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.
- and wouldst send him with an order to slay hydras and lions? Thy other evil schemes I mention not, for to tell them were a tedious task for me. Nor did it content thee to venture thus far only; no! but from all Hellas wouldst thou drive me and my children,
- heaven’s suppliants though we were, grey-heads some of us, and some still tender babes. But here hast thou found men and a free city, that feared not thee. Die in torment must thou, and e’en so wilt thou gain in every way, for one death is not
- thy due, after all the sorrow thou hast caused.
- Thou mayst not slay him.
- Then have we taken him captive in vain. But say, what law forbids his death?
- It is not the will of the rulers of this land.
- Why, what is this? Do they not approve of slaying enemies?
- Not such as they have taken alive in battle.
- Did Hyllus uphold this decision?
- He, I suppose, ought to have disobeyed the law of the land.
- The prisoner’s life ought not to have been spared a moment.
- It was then that he was wronged, by not being slain at first.
- Why, then, he is still in time to pay his penalty.