Euripides

“ Thou shouldst have spued her forth, have stirred no spear,
Who hadst found her vile, but let her there abide,
Yea, paid a price to take her never back.
But nowise thus the wind of thine heart blew. ⁠610
Nay, many a gallant life hast thou destroyed,
And childless made grey mothers in their halls,
And white-haired sires hast robbed of noble sons;—
My wretched self am one, who see in thee,
Like some foul fiend, Achilles' murderer;— ⁠615
Thou who alone unwounded cam'st from Troy,
And daintiest arms in dainty sheaths unstained,
Borne thither, hither back didst bring again! ”

“ When thou against the Trojan dame didst sin,
Nor praise the frenzy of dread that shakes thee now.
Not thus thy lord will thrust his wife away
By weak words of barbarian woman swayed. ⁠870
In thee he wed no captive torn from Troy,
Nay, but a prince's child, and gat with thee
Rich dowry from a city of golden weal.
Nor will thy father, as thou fearest, child,
Forsake and let thee from these halls be driven. ⁠875
Nay, pass within; make not thyself a show
Before this house, lest thou shouldst get thee shame,
Before this palace seen of men, my child. ”

“ And in affliction plunged dost thou despair,
Hence will I lead and give thee to thy sire;
For mighty is kinship, and in evil days ⁠985
There is naught better than the bond of blood.
Hermione.
My marriage—'tis my father shall take thought
Thereof: herein decision is not mine.
But help thou me with all speed forth this house,
Lest my lord coming home prevent me yet, ⁠990
Or Peleus learn my flight from his son's halls,
And follow in our track with chasing steeds.
Orestes.
Fear not the greybeard's hand: yea, nowise fear
Achilles' son: his insolence-cup is full ”

“ Ought men to make their nature woman-like.
For, if I practise on thy child by philtres, ⁠355
And seal her womb, according to her tale,
Willingly, nothing loth, nor low at altars
Crouching, myself will face the penalty
At her lord's hands, to whom I am guilty of wrong
No less, in blasting him with childlessness. ⁠360
Hereon I stand:—but one thing in thy nature
I fear—'twas in a woman's quarrel too
Thou didst destroy the hapless Phrygians' town.
Chorus.
Thou hast said too much, as woman against man:
Yea, and thy soul's discretion hath shot wide. ⁠365
Menelaus. ”

“ Of my state royal,—thou say'st it,—and of Greece.
Yet know, when one hath set his heart on aught,
More than to take a Troy is this to him.
I stand my daughter's champion, for I count ⁠370
No trifle robbery of marriage-right.
Nought else a wife may suffer matcheth this.
Losing her husband, she doth lose her life.
Over my thralls her lord hath claim to rule,
And over his like right have I and mine: ⁠375
For nought that friends have, if true friends they be,
Is private: held in common is all wealth. ”

“ To spy upon my lord? I had all my need,—
Great riches; in his palace was I queen; ⁠940
The children I might bear should be true-born;
But hers, the bastards, half-thrall unto mine.
But never, never—yea, twice o'er I say it,—
Ought men of wisdom, such as have a wife,
Suffer that women visit in their halls ⁠945
The wife: they are teachers of iniquity.
One, for her own ends, beckons on to sin;
One, that hath fallen, craves fellowship in shame;
And of sheer wantonness many tempt. And so
Men's homes are poisoned. Therefore guard ye well ⁠950
With bolts and bars the portals of your halls ”

“ Even so thou and thy brother sit enthroned,
For Troy puffed up, and that your generalship,
By others' toils and pains exalted high. ⁠705
But I will teach thee nevermore to count
Paris of Ida foe more stern than Peleus,
Except thou vanish from this roof with speed,
Thou and thy childless daughter, whom my son
By the hair shall grasp and hale her through these halls,— ⁠710
The barren heifer, who will not endure
The fruitful, seeing herself hath children none! ”

“ What ails thee? Have I erred, or see I clear
Menelaus' daughter here, this household's queen?
Hermione.
Yea, the one daughter Helen Tyndareus' child
Bare in his halls unto my sire: doubt not.
Orestes.
O Healer Phœbus, grant from woes release! ⁠900
What ails thee? Art thou wronged of Gods or men?
Hermione.
Of myself partly, partly of my lord,
In part of some God: ruin is everywhere!
Orestes.
Now what affliction to a childless wife
Could hap, except as touching wedlock-right? ⁠905
Hermione. ”

“ Menelaus.
Her shalt thou rescue never from mine hand.
Peleus.
This staff shall make thine head to stream with blood.
Menelaus.
Touch me, and thou shalt see!—ay, draw but near!
Peleus.
Thou, thou a man?—Coward, of cowards bred! ⁠590
What part or lot hast thou amongst true men?
Thou, by a Phrygian from thy wife divorced,
Who leftest hearth and home unbarred, unwarded,
As who kept in his halls a virtuous wife,—
And she the vilest! Though one should essay, ⁠595
Virtuous could daughter of Sparta never be. ”

