Thenceforward, sighing and by stings of love 
 Distraught, the hapless one wastes down to death 
 \ /Silent : her malady no handmaid knows. 40 
 
 Ah, but not so shall this love's issue fall. 
 Theseus shall know this thing ; all bared shall be : 
 And him that is my foe his sire shall slay 
 By curses, whose fulfilment the Sea-king 
 Poseidon in this boon to Theseus gave, 45 
 
 That, to three prayers, he should ask nought in vain. 
 Sh£^£!W-ugh43ornjoe'.erj,^t perisheth, 
 El^dra : — I will not so regard her pain 
 T^at J_should not exact,sa.ch penalty 
 Of them which hate me a s shall do me right. 50 
 
 But, — forasmuch as Theseus' son I see 
 Yonder draw near, forsaking hunting's toil, 
 Hippolytus, — forth will I from this place. 
 And a great press of henchmen following shout, 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 127 
 
 Honouring with songs the Goddess Artemis. 55 
 
 He knows not Hades' gates wide flung for him, \ Λ 
 And this day's light the last his eyes shall see. " ' 
 
 [Exit. 
 Enter Hippolytus and Attendant Huntsmen. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Follow on, follow on, ring out the lay 
 
 Unto Artemis high enthroned in the sky 60 
 
 Zeus' child, in her keeping who hath us aye. 
 
 Chorus of Huntsmen. 
 Ο Majesty, Daughter of Zeus, dread Queen, 
 
 I hail thee, Artemis, now, 
 Ο Leto's Daughter, Ο Zeus's child, 
 Loveliest far of the Undefiled ! 
 In the Hall, " of the Mighty Father " styled, 
 The palace of Zeus, mid the glory-sheen 
 
 Of gold— there dwellest thou. 
 Ο Fairest, to theeward in greeting I call, 70 
 
 Ο fairest Artemis thou of all 
 The Maidens Divine in Olympus' hall ! 
 
 Hippolytus. 
 
 For thee this woven garland from a mead 
 
 Unsullied have I twined, Ο Queen, and bring. 
 
 There never shepherd dares to feed his flock, 75 
 
 Nor steel of sickle came : only the bee 
 
 Roveth the springtide mead undesecrate : 
 
 And Reverence watereth it with river-dews. 
 
 They which have heritage of, self-control 
 
 In all things,— not taught, but "the pure injheart,— 80 
 
 These there may gather flowers, but nonejmpure. 
 
128 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Now Queen, dear Queen, receive this anadem 
 
 From reverent hand to deck thy golden hair ; 
 
 For tame,SQla of mgnjthis grace is given. 
 
 That I be with thee, converse hold with thee, 85 
 
 Hearing thy voice, yet seeing not thy face. 
 
 And may I end life's race as I began. 
 
 Servant. 
 
 Prince, — for the Gods we needs must call our Lords, — 
 Wouldst thou receive of me good counselling ? 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Yea surely : else were I fool manifest. 90 
 
 Servant. 
 V Knowest thou then the stablished wont of men ? 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Not I : whereof is this thou questionest me ? 
 Servant. 
 I V f'To hate the proud reserve that owns few friends. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Rightly : what proud man is not odious ? 
 
 Servant. 
 And in the gracious is there nought of charm ? 95 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Yea, much, and profit won with little pains. 
 
 Servant. 
 And deem'st thou not this same may hold with Gods ? 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. lag 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Yea, if men live by laws derived from Gods. 
 
 Servant. 
 Why not then greet a Goddess worshipful ? Vx 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Whom ? — have a care thy lips in no wise err.i loo 
 
 Servant. 
 Even Kypris, there above thy portals set. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 From far I greet her, who am undefiled. j V 
 
 Servant. 
 Worshipful is she, glorious among men. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Of Go'ds, of men, each maketh still his choice. '^ 
 
 Servant. 
 Now prosper thou ; — be needful wisdom thine ! 105 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 No God who hath night-homage pleaseth me. 
 
 Servant. 
 Guerdons of Gods, my son, ought men to use. 
 
 1 " The Worshipful Goddesses " was the peculiar title of 
 the Eumenides, whom it was ill-omened to name. 
 
130 EURIPIDES. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Depart, mine henchmen, enter ye the halls, 
 
 And set on bread. The full board welcome is [no 
 
 When hunting's done. And one must groom my steeds, 
 
 That I may yoke them to the chariot-pole. 
 
 Being full of meat, and breathe them in the race. 
 
 But to thy Kypris wave I long farewell. [Exit. 
 
 Servant. 
 But we, who must not tread in steps of youth, [115 
 Who are wisei — so far as thralls dare claim to be, — 
 Make supplication to thine images. 
 Queen Kypris. It beseems thee to forgive. 
 If one that bears through youth a vehement heart 
 Speak folly. Be as though thou heardest not ; 
 For wiser Gods should be than mortal men. 120 
 
 [Exit. 
 Enter Chorus of Trcezenian Ladies. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 A rock there is, wherefrom, as they tell, the springs of 
 the heart of the Ocean well. 
 
 Whence the rifts of the crags overbeetling 
 send 
 For the plunging urns their founts outstreaming : 
 Even there did I light on a maiden my friend. 
 As she drenched the mantles purple-gleaming 
 In the riverward-glittering spray, 
 And spread the dye of the Tyrian shell on the rocks 
 where glowing the sunbeams fell. 
 
 \ Hers were the lips that I first heard say 
 
 s\ Howjveastetli_ourJady-away : 130 
 
 1 φρονονντΐί sc. ev. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 131 
 
 {Ant. 1) 
 For a tale they told of a fevered bed, of the feet that 
 forth of her bower ne'er tread, 
 
 Of the dainty-woven veil that is cast 
 For a darkness over the tresses golden. 
 
 Yea, and by this hath the third day past 
 That the queen from her fainting lips hath with- 
 holden 
 
 The gift of the Lady of Corn, 
 Keeping her body thereof unfed, as though 'twere 
 pollution to taste of bread. 
 
 With anguish unuttered longing forlorn 
 
 One haven to win — death's bourn. 140 
 
 [Sir. 2) 
 Ο queen, what if this be possession 
 Of Pan or of Hekate ?— 
 
 Of the Mother of Dindymus' Hill ?— 
 Or the awful Corybant thrill ? — 
 Or Dictynna hath found transgression 
 Of offerings unrendered in thee — 
 
 If the hand of the Huntress be here ? — 
 For she flasheth o'er mountain and mere, 
 And rideth her triumph-procession 
 
 Over surges and swirls of the sea. 150 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Or thy princely lord, in whose leading ί 
 
 Be the hosts of Erechtheus' race, ; ' 
 
 Hath one in his halls beguiled, | i 
 
 That thy couch is in secret defiled ? 
 Or hath some sea-trafficker, speeding 
 From Crete over watery ways 
 
 To the haven where shipmen would be. 
 Brought dolorous tidings to thee 
 
132 EURIPIDES. 
 
 That hath bowed thee with anguish exceeding 
 On thy bed through thy soul's prison-days ? i6o 
 
 (Epode.) 
 
 Or shall this be the discord mournful, weirdly 
 
 haunting, 
 
 That ofttimes jarreth and jangleth the strings of 
 
 woman's being ? 
 
 'Tis the shadow of travail-throes nigh, a delirium 
 
 spirit-daunting : 
 Yea, I have known it, through mine own bosom have 
 felt it shiver : 
 But I cried to the Queen of the Bow, to the Helper in 
 travail-throe for refuge fleeing ; 
 And by grace of the Gods she hearkeneth ever my 
 fervent request, she is there to deliver, '^v ι -^70 r^j 
 
 But lo, through the doors where cometh the grey- 
 haired nurse 
 Leading the stricken one forth of her bowers : 
 On her brows aye darker the care-cloud lowers. 
 My spirit is yearning to know what is this strange 
 curse. 
 
 Wherefore the queen's cheek ever is paling. 
 And her strength is failing. 
 
 Enter Phtedra, Nurse, and Handmaids. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Ο afflictions of mortals, Ο bitter pain ! 
 
 What shall I do unto thee, or refrain ? 
 Lo here is the light of the sun, the sky : 
 Brought forth of the halls is thy bed ; hereby 180 
 Thy cushions lie. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 133 
 
 Hitherward wouldst thou come ; it was all thy moan : 
 Yet aback to thy bowers wilt thou fret to be gone. 
 Thou art soon disappointed, hast pleasure in nought, 
 Nor the present contents thee ; a thing far-sought 
 Thy fancy hath caught. 
 
 Better be sick than tend the sick : 
 Here is but one pain ; grief of mind 
 And toil of hands be there combined. 
 
 O'er all man's life woes gather thick ; 190 
 
 Ne'er from its travail respite is. 
 If bet ter life beyond be found. 
 The darkness veils, clouds wrap it round ; 
 
 Therefore. infatuate-fond to this 
 
 We cling — this earth's poor sunshine-gleam : 
 "Nought know we of the life to come, ^ . \, 
 
 There speak no voices from the tomb : Vfi/ ^ '^ -^ 
 We drift on fable's shadowy stream. 
 
 Ph<edra. 
 
 Uplift ye my body, mine head upraise. 
 
 Friends, faint be my limbs, and unknit be their bands. 
 
 Hold, maidens, my rounded^ arms and mine hands. 
 Ah, the coif on mine head all heavily weighs : [200 
 Take it thence till mine hair o'er my shoulders strays ! 
 
 1 Here, as in I. 233, her thoughts revert, with a touch of 
 natural pathos, to the beauty, once her pride, so unavailing 
 now. c. f. Troilus & Cressida, iv, 2, "Tear my bright 
 hair," &c. 
 
134 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Take heart, my child, nor in such wild wise 
 
 Toss thou thy body so feveredly. 
 
 Lighter thy sickness to bear shall be, 
 If thine high-born courage in calm strength rise : 
 For the doom of sorrow on all men Ues. 
 
 PHiEDRA. 
 
 Oh but to qua£F, where the spray- veil drifteth 
 
 O'er taintless fountains, the dear cool stream ! 210 
 
 Oh to lie in the mead where the soft wind lifteth 
 Its tresses — 'neath poplars to lie and dream ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 My child, my child, what is this thou hast cried ? 
 Ah, speak not thus, with a throng at thy side, 
 Wild words that on wings of madness ride ! 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 Let me hence to the mountain afar — I wiU hie me 
 
 To the forest, the pines where the stag-hounds follow 
 Hard after the fleet dappled hinds as they fly me ! 
 Oh, I long to cheer them with hunter's hollo, — 
 Ah God, were I there ! — 
 And to grasp the Thessahan shaft steel-gleaming, 220 
 And to swing it on high by my hair outstreaming — 
 My golden hair ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 What wouldst thou, my darling, of suchlike things ? 
 Will nought save the hunt and the hounds content ? 
 
 And why art thou yearning for fountain-springs ? 
 Lo, nigh to thy towers is a soft-sloped bent 
 With streams for thy drinking dew-besprent. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 135 
 
 PHiEDRA. 
 
 Lady of Limn6, the burg looking seaward, 
 
 Of the thunder of hoofs on the wide race-courses, 
 
 Oh for the plains where the altars to theeward 230 
 Flame, there to be curbing the Henetan horses ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 What speech in thy frenzy outflingest thou ? 
 
 The mountain-ward path then fain hadst thou taken 
 On the track of the beasts ; and thou yearnest now 
 
 For the steeds on the sea-sands wave-forsaken ! 
 Of a surety the lore of a seer we lack 
 To tell what God, child, reineth thee back. 
 And scourgeth thy spirit from reason's track. 
 
 PHiEDRA. 
 
 Ο hapless I — what is this I have done ? [240 
 
 Whitherward have I wandered from wisdom's way ? 
 
 I was mad, by a God's curse overthrown. 
 Oh ill-starred — welladay ! 
 
 Dear Nurse, veil over mine head once more ; 
 
 For I blush for the words from my lips that came. 
 
 Veil me : the tears from mine eyes down pour, 
 And mine eyelids sink for shame. 
 
 For anguish wakg sjs^,fiBJ& i .da. wj te tll .t. he .iOiod• f 
 
 Though a cur se be madness, hej^JaJgiL^*^' ' 
 
 Thatthe„SQui3Ka£3EH3SSjIkiiketh,.biiad. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 I veil thee : — ah that death would veil 250 
 
 Me too ! — with many a lesson stern 
 The years have brought, this too I learn — 
 
 Be links of mortal iriendship frail : 
 
136 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Let heart-strings ne'er together cling, 
 Nor be indissolubly twined 
 The cords of love, but lightly joined 
 
 For knitting close or severing. 
 
 Ah weary burden, where one soul 
 
 Travails for twain, as mine for thee ! 260 
 
 Ruin, not bliss, say they, shall be 
 
 Care's life-absorbing heart-control. 
 
 Yea, that way sickness, madness, lies. 
 Therefore " the overmuch " shall be 
 Less than " the nought-too-much " for me : 
 
 So say I ; so shall say the wise. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Thou grey-haired dame, queen Phaedra's loyal nurse, 
 
 In sooth I mark her lamentable pUght, 
 
 Yet what her malady, to us is dark. 
 
 Fain would we question thee and hear thereof. 270 
 
 Nurse. 
 I know not, though I ask : she will not tell. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Nor what was the beginning of these woes ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 The same thy goal': nought sayeth she of all. 
 
 Chorus. 
 How strengthless and how wasted is her frame ! 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 137 
 
 Nurse. 
 No marvel, being three days foodless now. 275 
 
 Chorus. 
 Madness is this, or set resolve to die ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 To die : she fasteth to make end of life. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Strange is thy tale, if this content her lord. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Nay, but she hides her pain, nor owns she ails. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Should he not guess ? — one glance upon her face ? 280 
 
 Nurse. 
 Nay, absent is he from this land of late. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 But thou — dost not constrain her, strive to learn 
 Her malady and wandering of her wit ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 All have I tried, and nought the more availed. 
 
 Yet will I not even now abate my zeal : \ 285 
 
 So stand thou by and witness unto me \ 
 
 How true am I to mine afflicted lords. 
 
 Come, dariing child, the words said heretofore 
 
 Forget we both ; more gracious-souled be thou : 
 
138 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Thy lowering brow, thy wayward mood, put by. 290 
 
 And I, wherein I erred in following thee. 
 
 Refrain, and unto wiser counsels seek. 
 
 If thy disease be that thou mayst not name, 
 
 Lo women here to allay thy malady. 
 
 But if to men thy trouble may be told, 295 
 
 Speak, that to leeches this may be declared. 
 
 Ha, silent ? — silence, child, beseems thee not. 
 
 Or thou shouldst chide me if I speak not well. 
 
 Or unto pleadings wisely uttered yield. 
 
 One word ! — look hitherward ! — ah, woe is me ! 300 
 
 Women, we toil and spend our strength for nought,. 
 
 And still are far as ever : of my words 
 
 Unmelted was she then, nor hearkeneth now. 
 
 Howbeit know thou — then be waywarder 
 
 Than is the sea, — ^thy death shall but betray 305 
 
 Thy sons, who shall not share their father's halls. 
 
 Yea, by that chariot-queen, the Amazon, 
 
 Who bare unto thy sons a bastard lord, — 
 
 Not bastard-thoughted,^well thou knowest him, 
 
 Hippolytus — 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 Woe's me ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 It stings thee, this ? 310 
 
 > Ph^dra. 
 
 Thou hast undone me, nurse : by heaven, I pray, 
 Speak thou the name of this man nevermore. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Lo there ! — thy wit is sound : yet of thy wit 
 Thou wilt not help thy sons nor save thy life ! 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 139 
 
 Phaedra. 
 I love them : in that storm of fate 1 toss not. 315 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Sure, thine are hands, my child, unstained with blood ? 
 
 I 
 Phaedra. 
 
 Pure be mine hands : the stain is on my soul. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Not, not of sorcery-spells by some foe cast ? 
 
 Phaedra. 
 A friend — ^unwitting he, nor wilful I. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Hath Theseus wrought against thee any sin ? 320 
 
 PHjEDRA. 
 
 May I be found as clear of wrong to him. 
 
 Nurse. 
 What then is this strange thing that deathward drives 
 
 thee? 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 Let "be my sin ! — Not against thee I sin. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Of my will, never ! — On thine head my failure ! 
 
 [Clings to Phcedra's hands. 
 
 PHiEDRA. 
 
 Violence to me ! — on mine hand hangest thou ? 325 
 
 L 2 
 
140 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Yea, and thy knees I never will let go. 
 
 Phaedra. 
 Thy bane, unhappy, shouldst thou hear in mine. 
 
 Nurse. 
 What greater bane for me than thee to lose ? 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 Thy deaty : — the selfsame thing shall save mine 
 
 honour. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Still dost thou hide it, when I pray thy good ? 330 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 Yea, for I fashion honour out of shame. 
 
 Nurse. 
 If then thou tell me, more shall be thine honour. 
 
 PHiEDRA. 
 
 For God's sake hence away : let go mine hand. 
 
 Nurse. 
 No ! — ^while thou grantest not the boon my due. 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 I will, in reverence of thy suppliant hand. 335 
 
 1 " A remark of little force. Why should the nurse 
 die ? " (Mahaffy and Bury.) Answered by the nurse her- 
 self, I. 356. Moreover, is it likely that, in the sequel, she 
 lived, or would have been allowed to live ? 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 141 
 
 Nurse. 
 I am dumb : henceforth thy part it is to speak. 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 Ο hapless mother^ ! — what strange love was thine ! V 
 
 Nurse. 
 Love for the bull, my child ? — or what wouldst name ? 
 
 PH/EDRA. 
 
 And thou, sad sister, Dionysus' bride^ ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 What ails thee, child ? — dost thou revile thy kin ? 340 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 And I the third — how am I misery-wrecked ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 I am 'wildered all — whereunto tend thy words ? 
 
 Ph/edra. 
 To the rock that wrecks us all, yea, from of old. 
 
 Nurse. 
 None the more know I that I fain would know. 
 
 Phaedra. 
 Ah, couldst thou say for me what I must say ! 345 
 
 1 Pasiphae, wife of Minos King of Crete, and mother of 
 the Minotaur. 
 
 2 Ariadne. 
 
142 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Nurse. 
 No seer am I to interpret hidden things. 
 
 PHiEDRA. 
 
 What mean they when they speak of this — to love ? 
 
 I Nurse. 
 
 The sweetest thing, my child — the bitterest too. 
 
 Phmora.. 
 For me, the second only have I proved. 
 
 Nurse. 
 What say'st thou ? — child, dost thou love any man ? 350 
 
 Ph^;dra. 
 Whate'er his name — 'tis he — the Amazon's — 
 
 Nurse. 
 , Hippolytus ! 
 
 Phaedra. 
 i\/ Thou say est it, not I. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Woe, child ! What wilt thou say ? Thou hast dealt 
 
 me death ! 
 Friends, 'tis past bearing. I will not endure 
 To live. Ο hateful life, loathed light to see ! 355 
 
 I'll cast away, yield up, my frame, be rid 
 Of life by death ! Farewell, I am no more. 
 The virtuous love — not willingly, yet love 
 The evil. Sure no Goddess Kypris is, 
 But, if it may be, something more than God, 360 
 
 Who hath ruined her, and me, and all this house. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 143 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. to 669-79) 
 Hast thou heard ? — the unspeakable tale hast thou 
 hearkened, 
 
 The wail of my lady's anguish-throe ? 
 Ο may I die, ah me ! ere I know, 
 Dear lady, a spirit as thine so darkened. 365 
 
 Ο misery burdened, Ο whelmed in woe ! 
 Ο troubles that cradle the children of men ! 
 Undone ! — all's bared to the daylight's ken. 
 Ah, weariful season for thee rernaining ! [370 
 
 Dark looms o'er the household the shadow of doom. 
 Plain now where the star of thy love is waning, 
 Ο hapless daughter , of Crete's proud home ! 
 
 Ph^idra. 
 Trcezenian women, ye which here abide 
 Upon the utmost march of Pelops' land, 375 
 
 Oft sleepless! in the weary-wearing night 
 Have I mused how the life of men is wrecked. 
 And not, meseems, through evil thoughts inborn 
 So ill they fare,— discretion dwells at least 
 With many, — but we thus must look hereon''. — 
 That which is good we learji and recognise, 380 
 
 Yet practise not the lesson, some from sloth. 
 And some preferring pleasure in the stead 
 Of duty. Pleasures many of life there be — 
 Long gossip, idlesse, — pleasant evils sooth, — 
 And sense of shame — twofold : no ill the one,* 385 
 
 1 Reading ανπνος (Nauck) vice αΧλως, " idly." 
 
 2 Mahaffy & Bury regard this passage as corrupt, mainly on 
 the ground that " α'ώώς cannot possibly be classed as a 
 species of ^δονι;," and that the description in the text of its 
 
144 EURIPIDES. 
 
 But one drags houses down. Were men's choice clear, 
 These twain had never borne the self-same names. 
 Forasmuch then as I knew this before, 
 No philtre-spell was like to change mine heart 
 To make me fall away from this my faith. 390 
 
 Thee will I teU the path my reason trod ; — 
 When love's wound smote me, straight I cast about 
 How best to bear it : wherefore I began 
 Thenceforth to hush my moan, to veil my pang. 
 For the tongue none may trust, which knoweth well 395 
 To lesson rebel thoughts of other men, 
 Yet harboureth countless evils of its own. 
 Then did I take thought nobly to endure 
 My folly, triumphing by self-control. 
 Lastly, when even so I nought availed 400 
 
 ι,Ύο o'ermaster Love's Queen, then I deemed it best 
 'To die : no man shall gainsay my resolve. 
 
 two aspects is absurd. Phaedra's argument is, that the only 
 safe-guiding star is duty, from which even well-meaning 
 persons (for she does not touch on the case of those who 
 wish to sin, as having no relevance to her own position) are 
 diverted either by disinclination for effort; or by " pleasure," 
 either innocent but frivolous, or that eqxiivocal pleasure 
 which is an out-growth of the sense of shame implanted in 
 man ; for α18ώς is respect for appearances, for the world's 
 opinion; and compliance with it commonly produces a 
 sense of satisfaction which certainly may be classed as a 
 species of pleasure. It has been the mainspring of the 
 world of convention and fashion in all ages. The lady who 
 declared that "the sense of being perfectly well-dressed 
 gives a feeling of inward tranquillity which reUgion is power- 
 less to bestow," had no doubts as to the ■η8ονη. 
 
 To illustrate the good aspect of aiStos, and that in which 
 it Uterally " dragged a house down," we need go no further 
 than Euripides' play of " The SuppUants," and note its 
 effect on Adrastus, who (I. 160) was ashamed to withstand 
 popular clamour, and on Theseus, who was ashamed to 
 incur deserved reproach (342-5). 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 145 
 
 For be it mine to do not good unseen, 
 
 Nor ill before a cloud of witnesses. / 
 
 I knew the deed, the very pang, was shame, 'i 405 
 
 Yea, well I knew withal myself a woman, 
 
 The all-abhorred. Foul curses upon her 
 
 Who showed the way the first, with alien men 
 
 To shame the couch ! Ah, 'twas from princely homes 
 
 That first this curse on womankind had birth. aio 
 
 For, when the noble count their jhaniejt_heir__g.cijod, | / 
 
 T^gUowiy sure -νναΠΈόΜ it honourable. \ 
 
 And O, I hate the continent-professed 
 
 Whici treasure secret recklessness of shame. 
 
 How can they, Ο Queen Kypris, Sea-born One, 415 
 
 Look ever in the faces of their lords, 
 
 Nor shudder lest their dark accomplice, night. 
 
 And their own bowers may utter forth a voice ? 
 
 Me — friends, 'tis even this dooms me to die, 
 
 That^neverT~Be found to shame, my lord, 420 
 
 Nor the sons whom I bare ; but free, with tongues 
 
 UiileffgredT' flourish they, their home yon burg 
 
 Of glorious Athens, blushing ne'er for me. 
 
 For this cows man, how stout of heart soe'er. 
 
 To know a father's or a mother's sin.' 425 
 
 And this alone can breast the shocks of life, 
 
 An honest heart and good, in whomso found. 
 
 But vile ones Time unmasketh in his hour, 
 
 V^ 
 
 1 " Lines 421-425 are quite inconsistent with the last five 
 lines of the speech, 426-430. The former speak of illegiti- 
 mate birth as an unmitigated evil," &c. (Mahaffy and Bury). 
 No — but of a father's or mother's disgrace, which was by 
 no means necessarily implied in a son's illegitimate birth. 
 Phsedra is referring to a mother's conviction and punish- 
 ment as an adulteress, which might well make her children 
 (though lawfully born) hang their heads. 
 
146 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Holding his mirror up, as to a maid. 
 
 With such consorting ne'er may I be seen. 430 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo now, how fair is virtue everywhere. 
 Which yieldeth fruit of good repute mid men 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Mistress, thy mischance, suddenly revealed 
 But now, wrought in me terrible dismay. 
 i Yet I discern my folly now. 'Tie strange 435 
 
 -^' How second thoughts for men are wisest still. 
 Thine is the common lot, not past cool weighing : 
 The Goddess's passion-bolts have smitten thee. 
 
 '' Thou lov'st — what marvel this ? — thou art as many — 
 And lo, for love's sake wouldst fling life away ! 440 
 Sooth, 'twere small gain for them which love their 
 
 fellows. 
 Or yet shall love, if help be none save death. 
 
 . ji For Kypris crusheth, swooping in her might ; 
 
 ' (V Yet gently stealeth she on whoso yield. 
 
 ^ Π But whom she findeth wayward, arrogant-souled, 445 
 ' She graspeth, mocketh, past imagining. 
 
 ί Through air she roveth, in the ocean-surge 
 Is Kypris ; all things have their birth of her. 
 'Tis she that sows love, gives increase thereof. 
 Whereof all we that dwell on earth are sprung. 450 
 Whoso have scrolls writ in the ancient days,i 
 And wander still themselves by paths of song. 
 They know how Zeus of yore desired the embrace 
 Of Semele ; they know how radiant Dawn 
 
 1 Or, " pictures of the olden time." 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 147 
 
 Up to the Gods snatched Kephalus of yore, 455 
 
 And all for love ; yet these in Heaven their home 
 Dwell, neither do they flee the face of Gods, 
 Content, I trow, in their mischance's triumph. 
 Thou — wilt not yield ? Thy sire by several treaty 
 Thee should have g&tten, or with other Gods 460 
 
 For lords, if thou wilt bow not to these laws. 
 How many men, think' st thou, and wise men they, 
 Knowing their beds dishonoured, shut their eyes ? / 
 
 How many a father in his son's transgression ^^ 
 
 Playeth love's go-between ? — the maxim this ||\, 1/465 ^ 
 Of wise men. that dish onour be not seen. " 
 
 Why should men toil to over-perfect life ? ^ 
 
 Lo, even the house-roof's pitch the craftsman's rule 
 Can make not utter-true. How thinkest thou, 
 Plunged in fate's deep abyss, to swim thereout ? 470 
 Tush — if more good than evil is in thee, 
 Who art but human, thou shalt do full well. 
 Nay, darling, from thy deadly thoughts refrain 
 And from presumption — sheer gresumption-this, \ \) 
 That one should wish to be more stronglhan Gods. 475 
 
 In'love, flinch not ; a God hath willed this thing. 
 
 In pain, victorious wresfTe with thy pain. 
 
 Lo, charms there be, and words of soothing spell. 
 
 Some cure for this affliction shall appear. 
 
 Sooth, it were long ere men would light thereon, 480 
 
 Except we women find devices forth. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Phaedra, she speaketh words that more avail 
 For this thine imminent plight : yet thee I praise. 
 But haply this my praise shall gall thee more 
 Than those her words, and harsher sound to thee. 485 
 
148 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Fhmora. 
 
 This is it w hich doth ruin goodly towns 
 And homes of men, the.sajpseiib^over-fair. 
 It needeth not to speak words sweet to earls, 
 But those whereby a good name shall be saved. 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Out on thine high-flown talk ! No speech tricked 
 fair 49c 
 
 Thou needest ! Haste we must and learn the mind 
 Of this man, telling all thy tale straight out. 
 For, iyere thy life not in such desperaiaxage. 
 Or thou a woman strong in self-control, 
 ^ver for thy lust's sake and pleasure I 495 
 
 To this would bring thee : but we must fight hard 
 Now for thy life, and void of blame isTEs. 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 Speaker of horrors ! — wilt not seal thy lips ? 
 Wilt not refrain from utter-shameful words ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Shameful — yet better than the good for thee. 500 
 
 Better this deed, so it but save thy life. 
 
 Than that name, whose proud vaunt shall be thy death. 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 No, by the Gods ! — fair words, but words of shame ! — 
 No farther go.: I have schooled mine heart to endure 
 This love : but if thou plead shame's cause so fair, 505 
 I shall be trapped in that sin which I flee. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 149 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 If^uch thy mind, thine^heart should not ha ve sinned : 
 But now — obey me : thank me or thank me not : — 
 I have within some certain charms to assuage 
 Love : 'twas but now they came into my thought. 510 
 These, not with shame, nor hurt unto thy mind, 
 Shall lull thy pang, so thou be not faint-hearted. 
 Howbeit there needs of him thou yearnest for 
 Some token, or a word, or fragment caught 
 From vesture, so to knit two loves in one. 515 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 A salve, or potion, is this charm of thine ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 I know not : be content with help, not knowledge. 
 
 Ph^;dra. 
 I fear lest over-cunning thou shalt prove. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Then know thyself all fears. What dreadest thou ? 
 
 PHiEDRA. 
 
 Lest thou show aught of this to Theseus' son. 520 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Let be, my child : this will I order well. 
 Only do thou,. Queen Kypris, Sea-born One, 
 Work with me. Whatso else I have in mind 
 Shall it suffice to speak to friends within. 
 
 [Exit Nurse.] 
 
 ?' 
 
150 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 Ο Eros, Ο Eros, how melts love's yearning 
 
 From thine eyes, when thy sweet spell witcheth the 
 heart 
 Of them against whom thou hast marched in thy 
 
 might ! ,' 
 
 Not me, not me for mine hurt do thou smite, 
 My life's heart -music to discord turning. 
 
 For never so hotly the flame-spears dart, 530 
 
 Nor so fleet are the star-shot arrows of light. 
 As the shaft from thy fingers that speedeth its flight, 
 As the flame of the Love-queen's bolts fierce-burning, 
 Ο Eros, the child of Zeus who art ! 
 
 {Ant. I.) 
 Ο vainly, Ο vainly by Alpheus'' river 
 
 And in Phcebus's Pythian shrine hath the land 
 Of Hellas the blood of her oxen outpoured. 
 But Eros, but Love, who is all men's lord, 
 Unto whom Aphrodite is wont to deliver 
 
 Her keys, that the doors be unsealed by his hand 
 Of her holy of holies, we have not adored, [540 
 Though he marcheth through ruin victory-ward. 
 Though he raineth calamity forth of his quiver 
 On mortals against his on-coming that stand. 
 
 {Str. 2.) 
 For I call to remembrance Oechalia's daughter,^ 
 
 1 Usually Alpheius (" In vain, Ο in vain by Alpheius the 
 river ") ; ' but in this passage Euripides gives it the Doric 
 form as above. 
 
 2 Ιοίέ, daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia, promised 
 by her father to the victor in a contest of archery. Herakles 
 proved victorious, but her father refused to fulfil his promise. 
 Herakles thereupon sacked Oechalia, slew Eurytus' sons, 
 and bore away his bride. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 151 
 
 Who, ere Love 'neath his tyrannous car-yoke had 
 brought her, 
 Had been spouseless and free — overseas how she 
 hasted. 
 When Kypris the dear yoke of home had disparted, 
 Like a bacchanal fiend out of hell that hath darted, 550 
 And with blood, and with smoke of a palace flame- 
 wasted. 
 And with death-shrieks for hymns at her bridal-feast 
 
 chanted. 
 By Love's Queen to the son of Alkmena was granted — 
 Woe, woe for the joys of espousal she tasted ! 
 
 {Ant. 2.) 
 And ye, Ο ye ramparts of hallowed Thebe, 
 And ye lips wave-welling of Dirk^, might ye be 
 
 Witness how dire was the Love-queen's coming, 
 When a slumber that knoweth not waking was given 
 Of her spells by the flame-enfolded levin [560 
 
 To the mother of Zeus' seed Bacchus : for dooming 
 Of death had she blent with the bride-chant's singing. 
 For the Dread One breatheth on all life, winging 
 Softly her flight as a bee low-humming. 
 
 [Voices within.] > 
 
 Ph-edra. 
 
 Hush ye, Ο hush ye, women ! . . . . Lost am I ! 565 
 
 Chorus. 
 What is this dread thing, Phaedra, in thine halls ? 
 
 Phaedra. 
 Peace — let me hear the voice of them within- 
 
152 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 I am dumb : an ominous prelude sure is this. 
 
 PH/EDRA. 
 
 Ah me ! ah me ! alas ! 
 
 Ο wretched, wretched ! — ah, mine agonies ! 570 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 What cry dost thou utter ? What word dost thou 
 
 shriek ? 
 What boding of terror hath rushed on thy soul ? — Ο 
 
 lady, speak ! 
 
 PHiEDRA. 
 
 I am undone ! Ο stand ye by these doors. 
 And hear what clamour clasheth in the house". 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Nay, thou art thereby, and the cry from the palace sped 
 forth is for thee. 
 Ο tell me what evil came forth — tell it me ! 580 
 
 I Ph^dra. 
 
 , The son of the Amazon, Hippolytus, 
 
 ' Shouts, hurling fearful curses at mine handmaid. 
 
 Chorus; 
 
 A noise do I hear ; yet it passeth me clearly to tell 
 
 whereby 
 It came — through the dpors to thee came that cry. 
 
 PH/EDRA. 
 
 Ah clear — ah clear ! — yea, pandarof foul sin, 
 
 , pa: 
 , he 
 
 Traitress to her lord's bed, he calleth her. 590 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 153 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe ! Thou art betrayed, belovod one ! 
 What shall I counsel ? Thy secret is bared : thou art 
 wholly undone. 
 
 PH/EDRA. 
 
 Woe's me ! ah woe ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 From the hand that loved came the traitor's blow. 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 She hath undone me, telling my mischance : 
 
 In love, in shame, she sought these pangs to heal. "^ 
 
 Chorus. 
 What wilt thou do, Ο thou in desperate phght ? 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 No way save one I know — straightway to die — 
 
 The oiie cure for the ills that compass me. 600 
 
 Enter Hippolytus, followed by the Nurse. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Ο mother Earth, unveilings of the sun. 
 What words unutterable have I heard ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 Hush, Ο my son, ere one have heard thy cry. 
 
 Hippolytus. 
 I have heard horrors — should I hold my peace ? 
 
154 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Yea, I beseech thee by thy fair right hand. 6ο^ 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 V' V Hence with thine hand ! — touch not my vesture thou. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Oh, by thy knees, do not — ah, slay me not ! 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 How, if thou hast said no wrong, as thou dost say ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 No tale is this, my son, for all men's ears. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Tush, a fair tale is fairer told to the world. 6ic 
 
 Nurse. 
 My son, thine oath ! — dishonour not thine oath. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 My tongue hath sworn : no oath is on my soul. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Ο son; what wilt thou do ? — wilt slay thy friends ? 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Avaunt the word ! — no villain is my friend. 
 
 Nurse, 
 Forgive, son : men are men, they needs must err. 615 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 155 
 
 620 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Why hast thou given a home beneath the sun, 
 
 Zeus, unto woman, specious curse to man ? 
 
 For, were thy will to raise a mortal seed, 
 
 This ought they not of women to have gotten, 
 
 But in thy temples should they lay its price, 
 
 Or gold, or iron, or a weight of bronze. 
 
 And so buy seed of children, every man 
 
 After the worth of that his gift, and dwell 
 
 Free in free homes unvexed of womankind. 
 
 But now — soon as we go about to bring 625 
 
 This bane to the home, we hurl to earth its weal. 
 
 Hereby is woman proved a grievous bane — 
 
 He,jvho_bega^andjOaxed her, banishes^ 
 
 Yeaj_adds_ajdower, to ridhim of his bane ; 
 
 While he which taketh home the noisome weed 630 
 
 R^oicesT^eckTwitirgoodly bravery 
 
 Thelo5hi^Tmage7and_tricks out with robes, — 
 
 Filching_away, poor wretch ! his household's wealth. 
 
 He may not chooseT who getteth noble kin 
 
 With her, content must stomach his sour feast : - 635 
 
 Who getteth a good wife, but worthless kin, 
 
 Must muffle up the evil 'neath the good. — 
 
 Happiest who wins a cipher, in whose halls " 
 
 A brainless fadgei is throned in uselessness. ^' 
 
 But the keen-witted hatel : _ in mine house ^ 640 
 
 Ne'er dw ell one wiser thanjs woman's due ; _^ ϊλ^ 
 
 Fo^JSyiS^SteiLtengslobirth her rnischief \ 
 In clever women : the resourceless scapes 
 
 1 " And I sail hae naething to mysel' 
 But a fat fadge by the fyre." 
 Lord Thomas and Fair ^»»βί.— Percy's Reliques. 
 
 Μ 2 
 
156 EURIPIDES. 
 
 That folly by the short-weight of her wit. 
 Handmaids should ne'er have had access to wives, 64' 
 uut brutes, with teeth, no tongue, should dwell, with 
 
 them, ~~' ~~' 
 
 That so they might not speak to any one, 
 Nor win an answering word from such as these. 
 But now the vile ones weave vile plots within, 
 And out of doors their handmaids bear the web : 65c 
 As thou hast come, foul quean, to tender me 
 Commerce in mine own father's sacred couch ! — 
 Words that with fountain-streams Fll wash'away, 
 Sluicing mine ears. How should I be so vile. 
 Who even with hearing count myself defiled ? 655 
 
 Woman, I fear God :. know, that saveth fhee. 
 For, had I not by oaths been trapped unwares, 
 I had ne'er forborne to tell this to my sire. 
 Now from mine home, while Theseus yet is far, 
 I go, and I will keep my lips from speech. 66c 
 
 But — with my father I return, to see 
 How thou wilt meet his eye, thou and thy mistress. 
 And so have taste of thy full shamelessness. 
 Curse ye ! My^wonjajiliateshall ne'er be sated, 
 Not though one say that this is all my theme : 665 
 For they be ever strangely steeped in sin. 
 Let some one now stand forth and prove them chaste. 
 Or leave me free to trample on them ever. [Exit 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 [Ant. to 362-72' 
 Ο drear dark doom that on women hath lighted ! 
 By what cunning of pleading, when feet once trip. 
 Shall we loose the accuser's iron grip^ ? [67c 
 
 ^ κάθαμμα λόγου (wrestling metaphor) is the now irresist 
 ible force (" the hammerlock ") of the indictment just utterec 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 157 
 
 Ph-edra. 
 
 Ο earth, Ο sun, I am justly requited ! 
 
 Through the snares of calamity how shall I slip ? 
 How, friends, shall I cloke my woe, how hide ? 
 What God or what man shall stand forth on my side. 
 Shall consent in my sin to be made partaker ? [675 
 
 For all life's anguish, and all life's shame. 
 Are upon me, and whelm like a shipwrecking breaker ! 
 
 Most accurst of my fate among women I am. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe, woe ! 'Tis done. Queen, it hath nought availed, 
 Thy bower-maid's device : 'tis ruin all. [680 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 Vilest of vile ! destroyer of thy friends ! 
 
 How hast thou ruined me ! May Zeus my sire 
 
 Smite thee with flame, and wholly abolish thee ! 
 
 Did I not tell thee — not divine thy purpose ? — 685 
 
 To speak not that whereby I am now dishonoured ? 
 
 But thou wouldst not forbear, i^ shalHiotjiow 
 
 Even die unshamed ! {A pause:) 
 
 -~~ ,— - Some new plea must I find. 
 
 For yonder boy with soul keen-edged with wrath / ^ 
 Shall to his sire accuse me of thy sin, . " °" 690 
 Shall tell to a.ghd Pittheus my rnischance. 
 Shall blaze the shameful tale through every land. 
 
 by Hippolytus. The Chorus know in their hearts that the 
 sweeping denunciation is unjust, but the facts of this appar- 
 ently typical case seem to be dead against them; and, 
 though they would fain enter the lists in defence of their 
 sex, they feel that their feet have, as it were, been knocked 
 from under them, and they are hke a wrestler who is thus 
 placed at his opponent's mercy. 
 
 A\' 
 
158 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Curses on thee, and whoso thrusteth in 
 To do base service to unwilHng friends ! 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 Mistress, thou may'st revile mine evil work, 695 
 
 For rankling pain bears thy discernment down : 
 Yet somewhat might I answer, wouldst thou hear. 
 I nursed thee, loved thee, sought for thy disease 
 A healing balm, — and found not that I would. 
 ^ ; Had I sped we ll, rig htjadsg^had, I been Jield ; 700 
 
 ' ! l<Or,"'as we speed, so is our wisdom's fame. 
 
 Phaedra. 
 
 Ha ! is this just ? — should this suffice me now, 
 
 To have stabbed me, and then close in strife of words ? 
 
 Nurse. 
 
 We waste the time in speech. I was not wise. 
 
 Yet even from this there is escape, my child. 705 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 Peace to thy talk. Thj^cgjujisfiljieretofore 
 Was^shame, and mischief thine endeavour wag . 
 Hence"fPomTrf3rstfEt: for thine own self take thought. 
 ~ — -^ I with my needs will d^al^and honourably. 
 
 ~"^ — — ^Exit Nurse. 
 
 But ye, Ο Trcezen's daughters nobly born, 710 
 
 Grant to my supplication this, but this — 
 
 With silence veil what things ye here have heard. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 I swear by reverend Artemis, Zeus' child. 
 Never to bare to light of thine ills aught. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 159 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 
 Thou hast well -said. Now, as I muse, I find., 715 
 
 Onerefuge^one^ from this calamity, 
 
 So_to^bequeath my sons a life of honour, 
 
 And what I may from this day's ruin save. 
 
 For never wilT I shame the halls of Crete, 
 
 Nor will I meet the face of Theseus ever, / 720 
 
 For one poor life's sake, after all this shame. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Ah, wilt thou do a deed of ill past cure ? 
 
 Ph^dra. 
 Die will I. How — for this will I take thought. N/' 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ah hush ! 
 
 PH/EDRA. 
 
 Ο yea, advise me wisely thou. 
 But I shall gladden Kypris my destroyer 725 
 
 By fleeting out of life on this same day-, 
 And vanquished so by bitter love shall be". . 
 Yet in my death will I become the bane 
 Of one beside, that he may triumph not 
 Over my woes, and takingofmy pain 7^0 
 
 His share, may learn sound wisdom's temperance. "^ 
 — - [E^rii Phcedra. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 Under the arched cUfFs Ο were I lying. 
 
 That there to a bird might a God change me, 
 And afar mid the flocks of the winged things flying 
 
i6o EURIPIDES. 
 
 Over the swell of the Adrian sea 
 
 I might soar — and soar, — upon poised wings 
 dreaming, 
 O'er the strand where Eridanus' waters be, 
 Where down to the sea-swell purple-gleaming 
 The tears of the Sun-god's daughters are streaming, 
 Of the thrice-sad sisters for Phaethon sighing, 740 
 
 Star-flashes of strange tears amber-beaming^ ! 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 Ο to win to the strand where the apples are growing 
 
 Of the Hesperid chanters kept in ward. 
 Where the path over Ocean purple-glowing 
 By the Sea's Lord is to the seafarer barred ! 
 
 Ο to light where Atlas hath aye in his keeping 
 The bourn twixt earth and the heavens bestarred. 
 Where the fountains ambrosial sunward are leaping 
 By the couches where Zeus in his halls lieth sleeping. 
 Where the bounty of Earth the life-bestowing 750 
 
 The bliss of the Gods ever higher is heaping ! 
 
 (Sir. 2) 
 Ο white-winged galley from Crete's far shore. 
 Whose keel over deep-sea surges speeding, 
 Through their flying brine and their battle-roar, 
 Onward and onward my lady bore. 
 
 From a bliss-fraught palace a princess leading 
 To the joy of a bridal of woe exceeding ! — 
 For, a bird ill-boding, thy sail flitted o'er, 
 
 1 Phaethon, for his presumption in attempting to drive 
 the horses of the Sun, his father, was smitten by the thunder- 
 bolt of Zeus, and hurled to the depths of the river Eridanus 
 (Po), where his corpse lay for ever smouldering. His sisters, 
 mourning unceasingly beside his watery grave, were changed 
 into poplars, and their tears, as they fell, became drops of 
 amber. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. i6i 
 
 For a curse to the Cretan land and to Athens' glorious 
 strand, 760 
 
 When the seafarers lashed to the beach Munychian 
 the hawser-band, 
 
 And sprang unto earth's firm floor. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Wherefore, with love-pangs all unblest 
 
 For her gift, entered in-ApJirodite, wringing 
 Herheart-stringsj^sunder, a fearful guest. 
 Like a wrecked ship sinking, disaster-oppressed 
 Over her bride-bower's rafters flinging 
 The noose, shall she cast the coil close-clinging 
 Round the neck that was whitest and loveliest, 770 
 Because that with shuddering shame she shrank from 
 
 a loathed name. 
 And she chose, for its foulness, the stainless renown of 
 a wife's fair fame. 
 
