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. 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.
  2. 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
  3. 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.)
  4. 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
  5. 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,
  6. 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,
  7. 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,
  8. 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
  9. our left wing, albeit theirs was routed by our right and put to flight, so that the struggle was evenly balanced. Here again our chief deserved all praise, for this success was not the only advantage he gained; no! next he sought that part of his army which was wavering;
  10. and loud he called to them, that the earth rang again, My sons, if ye cannot restrain the earth-born warriors’ stubborn spear, the cause of Pallas is lost. His word inspired new courage in all the Danaid[*](Paley, Δαναιδῶν. Nauck, Κεκροπιδῶν. As applied to Athenians, the latter title is preferable. Musgrave, Κραναιδῶν.) host. Therewith himself did seize a fearsome mace, weapon of Epidaurian warfare,
  11. and swung it to and fro, and with that club, as with a sickle, he shore off necks and heads and helmets thereupon. Scarce even then they turned them- selves to fly. For joy cried I, and danced
  12. and clapped my hands; while to the gates they ran. Throughout the town echoed the shrieks of young and old, as they crowded the temples in terror. But Theseus, when he might have come inside the walls, held back his men, for he had not come, said he,
  13. to sack the town, but to ask for the bodies of the dead.
  14. Such the general men should choose, one who shows his bravery in danger, yet hates the pride of those that in their hour of fortune lose the bliss they might have enjoyed,
  15. through seeking to scale the ladder’s topmost step.
Chorus
  1. Now do I believe in the gods after seeing this
    unexpected day, and I feel my woes are lighter now that these have paid their penalty.