Euripides Andromache 486

Chorus

But lo!

before the house I see those two united souls, condemned to die. Alas! for thee, poor lady, and for thee, unhappy child, who art dying on account of thy mother’s marriage, though thou hast no share therein

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and canst not be blamed by the royal house.

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Andromache

Behold me journeying on the downward path, my hands so tightly bound with cords that they bleed.

Molossus

O mother, mother mine! I too share thy

downward path, nestling ’neath thy wing.

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Andromache

A cruel sacrifice! ye rulers of Phthia!

Molossus

Come, father! succour those thou lovest.

Andromache

Rest ¹ there, my babe, my darling! on thy mother’s bosom, e’en in death and in the grave.

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Molossus

Ah, woe is me! what will become of me and thee too, mother mine?

Menelaus

Away, to the world below! from hostile towers ye came, the pair of you; two different causes necessitate your deaths; my sentence takes away thy life, and my daughter Hermione’s requires his; for it would be the

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height of folly to leave our foemen’s sons, when we might kill them and remove the danger from our house.

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Andromache

O husband mine! I would I had thy strong arm and spear

to aid me, son of Priam.

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Molossus

Ah, woe is me! what spell can I now find to turn death’s stroke aside?

Andromache

Embrace thy master’s knees, my child, and pray to him.

Molossus

Spare, O spare my life, kind master!

Andromache

Mine eyes are wet with tears, which trickle down my cheeks, as doth a sunless spring from a smooth rock. Ah me!

Molossus

What remedy, alas! can I provide me ’gainst my ills?

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Menelaus

Why fall at my knees in supplication? hard as the rock and deaf as the wave am I. My own friends have I helped,

but for thee have I no tie of affection; for verily it cost me a great part of my life to capture Troy and thy mother; so thou shalt reap the fruit thereof and into Hades’ halls descend.

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Chorus

Behold! I see Peleus drawing nigh; with aged step he hasteth hither.

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Peleus

calling out as he comes in sight. What means this? I ask you and your executioner; why is the palace in an uproar? give a reason; what mean your lawless machinations?

Menelaus, hold thy hand. Seek not to outrun justice. To his attendant. Forward! faster, faster! for this matter, methinks, admits of no delay; now if ever would I fain ² resume the vigour of my youth. First however

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will I breathe new life into this captive, being to her as the breeze that blows a ship before the wind. Tell me, by what right have they pinioned thine arms and are dragging thee and thy child away? like a ewe with her lamb art thou led to the slaughter, while I and thy lord were far away.

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Andromache

Behold them that are haling me and my child to death,

e’en as thou seest, aged prince. Why should I tell thee? For not by one urgent summons alone but by countless messengers have I sent for thee. No doubt thou knowest by hearsay of the strife in this house with this man’s daughter, and the reason of my ruin.

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So now they have torn and are dragging me from the altar of Thetis, the goddess of thy chiefest adoration and the mother of thy gallant son, without any proper trial, yea, and without waiting for my absent master; because, forsooth, they knew my defencelessness

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and my child’s, whom they mean to slay with me his hapless mother, though he has done no harm. But to thee, O sire, I make my supplication, prostrate at thy knees, though my hand cannot touch thy friendly beard; save me, I adjure thee, reverend sir,

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or to thy shame and my sorrow shall we be slain.

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Peleus

Loose her bonds, I say, ere some one rue it; untie her folded hands.

Menelaus

I forbid it, for besides ³ being a match for thee,

I have a far better right to her.

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Peleus

What! art thou come hither to set my house in order? Art not content with ruling thy Spartans?

Menelaus

She is my captive; I took her from Troy.

Peleus

Aye, but my son’s son received her as his prize.

Menelaus

Is not all I have his, and all his mine?

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Peleus

For good, but not evil ends; and surely not for murderous violence.

Menelaus

Never shalt thou wrest her from my grasp.

Peleus

With this good staff I’ll stain thy head with blood!

Menelaus

Just touch me and see! Approach one step!

Peleus

What! shalt thou rank with men? chief of cowards, son of cowards! What right hast thou to any place ’mongst men? Thou who didst let a Phrygian rob thee of thy wife, leaving thy home without bolt or guard, ⁴ as if forsooth the cursed woman thou hadst there was a model of virtue.

