Andromache
Euripides
Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.
- And make thy flesh to writhe by cruel wounds.
- Begin thy butchery, stain the altar of the goddess with blood, for she will visit thy iniquity.
- Barbarian creature, hardened in impudence, wilt thou brave death itself? Still will I find speedy means to make thee quit this seat of thy free-will; such a bait have I to lure thee with. But I will hide my meaning,
- which the event itself shall soon declare. Yes, keep thy seat, for I will make thee rise, though molten lead is holding thee there, before Achilles’ son, thy trusted champion, arrive. Exit Hermione.
- My trusted champion, yes! how strange it is, that, though some god hath devised cures for mortals against the venom of reptiles, no man ever yet hath discovered aught to cure a woman’s venom, which is far worse than viper’s sting or scorching flame; so terrible a curse are we to mankind.
- Ah! what sorrows did the son of Zeus and Maia herald,
- in the day he came to Ida’s glen, guiding that fair young trio of goddesses, all girded for the fray in bitter rivalry about their beauty,
- to the shepherd’s fold, where dwelt the youthful herdsman all alone by the hearth of his lonely hut.
- Soon as they reached the wooded glen, in gushing mountain
- springs they bathed[*](νίψαν. So Hermann. αἰγλᾶντα, Musgrave. ἐν ῥοαῖς, Aldus.) their dazzling skin, then sought the son of Priam, comparing their rival charms in more than rancorous phrase.[*](Reading ὑπερβολαῖς λόγων δθσφρόνων. Hermann places a stop after Πριαμίδαν, and then reads ὑπερβολαῖς λόγων δ’ εὐφρόνων.) But Cypris won the day by her deceitful promises,
- sweet-sounding words, but fraught with ruthless overthrow to Phrygia’s hapless town and Ilium’s towers.
- Would God his mother had smitten him a cruel death-blow[*](μόρον, Hermann’s correction for Πάριν.) on the head before he made his home on Ida’s