Euripides' HERACLEIDAE Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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47 pages - You are on Page 40

Leader of the Chorus: O Zeus, who puttest my foes to flight, now may
I behold the day that frees me from cruel fear!

Alcmena: At last, O Zeus, hast thou turned a favouring eye on my affliction;
yet do I thank thee for what has happened. And though ere this I did
not believe my son was gathered to the gods, now am I convinced thereof.
My children, now at last from toil shall ye be free, free from him,
whom hideous death awaits, Eurystheus; now shall ye behold your father's
city, and set foot in the land of your inheritance, and sacrifice
to those ancestral gods, from whom ye have been debarred and forced
to lead in strangers' lands a life of wretched vagrancy. But tell
me, what sage purpose Iolaus nursed in his heart, that he spared the
life of Eurystheus, for to my mind this is no wisdom, to catch a foe
and wreak no vengeance on him.

Servant: 'Twas his regard for thee, that thou might'st see him subject
to thy hand, and triumph o'er him. Rest assured, 'twas no willing
prisoner he made, but by strong constraint he bound him, for Eurystheus
was loth indeed to come alive into thy presence and pay his penalty.
Farewell, my aged mistress; I pray thee remember thy first promise
when I was beginning my story; set me free; for, at such a time as
this, sincerity becometh noble lips. (The Servant departs.)

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