Euripides' HERACLEIDAE Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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47 pages - You are on Page 38

Servant: Aye, that he is, a hero whom the gods delight to honour.

Alcmena: How so? Did he perform some deed of prowess?

Servant: He hath passed from age to youth once more.

Alcmena: Thy tale is passing strange; but first I would that thou
shouldst tell me how our friends won the day.

Servant: One speech of mine puts it all clearly before thee. When
we had deployed our troops and marshalled them face to face with one
another, Hyllus dismounted from his four-horsed chariot and stood
midway betwixt the hosts. Then cried he, "Captain, who art come from
Argos, why cannot we leave this land alone? No hurt wilt thou do Mycenae,
if of one man thou rob her; come! meet me in single combat. and if
thou slay me, take the children of Heracles away with thee, but, if
thou fall, leave me to possess my ancestral honours and my home."
The host cried yes! saying the scheme he offered was a fair one, both
to rid them of their trouble and satisfy their valour. But that other,
feeling no shame before those who heard the challenge or at his own
cowardice, quailed, general though he was, to come within reach of
the stubborn spear, showing himself an abject coward; yet with such
a spirit he came to enslave the children of Heracles. Then did Hyllus
withdraw to his own ranks again, and the prophets seeing that no reconciliation
would be effected by single combat, began the sacrifice without delay
and forthwith let flow from a human throat auspicious streams of blood.

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