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No! a Spartan! maid could not be chaste, e’en if she would, who leaves her home and bares her limbs and lets her robe float free, to share; with youths their races and their sports,--

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customs I cannot away with. Is it any wonder then that ye fail to educate your women in virtue? Helen might have asked thee this, seeing that she said goodbye to thy affection and tripped off with her young gallant to a foreign land.

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And yet for her sake thou didst marshal all the hosts of Hellas and lead them to Ilium, whereas thou shouldst have shown thy loathing for her by refusing to stir a spear, once thou hadst found her false; yea, thou shouldst have let her stay there, and even paid a price to save ever having her back again.

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But that was not at all the way thy thoughts were turned; wherefore many a brave life hast thou ended, and many an aged mother hast thou left childless in her home, and grey-haired sires of gallant sons hast reft. Of that sad band am I a member, seeing in thee

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Achilles murderer like a malignant fiend; for thou and thou alone hast returned from Troy without a scratch, bringing back thy splendid weapons in their splendid cases just as they went. As for me, I ever told that amorous boy to form no alliance with thee

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nor take unto his home an evil mother’s child; for daughters bear the marks of their mothers’ ill-repute into their new homes. Wherefore, ye wooers, take heed to this my warning: Choose the daughter of a good mother. And more than this, with what wanton insult didst thou treat thy brother,

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bidding him sacrifice his daughter in his simpleness! So fearful wast thou of losing thy worthless wife. Then after capturing Troy,–for thither too will I accompany thee,–thou didst not slay that woman, when she was in thy power; but as soon as thine eyes caught sight of her breast, thy sword was dropped

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and thou didst take her kisses, fondling the shameless traitress, too weak to stem thy hot desire, thou caitiff wretch! Yet spite of all thou art the man to come and work havoc in my grandson’s halls when he is absent, seeking to slay with all indignity a poor weak woman and her babe; but that babe

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shall one day make thee and thy daughter in thy home rue it, e’en though his birth be trebly base. Yea, for oft ere now hath seed, sown on barren soil, prevailed o’er rich deep tilth, and many a bastard has proved a better man than children better born. Take thy daughter hence with thee! Far better is it for mortals

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to have a poor honest man either as married kin or friend than a wealthy knave; but as for thee, thou art a thing of naught.

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Chorus

The tongue from trifling causes contrives to breed great strife ’mongst men; wherefore are the wise most careful not to bring about a quarrel with their friends.

Menelaus

Why, ⁵ pray, should one call these old men wise, or those who once had a reputation in Hellas for being so? when thou, the great Peleus, son of a famous father, connected with me by marriage, ⁶ employest language disgraceful to thyself and abusive of me because of a barbarian woman,

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though thou shouldst have banished her far ⁷ beyond the streams of Nile or Phasis, and ever encouraged me; seeing that she comes from Asia’s continent where fell so many of the sons of Hellas, victims to the spear; and likewise because she shared in the spilling of thy son’s blood;

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for ⁸ Paris who slew thy son Achilles, was brother to Hector, whose wife she was. And dost thou enter the same abode with her, and deign to let her share thy board, and suffer her to rear her brood of vipers in thy house?

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But I, after all this foresight for thee, old man, and myself, am to have her torn from my clutches for wishing to slay her. Yet come now, for there is no disgrace in arguing the matter out; suppose my daughter has no child, while this woman’s sons grow up, wilt thou set them up to rule the land of Phthia,

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barbarians born and bred to lord it over Hellenes? Am I then so void of sense because I hate injustice, and thou so full of cleverness? Consider ⁹ yet another point; say thou hadst given a daughter of thine to some citizen, and hadst then seen her thus treated,

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wouldst thou have sat looking on in silence? I trow not. Dost thou then for a foreigner rail thus at thy nearest friends? Again, thou mayst say, husband and wife have an equally strong case if she is wronged by him, and similarly if he find her guilty of indiscretion in his house;

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yet while he has ample powers in his own hands, she depends on parents and friends for her case. Surely then I am right in helping my own kin! Thou art in thy dotage; for thou wilt do me more, good by speaking of my generalship than by concealing it.

