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. of the fallen youths. Woe is me! would I could join these children in their death and descend to Hades with them!
Adrastus
  1. Mothers, raise the wail for the dead departed;
  2. cry in answer when ye hear my note of woe.
Chorus
  1. My sons, my sons! O bitter words for loving mothers to address to you! To thee, my lifeless child, I call.
Adrastus
  1. Woe! woe!
Chorus
  1. Ah me, my sufferings!
Adrastus
  1. Alas!
Chorus
  1. ---[*](A lacuna in the MS.)
Adrastus
  1. We have endured, alas!—
Chorus
  1. Sorrows most grievous.
Adrastus
  1. O citizens of Argos! do ye not behold my fate?
Chorus
  1. They see thee, and me the hapless mother,
  2. reft of her children.
Adrastus
  1. Bring near the blood-boltered corpses of those hapless chiefs, foully slain by foes unworthy, with whom lay the decision of the contest.
Chorus
  1. Let me embrace and hold my children to my bosom in my enfolding arms.
Adrastus
  1. There, there! thou hast—
Chorus
  1. Sorrows heavy enough to bear.
Adrastus
  1. Ah me!
Chorus
  1. Thy groans mingle with those of their parents.[*](Reading with Hartung τοῖς τεκοῦσς’ ὁμοῦ λέγεις.)
Adrastus
  1. Hear me.