 And, for anguish of love, heart-rest. 
 
 [A cry within.] 
 
 Run to the rescue, all ye nigh the house ! 
 
 In the strangling noose is Theseus' wife, our tnistress ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe ! Woe ! 'Tis done ! No more — no more is she. 
 The queen — in yon noose rafter-hung upcaught ! 
 
 \Cry within.] 
 
 Ο haste ! — will no one bring the steel two-edged, 780 
 
 Wherewith to loose this cincture of her neck ? 
 
 Semi-Chorus i. 
 
 What shall we do, friends ? Deem ye we should pass 
 The doors, and from the noose-grip loose the queen ? 
 
i62 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Semi-Chorus 2. 
 
 Wherefore ? — Are no young handmaids at her side ? 
 v/ The busy medd ler treadeth perilous paths. 785 
 
 [Cry within.] 
 
 Uncramp the limbs, streak out the hapless corpse. 
 Bitter house-warding this is for my lords ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Dead is the woeful lady, by that cry : 
 
 Even now they streak her as a corpse is streaked. 
 
 Enter Theseus. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Women, know ye what means this cry within ? 790 
 A dolorous shriek of handmaids reached mine ears. 
 Nor deigns the house to open doors and greet me 
 Blithely, as fromthe oracle come h.ome^-. , 
 IJath aught untowardjiappedjo Pitth eus' el d ? 
 Well-stricken in years is he, yet dole were ours 795 
 If haply fare his feet from these halls forth. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Not to the old pertains this thy mischance, 
 Theseus : the young have died, for grief to thee. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Woe ! — is a child's life by the spoiler reft 1 
 
 Chorus. 
 .j They live, their mother dead — alas for thee ! 800 
 
 >/ 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 163 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 What say'st thou ? — dead — my wife ? — by what mis- 
 hap ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 The strangUng noose she coiled about her neck. 
 
 Theseus. 
 By griefs touch frozen, or of what mischance ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 No more I know, for to thine halls but now, 
 Theseus, I came, o'er these thine ills to mourn. 805 
 
 Theseu*. 
 
 Woe ! with these wreathed leaves why is mine head 
 
 Crowned — ill-starred harbinger of oracles ? 
 
 Shoot back the bolts, my servants, of the doors : 
 
 Loose bars, that I may see this bitter sight. 
 
 My wife, who hath destroyed me by her death. 810 
 
 The Palace is thrown open, and the corpse of Phxdra 
 disclosed, with her handmaids grouped round it. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe for thy misery ! Woe for thine ills, who hast 
 suffered and wrought 
 Such a thing as in ruin shall whelm thine home ! 
 Ah for thy desperate deed, who by violence unhallowed 
 
 hast sought 
 Death, who with hand despairing the all-quelling 
 wrestler hast caught ! 
 Who shroudeth thy life, Ο hapless, in gloom ? 
 
 ■J 
 
i64 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 {Str.) 
 Ah me for my woes ! — I have suffered calamity, great 
 Beyond all ills overpast ! — Ο foot _oiJais^ 
 
 Hasajw^ thouJieavilyJrampl^d.jjie^^djniiie, 
 ■^-^ Unlooked-for blight from some avenging fiend — 820 
 '^ Nay, but destruction that blasteth my life evermore ! 
 On a sea of disaster 1 look, on a sea without shore. 
 So vast, that never can I swim thereout. 
 Nor ride the surge of this calamity. 
 What word can I speak unto thee ? — how name, dear 
 
 wife. 
 The doom that on thee hath descended and crushed thy 
 life? 
 Like a bird hast thou fleeted from mine hands, 
 And with swift leap hast rushed to Hades' halls. 
 Never sorrow of sorrows was like unto mine. 830 
 
 I I On mine head have I gathered the load 
 j Of the far-off sins of an ancient line ; 
 And this is the vengeance of God. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 '"1/ Not to thee only, king, this grief hath come ; 
 I ' With many more a dear wife's loss thou sharest. 835 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 (Ant.) 
 In the darkness under the earth — ah me, to have died, 
 That in blackness of darkness under the earth I might 
 hide, 
 Who am reft of thy most dear companionship ! 
 For thou hast dealt worse death than thou hast 
 suffered. [840 
 
 Of whom shall I hear whence came it, the deadly stroke 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. ϊ55 
 
 Of doom, that the heart of thee; my belovSd, broke ? 
 Will none speak what befell ? — or all for nought 
 Doth this my palace roof a menial throng ? 
 
 Woe's me, my belovod, stricken because of thee ! 
 
 Ah for the grief of mine house, for the travail I see. 
 Past utterance, past endurance ! — lost am I : 
 Mine house is desolate, motherless my babes. 
 
 Ο my darling, my wife, thou are gone, thou art gone, 
 Ο best upon whom the light 
 
 Looketh down of the all-beholding sun, 850 
 
 Or the splendour of star-eyed night ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe's me for thine house ! woe's me for its burden of 
 
 ill! 
 With ruth for thy fate running o'er do mine eyelids the 
 
 tear-drops pour : 
 [^Aside.] But for woe which must follow I shudder 
 
 and shudder still. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Ha! 
 
 What is this tablet, what, to her dear hand 
 
 Fastened ? What new thing meaneth it to tell ? 
 
 Now hath she writ, unhappy one, to pray r-c-=i'^ 
 
 Touching my marriage^ or my children aught ? -^ 
 
 Fear not, lost love : the woman is not born 860 
 
 Shall lie in Theseus' couch, or tread his halls. 
 
 Lo, how the impress of the carven gold 
 
 Of her that is no more smiles up at me ! 
 
 Come, let me uncoil the seal's envelopings. 
 
 And see what would this tablet say to me. 865 
 
i66 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe, woe ! How God bringeth evil following hard on 
 the track 
 
 Of evil ! I count for living unmeet 
 
 The lot of a hfe such as this, as on deeds that are 
 wrought I look back :^ 
 
 For the house of my lords standeth not any more, but 
 in ruin and wrack 
 
 I behold it hurled from its ancient seat. 870 
 
 Ah God, if this may be, wreck not the house, 
 But hearken my beseeching, for I trace, 
 Seer-like, an evil omen from his face.^ 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Ah me ! — a new curse added to the old. 
 
 Past utterance,' past endurance ! Woe is me ! 875 
 
 Chorus. 
 What is it ? Speak, if I may share the tale. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 It shrieketh, — ah, horrors the tablet outshrieketh ! Ο 
 how can I flee 
 
 My burden of woes ? I am utterly ruin-sped ! 
 
 1 Reading ίμοί γ αν ουν, " in my opinion would the lot, 
 etc." 
 
 2 Taking Τίνος as referring to Theseus : c.f. Portia watch- 
 ing Bassanio's expression as he reads Antonio's letter. 
 Merch. Ven. iii, a. 
 
 8 λίκτόν " cannot be right, on account of the following 
 verse " (Mahaffy and Bury). But, though the full import 
 cannot be expressed, the bare facts (for which the chorus is 
 asking) can. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 167 
 
 l^ey-eiag — what curses they sing, the words I have %.- 
 read 
 
 Graved on the wax — woe's me ! 880 
 
 Chorus. 
 Alas ! thou utterest speech that heralds ill. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 No more within my lips' gates will I pen 
 
 The horror that chokes utterance — ah wretch ! 
 
 Hippolytus hath dared assail my bed j f V 885 
 
 With violence, flouting Zeus's awful eye ! 
 
 Father Poseidon, thou didst promise me 
 
 Three curses once. Do thou with one of these I 
 
 Destroy my son : may he not 'scape this day, j 
 
 If soothfast curses thou hast granted me. ' 890 
 
 ^/ 
 
 ■=— Chorus. 
 
 Ο King, recall thou from the Gods this prayer ! ^ v^ 
 Thou yet shall know thine error : yield to me. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Never ! Yea, I will drive him from the land, 
 
 And, of two dooms, with one shall he be scourged : — 
 
 Either Poseidon, reverencing my prayers, 895 
 
 Shall slay and speed him unto Hades' halls, 
 
 Or, banished from this land, a vagabond 
 
 On strange shores, shall he drain life's bitter dregs. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo, where thy son's self comes in season meet, 
 Hippolytus : refrain thy wrath, Ο king 900 
 
 Theseus, and for thine house the best devise. 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Enter Hippolytus. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Father, I heard thy crying, and I came 
 
 In haste : yet for what cause thou makest moan 
 
 I know not, but of thee I fain would hear. 
 
 Ha ! what is this ? — Father, thy wife I see — 905 
 
 Dead ! — matter this for marvel passing great. 
 
 But now I left her, who upon this light 
 
 Looked, it is not yet a long season since. 
 
 What hath befallen her ? How perished she ? 
 
 Father, I fain would learn it from thy mouth. 910 
 
 Silent ! — In trouble silence nought avails. 
 
 The heart that yearns to know all cares of thine 
 
 Fain shall be found to prove thy troubles too. 
 
 Sure from thy friends — yea, and thy more than friends. 
 
 Father, it is not right to hide thy griefs. 915 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Ο men that ofttimes err, and err in vain,i 
 Why are ye teaching ever arts untold, 
 And search out manifold inventions still. 
 But one thing know not, no, nor hunt for it, 
 iTo teach them w it, in whom no wisdom dwells ? 920 
 
 1 " What is the meaning of the MSS. reading, ά.μαρτάνοντΐ% 
 μάτην ? It does not agree with the following lines, and μάτην 
 is superfluous" (Mahaify and Bury). Does it not mean that, 
 among the many blunders that men commit, without taking 
 warning from past mistakes, is the vital one of pursuing the 
 unessential, and neglecting the all-essential ? As to μάτην 
 being superfluous — surely we sometimes err, yet not in vain, 
 but, profiting by our errors, "rise on stepping-stones of our 
 dead selves to higher things." 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 169 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 A cunning sophist hast thou named, of power 
 Them to constrain to sense who sense have none : 
 But — so ill-timed thy speculations are — 
 Father, 1 fear thy tongue for grief runs wild. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Out ! There should dwell in men some certain test 925 
 
 Of friendship, a discerner of the heart. 
 
 To show who is true friend and who is false. 
 
 Yea, all men should have had two several voices, 
 
 One honest, one — how it might chance soe'er ; 
 
 That so the traitor voice might be convict 930 
 
 Before the honest, nor we be deceived. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. , 
 
 How ? — to thine ear hath some friend slandered me, | 
 
 That I the innocent am in evil case ? ! 
 
 Astonied am I, for thy words amaze me. 
 Thus wandering wide astray from reason's throne. 935 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Out on man's heart !— to what depths will it sink ? 
 
 Where shall assurance end and hardihood ? 
 
 For if it swell with every generation. 
 
 And the new age reach heights of villainy 
 
 Above the old, the Gods must needs create 940 
 
 A new earth unto this, that room be found 
 
 For the unrighteous and unjust in grain. 
 
 Look on this man, who, though he be my son, , 
 
 Hath shamed my couch, and shall be manifest proved \ \ 
 
 Most vile, by testimony of the dead. 945 
 
170 EURIPIDES. 
 
 A 
 
 , Hither, — since to this foulness thou hast come, — 
 
 j And set thy face against thy father's face. 
 Dost thou with Gods^O thou no common man ! — 
 
 ■ Consort ? Art thou the chaste, the stainless one ? 
 
 ; I will not trust thy boasts, for so should I 950 
 
 Impute to Gods unwisdom's ignorance. 
 
 Now vaunt, ay now ! — set out thy paltry wares 
 
 Of lifeless food -.^ take Orpheus for thy king : 
 
 Rave, worship vapourings of many a scroll : 
 
 For ah, thou'rt caught ! I warn all men to shun 955 
 
 Such hypocrites as this ; for they hunt souls 
 
 With canting words, the while they plot foul sin. 
 
 Dead is she : thinkest thou this saveth thee ? 
 
 Hereby thou art most convicted, basest thou ! 
 
 What oaths, what protestations shall bear down 960 
 
 l_Shows tablet 
 This, for thine absolution of the charge ? 
 
 And wilt thou say, " She hated me : the bastard 
 
 Is foe by blood of those in wedlock born ? " 
 
 Fools' traffic this in life— to fling away 
 
 For hate of thee the dearest thing she owed ! 965 
 
 Or — say'st thou ? — " Frailty is not in men. 
 
 But in the blood of women." Youths, I have proved. 
 
 Are no whit more than women continent 
 
 When Kypris stirs a heart in flush of youth : 
 
 Yet all the strength of manhood helpeth them. 970 
 
 But wherefore thus contend against thy pleas. 
 
 When there the corpse lies, witness faithful and true ? 
 
 Hence from this land, an exile, with all speed. 
 
 Never come thou to god-built Athens more. 
 
 Nor any marches where my spear hath sway : 975 
 
 1 Abstinence from animal food was a feature of the ascetic 
 doctrines attributed to Orpheus, as of those of Pythagoras. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 171 
 
 For if 'neath thy mishandling 1 sit still, 
 
 Never shall Isthmian Sinis testify 
 
 That I slew him, but name it idle vaunt ; 
 
 Nor those Skironian Rocks that skirt the sea 
 
 Shall call me terrible to evil-doers. 980 
 
 
 /IJ^-fr^ 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 I dare not name of mortals any man 
 Happy, for lo, the first is made the last. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Father, thy rage and strong-strained fury of soul 
 
 Are fearful : yet, fair-seeming though the charge,. 
 
 If one unfold it, all unfair it is. 985 
 
 I have no skill to speak before a throng : 
 
 My tongue is lo osed with equ als, andjthose few. '^ 
 
 Andfeason : they that are among the wise 
 
 Of none account, to mobs are eloquent. 
 
 Yet needs I must, now this mischance hath lighted. 
 
 Unrein my tongue. And first will I begin [990 
 
 Where thou didst first assail, as thou wouldst crush me, 
 
 And I find no reply. Sqe^st thou yon sun 
 
 And earth ? — within their compass is no man — ( lyv 
 
 T^hough thou deny it — cliaster-souled than I. 995) 
 
 For I have learnt, first, to revere the Gods, 
 
 Then, to have friends which seek to do no wrong. 
 
 Friends who think shame to proffer aught of base, 
 
 Yea, or to render others shameful service. 
 
 No mocker am I, father, at my friends, 1000 
 
 But to the absent even as to the present : ' 
 
 In one thing flawless, — where thou think'st me 
 
 trapped, — 
 For to this day my body is clean of lust. 1 
 
 Ν 2 
 
Λ• 
 
 ..^'• 
 
 172 «'^ EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ι know this coirimerce not, save by the ear 
 
 And sight_ofj5icim§S) — little will have I 1005 
 
 To look thereon, who keep a virgin soul. 
 
 Yet, grant my virtue wins not thy belief, 
 
 Sure 'tis for thee to show whereby I fell. 
 
 Wilt say this woman's form in grace outshone 
 
 All women ? — that I hoped thy state to inherit loio 
 
 By winning for mine own thine heiress-queen ?i 
 
 Vain fool were I — nay rather, wholly mad I^ 
 
 " Nay," (say'st thou) " sweet is power, though one be 
 
 chaste." 
 Nay verily ! — save the lust of sovereignty 
 Poison the wit of all who covet it. 1015 
 
 /Fain would I foremost victor be in-gamgs 
 
 ,\ Hellenic, and be second in the realm. 
 And with pure-hearted friends j3£.ha22y_stilL 
 For there is true well-being, peril far. 
 Which giveth sweeter joys than sovereignty. 1020 
 
 So hast thou all my counterpleas, save one : — 
 
 1 We find a parallel suggestion in I Kings ii, 22. 
 
 2 I must confess myself unable to appreciate Mahaffy and 
 Bury's objections to the lines 1012-18, as they stand in 
 the MSS. 1012 is, from Hippolytus' point of view, a 
 perfect answer to loio-ii ; but, remembering that it may 
 not be to his father so self-evident as to himself, he proceeds 
 to state and meet the former's supposed objection, taking 
 occasion to specify what his own ambition really is. Hence 
 it seems strange to be told that 1016-18 "are quite out of 
 place in the mouth of Hippolytus, whose sole delight was 
 in hunting in the woods, in the company of Artemis." Then 
 what did he want with a chariot and horses, and to what end 
 did he so assiduously use them, as referred to in //. 111-12, 
 228-31, 1132-34? Doubtless he regularly hunted (on foot) 
 before breakfast, before the dew was dried, (c.f. Xenophon, 
 Cynegeticus, and Apoll. Rhod. Argonautica IV. iog-13), and 
 practised for the chariot race after. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 173 
 
 Had I a witness, — one who knows mine heart, — ^ 
 
 And made defence while she stood living there. 
 
 By deeds shouldst thou search out and know the wicked : 
 
 But now— by Zeus Oath-warden, by Earth's plain, 
 
 Swear I, I ne'er attempted couch of thine, [1025 
 
 No, nor had wished it, nor had dreamed thereof. 
 
 God grant I perish nameless, fameless all, 
 
 Cityless, homeless, exile, vagabond 
 
 On earth, — may sea nor land receive my corpse 1030 
 
 When I am dead, if I be this vile thing ! 
 
 Now if through fear she flung away her life 
 
 I know not : — more I cannot sinless say. 
 
 Honest she was, yet honest could not be -.^ \ 
 
 I, caught at disadvantage, bore with wrong. 1035 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Thou hast said enough to turn this charge from thee 
 In tendering the Gods' oath, that dread pledge. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Lo, is not this a mountebank, a juggler, 
 
 1 Or, according to the Scholiast's interpretation — " Had I 
 a witness, upright as myself." 
 
 2 There is a play on words in the Greek which seems to 
 be rendered by the word honest in its twofold Shakspearean 
 sense, first, of chastity, second, of truthfulness. In 1035, 
 taking ov καλωζ with ΐχοντει, I understand him to refer to 
 having been entrapped into a pledge of silence, and to his 
 accepting the situation {έχρώμΐθα), sooner than violate his 
 oath. Retaining the ordinary punctuation, the sense of 1035 
 might be — 
 
 " I was not, who might have been, circumspect." 
 i.e. in letting myself be so entrapped. 
 
174 EURIPIDES. 
 
 \Ji 
 
 Who thinks by his unruffled calm to outface^ 
 
 My mood, when his own father he hath shamed ? 1040 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Nay, but I marvel, father, at this in thee : — 
 For, if my son thou wert, and I thy sire, 
 I had slain thee : exile should not be thy mulct. 
 If on my wife thou hadst dared to lay a hand. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Good sooth, well said : yet not so shalt thou die 1045 
 
 After the doom thou speakest for thyself ; 
 
 For easiest for the wretched is swift death. 
 
 But from the home-land exiled, wandering 
 
 To strange soil, shalt thou drain life's bitter dregs. 
 
 For this is meet wage for the impious man. 1050 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Woe's me ! — what wilt thou do ? Wilt not receive 
 Time's witness in my cause, but banish now ? 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Beyond the sea, beyond the Atlantic bourn. 
 If this I could ; so much I hate thy face. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Nor oath, nor pledge, nor prophet's utterance 1055 
 Wilt test, but cast me forth the land untried ? 
 
 1 "A mountebank, a threadbare juggler .... out- 
 facing me." Comedy of Errors, V. i. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 175 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 This tablet, though it bear no prophet's sign, 
 
 Accuseth thee, nor lieth : — -but the birds 
 
 That roam o'erhead, I wave them long farewell. 1 
 
 HippoLYTUs (aside). 
 
 Ο Gods, why can 1 not un,loQk my lips, io6oi 
 
 Who am destroyed by you. whom I revere ? 
 No — whom I need persuade, I should not so, j 
 
 And all for nought should break the oaths 1 swore. ' 
 
 Theseus. j 
 
 Faugh ! — how it chokes me, this thy saintly mien ! j 
 Out from thy fatherland ! Straightway begone ! 1065 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Unhappy ! whither shall I flee ? — What home 
 Of what friend enter, banished on such charge ? 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Of whoso joys in welcoming for guests 
 Defilers of men's wives, which dwell with sin. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Alas ! this stabs mine heart well-nigh to weeping, 1070 
 If I be published villain, thou believe it ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Then shouldest thou have moaned and taken thought. 
 Then, when thou dar'dst insult thy father's wife. 
 
 1 c.f. Hector's words, Iliad xii, 237-240 (where see Leaf's 
 note), and Odyssey ii, 141-2. 
 
176 EURIPIDES. 
 
 HlPPOLYTUS. 
 
 ο halls, could ye but find a voice for me, 
 
 And witness if I be a wicked man ! 1075 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 To speechless witnesses thou fleest ? — Clearly 
 This deed, though it speak not, declares thee vile. 
 
 HlPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Ah, to stand face to face and see myself, 
 That for the wrongs I suffer I might weep ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Yea, 'tis thy wont to gaze on thy perfections 1080 
 
 More than to render parents righteous honour. 
 
 HlPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Ah, hapless mother ! — ah, my bitter birth ! 
 Base-born be never any that I love ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Will ye not hale him hence, thralls ? — heard ye not 
 Long since his banishment pronounced of me ? 1085 
 
 HlPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Who layeth hand on me of them shall rue ! 
 Thou thrust me from the land if such thy mood. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 That will I, an thou wilt not heed mine hest. 
 
 No pity for thine exile visits me. [^Exit Theseus. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 177 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 So then my fate is sealed. Ah, woe is me ! 1090 
 
 I know the truth, yet know not how to tell it. 
 Dearest of Gods to me, Ο L6to's Child, 
 
 Companion, fellow-huntress, I shall flee -v /|. 
 
 Athens the glorious. Farewell ye, Ο burg, 
 Land of Erechtheus ! Ο Troezenian plain, 1095 
 
 How many pleasant paths of youth hast thou ! 
 Farewell : I see thee, hail thee, the last time. 
 Come, Ο ye youths, mine age-mates in this land, ,^ 
 
 Speak parting word : escort me from this soil : ^, , 
 For never shall ye see a chaster man, yj• /J'tK iioo 
 AlbeittKis my~sire believeth not. \_Exit. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. 1) 
 
 When faith overfloweth my mind, God's providence 
 all-embracingi 
 Banisheth griefs : but when doubt whispereth " Ah 
 but to know ! " 
 No clue through the tangle I find of fate and of life for 
 my tracing : 
 
 There is ever a change and many a change, 
 And the mutable fortune of men evermore sways to 
 and fro 
 
 Over limitless range. 11 10 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 Ah, would the Gods hear prayer ! — would they grant 
 to me these supplications — 
 
 1 Following Paley's interpretation. There is no more 
 inconsistency here than in myriads of religious meditations ,^ 
 from David downwards. The comfort of the general trust 
 is disturbed by individual instances of the prevalence of 
 evil. The book of Job is a monograph on this very theme. 
 
178 EURIPIDES. 
 
 A lot with prosperity sweet, and a soul unshadowed 
 of pain, 
 And a faith neither fixed foursquare on the flint, nor 
 on sandy foundations ! 
 
 Quick-shifting my sail to the coming breeze 
 Of the morrow, so may I fleet, ever voyaging life's 
 wide main 
 
 Over stormless seas. 1120 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 For my mind is a fountain stirred, and I see things all 
 undreamed : 
 
 For the Star of Athens, that beamed 
 The brightest withal in Hellas-land, 
 We have seen him driven to an alien strand, 
 By the wrath of a father have seen him banned. 
 Ah, cityward sands, ye shall wait him in vain, 
 And ye mountain woods, where streamed 
 'Twixt the oaks the pack on the wild boar's track 
 In dread Dictynna's hunter-train, 1130 
 
 Till the quarry was slain. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Nevermore shall he harness the Henetan horses and 
 leap on his car, 
 
 O'er the race-course of Limn^ afar 
 To speed the coursers' feet of fire : 
 And the songs, that once 'neath the strings of 
 
 the lyre 
 Slept never, shall cease in the halls of his sire. 
 Ungarlanded Artemis' bowers shall be 
 In the greenwood depths that are. 
 By thine exile have perished the sweet hopes 
 cherished 1140 
 
 Of our maids, and their gentle rivalry 
 In love for thee. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 179 
 
 (Epode) 
 For thy woeful fate shall I pass amid tears fast-flowing 
 
 A fortuneless fortune. Ο mother evil-starred, 
 
 . \j 
 
 This day thy birth-joy effaces ! ^.-^ 
 
 I am wroth with the Gods : — Ο Graces 
 Aye linked in loving embraces, 
 Why do ye suffer that he from his land should be going. 
 From his home, who hath nowise earned a doom so 
 bitter-hard ? 1 1 50 
 
 But lo, 1 see Hippolytus' henchman nigh 
 Hasting unto the halls with clouded brows. 
 
 Enter Messenger. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Where should I go and find this country's king, 
 Theseus, ye women ? If ye know, declare 
 Straightway to me. Within these halls is he ? 11 55 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo yonder where he cometh forth the halls. 
 
 Enter Theseus. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Theseus, I bring a sorrow-kindling tale 
 To thee and all the citizens which dwell 
 In Athens and the bounds of Trcezen-land. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 What now ? — Hath some disaster unforeseen 11 60 
 
 Fallen on these two neighbour-citied states ? 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Hippolytus is no more, one may say. 
 Though yet a little space he seeth light. 
 
i8o EURIPIDES. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Of whom slain ? — Hath one met him. in his wrath, 
 Whose wife he had outraged, even as his sire's ? 1165 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 His proper chariot-team hath dealt him death, 
 And thy mouth's curses, which thou didst call down 
 From the Sea's Lord, thy father, on thy son. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Ο Gods ! Poseidon ! how thou wast indeed 
 
 My father, who hast heard my malison ! 1 1 70 
 
 How perished he ? In what way did the gin 
 
 Of justice snap on him who wrought me shame ? 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 We, hard beside the beach that greets the surf. 
 
 With combs were smoothing out his horses' manes 
 
 Weeping : for word had come to us to say 11 75 
 
 That no more in this land Hippolytus 
 
 Might walk, of thee to wretched exile doomed. 
 
 Then came he, bringing the same tale of tears 
 
 To us upon the strand : a countless throng 
 
 Of friends his age-mates following with him came. 11 80 
 
 But, ceasing at the last from moan, he cried : 
 
 " Why rave I thus ? I must obey my sire. 
 
 Harness the horses to the chariot-yoke, 
 
 My thralls ; this city is no more for me." 
 
 Then, then did every man bestir himself. 1185 
 
 Swifter than one could say it were the steeds 
 
 Harnessed, and by our lord's side set we them. 
 
 Then the reins caught he from the chariot-rail, 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Settling his feet, all buskined as he wasi ; 
 And to the Gods first stretched his hands and cried : 
 " Zeus, may I die if I a villain am ! [1190 
 
 May my sire know that he is wronging me. 
 When I am dead, if not while I see light ! " 
 Then in his hands he took the scourge"^ and smote 
 At once the steeds. We henchmen by the car 1195 
 Fast by the reins attended on our lord 
 Towards Argos straight and Epidauria. 
 And, as we entered on a desert tract, 
 Beyond this Troezen's border lies a beach 
 Sloping full down to yon Saronic Sea. 1200 
 
 There from earth's womb a noise like Zeus's thunder 
 Made muffled roaring, a blood-curdling sound. 
 Then the steeds lifted head and pricked the ear ; 
 And thrilled through us most vehement dismay 
 Whence might the sound be. To the sea-lashed 
 shores 1205 
 
 Then glanced we, and a surge unearthly saw 
 Up-columned to the sky, that from my sight 
 Shrouded was all the beach Skironian ; 
 Veiled was the Isthmus and Asklepius' Crag. 
 
 1 Better perhaps, 
 
 " And set his feet fair in the car's foot-rests." 
 
 So Mahaffy and Bury, according to the apparent meaning of 
 the Scholiast. It seems, however, rather too strong to 
 characterize the common interpretation, that in his haste to 
 obey, he had not removed his hunter's boots, as " so ridi- 
 culous that it scarce deserves mention," — unless we are 
 prepared to find something ridiculous in " With your loins 
 girded, and shoes en your feet, and your staff in your hand 
 .... in haste." 
 
 2 For the identity of κίντρον and μάστιξ, see Leaf's most 
 valuable note on Iliad xxiii, 387. 
 
i82 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Then swelling higher, higher, and spurting forth 1210 
 
 All round a cloud of foam and sea-blown spray, 
 
 Shoreward it rusheth toward the four-horse car. 
 
 Then from the breaker's midst and hugest surge 
 
 The wave belched forth a bull, a monster fierce. 
 
 With whose throat-thunder all the land was filled 121 5 
 
 And echoed awfully, as on our gaze 
 
 He burst, a sight more dread than eyes could bear. 
 
 Straightway wild panic falleth on the steeds : 
 
 Yet their lord, wholly conversant with wont 
 
 Of horses, caught the reins in both his hands, 1220 
 
 And tugs, as shipman tugs against the oar, 
 
 Throwing his body's weight against the reins. 
 
 But on the fire-forged bits they clenched their teeth, 
 
 And whirl him on o'ermastered, recking not 
 
 Of steering hand, or curb, or strong car's weight. 1225' 
 
 And if, yet holding to the chariot-helm. 
 
 Toward the smooth ground he strove to guide their 
 
 course, 
 Aye showed that bull in front, to turn them back, 
 Maddening with fright the fourfold chariot-team. 
 If toward the rocks they rushed with frenzied heart. 
 Fast by the rail in silence followed he [1230 
 
 On, till he fouled and overset the car. 
 Dashing against a rock the chariot felly. 
 Theft all was turmoil : upward leapt in air 
 Naves of the wheels and linchpins of the axles. 1235 
 And he, unhappy, tangled in the reins. 
 Bound in indissoluble bonds, is haled 
 Dashing his head against the cruel rocks, 
 Rending his flesh, outshrieking piteous cries — 
 " Ο stay, ye horsee nurtured at my cribs, 1240 
 
 Destroy me not ! — ah, father's curse ill-starred ! 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 183 
 
 Who wills to save an utter-innocent man ?" 
 
 Ah, many willed, but far behind were left 
 
 With feet outstripped. Loosed from the toils at last 
 
 Of clean-cut reins, — I know not in what wise, — 1245 
 
 He falls, yet breathing for short space of life. 
 
 Vanished the steeds and that accursod monster. 
 
 The bull, mid rock-strewn ground, I know not where. 
 
 Thrall am I verily' of thine house, Ο king ; 
 
 Howbeit so foul a charge — I never can 1250 
 
 Believe it of thy son, that he is vile, 
 
 Not though all womankind should hang themselves. 
 
 Though one should fill with writing all the pine 
 
 In Ida : — he is righteous, this I know. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe for accomplishment of new disaster ! 1255 
 
 No refuge is there from the doom of fate. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 For hatred of the man who thus hath fared, 
 
 Glad for this tale was I : but now, for awe 
 
 Of heaven, and for that he is yet my son, | t -, 
 
 Norj[ladam Inorjorry for these ills. 1260 
 
 Messenger. 
 How then ? — must we bear yonder broken man 
 Hither ? — or in what wise perform thy pleasure ? 
 Bethink thee : if my counsel thou wilt heed, 
 Harsh to thy stricken son thou wilt not be. 
 
 Bear him, that I may see before mine eyes 1265 
 
 Him who denied that he had stained my bed. 
 By words and heaven's judgment to convict him. 
 
 [Exit Messenger. 
 
1 84 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Love, under thy dominion 
 
 Unbending hearts bow low 
 Of Gods, and hearts of mortals, 
 When, flashing through thy portals 
 On glory-gleaming pinion, 1270 
 
 Flits Eros to and fro ; 
 
 Love, under thy dominion 
 Unbending hearts bow low. 
 
 Gold-glittering wings wide-soaring. 
 
 They rain down witchery, 
 O'er maddened hearts prevailing. 
 O'er earth triumphant sailing, 
 O'er music of the roaring 
 Of spray-bemantled sea. 
 
 Gold-glittering wings wide-soaring, 
 They rain down witchery. 
 
 He kindleth with his yearning 
 
 All things of earth-born race ; 
 The mountain's whelps he thrilleth. 
 The ocean's brood he filleth, 
 Where'er the sun's eye burning 
 Down-looketh on earth's face. 
 
 He kindleth with his yearning 
 All things of earth-born race. 
 
 They bend — all, all are bending, 
 
 Love-queen, beneath thy hand ! 1280 
 
 Ο crowned brows, whom loyal 
 Vassals acclaim sole-royal 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 185 
 
 By spells all-comprehending 
 In sky and sea and land ; 
 
 They bend — all, all are bending, 
 Love-queen, beneath thy hand ! 
 
 Enter Artemis. 
 
 Artemis. 
 
 Thou high-born scion of Aigeus, I call upon thee : 
 
 Theseus, give ear unto me. 
 It is Artemis, Leto's Daughter, that nameth thy name : 
 
 Why dost thou joy in thy shame ? [1285 
 
 Thou hast murdered thy son unrighteously, thereto 
 moved 
 
 Of the lies of thy wife unproved. 
 By infatuate folly all-manifest, lo, thou wast bound. 
 
 How wilt thou hide underground 1290 
 
 Thy dishonour, or soar to the heaven, by changing thy 
 Ufe 
 
 To escape from this anguish-strife ? 
 For the part that was erstwhile thine in the good man's 
 lot, 
 
 Behold, it is not. 1295 
 
 Theseus, hear thou the posture of thy woes ; — 
 Yet ha ve I no h elp for thee, only pain ; 
 But I have come to show the righteousness 
 Of thy son, that in fair fame he may die. 
 And thy wife's fever-flame, — yet in some sort 1300 
 
 Her nobleness, — who, stung by goads of ilier)^ (^ >■ ijvi 
 Whom most we loathe, who joy in purity. 
 Of all the Gods, was lovesick for thy son. 
 Yet strove by reason to o'ermaster passion, 
 And died through wiles unsanctioned of her nurse, 1305 
 Who under oath-seal told thy son her pangs ; 
 
i86 EURIPIDES. 
 
 And he, even as was righteous, would not heed 
 The tempting ; no, nor when sore-wronged of thee - 
 Broke he the oath's pledge, for he feared the Gods. 
 ' But she, adreadjg_be of sin convict, 1310 
 
 Wrote that false writing, and by treachery so 
 Destroyed thy son : — and thou believedst her ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 Ah me ! 
 
 Artemis. 
 
 Is it torture, Theseus ? — Nay, but hear me out. 
 That hearing all thou mayst the more lament. 
 Three soothfast curses hadst thou of thy sire : 1315 
 One hast thou thus misused, Ο villain thou. 
 Against thy son, which might have quelled a foe ! 
 Thy sire the Sea-king, in his love's despite, 
 Gave as he needs must, seeing he had pledged him : 
 Yet wicked in his eyes and mine art thou, 1320 
 
 Wlui,:wauldstnot3?id^ n or prophet's voice. 
 
 Nor yet make inquisition, nor wouldst trace 
 Time's slow step, but with haste that did thee wrong 
 Didst hurl the curse upon thy son, and slay. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Queen, ruin seize me ! 
 
 Artemis. 
 
 Deep thy sin ; but yet 1325 
 j-t^ven thou for this mayst win forgiveness still : 
 ' For Kypris willed that all this should befall 
 
 To glut her spite. And this the Gods' wont is : — 
 . None doth presume to thwart the fixed design 
 I Willed by his fellow : still aloof we stand. 1330 
 
 Else be thou sure that, but for dread of Zeus, 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 187 
 
 I never would have known this depth of shame, 
 
 To suffer one, of all men best beloved 
 
 Of me, to die. But thy transgression, first, ^ 
 
 =i Β ^ J _-i V 
 
 Thi ne ignorance from utter sin redeems ; * 1335 
 
 Then, by her death thy wife made void all test \Χ 
 Of these~her words, and won thy credence so. 
 Now,^^rost oh thee this storm of woe hath burst ; 
 Yet grief is mine : for when the rightequs die_. 
 The Gods joy not^ The wicked, and withal 1340 
 
 Their chudfen and their homes, do we destroy. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo, lo, the stricken one borne 
 
 Hitherward, with his young flssh torn 
 And his golden head of its glory shorn ! 
 
 Ah, griefs of the house ! — what doom 
 
 Twofold on thine halls hath come 
 By the Gods' will, shrouded in sorrow's gloom ! 
 
 Enter bearers with Hippolytus. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Woe, woe for a son \ , . 
 
 By the doom of his sire j 
 All marred and undone ! ' ' 1350 
 
 Through mine head leapeth fire 
 Of the agony-flashes, and throbbeth my brain like a 
 hard-stricken lyre. 
 
 Let me rest — ah forbear ! 
 
 For my strength is sped. 
 Cursed horses, ye were 
 Of mine own hands fed, 
 Yet me have ye wholly destroyed, yet me have ye 
 stricken dead ! 
 
i88 EURIPIDES. 
 
 For the Gods' sake, bear 
 
 Me full gently, each thrall ! 
 Thou to right — have a care ! — 1360 
 
 Soft let your hands fall ; 
 Tenderly bear the sore-mangled, on-stepping in time, 
 one and all, 
 
 The unhappy on-bearing, 
 
 And cursod, I ween, 
 Of his father's own erring : — 
 Ah Zeus, hast thou seen ? 
 - Innocent I, ever fearing the Gods, who was wholly 
 heart-clean 
 
 ^X"*"^ Above all men beside, — 
 
 j-v Lo, how am I thrust 
 
 ^^^ Unto Hades, to hide 
 
 6^ My life in the dust ! 
 
 All vainly I reverenced God, and in vain unto man was 
 I just. 
 
 Let the stricken one be ! — 1370 
 
 Ah, mine anguish again ! — 
 Give ye sleep unto me, 
 Death-salve for my pain, 
 The sleep of the sword for the wretched — I long, oh I 
 long to be slain. 
 
 , Dire curaejaf iny father ! — 
 
 f Sins, lqiig_ago wrought 
 
 ' Of mine ancestors,, gather : 1380 
 
 Their doom tarrigs_apt. 
 B ut the s co3Jig»Ioaterflsweth the innocent — wherefore 
 on me is it brought ? ~ --—„.„.. ^^^ — -~~_.^ 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 189 
 
 Ah for words of a spell, 
 
 That my soul might take flight 
 From the tortures, with fell 
 Unrelentings that smite ! 
 Oh for the blackness of Hades, the sleep of Necessity's 
 night ! 
 
 Artemis. 
 
 Unhappy, bowed 'neath what disaster's yoke ! | 
 Thine own heart's nobleness hath ruined thee. I 1390 
 
 HippoLYTUs. 
 
 Ah, perfume-breath celestial ! — mid my pains 
 I feel thee, and mine anguish is assuaged. 
 Lo in this place the Goddess Artemis ! 
 
 Artemis. 
 Yea, hapless one, of Gods best friend to thee. 
 
 HippoLYTUs. 
 Ο Queen, seest thou my plight — the stricken one ? 1395 
 
 Artemis. 
 I see — but tea.rsajeja-niine.exesjethid. 
 
 Hippolytus. 
 None now shall hark thine hounds, nor do thee ser- 
 vice — 
 
 Artemis. 
 
 Ah no ! — Yet dear to me thou perishest. 
 
 Hippolytus. 
 Nor tend thy steeds, nor guard thine images. 
 
igo EURIPIDES. 
 
 Artemis. 
 This all-pernicious Kypris hath contrived — 1400 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Ah me ! what Goddess blasts me now I know — 
 
 Artemis. 
 Jealous for honour, wroth with chastity. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. * 
 
 Three hath one hand destroyed ; I see it now. 
 
 Artemis. 
 Thy father — ;thee — thy father's wife the third, 
 
 _ HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Yea, and I wail rny father's misery. 1405 
 
 Artemis. 
 By plots of deity was he beguiled. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Ah father, woe is thee for this mischance ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 ^ I am slain, my son : no joy have I in life ! 
 
 * HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 More than myself I mourn thee for thine error. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Would God I could but die for thee, my son ! 1410 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. igi 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Ah, bitter gifts of that Sea-god, thy sire ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 Ah that the word had never passed my hps ! 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Wherefore ? — thou wouldst for wrath have slain me 
 stiU. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Yea, for the Gods had caused my wit to stumble. , 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Oh that men's curses could but strike the Gods ! 1415 
 
 Artemis. 
 
 Let be : for even in the nether gloom 
 
 Not unavenged shall be the stroke that fell 
 
 UpoiTtEy frame tUroupTrage of Kypris' jpite. 
 
 For thy pure soul's and for thy reverence' sake. 
 
 For upon one, her minion, with mine hand — 1420 
 
 One who isHearest of all menJo_her — 1 ^ 
 
 With these unerring shafts will I avenge me. " 
 
 And tolhee^ hapless one, for these thy woes 
 
 High honours will I give in Troezen-town. 
 
 Ere their espousals shall all maids unwed 1425 
 
 For thee cut off their hair : through age on age 
 
 Full harvests shalt thou reap of grief in tears. 
 
 Ever of thee song-waking memory 
 
 Shall Hve in virgins ; nor shall Phaedra's love 
 
 Forgotten in thy story be unhymned. 1430 
 
 But thou, Ο son of ancient Aigeus, take 
 
192 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Thy child into thine arms, and fold him close. 
 Not of thy will th ou sle-w est hini,_and,well 
 May men transgress when Gods areJJir!iating_Qn. 
 Thee tooj^ charge, liigpolytus — hate not 1435 
 
 J..O-, Thy father : 'tisbj^^te^hou perishest. _ 
 "^"^, - FarewelH Iniay not gaze upon the dead, 
 , ^ Nor may with dying gasps pollute my sight : 
 
 And now I see that thou art near the end. 
 
 [Exit Artemis. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Farewell to thy departing, maiden blest. 1440 
 
 Light falls on thee long fellowship's severance !i 
 
 Lo, I forgive my father at thy suit. 
 
 As heretofore have I obej'ed thy word. 
 
 Ah, o'er mine eyes even now the darkness draws ! 
 
 Take, father, take my body, and upraise. 1445 
 
 Theseus. 
 Ah me ! what dost thou, child, to hapless me ? 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 I am gone — yea, I behold the gates of death ! 
 
 1 This line has been a stumbling-block to editors. It has 
 been interpreted as a reproach, and so quite out of harmony 
 with Hippolj^us' attitude to her, besides being unjust. In 
 reality it is a very natural touch — this sigh (not reproach) of 
 the mortal who cannot but feel how much more it must, by 
 the necessities of their natures, mean to him than to her. 
 To him it is the end, the going into outer darkness : to her 
 a spot of shadow on a bright unending existence. The idea 
 is by no means unique in literature, any more than in life. 
 A single poem of Tennyson's furnishes many parallels : — c.f. 
 In Memoriam xl vv. 5 — 8, and xli, Ix — Ixiv, Ixxxv vv. 6, 7, 8, 
 ciii, 12. 
 
HIPPOLYTUS. 193 
 
 Theseus. 
 Wilt leave me — and my conscience murder-stained ? 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 No, no ! I do absolve thee of my death. 
 
 Theseus. 
 How say'st thou ? — dost assoil me of thy blood ? 1450 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 I call to witness Bow-queen Artemis. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Dearest, how noble show'st thou to thy sire ! 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Father, farewell thou too — untold farewells ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 Woe for thy reverent soul, thy righteous heart ! 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Pray to have such sons — sons in wedlock born. V4.55 
 
 Theseus. 
 Forsake me not, my son ! — be strong to bear ! 
 
 HiPPOLYTUS. 
 
 My strength is overborne — I am gone, my father. 
 Cover my face with mantles with all speed. [Dies. 
 
194 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Ο bounds of Athens, Pallas' glorious realm, 
 
 What hero have ye lost ! Ah, woe is me ! 1460 
 
 Kypris, how oft shall I recall thy wrong ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 On the city hath lighted a stroke without warning. 
 
 On all hearts desolation. 
 Rain down, Ο ye fast-falling tears of our mourning ! 
 When the mighty are fallen, their burial -oblation 1465 
 ~ Is the wail of a nation. 1 
 
 [Exeunt Omnes. 
 
 1 1462-66 allude to the death of Pericles, which happened 
 shortly before the representation of this play. The poet in 
 fact changed, to meet the occasion, the original ending, 
 which ran thus : — 
 
 Ο blest one, what honours have fallen to thee, 
 Ο hero, because of thy chastity ! 
 Never shall aught be more of worth 
 Than virtue unto the sons of earth ; 
 For soon or late on the fear of God 
 Goodly reward shall be bestowed. 
 