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Helen’s trouble was not of her own choosing, but sent by heaven, and it proved a great benefit to Hellas; her sons, till then untried in war or arms, turned to deeds of prowess, and it is experience which teaches man all he knows.

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I showed my wisdom in refraining from slaying my wife, directly I caught sight of her. Would that thou too hadst ne’er slain Phocus! ¹⁰

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All this I bring before thee in pure good-will, not from anger. But if thou resent it, thy tongue may wag till it ache,

yet shall I gain by prudent forethought.

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Chorus

Cease now from idle words, ’twere better far, for fear ye both alike go wrong.

Peleus

Alas! what evil customs now prevail in Hellas! Whene’er the host sets up a trophy o’er the foe,

men no more consider this the work of those who really toiled, but the general gets the credit for it. Now he was but one among ten thousand others to brandish his spear; he only did the work of one; but yet he wins more praise than they. Again, as magistrates in all the grandeur of office

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they scorn the common folk, though they are naught themselves; whereas those others are ten thousand times more wise than they, if daring combine with judgment. Even so thou and thy brother, now take your seats in all the swollen pride of Trojan fame and Trojan generalship,

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exalted by the toilsome efforts of others. ¹¹ But I will teach thee henceforth to consider Idaean Paris a foe less terrible ¹² than Peleus, unless forthwith thou pack from this roof, thou and thy childless daughter too, whom my own true son

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will hale through his halls by the hair of her head; for her barrenness will not let her endure fruitfulness in others, because she has no children herself. Still if she is unlucky in the matter of offspring, is that a reason why we should be left childless?

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Begone! ye varlets, let her go! I will soon see if anyone will hinder me from loosing her hands.

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To Andromache. Arise; these trembling hands of mine will untie the twisted thongs that bind thee. Out on thee, coward! is this how thou hast galled her wrists?

Didst think thou wert lashing up a lion or bull? or wert afraid she would snatch a sword and defend herself against thee? Come, child, nestle to thy mother’s arms; help me loose her bonds; I will yet rear thee in Phthia to be their bitter foe. If your reputation for prowess

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and the battles ye have fought were taken from you Spartans, in all else, be very sure, you have not your inferiors.

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Chorus

The race of old men practises no restraint; and their testiness makes it hard to check them.

Menelaus

Thou art only too ready to rush into abuse;

while, as for me, I came to Phthia by constraint and have therefore no intention either of doing or suffering anything mean. Now must I return home, for I have no time to waste; for there is a city not so very far from Sparta, which aforetime was friendly

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but now is hostile; against her will I march with my army and bring her into subjection. And when I have arranged that matter as I wish, I will return; and face to face with my son-in-law I will give my version of the story and hear his.

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And if he punish her, and for the future she exercise self-control, she shall find me do the like; but if he storm, I’ll storm as well; and ¹³ every act of mine shall be a reflex of his own. As for thy babbling, I can bear it easily;

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for, like to a shadow as thou art, ¹⁴ thy voice is all thou hast, and thou art powerless to do aught but talk. Exit Menelaus.

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Peleus

Lead on, my child, safe beneath my sheltering wing, and thou too, poor lady; for thou art come into a quiet haven after the rude storm.

Andromache

Heaven reward thee and all thy race, old sire, for having saved my child and me his hapless mother! Only beware lest they fall upon us twain in some lonely spot upon the road and force me from thee, when they see thy age, my weakness,

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and this child’s tender years; take heed to this, that we be not a second time made captive, after escaping now.

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Peleus

Forbear such words, prompted by a woman’s cowardice. Go on thy way; who will lay a finger on you? Methinks he will do it to his cost. For by heaven’s grace I rule o’er many a knight and spearman

bold in my kingdom of Phthia; yea, and myself can still stand straight, no bent old man as thou dost think; such a fellow as that a mere look from me will put to flight in spite of my years. For e’en an old man, be he brave, is worth a host of raw youths;

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for what avails a fine figure if a man is a coward? Exeunt Peleus, Andromache, and Molossus.

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