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Chorus
Hark, hark! What cry is this that rises near the altar? At once explain the nature of the trouble.
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
See this aged frame hurled in its feebleness upon the ground! Woe is me!
75
Chorus
Who threw thee down thus pitiably?
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.
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
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
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?
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.
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
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.
These, sirs, are the sons of Heracles, come as suppliants to you and your city.
Chorus
What is their quest? Are they anxious, tell me, to obtain an audience of the state?
95
What is their quest? Are they anxious, tell me, to obtain an audience of the state?
95
Iolaus
That so they may escape surrender, nor be tom with violence from thy altars, and brought to Argos.
That so they may escape surrender, nor be tom with violence from thy altars, and brought to Argos.
Copreus
Nay, this will nowise satisfy thy masters,
who o’er thee have a right, and so have tracked thee hither.
100
Nay, this will nowise satisfy thy masters,
who o’er thee have a right, and so have tracked thee hither.
100
Chorus
Stranger, ’tis but right we should reverence the gods’ suppliants, suffering none with violent hand to make them
2
leave the altars, for that will dread Justice ne’er permit.
Stranger, ’tis but right we should reverence the gods’ suppliants, suffering none with violent hand to make them
2
leave the altars, for that will dread Justice ne’er permit.
Copreus
Do thou then drive these subjects of Eurystheus forth, and this hand of mine shall abstain from violence.
105
Do thou then drive these subjects of Eurystheus forth, and this hand of mine shall abstain from violence.
105
Chorus
’Twere impious for the state to neglect the suppliant stranger’s prayer.
’Twere impious for the state to neglect the suppliant stranger’s prayer.
Copreus
Yet ’tis well to keep clear of troubles,
by adopting that counsel, which is the wiser.
110
Yet ’tis well to keep clear of troubles,
by adopting that counsel, which is the wiser.
110
Heracleidae. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
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