Chorus
Hark, hark! What cry is this that rises near the altar? At once explain the nature of the trouble.
Iolaus
See this aged frame hurled in its feebleness upon the ground! Woe is me!
75
Chorus
Who threw thee down thus pitiably?
Iolaus
Behold the man who flouts your gods, kind sirs, and tries by force to drag me from my seat before the altar of Zeus.
Chorus
From what land, old stranger, art thou come to this confederate state of four cities? or have ye left Euboea’s cliffs, and, with the oar that sweeps the sea, put in here from across the firth?
1
80
Iolaus
Sirs, no island life I lead,
but from Mycenae to thy land I come.
85
Chorus
What do they call thee, aged sir, those folk in Mycenae?
Iolaus
Maybe ye have heard of Iolaus, the comrade of Heracles, for he was not unknown to fame.
Chorus
Yea, I have heard of him in bygone days; but tell me, whose are the tender boys thou bearest in thine arms?
90
Iolaus
These, sirs, are the sons of Heracles, come as suppliants to you and your city.
Heracleidae. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
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