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The following lines between the Semi-Choruses are chanted responsively.
608
1st Half-Chorus
Unhappy mothers of those hapless chiefs! How wildly in my heart pale fear stirs up alarm!
Unhappy mothers of those hapless chiefs! How wildly in my heart pale fear stirs up alarm!
2nd Half-Chorus
What is this new cry thou utterest?
600
What is this new cry thou utterest?
600
1st Half-Chorus
I fear the issue of the strife, whereto the hosts of Pallas march.
I fear the issue of the strife, whereto the hosts of Pallas march.
2nd Half-Chorus
Dost speak of issues of the sword, or interchange of words?
Dost speak of issues of the sword, or interchange of words?
1st Half-Chorus
That last were gain indeed; but if the carnage of battle, fighting, and
the noise of beaten breasts again be heard in the land, what, alas! will be said of me, who am the cause thereof?
605
That last were gain indeed; but if the carnage of battle, fighting, and
the noise of beaten breasts again be heard in the land, what, alas! will be said of me, who am the cause thereof?
605
2nd Half-Chorus
Yet may fate again bring low the brilliant victor; ’tis this brave thought that twines about my heart.
Yet may fate again bring low the brilliant victor; ’tis this brave thought that twines about my heart.
1st Half-Chorus
Thou speak’st of the gods as if they were just.
610
Thou speak’st of the gods as if they were just.
610
2nd Half-Chorus
For who but they allot whate’er betides?
For who but they allot whate’er betides?
1st Half-Chorus
I see many a contradiction in their dealings with men.
I see many a contradiction in their dealings with men.
2nd Half-Chorus
The former fear hath warped thy judgment. Vengeance calls vengeance forth; slaughter calls for slaughter,
but the gods give respite from affliction, holding in their own hands each thing’s allotted end.
615
The former fear hath warped thy judgment. Vengeance calls vengeance forth; slaughter calls for slaughter,
but the gods give respite from affliction, holding in their own hands each thing’s allotted end.
615
1st Half-Chorus
Would I could reach yon plains with turrets crowned, leaving Callichorus, fountain of the goddess!
Would I could reach yon plains with turrets crowned, leaving Callichorus, fountain of the goddess!
2nd Half-Chorus
O that some god would give me wings to fly to the city of rivers twain!
620
O that some god would give me wings to fly to the city of rivers twain!
620
1st Half-Chorus
So might’st thou see and know the fortunes of thy friends.
So might’st thou see and know the fortunes of thy friends.
2nd Half-Chorus
What fate, what issue there awaits the valiant
monarch of this land?
625
626
What fate, what issue there awaits the valiant
monarch of this land?
625
1st Half-Chorus
Once more do we invoke the gods we called upon before; yea, in our fear this is our first and chiefest trust.
Once more do we invoke the gods we called upon before; yea, in our fear this is our first and chiefest trust.
2nd Half-Chorus
O Zeus, father to the child the heifer-mother bore in days long past, that daughter of Inachus!
O Zeus, father to the child the heifer-mother bore in days long past, that daughter of Inachus!
1st Half-Chorus
O be gracious, I pray, and champion this city!
630
O be gracious, I pray, and champion this city!
630
2nd Half-Chorus
The Suppliant Maidens. Euripides. E. P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
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