 [Stobaeus, Florikgium.] 
 
HECUBA. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 When Troy was taken by the Greeks, Hecuba, the wife 
 of Priam, and her daughters, Kassandra the prophetess, 
 and Polyxena, with the other women of Troy, were 
 made slaves, being portioned among the victors, so that 
 Kassandra became the concubine of Agamemnon. But 
 Polydorus, the youngest of Priarn's sons, had long ere 
 this been sent, with much treasure of gold, for safe 
 keeping to his father's friend, Polymestor king of Thrace, 
 so that his mother had one consolation of hope amidst 
 her afflictions. Now the host of Greece could not 
 straightway sail home, because to the spirit of their 
 dead hero Achilles was given power to hold the winds 
 from blowing, till meet sacrifice were rendered to him, 
 even a maiden of Troy, most beautiful of the seed royal ; 
 and for this they chose Polyxena. And now king 
 Polymestor, lusting for the gold, and fearing no 
 vengeance of man, slew his ward, the lad Polydorus, 
 and flung his body into the sea, so that it was in 
 process of time cast up by the waves on the shore whereby 
 was the camp of the Greeks, and was brought to Hecuba. 
 And herein are told the sorrow of Hecuba and her 
 revenge. ' 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 Phantom of Polydorus, son of Priam King of Troy, and 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Hecuba, wife of Priam, and mother of Polydorus and Polyxena 
 
 PoLYXENA, youngest daughter of Priam and Hecuba. 
 
 Odysseus, chief est in subtlety of the Greeks, King of Ithaca. 
 
 Talthybius, herald of King Agamemnon. 
 
 Agamemnon, King of Mycena, and captain of the host of Greece. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR, King of Eastern Thrace, which is called the 
 
 Chersonese. 
 Handmaid of Hecuba. 
 Chorus of captive Trojan women. 
 Attendants, Greek and Thracian guards, captive women. 
 
 Scene : — Before Agamemnon's tent in the camp of the 
 Greeks on the coast of the Thracian Chersonese. 
 
HECUBA. 
 
 The phantom of Polydorus appears hovering over the tent 
 of Agamemnon. 
 
 Polydorus. 
 
 I COME from vaults of death, from gates of darkness, 
 
 Where from the Gods aloof doth Hades dwell, 
 
 Polydorus, born of Hecuba, Kisseus' child. 
 
 And Priam, who, when peril girt the town 
 
 Of Phrygians, by the spear of Greece to fall, 5 
 
 In fear from Troyland privily sent me forth 
 
 To Polymestor's halls, his Thracian friend, 
 
 Lord of the fair tilth-lands of Chersonese, 
 
 Who with the spear rules that horse-loving folk. 
 
 And secretly with me my sire sent forth 10 
 
 Much gold, that, should the towers of Ilium fall. 
 
 His sons yet living might not beggared be. 
 
 Youngest of Priam's house was I : for this 
 
 He sent me forth the land, whose youthful arm 
 
 Availed not or to sway the shield or spear. 15 
 
 So, while unbowed the land's defences stood, 
 
 And yet unshattered were the towers of Troy, 
 
 While triumphed yet my brother Hector's spear. 
 
 Fair-nurtured by the Thracian, my sire's friend. 
 
 Like some young sapling grew I — hapless I ! 20 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 But, when Troy perished, perished Hector's soul, 
 
 And my sire's hearths were made a desolation. 
 
 And himself at the god-built altar fell 
 
 Slain by Achilles' son, the murder-stained, 
 
 Then me for that gold's sake my father's friend 25 
 
 Slays, and the slaughtered wretch mid sea-surge cast, 
 
 That in his halls himself might keep the gold. 
 
 Here on the beach I welter, surf-borne there 
 
 Drift on the racing waves' recoil and rush, 
 
 Tombless, unwept. O'er my dear mother's head 30 
 
 Now flit I, leaving tenantless my body. 
 
 This is the third day that I hover so, 
 
 Even all the time that in this Chersonese 
 
 My hapless mother tarrieth, haled from Troy. 
 
 And all the Achaians idle with their ships 35 
 
 Sit on the beaches of this Thracian land. 
 
 For Peleus' son above his tomb appeared. 
 
 And all the Hellenic host Achilles stayed. 
 
 Even as they homeward aimed the brine-dipt oar. 
 
 And claimed for his Polyxena my sister, 40 
 
 For sacrifice and honour to his tomb ; 
 
 Yea, and shall win, nor of his hero-friends 
 
 Giftless shall be. And Fate is leading on 
 
 Unto her death my sister on this day. 
 
 And of two children shall my mother see 45 
 
 Two corpses, mine, and that her hapless daughter's. 
 
 For I, to gain a tomb, will — wretch — appear 
 
 Before her handmaid's feet amidst the surge. 
 
 For with the Lords of Death have I prevailed 
 
 I'Twixt mother-hands to fall, and win a tomb. 50 
 
 Accomplished shall be all for which 1 longed. 
 
 ' But aged Hecuba's sight will I avoid ; 
 For forth of Agamemnon's tent she sets 
 
HECUBA. 201 
 
 Her feet, appalled by this my ghostly phantom. 
 
 Hecuba, dressed as a slave, and supported by fellow- 
 captives, appears coming out of Agamemnon's tent. 
 
 Mother, who after royal halls hast seen 55 
 
 The day of thraldom, how thy depth of woe 
 Equals thine height of weal ! A God bears down 
 The scale with olden bliss heaped, ruining thee. 
 
 [_Exit.'] 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Lead forth, Ο my children, the stricken in years from 
 
 the tent. [60 
 
 Ο lead her, upbearing the steps of your fellow-thrall 
 
 Now, Ο ye daughters of Troy, but of old your 
 
 queen. 
 
 Clasp me, uphold, help onward the eld-forspent. 
 
 Laying hold of my wrinkled hand, lest for weakness 
 I fall ; 
 And, sustained by a curving arm, thereon as I lean, 
 I will hasten onward with tottering pace. 
 Speeding my feet in a laggard's race. 
 Ο lightning-splendour of Zeus, Ο mirk of the night. 
 
 Why quake I for visions in slumber that haunt me 
 
 With terrors, with phantoms? Ο Earth's majestic 
 
 might, 70 
 
 Mother of dreams that hover in dusk-winged flight, 
 
 I cry to the vision of darkness " Avaimt thee !" — 
 
 The dream of my son who was sent unto Thrace to be 
 
 saved from the slaughter, 
 The dream that I saw of Polyxena's doom, my dear- 
 loved daughter. 
 Which I saw, which I knew, which abideth to daunt 
 me. 
 
202 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Gods of the Underworld, save ye my son, 
 
 Mine house's anchor, its only one, 80 
 
 By the friend of his father warded well 
 
 Where the snows of Thrace veil forest and fell ! 
 
 But a strange new stroke draweth near, 
 And a strain of wailing for them that wail. 
 Ah, never as now did the heart in me quail 
 
 With the thrilling of ceaseless fear. 
 Ο that Kassandra I might but descry 
 To arrede me my dreams, Ο daughters of Troy, 
 Or Helenus, god-taught seer ! 
 For a dappled fawn I beheld which a wolf's red fangs 
 were tearing, 90 
 
 Which he dragged from my knees whereto she had 
 clung in her piteous despairing. 
 
 This terror withal on my spirit is come. 
 That the ghost of the mighty Achilles hath risen, and 
 stood 
 High on the crest of his earth-heaped tomb ; 
 And he claimeth a guerdon of honour, the spilling of 
 blood, 
 And a woe-stricken Trojan maiden's doom. 
 Ο Gods, I am suppliant before you ! — in any wise turn, 
 I implore you. 
 
 This fate from the child of my womb ! 
 
 Enter Chorus of Trojan Captive Women. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 I have hasted hitherward ; the pavilions of my lord, 100 
 Ο my queen, have I forsaken, in the which I sojourn 
 here, 
 
HECUBA. 203 
 
 Whom the lot hath doomed to fall unto a king, a thrall 
 From Ilium chased, the quarry of Achaian hunters' 
 spear, — 
 
 Not for lightening of thy pain ; nay, a burden have I 
 ta'en 
 
 Of heavy tidings, herald of sore anguish unto thee, 
 For that met is the array of Achaia, and they say 
 
 That thy child unto Achilles a sacrifice must be. no 
 
 For thou knowest how in sheen of golden armour seen 
 He stood upon his tomb, and on the ocean-pacing 
 ships 
 Laid a spell, that none hath sailed, — yea, though the 
 halliards brailed 
 The sails up to the yards ; — and a cry rang from his 
 lips : 
 
 " Ho, Danaans ! whither now, leaving unredeemed your 
 vow 
 Of honour to my tomb, and my glory spurned 
 away ? " 
 Then a surge of high contention clashed : the spear-host 
 in dissension 120 
 
 Was cleft, some crying, " Yield his tomb the victim ! " 
 —others, " Nay ! " 
 
 Now the King was fervent there that thy daughter they 
 should spare. 
 For that Agamemnon loveth thy prophet-bacchanal. 
 But the sons' of Theseus twain,i Athens' scions, for thy 
 bane 
 Pleaded both, yet for the victim did their vote at 
 variance fall. 
 
 Demophon and Akamas, sons of Theseus by Phsedra. 
 
 U 
 
204 EURIPIDES. 
 
 "Ye cannot choose but crown with the Ufe-blood 
 streaming down 
 Achilles' grave ! " they clamoured — " and, for this 
 Kassandra's bed, 
 Shall any dare prefer to Achilles' prowess her — 130 
 A concubine, a bondslave ? — It shall never be ! " they 
 said. 
 
 But the vehemence of speech, each contending against 
 each, 
 Was balanced, as it were, till the prater subtle- 
 souled. 
 The man of honied tongue, the truckler to the throng, 
 Laertes' spawn, 'gan fashion the host unto his mould : 
 
 " We may not thrust aside like an outcast wretch," he 
 cried, 
 " The bravest Danaan heart and the stoutest Danaan 
 hand, 
 All to spare our hands the stain of the blood of bond- 
 maid slain, 
 Neither suffer that a voice from the ranks of them 
 that stand 
 
 In the presence of Hell's Queen should with scoffing 
 bitter -keen 
 Cry, ' Thankless from the plains of Troy the Danaans 
 have sped, 140 
 
 Thankless unto Danaan kin whose graves are thick 
 therein, 
 Who died to save their brethren — the soon-forgotten 
 dead ! ' " 
 
 And Odysseus draweth near — even now shall he be 
 here 
 
HECUBA. 205 
 
 From thy breast to rend thy darling, from thine age- 
 enfeebled grasp. 
 Hie thee to the temples now : haste, before the altars 
 bow: 
 Crouch low to Agamemnon, his knees in suppliance 
 clasp. 
 
 Lift up thy voice and cry to the Gods that sit on high : 
 Let the Nether-dwellers hear it through their dark- 
 ness ringing wild. 
 For, except they turn and spare, and thy prevalence of 
 prayer 150 
 
 Redeem thee from bereavement of thy ruin-stricken 
 child, 
 
 Thou must surely live to gaze where a maiden on her 
 face 
 On a grave-mound lieth slaughtered, while the 
 darkly-gleaming tide 
 Welleth, welleth from the neck which the golden 
 mockeries deck, 
 And all her body crimsons in the bubbling horror 
 dyed. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Woe for mine anguish ! what outcry availeth 
 
 To thrill forth its agony-throes ? 
 What wailing its fulness of torment outwaileth — 
 Wretched eld — bitter bondage where heart and flesh 
 
 faileth ? 
 
 Ah me for my woes ! 
 
 What champion is left me ? — what sons to defend 
 me ? — 160 
 
 What city remains to me ? Gone 
 
2o6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Are my lord and my sons ! Whither now shall I 
 
 wend me ? 
 Whither flee ? — Is there God — is there fiend shall 
 
 befriend me ? 
 
 Alone — alone ! 
 
 Daughters of Troy — Ο ye heralds of ruin, ye heralds of 
 ruin ! — 
 What profits my life any more, whom your words 
 have undone, have undone ? 
 Now unto yonder pavilion, to tell to my child her 
 undoing, 170 
 
 Lead, Ο ye wretchedest feet, lead ye the eld-stricken 
 one ! 
 
 Ο daughter, Ο child of a mother most wretched, forth 
 faring, forth faring, 
 Come from the tent, Ο hearken the voice of thy 
 mother's word. 
 To the end thou mayst know what a rumour of awful 
 despairing, despairing, 
 Concerning the life of thee, my belovod, but now 
 have I heard ! 
 
 Enter Polyxena. 
 
 POLYXENA. 
 
 ο mother, my mother, what meaneth thy crying ? 
 
 What strange dread thing 
 
 Is this that thou heraldest 
 That hath scared me, like to a bird forth-flying 180 
 On startled wing 
 
 Out of the peace of her nest ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Alas ! woe's me, my daughter ! 
 
HECUBA. 207 
 
 POLYXENA. 
 
 What word of ill-boding is thine ? From thy preluding 
 ills I divine. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ah me, life doomed unto slaughter ! 
 
 PoLYXENA. 
 
 Tell it out, tell it out, neither hide o'erlong ; 
 
 For mine heart, my mother, is heavy with dread 
 For the tidings that come in thy moan. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Ο child, Ο child of the grief-distraught ! 
 
 PoLYXENA. 
 
 Ah, what is the message to me thou has brought ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Death : for the Argive warrior-throng 
 
 Are in one mind set, that thy blood be shed 1 90 
 
 On the grave of Peleus' son. 
 
 PoLYXENA. 
 
 Ah me, my mother, how can thy tongue 
 Speak out the horror ? — Let all be said : 
 Ο mother mine, say on. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ο child, I have heard it, the shame and the wrong. 
 Of the Argive vote, of the doom forth sped. 
 Of the hope of thy life gone — gone ! 
 
2o8 EURIPIDES. 
 
 POLYXENA. 
 
 ο stricken of anguish beyond all other ! 
 Ο filled with affliction of desolate days ! 
 
 What tempest, what tempest of outrage and shame, 
 Too loathly to look on, too awful to name, [200 
 Hath a fiend uproused, that on thee it came. 
 That thy woeful child by her woeful mother 
 Nevermore down thraldom's paths shall pace ! 
 
 For me, like a youngling mountain-pastured. 
 Like a child of the herd, shalt thou see torn far, 
 In woe from thy woeful embraces torn, 
 And, with throat by the steel of the altar shorn, 
 Down to the underworld darkness borne. 
 In the Land Unseen to lie, overmastered 
 Of misery, there where the death-stricken are. 210 
 
 For thee, for the dark days closing around thee. 
 Mother, with uttermost wailings I cry : 
 But for this, the life that I now must lack. 
 For all the ruin thereof and the wrack, 
 I wail not, I, as I gaze aback : — 
 Ο nay, but a happier lot hath found me, 
 Forasmuch as to me it is given to die. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 But lo, Odysseus comes with hurrying foot. 
 To tell thee, Hectlba, the new decree, 
 
 Enter Odysseus. 
 
 Odysseus. 
 
 Lady, thou know'st, I trow, the host's resolve. 
 
 And the vote cast, yet will I tell it thee : 
 
 The Achaians will to slay Polyxena 220 
 
HECUBA. 2og 
 
 Thy child, upon Achilles' grave-mound's height. 
 
 Me they appoint to usher thitherward 
 
 And bring the maid : the president and priest 
 
 Of sacrifice Achilles' son shall be. 
 
 Know'st thou thy part then ? — be not torn away 225 
 
 Perforce, nor brave me to the strife of hands ; 
 
 But know thy might, thine imminence of ills. 
 
 Wise is it even mid ills to hearken reason. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Woe ! A sore trial is at hand, meseems, 
 
 Burdened with groanings, and fulfilled of tears. 230 
 
 I died not there where well might I have died ; 
 
 Nor Zeus destroyed, but holdeth me in life 
 
 To see — Ο wretch ! — ills more than ills o'erpast. 
 
 Yet, if the bond may question of the free 
 
 Things that should vex them not, nor gall the heart. 
 
 Then fits it that thou be the questioned now, [235 
 
 And that I ask, and hearken thy reply, 
 
 Odysseus. 
 So be it : ask, I grudge not the delay. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Rememberest thou thy coming unto Troy 
 
 A spy, in rags vile-vestured ; from thine eyes 240 
 
 Trickled adown thy cheeks the gouts of gore ? 
 
 Odysseus. 
 I do, for deep it sank into mine heart. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 And Helen knew thee, and told none save me ? 
 
210 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Odysseus. 
 I call to mind : mid peril grim I fell. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 And to my knees didst cling, wast lowly then ? 245 
 
 Odysseus. 
 With grasp of death closed on thy robes mine hand. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Ay, and what saidst thou — thou my bondman then ? 
 
 Odysseus. 
 Words — words full many found I, death to 'scape. 
 
 Z' Hecuba. 
 
 / I saved thee — saved thee, — sent thee forth the land ? 
 
 ς Odysseus. 
 
 L Ay, thanks to thee, I see the sun's light now. 250 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Art thou not caitiff proved then by these plots, 
 Who wast by me so dealt with as thou sayest, 
 Yet dost us nought good, but thine utmost ill ? 
 A thankless spavm^^ajljre that^xasp at honour 
 η\ By babblfngJ:o the mob ! — let me not know you, 255 
 Who injure friends, and nothing reck thereof, 
 So ye may something say to please the rabble ! 
 What crafty wiliness imagined ye 
 This, on my child to pass your murder-vote ? 
 Was't duty drew them on to human slaughter 260 
 
HECUBA. 211 
 
 Upon a grave more meet for oxen slain ? 
 Or doth Achilles, fain to requite with death 
 His slayers, justly aim death's shaft at her ? 
 Now never aught of harm wrought she to him. I ^ 
 Helen should he demand, his tomb's fit victim : ^65 
 'Twas she to Troy that drew him, and destroyed. 
 But if some chosen captive needs must die. 
 In beauty peerless, not to us points this ; 
 For Tyndareus' daughter matchless is in form. 
 And was found wronging him no less than we. 270 
 
 This plea against his "justice" I array. 
 But what return thou ow'st me, on my claim. 
 Hear — thou didst touch mine hand, as thou dost own, 
 And wrinkled cheek, low cowering at my feet. 
 Lo, in my turn thine hand, thy beard, 1 touch, 275 
 
 That grace of old reclaiming, now thy supphant. 
 Not from mine arms tear thou my child away. 
 Nor slay ye her : suffice the already dead. 
 In her I joy, in her forget my woes. 
 For many a lost bliss she my solace is : 280 
 
 My city she, nurse, staff, guide for my feet. 
 Not tyrannousjyjhe strong should use their strength, 
 iior^iey^which^ros£er tW^^^ prosper aye. 
 Ttoo oncewas, but now am I no more. 
 And all my weal one day hath reft from me. 285 
 
 O, by thy beard, have thou respect to me ! 
 Pity nae : go thou to Achaia's host ; 
 Persuade them how that shame it is to slay 
 Women, whom first ye slew not, when ye tore 
 These from the altars, but for pity spared. 290 
 
 Lo, the same law is stabHshed among you 
 For free and bond as touching blood-shedding. 
 Thine high repute, how ill soe'er thou speak. 
 
212 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Shall sway them : for the same speech carrieth not [29 
 Like weight from men contemned and men revered. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 f 
 
 There is no human nature so relentless 
 
 That, hearkening to thy groanings and thy wails 
 
 Long lengthened out, would not let fall the tear. 
 
 Odysseus. 
 
 Receive instruction, Hecuba, nor him 
 
 For wrath count foe, who wisely counselleth. 30 
 
 Thy life, through whom I found deliverance, 
 
 Ready am I to save ; I stand thereto. 
 
 But what to all I said, I unsay not — 
 
 That now, Troy taken, we should yield thy child. 
 
 At our great champion's claim, for sacrifice. 30 
 
 For of this cometh weakness in most states. 
 
 That, though a man be brave and patriot-spuled, 
 
 No guerdon gains he more than baser men. 
 
 But we, we deem Achilles honour-worthy, 
 
 Who died for Hellas nobly as man may. 31^ 
 
 Were this not shame then, as a friend to treat 
 
 Him living, but no more when he is gone ? 
 
 Yea, what will one say then, if once again 
 
 The host must gather for the strife with foes. 
 
 " Fight shall we," will they cry, " or cling to life, 31 
 
 Beholding how unhonoured go the dead ? " 
 
 Yea, for myself, how scant soe'er in life 
 
 My fare for daily need, this should suffice : 
 
 Yet fain would I my tomb were reverence-crovwied — 
 
 Mine ; for no fleeting gratitude is this. 32( 
 
 But, if thou plain of hardship, hear mine answer : 
 
 With us there be grey matrons, aged sires, 
 
HECUBA. 
 
 213 
 
 Not any whit less wretched than art thou, 
 
 And brides of noblest bridegrooms left forlorn, 
 
 Whose corpses yonder dust of Ida shrouds. 325 
 
 Endure this : w e, if,erx:w^do to honour 
 
 The brav e, content willstandjioaYict of fqlly^ 
 
 But ye barbarians, neither count as friends 
 
 Your friends, nor render your heroic dead 
 
 Homage, that Hellas so may prosperous rise, 330 
 
 And your reward may match your policy. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Woe ! What a curse is thraldom's nature, aye 
 Enduring wrong by strong constraint o'erborne ! 
 
 Hecuba. 
 My daughter, wasted are my words in air, 
 Flung vainly forth my pleadings for thy life. 335 
 
 If thou canst aught prevail beyond thy mother, 
 Be instant ; as with nightingale's sad throat 
 Moan, moan, that thou be not bereft of life. 
 Fall piteously at this Odysseus' knee : 
 Melt him. A plea thou hast — he too hath babes ; 340 
 Well may he so compassionate thy lot. 
 
 POLYXENA. 
 
 I see, Odysseus, how thou hid'st thine hand 
 
 Beneath thy vesture, how thou turn'st away 
 
 Thy face, lest I should touch thy beard. Fear not : 
 
 From Zeus safe art thou, from the Suppliant's Champion. 
 
 I vwll_go^with t hee, both for that I must, [345 
 
 And that I long to die. And, were I loth, 
 
 A coward girl life-craving were I proved. 
 
 For, wherefore should I live, whose sire was king 
 
 Of all the Phrygians ? Such was my life's dawn : 350 
 
214 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Thereafter was I nurtured mid bright hopes, 
 A bride for kings, for whose hand rivalry- 
 Ran high, whose hall and hearth should hail me queen 
 And I — ah me ! — was Lady of the Dames 
 Of Ida, cynosure amidst the maidens, 35 
 
 Peer of the Gods — except that man must die : — 
 And now a slave ! The nam^ alone constrains me 
 ToJ.eng.for death, so strange it islp me. 
 More — haply upon brutal-hearted lords 
 I might light, one that would for silver buy me, — 36< 
 Sister of Hector and of many a chief, — 
 Force me to grind the quern his halls within. 
 And make me sweep his dwelling, stand before 
 The loom, while days of bitterness drag on. 
 And, somewhere bought, some bondslave shall defile 
 My couch, accounted once a prize for princes. [361 
 Never ! — free light mine eyes shall last behoM : 
 To Death my body will I dedicate. 
 Leadon, Odysseus, lead me to my doom ; 
 For I see no assurance, nor in hope, 37( 
 
 No, nor in day-dreams, of good days to be. 
 Mother, do thou in no wise hinder me 
 By word or deed ; but thou consent with me 
 Unto my death, ere shame unmeet befall. 
 For whoso is not wont to taste of ills 371 
 
 ChafesTwhileTie bears upoiiTiis heck the yoke, 
 And death for him were happier far thanjife ; 
 For life ignoble is but crushing toil. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 [Strange is the impress, clear-stamped upon men, 
 
 Of gentle birth, and aye the noble name 38( 
 
 Higher aspires in them that worthily bear it. 
 
HECUBA. 215 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 My daughter, nobly said : yet anguish cleaves 
 
 Unto that " nobly." But if Peleus' son 
 
 Must gain this grace, and ye must flee reproach, 
 
 Odysseus, slay not her in any wise ; 385 
 
 tiut meTlead me^Qnto Achilles' pyre : 
 
 Stab me, spare not : 'twas I gave Paris birth 
 
 Who with his shafts smote Peleus' son and slew. 
 
 Odysseus. 
 
 Not thee, grey mother, did Achilles' ghost 1 / 
 Require the Achaian men to slay, but her. / I 390 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Yet ye — at least me with my daughter slay : 1/ 
 Then twice so deep a draugSFoiTDloo3~sEan sink 
 To earth and to the dead who claimeth this. 
 
 Odysseus. 
 
 Thy daughter's death sufBceth : death on death 
 Must not be heaped. Would God we owed not this ! 395 
 
 Hecuba. 
 I must — I must die where my daughter dies ! 
 
 Odysseus. 
 Must ? — I knew not that I had found a master ! ) 
 
 Hecuba. 
 As ivy clings to oak will I clasp her. 
 
 Odysseus. 
 Not if thou heed a wiser than thyself. 
 
2i6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Consent I will not to let go my child. 400 
 
 Odysseus. 
 Nor I will hence depart and leave her here. 
 
 POLYXENA. 
 
 Mother, heed me : and thou, Laertes' son, 
 Ο bear with parents which have cause to rage. 
 Mother, poor mother, strive not with the strong. 
 Wouldst thou be earthward hurled, and wound thy 
 
 flesh, 405 
 
 Thine aged flesh, with violence thrust away ? — 
 Be hustled shamefully, by young strong arms 
 Haled ? — This shouldst thou. Nay, 'tis not worthy 
 
 thee. 
 But mother, darling mother, give thine hand. 
 Thy dear, dear hand, and lay thy cheek to mine : 410 
 Since never more, but this last time of all 
 Shall I behold the sun's beam and his orb. 
 Receive of all my greetings this the last :— 
 Ο mother — breast that bare me — I pass deathward. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Ο daughter, I shall yet live on in bondage ! 415 
 
 PoLYXENA. 
 
 Bridegroom nor bridal ! — nought of all my due ! 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Piteous thy phght, my child, and wretched I. 
 
HECUBA. 2X7 
 
 POLYXENA. 
 
 There shall I lie in Hades, far from thee. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Ah me, what shall I do ? — where end my life ? 
 
 PoLYXENA. 
 
 To die a slave, whose father was free-born ! 420 
 
 Hecuba. 
 In fifty sons nor part nor lot have I ! (^ 
 
 Polyxena. 
 What shall I tell to Hector and thy lord ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Report me of all women wretchedest. 
 
 Polyxena. 
 Ο bosom, breasts that sweetly nurtured me ! 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Woe is thee, daughter, for thy fate untimely ! 425 
 
 Polyxena. 
 Mother, farewell : Kassandra, fare thee well. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Others fare well — not for thy mother this. 
 
 Polyxena. 
 Mid Thracians lives my brother Polydorus. \ 
 
 R 
 
2i8 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 If he doth live. I doubt : so dark is all. 
 
 POLYXENA. 
 
 He lives, and he shall close thy dying eyes. 4; 
 
 Hecuba. 
 I — I have died ere dying, through my woes. 
 
 POLYXENA. 
 
 Muffle mine head, Odysseus, and lead on. 
 
 For, ere ye slay me, hath my mother's moan 
 
 Melted mine heart, and mine is melting hers. 
 
 Ο Light ! — for yet on thy name may I call — 4^ 
 
 Yet all my share in thee is that scant space 
 
 Hence to the sword-edge and Achilles' pyre. 
 
 [Exeunt Odysseus and Polyxetu 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ah me ! I swoon — beneath me fail my limbs ! 
 Ο daughter, touch thy mother — reach thine hand — 
 Give it, nor childless leave me ! — Friends — undone !- 
 Oh thus to see that sister of Zeus' sons, [4^ 
 
 Helen the Spartan ! — for by her bright eyes 
 In shameful fall she brought down prosperous Troy.i 
 
 \Swoon 
 
 1 These three lines, in which the spirit overcomes tl 
 flesh in a fierce rally of the failing powers, that the swoo: 
 ing mother may concentrate her burning sense of wron 
 her impotent longing for vengeance, in a curse upon tl 
 author of her woes, are so true to human nature, so appr 
 priate to the character of Hecuba, that it seems strani 
 that commentators should have proposed to omit them 
 
HECUBA. 219 
 
 Chorus.^ 
 
 (Sir. i) 
 Ο breeze, Ο breeze, over sea-ways racing. 
 
 Who onward waftest the ocean-pacing 
 
 Fleet-flying keels o'er the mere dark-swelling, 
 Whitherward wilt thou bear me, the sorrow-laden ? 
 From what slave-mart shall the captive maiden 
 
 Pass into what strange master's dwelling ? 
 To a Dorian haven ? — or where, overstreaming 450 
 Fat Phthia-land's meads, laugh loveliest-gleaming 
 
 Babe-waters from founts of Apidanus welling ? 
 
 (Ant. i) 
 Or, to misery borne by the oars brine-sweeping. 
 In the island-halls through days of weeping 
 
 Shall we dwell, where the first-born palm, ascending 
 From the earth, with the bay twined, glorifying 
 With enshrining frondage the couch where lying 
 
 Dear Leto attained to her travail's ending, 460 
 
 "feeble and unnatural." It is a significant touch that 
 Hecuba can imagine for the author of her sufferings no 
 sterner retribution than even such sufferings : — " Ο daughter 
 of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be that 
 rewardeth thee as thou hast served us." c.f. also 11. 941-943 
 of this play. 
 
 1 This has been cited as one of the so-called inappropriate 
 and irrelevant chorus-songs of Euripides. But why 
 should the poet, after bringing the situation to a climax in 
 the pathos of the daughter's farewell, in the agony of the 
 mother's bereavement, proceed to water his wine by obvious 
 moralizings, or by commonplaces of commiseration ? 
 When to add words of direct comment on a perfect situa- 
 tion would be " to gild refined gold," we may trust 
 Euripides' artistic sense not to err. But that their fellow- 
 captives, in view of what had befallen these, should be led 
 to forecast their own fate, was (a) appropriate, for the theme 
 had been already suggested by the words of Polyxena, 11. 
 359-364 ; (6) natural, if Homer was natural in II. xix. 301-2. 
 
 R 2 
 
230 EURIPIDES. 
 
 There chanting of Artemis' bow all-golden, 
 And the brows with the frontlet of gold enfolden, 
 With the Delian maidens our voices blending ? 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 Or in Pallas's Town to the car all-glorious 
 
 Shall I yoke the steeds on the safifron-glowingi 
 Veil of Athena, where flush victorious 
 
 The garlands that cunningest fingers are throwing 
 In manifold hues on its folds wide-flowing, — 470 
 Or the brood of the Titans whom lightnings, that 
 
 fell 
 Flame-wrapt from Kronion, in long sleep quell ? 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Woe for our babes, for our fathers hoary ! 
 
 Woe for our country, mid smoke and smoulder 
 Crashing to ruin, and all her glory 
 
 Spear-spoiled ! — and an alien land shall behold her 
 Bond who was free ; for that Asia's shoulder [480 
 Is bowed under Europe's yoke, and I dwell. 
 An exile from home, in a dungeon of hell. 
 
 Enter Talthybius. 
 
 Talthybius. 
 
 Where shall I find her that of late was queen 
 
 Of Ilium, Hecuba, ye maids of Troy ? 485 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo there, anigh thee, on the ground outstretched, 
 Talthybius, lies she muffled in her robes. 
 
 1 i.e., Embroider thereon the chariot and horses of 
 AthSnS, bearing the Goddess to battle against the Giants. 
 The allusion is to the great saffron-dyed mantle which was 
 carried, outspread like a sail, in solemn procession through 
 the streets of Athens to the temple on the Acropolis, every 
 fourth year, at the Great Panathenaic Festival. 
 
HECUBA. 
 
 Talthybius. 
 
 WliatjhaUJLsaYj_Ze]^J:n:rthat thou look'st on men ? 
 
 Or that this fancy false we vainly hold 
 
 For nought, who deem there is a race of Gods, 490 
 
 While^chance controUeth alljhings, arnong men ? 
 
 This — was she not the wealthy Phrygians' queen ? 
 
 This — was she not all-prosperous Priam's wife ? 
 
 And now her city is all spear-o'erthrown ; 
 
 Herself a slave, old, childless, on the earth 495 
 
 Lieth, her hapless head with dust defiled. 
 
 Ah , old am I, y et be it mine^todie 
 
 Ereinto any shameful lot I fall ! 
 
 Arise, ill-starred, and from the earth uplift 
 
 Thy body and thine head all snow-besprent. 500 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ha, who art thou that lettest not my frame 
 Rest ? — why disturb my grief, whoe'er thou be ? 
 
 Talthybius. 
 
 Talthybius I, the Danaans' minister, 
 Of Agamemnon sent, Ο queen, for thee. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Friend, friend, art come because the Achaians will 505 
 To slay me too ? — How sweet thy tidings were ! 
 Haste we — make speed — Ο ancient, lead me on. 
 
 Talthybius. 
 
 Lady, that thou mayst bury thy dead child \/ 
 
 I come in quest of thee ; and sent am I 
 
 Of Atreus' two sons and the Achaian folk. 510 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Woe ! — what wouldst say ? Not as to one death- 
 doomed 
 Cam'st thou to us, but all to pubHsh ills ? 
 Child, thou hast perished, from thy mother torn ! 
 Childless, as touching thee, am I — ah wretch ! — 
 Hp w did ye slay _her ? — how ? — Avith reverence meet, 
 Or with brute outrage, as men slaj a foe,^ " [515 
 l^ Ancient ? Tell on, though all unsweet thy tale. 
 
 Talthybius. 
 
 Twofold tear-tribute wouldst thou Λνϊη from me 
 
 In pity for thy child. Mine eyes shall weep 
 
 The tale, as by the grave Avhen she was dying. 520 
 
 There met was all Achaia's warrior-host 
 
 Thronged at the grave to see thy daughter slain. 
 
 Then took Achilles' son Polyxena's hand, 
 
 And on the mound's height set her : I stood by. 
 
 And followed of the Achaians chosen youths 525 
 
 W'hose hands should curb the strugghngs of thy lamb. 
 
 Then taking 'twixt his hands a chalice brimmed, 
 
 Pure gold, Achilles' son to his dead sire 
 
 Drink-offerings poured, and signed me to proclaim 
 
 Silence unto the whole Achaian host. 530 
 
 By him I stood, and in the midst thus cried : 
 
 " Silence, Achaians ! Hushed be all the host ! 
 
 Peace ! — not a word ! " — so breathless stilled the folk. 
 
 Then spake the son of Peleus : " Father mine. 
 
 Accept from me these drops propitiatory, 535 
 
 Ghost-raising. Draw thou nigh to drink pure blood 
 
 Dark-welling from a maid. We give it thee. 
 
 The host and I. Gracious to us be thou : 
 
HECUBA. 22i 
 
 Vouchsafe us to cast loose the sterns and curbs 
 
 Of these ships, kindly home-return to win 540 
 
 From Troy, and all to reach our fatherland." 
 
 So spake he ; in that prayer joined all the host ; 
 
 Then grasped his golden-plated falchion's hilt. 
 
 Drew from the sheath, and to those chosen youths 
 
 Of Argos' war-host signed to seize the maid. 545 
 
 But she, being ware thereof, spake forth this speech : 
 
 " Ο Argives, ye which laid my city low, 
 
 Free-willed I die : on my flesh let no man 
 
 Lay hand : my neck unflinching will I yield. 
 
 But, by the Gods, let me stand free, the while i 550 
 
 Ye^TayT^at I may die free ; for I shame \ ' ,. 
 
 Slave to becalled in Hades, who am royal." \ 
 
 " Yea ! " like a great sea roared the host : the King 
 
 Spake to the youths to let the maiden go. 
 
 And they, soon as they heard that last behest 555 
 
 Of him of chiefest might, drew back their hands. 
 
 And she, when this she heard, her masters' word, ( 
 
 Her vesture grasped, and from the shoulder's height ', 
 
 Rent it adown her side, down to the waist. 
 
 And bosom showed and breasts, as of a statue, 560 
 
 Most fair ; and, bowing to the earth her knee, 
 
 A word, of all words most heroic, spake^ : 
 
 " Lo here, Ο youth, if thou art fain to strike 
 
 My breast, strike home : but if beneath my neck 
 
 Thou wouldest, here my throat is bared to thee." 565 
 
 And he, loth and yet fain, for ruth of her. 
 
 Cleaves with the steel the channels of the breath : 
 
 Forth gushed the life-springs : but she, even in death, 
 
 Took chiefest thought decorously to fall, 
 
 1 But the Scholiast interprets — 
 
 " She spake a word, of all most pitiful : " 
 
324 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Hiding what hidden from men's eyes should be. 570 
 But when she had spent her breath 'neath that death- 
 stroke, 
 Each Argive 'gan his task — no man the same : 
 But some upon the dead were strawing leaves 
 Out of their hands, and some heap high the pyre, 
 Bringing pine-billets thither : whoso bare not 575 
 
 Heard such and such rebukes of him that bare : 
 " Dost stand still, basest heart, with nought in hand — 
 Robe for the maiden, neither ornament ? 
 Nought wilt thou give to one in courage matchless, 
 Noblest of soul ? " 
 
 Such is the tale I tell 580 
 
 Of thy dead child. Most blest in motherhood 
 I count thee of all women^ and most haples s. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Dread bale on Priam's line and city hath poured 
 Its lava-flood : — 'tis heaven's resistless doom. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Daughter, I know not on what ills to look, 585 
 
 So many throng me : if to this I turn, 
 That hindereth me : thence summoneth me again 
 Another grief, on-ushering ills on ills. 
 And now I cannot from my soul blot out 
 Thine agony, that I should wail it not. 590 
 
 Yet hast thou barred the worst, proclaimed to me 
 fSo noble. Lo, how strange, that evil soU 
 Heaven-blest with seasons fair, bears goodly crops, 
 While the good, if it faileth of its dues. 
 Gives evil fruit : but alv?ay& among men 595 
 
 The caitiff nothing else than evil is. 
 
HECUBA. 325 
 
 The noble, noble ; nor 'neath fortune's stress 
 
 Marreth his nature, but is good alway. 
 
 By blood, or nurture, is the difference made ? 
 
 Sooth, gentle nurture bringeth lessoning 600 
 
 In nobleness ; and whoso learns this well 
 
 By honour's touchstone knoweth baseness too : — 
 
 Ah, unavailing arrows of the mind^ ! 
 
 But go thou, to the Argives this proclaim, 
 
 That none my daughter touch, but that they keep 605 
 
 The crowd thence : in a war-array untold 
 
 Lawless the mob is, and the shipmen's license 
 
 Outraveneth flame. 'Tis sin if one sin not.^ 
 
 [Exit Talthybius. 
 But, ancient handmaid, take a vessel thou, 
 And dip, and of the sea-brine hither bring, 610 
 
 That with the last bath I may wash my child, — 
 The bride unwedded, maid a maid no more,^ — 
 And lay her out — as meet is, how can I ? 
 Yet as I may ; for lo, what plight is mine ! 
 Jewels from fellow-captives will I gather 615 
 
 Which dwell my neighbour-thralls these tents within, 
 If haply any, to our lords unknown, 
 Hath any stolen treasure of her home. 
 Ο stately halls, Ο home so happy once ! 
 Ο rich in fair abundance, goodliest offspring, 620 
 
 Priam ! — and I, a grey head crowned with sons ! 
 How are we brought to nought, of olden pride 
 Stripped bare ! And lo, we men are puffed up, 
 
 1 No philosophic moralizing can avail to assuage my 
 sorrow. 
 
 2 " They think it strange that ye run not with them into 
 the same excess of riot." (i Pet. iv., 4.) 
 
 3 As being united to Achilles in death. 
 
226 EURIPIDES. 
 
 One of us for the riches of his house, 
 And one for honour in the mouths of men ! 625 
 
 These things be nought. AJlvadnjthe heart^deyisings, 
 The vauntings of the tongue ! Most blest is he 
 To whom no iin^efalls as days wear on. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 (Str.) 
 My doom of disaster was written, 
 
 The doom of mine anguish was seaJed, 630 
 
 When of Paris the pine-shafts were smitten 
 
 Upon Ida, that earthward they reeled. 
 To ride over ridges surf- whitened 
 
 Till the bride-bed of Helen was won. 
 Woman fairest of all that be lightened 
 By the gold of the sun. 
 
 {Ani.) 
 For battle-toils, yea, desolations 
 
 Yet sorer around us close ; 
 And the folly of one is the nation's 640 
 
 Destruction ; of alien foes 
 Cometh ruin by Simois' waters. 
 
 So judged is the doom that was given 
 When on Ida the strife of the Daughters 
 Of the Blessed was striven, 
 
 (Epode) 
 For battle, for murder, for ruin 
 
 Of mine halls : — by Eurotas is moan, 650 
 
 Where with tears for their homes' undoing 
 
 The maidens Laconian groan. 
 Where rendeth her tresses hoary 
 
 The mother for sons that are dead, 
 And her cheeks with woe-furrows are gory. 
 And her fingers are red. 
 
HECUBA. 227 
 
 Enter Handmaid, with bearers carrying a covered corpse. 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 Women, Ο whe re is Hecuba, sorrow's queen. 
 
 Who passeth every man, all womankind, 
 
 nrwoes Γ No man shall take away her crown. 660 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 What now, Ο hapless voice of evil-boding ? 
 Shall they ne'er sleep, thy publishings of grief ? 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 To Hecuba I bring this pang : mid woes 
 Not easily may mortal lips speak fair. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo where she cometh from beneath the roofs : 665 
 
 In season for thy tale appeareth she. 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 Ο all-afflicted, more than lips can say ! | 
 
 Queen, thou art slain — thou seest the light no more ! I 
 Unchilded, widowed, cityless — all-destroyed ! ( 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 No news this : 'tis but taunting me who knew. 670 
 But wherefore com'st thou bringing me this corpse, 
 Polyxena's, whose burial-rites, 'twas. told. 
 By all Achaia's host were being sped ? 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 She nothing knows : Polyxena — ah me ! — 
 
 Still wails she, and the new woes graspeth not. 675 
 
228 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ο hapless I ! — not — not the bacchant head 
 Of prophetess Kassandra bring'st thou hither ? 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 •\ Thou nam'st the Hving : but the dead — this dead, 
 Bewailest not, — look, the dead form is bared ! 
 
 [Uncovers the corpse. 
 ^ Seems it not strange — worse than all boding fears ? 680 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ah me, my son ! — I see Polydorus dead, 
 Whom in his halls I deemed the Thracian warded. 
 Ο wretch ! it is my death — I am no more ! 
 ^\ Ο my child , Ο my child ! 
 
 Mine anguish shall thrill 685 
 
 Through a wail shrilling wild 
 In the ears of me still 
 ..Which pealed there but now from the throat of a 
 demon, a herald of ill. 
 
 Handmaid. 
 Didst thou then know thy son's doom, hapless one ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Beyond, beyond belief, new woes I see. 
 
 Ills upon ills throng one after other : 690 
 
 Never day shall pass by without tear, without sigh, 
 nor mine anguish refrain. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Dread, Ο dread evils, hapless queen, we suffer. 
 
HECUBA. 239 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ο child, Ο child of a grief-stricken mother ! 
 By what fate didst thou die ? — in what doom dost thou 
 lie ?— of what man wast thou slain ? 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 I know not : on the sea-strand found I him. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Cast up by the tide, or struck down by the spear in a 
 blood-reddened hand 
 
 On the smooth-levelled sand ? 700 
 
 Handmaid. 
 
 The outsea surge in-breaking flung him up. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Woe's me, I discern it, the vision that blasted my sight ! 
 Neither flitted unheeded that black -winged phantom of 
 
 night, 
 Which I saw, which revealed that my son was no more 
 
 of the light. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Who slew him ? Canst thou, dream-arreder, tell ? 
 Hecuba. 
 
 'Twas my friend, 'twas my guest, 'twas the Thracian 
 chariot-lord 710 
 
 To whose charge his grey father had given him to hide 
 and to ward. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Oh, what wouldst say ? — slew him to keep the gold ? 
 
230 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ο horror unspeakable, nameless, beyond all wonder ! — 
 Impious, unbearable ! — Where are they, friendship 
 and truth ? 
 Ο accursed of men, lo, how hast thou carved asunder 
 His flesh ! — how thy knife, when my child's limbs 
 quivered thereunder, 
 Hath slashed him and mangled, and thou wast un- 
 melted of ruth ! 720 
 
 Chorus. 
 Ο hapless, how a God, whose hand on thee 
 Is heavy, above all mortals heaps thee pain ! 
 But lo, I see our master towering nigh, [725 
 
 Agamemnon : firiends, henceforth hold we our peace. 
 
