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. ’Tis thy own darling, thy own settler in the city of Argos that I[*](Reading ἐκκομίζομαι, MS., but Musgrave’s emendation, ἐκκόμιζέ μοι is very probably right.) am striving to rescue for the funeral pyre from outrageous insult.
Messenger
  1. Ladies, I bring you tidings of great joy, myself escaped—for I was taken prisoner in the battle
  2. which cost those chieftains seven their lives near Dirce’s fount—to bear the news of Theseus’ victory. But I will save thee tedious questioning; I was the servant of Capaneus,
  3. whom Zeus with scorching bolt to ashes burnt.
Chorus
  1. Friend of friends, fair thy news of thy own return, nor less the news about Theseus; and if the host of Athens, too, is safe, welcome will all thy message be.
Messenger
  1. ’Tis safe, and all hath happened as I would it had befallen Adrastus
  2. and his Argives, whom from Inachus he led, to march against the city of the Cadmeans.
Chorus
  1. How did the son of Aegeus and his fellow-warriors raise their trophy to Zeus? Tell us, for thou wert there and canst gladden us who were not.
Messenger
  1. Bright shone the sun, one levelled line of light, upon the world, as by Electra’s gate I stood to watch, from a turret with a far outlook. And lo! I saw the host in three divisions, deploying its mail-clad warriors
  2. on the high ground by the banks of Ismenus; this last I heard;[*](The words ὡς μὲν ἥν λόγος have been suspected, and ὡς ‘ιδεῖν, λόχους suggested.) and with them was the king himself, famous son of Aegeus; his own men,
    natives of old Cecropia, were ranged upon the right; while on the left,
  3. hard by the fountain of Ares, were the dwellers by the sea, harnessed spearmen they; on either wing were posted cavalry, in equal numbers, and chariots were stationed in the shelter of Amphion’s holy tomb. Meantime, the folk of Cadmus set themselves before the walls,
  4. placing in the rear the bodies for which they fought. Horse to horse, and car to car stood ranged. Then did the herald of Theseus cry aloud to all: Be still, ye folk! hush, ye ranks of Cadmus,
  5. hearken! we are come to fetch the bodies of the slain, wishing to bury them in observance of the universal law of Hellas; no wish have we to lengthen out the slaughter.
  6. Not a word would Creon let his herald answer back, but there he stood in silence under arms. Then did the drivers of the four-horse cars
  7. begin the fray; on, past each other they drave their chariots, bringing the warriors at their sides up into line. Some fought with swords, some wheeled the horses back to the fray again for those they drove.[*](Reading with Hartung αὖθις αὖ παραιβάταις.)
  8. Now when Phorbas, who captained the cavalry of the Erechthidae, saw the thronging chariots, he and they who had the charge of the Theban horse met hand to hand, and by turns were victors and vanquished. The many horrors happening there I saw, not merely heard about, for I was at the spot
  9. where the chariots and their riders met and fought, but which to tell of first I know not,—the clouds of dust that mounted to the sky, the warriors tangled in the reins and dragged[*](Nauck is of opinion that something has fallen out after line 689. The Greek, as it stands, is certainly open to suspicion.) this way and that,
  10. the streams of crimson gore, when men fell dead, or when, from shattered chariot-seats, they tumble headlong to the ground, and, mid the splinters of their cars, gave up the ghost. But Creon, when he marked our cavalry’s success[*](Paley retains νικῶντα, but Valckenaer’s is a good suggestion, i.e. their army yielding to our cavalry.) on one wing,
  11. caught up a shield and rushed into the
    fray, ere that despondency should seize his men; but not for that did Theseus recoil in fear; no! snatching up at once his glittering harness he hied him on. And the twain, clashing their shields together as they met in the midst of the assembled host,
  12. were dealing death and courting it, shouting loudly each to his fellow the battle-cry: Slay, and with thy spear strike home against the sons of Erechtheus. Fierce foes to cope with were the warriors whom the dragon’s teeth to manhood reared; so fierce, they broke