Euripides' HELEN Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

Euripides Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Euripides in Print

90 pages - You are on Page 40

Messenger: Daughter, how changeful and inscrutable is the nature of
God! With some good end doth he vary men's fortune-now up, now down;
one suffers; another who ne'er knew suffering, is in his turn to awful
ruin brought, having no assurance in his lot from day to day. Thou
and thy husband have had your share of trouble-thou in what the world
has said, he in battle's heat. For all the striving that he strove,
he got him naught; while now, without an effort made, every blessing
fortune boasts is his. And thou, in spite of all, hast brought no
shame upon thy aged sire, or those twin sons of Zeus, nor art thou
guilty of those rumoured crimes. Now again do I recall thy wedding
rites, remembering the blazing torch I bore beside thee in a four-horsed
chariot at full gallop; while thou with this thy lord, a new-made
bride, wert driving forth from thy happy home. A sorry servant he,
whoso regardeth not his master's interest, sympathizing with his sorrows
and his joys. Slave though I was born, yet may I be numbered amongst
honest servants; for in heart, though not in name, I am free. For
this is better far than in my single person to suffer these two evils,
to feel my heart corrupt, and as the slave of others to be at my neighbour's
beck and call.

Menelaus: Come, old friend, oft hast thou stood side by side with
me and taken thy full share of toil; so now be partner in my happiness.
Go, tell my comrades, whom I left behind, the state of matters here,
as thou hast found them, and the issue of my fortunes; and bid them
wait upon the beach and abide the result of the struggle, which I
trow awaits me; and if mayhap we find a way to take this lady from
the land by stealth, tell them to keep good watch that we may share
the luck and escape, if possible, from the barbarian's clutch.

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