Euripides' PHOENISSAE Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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81 pages - You are on Page 20

Leader: Lo! Eteocles comes hither to discuss the truce. Thine the
task, mother Jocasta, to speak such words as may reconcile thy sons.
(Eteocles and his retinue enter.)

Eteocles: Mother, I am here; but it was only to pleasure thee I came.
What am to do? Let some one begin the conference; for I stopped marshalling
the citizens in double lines around the walls, that I might hear thy
arbitration. between us; for it is under this truce that thou hast
persuaded me to admit this fellow within the walls.

Jocasta: Stay a moment; haste never carries justice with it; but slow
deliberation oft attains a wise result. Restrain the fierceness of
thy look, that panting rage; for this is not the Gorgon's severed
head but thy own brother whom thou seest here. Thou too, Polyneices,
turn and face thy brother; for if thou and he stand face to face,
thou wilt adopt a kindlier tone and lend a readier ear to him. I fain
would give you both one piece of wholesome counsel; when a man that
is angered with his friend confronts him face to face, he ought only
to keep in view the object of his coming, forgetting all previous
quarrels. Polyneices my son, speak first, for thou art come at the
head of a Danaid host, alleging wrongful treatment; and may some god
judge betwixt us and reconcile the trouble.

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