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.

  1. Does he then have a body that cannot be wounded by a sword?
Helen
  1. You will hear. But to undertake impossibilities is no mark of wisdom.
Menelaos
  1. And so I am to offer my hands to be bound, in silence?
Helen
  1. You are in a dilemma; we need some contrivance.
Menelaos
  1. Yes, for it is sweeter to die in action than by not acting.
Helen
  1. There is one hope, and only one, for our safety.
Menelaos
  1. Are we to buy it, or dare it, or win it with words?
Helen
  1. If the tyrant were not to learn of your arrival.
Menelaos
  1. Will any one tell him about me? He will certainly not know who I am.
Helen
  1. He has within an ally equal to the gods.
Menelaos
  1. A voice that has settled in the inmost parts of his house?
Helen
  1. No, but his sister; she is called Theonoe.
Menelaos
  1. The name is prophetic; tell me what she does.
Helen
  1. She knows everything, and she will tell her brother that you are here.
Menelaos
  1. We must die; for I cannot escape her notice.
Helen
  1. Perhaps we might persuade her by supplication—
Menelaos
  1. To do what? What hope are you leading me to?
Helen
  1. Not to tell her brother that you are here in this land.
Menelaos
  1. If we persuade her, could we get away from this country?
Helen
  1. Easily, in common with her; but secretly we could not.