 Enter Agamemnon. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Why stay'st thou, Hecuba, thy child to entomb 
 
 According to Talthybins' word to me 
 
 That of the Argives none should touch thy daughter ? 
 
 Wherefore we let her be, and touch her not. 
 
 Yet loiterest thou, that wonder stirreth me. 730 
 
 I come to speed thee hence ; for all things there 
 
 Are well wrought — if herein may aught be well. 
 
 Ha, who is this that by the tents I see ? 
 
 What Trojan dead ? — No Argive this, the robes 
 
 That shroud the body make report to me. 735 
 
 Hecuba {aside).^ 
 Hapless ! — myself I name in naming thee — 
 
 1 c.f. Hen. VI, Part i. Act v, iii, for a closely similar 
 series of asides. 
 
HECUBA. 331 
 
 Ο Hecuba, what shall I do ? — or fall 
 
 At the king's feet, or silent bear mine ills ? 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Wherefore on me dost turn thy back, and mourn. 
 Nor tellest what is done, and who is this ? 740 
 
 Hecuba (aside). 
 
 But if, a slave and foe accounting me, 1/ 
 
 He thrust me from his knees, 'twere pang on pang. I 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 No prophet born am I, to track the path 
 Of these thy musings, if I hear them not. 
 
 Hecuba (aside). 
 
 Lo, surely am I counting this man's heart 745 
 
 O'ermuch my foe, who is no foe at all. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Sooth, if thou wilt that nought hereof I know, 
 At one we are : I care not, I, to hear. 
 
 Hecuba (aside). 
 
 I cannot, save with help of him, avenge ^ y 
 
 My children— wherefore do I dally thus ? 75° <, 
 I must needs venture, or to win or lose : — 
 
 Agamemnon, I beseech thee by thy knees, < 
 
 And by thy beard, and thy victorious hand— ^ 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 What matter seekest thou ? Wouldst have thy days 
 Free henceforth ? Sooth, thy boon is lightly won. 755 
 
232 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 No — no ! Avenge me of mine adversary, 
 And I will welcome lifelong bondage then. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 But to what championship dost summon me ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 To nought of all whereof thou dreamest, king. [760 
 Seest thou this corpse, for which my tears rain down ? 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 I see, — yet what shall come I cannot tell. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Him once I bare, and carried 'neath my zone. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 One of thy sons is this, Ο sorrow-crushed ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Nay, not of Priam's sons by lUum slain. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 How ? didst thou bear another more than these ? 765 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Yea — to my grief, meseems : thou seest him here. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 Yet where was he what time the city fell ? 
 
HECUBA. 233 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Dreading his death his father sent him thence. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 And whither drew him from the rest apart ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Unto this land, where dead hath he been found. 770 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 To Polymestor, ruler of the land ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Yea — sent in charge of thrice-accursed gold. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 And of whom slain, and lighting on what doom ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Of whom save one ? — that Thracian friend slew him. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 Ο wretch ! — for that he lusted for the gold ? 775 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Even so, when Phrygia's fall was known of him. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Where found'st thou him ? — or who hath brought thy 
 dead ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 She there : upon the strand she chanced on him. 
 
 s 
 
234 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 Seeking him, or on other task employed ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Sea -brine she sought, to lave Polyxena. 780 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 So then this guest-friend slew and cast him forth. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Yea, on the sea to drift, his flesh thus hacked. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 Ο woe is thee for thine unmeasured pains ! 
 
 Hecuba. 
 'Tis death — ^there is no deeper depth of woe. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 Alas, was woman e'er so fortune-crost ? 785 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 None, except thou wouldst name Misfortune's self. 
 But for what cause I bow thy knees to clasp, 
 Hear : — ^if my righteous due my sufferings seem 
 To thee, I am content : if not, do thou 
 Avenge me on that impious, impious friend, 790 
 
 Who neither feared the powers beneath the earth, 
 Nor those on high, but wrought most impious deed, — 
 Who ofttimes at my table ate and drank. 
 For welcome foremost in my count of friends. 
 Having all dues, yea, all his need forestalled,^ — 795 
 
 1 Another interpretation — 
 
 " Yet scheming this the while ! " 
 
HECUBA. 235 
 
 Slew him, nor in his thoughts of murder found 
 Room for a grave, but cast him mid the sea. 
 And I — a slave I may be, haply weak ; 
 Yet are the Gods strong, and their ruler strong, 
 Even Law ; for by this Law we know Gods are, 800 
 And live, and make division of wrong and right : 
 And jf_thisjittihybar be disannulled. 
 And they shall render_npt account which slay 
 Guests, or dare rifle the Gods' holy things. 
 Then among men i s ther e no righteousness. 805 
 
 This count then shameful ; have respect to me ; 
 ' Pity me : — like a painter so draw back,^ 
 Scan me, pore on my portraiture of woes. 
 A queen was I, time was, but now thy slave ; 
 Crowned with fair sons once, childless now and old, 810 
 Cityless, lone, of mortals wretchedest. 
 Woe for me ! — whither wouldst withdraw thy foot ? 
 Meseems I shall not speed — Ο hapless I ! 
 Wherefore, Ο wherefore, at all other lore 
 Toil men, as needeth, and make eager quest, 815 
 
 Yet Suasion, the unrivalled queen of men, 
 Nor price we pay, nor make ado to learn her 
 Unto perfection, so a man might sway 
 His fellows as he would, and win his ends ? 
 How then shall any hope good days henceforth ? 820 
 
 1 This transition will not appear abrupt and artificial if we 
 suppose that Agamemnon, apprehensive of the obligation 
 thrust upon him, makes a movement to draw back, which 
 Hecuba, with the quick wit of desperation, converts to a 
 simile which arrests him till 1. 8iz, when she is driven to 
 make a more direct appeal to his sense of honour. Note, 
 that she uses just such words as a Greek painter might have 
 used in pointing out to a patron the merits of his work — 
 " iSov, κάνάθρτησον οι ΐχει καλά. 
 
 S ί 
 
236 EURIPIDES. 
 
 So many sons — none left me any more ! 
 Myself mid shame a spear-thrall ruin-sped ; — 
 Yon smoke o'er Troy upsoaring in my sight ! 
 Yet— yet — 'twere unavailing plea perchance 
 To cast Love's shield before me — yet be it said : 825 
 Lo, at thy very side my child is couched, 
 Kassandra, whom the Phrygians called the Inspired : — 
 Those nights of love, hath their memorial perished ? 
 Or for the lovingkindness of the couch 
 What thank shall my child have, or I for her ? 830 
 For of the darkness and the night's love-spells 
 Cometh on men the chiefest claim for thank. 
 Hearken now, hearken : seest thou this dead boy ? 
 Doing him right, to thine own marriage-kin 
 Shalt thou do right. One plea more lack I yet : — 835 
 Ο that I had a voice in these mine arms 
 And hands and hair and pacings of my feet, 
 By art of Daedalus lent, or of a God, 
 That all together to thy knees might cling 
 Weeping, and pressing home pleas manifold ! 840 
 
 Ο my lord, mightiest light to Hellas' sons, 
 Hearken, Ο lend thine hand to avenge the aged ; 
 W'hat though a thing of nought she be, yet hear ! 
 ; For 'tis the good man's part to champion right, 
 ; And everywhere and aye to smite the wrong. 845 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 ', / 1 Strange, strange, how all cross-chances hap to men ! 
 «^f These laws shift landmarks even of friendship's ties,^ 
 
 1 The laws of right and wrong, and the obligation to 
 avenge the blood of kin, compel Hecuba to ally herself with 
 Agamemnon, her late enemy, against Polymestor, her late 
 friend. 
 
HECUBA. 237 
 
 < 
 
 Turning to friends the bitterest of foes, / / ,'^ , 
 
 Setting at enmity the erstwhile loving. ', 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 I am stirred to pity, Hecuba, both of thee, 850 
 
 Thy son, thy fortune, and thy suppliant hand ; 
 And for the Gods' and justice' sake were fain 
 Thine impious guest should taste for this thy vengeance, 
 So means were found thy cause to speed, while I 
 Seem not unto the host to plot this death 855 
 
 For Thracia's king for thy Kassandra's sake, ή /) ■,,. 
 For herein is mine heart disquieted : — / ""^ / 
 
 This very man the host account their friend, j^j 
 
 The dead their foe : that dear he is to thee | 
 
 Is nought to them, nor part have these in him. 860 
 Wherefore take thought : in me thou hast one fain 
 To share thy toil, and swift to lend thee aid. 
 But slow to face the Achaians' murmurings. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Ah, anwn^jnOrtal^Js there no „man free ! V γ 
 To lucr e or to_fortune is he slave : "-#~ ^^5 
 
 The city's rabble or the laws' impeachment /\ 
 Constrains him into paths his soul abhors. 
 But since thou fear'st, dost overrate the crowd, 
 Even I will set thee free from this thy dread. 
 Be privy thou, what ill soe'er I plot 870 
 
 For myToiTs slayer, but share"nOt the deed, 
 if tumuIFmid the AcEaians rise, or cry 
 OTrescuerwiSeirthe Thracian feels my vengeance, 
 'T Eau^e.^ Jhs^ not in seeming for my sake. 
 For all else, fear not : I will shape all well. 875 
 
238 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 How ? what wouldst do ? Wouldst in thy wrinkled hand 
 A dagger clutch, and yon barbarian slay ? — 
 With poisons do the deed, or with what help ? 
 What arm shall aid thee ? whence wilt win thee friends ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 These tents a host of Trojan women hide. 880 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 The captives meanest thou, Greek hunters' prey ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 By these will I avenge me on my slayer. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 How ? — women gain the mastery over men ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Mighty are numbers : joined with craft, resistless. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 Ay, mighty, yet misprize I womankind. 885 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 What ? did not women slay Aigyptus' sons ? — 
 The males of Lemnos wholly extirpate ? 
 Yet be it so : forbear to reason this. 
 But to this woman give thou through the host 
 Safe passage. [890 
 
 {To a servant) Thou, draw nigh our Thracian guest, 
 Say, " Hecuba, late Queen of Ilium, 
 
HECUBA. 239 
 
 Calls thee on thy behoof no less than hers, I ' 
 
 Thy sons withal ; for these must also hear | | 
 
 Her words." The burial of Polyxena 
 Late-slaughtered, Agamemnon, thou delay : 895 
 
 So sister joined with brother in one flame, 
 A mother's double grief, shall be entombed. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 So shall it be ; yet, might the host but sail. 
 
 No power had I to grant this grace to thee : 
 
 But, seeing God sends no fair-following winds, 900 
 
 Needs must we tarry watching idle sails. 
 
 Now fair befall : for all men's weal is this, — 
 
 Each several man's, and for the state, — that ill 
 
 Betide the bad, prosperity the good. 
 
 [Exit Agamemnon. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Sir. i) 
 
 Ο my fatherland. Ilium, thou art named no more 
 
 Mid burgs unspoiled. 
 Such a battle-cloud lightening spears enshrouds thee o'er, 
 
 All round thee coiled ! [910 
 
 Thou art piteously shorn of thy brows' tower-diadem, 
 
 And smirched with stain 
 Of the reek; and thy streetways — my feet shall not 
 tread them. 
 
 Ah me, again ! 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 At the midnight my doom lighted on me, when sleep shed 
 
 O'er eyes sweet rain, 
 When from sacrifice-dance and from hushed songs on 
 his bed 
 
 My lord had lain. 
 
240 EURIPIDES. 
 
 And the spear on the wall was uphung, for watchman's 
 
 ken 920 
 
 Saw near nor far 
 Overtrampling the Ilian plains those sea-borne men, 
 That host of war. 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 I was ranging the braids of mine hair 'neath soft snood- 
 fold : 
 
 On mine eyes thrown 
 Were the rays from the limitlessi sheen, the mirror- 
 gold. 
 
 Ere I sank down 
 To my rest on the couch ;^but a tumult's tempest- 
 blast 
 
 Swept up the street, 
 And a battle-cry thundered—" Ye sons of Greeks, on 
 fast ! 930 
 
 Be the castles of Troy overthrown, that home at last 
 May hail your feet ! " 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 From my dear bed, my lost bed, I sprang, like Dorian 
 maid 
 
 But mantle-veiled. 
 And to Artemis' altar I clung — woe's me, 1 prayed 
 
 In vain, and wailed. 
 And my lord I beheld lying dead ; and I was borne 
 
 O'er deep salt sea. 
 Looking back upon Troy, by the ship from Ilium torn 
 As she sped on the Hellas-ward path : then woe-forlorn 
 I swooned, — ah me ! — [940 
 
 1 The Greek word, for which I cannot find any English 
 equivalent in this sense, expresses that apparent absence 
 of any bounding surface in a perfect mirror, which has 
 sometimes betrayed the unwary into walking through such. 
 
HECUBA. 241 
 
 (Epode) 
 Upon Helen the sister of Zeus' sons hurling back, 
 And on Paris, fell shepherd of Ida, curses black, 
 
 Who from mine home 
 By their bridal had reft me — 'twas bridal none, but 
 wrack 950 
 
 Devil-wrought : — to her fatherland home o'er yon sea- 
 track 
 
 Ne'er may she come ! 
 
 Enter Polyinestor with his two little sons attended by a 
 guard of Thracian spearmen. 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Priam of men most dear ! — and dearest thou, 
 
 Ο Hecuba, I weep beholding thee, 
 
 Thy city, and thine offspring slain so late. 955 
 
 Nought is ther e man. may tJavsJ,. nor high repute, 
 
 Nor hope that weal shall not .be turned^to woe ; /\,A 
 
 But tlie^Gods all confound, hurled forth and back, 
 
 Turmoiling them, that we through ignorance 
 
 May worship them :^what skills it to make moan g5o 
 
 For this, outrunning evils none the more ? 
 
 But if mine absence thou dost chide, forbear ; 
 
 For in the mid-Thrace tracts afar was I 
 
 When thou cam'st hither : soon as I returned. 
 
 At point was I to hasten forth mine home ; 965 
 
 When lo, for this same end thine handmaid came 
 
 Telling a tale whose tidings winged mine haste. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 I shame to look thee in the face, who lie, 
 Ο Polymestor, in such depth of ills. 
 
242 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Thou sawest me in weal : shame's thrall I am, 970 
 
 Found in such plight wherein I am this day. 
 
 I cannot look on thee with eyes undrooped. 
 
 Yet count it not as evil-will to thee, 
 
 Polymestor ; therebeside is custom's bar 
 
 That women look not in the eyes of men. 975 
 
 Polymestor. 
 
 No marvel : — but what need hast thou of me ? 
 
 For what cause from mine home hast sped my feet ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 A secret of mine own I fain would tell 
 
 To thee and thine. I pray thee, bid thy guards 
 
 Aloof from these pavilions to withdraw. 980 
 
 Polymestor. 
 
 Depart ye, for this solitude is safe. [^Exeunt guards. 
 
 My friend art thou, well-willed to me this host 
 
 Achaian. Now behoves thee to declare 
 
 Wherein the prosperous must render help 
 
 To friends afflicted : lo, prepared am I. 985 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 First, of the son whom in thine halls thou hast, 
 Polydorus, of mine hands, and of his sire's — 
 Liveth he ? — I will ask thee then the rest. 
 
 Polymestor. 
 Surely : as touching him thy lot is fair. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Dear friend, how well thou speak' st and worthy thee ! 990 
 
HECUBA. 343 
 
 995 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Prithee, what next art fain to learn of me ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 If me, his mother, he remembereth ? 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Yea — fain had come to thee in secret hither. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Is the gold safe, wherewith from Troy he came ? / 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Safe — warded in mine halls in any wise. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Safe keep it : covet not thy neighbours' goods. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Nay, lady : joy be mine of that I have ! 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Know'st what I fain would tell thee and thy sons ? 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 I know not : this thy word shall signify. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Be it sweet to thee as thou to me art dear ! Vooo ^ 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 But what imports my sons and me to know ? 
 
*44 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Gold — ancient vaults of gold of Priam's line. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 This is it thou art fain to tell thy son ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Yea, by thy mouth : thou art a righteous man. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 What needeth then the presence of my sons ? 1005 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Better they knew, if haply thou shouldst die. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Well hast thou said : yea, 'twere the wiser way. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Dost know where stood Athene's Trojan fane ? 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 There ? — is the gold there ? — and the token, what ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 A black rock from the earth's face jutting forth. loio 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Hast aught beside to tell me of that hoard ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Some jewels I brought forth with me — wouldst keep 
 these ? 
 
HECUBA. 245 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Where ? — where ?— beneath thy raiment, or in hiding ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 In yon tents, safe beneath a heap of spoils. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Safe ? — there ? — Achaian ships empale us round. 1015 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Inviolate are the captive women's tents. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Within is all safe ? Be they void of men ? 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Within is no Achaian, only we. 
 Enter the tents, — for fain the Argives are 
 To unmoor the ships for homeward flight from Troy, — 
 
 [1020 
 That, all well done, thou mayst with thy sons fare 
 To where thou gav'st a home unto my child. 
 
 Hecuba and Polymestor with Children enter the tent. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Not yet is the penalty paid, but thy time is at hand, 
 
 As who reeleth adown an abyss wherein foothold is 
 
 none 
 
 Slant-slipping, from sweet life hurled, for the life 
 
 thou hast ta'en. [1029 
 
 Forjwhereyer itcometh to pass that the rightful demand 
 
 Of justice's claim and the laws of the Gods be at one, 
 
 Then is ruinous bane for the sinner, Ο ruinous bane ! 
 
246 EURIPIDES. 
 
 It shall mock thee, thy wayfaring's hope ; to the Unseen 
 Land, 
 To the place of the dead hath it drawn thee, Ο 
 wretch undone ! 
 By the hand not of warriors, thou hero, shalt thou 
 be slain. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR (within). 
 Ah, I am blinded of mine eyes' light — wretch ! 1035 
 
 Chorus. 
 Heard ye the yell of yonder Thracian, friends ? 
 
 PoLYMESTOR {within). 
 Ah me, my children ! — ah the awful murder ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 Friends, strange grim work is wrought in yonder tent. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR {within). 
 
 Surely by swift feet shall ye not escape ! 
 
 My blows shall rive this dwelling's inmost parts ! 1040 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo, crasheth there swift bolt of giant hand. 
 Shall we burst in ?— the peril summoneth us 
 To help of Hecuba and the Trojan dames. 
 
 Enter Hecuba. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Smite on — spare not — ay, batter down the doors ! 
 Ne'er shalt thou set bright vision in thine orbs, 1045 
 Nor living see thy sons whom I have slain. 
 
HECUBA. 247 
 
 Chorus. 
 Hast vanquished ? — overcome thy Thracian guest, 
 Lady ? — hast done the deed thou threatenedst ? 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Him shalt thou straightway see before the tents, 
 Blind, pacing Avith bhnd aimless-stumbUng feet, 1050 
 And his two children's corpses, whom I slew 
 With Trojan heroines' help : now hath he paid me 
 The vengeance-dues. There comes he forth, thou 
 
 seest. 
 I from his path will step ; the seething rage 
 Of yonder Thracian monster will I shun. 1055 
 
 Enter Polymestor. 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Ah me, whitherward shall I go ? — where stand ? 
 
 Where find me a mooring-place ? 
 Must I prowl on their track with foot and with hand 
 As a mountain-beast should pace ? 
 Or to this side or that shall I turn me, for vengeance 
 pursuing 1060 
 
 The slaughterous hags- of Troy which have wrought 
 mine undoing ? 
 
 Foul daughters of Phrygia, murderesses 
 Accursέd, in what deep-hidden recesses 
 
 Are ye cowering in flight ? 
 Ο couldst thou but heal these eye-pits gory — 
 Ο couldst thou but heal the blind, and restore me, 
 
 Ο Sun, thy light ! 
 Hist — hist — their stealthy footfalls creep — 
 I hear them — whither shall this foot leap, 1070 
 That their flesh and their bones I may gorge, and may 
 slake me 
 
248 EURIPIDES. 
 
 With their blood, and a banquet of wild beasts make me, 
 
 Requiting their outrage well 
 With grimmer revenge ? — Woe ! where am I 
 
 borne 
 Forsaking my fenceless babes to be torn 
 
 Of the bacchanals of hell, 
 Butchered and cast away for the dogs' blood-boultered 
 prey 
 
 On a desolate mountain-fell ? 
 Ah, where shall I stand ? — whither go ? — where 
 
 rest ? [1080 
 
 As a ship furls sail that hath havenward pressed, 
 
 I would dart into that death-haunted lair, 
 I would shroud my babes in my linen vest, 
 
 I would guard them there ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Wretch ! wreaked on thee are ills intolerable : 
 Foul deeds thou didst, and awful penalty 
 A God hath laid on thee with heavy hand. 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 What ho ! spear-brandishers, nation arrayed in warrior's 
 
 weed ! 
 Thracians possessed of the War-god, lords of the gallant 
 steed ! 1090 
 
 What ho, ye Achaians ! — Atreus' seed ! 
 Rescue ! Rescue 1 I raise the cry. 
 Ο come, in the name of the Gods draw nigh ! 
 Hears any man ? — wherefore delay ? — will no man help 
 me nor heed ? 
 
 Of women undone, destroyed, am I — 
 The women of Troy's captivity. 
 
HECUBA. 249 
 
 Horrors are wrought on me — horrors ! Woe for the 
 felon deed ! 
 
 Whitherward shall I turn me ? Whither- 
 ward fare ? 
 Shall I leap as on wings to the height of the heaven, 
 to the mansions of air, iioo 
 
 To Orion or Sirius, fearful-gleaming 
 With the burning flames from his eyes out- 
 streaming. 
 Or plunge to the blackness of darkness, to Hades' 
 gorge in despair ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Small blame, if he which suffereth heavier woes 
 Than man may bear, should flee his wretched life. 
 
 Enter Agamemnon. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Hearing a shout I came ; for in no whispers 
 
 The mountain-rock's child Echo through the host mo 
 
 Cried, waking tumult. Knew we not the towers 
 
 Of Phrygia by the spear of Greeks had fallen. 
 
 No little panic had this clangour roused. 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Dear friend — for, Agamemnon, 'tis thy voice 
 
 I hear and know — see'st thou what I endure ? 1115 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Ha, wretched Polymestor, who hath marred thee ? 
 Who dashed with blood thine eyes, and bhnded thee ? — 
 Slew these thy sons ? Sooth, against thee and thine 
 Grim was his fury, whosoe'er it was. 
 
250 EURIPIDES. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Hecuba, with the captive woman-throng, 1120 
 
 Destroyed me — nay, destroyed not — O, far worse ! 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 What say'st thou ? — Thine the deed, as he hath said ? 
 Thou, Hecuba, dare this thing impossible ! 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Ha ! what say'st thou ? — and is she nigh at hand ? 
 Tell where is she, that I may in mine hands 11 25 
 
 Clutch her and rend, and bathe her flesh in blood. 
 
 Agamemnon {holding him back). 
 Ho thou, what ails thee ? 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 By the Gods I pray thee, 
 Unhand me — loose my frenzied hand on her ! 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Forbear : cast out the savage from thine heart. 
 Speak, let me hear first thee, then her, and judge 11 30 
 Justly for what cause thus thou sufferest. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Yea, I will speak. 'Twas Priam's youngest son 
 Polydorus, Hecuba's child — from Troy to me 
 Him his sire sent to nurture in mine halls. 
 Misdoubting, ye may guess, the fall of Troy. 1035 
 
 , Him slew I. For what cause 1 slew him, hear : 
 \ Mark how I dealt well, wisely, prudently : — 
 
HECUBA. 351 
 
 I feared their son might, left alive thy foe, 
 Gather Troy's remnant and repeople her, 
 And, hearing how a Priamid lived, Achaia 1140 
 
 To Phrygia-land again should bring her host ; 
 Then should they trample down these plains of Thrace 
 In foray, and the ills that wasted us 
 But now, Ο king, should on Troy's neighbours fall. 
 And Hecuba, being ware of her son's death, 1145 
 
 With this tale lured me, that she would reveal 
 Hid treasuries of Priam's line in Troy 
 Of gold. Me only with my sons she leads 
 Within the tents, that none beside might know. 
 Bowing the knee there sat I in their midst ; 1 150 
 
 While, on my left hand some, some on the right, 
 As by a friend, forsooth, Troy's daughters sat 
 Many : the web of our Edonian loom 
 Praised they, uplifting to the light my cloak ; 
 And some my Thracian lance admiring took, 11 55 
 
 And stripped me so alike of spear and shield. 
 As many as were mothers, loud in praise 
 Dandled my babes, that from their sire afar 
 They might be borne, from hand to hand passed on. 
 Then, after such smooth speech, — couldst thou be- 
 lieve ? — 1 160 
 Suddenly snatching daggers from their robes. 
 They stab my sons ; and others all as one 
 In foemen's fashion gripped mine hands and feet, 
 And held : and, when I fain would aid my sons, 
 If I essayed to raise my face, by the hair 1165 
 They held me down : if I would move mine hands, 
 For the host of women, wretch ! I nought prevailed. 
 And last — Ο outrage than all outrage worse ! — 
 A hideous deed they wrought : for of mine eyes 
 
252 EURIPIDES. 
 
 These wretched eyeballs — grasping their brooch-pins — 
 
 [1170 
 They stab, they flood with gore. Then through the 
 
 tents 
 Fleeing they went. Up from the earth I leapt, 
 And like a wild beast chased the blood-stained hounds. 
 Groping o'er all the wall, like tracking huntsman, 
 Smiting and battering. All for my zeal's sake 11 75 
 For thee, I suifered this, who slew thy foe, 
 Agamemnon. Wherefore needeth many words ? 
 Whoso ere now hath spoken ill of women. 
 Or speaketh now, or shall hereafter speak. 
 All this in one word will I close and say : — 11 80 
 
 Nor sea nor land doth nurture such a breed : 
 He knoweth, who hath converse with them most. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Be nowise reckless, nor, for thine own ills. 
 
 Include in this thy curse all womankind. 
 
 For some, yea many of us, deserve not blame,i 1185 
 
 Though some by vice of blood count midst the bad. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 
 Agamemnon, never should this thing have been. 
 That words with men should more avail than deeds. 
 But good deeds should with reasonings good be paired, 
 
 1 I venture to propose ουκ for «Γσ' in 1185. In a copy from 
 a cursive MS., especially one like Harl. 5724, in which the 
 contracted « and ov are so similar, eΐσ' would be more likely 
 to have crept in for ονκ, than των for μη (ii86), as suggested 
 by Paley ; and the Chorus would be more likely to claim that 
 the majority of their sisters were good, than that they were 
 bad. 
 
HECUBA. 253 
 
 And caitiff deed be ranged by baseless plea, 11 90 
 
 And none avail to gloze injustice o'er. 
 
 There be whose craft such art hath perfected ; 
 
 Yet cannot they be cunning to the end : 
 
 Foully they perish : never one hath 'scaped. 
 
 Such prelude hath my speech as touching thee. 1195 
 
 Now with plea answering plea to him I turn : — 
 
 To spare the Greeks, say'st thou, a twice-toiled task, 
 
 For Agamemnon's sake thou slew'st my son. 
 
 Villain of villains, when, when could thy race. 
 
 Thy brute race, be a friend unto the Greeks ? 1200 
 
 Never. And, prithee, whence this fervent zeal 
 
 To serve his cause ? — didst look to wed his daughter ? 
 
 Art of his kin ? — Or what thy private end ? 
 
 Or were they like to sail again and waste [1205 
 
 Thy crops ? Whom think'st thou to convince hereby ? 
 
 That gold — hadst thou the will to tell the truth — 
 
 Murdered my son : that, and thy greed of gain. 
 
 For, hearken : why, when all went well with Troy, 
 
 When yet her ramparts girt the city round, 
 
 And Priam lived, and triumphed Hector's spear, 1210 
 
 Why not then, if thou fain wouldst earn kings' thanks. 
 
 When in mine halls ye had my son and fostered. 
 
 Slay him, or living bring him to the Greeks ? 
 
 But, soon as in the light we walked no more, 
 
 And the smoke's token proved our town the foe's, 1215 
 
 Thou slew'st the guest that came unto thine hearth. 
 
 Nay more, hear now how thou art villain proved : 
 
 Thou oughtest, if thou wert the Achaians' friend. 
 
 Have brought the gold thou dar'st not call thine own, 
 
 But for him held in trust, to these impoverished 1220 
 
 And long time exiled from their fatherland. 
 
 But thou not yet canst ope thine heart to unclose 
 
354 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Thy grip ; thy miser-clutch keeps it at home. 
 
 Yet hadst thou, as behoved thee, reared my son 
 
 And saved aUve, thine had been fair renown. 1225 
 
 For in adversity the good are friends 
 
 Most true : prosperity hath friends unsought. 
 
 Hadst thou lacked money, and his lot been fair, 
 
 A treasury deep my son had been to thee : 
 
 But now thou hast not him unto thy friend ; 1230 
 
 Gone is the gold's avail, thy sons are gone, — 
 
 And this thy plight ! Now unto thee I say, 
 
 Agamemnon, if thou help him, base thou showest. 
 
 The godless, false to whom he owed fair faith, 
 
 The impious host unrighteous shalt thou comfort. 1235 
 
 Thou joyest in the wicked, shall we say, 
 
 If such thou be — but on my lords I rail not. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo, how the good cause giveth evermore 
 To men occasion for good argument. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 It likes me not to judge on others' wrongs ; 1240 
 
 Yet needs I must, for shame it were to take 
 
 This cause into mine hands, and then thrust by. 
 
 But, — wouldst thou know my thought, — not for my sake, 
 
 Nor the Achaians', didst thou slay thy guest, 
 
 But even to keep that gold within thine halls. 1245 
 
 In this ill plight thou speak' st to serve thine ends. 
 
 Haply with you guest-murder is as nought, 
 
 But to us which be Greeks foul shame is this. 
 
 How can 1 uncondemned adjudge thee guiltless ? 
 
 I cannot. Forasmuch as thou hast dared 1250 
 
 To do foul deeds, even drain thy bitter cup. 
 
HECUBA. 255 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Woe's me ! — by a woman-slave o'ercome, meseems, 
 'Neath vengeance of the viler must I bow ! 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Is it not just, if thou hast vileness wrought ? 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Woe for my babes and for mine eyes ! — ah wretch ! 1255 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Griev'st thou ? — and I ? — dost deem my son's loss sweet ? 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Thou joyest triumphing over me, thou fiend ! 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Should I not joy for vengeance upon thee ? 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Ah, soon thou shalt not, when the outsea surge — 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Shall bear me to the coasts of Hellas-land ? 1260 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Nay, but shall whelm thee fallen from the mast. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Yea ? — forced of whom to take the leap of death ? 
 
356 EURIPIDES. 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Thyself shalt climb the ship's mast with thy feet. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 So ? — and with shoulders winged, or in what guise ? 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 A dog with fire-red eyes shalt thou become. 1265 
 
 Hecuba. 
 How know'st thou of the changing of my shape ? 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 This Dionysus told, the Thracian seer. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 But nought foretold to thee of these thine ills ? 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Nay ; else with guile thou ne'er hadst trapped me thus. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 There shall I die, or live my full Hfe out ? 1270 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Die shalt thou : and thy grave shall bear a name — 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Accordant to my shape ? — or what wilt say ? 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 The wretched Dog's Grave, sign to seafarers. 
 
HECUBA. 257 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Nought reck I, seeing thou hast felt my vengeance. 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Yea, and thy child Kassandra too must die. 1275 
 
 Hecuba. 
 A scorn and spitting ! — back on thee I hurl it. 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Slay her shall this king's wife, a houseward grim. 
 
 Hecuba. 
 Never so mad may Tyndareus' daughter be ! 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Yea — slay him too, upswinging high the axe. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 Ho, fellow, ravest thou ? Dost court thy bane ? 1280 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Slay on : a bath of blood in Argos waits thee. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 Haste, henchmen, hale him from my sight perforce. 
 
 PoLYMESTOR. 
 
 Art galled to hear ? 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Set curb upon his mouth ! 
 
 ¥ 
 
258 EURIPIDES. 
 
 POLYMESTOR. 
 
 Ay, gag : my say is said. 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Make speed, make speed, 
 And on some desert island cast him forth, 1285 
 
 Seeing his bold mouth's insolence passeth thus. 
 Hecuba, hapless, fare thou on, entomb 
 Thy corpses twain. Draw near, ye dames of Troy, 
 To your lords' tents, for 1 discern a breeze 
 Upspringing, home to waft us, even now. 1290 
 
 Fair voyage be ours to Hellas, fair the plight 
 Wherein, from these toils freed, we find our homes. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 To the tents, Ο friends, to the haven fare ; 
 The yoke of thraldom our necks must bear. 
 Fate^knpsis not pity,, fate will not spare. 1295 
 
 [^Exeunt omnes. 
 
ION. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 In the days when Erechtheus ruled over Athens, Apollo 
 wrought violence to the king's young daughter Kreusa. 
 And she, having born a son, left him, by reason of her 
 fear and shame, in the cave wherein the God had humbled 
 her. But Apollo cared for him, and caused the babe to 
 be brought to Delphi, even to his temple. Therein was 
 the child nurtured, and ministered in the courts of the 
 God's house. And in process of time Erechtheus died, 
 and left no son nor daughter save Kreusa, and evil days 
 came upon Athens, that she was hard bestead in war. 
 Then Xuthus, a chief of the Achaian folk, fought for 
 her, and prevailed against her Eubcean enemies, and for 
 guerdon of victory received the princess Kreusa to wife, 
 and so became king-consort in Athens. But to these 
 twain was no child born ; so, after many years, they 
 journeyed to Delphi to enquire of the oracle of Apollo 
 touching issue. And there the God ordered all things 
 so that the lost was found, and an heir was given to 
 the royal house of Athens. Yet, through the blind 
 haste of mortals, and their little faith, was the son well- 
 nigh slain by the mother, and the mother by the son. 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 Hejimes, the messenger of the Gods. 
 
 Ion, son of Apollo and Kreusa. 
 
 Kreusa, Queen of Athens, Daughter of Erechtheus, and wife of 
 
 Xuthus. 
 XuTHUS, an Achaian chief, king-consort of Athens. 
 Old Servant, {of Erechtheus formerly, then of Kreusa). 
 Servant (of Xuthus). 
 Pythia, the Prophetess of the temple. 
 Athene, Patron-goddess of Athens. 
 Chorus, consisting of Handmaids attendant on Kreusa. 
 Attendants, priests, guards, and Delphian citizens. 
 Scene : — At Delphi, in the fore-court of the temple of 
 
 Pythian Apollo, who is called also Phcebus, and Loxias. 
 
 The great altar of sacrifice stands in the centre. 
 
ION. 
 
 Enter Hermes. 
 
 Hermes. 
 
 Atlas, whose brazen shoulders wear the base 
 
 Of heaven, the ancient home of Gods, begat 
 
 Of a certain Goddess^ Maia, which bare me, 
 
 Hermes, to Zeus most high, heaven's messenger. 
 
 Now to this Delphian land I come, where Phoebus 5 
 
 Hath at earth's navel his prophetic seat 
 
 Revealing things that are and things to be. 
 
 There is a famous city of the Greeks, 
 
 Named Burg of Pallas of the Golden Spear. 
 
 There Phoebus forced Erechtheus' child Kreusa 10 
 
 Where the north-facing rocks, beneath the Mount 
 
 Of Pallas in the Athenian land, are called 
 
 The Long Chflfs by the lords of Attica. 
 
 Nought knew her sire — for this was Phoebus' will — 
 
 The burden 'neath her heart ; but in due time 15 
 
 She travailed in his halls ; and brought the babe 
 
 Unto the selfsame cave wherein the God 
 
 Had humbled her, and left it there to die 
 
 In the fair -rounded hollow of an ark, 
 
 1 Pleione, daughter of Ocean. 
 
z64 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Still keeping the tradition of her race 20 
 
 And earth-born Erichthonius,i by whom 
 
 Zeus' Daughter set for warders of his life 
 
 Two serpents, ere to the Agraulid maids 
 
 She gave the babe to nurse. For this cause there 
 
 The Erechtheids use to hang about their babes 25 
 
 Serpents of gold. Yea, broidery from her robe 
 
 She tied to her babe, and left him, as for death. 
 
 Then did my brother Phoebus ask me this : 
 
 " Go, brother, to the earth-born folk of Athens 
 
 The glorious, — for thou know'st Athene's burg, — 30 
 
 And from the rock-cleft take a babe new-bom. 
 
 With cradle and with swaddling-bands withal, 
 
 And bear to Delphi, to mine oracle. 
 
 And set him at my temple's entering-in. 
 
 All else be mine : for this — that thou mayst know, — 35 
 
 Is my son." For a grace to Loxias 
 
 My brother, took 1 up the woven ark, 
 
 And bare, and on the basement of this fane 
 
 I set him, opening first the cradle's lid 
 
 With-woven, that the boy might so be seen. 40 
 
 And, as the sun drove forth his chariot, passed 
 
 A priestess into the prophetic shrine. 
 
 Who, casting eyes upon the wordless babe, 
 
 Marvelled that any Delphian maid should dare 
 
 1 Erichthonius was the son of Earth. Ath6n6 placed the 
 newborn babe, with two serpents, in a chest, which she 
 delivered to the daughters of Agraulus, wife of Kekrops, 
 forbidding them to open it. They disobeyed, and, at tiie 
 sight of the serpents, became mad through terror, and leapt 
 to their death down the cliffs of the Acropolis (see 11. 265-274). 
 After death they haunted the spot, dancing upon the cliff's 
 brink beneath the moon, while Pan piped to them from his 
 cave far below. See Chorus-song, 11. 491-502. 
 
ION. 265 
 
 Into the God's house fling her child of shame, 45 
 
 And o'er the holy pale in zeal had thrust ; 
 
 But pity banished cruelty : yea, the God 
 
 Wrought that the boy be not cast forth his fane. 
 
 So took she him and nursed, nor knew the sire 
 
 Was Phoebus, nor the reckling's mother knew ; 50 
 
 Nor knows the boy who brought him into life. 
 
 So did the youngling round the altars sport 
 
 That fed him. When to manhood waxed his frame, 
 
 The Delphians made him treasurer of the God, 
 
 And steward of all trust ; and in the fane 55 
 
 He liveth to this day a hallowed life. 
 
 But she, Kreusa, that had born the lad, 
 
 Was wed to Xuthus, by such hap as this : — 
 
 A surge of war 'twixt Athens rose and them 
 
 That in Eubcea hold Chalkidike, 60 
 
 Wherein triumphant toiled that chieftain's spear. 
 
 And won Kreusa for his guerdon bride ; 
 
 An alien he, of Aiolus sprung and Zeus, 
 
 Achaian born : but after wedded years 
 
 He and his wife be childless. For this cause 65 
 
 To this shrine of Apollo have they come. 
 
 Yearning for seed. Now Loxias guides their fate 
 
 To this, nor hath forgotten, as might seem. 
 
 He shall give Xuthus, when he entereth, 
 
 His own child, saying to him, " Lo, thy son," 70 
 
 That the lad, coming home, made known may be 
 
 Unto Kreusa, Loxias' deed abide 
 
 Unknown, and so the child may have his right. 
 
 And Ion shall he cause him to be called 
 
 Through Greece, the founder of an Asian realm. 75 
 
 Now to yon hollow bay-embowered I go 
 
 To watch how destiny dealeth with the lad. 
 
265 EURIPIDES. 
 
 For yonder see I Loxias' child come forth 
 
 To make the temple-portals gay with boughs 
 
 Of bay. And by the name that he shall bear, 80 
 
 Ion, do I first name him of the Gods. [Exit. 
 
 Enter Ion, followed by a throng of Delphian worshippers. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Lo, yonder the Sun-god is turning to earthward his 
 splendour-blazing 
 
 Chariot of light ; 
 And the stars from the firmament flee from the fiery 
 arrows chasing, 
 
 To the sacred night : 
 And the crests of Parnassus untrodden are flaming and 
 
 flushed, as with yearning 
 Of welcome to far-flashing wheels with the glory of 
 daylight returning 
 
 To mortal sight. 
 To the roof-ridge of Phoebus the fume of the incense of 
 Araby burning 
 
 As a bird taketh flight. 90 
 
 On the tripod most holy is seated the Delphian 
 
 Maiden 
 Chanting to children of Hellas the wild cries, laden 
 
 With doom, from the lips of Apollo that ring. 
 Delphians, Phoebus's priesthood-train, 
 
 Unto Castaly's silvery-swirling spring 
 Pass ye, and cleanse with the pure spray-rain 
 Your bodies, or ever ye enter his fane. 
 Set a watch on the door of your lips ; be there heard 
 Nothing but good in the secret word 
 That ye murmur to them whose hearts be stirred 100 
 
ION. 267 
 
 To seek to his shrine, that they seek not in vain. 
 And I in the toil that is mine — mine now, 
 And from childhood up, — with the bay's young bough. 
 And with wreathed garlands holy, will cleanse 
 
 The portals of Phoebus ; with dews from the spring 
 Will I sprinkle his pavement, and chase far thence 
 
 With the shaft from the string 
 The flocks of the birds : the defilers shall flee 
 
 From his offerings holy. Nor mother is mine 
 Neither father : his temple hath nurtured me, no 
 And I serve his shrine. 
 
 (Str.) 
 Come, branch in thy freshness yet blowing, 
 God's minister, loveliest bay. 
 Over the altar-steps glide. 
 In the gardens immortal, beside 
 His temple, hath burgeoned thy pride. 
 Where the sacred waters are flowing 
 Through a veil of the myrtle spray, 
 A fountain that leapeth aye 
 
 O'er thy tresses divine to pour. 120 
 
 I wave thee o'er Phcebus' floor 
 As the sun's wing soars sudden-glowing. 
 Such service is mine each day. 
 Ο Healer, Ο Healer-king, 
 Let blessing on blessing upring 
 Unto Leto's Son as I sing. 
 
 (Ant.) 
 'Tis my glory, the service I render 
 In thy portals, Ο Phoebus, to thee ! 
 
 I honour thy prophet-shrine. 130 
 
 Proud labour is mine — it is thine ! 
 I am thrall to the Gods divine : 
 
258 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Not to men, but Immortals, I tender 
 My bondage ; 'tis glorious and free : 
 Never faintness shall fall upon me. 
 For my father thee, Phoebus, I praise, 
 Who hast nurtured me all my days : 
 My begetter, mine help, my defender 
 This temple's Phoebus shall be. 
 
 Ο Healer, Ο Healer-king, 140 
 
 Let blessing on blessing upring 
 Unto Leto's Son as I sing. 
 
 But — for now from the toil I refrain 
 
 Of the bay-boughs softly traihng, — 
 From the pitchers of gold shall I rain 
 The drops from the breast unfailing 
 Of the earth that spring 
 Where the foambell-ring 
 Round Castaly's fount goeth sailing. 
 It rains, it rains from my fingers fast, 
 From the hands of the undefiled wide-cast. 150 
 Ο that to Phoebus for ever so 
 I might render service, nor respite know, 
 Except unto happier lot I go ! 
 Flights of birds are seen approaching. 
 
 Ho there, ho there ! 
 Even now are they flocking, the fowl of the air, 
 On Parnassus forsaking each crag-hung lair. 
 Touch not, I warn ye, the temple's coping, 
 Nor the roofs with the glistering gold slant -sloping. 
 Ha, my bow shall o'ertake thee again from afar, 
 Zeus' herald, whose talons victorious war 
 
 On the birds that strongest are. 160 
 
ION. 26g 
 
 Lo, yonder the pinion -oars come rowing 
 
 Of another, a swan, to the altar : — away ! 
 Speed hence thy feet in the dawn rose-glowing ; 
 
 Else Phcebus's lyre, that accordeth its lay 
 To thy notes, from death shall redeem not thee. 
 
 Waft onward thy wings of snow : 
 Light down on the Delian mere oversea, 
 
 Lest the blood-rush choke, if thou do not so. 
 Thy sweet throat's melody. 
 
 Ha, what new fowl cometh hitherward winging ? 170 
 Under our coping fain would he build 
 A nest for his young from the stubble-field ? 
 It shall hold thee aloof, my bow's fierce singing ! 
 Wilt thou heed not ? — Away, let thy nurslings hide 
 Where the swirlp of Alpheius coil and slide. 
 
 Or mid Isthm.ian glens and groves, 
 That the offerings undefiled may abide. 
 And the temples that Phoebus loves. 
 
 Loth were I to slaughter such as ye. 
 
 Which bear unto mortals the augury 180 
 
 Of the Gods : but a burden is laid upon me ; 
 
 I am Phoebus' thrall, and I will not refrain 
 
 My service to them that my life sustain. 
 