“ Mistress, so far as lightly thou may'st do,
Deign to make truce with her from wordy strife.
Hermione.
And speak'st thou loftily, and wranglest thou,
As thou wert continent, I of continence void? ⁠235
Andromache.
Void?—Yea, if thou be judged by this thy claim.
Hermione.
Never in my breast thy discretion dwell!
Andromache.
A young wife thou for such immodest words.
Hermione.
Words?—thine are deeds, to the uttermost of thy power.
Andromache.
Cannot thy hungry jealousy hold its peace? ⁠240
Hermione. ”

“ Hermione.
Thou hast left me, my father, hast left, as a bark by the tide
Left stranded and stripped of the last sea-plashing oar!
He shall slay me, shall slay! 'Neath the roof that knew me a bride
⁠Shall I dwell never more!
To the feet of what statue of Gods shall the suppliant fly?
Or crouched at a bondwoman's knees like a slave shall I lie? ⁠860
O that from Phthia, a bird dark-winged, I were soaring,
⁠Or were such as the pine-wrought galley, that flew
The first of the ships of earth her swift course oaring
⁠Through the Crags dark-blue! ⁠865
Nurse. ”

“ O child, thy mother, that thou may'st not die,
Passeth to Hades. If thou 'scape the doom,
Think on thy mother—how I suffered—died! ⁠415
And to thy sire with kisses and with tears
Streaming, and little arms about his neck,
Tell how I fared! To all mankind, I wot,
Children are life. Who scoffs at joys unproved,
Though less his grief, a void is in his bliss. ⁠420 ”

“ Chorus.
In woman's heart is jealousy inborn,
'Tis bitterest unto wedlock-rivals aye.
Andromache.
Out upon thee!
A curse is youth to mortals, when with youth
A man hath not implanted righteousness! ”

“ I fear me lest with thee my thraldom bar
Defence, though many a righteous plea I have,
And even my victory turn unto mine hurt.
They that are arrogant brook not to be
In argument o'ermastered by the lowly: ⁠190
Yet will I not abandon mine own cause.
Say, thou rash girl, in what assurance strong
Should I thrust thee from lawful wedlock-rights?
Is Sparta meaner than the Phrygians' burg?
Soareth my fortune?—dost thou see me free? ⁠195
Or by my young and rounded loveliness,
My city's greatness, and my noble friends
Exalted, would I wrest from thee thine home? ”

“ Was Hector's brother, and she Hector's wife.
And wouldst thou pass beneath one roof with her,
And stoop to break bread with her at thy board,
In thine house let her bear our bitterest foes,
Whom I, of forethought for thyself and me, ⁠660
Would slay?—and lo, from mine hands is she torn! [12]
Come, reason we together—no shame this:—
If my child bear no sons, this woman's brood
Grow up, wilt thou establish these as lords
Of Phthia-land?—shall they, barbarians born, ⁠665
Rule Greeks? And I, forsooth, am all unwise,
Who hate the wrong, but wisdom dwells with thee! ”

“ Thee, and that daughter in thine halls, yet rue, ⁠635
Though he were thrice a bastard. Oft the yield
Of barren ground o'erpasseth deep rich soil;
And better are bastards oft than sons true-born.
Take hence thy daughter! Better 'tis to have
The poor and upright, or for marriage-kin, ⁠640
Or friend, than the vile rich:—thou, thou art naught!
Chorus.
From small beginnings bitter feuds the tongue
Brings forth: for this cause wise men take good heed
That with their friends they bring not strife to pass.
Menelaus. ”

“ They cast forth from the incense-breathing shrine.
But with all speed our hands uplifted him,
And to thee bear him, to lament with wail
And weeping, ancient, and to ensepulchre. ⁠1160
Thus he that giveth oracles to the world,
He that is judge to all men of the right,
Hath wreaked revenge upon Achilles' son,—
Yea, hath remembered, like some evil man,
An old, old feud! How then shall he be wise? ⁠1165
Enter bearers with corpse of Neoptolemus. ”

“ Such lure have I for thee:—yet will I hide
The word: the deed itself shall soon declare. ⁠265
Ay, sit thou fast!—though clamps of molten lead
Encompassed thee, yet will I make thee rise,
Ere come Achilles' son, in whom thou trustest. [Exit.
Andromache.
I do trust . . . . Strange that God hath given to men
Salves for the venom of all creeping pests, ⁠270
But none hath ever yet devised a balm
For venomous woman, worse than fire or viper:
So dire a mischief unto men are we.
Chorus.
(Str. 1)
Herald of woes, to the glen deep-hiding
⁠In Ida came Zeus's and Maia's son [8] ”

