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.
- when he saw his friends dying on behalf of a cloud, nor did Helenos; but the city was taken by storm in vain. You might say: because the god did not want them to? Then why do we consult prophets? We ought to sacrifice to the gods and ask a blessing, but leave divination alone;
- for this was invented otherwise, as a bait for a livelihood, and no man grows rich by sacrifices if he is idle. But sound judgment and discernment are the best of seers. Exit Messenger.
- My views about seers coincide exactly with this old man’s; whoever has the gods as friends
- would have the best prophecy at home.
- All right; so far all is well. But how you were saved, my poor husband, from Troy, there is no gain in knowing, yet friends have a desire to learn what their friends have suffered.
- Truly you have asked a great deal all at once. Why should I tell you about our losses in the Aegean, and Nauplios’ beacons on Euboia, and my visits to Crete and the cities of Libya, and the mountain-peaks of Perseus? For I would not satisfy you with the tale,
- and by telling you these evils I would suffer still, as I did when I experienced them; and so my grief would be doubled.
- Your answer is better than my question. Leave out the rest, and tell me only this: how long were you a weary wanderer over the surface of the sea?
- Besides those ten years in Troy, I went through seven cycles of years on board ship.
- Alas, poor man, you have spoken of a long time; and, saved from there, you have come here to the slaughter.
- What do you mean? What will you say? Ah, my wife, you have ruined me.
- Escape from this land and flee as quickly as possible. The man who lives in this house will kill you.
- What have I done to deserve such a fate?
- You have come unexpectedly to hinder my marriage.
- What! Does someone plan to marry my wife?
- And to act in violence against me, which I have endured.
- Does he have private power, or is he the ruler of the country?
- He is the lord of this land, the son of Proteus.
- This is that riddle I heard from the servant.
- Which one of the barbarian’s gates were you standing beside?