Helen

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906.

  1. O my fortune, how we have been unworthily dishonored.
Old woman
  1. Why are your eyes wet with tears? To whom are you lamenting?
Menelaos
  1. To my fortunes, which were happy before this.
Old woman
  1. Well then, why don’t you go away and give these tears to your friends.
Menelaos
  1. What is this land? Whose palace is this?
Old woman
  1. Proteus lives here, the land is Egypt.
Menelaos
  1. Egypt? O wretched, that I have sailed here!
Old woman
  1. And why do you blame the bright gleam of the Nile?
Menelaos
  1. I do not blame it; I am sighing for my fate.
Old woman
  1. Many people are doing badly; you are not the only one.
Menelaos
  1. Is the king you name in the house?
Old woman
  1. This is his tomb; his son rules the land.
Menelaos
  1. And where might he be? Abroad, or in the house?
Old woman
  1. He is not inside; he is most bitterly opposed to the Hellenes.
Menelaos
  1. What cause does he have? I have felt the consequences of it!
Old woman
  1. Helen, the daughter of Zeus, is in this house.
Menelaos
  1. What do you mean? What did you say? Tell me again.
Old woman
  1. The daughter of Tyndareus, who once lived in Sparta.
Menelaos
  1. Where did she come from? What is the meaning of this?
Old woman
  1. She came here from the land of Lakedaimon.