 Enter Chorus of Kretisa's Handmaids. They move to 
 
 right and left, admiring the sculptures on the walls of 
 
 the temple. Members of Chorus chant in turn : — 
 
 Chorus i. 
 
 Not in Athens alone then, the city divine, 
 Stand courts of the Gods, with Une on line 
 Of stately columns ; nor service is thine 
 There only, Ο Highway-king. 
 
 (Sir.) 
 
270 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Lo here, how in Loxias' holy place 
 
 The Son of Latona hath splendour and grace 
 
 Of a twofold-gleaming temple-face. 
 
 Chorus 2. 
 
 Ah, look thou, behold this thing — igo 
 
 How with golden scimitar Zeus' Son here 
 Slayeth the hydra of Lerna's mere : 
 
 Dear, one glance hitherward filing ! 
 
 Chorus i. 
 
 {Ant.) 
 
 I see it : — but lo, where another anigh 
 
 Is uplifting a flame- wrapped torch on high ! 
 
 Who is it — who ? On my broidery 
 
 Is the hero's story told ? — 
 Is it not lolaiis, the warrior there. 
 Who had part in the dread emprise, and a share 
 In the burdens that Zeus's scion bare ? 200 
 
 Chorus 3. 
 
 Lo, lo, this other behold 
 Who rideth a winged horse, dealing death 
 To a dragon that vomiteth fiery breath, 
 
 A monster of shape threefold. 
 
 Chorus i. 
 
 Ο yea, mine eyes turn swiftly on all ... . 
 But O, see there on the marble wall 
 The battle-rout of the giant-horde ! 
 
 Chorus 4. 
 Yea, friends, we be gazing thitherward. 
 
ION. 271 
 
 Chorus 5. 
 
 Dost mark who there on the stricken field 
 
 O'er Enkeladus waveth her gorgon- shield ? 210 
 
 Chorus 6. 
 Pallas, my Goddess ! — I see her stand ! 
 
 Chorus 7. 
 
 Lo, lo, where the bolt flame-flashing 
 Gleameth in Zeus' far-hurling hand 
 
 In resistless rush down-crashing. 
 
 Chorus 8. 
 
 I see : — ^upon Mimas his foe is the brand 
 With its blasting wildfire dashing. 
 
 Chorus g. 
 
 And the earth-born there — no battle-wand 
 Is the ivy-encircled thyrsus-rod 
 That slays him, of Bromius, Reveller-god. 
 
 Chorus 10 [addressing Ion). 
 
 Sir,— thou by the fane, — I would speak unto thee : 
 
 Prithee say, if with bare feet lawful it is 220 
 
 That the threshold we pass of the sanctuary. 
 
 Ion. 
 Nay, strangers, forefended is this. 
 
 Chorus ii. 
 Yet haply a thing I would learn wouldst thou show ? 
 
372 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 What is this that thou cravest to know ? 
 
 Chorus ii. 
 
 Is it so, that the walls of Phcebus rise 
 Even there, where Earth's mid-navel lies ? 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Yea : and with wreaths is it hung, and watched by the 
 Gorgon-eyes. 
 
 Chorus 12. 
 
 Ay, rumour hath published it so. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 If a cake ye have cast on the forecourt's altar-fire, 
 And if there be aught that of Phoebus ye fain would 
 
 enquire, 
 Draw nigh to the altar-steps : — into the inner fane 
 Pass none, but with bloodshed of sheep for the sacrifice 
 
 slain. 
 
 Chorus 13. 
 
 All this understand I aright : 230 
 
 We would trespass on nought by the God's law hidden : 
 Enough is without for our feast of sight. 
 
 Ion. 
 Let your eyes gaze on upon all unforbidden. 
 
 Chorus 14. 
 
 Our lady had given us leave, — " Upon all 
 
 These shrines," hath she said, " may ye gaze." 
 
ION. 
 
 273 
 
 Ion. 
 And the servants ye name you of what lord's hall ? 
 
 Chorus 15. 
 
 In Pallas's dwelling-place 
 Is the mansion of princes that nurtured me ; — 
 But of whom thou enquirest, lo, here is she. 
 
 Enter Kreusa. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 High birth is thine, and carriage consonant 
 
 Thereto, Ο lady, whosoe'er thou be. 
 
 For in a man ofttimes may one discern, 
 
 Marking his bearing, strain of gentle blood. 240 
 
 Ha, thou dost move me strangely ! — down-dropt eyes. 
 
 And noble cheeks all wet with rain of tears. 
 
 At sight of Loxias' pure oracle ! 
 
 How cam'st thou, lady, 'neath such load of care ? 
 
 Where all beside, beholding the God's shrines, 245 
 
 Rejoice, a fountain is thine eye of tears. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Stranger, I count it not discourtesy 
 
 That thou shouldst marvel touching these my tears. 
 
 But, looking on Apollo's dwelling-place, 
 
 I traversed o'er an ancient memory's track. 250 
 
 Afar my thoughts were, and my body here. 
 
 Ah, wrongs of women ! — wrongful-reckless deeds 
 
 Of Gods ! For justice where shall we make suit, 
 
 If our Lords' tyranny shall ruin us ? 
 
 Ion. 
 Lady, for what veiled grief art thou cast down ? 255 
 
274 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Nought : I have sped my shaft : as touching this, 
 Nothing I say, nor thou conjecture aught. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Who art thou ? What thy country ? Of what sire 
 Wert born ? What name is meet we name thee by ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Kreusa I, of King Erechtheus born ; 260 
 
 The Athenian city is my fatherland. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Ο dweller in a glorious burg, and sprung 
 Of noble sires ! — blest I account thee, lady. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Thus far, nor farther, stranger, goes my weal. 
 
 Ion. 
 Ah, is it true, the legend told to men — 265 
 
 Kreusa. 
 What wouldst thou, stranger, ask ? I fain would learn. 
 
 Ion. 
 That from the earth thy father's grandsire sprang ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yea, Erichthonius : — me his birth avails not. 
 
 Ion. 
 And did Athenfe take him forth the earth ? 
 
ION. 275 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yea, in her maiden arms : no mother she. 270 
 
 Ion. 
 And gave it, as the pictured legend tells — 
 
 Kreusa. 
 To Kekrops' daughters to be nursed unseen. 
 
 Ion. 
 The maids unsealed, I heard, Athene's ark. 
 
 Ktieusa. 
 Dashing the rocks with blood for this they died. 
 
 Ion. 
 Ah, so 
 And this — true is it, or an idle tale ? — 275 
 
 Kreusa. 
 What wouldst thou ask ? My leisure serveth me. 
 
 Ion. 
 Thy sisters did thy sire Erechtheus slay ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 He sacrificed his daughters for his land. 
 
 Ion. 
 How wast thou only of thy sisters saved ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 A babe new-born in mother's arms was I. 280 
 
276 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 And did earth yawning verily hide thy sire ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 The Sea-god's trident smote him and destroyed. 
 
 Ion. 
 The Long Cliffs — is a place so named therein ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Why dost ask this ? — thou wak'st a memory. 
 
 Ion. [285 
 
 Doth Phoebus honour them, and Pythian lightnings P^ 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Honour them, quotha ! Ο to have seen them never ! 
 
 Ion. 
 What ? — hatest thou the God's haunt well-beloved ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Nought. — I and that cave know a deed of shame. 
 
 Ion. 
 And what Athenian, lady, is thy lord ? 
 
 1 Near the Long Cliffs was an altar of "Zeus the 
 Lightning-lord." From this the priests kept watch on three 
 days and three nights of three months in the year, looking 
 north-west towards the gap between the border-ranges of 
 Cithaeron and Parnes, where lay the village of Harma. If 
 lightnings were at such seasons observed in that quarter, 
 they were regarded as a token from Apollo, and an embassy 
 was sent to Delphi. 
 
ION. 
 
 277 
 
 Kreusa. 
 No citizen. An outland alien. 290 
 
 Ion. 
 Who ? — sooth, of princely birth must he have been. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Xuthus, the seed of Aiolus and Zeus. 
 
 Ion. 
 How might an alien win thee, native-born ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 A neighbour state, Eubcea, Athens hath ; — 
 
 Ion. 
 Sundered by watery marches, as they tell. 295 
 
 Kreusa. 
 This smote he, spear-ally of Kekrops' sons. 
 
 Ion. 
 Their war -aid : — and thereafter won thine hand ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 His dower of battle, guerdon of his spear. 
 
 Ion. 
 With thy lord com'st thou hither, or alone ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 With him. He lingereth at Trophonius' cave. 300 
 
378 Ε URIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 To gaze thereon, or for an oracle ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 One thing of him and Phcebus would he learn. 
 
 Ion. 
 For increase of the land, or sons, come ye ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Childless we are, who have been wedded long. 
 
 Ion. 
 Never hast thou born issue, barren all ? 305 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Phoebus doth know what childlessness is mine. 
 
 Ion. 
 Blest in all else, sad heart, unblest in this ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 And who art thou ? — Blessed the womb that bare thee ! 
 
 Ion. 
 Lady, the God's thrall I am called, and am. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 The city's oflfering ? — or of some one sold ? 310 
 
 Ion. 
 I know but this — I am called Loxias' thrall. 
 
ION. 279 
 
 Kreusa. 
 I then in turn, Ο stranger, pity thee. 
 
 Ion. 
 As one that never sire nor mother knew. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Dwellest thou in this temple, or a house ? 
 
 Ion. 
 The God's wide halls be mine when I would sleep. 315 
 
 Kreusa. 
 A child, or stripling, cam'st thou to the fane ? 
 
 Ion. 
 A babe was I, say they who best should know. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 And who of Delphi's daughters gave thee suck ? 
 
 Ion. 
 Never I knew the breast. Mine only nurse — 
 
 Kreusa. [320 
 
 Who, child of sorrow ? — How my wound finds thine !i 
 
 Ion. 
 Was Phoebus' priestess : her I count my mother. 
 
 1 " Searching of thy wound 
 
 I have by hard adventure found mine own." 
 
 As You Like It, ii. 4. 
 
28ο EURIPIDES. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 How nurtured hast thou come to man's estate ? 
 
 Ion. 
 The altars fed me ; each chance stranger gave. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Woe is thy mother, who she be soe'er.^ 
 
 Ion. 
 I am record haply of a woman's wrong. 325 
 
 Kreusa. 
 And hast thou wealth ? — for rich is thine attire. 
 
 Ion. 
 Of Him is mine adorning, whom I serve. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 But on thy birth's track hast thou never pressed ? 
 
 Ion. 
 Ah, lady, clue hereunto have I none. 
 
 Kreusa. [330 
 
 {Sighs.) There's one was even as thy mother wronged. 
 
 2 The interruption to the sequence of thought in the lines 
 which foUow has given rise to various suggestions for their 
 re-arrangement, e.g. by placing 324-5 after 328-g. Doubtless 
 this would be a more logical arrangement, yet perhaps less 
 womanlike than Kreusa's recurring, after a breathing-space, 
 as it were, of unimportant query, to that feature in his 
 history which really interests her, and so deeply that she 
 cannot trust her self-command to follow it continuously. 
 
ION. 281 
 
 Ion. 
 Who ? — would she share my burden, glad were I. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 For her sake came I, while delays my lord. 
 
 Ion. 
 And what thy quest ? — Lady, mine help is thine. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Craving a secret oracle of Phoebus. 
 
 Ion. 
 Speak it : myself will undertake for thee. 335 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Hear then the story : — but ashamed am I. 
 
 Ion. 
 Shame shall not help thy strait, — a deedless Goddess ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 She saith — my friend — that Phoebus humbled her. 
 
 Ion. 
 Phoebus ! — a woman ! — Stranger, say not so. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 And the God's child she bare, nor knew her sire. 340 
 
 Ion. 
 Never ! — a man's crime this, and hers the shame. 
 
 X 
 
282 EURIPIDES 
 
 Kreusa. 
 No ! — herself saith. She hath suffered griefs beside. 
 
 Ion. 
 Suffered ? — for what sin wrought — this bride of heaven ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 The son she bare she cast forth from her halls. 
 
 Ion. 
 Where is her cast-out child ? Doth he see light ? 345 
 
 Kreusa. 
 None knows. For this I seek the oracle. 
 
 Ion. 
 But, if he be no more, how perished he ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Wild beasts, she troweth, slew the hapless babe. 
 
 Ion. 
 And by what token knew she this had been ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 She came where she had left him, and found not. 350 
 
 Ion. 
 And blood-gouts — were there any on the track ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Nay, saith she : yet she traversed oft the ground. 
 
ION. 383 
 
 Ion. 
 How long the time since this child's taking-ofF ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Living, he had had the measure of thy years. 
 
 Ion. 
 And hath she born no offspring after this ? 355 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Still the God wrongs her : childless grief is hers. 
 
 Ion. 
 What if in secret Phoebus fostereth him ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Unjust ! — alone to enjoy what he should share. 
 
 Ion. 
 Ah me ! her heart-strings are attuned to mine ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 For thee yearns some sad mother too, I ween. 360 
 
 Ion. 
 Ah, wake not thou mine half-forgotten grief. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 I am dumb : whereof I question thee, say on. 
 
 Ion. 
 Seest thou where lies the weakness of thy plea ? 
 
284 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ah, hapless one, wherein is she not weak ! 
 
 Ion. 
 How should the God reveal that he would hide ? 365 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Why then on Greece's tripod sitteth he ? 
 
 Ion. 
 
 His shame the deed is. Question not of him. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ο yea, the sufferer in her lot may pine ! 
 
 Ion. 
 
 There's none will ask the God of this for thee. 
 
 For, in his own halls were he villain proved, 370 
 
 Vengeance on him who brought thee that response 
 
 Would Phoebus justly wreak. Ah lady, go : 
 
 We must not seek his shrine to flout the God. 
 
 For lo, what height of folly should we reach 
 
 If in the Gods' despite we wrest their will, 375 
 
 By sacrifice of sheep on altars, or 
 
 By flight of birds, to tell what they would veil. 
 
 Could we of force wring aught from Gods full loth. 
 
 Profitless blessings, lady, should we grasp ; 
 
 But what they give free-willed are boons indeed. 380 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Strange chances many on many mortals fall. 
 And manifold their forms. Ye scarce shall find 
 One happy lot in all the life of men. 
 
ION, 285 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ο Phcebus, there and here unjust art thou 
 
 Unto the absent one whose plea is here. 385 
 
 Thou shouldst have saved thine own, yet didst not 
 
 save ; 
 Nor heeds the Seer the mother's questioning, 
 That, if her babe hve not, his tomb may rise, 
 Or, if he live, that she may see his face. 
 Yet must I let this be, if by the God 390 
 
 I am barred from learning that which I desire. 
 But, stranger, — for I see my princely lord, 
 Xuthus, anigh us yonder, who hath left 
 Trophonius' crypt, — of this that we have said 
 Speak to my lord nought, lest I get me shame 395 
 
 For handling secrets, and the tale fall out 
 Not after our unravelling thereof. 
 For woman's lot as touching men is hard ; 
 And, since the good are with the bad confused. 
 Hated we are : — ill-starred we are from birth. 400 
 
 Enter Xuthus. 
 
 Xuthus. 
 
 First, to the God the firstfruits of my greetings : 
 
 All hail to him, and hail to thee, my wife. 
 
 Hath my late-lingering thrilled thee with dismay ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Nay, 'tis but care that meets thee. Tell to me 
 
 What answer from Trophonius bringest thou, 405 
 
 How we shall have joint issue, thou and I ? 
 
 Xuthus. 
 He took not on him to forestall the word 
 
286 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Of Phoebus. This he said — nor thou nor I 
 Childless shall wend home from the oracle. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Queen, Phoebus' mother, grant our home-return 410 
 Prosperous : all our dealings heretofore 
 Touching thy son, to happier issue fall ! 
 
 "XUTHUS. 
 
 This shall be. Who speaks to the God for men ? 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Without, I ; others for the things within, 
 
 Stranger, which nigh unto the tripod sit, 415 
 
 The Delphian lords, in order of their lot. 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 'Tis well : now know I all I sought to know. 
 
 I will pass in ; for, as I hear it told. 
 
 To strangers of the forecourt hath there chanced 
 
 An open oracle. I would fain this day — 420 
 
 This day fair-omened — gain the God's response. 
 
 Thou to the bay-crowned altars bear the boughs. 
 
 My wife, and pray the Gods that I may win 
 
 Promise of fair sons from Apollo's fane. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Yea, this shall be. [Exit Xuthus to inner Temple. 
 
 If Loxias consent 425 
 
 Now at the last to atone for olden wrongs, 
 Not utterly should he become my friend. 
 Yet, as a God's, will I accept his pleasure. [Exit. 
 
ION 287 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Why doth this stranger rail upon the God 
 In riddles of dark sayings evermore ? 430 
 
 For love of her for whom she seeks the shrine ? 
 Or keeping back a thing she must not speak ? — 
 But with Erechtheus' daughter what have I 
 To do ? She is nought to me. But I will go 
 Unto the lavers with the golden ewers 435 
 
 To pour in water-dews. Yet must I plead^ 
 With Phoebus — what ails him ? He ravisheth 
 Maids, and forsakes : begetteth babes by stealth 
 And heeds not, though they die. Do thou not so ! 
 Being strong, be righteous. For what man soe'er 440 
 Transgresseth, the Gods visit this on him. 
 How were it just then that ye should enact 
 For men laws, and yourselves work lawlessness ? 
 For if — it could not be, yet put it so — 
 Ye should pay mulct to men for lawless lust ,2 445 
 
 Thou, the Sea-king, and Zeiis the lord of heaven, 
 Paying for wrongs should make your temples void. 
 For, following pleasure past all wisdom's bounds. 
 Ye work unrighteousness. Unjust it were 
 To call men vile, if we but imitate 450 
 
 The sins of Gods : — they are vile which teach us this. 
 
 \_Exit. 
 
 1 " The freedom of this remark is scarcely in keeping with 
 previous indications of Ion's attitude towards the God." 
 (Bayfield) Does it not rather well display that " perfect love 
 which casteth out fear."? Compare Moses' expostulation 
 with God, in Numbers xiv, 15, 16. 
 
 2 The fine for violence to a virgin was, by Solon's laws, a 
 thousand drachmas. 
 
388 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str.) 
 My Queen, at whose birth-tide was given 
 Of the Lady of Travail-pang 
 
 No help, hear, Pallas, my prayer. 
 Whom the crown of a God's head bare 
 By Prometheus the Titan riven 
 
 When the Daughter of Zeus forth sprang. 
 
 Come, Victory-queen, to the dwelling 
 Pythian, speeding thy wing 
 
 From Olympus' chambers of gold 
 To the streets that the World's Heart hold, 460 
 Where the bodings of Phoebus are told, — 
 Yea, brought to pass in the telling, — 
 At the tripod that dances enring. 
 
 Thou also, Latona's Daughter, — 
 Two Goddesses, maidens twain, 
 Phoebus' s sisters divine. 
 With us interceding Ο join. 
 That Erechtheus' ancient line 
 Through bodings clear-lucid as water 470 
 
 Fair offspring at last may attain. 
 
 (Ant.) 
 For a fountain is this ever-welling 
 Of happiness passing the lot 
 
 Of mortals, when stalwart and tall 
 Skines fair in a father's hall 
 The presence of sons, foretelling 
 A line that shall perish not ; 
 
 Sons, that, when death bringeth severance, 
 Shall receive to pass on to their seed 
 
ION. 289 
 
 The wealth that their sires' hands hold : 480 
 Yea, by these be our sorrows consoled, 
 And a joy within joy they enfold. 
 And their spear flasheth light of deliverance^ 
 In the hour of the fatherland's need. 
 
 Ah, far above golden treasure 
 Or than princely halls do I praise 
 
 Dear children to cherish — mine own ! 
 
 Mine horror were life all lone : 
 
 Who loveth it, wit hath he none : 
 But give to me substance in measure, 490 
 
 And children to brighten my days ! 
 
 (Epode) 
 Ο haunts of Pan's abiding, 
 Ο sentinel rock down-gazing 
 
 On the Long-cliff caves dim-glimmering. 
 Where, with shadowy feet in the dance soft-sliding, 
 Agraulus' daughters three go pacing 
 
 O'er the lawns by Athene's fane dew-shimmering 
 In moonlight, while upward floats 
 A weird strain rising and falling. 
 Wild witchery-wafting notes, 500 
 
 Ο Pan, from thy pipes that are calling 
 Out of thy sunless grots l^ 
 
 Ah, a maid-mother there most woe-forlorn 
 Cast Phoebus's child for a banquet gory — 
 
 Bitter outrage's fruit ! — by the birds to be torn 
 And the beasts. Nor in woven web nor in story 
 Ever heard I of happiness blent with the glory 
 Of Gods' seed woman-born. 
 
 1 atyXav (Herwerden) vice άλκάν 
 
 2 See note to 1. 21. 
 
290 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Enter Ion. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Bower-maidens, ye which keeping watch the altar-steps 
 beside 510 
 
 Of the incense-clouded fane, your master's coming forth 
 abide, 
 
 Say, hath Xuthus left by this the holy tripod and the 
 shrine. 
 
 Or within yet lingering asks he touching that long- 
 childless line ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 In the temple is he, stranger, treads not yet the 
 
 threshold-stone. 
 List, a sound at yonder portal — through the porchway 
 
 passeth one : — 515 
 
 Lo, where now he cometh forth — our master, plain for 
 
 eyes to see. 
 
 Enter Xuthus : attempts to embrace Ion. 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Hail, my son ! — for fitting prelude this is of my speech 
 
 to thee. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Hale I am : but thou, control thee ; then were twain 
 
 in happy case. 
 
 Xuthus. 
 
 Let me kiss thine hand, and let me fold thy form in 
 
 mine embrace ! 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Stranger, hast thy wits ? — or is thy mind distraught by 
 stroke of heaven ? 520 
 
ION. 391 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Right my wit is, if I long to kiss my best-beloved 
 regiven. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Hold — hands off! — the temple-garlands of Apollo rend 
 not thou ! 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Touch thee will I ! — No man-stealer ; but I find my 
 darling now. 
 
 Ion (starting back, and fitting an arrow to his bow). 
 
 Wilt not hence, or ever thou receive my shaft thy ribs 
 
 within ? 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Wherefore dost thou flee me, who hast learnt to know 
 thy nearest kin ? 525 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Nought I love to admonish aliens mannerless and 
 sense-bereft. 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Slay — then burn me ;i for a father's heart thine arrow 
 shall have cleft. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Thou my father ! — Is not this a laughter-scoff for me 
 to hear ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Nay, the eager-hurrying word shall show thee all my 
 meaning clear. 
 
 1 It being the sacred duty of the son to lay the father's 
 corpse upon the pyre. 
 
292 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 Ay, and what wilt tell ? 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Thy father am I, and thou art my son. 530 
 
 Ion. 
 Who the voucher ? 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Loxias, who reared the child that I have won. 
 Ion. 
 Thou art thine own witness. 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Nay, the God's own oracle I heard. 
 Ion. 
 Heardest riddles and misreadest. 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Then mine ears can hear no word. 
 Ion. 
 What was this, the word of Phoebus ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 That the man who met my face — 
 
 Ion. 
 Met thee — met thee ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 As I came from out Apollo's holy place — 535 
 
ION. 293 
 
 Ion. 
 Ay, and what should be his fate ? 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 My true-begotten son is this. 
 Ion. 
 Born thy son, or given of others ? 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Given — and born from me he is.i 
 Ion. 
 So on me thy foot first stumbled ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Yea, my son, on none beside. 
 Ion. 
 Ay, and whence this happy chance ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 We marvel both it should betide. 
 Ion. 
 Ha, what mother bare me to thee ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Sooth, thereof can I say nought. 540 
 
 1 There may be oracular ambiguity here ; i^ being (like 
 " from " in a common Shaksperian usage) susceptible of the 
 sense "apart, or remote from," as in the oracle given to 
 Odysseus respecting his own end, Odys. xi, 134. c.f. note 
 on 1. 1546. 
 
294 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 Neither Phcebus told ? 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 For joy of this thing, that I never sought. 
 Ion. 
 Ah, a child of mother Earth ! 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Nay, children spring not from the sod. 
 
 Ion. 
 How then thine am I ? 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 I know not : I refer it to the God. 
 Ion. 
 Come, to other reasonings turn we.^ 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Better so, my son, in sooth. 
 Ion. 
 Hadst thou ever part in lawless love ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Mid follies of my youth. 545 
 Ion. 
 Ere Erechtheus' daughter wed thee ? 
 
 1 Ion's incredulity has so far made all his questions and 
 comments bitterly sarcastic : but now, impressed by Xuthus' 
 unshaken faith, he thinks the matter worth investigation. 
 
ION. 295 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Since, to her have 1 been true. 
 Ion. 
 Haply then didst thou beget me ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Time is consonant thereto. i 
 Ion. 
 Were it so, how came I hither ? 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Nay, I cannot fathom it. 
 
 Ion. 
 Long the journey for a babe ! 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 This too o'erpasseth all my wit. 
 Ion. 
 Hast thou seen ere this the Pythian Rock ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 At Bacchus' festal rite. 550 
 Ion. 
 Lodging with a Public Host ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Yea ; and with Delphian girls by night — 
 1 i.e. Your apparent age fits the supposition. 
 
^φ EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 Made initiate — this thy meaning P^ 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 They were maidens Bacchanal.^ 
 Ion. 
 Sober, or of wine o'ercome ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Of Bacchus' joys did this befall. 
 Ion. 
 This is my begetting's story ! 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Fate, my son, hath found it out. 
 Ion. 
 Yet, how came I to the fane ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 The maiden cast thee forth, I doubt. 555 
 Ion (aside). 
 So, I 'scape the taint of serfdom — ^ 
 
 1 c.f. " Convey, the wise it call." No resident of Delphi 
 could affect to be ignorant of the excesses veiled under the 
 expression " Initiated into the Orgiastic Mysteries of 
 Bacchus." 
 
 2 i.e., The reUgious license (perhaps obligation) of the 
 occasion furnishes an excuse, if not a justification. 
 
 3 As none but free-born Delphian women could take part 
 in the " Orgies." But the " temple-slaves " were commonly 
 bought of slave-dealers : hence the relief to Ion's mind. 
 
ION. 297 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Son, thy father now receive. 
 
 Ion (aside). 
 'Tis the God : I may not doubt him — 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Yea, 'tis wisdom to believe. 
 
 Ion (aside). 
 What thing higher can I wish for — 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Now thou seest clear and true. 
 
 Ion (aside). 
 Than the fatherhood of Zeus ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 ο yea, by birth is this thy due.^ 
 
 Ion. 
 Shall I clasp him, my begetter ? 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 If with Phoebus thou comply. 560 
 
 Ion. 
 Hail to thee, my father ! 
 
 1 Xuthus being descended from 2eus. But this is an 
 example of " Tragic Irony," wherein a speaker " speaks 
 truer than he knows ; " Ion being in reality the son of Apollo, 
 son of Zeus. 
 
EURIPIDES. 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Joyfully I welcome this thy cry. 
 
 Ion. 
 Hail the day that sees our meeting ! 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 Happy man it maketh me. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Ah, beloved mother, when thy visage also shall I see ? 
 More than ever now I long to see thee, who thou be 
 
 soe'er. 
 Ah, but thou perchance art dead, and all in vain should 
 
 be my prayer. 565 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ours too the house's happy fortune is : 
 Yet fain were I our queen were also blest 
 With offspring, and Erechtheus' ancient line. 
 
 XuTHUS. 
 
 My son, as touching thy discovery 
 
 The God spake sooth, and so joined thee and me. 570 
 
 Thou hast found thy dearest, erst to thee unknown. 
 
 For thy just yearning, this is also mine. 
 
 That thou mayst find thy mother, Ο my son. 
 
 And I, the woman of whose womb thou art. 
 
 This shall we find forth haply, left to time. 575 
 
 Now, leave the God's floor, and thine homeless state : 
 
 To Athens come, with thine heart even as mine. 
 
 There waiteth thee thy father's sceptred bliss. 
 
 And much wealth. None shall cast into thy teeth 
 
ION. agg 
 
 One of these taunts, base birth or poverty. 580 
 
 High-born art thou, a mighty man of wealth. 
 Silent ? — Now wherefore earthward droops thine eye, 
 And thou art deep in thought, and from thy joy 
 Art changed, and strikest dread into thy sire ? 
 
 Ion. 
 
 The face of things appeareth not the same 585 
 
 Far off, and when we scan them nigh at hand. 
 
 So do I greet with gladness this my lot 
 
 Who find a sire : howbeit hear what burden 
 
 Weighs on my soul. The glorious earth-born state, 
 
 Athens, men say, hath nought of alien strain. 590 
 
 I shall thrust in, stained with a twofold taint — 
 
 An outland father, and my bastard self. 
 
 And, bearing this reproach, nor strong in friends, 
 
 " Nobody" shall be called—" Nobody's Son." 
 
 Then, if 1 press to Athens' highest ranks, 595 
 
 And seek a name, of them that fail shall I 
 
 Win hate : with climbers aye climbs jealousy. 
 
 And noble souls, born guides of men, which yet 
 
 Are silent, meddling not with things of state. 
 
 To them shall I be laughing-stock and fool, 600 
 
 Who, in a town censorious, ^ go not softly. 
 
 Yea, if mid men of mark, which helm the state, 
 
 I win repute, I shall be hedged in more 
 
 By checking votes. ^ Thus is it ever, father : 
 
 They which sway nations, and have won repute, 605 
 
 To young ambitions are the bitterest foes. 
 
 1 v.l. φόβον TrXia., " suspicious." 
 
 2 Shall be hampered in action by the votes of the people, 
 which, in a democratic state (for Euripides is describing the 
 Athens of his own day), may check him at every turn. 
 
 Υ 2 
 
300 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Then, coming to a strange house, alien I, 
 
 And to a childless lady, who hath shared 
 
 With thee her sorrow heretofore, but now 
 
 Shall bear in bitterness her reproach alone, 6io 
 
 How shall I not, with reason, have her hate. 
 
 When by thy knee I stand, she on thy love 
 
 Looketh with bitter eyes of childlessness, — 
 
 When thou must cast me off and cleave to her. 
 
 Or honour me, and wreck thine household's peace ? 615 
 
 How oft the dagger and the deadly bowl 
 
 Have women found to slay their lords withal ! 
 
 Nay, father, more — I pity this thy wife 
 
 Who grows grey childless. 'Tis not worthy her, [620 
 
 Sprung from proud sires — this curse of childlessness. 
 
 And power — this power men falsely praise so oft. 
 
 Winsome its face is, but behind the veil 
 
 Is torment. Who is happy, fortunate who. 
 
 That, fearing violence, glancing aye askance, 
 
 Weareth out life ? Nay, rather would I live 625 
 
 Happy-obscure, than be exalted prince, — 
 
 One who must joy to have for friends the vile, 
 
 Who hates the good, and ever dreads to die. 
 
 " Ah," thou wilt say, " gold overbears all this. 
 
 And wealth is sweet." Would I clutch lucre — groan 
 
 Under its load, with curses in mine ears ? [630 
 
 Nay, wealth for me in measure, sorrowless. 
 
 But, father, hear what blessings here were mine : — 
 
 First, leisure, dearest of delights to men : 
 
 Friendly the folk ; no villain jostleth me 635 
 
 Out of the path : it galls the very soul 
 
 To yield the pass, and vail to baser men. 
 
 My life was prayer to Gods, converse with men, 
 
 Ministrant unto joy and not to grief, 
 
ION. 301 
 
 Welcoming coming, speeding parting guests, 640 
 
 A new face smiling still on faces new. 
 
 And that which men, though loth, must ask in prayer, 
 
 Uprightness, use and nature bred in me 
 
 For Phoebus' service. Thinking on all this, 
 
 Father, I more esteem things here than there. 645 
 
 Mine own life let me live. Content with little 
 
 Hath charm no less than joy in great estate. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Well hast thou said, so be that those I love 
 In these thy words may find their happiness. 
 
 XUTHUS. 
 
 Of this no more : but learn to bear thy fortune. 650 
 
 For, where I found thee, there would I begin, 
 
 By making thee a solemn public feast. 
 
 And thy birth-sacrifice, ^ not offered yet. 
 
 Now to the feast as my guest bringing thee, 
 
 I'll make thee cheer : then to the Athenians' land 655 
 
 Bring thee as one that travelleth, not as mine. 
 
 For, sooth, I have no heart to vex my wife 
 
 With mine own bliss, while she is childless still. 
 
 And I shall find a time to bring my queen 
 
 To suffer thee to take my sceptred sway. 660 
 
 lon^ I name thee, of that happy chance 
 
 In that, as forth Apollo's shrine I came, 
 
 First lighted I on thee. Now all thy friends 
 
 To this glad feast of sacrifice gather thou. 
 
 To bid, as leaving Delphi soon, farewell. 665 
 
 1 Customarily offered on the day of birth, and again on 
 the fifth day after, when the child receiveth its name. 
 
 1 "Ιων, " coming," because met at his coming forth. 
 
303 EURIPIDES. 
 
 You, handmaids, I command, speak not hereof. 
 Death — if ye say to my wife anything ! 
 
 Ion. 
 
 1 go : yet to my fortune one thing lacks : 
 For, save I find her who gave Hfe to me, 
 My life is naught. If one prayer be vouchsafed, 670 
 Of Athens' daughters may my mother be. 
 That by my mother may free speech be mine. 
 For, if a stranger pass into a burg 
 Of pure blood, burgher though he be in name. 
 Bond is his tongue, and he hath not free speech. 675 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 (Str.) 
 Ο vision of tears, and of fierce heart-burning 
 
 Breaking forth into shrieks and the onrush of sighing,'• 
 When my lady beholdeth her chieftain returning 
 In glory of fatherhood — knoweth that yearning 
 
 Of childlessness waiteth her, hunger undying ! 680 
 Seer-son of Latona, what strain hast thou chanted ? 
 
 Whence came he, the waif in thy temple-porch lying ? 
 Thy fosterling — yea, but a mother yet wanted ! 
 And the oracle stirreth mine heart to defying 
 Of its tones with the whisper of treachery haunted. 
 I fear whereunto it will grow, 
 This fate thou hast caused us to know. 
 
 Too strange for my credence it is. 690 
 
 Child fathered of fortune and treason ! 
 Child alien of blood ! — it were reason 
 That all should cry yea unto this. 
 
 1 Reading άλαλαγάϊ στιναγμάτων τ 
 
ION. 303 
 
 {Ant.) 
 Friends, shall I bear to my lady the story ? 
 
 Shall I speak in her ear, her lord's baseness revealing ? 
 Whom she counted her all and in all — heretofore he 
 Had share in her dreams of a yet-coming glory. 
 
 Now in woe is she whelmed, but his heart hath 
 found healing, 
 That he flouts the dear tresses and eld's silver- 
 strewing ! 70° 
 Ο caitiff and outlander, he that came stealing 
 On the wealth of a house he saved not from undoing !i— 
 Who would cozen my lady with treacherous dealing — 
 False one, away to thy ruin, thy ruin ! 
 
 O'er the consecrate cake he shall lay 
 
 Mid your altar-flames, Gods, let them play 
 
 Unavailingly 1^ — Ah but my queen 710 
 
 Shall know that I hold her the dearer ! 
 Lo, this strange feast draweth nearer 
 
 When the sire's strange son shall be seen. 
 
 {Epode). 
 Heights of Parnassus, rock-ridges upbearing 
 
 The watchtower crags and the cloudland dome. 
 Where Bacchus, uptossing the pines flame-glaring. 
 
 Leaps mid his Bacchants through darkness that roam. 
 May never yon boy to my city come faring ! 
 
 Be his birth-day the day of his doom ! 720 
 
 1 Xuthus, though, by his marriage with the princess of 
 Athens, he came into possession of the wealth of the royal 
 house of Erechtheus, had not, by perpetuating the race of 
 true-born Erechtheids, saved that house from extinction, 
 since Ion was so far known only as the son of an alien 
 father and of an (unknown) alien mother. 
 
 2 i.e., May the birth-sacrifice about to be offered be 
 unblest. 
 
304 EURIPIDES. 
 
 For in sooth should our city be hard bestead 
 If an alien host to her hearths shall be led. 
 Suffice us Erechtheus, the kingly head 
 Of the Ancient Home ! 
 
 Enter Kreusa and Old Servant, climbing the ascent to 
 the Temple. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Thou reverend child-ward of my sometime sire 725 
 
 Erechtheus, while he walked yet in the light, 
 
 Bear up, and press to yon God's oracle. 
 
 That thou mayst share my joy, if Loxias King 
 
 One boding-pledge of sons hath uttered forth. 
 
 'Tis sweet with friends to share prosperity : 730 
 
 And if — which God forbid— if ill befall, 
 
 'Tis sweet to gaze in eyes of sympathy. 
 
 Now thine old loving tendance of my sire 
 
 I, though thy lady, render back to thee. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 My daughter, spirit worthy of noble sires 735 
 
 Thou keepest, and thou hast not put to shame 
 
 Thine old forefathers, children of the soil. 
 
 Draw, draw me towards the shrines, and bring me on. 
 
 Steep is the god-ward path : be thou physician 
 
 Unto mine age, and help my toiling limbs. 740 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Follow : take heed where thou dost plant thy feet. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Lo there ! 
 Slow is the foot, still by the mind outstripped. 
 
ION. 305 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Bear up thy foot's tread with the groping stafF.i 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 Blind guide is this when mine eyes serve so ill. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Sooth said : yet yield not thou to weariness. 745 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 I would not, but my lost strength I command not. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Women, which do leal service at my loom 
 And shuttle, show what fortune hath my lord 
 Found touching issue, for which cause we came. 
 For, if ye speak good tidings unto me, 750 
 
 Your queen shall not forget the debt of joy. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ah fate ! 
 
 Old Servant (aside). 
 
 No happy-boding prelude of their speech ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ah hapless ! 
 
 Old Servant (aside). 
 
 Ha, sinks mine heart for my lords' oracle ? 755 
 
 1 Reading ττοδόι and περιφέρει. If περιφερή, we might 
 render " Prop with thy staff thy foot's uncertain tread ; " 
 referring to the manner in which the foot nervously tries 
 the ground round about ; its inequalities being dimly seen. 
 
3o6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 What shall we do when death is in the path ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 What means this strain, and wherefore is your fear ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 Speech ? — silence ? — what is it that we should do ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Speak : something ye keep back that toucheth me. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Thou shalt be told, — yea, though I die twice over. 760 
 'Tis not for thee, my queen, in arms to fold 
 Children, nor press them ever to thy breast. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ah, would I might die ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Daughter — 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ah wretch ! — ah me for my misery ! [765 
 I have gotten sore hurt, my friends : what is life unto me ? 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 Undone — thou and I ! 
 Ο child ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ah me, ah me ! for the anguish-dart 
 Hath pierced me through, and hath plunged deep into 
 mine heart. 
 
ION. 307 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Nay, moan not yet — 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 But wailings the soul of me fill ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Ere we shall learn — 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 What tidings remain for me still ? 770 
 Old Servant. 
 
 If in the same calamity our lord 
 
 Have part, or thine alone misfortune be. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ancient, to him hath Loxias given a son, 
 
 And private joy is his, unshared of her. 775 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ah sorrow on sorrow, for crown of sorrow, and woes 
 for my sighing ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 But of some woman must he yet be born, 
 
 This child ? — or did the God proclaim him born ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Already born — nay more, a stripling grown 780 
 
 Doth Loxias give him. I was there, and heard. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 How sayest thou ? — nameless, unspeakable things in 
 mine ears art thou crying — 
 
3o8 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 And mine. But how works out the oracle ? 785 
 
 More clearly tell me : who the lad is, tell. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Whomso thy lord should first meet as he passed 
 From the God's fane, the God gave him for son. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ah me ! ah me ! — and my weird 
 Of barrenness, barrenness grippeth my life ! — desolation- 
 oppressed 790 
 Shall I live on, living in childless halls ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 Who was the child foretold ? whom met he first, 
 Our sad queen's lord ? How saw he him, and where ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 Rememberest thou, Ο dear my queen, the youth 
 That swept the temple's floor ? That son is he. 795 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Oh to flee on the wings of a bird 
 Through the ocean of air, and from Hellas afar to the 
 stars of the west ! 
 
 Such pain on me, friends, such anguish falls ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 And what name hath his father given to him ? 800 
 
 Know'st thou ? Or bideth this unfixed, unsaid ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 Ion, since he was first to meet his sire. 
 
ION. 309 
 
 Old Servant. 
 His mother, who ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Thereof can I say nought. 
 My lady's spouse hath stol'n — that all my tale 
 Be known of thee — into the festal tent, 805 
 
 To sacrifice for welcoming and birth. 
 And spread a public feast for this new son. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 Betrayed, Queen, are we — for thy pain is mine — 
 
 Of this thy lord ; by treason-stratagems 
 
 Insulted ; from Erechtheus' palace-halls 810 
 
 Cast forth ! And this I say, as hating not 
 
 Thy lord, but better loving thee than him. 
 
 Who came a stranger to thy burg and home, 
 
 Wedded thee, and received thine heritage. 
 
 And of another woman gat him sons 815 
 
 Clandestine : this " clandestine " will I prove ; — 
 
 Knowing thee barren, he was not content 
 
 To share thy fortune, to partake thy lot, 
 
 But took a slave to his clandestine bed, 
 
 Begat this son, from Athens sent him, gave 820 
 
 Unto some Delphian's fostering : for concealment 
 
 Was he reared in the temple, consecrate. 
 
 So, when he knew the stripling fully grown, 
 
 He drew thee hither by the hope of sons. 
 
 So, not the God hath lied, but this man lied, 825 
 
 Rearing so long the lad, weaving such plots. 
 
 Detected here, he would cast it on the God : 
 
 But, once in Athens, he would set her crown 
 
 Upon him, guarding 'gainst the chance of time. 
 
310 EURIPIDES. 
 
 But this new name's misdated forgery ! — 830 
 
 Ion — set eye on him then first, forsooth ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ah me ! how evermore I loathe the knave 
 That plotteth wrongs, and then with stratagem 
 Tricks forth ! Be mine the friend of simple soul 
 Yet honest, rather than the craftier villain. 835 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 And a worse ill than all this must thou know. 
 
 To take into thine house for lord thereof 
 
 A slave's brat, motherless, of none account ! 
 
 'Twere but one ill, if from a free-born womb, 
 
 With thy consent, pleading thy barrenness, 840 
 
 He found an heir. Or, if this liked thee not. 
 
 He ought to have sought a wife of Aiolus' race. 
 
 Now, something worthy of woman must thou do — 
 
 Or grasp the sword, or by some wiliness 
 
 Or poison slay thine husband and his son, 845 
 
 Or ever death shall come from them to thee. 
 
 For, if thou flinch, 1 'tis thou shalt lose thy life : 
 
 For, when two foes beneath one roof be met, 
 
 This one or that one must the victim be. 
 
 Willing am I with thee to share this work, 850 
 
 To enter the pavilion, slay the lad 
 
 Where he prepares the feast : — repaying so 
 
 My lords their nurture, let me die or live ! 
 
 There is but one thing bringeth shame to slaves. 
 
 The name : in all else ne'er a slave is worse 855 
 
 Than free men, so he bear an upright soul. 
 
 1 Retaining the MS. νφησΐκ, vice σν φάσα, "spare" 
 (Badham). 
 
ION. 311 
 
 Chorus. 
 I too, dear mistress, I consent to share 
 Thy fate, or death, or honourable Ufe. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 O, how keep silence, my soul ? 
 Yet how shall I dare to unroll 860 
 
 Deeds hidden of darkness, and cast the shame behind 
 
 me ? 
 Yet what thing remaineth to fetter me, what thing to 
 
 bind me ? 
 With whom can I stand in virtue's glorious strife ? 
 Hath not mine husband a traitor been shown to his 
 
 wife ? 
 I am wholly of home bereft, of my children bereft : 
 Of the hopes unavailing I cherished not one is left, 
 Who dreamed I should order all things well, 
 Yet nought of that bridal of horror tell. 
 Nought of the birth amid tears that befell. 
 Now nay — by the palace of Zeus star-brightened, 870 
 By the watchtower crag where my Goddess's 
 
 throne is, 
 By the holy shore of the mere Tritonis 
 Full-brimming mid Libya's plain. 
 Mine outrage no more will I hide, that lightened 
 
 My bosom may be of its pain. 
 Mine eyes are a fountain of tears fast-welling. 
 And mine heart is betrayed and anguish-riven. 
 Betrayed of lovers on earth, in heaven ! 
 I will speak it, that thankless name forth telling, 
 And the tale of the traitor to love shall be given. 880 
 
 Lord of the sevenfold lyre, who attunest the voice of its 
 strings. 
 
