The Phoenician Women
Euripides
Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.
- Where are the corpses of Eteocles, and of Polyneices?
- Here they both lie, stretched out side by side.
- Lay my blind hand upon their poor faces.
- There, touch the dead, your children.
- O dear fallen sons, sad offspring of a sad father!
- O my brother Polyneices, name most dear to me!
- Now the oracle of Loxias is being fulfilled, my child.
- What oracle? Do you have further woes to tell?
- That I should die in Athens after a life of wandering.
- Where? What fenced town in Attica will take you in?
- Hallowed Colonus, home of the god of horses. Come then, attend on your blind father, since you are eager to share his exile.
- Go to unhappy exile; stretch forth your dear hand, my old father, taking me to guide you, like a breeze that guides the ships.
- See, I am advancing; be my guide, my poor child.
- I am, I am! The saddest maiden of all in Thebes.
- Where am I placing my aged step? Bring my staff, child.
- This way, this way, come to me, place your steps here, like a dream in your strength.
- Oh, oh, driving the old man in most wretched flight from the country!
- Oh, oh! the terrible sorrows I have endured!
- Why do you speak of enduring? Justice does not see the wicked, and does not requite follies.
- I am the one who came into high songs of victory,