Rhesus
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.
- Promise me my gift when you conquer the Achaeans.
- I will give it to you; ask anything except the captains of the fleet.
- Slay them; I do not ask you to keep your hand off Menelaus.
- Is it the son of Oileus you would ask me for?
- Hands that are well brought up are worthless at farming.
- Whom then of the Achaeans will you have alive to hold to ransom?
- I told you before, my house is stored with gold.
- Why then, you shall come and with your own hands choose out some spoil.
- Nail up the spoils for the gods on their temples.
- Then what greater prize than these will you ask me for?
- Achilles’ horses. The prize must be worth the toil when one stakes one’s life on Fortune’s dice.
- Ah! but your desires clash with mine about those horses;
- for they are immortal and born from immortals, who bear the son of Peleus on his headlong course. Poseidon, lord of the ocean, broke them and gave them to Peleus, so runs the legend. Yet, for I urged you on, I will not break my word; I will give to you
- Achilles’ team, a fair possession for your house.