“ Enter Peleus, attended.
Peleus.
Women of Phthia, unto that I ask
Make answer, for a rumour have I heard
That Menelaus' child hath left these halls
And fled away. In haste I come to learn ⁠1050
If this be sooth; for we which bide at home
Should bear the burdens of our absent friends.
Chorus.
Peleus, truth hast thou heard: 'twere for my shame
To hide the ills wherein my lot is cast.
O yea, the queen is gone—fled from these halls. ⁠1055
Peleus. ”

“ They gad abroad with young men from their homes,
And with bare thighs and loose disgirdled vesture
Race, wrestle with them,—things intolerable
To me! And is it wonder-worthy then ⁠600
That ye train not your women to be chaste?
This well might Helen have asked thee, who forsook
Thy love, and from thine halls went revelling forth
With a young gallant to an alien land.
Yet for her sake thou gatheredst that huge host ⁠605
Of Greeks, and leddest them to Ilium. ”

“ Andromache.
Lo there!—thy friends in woe dost thou renounce.
Handmaid.
No—no! Cast thou no such reproach on me!
Lo, I will go. What matter is the life
Of a bondwoman, though I light on death? ⁠90
Andromache. ”

“ When Troy was taken by the Greeks, Andromachê, wife of that Hector whom Achilles slew ere himself was slain by the arrow which Apollo guided, was given in the dividing of the spoils to Neoptolemus, Achilles' son. So he took her oversea to the land of Thessaly, and loved her, and entreated her kindly, and she bare him a son in her captivity. But after ten years [1] Neoptolemus took to wife a princess of Sparta, Hermionê, daughter of Menelaus and Helen. But to these was no child born, and the soul of Hermionê grew bitter with jealousy against Andromachê. ”

“ Thou hadst for lord a prince, where one man shares
His couch's boon in turn with many wives,
Wouldst thou have slain these?—ay, and so be found
Branding all women with the slur of lust—
A shameful thing! Yet herein more than men's ⁠220
Is our affliction; but we bear up bravely.
Ah, dear, dear Hector, I would take to my heart
Even thy leman, if Love tripped thy feet.
Yea, often to thy bastards would I hold
My breast, that I might give thee none offence. ”

“ Exit Thetis.
Now, shall not whoso is prudent choose his wife,
And for his children mates, of noble strain? ⁠1280
And nurse no longing for an evil bride,
Not though she bring his house a regal dower?
So should men ne'er receive ill of the Gods.
Chorus.
O the works of the Gods—in manifold forms they reveal them:
⁠Manifold things unhoped-for the Gods to accomplishment bring. ⁠1285
And the things that we looked for, the Gods deign not to fulfil them;
And the paths undiscerned of our eyes, the Gods unseal them. ”

“ So void of manhood Troy proclaims him not.
Nay, he shall follow duty's call, be proved,
By deeds, of Peleus worthy and Achilles.
He shall thrust forth thy child. What plea wilt find [10]
For a new spouse?—This lie—"the saintly soul ⁠345
Of this pure thing shrank from her wicked lord?"
Who shall wed such? Wilt keep her in thine halls
Spouseless, a grey-haired widow? O thou wretch,
Seest not the floods of evil bursting o'er thee?
How many a wedlock-wrong wouldst thou be fain ⁠350
Thy child knew rather than the ills I name!
We ought not for slight cause court grievous harm ”

“ Thus, O thou dastard, hast thou galled her wrists?
Didst think to enmesh a bull or lion here? [15] ⁠720
Didst fear lest she should snatch a sword, and chase
Thee hence? Steal hither 'neath mine arms, my bairn:
Help loose thy mother's bonds. I'll rear thee yet
In Phthia, their grim foe. If spear-renown
And battle-fame be ta'en from Sparta's sons, ⁠725
In all else are ye meanest of mankind.
Chorus.
This race of old men may no man restrain,
Nor guard him 'gainst their sudden-fiery mood.
Menelaus. ”

“ Not of her will, but Heaven's, came Helen's trouble; ⁠680
And a great boon bestowed she thus on Greece;
For they which were unschooled to arms and fight
Turned them to brave deeds: fellowship in arms
Is the great teacher of all things to men.
And if I, soon as I beheld my wife, ⁠685
Forebore to slay her, wise was I herein.
'Twere well had Phokus ne'er been slain by thee. [13]
Thus have I met thee in goodwill, not wrath.
If thou wax passionate, thou shalt but win
An aching tongue : my gain in forethought lies. ⁠690
Chorus. ”