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.
- No longer; begin my wedding now.
- It has come after a long time, but still I commend you for it.
- Do you know what you should do? Let us forget what is past.
- On what terms? One good turn deserves another.
- Let us make a truce; be reconciled to me.
- I relinquish my quarrel with you; may it go away on wings.
- Now by your knees, since you are indeed a friend—
- What thing do you hunt after, that you stretch out a suppliant hand to me?
- I wish to bury my dead husband.
- What? Is there a tomb for the absent? Or will you bury a shadow?
- It is customary among the Hellenes, whenever someone dies at sea—
- To do what? The race of Pelops is certainly clever in such matters.
- To carry out the funeral rites in empty woven robes.
- Hold the funeral; set up the tomb wherever you wish.
- We do not give burial like this to sailors who have perished.
- How then? I know nothing of the customs in Hellas.
- We take out of harbor to the sea all that is the dead man’s due.
- Then what am I to give you for the dead man?
- This man knows, but I have no experience, as I was fortunate before.
- Stranger, you have brought welcome news.