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.
- Not for me, certainly, nor for the dead man.
- How do you bury those who have died at sea?
- Each according to his means.
- As far as wealth goes, say what you want, for her sake.
- There must be a blood-offering first to the dead.
- Blood of what? Explain it to me, and I will obey.
- You decide that yourself; whatever you give will suffice.
- Among barbarians it is customary to sacrifice a horse or a bull.
- If you make a gift, take care to give nothing mean.
- I have no lack of such in my rich herds.
- Next, a couch empty of the body is decked and carried in procession.
- It wall be done; what else is it customary to add?
- Bronze arms; for war was his delight.
- These will be worthy of the race of Pelops, and these we will give.
- And for the rest, all the lovely offspring that the earth bears.
- How then? In what way do you let them fall into the waves?
- A ship must be ready, and rowers.
- How far from the shore does the ship put out?
- So far that the foam in her wake can scarcely be seen from the land.
- But why? Why does Hellas observe this custom.