The Suppliant Maidens

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. Didst thou rely on heralds, Hermes’ servants, in order to bury them?
Adrastus
  1. I did; and even then their slayers said me nay.
Theseus
  1. Why, what say they to thy just request?
Adrastus
  1. Say! Success makes them forget how to bear their fortune.
Theseus
  1. Art come to me then for counsel? or wherefore?
Adrastus
  1. With the wish that thou, O Theseus, shouldst recover the sons of the Argives.
Theseus
  1. Where is your Argos now? were its vauntings all in vain?
Adrastus
  1. Defeat and ruin are our lot. To thee for aid we come.
Theseus
  1. this thy own private resolve, or the wish of all the city?
Adrastus
  1. The sons of Danaus, one and all, implore thee to bury the dead.
Theseus
  1. Why didst lead thy seven armies against Thebes?
Adrastus
  1. To confer that favour on the husbands of my daughters twain.
Theseus
  1. To which of the Argives didst thou give thy daughters in marriage?
Adrastus
  1. I made no match for them with kinsmen of my family.
Theseus
  1. What! didst give Argive maids to foreign lords?
Adrastus
  1. Yea, to Tydeus, and to Polynices, who was Theban-born.