The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I.. Euripides
here over the flames.
MEN. Slay her; since having slain thou shalt at least give me satisfaction for these deeds.
ORES. It shall be so then.
MEN. Alas! on no account do this!
ORES. Be silent then; but bear to suffer evil justly.
MEN. What! is it just for thee to live?
ORES. Yes, and to rule over the land.
MEN. What land!
ORES. Here, in Pelasgian Argos.
MEN. Well wouldst thou touch the sacred lavers!
ORES. And pray why not?
MEN. And wouldst slaughter the victim before the battle!
ORES. And thou wouldst most righteously.
MEN. Yes, for I am pure as to my hands.
ORES. But not thy heart.
MEN. Who would speak to thee?
ORES. Whoever loves his father.
MEN. And whoever reveres his mother.
ORES. – Is happy.
MEN. Not thou at least.
ORES. For wicked women please me not.
MEN. Take away the sword from my daughter.
ORES. Thou art false in thy expectations.
MEN. But wilt thou kill my daughter?
ORES. Thou art no longer false.
MEN. Alas me! what shall I do?
ORES. Go to the Argives, and persuade them.
MEN. With what persuasion?
ORES. Beseech the city that we may not die.81
MEN. Otherwise ye will slay my daughter?
ORES. The thing is so.
MEN. O wretched Helen! —
ORES. And am I not wretched?
MEN. I brought thee hither from the Trojans to be a victim.
ORES. For would this were so!
MEN. Having endured ten thousand toils.
ORES. Except on my account.
MEN. I have met with dreadful treatment.
ORES. For then, when thou oughtest, thou wert of no assistance.
MEN. Thou hast me.
ORES. Thou at least hast caught thyself. But, ho there! set fire to the palace, Electra, from beneath: and thou, Pylades, the most true of my friends, light up these battlements of the walls.
MEN. O land of the Danai, and inhabitants of warlike Argos, will ye not, ho there! come in arms to my succor? For this man here, having perpetrated the shocking murder of his mother, brings destruction on your whole city, that he may live.
APOLLO
Menelaus, cease from thy irritated state of mind; I Phœbus the son of Latona, in thy presence, am addressing thee. Thou too, Orestes, who standest over that damsel with thy sword drawn, that thou mayest know what commands I bring with me. Helen indeed, whom thou minded to destroy, working Menelaus to anger, didst fail of thy purpose, she is here, whom ye see wrapt in the bosom of the sky, preserved, and not slain by thy hands. Her I preserved, and snatched from thy sword, commanded by my father Jove. For being the daughter of Jove, it is right that she should live immortal. And she shall have her seat by Castor and Pollux in the bosom of the sky, the guardian of mariners. But take to thyself another bride, and lead her home, since for the beauty of this woman the Gods brought together the Greeks and Trojans, and caused deaths, that they might draw from off the earth the pride of mortals, who had become an infinite multitude. Thus is it with regard to Helen; but thee, on the other hand, Orestes, it behooveth, having passed beyond the boundaries of this land, to inhabit the Parrhasian plain during the revolution of a year, and it shall be called by a name after thy flight, so that the Azanes and Arcadians shall call it Oresteum: and thence having departed to the city of the Athenians, undergo the charge of shedding thy mother's blood laid by the three Furies. But the Gods the arbiters of the cause shall pass on thee most sacredly their decree on the hill of Mars, in which it behooveth thee to be victorious. But Hermione, to whose neck thou art holding the sword, it is destined for thee, Orestes, to wed, but Neoptolemus, who thinks to marry her, shall never marry her. For it is fated to him to die by the Delphic sword, as he is demanding of me satisfaction for his father Achilles. But to Pylades give thy sister's hand, as thou didst formerly agree, but a happy life now coming on awaits him. But, O Menelaus, suffer Orestes to reign over Argos. But depart and rule over the Spartan land, having it as thy wife's dowry, who exposing thee to numberless evils always was bringing thee to this. But what regards the city I will make all right for him, I, who compelled him to slay his mother.
ORES. O Loxian prophet, thou wert not then a false prophet in thine oracles, but a true one. And yet a fear comes upon me, that having heard one of the Furies, I might think that I have been hearing thy voice. But it is well fulfilled, and I will obey thy words. Behold I let go Hermione from slaughter, and approve her alliance, whenever her father shall give her.
MEN. O Helen, daughter of Jove, hail! but I bless thee inhabiting the happy mansions of the Gods. But to thee, Orestes, do I betroth my daughter at Phœbus's commands, but illustrious thyself marrying from an illustrious family, be happy, both thou and I who give her.
APOL. Now depart each of you whither we have appointed, and dissolve your quarrels.
MEN. It is our duty to obey.
ORES. I too entertain the same sentiments, and I receive with friendship thee in thy sufferings, O Menelaus, and thy oracles, O Apollo.
APOL. Go now, each his own way, honoring the most excellent goddess Peace; but I will convey Helen to the mansions of Jove, passing through the pole of the shining stars, where sitting by Juno, and Hercules's Hebe, a goddess, she shall ever be honored by mortals with libations, in conjunction with the Tyndaridæ, the sons of Jove, presiding over the sea to the benefit of mariners.
CHOR. O greatly glorious Victory, mayest thou uphold my life, and cease not from crowning me!
THE PHŒNICIAN VIRGINS
PERSONS REPRESENTED
JOCASTA.
TUTOR.
ANTIGONE.
CHORUS OF PHŒNICIAN VIRGINS.
POLYNICES.
ETEOCLES.
CREON.
MENŒCEUS.
TIRECIAS.
MESSENGERS.
ŒDIPUS.
THE ARGUMENT
Eteocles having gotten possession of the throne of Thebes, deprived his brother Polynices of his share; but he having come as an exile to Argos, married the daughter of the king Adrastus; but ambitious of returning to his country, and having persuaded his father-in-law, he assembled a great army for Thebes against his brother. His mother Jocasta made him come into the city, under sanction of a truce, and first confer with his brother respecting the empire. But Eteocles being violent and fierce from having possessed the empire, Jocasta could not reconcile her children. – Polynices, prepared as against an enemy, rushed out of the city. Now Tiresias prophesied that victory should be on the side of the Thebans, if Menœceus the son of Creon would give himself up to be sacrificed to Mars. Creon refused to give his son to the city, but the youth was willing, and, his father pointing out to him the means of flight and giving him money, he put himself to death. – The Thebans slew the leaders of the Argives. Eteocles and Polynices in a single combat slew each other, and their mother having found the corses of her sons laid violent hands on herself; and Creon her brother received the kingdom. The Argives defeated in battle retired. But
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