Euripides' HERACLEIDAE Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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47 pages - You are on Page 11

Leader: O king, I pity them, hearing their sad lot. Now more than
ever do see noble birth o'ercome by fortune; for these, though sprung
from noble sire, are suffering what they ne'er deserved.

Demophon: Three aspects of the circumstance constrain me, Iolaus,
not to spurn the guests thou bringest; first and foremost, there is
Zeus, at whose altar thou art seated with these tender children gathered
round thee; next come ties of kin, and the debt I owe to treat them
kindly for their father's sake; and last, mine honour, which before
all I must regard; for if I permit this altar to be violently despoiled
by stranger hands, men will think the land I inhabit is free no more,
and that through fear I have surrendered suppliants to Argives, and
this comes nigh to make one hang oneself. Would that thou hadst come
under a luckier star! yet, as it is, fear not that any man shall tear
thee and these children from the altar by force. (to Copreus) Get
thee to Argos and tell Eurystheus so; yea and more, if he have any
charge against these strangers, he shall have justice; but never shalt
thou drag them hence.

Copreus: Not even if I have right upon my side and prove my case?

Demophon: How can it be right to drag the suppliant away by force?

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