312 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Under whose fingers the lifeless awaketh, the melody 
 
 sings 
 From the horn-sherds of oxen, the chant of the Muses 
 
 in sweetness outrings — 
 
 Child of Latona, I cry to the Sun — I will pubHsh thy 
 
 shame ! 
 Thou, with thy tresses a-shimmer with gold, through 
 
 the flowers as I came 
 Plucking the crocuses, heaping my veil with their gold- 
 
 litten flame, 890 
 
 Cam'st on me, caughtest the poor pallid wrists of mine 
 
 hands, and didst hale 
 Unto thy couch in the cave, — " Mother ! mother ! " I 
 
 shrieked out my wail, — 
 Wroughtest the pleasure of Kypris : no shame made 
 
 the god-lover quail. 
 
 Wretched I bare thee a child, and I cast him with 
 
 shuddering throe 
 Forth on thy couch where thou forcedst thy victim, a 
 
 bride-bed of woe. 900 
 
 Lost — my poor baby and thine ! for the eagles devoured 
 
 him ; — and lo, 
 
 Victory-songs to thy lyre dost thou chant ! — Ho, I call 
 
 to thee, son 
 Born to Latona, Dispenser of Boding, on gold-gleaming 
 
 throne 
 Midmost of earth who art sitting : — thine ears shall be 
 
 pierced with my moan ! 910 
 
 Ah, ravisher-bridegroom thou ! 
 
 What ailed thee to give to my spouse — 
 
ION. 313 
 
 Requiting no service, I trow ! — 
 A son to be heir to his house ? 
 But my baby and thine, Ο heaTtless, was taken 
 
 For a prey of the eagles : long ere now 
 Were the swaddling-bands of his mother forsaken. 
 
 Thy Delos doth hate thee, thy bay-boughs abhor 
 
 thee, [920 
 
 By the palm-tree of feathery frondage that rose 
 
 Where in sacred travail Latona bore thee 
 In Zeus's garden-close.^ 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ah me, what mighty treasure-house is opened 
 Of woes, whereat shall each and all shed tears ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 Ah daughter, gazing on thy face I fill 925 
 
 With pity : yea, my mind is all distraught. 
 For, while one surge of ills yet drowns my soul. 
 High rolls astern another from thy words. 
 For, soon as thou hadst told thy present ills. 
 Thou followedst the foul track of other woes. 930 
 
 What say'st thou ? What dost lay to Loxias' charge ? 
 What child hast born ? In Athens where didst cast 
 
 him 
 To gladden a living grave ? — tell yet again. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ancient, I blush before thee, yet will tell. 
 
 1 Reading κάττοις (Badham, etc.) vice καρττοκ, " Unto Zeus 
 for the fruit of her throes." 
 
314 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 To weep with friends that weep, full well I know. 935 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Hear then : — the Rocks of Kekrops knowest thou 
 The Long Cliff named ? — the northward-facing cave ? 
 
 Old Servant. 
 I know : Pan's shrine and altars stand thereby. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Even there I agonized in that dread strife — 
 
 Old Servant. 
 What ? — lo, how start my tears to meet thy words ! 940 
 
 Kreusa. 
 With Phcebus linked sore loth in woeful bridal. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Ah daughter, was it this myself had marked ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Had marked ? — If sooth thou sayest, I will tell. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Thy secret sighing as with hidden pain ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yea ; then befell the ills I now lay bare. 945 
 
 Old Servant. 
 And how didst thou conceal Apollo's rape ? 
 
ION. 315 
 
 Kreusa. 
 I travailed — bear to hear my tale, old friend ! — 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Who tended thee ? . . . . alone in trial's hour ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Alone within the cave that saw my rape. 
 
 Old Servant. [950 
 
 And the boy, where ? — that thou no more be childless. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Dead is he, ancient, — unto beasts cast out. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Dead ? — and Apollo, traitor ! helped thee nought ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Helped not. The child is nursed in Hades' halls. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Who cast him forth ? — Not thou — Ο never thou ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Even I. My vesture darkling swaddled him. 955 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Nor any knew the exposing of the child ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 None — Misery and Secrecy alone. 
 
 ζ J 
 
3i6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 How couldst thou leave thy babe within the cave ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ah how ? — Ο pitiful farewells I moaned ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Poor heart of steel ! — Ο God's heart harder yet ! 960 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ah, hadst thou seen the babe's hands stretched to me ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Seeking the breast, or cradle of thine arms ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Where he lay not, and so had wrong of me. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 And in what hope didst thou cast forth the babe ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 That the God yet would save him — his own child. 965 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Ah me, what tempest wrecks thine house's weal ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Why dost thou, ancient, veil thine head, and weep ? 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Seeing calamity, thy sire's and thine. 
 
ION 317 
 
 Kreusa. 
 'Tis man's lot : nought continueth at one stay. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Cling we no more to wailings, daughter, now. 970 
 
 Kreusa. 
 What must I do ? — so helpless misery is. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Avenge thee on the God who wronged thee first. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 How ? — I, a mortal, triumph o'er the strong ? 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Set thou the torch to Loxias' holy shrine. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 I fear : — even now I have enough of woes. 975 
 
 Old Servant. » 
 
 Then dare the thing thou canst : thine husband slay. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 I cannot — for old love and loyalty's sake. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 The boy, at least, thus foisted upon thee. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 How ? — would 'twere possible ! — how fain would I ! 
 
3i8 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 With daggers arm the servants of thy train. 980 
 
 Kreusa. 
 I will go straight : — but when to strike the blow ? 
 
 Old Servant. 
 In the pavilion, where he feasts his friends. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Murder in public — and weak hearts of thralls ! 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Woe ! thine heart fails. Do thine own plotting now. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ha, mine is secret guile and triumph sure. 985 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Yea, both ? — then will I be thy minister. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Hear then : — thou knowest of the Earth-born War ? 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Yea, giants stood in Phlegra 'gainst the Gods. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 There Earth brought forth the Gorgon, monster dread — 
 
 Old Servant. 
 To help her sons, and press the Gods full hard ? 990 
 
ION. 3ig 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yea, and Zeus' Daughter, Goddess Pallas, slew it. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 What was the fashion of its grisly form ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 A breastplate fenced with ring on ring of snakes. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Meseems I heard this legend long ago — 
 
 Kreusa. 
 How on her breast Athene bore its skin. 995 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Ay, named the Aegis, Pallas's array ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Of Gods named, from her battle-eager^ charge. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 But, daughter, how shall this thing harm thy foes ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Knowest thou Erich thonius ? — thou must. 
 
 Old Servant. [iooo 
 
 First father of your hne, whom earth brought forth ? 
 
 1 Reading ri$ev, with Paley, vice MSS. ηλθεν. 
 
320 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 To him gave Pallas in his hour of birth — 
 
 Old Servant. 
 What ? — thy word falters in the utterance. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Two drops of blood — of that same Gorgon's blood. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 What power have they upon the life of man ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 For death one, one for healing of disease. 1005 
 
 Old Servant. 
 And hung them on the child — wherein enclosed ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 A golden clasp. He gave it to my sire. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 And, when Erechtheus died, to thee it passed ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yea ; and I bear it ever on my wrist. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 How is the Goddess' gift twofold ordained ? loio 
 
 Kreusa. * 
 Each drop that welled forth from the hollow vein — 
 
ION. 321 
 
 Old Servant. 
 To what serves this ? 'What virtue beareth it ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Averts diseases, fostereth the life. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 The second thou hast named — what doeth it ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Slayeth : 'tis venom of the Gorgon's snakes. 1015 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Mingled in one, or several, dost thou bear it ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Several : good with evil blendeth not. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Ο child, Ο darling, thou hast all thy need ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Hereby the lad shall die, the slayer thou. 
 
 Old Servant. [1020 
 
 Where ? — by what deed ? Thou tell, and I will dare. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 In Athens, when he cometh to mine home. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Thou say'st not well. — Nay, thou didst blame my rede.i 
 
 1 In answer to her movement of impatience at his criticism 
 of her plan. 
 
322 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ha, doth thine heart's misgiving jump with mine ? 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Thou shouldst be murderess held, though innocent. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Even so — the old tale of stepdame's jealousy. 1025 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Here slay him — now : so shall avail denial. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 At least I shall the sooner taste that joy. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 Nor thy lord know thy knowledge of his secret. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Know'st then thy part ? Receive thou from mine hand 
 Athene's golden vial, wrought of old. 1030 
 
 Go where my lord holds this false sacrifice ; 
 And, in the banquet's pause, when men will pour 
 Wine to the Gods, this have thou 'neath thy robes. 
 And swiftly drop into the stripling's cup, — 
 That for his drinking, not the general bowl, — 1 1035 
 Even his who seeks to lord it o'er mine house. 
 
 1 There is no sufficient reason for omitting this line, in 
 which the natural tenderness of the woman breaks out. 
 Contrast the wholesale slaughter hinted at by the suitors in 
 Odyssey ii. 330 ; and compare Brutus's answer to the 
 question, " Shall no man else be touched but only Caesar ? " 
 Jul. Cas. ii. i. 
 
ION. 
 
 323 
 
 If once it pass his lips, ne'er shall he come 
 To glorious Athens : here shall he stay — dead. 
 
 Old Servant. 
 
 Unto thine host's house now withdraw thy foot ; 
 
 And I through mine appointed task will toil. 1040 
 
 Come, agod foot, for deeds must thou grow young, 
 
 Though this be not by time vouchsafed to thee. 
 
 On, Λvith thy mistress on, against the foe ! 
 
 Help her to slay and cast him forth her home. 
 
 Fair faith ? — Ο yea, fair faith for fortune fair : 1045 
 
 But, when ye would wreak vengeance on your foes, 
 
 There is no law that lieth in the path. 
 
 [Exeunt Kreusa and Old Servant. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 
 Goddess of Highways, Demeter's Daughter, 
 
 Queen of the nightmare darkness-ranger, 
 Guide thou the hand that for noontide slaughter 1050 
 Shall fill up the chalice, my lady's avenger. 
 Which beareth the venom-gouts that fell 
 From the neck of the Gorgon, the fiend of hell. 
 My lady's greeting-gift to the stranger 
 That usurpeth Erechtheus' royal sway. 
 That an alien of alien strain in our Athens never may 
 reign, [1060 
 
 But the noble Erechtheids — none save they ! 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 But — the death unaccomphshed ? — the deed unabetted 
 
 1 Hekat^, (here, as elsewhere, identified with PeΓsephonέ,) 
 goddess of sorcery and secret poisoning (and so invoked by 
 Medea, 394-6). She haunted places where roads crossed each 
 other, and at night sent up demons and phantoms from Hades. 
 
324 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Of the hour, and my mistress's purposes ended, 
 And the hopes that upbore her ? — remains the sword 
 whetted ; 
 Remaineth the neck in the death-noose suspended ; 
 And, by agony ending the agony-strife. 
 Shall she pass to the life beyond this life. 
 For never this queen from kings descended [1070 
 Shall endure that the splendour-light of her eyne, 
 No, not while she liveth, should fall on the shame of 
 the ancient hall 
 
 Ruled by the upstart of alien line. 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 Shame for the God oft-chanted^ 
 
 In hymns, if he,^ 
 Beside the fountains haunted 
 
 Of dances, see 
 With eyes long held from sleep 
 That Twentieth Dawn upleap, 
 See the torch-river's sweep, ere darkness flee, 
 
 When dances heaven star-glancing^ 
 Adoringly, 
 
 1 Dionysus, or Bacchus, who, in the Eleusinian Mysteries 
 here referred to, was worshipped along with Demeter and 
 Persephone. The 20th of the month Boedromion (about 
 beginning of October) was the great day of the feast, and 
 was ushered in by a vast torch-light procession (of 30,000 
 persons sometimes) conducting with dances the statue of 
 Bacchus along the sacred road. In this procession those 
 newly initiated into the mysteries, and who had kept vigil in 
 the temple the night before, joined. 
 
 2 Ion, whose presence, as that of an alien by blood, would 
 be profanation, yet whose initiation could, as a matter of 
 policy, not be avoided. 
 
 3 The very elements were said to unite in this dance- 
 worship of the Mighty Mother and her Daughter. 
 
ION. 325 
 
 When the white moon is dancing, 1080 
 
 And 'neath the sea 
 The Nereids' dance enrings 
 The eternal river-springs, 
 And their full chorus sings Persephone 
 
 Gold-crowned, and our Earth-mother — 
 
 Awful is she ! — 
 Shall he press in, that other. 
 
 To sovranty ? 
 Shall not his hopes be foiled ? — 
 Where kings and heroes toiled. 
 Shall that proud realm be spoiled, a vagrant's 
 fee? 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Mark — ye whose strains of slander 1090 
 
 Scourge evermore 
 Woman in song, and brand her 
 
 Wanton and whore, — 
 How high in virtue's place 
 We pass men's lawless race. 
 Nor spit in viper-lays your venom-store ; 
 
 But let the Muse of taunting 
 
 On men's heads pour 
 Her indignation, chanting 
 
 Her treason-lore ; 
 Sing of the outraged maid ; 
 Tell of the wife betrayed 
 
 Of him who hath displayed his false heart's 
 core, — 
 
 This son of Zeus,^ who flouted iioo 
 
 A queen's heart, sore 
 
 Xuthus, descended through Aiolus from Zeus. 
 
326 EURIPIDES. 
 
 With childless hunger, scouted 
 
 Troth-plight of yore : 
 Her right aside he thrust, 
 And mocked a nation's trust 
 For one that to his lust this bastard bore ! 
 
 Enter Servant in haste. 
 
 Servant. 
 
 Where, damsels, shall I light upon our mistress, 
 Erechtheus' daughter ? All throughout the town 
 Seeking her have I ranged, and find her not. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 What is it, fellow-thrall ? What hot-foot haste 
 Possesseth thee ? What tidings bearest thou ? mo 
 
 Servant. 
 
 We are hunted ! Yea, the rulers of the land 
 Are seeking her, that she may die by stoning. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ah me ! what say'st thou ? Are we taken then 
 Plotting the secret murder of yon lad ? 
 
 Servant. 
 Yea, thou wilt share the doom — nor thou the last. 1115 
 
 Chorus. 
 How were the hidden stratagems laid bare ? 
 
 Servant. 
 
 The assay of right to vanquish wrong the God 
 Discovered ; for he would not be defiled.^ 
 
 1 i.e. by a murder within the temple-precincts. 
 
ION. 
 
 327 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 How ? — I beseech thee supphant, tell it out. 
 
 For, knowing all, if I indeed must die, 11 20 
 
 Death should be easier — yea, or sweeter life. 
 
 Servant. 
 
 Soon as Kreusa's lord had left the fane 
 
 Of Phoebus, taking his new son with him. 
 
 For that thanksgiving-feast and sacrifice. 
 
 To where the Wine-god's Bacchic fire leaps up 11 25 
 
 Went Xuthus, to make wet with victims' blood 
 
 Dionysus' twin rocks for the son new-found ; 
 
 And spake, " Abide now, son, and set thou up 
 
 A wide-embracing tent by craftsmen's toil. 
 
 If sacrificing to the Birth-gods long 11 30 
 
 I tarry, feast thy friends assembled there." 
 
 So took the calves and went. And now the youth 
 
 The unwalled pavilion's compass solemnly 
 
 With tall masts reared, and fenced with heed therefrom 
 
 The javelins of the sun, his midnoon flame, 1135 
 
 And in like wise the beams of dying day. 
 
 A hundred feet he meted out foursquare, — 
 
 Having for compass of its space within 
 
 Ten thousand, as the cunning craftsmen say, — ^ 
 
 1 The commentators conspire to reject these two lines, 
 which yet convey a delightful touch of nature. The man 
 has been watching the workmen, and comes away impressed 
 less by their manual skill, which he could understand, than 
 by what he regarded as their mastery of scientific principles 
 (oi σοφοϊ), which was far beyond him. His retailing the 
 information to his fellow-servants is another natural touch, 
 the γι being a bit of quiet humour — " inside, that is, you 
 know" — as though he too had gained some tincture of 
 scientific accuracy. So have we seen boys retailing to their 
 
338 EURIPIDES. 
 
 As bidding to the feast all Delphi's folk. 1140 
 
 With sacred tapestries from the treasuries 
 
 He screened it, marvellous for men to see. 
 
 First with a canopy of shawls he ceiled it, 
 
 The offering of Zeus' son, which Herakles 
 
 Brought to the God, the Amazonian spoils. 1145 
 
 Therein were webs of woven blazonry : — 
 
 Heaven shepherding his stars in folds of air : 
 
 His steeds the Sun drave to their goal of fire, 
 
 After him drawing the bright Evening Star. 
 
 And sable-vestured Night with team of twain 11 50 
 
 Upfloated ; and the stars companioned her. 
 
 The Pleiad swam her mid-sky path along. 
 
 And sword-begirt Orion ; and, above, 
 
 The Bear's tail wheeled around the gold-gemmed sphere. 
 
 The Moon's full circle of the parted month 11 55 
 
 Shot silver shafts : the Hyads, surest sign 
 
 To shipmen ; and the Light-upUfter, Dawn, 
 
 Chasing the star-rout. And upon the walls 
 
 Draped he yet other orient tapestries : 
 
 Galleys with oars that charged on ships of Greece, ii5o 
 
 Monsters half-brute, steeds flying in the chase, 
 
 Htmtings of stags and lions of the wold. 
 
 At the doors Kekrops coiling spire on spire 
 
 Amidst his daughters — some Athenian's gift 
 
 Of worship. In the banquet's midst he set 1165 
 
 wide-eyed fellows the number of cubic feet in an excavation, 
 or of bricks in a building, with immense respect for the 
 workman whose " one small head could carry all he knew." 
 Shakespeare knew, as well as Euripides, that mental arith- 
 metic is beyond these simple souls — " Let me see : every 
 'leven wether — tods ; every tod yields — pound and odd 
 shilling ; fifteen hundred shorn, — what comes the wool to ? 
 — I cannot do't without counters." {Winter's Tale, IV, ii). 
 
ION. 
 
 329 
 
 The golden bowls. Forth stately pacing then 
 A herald cried, " What Delphian will soe'er, 
 Come to the feast ! " And when the tent was thronged, 
 With garlands crowned they satisfied their souls 
 With plenteous meat. And when they would no more. 
 An old man entered in, and in their midst [1170 
 
 Stood, and to laughter loud the feasters stirred. 
 Meddling unasked. He drew from drinking ewers 
 Water for cleansing hands ; for incense burnt 
 Balsam of myrrh, and of the golden cups 1175 
 
 Took charge — yea, laid this office on himself. 
 But when the flutes 'gan play, and mazer-bowls 
 Were mixed, the greybeard spake, " Take hence forth- 
 right 
 These tiny wine-cups — ample beakers bring. 
 That my lords' hearts the sooner may be merry." 1180 
 Then toiled we bearing goblets silver-chased 
 And golden ; and he took a chosen one. 
 As rendering worship to his new-made lord, 
 And gave the chalice brimmed, first casting in 
 The drug death-working, which our mistress gave, 1 185 
 Men say, that her new son might leave the light. 
 None marked ; — but as the god-discovered heir 
 Raised with the rest the God's cup in his hand. 
 He heard some servant speak a word unmeet. 
 He, temple-reared, perfect in bodement lore, 1190 
 
 Held it for ominous, bade fill up with wine 
 Another bowl ; that first drink-offering 
 He cast to earth, and bade all do the like. 
 Then fell a hush. With water brimmed we up 
 And Bybline wine the sacred mixing-bowls. 11 95 
 
 Then midst our toils a flight of doves dropt down 
 In the pavilion ; for in Loxias' halls 
 
330 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Unfrayed they dwell, and when men spilled the wine, 
 
 The thirsty innocents dipped their beaks therein. 
 
 And drew it down their dainty-feathered throats. 1200 
 
 And none the God's libation harmed — save one : 
 
 But she lit where the new heir spilled the wine. 
 
 She sipped the drink — her dainty-feathered frame 
 
 Quivered and staggered : an unmeaning scream' 
 
 She shrilled of anguish : marvelled all the throng 1205 
 
 Of banqueters to see her agonies. 
 
 One fierce convulsion — the pink claws uncramped ; 
 
 And she was dead. That child of prophecy 
 
 Bared of his robe his limbs, leapt o'er the board. 
 
 Shouting " Who goeth about to murder me ? 1210 
 
 Old man, declare ! — thine was the eager zeal, — 
 
 Yea, from thine hand did I receive the cup ! " 
 
 He clutched his withered arm, he searched him o'er 
 
 To take the ancient in the very fact. 
 
 Detected, under strong constraint he told 121 5 
 
 Kreusa's desperate deed, the poison-plot. 
 
 Straightway, the feasters with him, hurries forth 
 
 The stripling given by Loxias' oracle, 
 
 Before the Pythian nobles stands, and cries, 
 
 " Ο hallowed land, by poison is my death 1220 
 
 Sought of Erechtheus' child, the alien dame ! " 
 
 Then Delphi's kings by general vote decreed 
 
 That from the precipice hurled my queen should die. 
 
 As compassing a priest's death, planning murder 
 
 Within the Precinct. All the city seeks her 1225 
 
 Who sped on wretched mission wretchedly. 
 
 Drawn by desire of babes to Phoebus' fane. 
 
 She hath lost her life and children therewithal. 
 
 1 The ordinary note of the bird was significant in augury. 
 
ION. 331 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 There is no hiding-place from death for me, 
 
 None : woe is me, it is the end ! 1230 
 
 All is laid bare for all men's eyes to see — 
 
 The cup, the murder-blend 
 Of gouts of viper-blood swift for life's quelling, 
 
 Mid Bacchus' clusters shed ; 
 Drink-offering — yea, to them in darkness dwelling, 
 Gods of the dead. 
 
 Ruin is my life's portion — ah, her doom ! 
 
 Stones raining death upon my queen ! 
 Oh had I wings, or could but plunge to gloom 
 
 Under the earth, to screen 
 Mine head from horror of the stones down-beating ! 
 
 Oh, borne on four-horsed car, 1240 
 
 To hear the hurrying hoofs ! — to see waves fleeting 
 Astern afar ! 
 
 There is no hope, — except a God befriending 
 Should snatch us from men's sight. 
 
 Ο hapless queen, upon thy life what ending 
 Of agony shall light ! 
 
 Ο God ! is justice' sword on us descending, 
 Who thought to smite ? 
 
 Enter Kreusa in haste. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Maidens, I am chased : the blood-hounds are upon my 
 track to slay ; 1250 
 
 For the Pythian vote hath doomed me, given me up to 
 be their prey ! 
 
 Aa Ά 
 
332 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Hapless queen, we know it, know the ruin over- 
 shadowing thee. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Whither fly ? What refuge ? Scarce from forth the 
 
 house my feet could flee 
 Ere the death rushed in. Through throngs of foemen 
 
 slipt I stealthily. 
 
 Chorus. 
 What thy refuge save the altar ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 How shall this avail my need ? 1255 
 Chorus. 
 Impious 'tis to slay the suppliant. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yet the law my death decreed. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Ay, but first their hands must hold thee. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Lo, the swords ! — they come, the feet 
 Of the ministers of death ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Upon the altar take thy seat. 
 
ION. 
 
 333 
 
 For, if here they slay thee, shall thy blood to heaven 
 
 for vengeance call 
 On the murderers. 
 
 [Kreusa seats herself on the altar, grasping 
 it with her hands. 
 So ; — and now to bear what fate soe'er befall. 1260 
 
 Enter Ion with armed men followed by a crowd. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Ο form bull-shapen of her sire Kephisus,i 
 
 What viper of thy blood is this, or what 
 
 Dragon up-glaring murderous flame of fire ! 
 
 Full of all hardihood, not less fell she is [1265 
 
 Than Gorgon's blood wherewith she sought my death. 
 
 Seize her ! — Parnassus' jagged terraces 
 
 Shall card the dainty tresses of her hair 
 
 When quoitwise down the rocks she shall be hurled. 
 
 Ο grace of fortune, ere to Athens town 
 
 I came, and fell beneath a stepdame's power ! 1270 
 
 Begirt with friends I sounded thy soul's depths, 
 
 Knew thee my bane, and measured all thine hate. 
 
 For, had thy nets been staked around me there, 
 
 Me with one fling thou hadst hurled to Hades' halls. 
 
 Nay — not the altar, not Apollo's house 1275 
 
 Shall save thee ! Ruth for thee ! — Rather for me 
 
 And for my mother : — though she be afar 
 
 In body, ever her name is in mine heart. 
 
 See her, vile monster ! Webs on webs of guile 
 
 1 Praxithea, Kreusa's mother, was grand-daughter of this 
 River-god. River-gods were represented under the form of 
 a bull, perhaps from the impetuous rush of their streams. 
 The short rivers of Greece dll became rushing mountain- 
 torrents in winter. 
 
334 EURIPIDES. 
 
 She weaves ! At Phoebus' altar hath she crouched, 
 As though she should not suffer for her deeds ! [1280 
 
 Beckons to the guards, who advance irresolutely. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 I warn thee, slay me not — in mine own cause, 
 And the God's cause, upon whose floor we stand ! 
 
 Ion. 
 Phoebus — and thou ! What part hast thou in Phoebus ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Myself I give to the God, a sacred thing. 1285 
 
 Ion. 
 Sacred ? — and poison the God's minister ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Thou, thou wert none of Loxias', but thy sire's. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 His I became while father I had none. 
 
 ; 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ay, then : — now, I am his, thou his no more. 
 
 Ion. 
 Blasphemer ! — his ? His reverent child was I. 1290 
 
 Kreusa. 
 I did but seek to slay mine house's foe. 
 
ION. 335 
 
 Ion. 
 / came not sword in hand against thy land. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 No ? — Thou wouldst set Erechtheus' halls aflame. 
 
 Ion. 
 Yea ? With what brands or with what flame of fire ? 
 
 Kreusa. [1295 
 
 In mine house wouldst thou dwell, take mine by force. 
 
 Ion. 
 Take ? — my sire gives the land that he hath won. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 What part have Aiolus' sons in Pallas' land ? 
 
 Ion. 
 He was her saviour — and with arms, not words. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Should allies in possession take the land ! 
 
 Ion. 
 So thou wouldst slay for fear of what might fall ? 1300 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ay, lest thou fall upon me, and I die.i 
 
 ^ See lines 846-849. 
 
336 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 Childless, dost grudge my father finding me ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 What, shalt thou seize all childless parents' homes ? 
 
 Ion. 
 Had I no part at least in my sire's wealth ? 
 
 Kreusa. [1305 
 
 His wealth ! — a shield and spear. Take that thine is. 
 
 Ion. 
 Hence ! — leave the altar and the hallowed seat ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Thy mother teach her part, where'er she be. 
 
 Ion. 
 Shalt thou not suffer, who wouldst murder me ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yea — if thou dare to slay me mid the shrines. 
 
 Ion. 
 What joy hast thou mid Phcebus' wreaths to die ? 1310 
 
 Kreusa. 
 One shall I vex of whom I was sore vexed. 
 
 Ion. 
 Out upon this ! 
 Shame, that a God ordained unrighteous laws 
 
ION. 337 
 
 For mortals, statutes not in wisdom framed ! 
 
 Never should crime have altar-sanctuary, 
 
 But hounding thence. Unmeet it is that hands 1315 
 
 Sin-stained should touch the Gods : but righteous men. 
 
 Whoso is wronged, should claim their sanctuary, 
 
 And not the good and evil come alike 
 
 Hither to win the same boon of the Gods. 
 
 Enter the Pythia, hearing a cradle, the contents of which 
 are concealed by a wrapping which partially envelopes it. 
 
 Pythia. 
 
 Forbear, my son. The seat of prophecy 1320 
 
 I leave, and step across this temple-fence, 
 Priestess of Phoebus, chosen of Delphi's daughters 
 To guard his tripod's immemorial use. 
 
 Ion. 
 Hail, dear my mother, though thou bar'st me not. 
 
 Pythia. 
 So was I called ; nor did the name mislike me. 1325 
 
 Ion. 
 Hast heard of yonder woman's plot to slay me ? 
 
 Pythia. 
 I heard : yet is thy ruthlessness all wrong. 
 
 Ion. 
 Shall I not pay death-wage to murderers ? 
 
 Pythia. 
 To stepsons from of old have wives been foes. 
 
338 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 Yea, I withal of stepdames have foul wrong. 1330 
 
 Pythia. 
 Ah hush ! — Thou leav'st the fane, thou farest home — 
 
 Ion. 
 What must I do then at thy counselling ? 
 
 Pythia. 
 With clean hands and fair omens go to Athens. 
 
 Ion. 
 Clean are the hands of whoso slays his foes. 
 
 Pythia. 
 Nay, nay ! — but hear the tale I bring to thee. 1335 
 
 Ion. 
 Speak : it shall come of love, whate'er thou say. 
 
 Pythia. 
 
 Seest thou this chest that's cradled in mine arms ? 
 
 Ion. 
 I see an ancient ark with fillets dight. 
 
 Pythia. 
 In this I found thee once, a new-born babe. 
 
 Ion. [1340 
 
 What say' St thou ? Strange the story hither brought ! 
 
ION. 339 
 
 Pythia. 
 Yea, I kept silence. I reveal it now. 
 
 Ion. 
 Why hide so long whom thou didst find that day ? 
 
 Pythia. 
 The God would have thee minister in his house. 
 
 Ion. 
 Nor needeth now ? — How shall I know it so ? 
 
 Pythia. 
 Showing thy sire, he sends thee forth the land. 1345 
 
 Ion. 
 Thou, by commandment keptest thou these things ? 
 
 Pythia. 
 On that day Loxias put it in mine heart — 
 
 Ion. 
 To do what deed ? Say on, tell out the tale. 
 
 Pythia. 
 To keep this treasure-trove against this day. 
 
 Ion. 
 What profit or what hurt hath this for me ? 1350 
 
 Pythia. 
 This hides the swaddling-bands that wrapped thee then. 
 
340 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 My mother ! — clues be these for finding her ? 
 
 Pythia. 
 Yea, 'tis the God's will now — not heretofore. 
 
 Ion. 
 Ο day of blessed revelations this ! 
 
 Pythia. 
 Take them — rest not until thou find thy mother, 1355 
 Though thou search Asia through, search Europe's 
 
 bounds : 
 Thou shalt not err, thou. For the God's own sake 
 I nursed thee, son : these give I back to thee. 
 Which his unspoken will then made me take 
 And guard. Why thus he willed I cannot tell : 1360 
 But none of mortal men was ware that I 
 Had these, nor hidden in what place they lay. 
 Farewell . . . . for as a mother kiss I thee. 
 Turns to go, but resumes — 1 
 
 Where thou shouldst seek thy mother, there begin — 
 First, did a Delphian bride unwedded bear 1365 
 
 And cast thee forth upon these temple-steps ? 
 Then, any maid of Greece ? ... So hast thou all 
 Of me, and Phoebus, pilot of thy fate. [£.ni. 
 
 1 Editors are inclined to reject 1364-8. " The priestess 
 . . . . now that she has said good-bye, is little likely to 
 revert to the subject again in five tame and prosaic verses." 
 Is it not rather a touch of nature — the immemorial feminine 
 postscript, conveying the most important part, the real 
 business part, of the communication ? May not Euripides 
 have known woman — how in her the emotional is apt to 
 precede the practical, — at least as well as some of his modern 
 critics ? 
 
ION. 341 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Ah me, mine eyes are drowned in streaming tears, 
 
 As leaps my thought to that day when the bride 1370 
 
 Betrayed, who bare, by stealth to thraldom sold me,^ 
 
 Nor ever suckled me ; but nameless all 
 
 In the God's courts I lived a servant's life. 
 
 Kind was the God's part, but my fortune's hand 
 
 Heavy ; for while I should of right have lain 1375 
 
 Soft in a mother's arms, and known life's joy, 
 
 Of a sweet mother's care was I bereft. 
 
 Ο hapless she who bare me, who hath suffered 
 
 Like me, hath lost the joys of motherhood ! 
 
 But this ark will I bear unto the God, 1380 
 
 An offering — lest I find aught I would not. 
 
 For, if perchance a slave-girl gave me birth, 
 
 'Twere worse to find a mother than let be. 
 
 Phoebus, I offer this unto thy fane ; — 
 
 What ails me ? Lo, I fight against the favour 1385 
 
 Of Him which saved for me my mother's tokens ! 
 
 This must I open, face what must be faced ; 
 
 For never can I overstep my doom. 
 
 Ah, sacred fillets, what have ye hid for me, 
 
 Ο bands wherein mine heart's desire was kept ? 1390 
 
 Lo, the enwrapping of the ark's fair curve. 
 
 How by a miracle it waxed not old ; 
 
 The osier-plaitings mouldless ! — yet long time 
 
 Since then hath o'er these treasure-relics passed. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 What, Ο what vision see I, past all hope ! 1395 
 
 1 The reference seems to be to the selling of a child by its 
 nurse to kidnappers (as in the Odyssey xv, 450-4), to which, in 
 its consequences to himself, his exposure furnished a parallel. 
 
342 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Peace ! — for thou canst be silent — as the grave. i 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Not for me silence ! — Teach not me my part ! 
 
 I see the ark wherein I set thee forth, — 
 
 Thee, Ο my child, my babbling baby then, — 
 
 In Kekrops' cave, beneath the Long Cliff's brow ! 1400 
 
 This altar will I leave, yea, though I die. 
 
 [Flings her arms round his neck. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Seize her ! — she hath been driven god-distraught 
 To leave the carven altar ! — Bind her arms. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Slay on — spare not — for I will cling, will cling 
 
 To this, and thee, and what is hidden there. 1405 
 
 Ion. 
 Foul outrage ! I am kidnapped by her tongue ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 No, no ! — but found, Ο love, of her that loves ! 
 
 1 Retaining the reading of the MSS. (σιγαι/ cru ττολλά 
 . οΐσβά), and understanding it to refer to her previous 
 {ττάροίθεν) absolute (ιτολλα) secrecy in plotting, which, as he 
 had cause to know (/xot), had so nearly proved fatal to him. 
 Paley's emendation — " Silence ! — my foe thou art as hereto- 
 fore," undoubtedly gives a clear and relevant sense, (as 
 resenting an impertinent intrusion), but is a less direct and 
 telling reference to his ever-present burning sense of wrong, 
 to which he continually recurs, as in 1286, 1300, 1308, r3a6, 
 1408. 
 
ION. 
 
 343 
 
 Ion. 
 / thy beloved — whom thou wouldst slay by stealth ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yes — yes ! my son ! — Is aught to parents dearer ? 
 
 Ion. 
 Cease ! — I shall take thee mid thy webs of guile — 1410 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Take me ? — ah take ! I strain thereto, my child. 
 
 Ion. 
 Void is this ark, or somewhat doth it hide ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yea, that which wrapped thee when I cast thee forth. 
 
 Ion. 
 Speak out and name them ere thine eyes behold. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Yea, if I tell not, I submit to die. 1415 
 
 Ion. 
 Say on : — 'tis passing strange, thy confidence ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 See there the web I wove in girlhood's days. 
 
 Ion. 
 Its fashion ? — girls be ever weaving webs. 
 
344 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 No perfect work ; 'twas but a prentice hand. 
 
 Ion. 
 The pattern tell : — thou shalt not trick me so. 1420 
 
 Kreusa. 
 A Gorgon in the mid-threads of a shawl. 
 
 Ion (aside). 
 Ο Zeus, what weird is this that dogs our steps ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 'Tis fringed with serpents — with the Aegis-fringe. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Behold ! {lifts and spreads it forth.) 
 This is the web : — lo, here the oracle ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Ο work of girlhood's loom, so long unseen ! 1425 
 
 Ion. 
 Is there aught else ? — or this thy one true sho^? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Serpents, an old device, with golden jaws — 1 
 
 Ion. 
 Athene's gift, who biddeth deck babes so ? 
 
 1 So the MSS. Paley suggests ιτάγχρυσον γάνοϊ — " an 
 ancient golden ornament " : Verrall, yevti — " an old badge 
 of our golden (i.e., glorious) race." 
 
ION. 345 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Moulded from Erichthonius' snakes of old. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 What use, what purpose, tell me, hath the jewel ? 1430 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 A necklace for the new-born babe, my child. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Even these be here. The third I long to know. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 A wreath of olive set I on thee then : 
 
 Athene brought it first unto our rock. 
 
 If this be there, it hath not lost its green, 1435 
 
 But blooms yet, from the sacred olive sprung. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Mother ! — dear mother ! — glad, Ο glad, 1 fall. 
 Beholding thee, on thy cheeks gladness-flushed. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Child I^ight to mother better than the sun — 
 
 He will forgive^ — I have thee in mine arms, 1440 
 
 Unhoped treasure-trove ! — as a dweller in Hades, so 
 
 thought I of thee. 
 An abider mid nethergloom shades with Persephone. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Ah no, dear mother mine ; within thine arms 
 Revealed is he that liveth and was dead. 
 
 1 The Sun-god will pardon the apparent slight. 
 
 Bb 
 
346 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ho ye, ye unfoldings of ether, ye sunlit expanses, 1445 
 In what cry shall I peal out my rapture ? Ο whence 
 unto me 
 Came it, this sweetness undreamed of? By what 
 strange chances 
 
 Such bliss do I see ? 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Nought were so strange, but I had looked for that, 
 Ο mother, rather than to know me thine. [1450 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Still I tremble with dread — 
 
 Ion. 
 Lest holding thou hold me not ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 I had seen hope flee 
 So long agone ! 
 Ο prophetess, whence and Ο whence to thine arms 
 came he. 
 
 My little one ? 
 Upborne by what hand unto Loxias' halls was he sped ? 
 
 Ion. 
 
 A miracle : but through our lot to be 
 May we be happy as our past was sad. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 
 
ION. 349 
 
 Kreusa. 
 In a bridal from all men hid was I wed. 
 
 Ion. 
 Say On : glad tidings this and fortune fair ! 1485 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 And the months swept round, till the tenth month 
 
 came, 
 And I bare unto Phoebus a child of shame. 
 
 Ion. 
 Ο happy words, if this thou say'st be true l^ 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 And these, these mother's swathing-bands 
 
 About thee cast, my maiden hands 1490 
 
 Wrought, my loom's skilless fashionings. 
 
 Nor to thy lips for suck I gave 
 
 The breast, nor with mine hands did lave : 
 
 But forth into a lonesome cave, 
 
 A banquet-spoil for swooping wings, 1495 
 
 To Hades thee thy mother flings. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Ο mother, what horror to do, to dare ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 I was thrall unto terror— I flung away 
 
 1 Now, by this light, were I to get again, 
 Madam, I would not wish a better father. . . . 
 With all my heart I thank thee for my father ! 
 King John, I, i. 
 
35β EURIPIDES. 
 
 Thy life, my baby : I steeled me to slay 
 
 When mine heart was moaning •' Spare ! " 1500 
 
 Ion. 
 And of me nigh slain ! — foul horror it were ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ο fearful chances of that dark day, 
 
 And of this withal ! We are tossed to drift 
 
 On the surge of calamity hither and thither : 1505 
 Yet anon do the winds of heaven shift, 
 
 And behold, we are gliding through summer 
 weather ! 
 Oh may it last ! — for the ills overpast should surely 
 
 suifice. 
 Fair winds, iny son, now are wafting us on, after 
 stormy skies. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Let none e'er deem aught in the lot of man 1510 
 
 Past hope, who marketh what to-day befalls. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Ο Fortune, thou that shiftest countless mortals 
 
 Unto misfortune, and anon to weal, 
 
 Lo, to what fearful pass came we, that I 
 
 Should slay my mother, should endure like wrong 11515 
 
 Ah strange ! 
 
 Yet — midst the bright embraces of the sun 
 
 Somewhere such things day after day befall ! 
 
 Sweet, mother, is my treasure-trove of thee ; 
 
 And this my birth, I find no fault therein. 
 
 Yet somewhat would I say to thee apart. 1520 
 
ION. 347 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 At thy birth -travail, Ο my child, was there many a 
 
 tear: 
 Thou wert torn from the arms of thy mother with 
 
 many a moan : 
 And now on thy cheeks is my breath : my darling is 
 
 here ! 1460 
 
 The uttermost bhss of the Blessed, lo, now have I 
 
 known ! 
 
 Ion. 
 Thou speakest for mine heart and thine, as one. 
 Kreusa. 
 
 No more are we childless, no more unto barrenness 
 
 banned : 
 The home hath the hearth-glow again, and her kings 
 hath the land. 
 The strength of his youth doth Erechtheus renew : 
 The house of the Earth-born Race no longer to night- 
 ward shall gaze. 
 But the sun's beam cleaveth its darkness through. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Mother, my sire is here : let him too share 
 This happiness which I have given to you. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Ο child, child, what sayest thou ? — must the shame be 
 laid bare of thy mother ? 1470 
 
 Ion. 
 What is this thou hast said ? 
 
 Bb : 
 
348 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Of another thou earnest — oh, of another ! 
 
 Ion. 
 Woe's me ! a bastard ? — child of maiden's shame ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 No torches were gleaming, no raiment outstreaming 
 In the dance, my child, for the bridal bed 
 Which brought to the birth thy dear-loved head ! 
 
 Ion. 
 Alas ! base-born am I ? — Ο mother, whence ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Be witness the Gorgon-slaying Maid — 
 
 Ion. 
 
 What is this ? — what meaneth the word thou hast 
 said ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Who hath set on my watch-tower crags her throne 
 On the hill with her olives overgrown, — 1480 
 
 Ion. 
 Dark sayings are these, and I cannot interpret the thing. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Unto Phcebus beside the rock where the nightingales 
 sing— 
 
 Ion. 
 
 What should of Phoebus by thee be said ? 
 
ION. 353 
 
 Who deigned not to reveal him to your sight, 
 
 Else must he chide you for things overpast,i 
 
 But sendeth me to tell to you his words : — 
 
 Thee this queen bare, begotten of Apollo : 1560 
 
 He gives to whom he gave, not that they gat thee, 
 
 But for thy bringing home to a princely house. 
 
 But, when the matter was laid bare and told, 
 
 Fearing lest thou shouldst of her plot be slain, 
 
 And she of thee, saved thee by that device. 1565 
 
 Now the God would have kept the secret hid 
 
 Until in Athens he revealed her thine. 
 
 And thee the son of her and Phcebus born. 
 
 But — to make end, and tell his oracles. 
 
 For which I yoked my chariot, hearken ye. 1570 
 
 Take this thy son, and go to Kekrops' land, 
 
 Kreusa, and on thrones of sovereignty 
 
 Seat him ; for, of Erechtheus' lineage sprung. 
 
 Worthy he is to rule o'er mine own land. 
 
 Famed shall he be through Hellas ; for the sons 1575 
 
 1 For unfaith and impatient interference with his provi- 
 dential dealings : Kreusa, in particular, for her hasty 
 upbraidings and her attempt at murder ; Ion, for proposing 
 to violate the right of sanctuary. The result was to thwart 
 Apollo's design of bringing about a happy issue in his own 
 good time. But to chide them at this juncture would have 
 entailed that mingUng in one communication of good 
 (promises) and evil (rebukes) which the Greeks with reli- 
 gious scrupulosity avoided. The interpretation which 
 assumes that Apollo was afraid lest he should be chidden by 
 those whose lives he was crowning with blessing, by two 
 Greeks whose reverential awe made them fear even to gaze 
 on divinity, is little in harmony with Ion's own words in 
 11. 370-373, and with the fact that the whole plot of the 
 " Andromache " turns on the vengeance visited by Apollo 
 on Neoptolemus, despite his repentance, for having pre- 
 sumed to upbraid him for a far deeper and more irreparable 
 wrong. 
 
354 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Born to him, even four from this one root, 
 
 Shall give their names unto the several tribes 
 
 Of the land's folk which dwell upon mine hill. 
 
 Teleon the first shall be ; the second tribe 
 
 Hopletes; Argades the third : the fourth, 1580 
 
 One tribe, of my shield named Aegikores. 
 
 And their sons in the fulness of the time 
 
 Shall found them cities in the Cyclad Isles, 
 
 And seaboard realms, for strength unto my land. 
 
 Yea, they shall people either mainland's plains 1585 
 
 On either side the strait, of Asia-land 
 
 And Europe : and because of thy son's name 
 
 lonians shall be named, and win renown. 
 
 From Xuthus too and thee a seed shall spring, 
 
 Dorus, of whom shall Doris song-renowned 1590 
 
 Arise : the second goeth to Pelops' land, 
 
 Achaius ; o'er the seaboard shall he reign. 
 
 Nigh Rhion, and the people of his name 
 
 Among the nations shall be sealed therewith. 
 
