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.

  1. from the warriors who were set to guard the assembled army during the fourth watch of the night. Calls to Hector in the tent. Lift up your head! Prop your arm beneath it! Unseal that fierce eye from its repose; quit your lowly couch of scattered leaves,
  2. Hector! It is time to hearken.
Hector
  1. Who is this? Is it a friend who calls? Who are you? Your password? Speak! Who are these who come near my couch in the night? You must tell me.
Chorus
  1. Sentinels of the army.
Hector
  1. Why this tumultuous haste?
Chorus
  1. Be of good courage.
Hector
  1. I am.
  2. Is there some midnight ambush?
Chorus
  1. No.
Hector
  1. Why do you desert your post and rouse the army, unless you have some tidings of the night?
  2. Are you not aware how near the Argive army we take our night’s repose clad in all our armor?
Chorus
  1. To arms! Hector, seek your allies’ sleeping camp!
  2. Stir them up to wield the spear! Awake them! Despatch a friend to your own company, bridle the horses. Who will go to the son of Panthus? Who to Europa’s son, captain of the Lycian band?
  3. Where are they who should inspect the victims? Where are the leaders of the light-armed troops and the Phrygian archers? String your horn-tipped bows!