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.
- But she left one thing unsaid: if he will escape when he has come? And I refrained from asking that question clearly; I was so glad when she told me he was safe. She said that he was near this land somewhere, cast up, shipwrecked, with a few friends.
- Oh, when will you come? How much I long for your arrival!
- Ah! Who is this? I am not being ambushed by the plots of Proteus’ impious son, am I? Shall I not, like a young racehorse or a worshipper of Bacchus, reach the tomb? There is something wild
- about the looks of this man who is hunting me down.
- You there! the one trying with fearful effort to reach the base of the tomb and the pillars of burnt sacrifice, stay where you are. Why do you flee? I am amazed and speechless at the sight of your body.
- Women, I am being ill-treated. This man is keeping me from the tomb, and he wants to take me and give me to the king, whose wooing I was seeking to avoid.
- I am no thief, nor a servant of evil men.
- And yet the clothes you are wearing are unsightly enough.
- Put fear aside and stop your rapid flight.
- I do so, now that I have reached this spot.
- Who are you? Whom do I see in you, lady?
- But who are you? The same reason prompts us both.
- I never saw a closer resemblance.
- O gods! For the recognizing of friends is a god.
- Are you a woman from Hellas, or a native of this land?