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.

  1. to you, my royal mistress; and when I have examined everything, I will tell you what I saw and heard from the Argives, when I carried the terms of the truce from here to Polyneices and back from him again.
  2. No, there is no citizen near the house,
  3. so mount the ancient cedar steps, and view the plains; beside Ismenus’ streams and the fountain of Dirce see the great army of the enemy.
Antigone
  1. Stretch out your hand to me from the stairs now, stretch it out, the hand of age to youth,
  2. helping me to rise.
Old servant
  1. There! clasp it, maiden; you have come at the right time; for Pelasgia’s army is just upon the move, and they are separating the companies.
Antigone
  1. O Lady Hecate,
  2. child of Leto! The plain is one lightning-flash of bronze.
Old servant
  1. Ah! this is no ordinary home-coming of Polyneices, with the clash of many horses, many arms.
Antigone
  1. Are the gates barred, and the brazen bolts
  2. fitted into Amphion’s walls of stone?
Old servant
  1. Never fear! All is safe within the town. But see the first one, if you want to know him.
Antigone
  1. Who is that one with the white crest,
  2. who marches before the army, lightly bearing on his arm a shield all of bronze?
Old servant
  1. A captain, mistress.
Antigone
  1. Who is he? Who is his family? Tell me his name, old man.
Old servant
  1. He claims to be Mycenaean; by Lerna’s streams he dwells, the lord Hippomedon.