Heracleidae
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.
- I also will go with thee; for I like thee am minded, so it seems, to be there and help my friends.
- It least of all becomes thee thus to utter words of folly.
- Far less to shrink from sharing with my friends the stubborn fight.
- Mere looks can wound no one, if the arm do naught.
- Why, cannot I smite even through their shields?
- Smite perhaps, more likely be smitten thyself.
- No foe will dare to meet me face to face.
- Friend, the strength, that erst was thine, is thine no more,
- Well, at any rate, I will fight with as many as ever I did.
- Small the weight thou canst throw into the balance for thy friends.
- Detain me not, when I have girded myself for action.
- The power to act is thine no more, the will maybe is there.
- Stay here I will not, say what else[*](Badham proposed τἀμὰ for τἄλλα.) thou wilt
- How shalt thou show thyself before the troops unarmed?
- There be captured arms within this shrine; these will I use, and, if I live, restore; and, if I am slain, the god will not demand them of me back. Go thou within, and from its peg take down a suit of armour and forthwith bring it to me.
- To linger thus at home is infamous, while some go fight, and others out of cowardice remain behind. [Exit Servant.
- Not yet hath time laid low thy spirit, ’tis young as ever; but thy body’s strength is gone. Why toil to no purpose?
- ’Twill do thee hurt and benefit our city little. At thy age thou shouldst confess thy error and let impossibilities alone. Thou canst in no way get thy vigour back again.
- What means this mad resolve
- to leave me with my children undefended here?