Euripides' ANDROMACHE Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

Euripides Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Euripides in Print

51 pages - You are on Page 32

(epode)

O aged son of Aeacus! now am I sure that thou wert with the Lapithae,
wielding thy famous spear, when they fought the Centaurs; and on Argo's
deck didst pass the cheerless strait beyond the sea-beat Symplegades
on her voyage famed; and when in days long gone the son of Zeus spread
slaughter round Troy's famous town, thou too didst share his triumphant
return to Europe. (The Nurse of Hermione enters.)

Nurse: Alas! good friends, what a succession of troubles is to-day
provided us! My mistress Hermione within the house, deserted by her
father and in remorse for her monstrous deed in plotting the death
of Andromache and her child, is bent on dying; for she is afraid her
husband will in requital for this expel her with dishonour from his
house or put her to death, because she tried to slay the innocent.
And the servants that watch her can scarce restrain her efforts to
hang herself, scarce catch the sword and wrest it from her hand. So
bitter is her anguish, and she hath recognized the villainy of her
former deeds. As for me, friends, I am weary of keeping my mistress
from the fatal noose; do ye go in and try to save her life; for if
strangers come, they prove more persuasive than the friends of every
day.

Leader of the Chorus: Ah yes! I hear an outcry in the house amongst
the servants, confirming the news thou hast brought. Poor sufferer!
she seems about to show lively grief for her grave crimes; for she
has escaped her servants' hands and is rushing from the house, eager
to end her life. (Hermione enters, in agitation. She is carrying
a sword which the Nurse wrests from her.)

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