According to you, the work of burying her husband belongs to her.MenelaosYes indeed; piety demands that the dead be not robbed of their due.TheoklymenosLet her go; it is in my interest to foster piety in a wife. Go inside and choose adornment for the dead;I will not send you away from the land empty-handed either, since you have done her a favor. As you have brought me good news, you will receive clothing instead of going in rags, and food, so that you may reach your country, since now I see you doing very badly indeed.As for you, poor lady, do not wear yourself out in a hopeless case; Menelaos has met his doom, and your dead husband could not return to life.MenelaosThis is your duty, young woman; you must be content with the husband at your side, and let go the one that no longer exists;for this is best for you, according to what has happened. And if I come to Hellas and find safety, I will put to an end your former bad reputation, if you are such a wife as you ought to be to your husband.HelenI will; my husband will never find fault with me;you yourself will be at hand to know it. Now go inside, unhappy man, and find the bath, and change your clothes. I will show my kindness to you without delay. For you will perform the due services with more kindly feeling for my dearest Menelaos,if you get from me what you ought to have. Exeunt Theoklymenos, Helen, Menelaos.

ChorusOnce with swift foot the mountain mother of the gods rushed through the wooded glen, and the river’s streamsand the deep-thundering sea wave, yearning for her lost daughter, whose name may not be spoken. The loudly rattling castanets cried out a shrill sound,when they, swift-footed as whirlwinds, followed the goddess on her chariot yoked to wild creatures, after the girl that was snatched away from the circling chorus of maidens—here Artemis with her bow, and there the grim-eyed goddess, in full armor, with her spear. But Zeus, who sees clearly from his throne in heaven, brought to pass another destiny.

ChorusWhen the mother ceased from her wild