Euripides' ANDROMACHE Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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51 pages - You are on Page 7

Hermione: With a crown of golden workmanship upon my head and about
my body this embroidered robe am I come hither; no presents these
I wear from the palace of Achilles or Peleus, but gifts my father
Menelaus gave me together with a sumptuous dower from Sparta in Laconia,
to insure me freedom of speech. Such is my answer to you; (to the CHORUS)
but as for thee, slave and captive, thou wouldst fain oust
me and secure this palace for thyself, and thanks to thy enchantment
I am hated by my husband; thou it is that hast made my womb barren
and cheated my hopes; for Asia's daughters have clever heads for such
villainy; yet will I check thee therefrom, nor shall this temple of
the Nereid avail thee aught, no! neither its altar or shrine, but
thou shalt die. But if or god or man should haply wish to save thee,
thou must atone for thy proud thoughts of happier days now past by
humbling thyself and crouching prostrate at my knees, by sweeping
out my halls, and by learning, as thou sprinklest water from a golden
ewer, where thou now art. Here is no Hector, no Priam with his gold,
but a city of Hellas. Yet thou, miserable woman, hast gone so far
in wantonness that thou canst lay thee down with the son of the very
man that slew thy husband, and bear children to the murderer. Such
is all the race of barbarians; father and daughter, mother and son,
sister and brother mate together; the nearest and dearest stain their
path with each other's blood, and no law restrains such horrors. Bring
not these crimes amongst us, for here we count it shame that one man
should have the control of two wives, and men are content to turn
to one lawful love, that is, all who care to live an honourable life.

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