Euripides' HERACLES Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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63 pages - You are on Page 6

Lycus: One question, if I may, to this father of Heracles and his
wife; and certainly as your lord and master I have a right to put
what questions choose. How long do ye seek to prolong your lives?
What hope, what succour do ye see to save you from death? Do you trust
that these children's father, who lies dead in the halls of Hades,
will return? How unworthily ye show your sorrow at having to die,
thou (to Amphitryon) after thy idle boasts, scattered broadcast
through Hellas, that Zeus was partner in thy marriage-bed and there
begat a new god; and thou (to Megara) after calling thyself the
wife of so peerless a lord.

After all, what was the fine exploit thy husband achieved, if he did
kil a hydra in a marsh or that monster of Nemea? which he caught in
a snare, for all he says he strangled it to death in his arms. Are
these your weapons for the hard struggle? Is it for this then that
Heracles' children should be spared? a man who has won a reputation
for valour in his contests with beasts, in all else a weakling; who
ne'er buckled shield to arm nor faced the spear, but with a bow, that
coward's weapon, was ever ready to run away. Archery is no test of
manly bravery; no! he is a man who keeps his post in the ranks and
steadily faces the swift wound the spear may plough. My policy, again,
old man, shows no reckless cruelty, but caution; for I am well aware
I slew Creon, the father of Megara, and am in possession of his throne.
So I have no wish that these children should grow up and be left to
take vengeance on me in requital for what I have done.

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