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. Who dares to creep through the Greek lines alone?
  2. Who will so help his fatherland?
  3. Doth none
  4. Offer? Must I do everything, one hand
  5. Alone, to save our allies and our land?
[A lean dark man pushes forward from the back.
DOLON
  1. I, Prince!—I offer for our City’s sake
  2. To go disguised to the Greek ships, to make
  3. Their counsels mine, and here bring word to thee.
  4. If that be thy full service, I agree.
HECTOR.
  1. Dolon the Wolf! A wise wolf and a true!
  2. Thy father’s house was praised when first I knew
  3. Troy: this shall raise it twofold in our eyes.
DOLON.
  1. ’Tis wise to do good work, but also wise
  2. To pay the worker. Aye, and fair reward
  3. Makes twofold pleasure, though the work be hard.
HECTOR.
  1. So be it: an honest rule. Do thou lay down
  2. What guerdon likes thee best—short of my crown.
DOLON.
  1. I care not for thy crowned and care-fraught life.
HECTOR.
  1. Wouldst have a daughter of the King to wife?
DOLON.
  1. I seek no mate that might look down on me.