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.
- 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.
- So that the waves may not wash pollution back ashore.
- A swift Phoenician ship will be there.
- That would be well done, and pleasing to Menelaos, too.
- Can you not perform these rites well enough without Helen?
- This task belongs to mother, or wife, or children.