 Well hath Apollo all things done : for, first, 1595 
 
 He gave thee health in travail ; so none knew : 
 
 And, when thou hadst born this child, and cast him out 
 
 In swaddling-bands, bade Hermes in his arms 
 
 Snatch him away, and hither waft thy babe ; 
 
 And nurtured him, nor suffered him to die. 1600 
 
 Now therefore say not that this lad is thine, 
 
 That Xuthus in his phantasy may joy, 
 
 And thine the substance, lady, be of bliss. 
 
 Farewell ye : after this relief from woes 
 
 I bring you tidings of a happy lot. 1605 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Pallas, Daughter of the Highest, child of Zeus, we 
 will receive 
 
ION. 351 
 
 Come hither : I would speak it in thine ear, 
 
 And fold about with darkness that thy past : — 
 
 See to it, mother, lest thy steps have slipped. 
 
 As maids infatuate yield to love — to shame, 
 
 And now thou chargest this upon the God, 1525 
 
 And, striving to escape the shame of me, 
 
 Phcebus thou nam'st my sire, who sire was none. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 No ! — by Ath6n6, Lady of Victory, who 
 With car and shield on the earth-born charged for Zeus, 
 No mortal man was sire to thee, my son, 1530 
 
 But he which reared thee, Loxias the King. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 How gave he then his own son to another. 
 And named me Xuthus' son — begotten son ? 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Nay, not begotten ; but his gift art thou, [i535 
 
 Sprung from himself, — as friend to friend should give 
 His own son, that his house might have an heir. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Is the God true ? — or naught his prophecies ? 
 Mother, my soul it troubleth : well it may. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Hear now what cometh to my mind, my son. 
 
 Of kindness Loxias giveth thee a place 1 540 
 
 In a proud house : hadst thou been called his son. 
 
 Thou hadst had none inheritance thereof, 
 
 Nor a sire's name : — how couldst thou, when myself 
 
352 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Still hid his rape, yea, by thy secret death ? 
 
 Thee for thy good to another sire he gives. 1545 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Nay, not thus lightly on the quest I press. ^ 
 
 I will ask Phoebus, entering his fane, 
 
 " Am I of Loxias or a mortal sire ? " 
 
 Athene appears above the temple in her chariot. 
 
 Ha ! high above the incense-breathing house 
 
 What God reveals a face that fronts the Sun ? 1550 
 
 Let us flee, mother, lest we gaze on Gods, 
 
 Except in season meet for that great vision. 
 
 Athene. 
 
 Fly not ; no foe am I that ye should flee ; 
 
 But as in Athens, so here, gracious- willed. 
 
 I come from thy land — land that bears my name : 1555 
 
 I Pallas from Apollo speed in haste, 
 
 1 Ion is not to be satisfied with plausible conjecture : 
 moreover, Kreusa may be under a delusion as to the 
 cardinal fact. The counter-evidence is that of Xuthus, who 
 had received an oracle which, according to his own version 
 (11. 536-7, where see note,) might be ambiguous, and whose 
 evidence, owing to his haste and excitement (1. 541), was 
 anything but conclusive. Ion himself had reluctantly 
 accepted it only when cross-questioning elicited that there 
 was room for it in Xuthus' past history. The settlement of 
 the doubt expressed in 11. 1537-8 turned entirely on the 
 value of Xuthus' evidence, on the accuracy of his con- 
 clusions ; for men's faith in the oracle was never shaken by 
 the often intentionally ambiguous nature of its responses, 
 Ion's familiarity with which made him prompt to discount 
 an enquirer's own impression (1. 533). Hence, Ion would 
 be, as he afterwards is, quite satisfied with an authoritative 
 divine declaration on a matter in which there is (1. 1608) no 
 inherent incredibility. I find no justification here for the 
 theory that Euripides wrote this play to discredit the oracle. 
 
■ ARGUMENT. 
 
 In the days when Theseus ruled in Athens, there was 
 war between Argos and Thebes. For the two sons of 
 Oedipus, being mindful of their father's curse, that they 
 should divide their inheritance with the sword, covenanted 
 to rule in turn, year by year, over Thebes. So Eteokles, 
 being the elder, became king for the first year, and 
 Polyneikes his brother departed from the land, lest any 
 occasion of offence should arise. But when after a 
 year's space he returned, Eteokles refused to yield to him 
 the kingdom. Then went he to Adrastus king of Argos, 
 who gave him his daughter to wife, and led forth a host 
 of war under seven chiefs against Thebes. But, foras- 
 much as in going he set at nought oracles and seers, his 
 array was utterly broken in battle, and of those seven 
 captains none returned, but Adrastus only. Thereafter, 
 according to the sacred custom of Hellas, and the law of 
 war, the Argives sent to require the Thebans to suffer 
 them to bear away their slain that they might bury 
 them. For, among the Greeks, if a man being dead 
 obtained not burial, this was accounted a calamity 
 worse than death, forasmuch as he was thereby made 
 
homeless and accurst in Hades. Yet did the Thebans 
 impiously and despitefully reject that claim, being 
 minded to wreak vengeance on their enemies after death. 
 Then king Adrastus, with the mothers of the slain 
 chiefs, came to Eleusis in Attica, and made supplication 
 at the altar of Demeter to Aithra the mother of Theseus, 
 and to the king's self. So Theseus consented to their 
 prayer, and led the array of Athens against Thebes, and 
 there fought and prevailed, and so brought back the 
 bodies of those chiefs, and rendered to them the death- 
 rites at Eleusis. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 Aithra, mother of Theseus. 
 
 Theseus, son of Aigeus, king of Athens. 
 
 Adrastus, king of Argos. 
 
 Herald /rowi Kreon king of Thebes. 
 
 Messenger from the army of Theseus before Thebes. 
 
 Evadne, wife of Kapaneus one of the seven chiefs. 
 
 Irnis, father of Evadni. 
 
 Sons of the slain chiefs. 
 
 Athene, Patron-goddess of A thens. 
 
 Chorus, consisting of the mothers of the slain chiefs, with their 
 
 Handmaids. 
 Athenian herald, guards, attendants, Athenian soldiers. 
 Scene: — In the forecourt of the temple of Demeter and 
 
 Persephonn at Eleusis. The great altar stands in the 
 
 midst. 
 
ION. 355 
 
 These thy words with no unfaith, but Loxias do I be- 
 lieve 
 
 Sire to me, and her my mother : — never was this past 
 beUef. 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Hear me : Phoebus praise I, whom I praised not in mine 
 
 hour of grief, 
 For that whom he set at nought, his child, to me he 
 
 now restores. 1610 
 
 Lovely is his oracle, and fair to me these temple-doors. 
 Hateful though they were aforetime. Now unto the 
 
 portal-ring, 
 As I bid his gates my blithe farewell, with loving hands 
 
 I cling. 
 
 Athene. 
 
 Well dost thou to turn to praises of the God : so is it 
 
 still- 
 Slow the Gods' hands haply are, but mightily at last 
 
 fulfil. 1615 
 
 Kreusa. 
 
 Homeward let us pass, my son. 
 
 Athene. 
 Pass on : myself shall following come. 
 
 Ion. 
 Best way-warden art thou ! 
 
 Kreusa. 
 Thou who boldest dear our city-home. 
 
356 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Athene. 
 Seat thee on the ancient throne. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 A goodly heritage is mine. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Zeus' and Leto's Son Apollo, hail ! Let him to powers 
 
 divine 
 Render homage undismayed, whose house affliction's 
 
 buffets smite : 1620 
 
 For the good at last shall overcome, at last attain their 
 
 right ; 
 But the evil, by their nature's law, on good shall never 
 
 light. 
 
 [Exeuni in procession to marching music. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 
 
 On the steps of the altar Aithra is seated ; and around 
 her sit the members of the Chorus. The olive-boughs 
 of suppliance lie upon the altar, and from these are 
 stretched woollen fillets, attaching them to Aithra and 
 the Chorus. 
 
 Aithra. 
 
 Demeter, warder of Eleusis-land, 
 
 And ye which keep and serve the Goddess' fanes, 
 
 To me and my son Theseus be propitious, 
 
 And unto Athens and to Pittheus' land. 
 
 Where my sire nursed me in a happy home, 5 
 
 Aithra, and gave me to Pandion's son 
 
 Aigeus, to wife, by Loxias' oracles. 
 
 Thus pray I as on these grey dames I look, 
 
 These which have left their homes in Argos-land, 
 
 And fall with suppliant bough before my knee, 10 
 
 Stricken with grievous stroke : for round the gates 
 
 Of Kadmus lying are their seven sons dead, 
 
 Sons of the childless, whom the Argive king 
 
 Adrastus led, in Oedipus' heritage 
 
 To win his share for Polyneikes exiled, 15 
 
 His daughter's lord. The mothers now of these, 
 
 c c 
 
362 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Spear-slain, are fain to lay them in the grave, 
 
 Wherefrom the victors let them, and refuse 
 
 The corpses, setting the Gods' laws at nought. 
 
 Sharing the burden of their need of me, 20 
 
 Adrastus lieth here, his eyes with tears 
 
 Drowned, mourning for the battle-shivered spear 
 
 And that ill-starred array led forth of him. 
 
 Sore pleadeth he with me to bend by prayers 
 
 My son to be redeemer of the dead 25 
 
 By speech or spear, and helper to the grave. 
 
 Laying this charge alone upon my son 
 
 And Athens. Now it chanceth that I come 
 
 For the land's harvest's sake from forth mine halls 
 
 To this god's-acre, where first rose to light 30 
 
 Above this earth's face bristling ears of corn. 
 
 And, bound in this strong gossamer-chain of leaves,^ 
 
 At the two Goddesses' holy hearths I stay, 
 
 Demeter's and her Daughter's, both for ruth 
 
 Of these unchilded mothers silver-haired, 35 
 
 And awe of the holy bands. To Athens sped 
 
 Mine herald is, to summon Theseus hither. 
 
 That he may banish from the land these mourners,^ 
 
 Or loose this strong constraint of suppliance 
 
 By rendering heaven its due. Seemly it is 40 
 
 That women, which be wise, still act through men. 
 
 1 Lit. " a (real) chain which is (apparently) no chain." 
 The woollen fillets and boughs could not be removed with- 
 out sacrilege. Cf. " Those ties which, light as air though 
 strong as iron, bind the colonies to the mother-land." Burhe. 
 
 2 The presence of such, especially at the temple of 
 Demeter, was ominous of evil, which the king only could 
 avert, either by granting their request, or by refusing it and 
 ordering them to depart. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 363 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 Reverend Queen, with agod lips do I implore thee ; 
 In my suppliance at thy knee I fall before thee. 
 Ο redeem thou unto me from that assemblage of the 
 
 dead 
 My beloved, from the harvest that the hand of death 
 hath spread 
 For the mountain-beasts to ravin on the children of 
 my womb ! 
 
 {Ant. 1) 
 
 Look upon me : — from mine eyes in my despairing 
 
 Tears are streaming, and my frenzied hands are 
 
 tearing 50 
 
 Crimson furrows on my wrinkled cheeks. What 
 
 should I do but mourn, 
 Who have laid not out my dead unto their burial to be 
 borne, 
 And who see not any heaping of the earth-mound for 
 their tomb ? 
 
 (Str. 2) 
 Thou hast born a little one, thou hast given a 
 princely son 
 To thy lord, that marriage-treasure made his heart to 
 joy in thee : 
 Let the full soul deal its bread to the sad ones 
 famished : 
 Give according to the measure of my childless agony. 
 Bend the spirit of thy scion, that he come, whose help 
 we crave, 60 
 
 To Ismenus, that he give them, goodly bodies of our 
 dead, 
 To the arms of her that loveth, who shall lay them in 
 the grave. 
 
 c c 2 
 
364 EURIPIDES. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 
 Not according unto rite,'^ but as overmastering might 
 
 Of Necessity constraineth, at the altars do I bend 
 
 Whence to heaven leaps the flame ; and the right is 
 
 that I claim. 
 
 Thou art strong, thy son remaineth ; thou canst make 
 
 my sorrows end. 
 Out of depths of sorest anguish rings my supplication 
 wild 
 That thou give me but a corpse, in mine embrace to 
 hold the same, 
 And to fling mine arms around the piteous body of my 
 child. 70 
 
 The attendant Handmaids, heating their breasts and 
 marring their faces, wail in unison with the Mothers. 
 
 {Str. 3) 
 Ο hearken yon wails to our wailing replying, 
 
 To the hands of our handmaidens smiting hard 
 On their bosoms ! Come, ye that re-echo our crying 
 With a burden of mourning, who sigh with our 
 sighing— 
 Come ye to the one dance Death doth regard ; 
 Rend, rend ye the cheek, till the red stains streak 
 White fingers : — the dues that our dear dead seek 
 Shall be all our reward. 
 
 {Ant. 3) 
 Unsatisfied mourning my soul is enthralling 
 
 Sorrow-burdened, as forth from a precipice flows 80 
 A spring with its rain ever flashing and falling. 
 Unrestingly wailing to wailing is calling ; 
 
 For the heart's love of woman but one path knows, 
 
 1 There was no place in the temple -ritual for mourning. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 365 
 
 Nor can choose but to moan for the dear dead son : — 
 And oh that the days of my life were done, 
 And forgotten my woes ! 
 
 Enter Theseus. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 What waiUngs heard I, smitings upon breasts, 
 
 And dirges for the dead, as rang the sound 
 
 From the holy place ? How throbs mine heart with 
 
 fear 
 Lest to my mother, who hath drawn me hither 90 
 
 By her long absence, some mischance betide. 
 Ha! 
 
 What see I here ? What strange tale is to tell ? 
 At the altar sitting my grey mother is, 
 And alien dames with her in diverse guise 
 Of sore affliction ; for the piteous tear 95 
 
 Unto the ground from aged eyes they drop. 
 Shorn hair and garb unmeet for worshippers ! 
 What means it, mother ? 'Tis thy part to tell. 
 And mine to hear. I look for some strange thing. 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 My son, these dames the mothers are of those, 100 
 
 The chieftains seven, that in battle fell 
 By gates Kadmean. And with suppliant boughs 
 Compassed they hold me, captive, as thou seest. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Who yonder at the gates makes piteous moan ? 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 Adrastus, as they tell, the Argive king. 105 
 
366 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Theseus. 
 And yon lads at his side, his boys are they ? 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 Nay, but the sons of those dead which have died. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Wherefore to us came they with suppliant hand ? 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 I know : — but these must tell the rest, my son. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Thee, in thy mantle mufHed close, I ask — no 
 
 Unshroud thine head, speak, let thy mourning be ; 
 Nought shalt thou profit, if nought pass thy tongue. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Ο triumph-glorious king of Athens' land, 
 Theseus, I come thy suppliant and thy city's. 
 
 Theseus. 
 What seekest thou, and whereof hast thou need ? 115 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Thou know'st what host 1 to destruction led. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Yea,»not in silence passedst thou through Greece. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 The chiefest men of Argos lost I there. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 367 
 
 Theseus. 
 Such desolation worketh woeful war. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 And these my dead I went to ask of Thebes. 120 
 
 Theseus. 
 Did heralds sanctify thy burial-claim ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Yea : even so the slayers grant them not. 
 
 Theseus. 
 What say they to thy plea of holy right ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Ay, what ? — prosperity hath puffed them up. 
 
 Theseus. 
 For counsel com'st thou then, or what wouldst thou ? 1 25 
 
 Adrastus. 
 That thou shouldst rescue, Theseus, Argos' sons. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Where is your Argos ? Is her vaunting vain ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 We are fallen and undone. To thee we come. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Dost thou alone will this, or all thy state ? 
 
368 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 All Danaus' sons beseech thee entomb their dead. 130 
 
 Theseus. 
 Why didst thou march those seven hosts to Thebes ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 To my two daughters' lords this grace I showed. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Thy daughters ? To what Argives gav'st thou them ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 With no man native-born I linked mine house. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Ha ! gavest thou to aliens Argive maids ? 135 
 
 Adrastus. 
 To Tydeus, and to Thebes' son Polyneikes. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Whence thy strong love for such aifinity ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Phoebus' dark saying wrought upon my mind. 
 
 Theseus. 
 What spake Apollo to control their marriage ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 " Thy daughters give to a lion and a hoar." 140 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 369 
 
 Theseus. 
 And the God's precept how unfoldest thou ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 There came by night two exiles to my gates. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Who this, who that ? — for thou dost speak of twain. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Tydeus and Polyneilces : there they fought. 
 
 Theseus. [145 
 
 To these, as those wild beasts, gav'st thou thy daughters ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Yea : like those monsters twain, methought, they strove. 
 
 Theseus. 
 How left they home-land's bounds, and came to thee ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Tydeus, for shedding blood of kin exiled. 
 
 Theseus. 
 And Oedipus' son, for what cause left he Thebes ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 His father's curse, lest he should slay his brother. 150 
 
 Theseus. 
 Wise was that self-sought exile, named of thee. 
 
370 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 But they that tarried wrought the absent wrong. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Ha ! did his brother take his heritage ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 To claim his right I came : I was undone. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Didst seek to seers, and gaze on altar-flames ? 155 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Ah me ! thou pressest me where most I erred ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 Not with heaven's blessing didst thou go, methinks. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Nay, worse ; in Amphiaraus' despite I went. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Didst thou thus lightly flout the will divine ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 The clamour of the young men daunted me. 160 
 
 Theseus. 
 Valour instead of wisdom favouredst thou. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Even that hath ruined many a battle-chief. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 371 
 
 Ο thou in prowess first all Hellas through, 
 Ο king of Athens, sore ashamed am I 
 To fall to earth, and to embrace thy knee, 165 
 
 A grey-haired king in time past prosperous. 
 Yet to mine evil plight I needs must bow. 
 Save thou my dead, compassionate my woes, 
 And these the mothers of the slaughtered sons 
 Whom hoary eld hath found in childlessness ; 170 
 
 Who have endured to come, on alien soil 
 To set their feet, who scarce for eld may creep ; 
 No mission to Demeter's mysteries. 
 But seeking burial for their dead, a boon 
 Themselves should have obtained of young strong 
 hands.i 175 
 
 Wisely doth wealth consider poverty : 
 Wisely to wealth the poor uplifts his eyes 
 Aspiring, that desire of good may spur him : 
 So ought the prosperous to look on woe. 
 [The poet's self in gladness should bring forth 180 
 
 His offspring, song ; if he attain not this. 
 He cannot from a heart distraught with pain 
 Gladden his fellows : reason sayeth nay.]^ 
 Perchance thou askest, " Why pass by the land 
 Of Pelops, and on Athens lay this charge ? " 185 
 
 Sooth, right it is that I should answer this : — 
 Sparta is heartless, never at one stay ; 
 The rest be small and weak : but this thy burg 
 Alone can stand beneath the mighty strain. 
 'Twas ever pitiful, and hath in thee 190 
 
 1 In the natural course of things, the mothers might have 
 expected to be committed to the grave by their sons. 
 
 2 Lines 180-183 are by most editors bracketed as an irrel- 
 evant interpolation. 
 
373 EURIPIDES. 
 
 A young and valorous chief, for lack of whom 
 To lead their hosts, have many cities fallen. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 I too put up to thee the selfsame prayer, 
 Theseus, to have compassion on my lot. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 With others oft in wrestle of argument 195 
 
 I have grappled touching this : — there be that say 
 
 That evil more abounds with men than good. 
 
 Opinion adverse unto these I hold, 
 
 That more than evil good abounds with men : 
 
 Were this not so, we were not of the light. 200 
 
 Praise to the God who shaped in order's mould 
 
 Our lives redeemed from chaos and the brute. 
 
 First, by implanting reason, giving then 
 
 The tongue, word-herald, to interpret speech ;i 
 
 Earth's fruit for food, for nurturing thereof 205 
 
 Raindrops from heaven, to feed earth's fosterlings, 
 
 And water her green bosom ; therewithal 
 
 Shelter from storm, and shadow from the heat, 
 
 Sea-tracking ships, that traffic might be ours 
 
 With fellow-men of that which each land lacks ; 210 
 
 And, for invisible things or dimly seen, 
 
 Soothsayers watch the flame, the liver's folds. 
 
 Or from the birds divine the things to be. 
 
 Are we not arrogant then, when all life's needs 
 
 God giveth, therewith not to be content ? 215 
 
 But our presumption stronger fain would be 
 
 Than God : we have gotten overweening hearts, 
 
 1 Cf. Horace, Odes I, x, 2-3. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 373 
 
 And dream that we be wiser than the Gods. 
 
 And thou art of this fellowship of folly, 
 
 Who didst by Phcebus' hest thy daughters wed,i 220 
 
 And gav'st to ahens, even as though Gods lived ; 
 
 Yet, mingUng thy clear blood with turbid, so 
 
 Didst mar thine house : thou oughtest ne'er to have blent. 
 
 So thou wert wise, just lives with lives unjust, [225 
 
 But for thine house to have gotten heaven-blest friends : 
 
 For God, adjudging fates joined hand in hand,2 
 
 Destroyeth by the sinner's stroke whoe'er 
 
 Partaketh with him, though he have not sinned. 
 
 Thou leddest forth the Argives all to war, 
 
 Though seers spake heaven's warning, sett'st at nought 
 
 These, floutedst Gods, — so ruinedst thy state, [230 
 
 By young men led astray, which love the praise 
 
 Of men, and multiply wars wrongfully. 
 
 Corrupting others, one, to lead the host, 
 
 One, to win power, and use it for his lust, 235 
 
 And one for lucre's sake, who recketh nought 
 
 Of mischief to a people thus misused. 
 
 For in a nation there be orders three : — 
 
 The useless rich, that ever crave for more ; 
 
 The have-nots, straitened even for sustenance, 240 
 
 A dangerous folk, of envy overfull, 
 
 Which shoot out baleful stings at such as have, 
 
 Beguiled by tongues of evil men, their " champions " : 
 
 But of the three the midmost saveth states ; 
 
 They keep the order which the state ordains. 245 
 
 1 The argument is, that, while recognizing the authority 
 of the Gods in one matter, your daughters' marriage, you 
 disregarded it in another ; for they had not told you also to 
 bind up the fortunes of your house with those of the bride- 
 grooms ; nay, they warned you against doing so. 
 
 2 Cf. Horace, Odes III, ii, 29-30, and Prov. xiii, 20. 
 
374 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Shall 1 then make me ally unto thee ? 
 How to my nation should I make defence ? 
 Depart in peace : if thou hast ill devised, 
 It must not be that thy fate drag us down.i 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 He erred ; yet on the young men lieth this : 250 
 
 But meet it is that he find grace with thee. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Not for a judge I chose thee of mine ills, 
 
 But as to a healer of them, king, I came ; 
 
 Nor, if I have calamitously sped,. 
 
 Need I thy chastisement and chiding, king. 255 
 
 No, but thine aid. And if thou wilt not this, 
 
 I must content me with thy choice : — what help ? 
 
 Come, agod dames, depart : — yet leave ye here 
 
 The grey-green boughs to roof the altar o'er,2 
 
 Calling to witness heaven and earth, Demeter, 260 
 
 Fire-bearing Goddess, and the Sun-god's light. 
 
 That nought our prayers unto the Gods availed. 
 
 [On thine head be it, grandson thou of Pittheus]* 
 
 Old Pelops' son ! — Lo, we of Pelops' land 
 
 The selfsame blood ancestral share with thee. 
 
 AiTHRA.* [265 
 
 How ? — wilt thou flout these prayers, cast forth the land 
 
 1 Reading, with Paley, ov Bii for αΰτόϊ. 
 
 2 If the petitioner's prayer was granted, he carried away 
 with him his suppliant-bough ; if not, he left it on the altar. 
 
 3 A line inserted, to supply an obvious gap in the MSS., 
 in accordance with Paley's suggestion^ 
 
 * Variously assigned by other editors to Chorus, and to 
 Adrastus. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 375 
 
 Grey mothers, which have gained of their dues nought ? 
 Nay, nay ! — the beast finds refuge in the rock, 
 The slave at the Gods' altars ; and a state 
 Storm-tossed must cower beneath another's lee ; 
 For in man's lot nought prospereth to the end. 270 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 (Str.) 
 Ο thou afflicted, arise from Persephone's hallowed floor ; 
 Rise thou, and bow at his knees, flinging round them 
 
 thine hands, and implore 
 That he rescue the clay of my dead, my beloved — ah, 
 
 woe is me, woe ! — 
 Of the sons I have lost, under ramparts of Kadmus in 
 dust lying low. 
 
 (Mesode) 
 
 Woe for me ! — clasp me, uplift me, help onward, up- 
 holding 275 
 The palsied hand of the woe-forspent ! 
 By thy beard, Ο thou chiefest of champions of Hellas, 
 Ο friend, I beseech thee. 
 In the clasp of the wretched thy knees and thy 
 fingers enfolding ! 
 
 Pity me, for my children in suppliance bent 
 Like a beggar I bow : let my pitiful, pitiful outcryings 
 
 reach thee ! 
 
 (Ant.) 
 
 Ah, not unburied on Kadmus's soil, for a ravin and glee 
 
 Unto beasts of the wold do thou leave them, the young 
 
 men like unto thee ! 
 Ο look on the tears from mine eyes that are streaming ! 
 
 — and all that I crave 
 Falling low at thy knees, is a grave — that thou win for 
 
 my sons but a grave ! 285 
 
376 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Mother, why weepest thou, before thine eyes 
 Casting thy fine-spun veil ? Dost weep to hear 
 Their mournful wails ? Sooth, mine own heart was 
 
 thrilled. 
 Raise thy white head ; be not a fount of tears, 
 There sitting at Demeter's holy hearth. 290 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 Ah me! 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 'Tis not for thee to wail their woes, — 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 Oh hapless dames ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 Thou art not of their blood. 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 Son, may I speak for thine and Athens' honour ? 
 
 Theseus. 
 Yea, wisdom oft hath flowed from women's lips. 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 Yet — yet, it gives me pause, the word I hide. 295 
 
 Theseus. 
 Nay, this were shame, to hide from friends good rede. 
 
 AlTHRA. 
 
 I will not hold my peace, to blame hereafter 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 377 
 
 Myself for coward silence of this day ; 
 
 Nor by that taunt abashed, " that woman's best 
 
 Is worthless," will refrain my lips from good. 300 
 
 My son, I bid thee look to this first, lest 
 
 Thou err, despising their appeal to heaven. 
 
 In this alone thou err'st, in all else wise. 
 
 Nay more — I had endured, and murmured not, 
 
 Wert thou not bound to champion the oppressed : 305 
 
 Lo, this is the foundation of thy fame. 
 
 Therefore I fear not to exhort thee, son, 
 
 That thou wouldst lay thy strong constraining hand 
 
 On men of violence which refuse the dead 
 
 The dues of burial and of funeral- rites, 310 
 
 And quell the folk that would confound all wont 
 
 Of Hellas : for the bond of all men's states 
 
 Is this, when they with honour hold by law. 
 
 Ay, some will say faint heart made feeble hand : 
 
 'Twas thine to win for Athens glory's crown, 315 
 
 Yet didst thou flinch for fear ; with that wild swine^ 
 
 Thou grappledst in a strife of little toil ; 
 
 But when behoved to face the helm, bear brunt 
 
 Of the spear's point, a craven wert thou found. 
 
 Ah, do not so, my son, as thou art mine ! 320 
 
 Hast marked — bemocked for spiritless policy, 
 
 How on the mockers glares with Gorgon eyes 
 
 Thy country ? — in her energy is her life. 
 
 But states which work in darkness, cautelous. 
 
 Grope in the darkness, for their caution's meed. 325 
 
 What, to the dead, and women misery-worn 
 
 Wilt thou not bring help, son, in this their strait ? 
 
 1 Phaia, the wild sow of Krommyon, slain by Theseus in 
 his first journey to Athens. 
 
 D D 
 
378 EURIPIDES. 
 
 I fear nought : justice is with thine assay ; 
 
 And, though the folk of Kadmus prosper now, 
 
 Far otherwise yet for them the dice of doom 330 
 
 Shall fall, I trust : — God bringeth low the proud. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ο best -beloved, well hast thou said, for him 
 And me alike ; herein is twofold joy. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Mother, the words I spake were words of truth 
 
 Unto this man, wherein I showed my mind 335 
 
 Touching the counsels by the which he fell. 
 
 Yet these thy warnings — yea, 1 see their force, 
 
 That with my life's use it accordeth not 
 
 To flinch from peril. Many a glorious deed 
 
 Hath shown to sons of Hellas this my wont, 340 
 
 Ever to be a punisher of wrong. 
 
 Toil's challenge therefore cannot I refuse : 
 
 For what wUl they which hate me say of me. 
 
 When she that bare me — who, beyond all, fears 
 
 For me, — first bids me undertake this toil ? 345 
 
 I will unto the deed, redeem their dead 
 
 By fair words, if I may ; if not, the might 
 
 Of spears shall do it, nor the Gods shall grudge. 
 
 Yet I require all Athens' sanction here. 
 
 My wish should win their sanction ; yet, if I 350 
 
 Show cause withal, the loyaller shall they be. 
 
 For I have made the land one single realm, 
 
 A free state, with an equal vote for all. 
 
 Adrastus for my witness will I take. 
 
 And meet their concourse ; their consenting won, 355 
 
 With muster of chosen youths Athenian 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 379 
 
 Will I return ; and, tarrying under arms, 
 
 Will send to Kreon, asking back the dead. 
 
 But ye, grey women, from my mother take 
 
 The holy wreaths, that I may clasp her hand, 360 
 
 And lead to Aigeus' halls. A sorry son 
 
 Is he that pays not service-debt to parents. 
 
 Who giveth of love's best, by his own sons 
 
 For all he hath given his parents is repaid. 
 
 [Exeunt Theseus and Aithra.) 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 (Str. i) 
 
 Ο Argos, mead of the battle-steed, Ο land where my 
 
 fathers abode of yore. 
 
 Ye have heard it, have heard the changeless word 
 
 of the hero-king. 
 
 His sacred plight in Pelasgia's sight, the pledge to be 
 
 published all Argos o'er. 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 
 Ο may he gain— yea, more than attain to the goal that 
 
 seeth my miseries end ! 
 
 Forth let him go, let him wrest from the foe, to the 
 
 mother to bring 37° 
 
 Her darhng's clay blood-stained, and for aye have our 
 
 own dear Inachus' land to friend. 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 
 Memorial fair shall the cities share of the sacred labour 
 
 of love : evermore 
 
 The grace thereof shall abide, and the love aye 
 
 lingering. 
 
 Ah, what shall come of their rede ?— what doom ? — 
 
 shall Athens bestow the grace I implore ? 
 
 Shall she league her might with _me, and the right of 
 
 the tomb to my slaughtered sons restore ? 
 
38ο EURIPIDES. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Ο Pallas' Town, for my help step down ; the holy- 
 cause of the mother defend ; 
 So the laws of men shall be made not then a polluted 
 thing. 
 Thou reverencest great Justice' hest : injustice beneath 
 
 thy yoke shall bend ; 
 And through all the lands thy champion hands to the 
 helpless oppressed deliverance send. 380 
 
 Enter Theseus with Athenian Herald. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Ο thou that usest still thine art to serve 
 Athens and me, wide publishing mine bests, 
 Pass thou Asopus and Ismenus' stream. 
 And to the proud Kadmean despot say : 
 " Theseus of grace asks corpses for the tomb : 385 
 
 He dwells thy neighbour, and he claims but right : 
 So make thou the Erechtheid folk thy friend." 
 If they consent to grant it, turn thou back. 
 If they refuse, my second message speak. 
 That for my shielded war-array they look. 390 
 
 Mine host is camped and marshalled hard at hand 
 By sacred KalUchorus for fight prepared. 
 Yea, Athens of good will, and glad withal, 
 Took up this task, made ware of my desire. 
 Ha ! — breaking in upon my speech who comes ? 395 
 Theban, I deem, yet know not certainly : — 
 A herald ! — stay : thy toil perchance is spared. 
 His coming meets my purpose in mid way. 
 
 Enter Theban Herald. 
 
 Herald. 
 
 Your despot, who ? — To whom must I proclaim 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 381 
 
 The words of Kreon, lord of Kadmus' land 400 
 
 Since Eteokles by the hand was slain 
 Of Polyneikes by the sevenfold gates ? 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 First, stranger, with false note thy speech began, 
 
 Seeking a despot here.i Our state is ruled 
 
 Not of one only man : Athens is free. 405 
 
 Her people in the order of their course 
 
 Rule year by year, bestowing on the rich 
 
 Advantage none ; the poor hath equal right. 
 
 Herald. 
 
 One vantage hast thou given me, as to one 
 
 That playeth draughts : — the city whence I come 410 
 
 By one man, not by any mob, is swayed. 
 
 There is none there who, slavering them with talk, 
 
 This way and that way twists them for his gain. 
 
 Popular now, and humouring all their bent, 
 
 Now an offence : but still fresh calumnies^ 415 
 
 Gloze past faults, and he slips through justice' net. 
 
 How should the mob which reason all awry 
 
 Have power to pilot straight a nation's course ? 
 
 For time bestoweth better lessoning 
 
 Than haste. But yon poor delver of the ground, 420 
 
 How shrewd soe'er, by reason of his toil 
 
 Can nowise oversee the general weal. 
 
 Realm-ruining in the wise man's sight is this, 
 
 1 Cf. Henry V, pt. i, I, ii. Henry, in answer to first words 
 of the ambassador of France, replies, " We are no tyrant, 
 but a Christian King." 
 
 2 He lays the blame of his misconduct upon others, when 
 impeached for failure. 
 
382 EURIPIDES. 
 
 When the vile tonguester getteth himself a name 
 
 By wooing mobs, who heretofore was naught. 425 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 An eloquent herald this, a speech-crammed babbler ! " 
 But, since thou hast plunged into this strife, hear 
 
 me : — 
 'Twas thou flung'st down this challenge unto parley : — 
 No worse foe than the despot hath a state. 
 Under whom, first, can be no cornmon laws, 430 
 
 But one rules, keepipg in his private hands 
 The law : so is equality no more. 
 But when the laws are written, then the weak 
 And wealthy have alike but equal right. 
 Yea, even the weaker may fling back the scoff 435 
 Against the prosperous, if he be reviled ; 
 And, armed with right, the less o'ercomes the great. 
 Thus Freedom speaks^ : — " What man desires to bring 
 Good counsel for his country to the people ? " 
 Who chooseth this, is famous : who will not, 440 
 
 Keeps silence. Can equality further go ? 
 More — when the people piloteth the land. 
 She joyeth in young champions native-born. 
 But in a king's eyes this is hatefullest ; 
 Yea, the land's best, whose wisdom he discerns, 445 
 He slayeth, fearing lest they shake his throne. 
 How can a state be stablished then in strength, 
 When, even as sweeps the scythe o'er springtide mead. 
 One lops the brave young hearts like flower-blooms ? 
 What boots it to win wealth and store for sons, 450 
 
 1 He quotes the formula with which the herald opened 
 the proceedings of the popular assembly at Athens. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 383 
 
 When all one's toil but swells a despot's hoard ? 
 
 Or to rear maiden daughters virtuously 
 
 To be a king's sweet morsels at his will, 
 
 And tears to them that dressed this dish for him ? 
 
 May I die ere I see my daughters ravished ! 455 
 
 Such is the answering shaft that I hurl back. 
 
 But thou, what wouldst thou have of this our land ? 
 
 Except thy state had sent thee, thou shouldst rue 
 
 Thine insolent prating ! 'Tis the herald's part 
 
 To speak his message, and to get him back 460 
 
 With speed. Henceforth let Kreon to my town 
 
 Send a less wordy messenger than thee. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Out on it ! When God prospereth evil men. 
 Wanton they wax, as who should prosper aye. 
 
 Herald. 
 
 Now will I speak my charge. For our dispute, 465 
 
 Be this thy mind, contrariwise be mine. 
 
 But I and all the folk Kadmean warn thee — 
 
 Receive Adrastus not into this land. 
 
 If in the land he is, ere set of sun 
 
 Free from yon wreaths your sacred Mysteries,i 470 
 
 And drive him forth, nor go about by force 
 
 To take those dead : ye have nought to do with Argos. 
 
 If thou obey me, thou by storm unscathed 
 
 Shalt helm thy city ; if not, our great surge 
 
 Of war on thee and thine allies shall fall. 475 
 
 Look to it, nor, being chafed at these my words,— 
 
 Because forsooth a city free thou hast, — 
 
 1 Of which this temple of Demeter at Eleusis was the seat. 
 
384 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Make arrogant answer from a weaker cause. 
 
 Hope is men's curse : full many a state hath this 
 
 Embroiled, by kindling it to mad emprise. 480 
 
 For, when for war a nation casteth votes, 
 
 Then of his own death no man taketh count, 
 
 But passeth on to his neighbour this mischance. 
 
 But, were death full in view when votes were cast, 
 
 Never war-frenzied Greece would rush on ruin. 485 
 
 Yet, of elections twain, we know — all know — 
 
 Whether is best, the blessing or the curse. 
 
 And how much better is peace for men than war, 
 
 Peace, which is to the Muses chiefest friend. 
 
 But mourning's foe, which joyeth in fair children, 490 
 
 In wealth delighteth. Fools let all these slip. 
 
 And rush on war : man bringeth weaker man 
 
 To bondage ; city is made city's thrall. 
 
 Thou helpest men our foes, and dead men they, [495 
 
 Wouldst win for graves them whom their insolence slew ! 
 
 Good sooth, then, wrongfully did levin blast 
 
 Kapaneus' frame upon yon ladder's height, 
 
 Which he had reared against our gates, and swore 
 
 To sack the town, whether God willed or no : — [500 
 
 Wrongly earth's chasm snatched from sight the seer. 
 
 Shrouding with yawning gulf his four-horse car ; 
 
 And other captains lie before our gates. 
 
 The knittings of their bones with crags to-shattered ! 
 
 Or boast thee now in wisdom more than Zeus, 
 
 Or say that rightly Gods destroy the wicked. 505 
 
 Behoves the wise to love his children first. 
 
 Parents and country next, — to make her great, 
 
 Not break her down. Rash leaders, pilots heady, 
 
 Mean ruin : the wise in season sitteth still. 
 
 This too is manful valour, even discretion. 510 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 
 
 385 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 The punishment of Zeus might well sufiSce ! 
 Shall he insult with wanton arrogance ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Villain of villains ! — 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Hold, Adrastus, peace, 
 And thrust not in before my words thine own ; 
 For not to thee yon fellow doth his message, 515 
 
 But unto me : 'tis I must make reply. 
 Now, thy first utterance will I answer first : — 
 I know no Kreon despot over me. 
 Nor more of might than I, that he should force 
 Athens to do this. Sourceward back should flow 520 
 Life's stream, if we shall brook such hest as his ! 
 It is not I that launch upon this war, 
 Seeing with these I sought not Kadmus' land. 
 But lifeless bodies — harming not your state. 
 Nor thrusting man-destroying strife on her, — 525 
 
 I claim to bury : lo, all Hellas' law 
 Do I uphold. How is not this well done ? 
 For if of Argives ye have suffered aught. 
 They are dead : with glory ye hurled back your foes. 
 With shame to them : — but there your right hath 
 end. 530 
 
 Let now the dead be hidden in the earth. 
 And each part, whence it came forth to the light, 
 Thither return,^ the breath unto the air, 
 To earth the body ; for we hold it not 
 
 1 Reading άπελθΰν vice άττηλθΐ. 
 
386 EURIPIDES. 
 
 In fee, but only to pass life therein ; 535 
 
 Then she which fostered it must take it back. 
 
 Dost think thou woundest Argos through her dead ? 
 
 Not so : the common cause of Greece is this, 
 
 If one shall rob the dead of rightful dues, 
 
 And hold them from the tomb : this shall unman 540 
 
 Even heroes, if such law shall be ordained. 
 
 And to me comest thou to bluster threats. 
 
 While ye fear corpses, if they be entombed ? 
 
 What fear ye ? Lest they undermine your land, 
 
 There buried ? — or in earth's dark womb beget 545 
 
 Children, of whom shall vengeance fall on you ? 
 
 'Twere idle waste of speech, good sooth, to unmask 
 
 Your caitiff terrors and your empty fears ! 
 
 Ο fools, learn ye the real ills of men : — 
 
 Our life is conflict all : of mortals some 550 
 
 Succeed ere long, some late, and straightway some ; 
 
 While Fortune sits a queen : worship and honour 
 
 The unblest gives her, so to see good days ; 
 
 The blest extols her, lest her wafting breath 
 
 Should fail him. Therefore should we think on this : 
 
 Wronged, temperately bear it, not with wrath ; [555 
 
 Neither on one whole nation visit wrong. 
 
 How shall it be then ? — grant to us, who will. 
 
 To entomb the dead and render heaven its due. 
 
 Else, clear is the issue : this will I by force. 560 
 
 For never unto Greeks shall it be told 
 
 That the Gods' ancient law was set at nought 
 
 In mine and in Pandion's city's charge. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Fear not : for while thou wardest justice' light. 
 Thou shalt not fear what men can say of thee. 565 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 387 
 
 Herald. 
 Wouldst thou I summed up this thy claim in brief ? 
 
 Theseus. 
 Speak, an thou list : no tongue-tied wight art thou. 
 
 Herald. 
 Thou ne'er shalt win from our land Argos' sons. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Now, if thou wilt, give ear to me in turn. 
 
 Herald. 
 Yea — since I cannot choose but hear in turn. 570 
 
 Theseus. 
 From thy land will I take and bury them. 
 
 Herald. 
 First must thou face the hazard of the shield. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Full many a harder emprise have I dared. 
 
 Herald. 
 A champion born to match him with all men ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 With all proud scorners : not the right 1 scourge. 575 
 
 Herald. 
 Ay, thou wilt still be meddling — thou and Athens. 
 
388 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Much glorious toil is hers, and much good speed. 
 
 Hbrald. 
 Come ! — let the dragon-seed but find thee there ! 
 
 Theseus. 
 What valorous host should spring from dragons' teeth ? 
 
 Herald. [580 
 
 This shalt thou learn, and rue. Thou art yet but young. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Tush, man, thou canst not move mine heart to wrath 
 With all thy vauntings. Get thee forth the land : 
 The idle words thou broughtest, bear them back ; 
 For nought can come of this. [Exit Herald. 
 
 Behoves set forth 
 Each man-at-arms, each rider of the car. 585 
 
 Now let the charger's cheek-piece, dashing foam 
 About his jaws, hurl into Kadmus' land. 
 For on to Kadmus' seven gates will I march. 
 Bearing myself the whetted steel in hand. 
 Myself mine herald. Thee 1 bid remain, 590 
 
 Adrastus : mingle not with mine thy fate. 
 For I 'neath mine own fortune's star will lead 
 Mine host, a chief renowned with glorious spear. 
 One only thing I need, all Gods to have [595 
 
 Which reverence right : for where these are, they give 
 Victory. Naked valour nought avails 
 To men, except it have the Gods' good will. \_Exit. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 389 
 
 Half-Chorus ι. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 
 Ye hapless mothers of hapless chieftains dead, 
 
 Ah, how is mine heart storm-tossed with pale 
 
 dismay — 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 What ominous word and strange of thee was said ? 600 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 For what shall befall Queen Pallas' war-array ! 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 Through battle, or peace-fraught parley, wouldst 
 thou say ? 
 
 Half-Chorus I. 
 
 Ay, this last should be well ; but if warrior-quelUng 
 Slaughters and battles again shall be seen. 
 
 With the beating of breasts in each desolate dwelling 
 Of the land, what reproaches bitter-keen 
 Should I win, through whom this sorrow hath 
 been ! 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 
 {Ant. 1) 
 
 Yet doom may the victor bring down low in dust ; 
 
 This comforteth me, and bids be dauntless -souled. 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 Thou speakest of Gods that fail not, ever just. 610 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 Of whom but of such be all our fates controlled ? 
 
390 
 
 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 Ah, many a change in God's ways I behold ! 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 
 By the terrors o'ferpast is the heart in thee stricken : 
 Yet justice aloud unto justice doth call ; 
 
 Blood calleth for blood, and the Gods shall requicken 
 Our souls, for to mortals all blessings befall 
 From the hands that encompass the goal of all. 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 
 (Sir. 2) 
 Ο might I speed from the Goddess's springs. 
 Even Kallichorus, to the fair-towered plain ! 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 Ο would the Gods but vouchsafe to me wings, 620 
 So to win to the city of rivers twain [^ 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 Ah then shouldst thou clearly discern — 
 How thy champions speed shouldst thou learn. 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 Ah God, what fate, what doom doth await 
 The king of the mighty hand, 
 The hero of Kekrops' land ? 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 We have cried to the Gods, and we cry once more 
 To the first best trust of the sore afraid. 
 
 1 Thebes : round the base of the hill on which stood the old 
 fortress, flowed, on one side, the Ismenus, on the other, the 
 DirkS. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 391 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 Zeus, hear us, whose offspring was born of yore 
 Of Inachus' daughter, the heifer-maid ! 
 
