Rhesus

Euripides

Euripides. The Rhesus of Euripides. Translated into English rhyming verse with explanatory notes by Gilbert Murray. Murray, Gilbert, translator. London: George Allen and Company, Ltd., 1913.

  1. We find the foe not fled, but turned to strike;
  2. One check there, and all hope of good return
  3. Is gone. How can our men, returning, learn
  4. The tricks of the palisade? The chariots how
  5. Keep to the bridges on the trenches’ brow,
  6. Save with jammed wheels and broken axles? Aye,
  7. And say thou conquer: other wars yet lie
  8. Before thee. Peleus’ son, for all his ire,
  9. Will never let thee touch the ships with fire
  10. Or pounce on his Greek lambs. The man will bide
  11. No wrong and standeth on a tower of pride.
  12. Nay, brother, let the army, head on shield,
  13. Sleep off its long day’s labour in the field:
  14. Then, send a spy; find someone who will dare
  15. Creep to yon Argive camp. Then, if ’tis clear
  16. They mean flight, on and smite them as they fly.
  17. Else, if the beacons hide some strategy,
  18. The spy will read it out, and we can call
  19. A council.—Thus speak I, my general.
CHORUS.
  1. ’Tis good! ’Tis wisdom! Prince, give heed