Euripides' HERACLEIDAE Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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47 pages - You are on Page 25

Iolaus: Maiden of heroic soul, transcending all thy race, be sure
the fame that thou shalt win from us, in life, in death, shall leave
the rest of women far behind; farewell to thee! I dare not say harsh
words of her to whom thou art devoted, the goddess-daughter of Demeter.
(Demophon leads Macaria away.) Children, I am undone, grief unnerves
my limbs; take hold and support me to a seat hard by, when ye have
drawn my mantle o'er my face, my sons. For I am grieved at what hath
happened, and yet, were it not fulfilled, we could not live; thus
were our fate worse, though this is grief enough.

Chorus: (singing, strophe)

Without the will of heaven none is blest, none curst, I do maintain;
nor doth the same house for ever tread the path of bliss; for one
kind of fortune follows hard upon another; one man it brings to naught
from his high estate, another though of no account it crowns with
happiness. To shun what fate decrees, is no wise permitted; none by
cunning shall thrust it from him; but he, who vainly would do so,
shall have unceasing trouble.

(antistrophe)

Then fall not prostrate thou, but bear what heaven sends, and set
limit to thy soul's grief; for she, poor maid! in dying for her brothers
and this land, hath won a glorious death, and splendid fame shall
be her meed from all mankind; for virtue's path leads through troublous
ways. Worthy of her father, worthy of her noble birth is this she
does. And if thou dost honour the virtuous dead, I share with thee
that sentiment. (The Servant of Hyllus enters.)

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