Euripides' SUPPLIANTS Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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Theseus: Thou didst favour courage instead of discretion.

Adrastus: True; and many a general owes defeat to that. O king of
Athens, bravest of the sons of Hellas, I blush to throw myself upon
the ground and clasp thy knees, I a grey-haired king, blest in days
gone by; yet needs must yield to my misfortunes. I pray thee save
the dead; have pity on my sorrows and on these, the mothers of the
slain, whom hoary eld finds reft of their sons; yet they endured to
journey hither and tread a foreign soil with aged tottering steps,
bearing no embassy to Demeter's mysteries; only seeking burial for
their dead, which lot should have been theirs, e'en burial by the
hands of sons still in their prime. And 'tis wise in the rich to see
the poor man's poverty, and in the poor man to turn ambitious eyes
toward the rich, that so he may himself indulge a longing for possessions;
and they, whom fortune frowns not on, should gaze on misery's presentment;
likewise, who maketh songs should take a pleasure in their making;
for if it be not so with him, he will in no wise avail to gladden
others, if himself have sorrow in his home; nay, 'tis not even right
to expect it. Mayhap thou'lt say, "Why pass the land of Pelops o'er,
and lay this toil on Athens?" This am I bound to declare. Sparta is
cruel, her customs variable; the other states are small and weak.
Thy city alone would be able to undertake this labour; for it turns
an eye on suffering, and hath in thee a young and gallant king, for
want whereof to lead their hosts states ere now have often perished.

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