 Half-Chorus i. 
 
 Oh be our champion thou. 
 
 To our city be gracious now ! 630 
 
 Half-Chorus 2. 
 
 Thy belovod are we, it was planted of thee. 
 This city whose sons we would gain 
 For the tomb from the outrage-stain. 
 
 Enter Messenger. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Women, I come with tidings full of joy, — 
 
 Myself escaped, for I was ta'en in fight, 635 
 
 What time those seven bands of chieftains slain 
 
 Hard by the fount of Dirkg strove their strife, — 
 
 Tidings of Theseus' triumph. I will spare thee 
 
 Question : — a vassal I of Kapaneus 
 
 Whom Zeus did blast with blazing levin-bolt. 640 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Dear friend, glad tidings this of thy return, 
 Glad news of Theseus : but if Athens' host 
 Is safe withal, thou heraldest all joy. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Safe : and hath fared— I would Adrastus so 
 
 Had fared with Argos' sons whom forth he led 645 
 
 From Inachus to that Kadmean burg. 
 
392 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 How then did Aigeus' son uprear to Zeus 
 The trophy, he and those his spear-aUies ? 
 Tell ; thou wast there : them that were not make glad. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Bright the sun's beam, true-levelled shaft of light, 650 
 
 Smote on the earth. Beside Electra's gate 
 
 On a far-looking tower I stood to watch. 
 
 And three tribes I beheld of war-bands three : 
 
 A mail-clad host far-stretching up the slopes 
 
 Unto the height Ismenian, as men said ; 655 
 
 And the king's self, even Aigeus' glorious son. 
 
 And those about him, marshalled on the right ; 
 
 In Kekrops' ancient land abiders they : 
 
 To left, the Seaboard Men, arrayed with spears 
 
 By Ar6s' fountain, and the clouds of horse 660 
 
 Drawn out upon the fringes of the host, 
 
 Equal by tale : the battle-cars stood ranged 
 
 On levels 'neath Amphion's hallowed tomb. 
 
 Before their ramparts marshalled, Kadmus' folk 
 
 Behind them had those corpses, cause of strife. 665 
 
 There against horsemen panoplied horsemen stood. 
 
 And chariots facing four-yoked chariots set. 
 
 Then Theseus' herald cried in all men's ears : 
 
 " Silence, ye people ! Hush ye, ranks of Kadmus ! 
 
 Hearken — we come but for the corpses' sake, 670 
 
 To bury them, and keep all Hellas' law 
 
 Inviolate ; nor would lengthen bloodshed out." 
 
 But Kreon let his herald answer not, 
 
 But silent under shield abode. Thereat 
 
 1 See Appendix B. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 393 
 
 The four-horsed chariot-lords began the fray. 675 
 
 On, down the battle-lanes of foes they swept, 
 Set down their warriors, spear opposing spear, 
 And, while these strove with bickering steel, those 
 
 wheeled 
 Their steeds about, to aid their fighting-men. 
 Then Phorbas, captain of the Erechtheid horse, 680 
 And they withal which led the Theban riders. 
 Marking the tumult of the battle-cars, 
 Down charging clashed, now triumphing, rolled back 
 
 now. 
 This saw I, and not heard ; for I was there, [685 
 
 There where the chariots and the warriors grappled. 
 Of thousand horrors there, which first to tell 
 I know not — or of dust that surged and soared 
 Upward unto the heavens, clouds on clouds, — 
 Of men, by tangling reins snatched from the cars, [690 
 Slung earthward, — of the murder-streams of gore, — 
 Men falling here, and there, as crashed the chariots. 
 With violence hurled head downwards to the earth, 
 And battered out of life by chariot-shards. 
 But Kreon, marking how our horse prevailed 
 On one wing, grasped his buckler in his hand, 695 
 
 And vanward pressed, ere allies' hearts should faint. 
 Ha, but the heart of Theseus fainted not ! 
 On charged he, tossing high his flaming shield. 
 There clashed they in the midmost of the fray : 
 Men slew — were slain — a thunder of battle-cries 700 
 Rang, roared, of men on-cheering each his fellow — 
 "Smite!" — "Drive the spear against Erechtheus' 
 
 sons ! " 
 But the host wrought to man of dragon-teeth 
 Was a grim wrestler : back it bowed our wing 
 
394 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Far on the left ; but, by our right o'erborne, 705 
 
 Fled theirs : so equal-balanced was the fight. 
 Then did our captain well and worshipfully ; 
 His triumph on the right sufficed him not, 
 But he to his hard-pressed half-array sped fast, 
 And sent a shattering shout, — earth rang again, — 710 
 " My sons, except ye stay the stubborn spear 
 Of the Dragon-seed, your Pallas' cause is lost ! " 
 So thrilled with courage all the Danaid host. 
 Himself that Epidaurian weapon seized, 
 The fearful mace, and slingwise swung it round, 715 
 Down-mowing and clean-lopping with his club 
 Alike their necks and heads in helmets cased : 
 And scarce even then those stubborn feet would fly. 
 And 1, for joy I shouted, yea, I danced. 
 And clapped mine hands. On strained they to the 
 gates. 720 
 
 Then rang a cry and wailing through the town 
 Of young and old : the panic-stricken thronged 
 The fanes. But, though the way within lay clear. 
 There Theseus stayed : — " Not to destroy the town 
 Came I," spake he, " but to reclaim the dead." 725 
 Well might men choose such battle-chief as this,i 
 Who is in peril's midst a tower of strength. 
 But hates the scorners who, in fortune's hour 
 Seeking to mount the ladder's topmost round, 
 Let slip the bliss that lay within their hands. 730 
 
 Chorus. 
 Now I, beholding this unhoped-for day, 
 
 1 Cf. " O, was there ever such a knight, in friendship or 
 in war," Macaulay, Ivry. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 395 
 
 Know that Gods live, and feel my load of ill 
 Lighter, since these have paid the penalty. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Zeus, wherefore do they say that wretched man 
 
 Is wise ? For lo, we hang upon thy skirts, 735 
 
 And that we do, it is but as thou wilt. 
 
 We deemed before our Argos none might stand, 
 
 Ourselves, a countless host of lusty arms ; 
 
 And, when Eteokles proferred terms of peace. 
 
 Fair was his offer, yet we would not hear ; 740 
 
 So were undone. Now, prospering in their turn, 
 
 Like beggar-wight with sudden-gotten wealth, 
 
 Wanton they waxed, and perished in their pride 
 
 Kadmus' mad-hearted sons. Ο foolish men. 
 
 Who, straining with the bow beyond the mark, 745 
 
 And suffering many ills at justice' hand, 
 
 To friends at last yield not, but circumstance ! 
 
 Ye states, which might by parley end your feuds. 
 
 By bloodshed, not by words, decide your wrongs. 
 
 Yet wherefore this ? — Fain would I know of thee 750 
 
 How thou didst 'scape ; then will I ask the rest. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 When tumult's battle-earthquake shook the town, 
 Through that gate slipt I where the host poured in. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 And the dead bring ye, cause of all the strife ? 
 
 Messenger. [755 
 
 Even all which captained those seven bands renowned. 
 
 Ee t 
 
396 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Ha ! — and the rest which perished, where be they ? 
 
 Messenger. 
 Laid in the tomb, hard by Kithairon's folds. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 On that side, or on this ?^ — who buried them ? 
 
 Messenger. 
 Theseus, where hangs Eleutherae's shadowing rock. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Where leftest thou those whom he buried not ? 760 
 
 Messenger. 
 At hand : for earnest haste brings all things near. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 I wot, with loathing thralls took up the slain. 
 
 Messenger. 
 Never a slave set hand unto the toil. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 [How ? — did the king endure this, of his love ?] ^ 
 
 1 i.e. On the Theban or the Attic side of the range : the 
 tombs would be in the possession of the people in whose 
 land they were. EleutherEe was in Attica. 
 
 2 Inserted conjecturally, to complete the defective sticho- 
 muthia. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 397 
 
 Messenger. 
 Hadst thou but seen his ministry of love ! 
 
 Adrastus. [765 
 
 He washed, himself, the poor youths' slaughter-stains ! 
 
 Messenger. 
 And spread the biers, and veiled the bodies o'er. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 An awful burden was it, fraught with shame ! 
 
 Messenger. 
 Nay, but what shame to men are brethren's ills ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Ah me, far liever had I died with them ! 
 
 Messenger. 
 Bootless thy mourning, stirring these to tears. 770 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 I trow themselves this mourning-lore have taught. 
 But now I raise mine hand to greet the dead, 
 And pour out songs of death with streaming eyes, 
 Hailing our loved, bereft of whom — ah me ! — 
 Forlorn I weep : for the one loss is this^ 775 
 
 1 Might have been suggested by the words of Achilles : — 
 
 " For kine may ye get you in foray, and flocks of goodly sheep ; 
 
 There be tripods to win, and the bright-maned war-steed's 
 
 gallant head : 
 But neither by foray nor price returneth the life to the dead. 
 When once through the fence of the teeth the soul of a 
 man hath fled." Iliad ix, 406-9. 
 
398 EURIPIDES. 
 
 That never mortal maketh good again, — 
 
 The Hfe of man, though wealth may be re-won. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 There is joy, there is sorrow this day ; for our town 
 
 Hath a garland of glory ; 
 And the chiefs of the spear-host, lo, twofold renown 780 
 
 Maketh splendid their story. 
 But to see my sons' limbs ! — sight bitter for me, 
 Yet proud, for the day that I hoped not to see 
 
 Hath uprisen before me 
 Who have seen earth's ghastliest misery. 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 Ah that Time the father, the ancient of days, 
 
 Had but caused me unmarried 
 To abide ! Was I wholly in evil case 
 
 While childless I tarried ? 
 Nay, no dark bodings of anguish broke 790 
 
 My peace, when I thought to refuse love's yoke : 
 
 But of dear sons harried 
 Now see I mine home, no visioned stroke. 
 
 Ah, yonder I see the forms draw nigh 
 
 Of our perished children ; alas ! 
 Ο but with these my beloved to die. 
 
 Unto union in Hades to pass ! 
 
 Enter Theseus, with Athenian soldiers marching in 
 procession with corpses on biers. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 Mothers, ring out the moan 
 For dear dead 'neath the ground ; 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 399 
 
 Echo my crying with accordant groan 800 
 
 Of mournful-wailing sound. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ο my son ! — bitter word 
 For mothers' lips to know ! 
 I cry on thee, in ears that have not heard : 
 Ah for my woe ! 
 
 We suffered — 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Deepest anguish ! 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Ah, fair town 
 Of Argos, see my fate ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ο yea, upon our sorrows she looks down, 
 
 The childless desolate ! 810 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 Bring them, the blood-besprent 
 Forms of the evil-starred, 
 When to unrighteous foes the victory went. 
 Slain, an unmeet reward ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Give them, that I may cast 
 Mine arms round these, and lull. 
 In death's sleep clasped, my children. 
 
400 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Woe! 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 This thou hast. 
 Chorus. 
 Griefs cup is full ! 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Blend thy wails with ours ! 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Hear me ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Thy moan 
 For us, for thee, is sped. 820 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Oh had the foe slain me ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Oh had I known 
 Never a husband's bed ! 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Ah mother ! — ah, dead child ! 
 Lo, what a trouble-sea ! 
 
 (Str. 3) 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Our cheeks are furrow-scarred, and our white heads are 
 marred 
 
 With ashes all defiled. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 401 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Woe's me, ah woe is me ! 
 
 (Ant. 3) 
 Yawn for my grave, earth's floor ! 
 Storm-blast, in pieces break ! 830 
 
 Ο that on mine head dashed the flame of Zeus down 
 flashed ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ruin thy bridals bore : 
 
 Thy ruin Phoebus spake. 
 
 (Epode.) 
 The curse of Oedipus, with sighing fraught. 
 Childless hath left his house, and thee hath sought.i 
 
 Theseus (to leader of Chorus). 
 
 Thee had I asked, but, for thy mourning poured 
 Forth to the host, refrain, and my request 
 To thee forego, and ask Adrastus now : — 2 840 
 
 Of what race sprang these chiefs, above all men 
 Which shone in valour ? To my young Athenians 
 Tell, of thy fuller wisdom ; for thou know'st. 
 Their gallant deeds, too great for words to speak, 
 Thou saw'st, whereby they hoped to win yon Thebes. 
 One question, meet for laughter, I ask not — [845 
 
 Whom each of these encountered in the strife. 
 Or from what foeman's spear received his wound. 
 
 1 Reading Ipjy/ia σ for ίγημας. 
 
 2 Lines 838-40 are, by general consent, corrupt, and have 
 been variously emendated. The translation given is an 
 approximation to the sense of the text as it stands in the 
 MSS. 
 
402 EURIPIDES. 
 
 For they that hear such tales as much could sayi 
 
 As he which tells. Who, that hath stood in fight, 850 
 
 When spear on spear is flying before men's eyes, 
 
 Can certainly report who bravely bears him ? 
 
 I could not ask such vanity as this. 
 
 Nor them believe whose impudence would tell. 
 
 For scarce a man can see what see he must, 855 
 
 What time he standeth foot to foot with foes. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Hear then. To no unwilling lips thou givest 
 
 The praise of these : full fain am I to speak 
 
 Both truth and justice touching men I loved. 
 
 Seest thou yon corpse wherethrough leapt Zeus's bolt ? 
 
 Kapaneus he, a mighty man of wealth, [860 
 
 Yet nought thereby exalted, but he bare 
 
 A spirit no whit loftier than the poor, 
 
 Shunning the man whose pomp of banquets scorned 
 
 That which sufficeth. " Not in gluttony," 865 
 
 Said he, " is good : enough is as a feast." 
 
 True friend to friends was he, alike when near 
 
 And far : of such is there no multitude. 
 
 A guileless heart, a mouth of gracious speech, 
 
 Who left no dues unrendered, or to servants 870 
 
 1 I have retained the MSS. reading of κοινοί and άκονόντων. 
 Literally — " Such tales are as much the property of the 
 listener as of the narrator," i.e., one has as much right to 
 tell them as the other. The sarcasm, that the latter in 
 point of fact knows no more than the former, is materially 
 weakened by the emendations [κενοί and ίρωτώντων) of 
 Grotius and Nauck, adopted by Paley, which give the 
 sense — 
 
 " For empty words are these of whoso asks 
 And whoso tells." 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 403 
 
 Or citizens. Now of the next I speak, 
 
 Eteoklus, graced, he too, with excellence. 
 
 A young man he, not rich in this world's goods. 
 
 But in the Argive land dowered rich with honour ; 
 
 Who oft, when friends would lavish on him gold, 875 
 
 Received it not his doors within, to make 
 
 His life a slave stooped 'neath the yoke of wealth. 
 
 He loathed wrong-doers, not his erring country ; 
 
 Seeing the guilt is nowise in the state 
 
 That through an evil pilot wins ill fame. 880 
 
 Such too Hippomedon was, the third with these. 
 
 From childhood up he deigned not turn aside 
 
 Unto the Muses' joys for ease of life ; 
 
 But in the field abode, enduring hardness 
 
 Gladly for valour's sake, and, hunting still, 885 
 
 Joyed in the steed and hands that strain the bow, 
 
 Eager to yield his land his body's best. 
 
 The fourth was huntress Atalanta's son, 
 
 Parthenopaeus, unmatched in goodlihead : 
 
 Arcadian he, but came to Inachus, 890 
 
 And lived his youth at Argos. Fostered there. 
 
 First, as beseems the sojourner in the land, 
 
 He vexed not, nor was jealous of the state, 1 
 
 Nor was a wrangler, whereby citizens 
 
 Or aliens most shall jar with fellow-men ; 895 
 
 But in the ranks^ stood like an Argive born. 
 
 Fought for the land, and, whenso prospered Argos, 
 
 i.e. Of the caste-distinctions of Greek society, which 
 made an alien permanently inferior to citizens born, and ex- 
 cluded him from politics. 
 
 2 Or, " But even in ambush " — a service of special danger, 
 evincing peculiar devotion to the cause, like the "forlorn 
 hope " of modern warfare (cf. Iliad i, 227, xiii, 277). 
 
404 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Rejoiced, and grieved when it went ill with her ; — 
 
 Beloved of many a man, of maids how many ! 
 
 Yet from transgression did he keep him pure. goo 
 
 Tydeus' high praise next will I sum in brief. 
 
 In speech he shone not ; a dread reasoner he 
 
 In logic of the shield, and war's inventions : 
 
 In counsel not as his brother Meleager, 
 
 Yet of like fame, through science of the spear 905 
 
 Getting him ripest scholarship of war. 
 
 A soaring soul was his, a spirit rich^ 
 
 Where deeds might serve ; in speech of less avail. 
 
 Hearing my words, Ο Theseus, marvel not 
 
 That these before yon towers feared not to die : 910 
 
 For noble nurture harvest bears of honour ; 
 
 And whosoe'er hath practised knightly deeds 
 
 Shames to be callad base. It may be taught, 
 
 This chivalry ; for even the babe is taught 
 
 To speak and hear things not yet understood ; 915 
 
 And what one learneth, that he is wont to keep 
 
 To hoary hairs. So train ye well the child. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ο son, for thy sorrow I gave thee 
 Life of my life 'neath my zone, 
 
 And I bore for thee travail-pain : 920 
 
 And now is my loss death's gain ; 
 Of my labours no fruit doth remain, 
 Nor to foster mine eld may I have thee. 
 Woe's me that I bare a son ! 
 
 1 Retaining MSS. reading ήθος, ττλοΰσιον φρόνημα, etc. 
 Paley's emendation conveys a reflection on rich men, which 
 would by implication be a disparagement of Kapaneus (861). 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 405 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Yea ; and for Oikleus' noble son withal, — 925 
 
 Him the Gods living snatched down earth's abyss, 
 
 Him and his car ; — his praise is manifest. ^ 
 
 But Oedipus' son — I tell of Polyneikes — 
 
 Myself shall praise, nor falsely speak herein. 
 
 My guest was he, ere, leaving Kadmus' town 930 
 
 Self-banished, unto Argos he crossed o'er. 
 
 But knowest thou my wish as touching these ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Nought know I, save one thing — to heed thy words. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Kapaneus, stricken by the fire of Zeus — 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Wouldst bury him apart, a hallowed corpse ? 935 
 
 Theseus. 
 Yea, but the rest all on one funeral-pyre. 
 
 • Adrastus. 
 
 Where wilt thou set for him that several tomb ? 
 
 Theseus. 
 Here, by these halls I have built his sepulchre. 
 
 1 And he therefore needs none from me. Amphiaraus 
 was " the righteous taken away from the evil to come," 
 being thus rescued from the pursuit of the enemy, and en- 
 tombed by the Gods themselves. 
 
4o6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 He then shall have the tendance of thy thralls. 
 
 Theseus. 
 These, mine. Now let the biers of death move on. 940 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Come, hapless mothers, to your sons draw nigh. 
 
 Theseus. 
 Adrastus, this thou say'st were all unmeet. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 How should the mothers choose but touch their sons ? 
 
 Theseus. 
 'Twere death to look on them so sorely marred. 
 
 Adrastus. 
 A ghastly sight is death, even in death's hour.' 945 
 
 Theseus. 
 Why then wouldst add fresh anguish to their grief ? 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Sooth said. Ye, tarry patiently, for well 
 Speaks Theseus. When to fire we have given these. 
 Yourselves the bones shall gather. Hapless mortals ! 
 Why do ye get you spears and deal out death 950 
 
 To fellow-men ? — Stay, from such toils forbear, 
 
 1 " Before decay's effacing fingers 
 Have swept the lines where beauty lingers." 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 407 
 
 And peaceful mid the peaceful ward your towns. 
 Short is life's span : behoves to pass through this 
 Softly as may be, not with travail worn. 
 
 The funeral procession passes on to the pyres, which are 
 kindled in sight of the stage. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 (Str. i) 
 Crowned with fair sons above others 
 
 No more am I seen, 
 Neither blessed mid Argive mothers ; 
 
 Nor the Travail-queen 
 To the childless shall give fair greeting ! 
 Forlorn is my life, as the fleeting 960 
 
 Clouds that flee fast from the beating 
 
 Of the storm-scourges keen. 
 
 [Ant. i) 
 Seven mothers — and heroes seven 
 
 To our sorrow we bare : 
 None princelier to Argos were given. 
 
 Now in childless despair 
 Drear old age creepeth upon me ; 
 Yet the ranks of the dead have not known me, 
 Nor the count of the Hving may own me ; 
 
 But an outcast I fare. 970 
 
 {Epode) 
 For me are but tears remaining : 
 Saddest memorials rest 
 
 In mine halls of my son — shorn hair 
 
 For mourning, and garlands are there ; 
 Libations — for dead Ups' draining ;i 
 
 1 " In ordinary circumstances, libations and songs were 
 signs of festivity ; here they are so qualified as to signify the 
 reverse." (Paley). 
 
4o8 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Songs — which the golden-tressed 
 Apollo shall turn from in scorn ; 
 And with wails shall I greet each morn, 
 Ever drenching with tears fast raining 
 The vesture-folds on my breast. 
 
 Lo, yonder the fiery bower, 980 
 
 Even Kapaneus' sacred pyre : 
 I see it without the fane. 
 With Theseus' gifts to the slain. 
 Lo, Evadne his bride, in this hour 
 By the slain of the levin-fire ! 
 King Iphis' daughter renowned, 
 On yon cliff why is she found 
 Whose crags above this fane tower ? 
 
 And she climbs, and she climbs ever higher ! 
 
 Evadne appears on the cliff above the pyre of Kapaneus, 
 dressed in festal attire. 
 
 Evadne. 
 
 Where now that light that shone 990 
 
 When flashed thy wheels, Ο Sun, 
 Or when the moon raced on, 
 
 And star-lamps glancing 
 Raced through a loΛvering sky. 
 When Argos tossed on high 
 The gladsome bridal-cry. 
 
 And throbbed with dancing. 
 And thrilled with song, to see 
 Mine hero wed with me ? — 
 Ο love, I rush to thee 1000 
 
 From mine home, raving, 
 Seeking thy tomb, thy pyre. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 409 
 
 Longing with strong desire 
 To end in that same fire 
 
 Mine anguish, braving 
 Hades — to end life's woe ; 
 For death is sweetest so 
 With dear dead to he low : — 
 
 God grant my craving ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo, the pyre nigh, — above it dost thou stand, — 
 Zeus' own possession, on the which is laid loio 
 
 Thy lord, o'erthrown by flash of levin-bolt. 
 
 EVADNE. 
 
 The end ! — I see it now, 
 
 Here standing. Friend art thou. 
 
 Fortune ! From this cliff's brow. 
 
 For wifehood's glory, 
 With spurning feet I dart 
 Down into yon fire's heart 
 To meet him, ne'er to part, — 
 
 Flames reddening o'er me, — 1020 
 
 To nestle to his side. 
 In Cora's^ bowers a bride ! — 
 Ο love, though thou hast died, 
 
 I'll not forsake thee. 
 Farewell life, bridal bed ! — 
 By happier omens led,^ 
 
 1 Persephon6, queen of Hades. 
 
 2 Lines 1036 — 30 are imperfect in the MSS. The most 
 probable sense, (reading φανΐΐΐν τίκνοισαι ίμοΐς • ειη ό — etc.), 
 is that her orphan daughters may find loving husbands and 
 a wedded lot more fortunate than hers. 
 
 Ff 
 
410 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Ah, be our children wed ! 
 
 May leal love make ye, 
 Bridegrooms to be, life through 
 Unto my daughters true : 
 One love-breath breathe in you. 
 
 Now, Death, come — take me ! 1030 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Lo, here himself, thy sire, is drawing nigh, 
 Old Iphis, within sound of thy strange speech, 
 Which, heard not yet, shall wring his heart to hear. 
 
 Enter Iphis. 
 
 Iphis. 
 
 Ο hapless thou ! — Ο hapless ancient I ! — 
 
 Burdened with twofold grief for kin I came 1035 
 
 To bear unto his fatherland o'ersea 
 
 My son Eteoklus, slain by Theban spear, 
 
 And seeking for my daughter, who hath fled 
 
 Forth of mine halls, the wife of Kapaneus, [1040 
 
 Longing with him to die. Through days o'erpast 
 
 Guarded she was at home : but soon as I 
 
 Slackened the watch, for ills that pressed on me. 
 
 Forth did she pass. Howbeit here, methinks. 
 
 Is she most like to be. Say, have ye seen her ? 
 
 EVADNE. 
 
 Wherefore ask these ? Here am I on the rock. 1045 
 Even as a bird, my father, hang I poised 
 In misery o'er the pyre of Kapaneus. 
 
 Iphis. 
 
 My child, what wind hath blown, what journeying 
 
 led thee ? 
 Why flee thine home and come unto this land ? 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 411 
 
 EVADNE. 
 
 Thou wouldst be wroth to hear my purposes. 1050 
 Ο father, I would not that thou shouldst hear. 
 
 Iphis. 
 How ? — were't not just thy very father knew ? 
 
 EvADNE. 
 
 Thou wouldst be no wise judge of my resolve. 
 
 Iphis. 
 And why in this attire array thy form ? 
 
 EvADNE. 
 
 Father, strange meaning this my vesture hath. 1055 
 
 Iphis. 
 Thou seemest not as one that mourns her lord. 
 
 EvADNE. 
 
 For deed unheard-of have I decked me thus. 
 
 Iphis. 
 By tomb and pyre appear' st thou in such guise ? 
 
 EvADNE. 
 
 Yea, I for victory's triumph hither come. 
 
 Iphis. 
 What victory this ? Fain would I learn of thee. 1060 
 
 EvADNE. 
 
 Over all wives on whom the sun looks down. 
 
 Ff ί 
 
412 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Iphis. 
 Or in Athene's toils,i or prudent wit ? 
 
 EVADNE. 
 
 In courage. With my lord will I lie dead. 
 
 Iphis. 
 How sayest thou ? — what sorry riddle this ? 
 
 EVADNE. 
 
 I plunge to yon pyre of dead Kapaneus. 1065 
 
 Iphis. 
 Ο daughter, speak not so before a throng ! 
 
 EvADNE. 
 
 Even this would I, that all the Argives hear. 
 
 Iphis. 
 Nay, surely will I let thee from this deed. 
 
 EvADNE. 
 
 Let or let not — thou canst not reach nor seize me. 
 Lo, hurled my body falls, to thee no joy, 1070 
 
 But to me and my lord with me consumed. 
 
 Throws herself from the cliff on to the pyre. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ο lady, what awful deed hath been compassed of thee ! 
 
 1 " The daughters of that land still surpass all other, to 
 whom 
 Athfinfi hath given rare skill in the beautiful works of 
 the loom." Odyssey vii, 104-5. 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 413 
 
 Iphis. 
 Ο Argos' daughters, wretched I ! — undone ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe for thee, woe, who hast borne this misery ! 
 
 Yet its fulness of horror remaineth for thee to see. 1075 
 
 Iphis. 
 
 None other shall ye find more sorrow-crushed. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ο ancient, Ο sore-stricken heart, 
 In the fortune partaker thou art 
 Of Oedipus : thou and mine hapless city therein have 
 part. 
 
 Iphis. 
 
 Ah me, why is not this to men vouchsafed, 1080 
 
 Twice to see youth, and twice withal old age ? 
 
 Now in our homes, if aught shall fall out ill. 
 
 By wisdom's second thoughts this we amend. 
 
 Our Ufe we may not. Might we but be young 
 
 And old twice o'er, if any man should err, 1085 
 
 We would amend us in that second life. 
 
 For I, beholding others rich in sons. 
 
 For children yearned, and by my longing perished. 
 
 Had I to this come first, — by suffering proved 
 
 What to a father child-bereavement means, lo'go 
 
 I had never come to this, to this day's woe, 
 
 I, who begat a young son of my loins 
 
 Most goodly, and am now of him bereft ! 
 
 No more ! — what must I do, the sorrow-fraught ? 
 
 Wend home ? — and see with desolation filled 1095 
 
414 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Home — for my life the hunger of despair ? 
 Or seek the mansion of yon Kapaneus ? — 
 Erst sweet, Ο sweet, when this my daughter lived ! 
 Ah, but she is no more, who wont to draw 
 Down to her lips my face, fold in her arms iioo 
 
 Mine head : — nought sweeter than a daughter is 
 To grey-haired sire : sons' hearts be greater-framed, 
 But not, not theirs the dear caressing wiles ! 
 Lead me, with speed Ο lead me to mine home, 
 And hide in darkness, there to make an end 1105 
 Of this old frame, by fasting pined away. 
 What profit if I touch my daughter's bones ? 
 Strong wrestler Eld, Ο how I loathe thy grasp, 
 Loathe them which seek to lengthen out life's span, 
 By meats and drinks and magic philtre-spells mo 
 To turn life's channel, that they may not die. 
 Who, when they are but cumberers of the ground, 
 Should hence, and die, and make way for the young. 
 
 The stage gradually fills with a procession, in which the 
 Sons of the dead chiefs bear the urns containing their 
 ashes. The members of the Chorus advance to meet them. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Woe is me, woe ! 
 Onward, onward the bones of sons, sons dead, 
 Are borne : Ο lend me your hands ; my strength is 
 
 sped. 
 Handmaids : stricken with eld, in childless pain 
 
 I faint for my dear sons slain. 
 Bowed down under the load of years on years, 
 Wasted ever with sorrows, aye with tears, 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 415 
 
 Couldst thou tell of a harder, sorer stroke 1120 
 
 That lighteth on mortal folk, 
 Than when mothers behold their dead sons' biers ? 
 
 Chorus of Children. 
 
 {Str. i) 
 I bear, Ο I bear. 
 Sad mother, the limbs of my sire from the burning, — • 
 A burden not light, for the weight of my sorrow is 
 
 there, — 
 All that I love in this little vial inurning. 
 
 Chorus of Mothers. 
 
 Woe is me, woe ! 
 Is it all that thou bringest, the salt tears' flow. 
 To the dead men's mother ? — nought else canst thou 
 show ? 
 To a handful of dust brought down are the forms of the 
 men of renown 113° 
 
 So glorious erewhile in Mycenae-town ? 
 
 First Child. 
 
 {Ant. i) 
 Alas for my doom ! 
 Sad son of an ill-starred father forsaken. 
 Henceforth I inherit the orphan's desolate home. 
 Unsheltered by arms of the sire from whose loins I 
 was taken. 
 
 First Mother. 
 
 Woe for my plight ! 
 Whitherward hath my toil for my babes taken 
 
 flight ? 
 What thank have I now for the vigils of night ? 
 
4i6 EURIPIDES. 
 
 What thank for the mother's breast, for the eyes that 
 would take no rest, 
 
 And the dear face oft to my own face pressed ? 
 
 Second Child. 
 
 {Str. 2) 
 They are gone ! — no sons hast thou any more — they 
 are gone, [1140 
 
 Ο mother : for these by this hath the wide air won. 
 
 Second Mother. 
 
 They crumbled to ashes mid flame as they lay. 
 And to Hades now have they winged their way. 
 
 Third Child. 
 
 Ο my father, the wail of thy sons ringeth down unto 
 
 thee. 
 Ah shall I ever bear shield, an avenger to be 
 Of thy blood ? 
 
 Third Mother. 
 God grant it, my child, to thy destiny ! 
 
 Fourth Child. 
 
 {Ant. 2) 
 My father's avenging ! — one day unto me shall it come. 
 If God will : — the wrong sleepeth not by his side in the 
 tomb. 
 
 Fourth Mother. 
 
 Ah, to-day's disaster and sorrow suffice : 
 
 Sufficeth the grief on mine heart that lies ! 1150 
 
 Fifth Child. 
 
 Ha, yet shall they greet me, Asopus' ripples of light, 
 Leading the Danaans onward in brass-mail dight ? 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 417 
 
 Fifth Mother. 
 A champion thou of thy perished father's right. 
 
 Sixth Child. 
 
 {Sir. 3) 
 Ο father mine, methinks I see thee now ! 
 
 Sixth Mother. 
 Laying the kiss of love upon thy brow. 
 
 Sixth Child. 
 
 But thy words of exhorting are come to nought ; 
 They are wafted afar on the wind's wing caught. 
 
 Sixth Mother. 
 
 Unto twain is anguish bequeathed, unto me, 
 And grief for thy father shall ne'er leave thee. 
 
 Seventh Child. 
 
 (Ant. 3) 
 
 By this my burden am I all undone ! 11 60 
 
 Seventh Mother. 
 Let me embrace the ashes of my son ! 
 
 Seventh Child. 
 
 I weep to hearken thy piteous word, 
 
 Most piteous — the depths of mine heart hath it stirred. 
 
 Seventh Mother. 
 
 Ο son, thou art gone : never more shall I gaze 
 On the light of thy mother, thy glorious face ! 
 
4i8 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Adrastus, and ye dames of Argive race, 1165 
 
 Ye see these children bearing in their hands 
 
 The dust of gallant sires whom I redeemed : 
 
 Even these do I and Athens give to thee. 
 
 And ye must guard the memory of this grace, 
 
 Keeping my boon for aye before your eyes. 11 70 
 
 And on these boys I lay the selfsame charge. 
 
 To honour Athens, and from son to son 
 
 To pass on like a watchword this our boon. 
 
 And Zeus is witness, and the Gods in heaven. 
 
 How honoured and how favoured hence ye pass. 11 75 
 
 Adrastus. 
 
 Theseus, our hearts know all thy noble deeds 
 To Argos, and thy kindness in her need. 
 Our love shall ne'er wax old : ye have dealt with us 
 Nobly : your debtors owe you like for like. 
 
 Theseus. 
 What service yet remains that I may render ? 11 80 
 
 Adrastus. 
 Fare well : for thou art worthy — thou and Athens. 
 
 Theseus. 
 So be it. The same fortune light on thee. 
 
 A thine appears in her chariot above the temple-roof. 
 
 Athene. 
 
 Give ear, Ο Theseus, to Athene's hest 
 
 What thou must do — for Athens' service, do: — 
 
SUPPLIANTS. 419 
 
 Yield thou not up thus lightly yonder bones 11 85 
 
 For these their sons to bear to Argive land ; 
 
 But, for thine and thy city's travail's sake, 
 
 First take an oath. Let yon Adrastus swear — 
 
 He answereth for them, despot of their folk. 
 
 For all troth of the land of Danaus' sons : — 1190 
 
 Be this the oath, — that never Argive men 
 
 Shall bear against this land array of war ; 
 
 If others come, their spear shall bar the way. 
 
 If ye break oath, and come against our town. 
 
 Call down on Argos miserable ruin. 11 95 
 
 And where to slay the victims hear me tell : 
 
 Thou hast a brazen tripod in thine halls, 
 
 Which Herakles, from Ilium's overthrow 
 
 Hasting upon another mighty task, 
 
 Bade thee to set up at the Pythian hearth. 1200 
 
 O'er this three throats of three sheep sever thou. 
 
 And in the tripod's hollow grave the oath. 
 
 Then give it to the Delphian God to guard, 
 
 Token of oaths and witness unto Hellas. 
 
 And that keen knife, wherewith thou shalt have gashed 
 
 The victims with the death-wound, bury thou [1205 
 
 In the earth's depths hard by the seven pyres. 
 
 For, if they march on Athens ever, this, 
 
 Shown them, shall daunt, and turn them back with 
 
 shame. 
 This done, then send the dead dust forth the land. 12 10 
 The precinct where fire purified their limbs 
 Be the God's Close, by those three Isthmian ways. 
 This to thee : now to the Argives' sons I speak. 
 Ye shall, to man grown, waste Ismenus' town 
 In vengeance for the slaughter of dead sires. 121 5 
 
 Thou in thy sire's stead, Aigialeus,i shalt be 
 
 1 Son of Adrastus. 
 
420 EURIPIDES. 
 
 Their young chief : from Aetolia Tydeus' son, 
 
 Nariied Diomedes of his sire, shall come. 
 
 When beards your cheeks are shadowing, tarry not 
 
 To hurl a brazen-harnessed Danaid host 1220 
 
 On the Kadmean seven-gated hold. 
 
 Bitter to them as lions' whelps full-grown 
 
 To strength, to sack their city shall ye come. 
 
 This is sure doom. " The After-born " through Hellas 
 
 Named, shall ye kindle song in days to be ; 1225 
 
 Such war -array with God's help shall go, forth. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Athene, Queen, thy words will I obey : 
 
 Thou guid'st me ever that I may not err. 
 
 Him will I bind with oaths : only do thou 
 
 Still lead me aright ; for, gracious while thou art 1230 
 
 To Athens, shall we ever safely dwell. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 On pasf we, Adrastus, and take oath-plight 
 Unto Theseus and Athens. That worship requite 
 Their travail for us, is meet and right. 
 
 [Exeunt Omnes. 
 
APPENDIX Α. 
 
 On the Character of Admetus. 
 
 While the play of Alcestis is, of all the remains of the ancient 
 classical drama, the most popular with modern readers, it is, be- 
 yond question, the most misunderstood. We bring to our estimate 
 of it judgments based on instincts inherited from our Teutonic 
 forefathers, ideas which took form in the days of medieval chivalry, 
 and convictions begotten in us of the teachings of Christianity. 
 Hence, when we read of a husband who availed himself of a 
 heaven-given opportunity of escaping death at the price of his wife's 
 life, all our sympathies go out to the love, the unselfishness, the 
 courage, of the willing sacrifice, and in the husband's conduct we 
 find the meanest selfishness and the most unmanly cowardice. 
 The invectives of Pheres appear as a well-merited castigation, un- 
 ' answerable in their withering force. The sorrow of Admetus seems 
 hypocritical, and his lamentations hollow. Browning {Balaustion's 
 Adventure) describes him as doing in the death-scene everything 
 but the one right thing, which would have been to insist on revoking 
 the compact. It is not enough to answer that Euripides had to 
 make the best of a legend which he could not alter ; we have to 
 account for the fact that the legend, both in its original form and 
 in Euripides' treatment of it, was regarded as redounding to 
 Admetus' glory rather than to his shame. For it is certain that 
 the modern view is diametrically opposed to that of the Athenian 
 audience. In their eyes — i . Admetus was a noble character : 2. He 
 was in the right in respect to the motif and incidents of the play : 
 3. He reaped the just reward of the good man. 
 
 I. Admetus was a noble character, for he displayed the highest- 
 5pcial virtue recognised by a Greek — hospitality, the crowning 
 height of unselfishness, as truly a part of patriotism in peace, as 
 heroism was in war. The hospitable man embodied for them the 
 virtues, not only of the modern philanthropist, but also those of 
 the enlightened diplomatist : he established and maintained friendly 
 relations with other states, gaining for his city allies, and for her 
 people friends and protectors in foreign lands, and that in days 
 
423 APPENDIX. 
 
 when, without such, not only wa-; travel perilous, but even com- 
 merce was difficult and precarious. The deserts of the man who 
 thus served his country, and his countrymen individually, without 
 regarding the cost to his own fortune and convenience, could not 
 ^be overrated. Conjugal^afiectiomshrank into insignificance b^ide 
 such a trait. Admetus is the supreme type of this class, a pouifr^ 
 wKicETiseinphasized by the fact that Apollo set the seal of Heaven's 
 approval upon his peculiar excellence, by accepting, and so conse- 
 crating, his hospitality, 
 from his position as her 1 
 of prolo nging hi s use fulnes s. 
 
 "'" 2. He was in f he right in respect to the motif and incidents of 
 the play : — A God put forth special exertions, taxed to the utmost 
 his divine craft in outwitting the Fates, in order to gain a con- 
 ditional privilege for his earthly friend. That the man should 
 thereupon decline to accept the boon, would have seemed to the 
 Greeks, not false delicacy merely, but impiety ; just as it would 
 have seemed to a Hebrew impious for Abraham to renounce the 
 favour of God when it involved the sacrifice of his son. The 
 acceptance of the condition was perhaps the easier, because the 
 time of its fulfilment was indefinite, as we gather from 11. 524 and 
 526, where Herakles, while referring to Alcestis' pledge as a matteK 
 well known to him, yet has no idea that the time for its redemption 
 has come. The compact once made, we may fairly infer that it was 
 impossible to draw back from it : a mortal could not play fast and 
 loose with the powers beneath, and " the Gods themselves cannot 
 recall their gifts." Hence, though Admetus passionately cries to 
 Alcestis to take him with her, he does not, he cannot, propose the 
 impossible, to die instead of her. Again, it was part of the fitness 
 of things that the less valuable life should be surrendered for the 
 more valuable. To the Greeks of that time, the proper victim 
 should have been the king's old father or mother. Pheres' conduct 
 in valuing his own life before that of his son was in their eyes un- 
 natural, unreasonable, and unpatriotic. He owed a paternal duty 
 to his son : he had already enjoyed his share of life's pleasures ; 
 his life was no longer worth living, for the utter contempt for old 
 age prevalent in Athens in those days, must have made its 
 infirmities an unmitigated misfortune Λ and his Ufe was now use- 
 less to the community. Hence his arguments in reply to Admetus' 
 reproaches would appear as a tissue of selfishness and shameless- 
 
 I. This view of old age is again and again expressed in the plainest language 
 both by the Dramatic and Gnomic poets. 
 
APPENDIX. 423 
 
 ness. His exclamation (I. 726) that he cares not what men may 
 say of him after his death — a sentiment simply atrocious to a 
 Greekl — is enough in itself to indicate that he is meant to be in the 
 wrong throughout the altercation, in which he could have been in 
 the right only on the supposition that he had as good a claim to 
 live as his son, which is precisely what to the Greek was incon- 
 ceivable. Failing the substitute who shirked his duty, Alcestis 
 would be regarded as simply fulfilling hers in yielding her life. 
 For here again, besides the obvious claims of wifely devotion, was 
 the incontestable fact that the less precious life was given for the 
 more precious. It was an axiom with the Greeks, which Euripides 
 has in the Iphigeneia in Aulis (1394) put into words, that " the life . 
 of one man was better than that of ten thousand women." That 
 Alcestis did but rise to the height of her duty is in no way incon- 
 sistent with the praises lavished upon her. A soldier who throws 
 himself in front of his king to receive in his own body the stroke 
 of an assassin or a foe is indeed extolled, but would he not be 
 counted false to his duty, did he, at the supreme moment, shrink 
 behind his king ? The especial pathos of the situation to the 
 audience lay in this, that the sacrifice of a young and happy woman 
 was forced upon her by the cowardly selfishness, not of her 
 husband, but of a miserable old man : that Admetus should not 
 have found a substitute at all would have seemed monstrous. 
 
 3. Admetus reaped the just reward of the good man : — All the 
 respectable characters of the play have nothing but sympathy for 
 him. The Chorus — the embodiment of enlightened public opinion 
 — praise him and condemn his parents : they put up prayers on his 
 behalf: they ofier for his consolation considerations which pre- 
 suppose the paramount value of the life so redeemed, and express 
 a nascent hope (11. 603-3) ^^^ there may yet be blessing in store for 
 him. Herakles, the incarnation of manliness and high courage, is- 
 fuU of sympathy and admiration for him, and is kindled to enthu- 
 siasm by his unselfish hospitality ; and it is of cardinal importance 
 to the right understanding of the situation that the turning-point 
 of the plot is to be found in a crowning instance of Admetus' pre- 
 eminent virtue, which is made the justification for the extreme 
 measure by which the denouement is effected, as though he alone 
 oi men were worthy to have the decrees of fate reversed in his 
 favour, To adapt the words of a modern poet, his actions said, 
 " Write me as one that loves his fellow-men " . . "and lo, 
 
 I. The current view is expressed by Odysseus in the Hecuba (11, 315-319). 
 
424 APPENDIX. 
 
 Admetus' name led all the rest." We might go so far as to say 
 that for the Greek audience the real theme of the play was not so 
 much •' The devotion of Alcestis," as " The reward of virtue," 
 just as for a Hebrew the subject of the crowning episode of his 
 first father's history was not "The self-devotion of Isaac," but 
 " The faith and obedience of Abraham." 
 
 The foregoing remarks are, of course, not designed to change 
 the modern reader's estimate of Admetus' action, but to show that 
 he was not intended to be lowered in the eyes of the audience, and 
 that whatever censure we pronounce must include also a condem- 
 nation of some fundamental principles of Greek ethics. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Note on Suppliants, 1. 653. 
 The following plan will make the disposition of the troops clear : 
 
 
 Athenian Infantry. 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 Horse. 
 
 Theseus. Seaboard men. 
 
 Horse. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Athenian Chariots. 
 Theban Chariots. 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 Horse. 
 
 Theban Infantry. 
 
 Horse. 
 
 1 
 
 1 11 1 
 
 \ 1 
 
 Walls of Thebes. 
 
 END OF VOL. I.