Helen
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.
- Then are you ill through his suffering?
- Yes, because I did not die together with him.
- So you went to the famous city of Ilion, stranger?
- Yes, and by helping to sack it, I destroyed myself as well.
- Has it already been set alight and completely consumed by fire?
- So that not even a trace of the walls is evident.
- O miserable Helen! Because of you, the Phrygians have been destroyed.
- And also the Achaeans; great evils have been committed.
- How long is it since the city was sacked?
- Almost seven years have gone full circle, with their harvests.
- And how much longer were you waiting at Troy?
- For many months; the moon held its course through ten years.
- And did you capture the Spartan woman?
- Menelaos caught her by the hair to drag her away.
- Did you yourself see the wretched creature? Or do you speak from hearsay?
- I saw her with my own eyes, just as I see you, no less.
- Consider whether you had some fancy, sent by the gods.
- Think of some other topic, not that woman still!
- Are you so sure this fancy was reliable?
- I saw it with my own eyes; and the mind has sight.