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Now the zeal of the rival disputants was almost equal, until that shifty, smooth-mouthed liar, the son of
Laertes
, whose tongue is always at the service of the mob, persuaded the army not to put aside the best of all the Danaids
130
for want of a servant-maid’s sacrifice, nor have it said by any of the dead that stand beside Persephone that the Danaids have left the plains of
Troy
without gratitude
135
for their companions who died for
Hellas
. Odysseus will be here in an instant, to drag the tender maiden from your breast and tear her from your aged arms. Go to the temples, go to the altars,
140
at Agamemnon’s knees sit as a suppliant! Invoke the gods, both those in heaven and those beneath the earth. For either your prayers will avail to spare you the loss of your unhappy child,
145
or you must see your daughter fall before the tomb, her crimson blood spurting in deep dark jets from her neck encircled with gold.
150
Now the zeal of the rival disputants was almost equal, until that shifty, smooth-mouthed liar, the son of
Laertes
, whose tongue is always at the service of the mob, persuaded the army not to put aside the best of all the Danaids
130
for want of a servant-maid’s sacrifice, nor have it said by any of the dead that stand beside Persephone that the Danaids have left the plains of
Troy
without gratitude
135
for their companions who died for
Hellas
. Odysseus will be here in an instant, to drag the tender maiden from your breast and tear her from your aged arms. Go to the temples, go to the altars,
140
at Agamemnon’s knees sit as a suppliant! Invoke the gods, both those in heaven and those beneath the earth. For either your prayers will avail to spare you the loss of your unhappy child,
145
or you must see your daughter fall before the tomb, her crimson blood spurting in deep dark jets from her neck encircled with gold.
150
Hecuba. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1891.
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