Euripides Helen 229

Helen

Dear friends, I welcome your advice. Come in, come into the house, to learn within about my struggles.

330

Chorus

You are calling on one who is wholly willing.

Helen

Oh, what an unhappy day! What tearful word shall I hear, unhappy as I am?

335

Chorus

Do not be a prophetess of sorrow, dear friend, anticipating lamentation.

Helen

What has my poor husband suffered? Does he see the light and the sun’s chariot and the paths of the stars? Or does he have a lasting fate

340

among the dead beneath the earth?

345

Chorus

Take a brighter view of the future, whatever will happen.

Helen

For I call on you, I swear to you, Eurotas green with watery reeds,

if this rumor of my husband’s death is true—and what was obscure in those words?—I will stretch a deadly noose about my neck, or drive inward a murderous thrust of slaughter that gushes from the throat,

350

a contest of the blade through my flesh, as a sacrifice to the three goddesses and to the son of Priam, who once sat on the hollows of Ida, near the ox-stalls.

355

Chorus

May sorrow be turned aside elsewhere, and may your lot be fortunate!

360

Helen

Oh, unhappy Troy ! Through deeds not done by yourself, you are ruined, and have suffered pitiably; for the gift that Kypris gave me has caused much blood

and many tears; it has added grief to grief and tear to tear, sorrows. . . . Mothers have lost their children and virgin sisters of the slain have cut off their hair by the swollen tide of Phrygian Skamandros.

365

And Hellas has cried aloud, aloud, and broken forth in wailing, beating her head, and drenching her soft-skinned cheek with the bloody strokes of her nails.

370

375

O maiden Kallisto, blessed once in Arcadia , who climbed into the bed of Zeus on four paws, how much happier was your lot than my mother’s, you who in the form of a shaggy-limbed beast—the bearing of a lioness with your fierce eye—changed your burden of sorrow;

375

and also the one whom Artemis once drove from her chorus, as a deer with horns of gold, the Titan girl, daughter of Merops, because of her loveliness; but the beauty of my body has destroyed the Dardanian towers, it has destroyed them and

380

the lost Achaeans.

385

Menelaos

O Pelops, who once held that chariot-race contest with Oinomaos over Pisa , if only, when you were persuaded to make a banquet for the gods, you had left your life then, inside the gods,

before you ever begot my father, Atreus, to whom were born, from his marriage with Airope, Agamemnon and myself, Menelaos, a famous pair; for I believe that I carried a mighty army—and I say this not in boast—in ships to Troy ,

390

no tyrant commanding any troops by force, but leading the young men of Hellas by voluntary consent. And some of these can be counted no longer alive, others as having a joyful escape from the sea, bringing home again names thought to be of the dead.

395

But I wander miserably over the swelling waves of the gray ocean, ever since I sacked the towers of Ilion ; and although I long to come home, I am not thought worthy by the gods to achieve this. I have sailed to Libya ’s deserts and all its inhospitable landing-places;

400

and whenever I draw near my native land, the blast drives me back again, and no favoring wind has ever entered my sails to let me come home.

405

And now I am cast up on this shore, a miserable shipwrecked sailor who has lost his friends; and my ship is

broken into many pieces against the rocks. But out of its cleverly-wrought fastenings the keel was left, on which I made my difficult escape by an unexpected chance, and also Helen with me, whom I dragged away from Troy . But I do not know the name of this country

410

and its people; for I was embarrassed to burst into a crowd and make inquiries, and so I concealed these shabby clothes, in shame over my misfortune. For whenever a man of high degree is badly off, he falls into an unaccustomed state which is worse than that of one who has long been unfortunate.

415

But poverty is wearing me away; for I have neither food, nor clothes around my body; one can compare what I am wearing to rags cast out of the ship. The sea snatched away all the robes I once wore, splendid clothes and ornaments. Deep in a cave

420

I hid the woman who caused all my troubles, and have come here, after compelling those of my friends who survived to guard my wife. I have come alone, seeking help for those friends there, if I may find it somehow after careful search.

425

When I saw this home, surrounded by walls, and the majestic gateways of some prosperous man, I came near; sailors can hope to get something from wealthy homes; but from those who have no livelihood—they could not help us, even if they wanted to.

430

Hello! Is there some gatekeeper who might come from the house and announce my troubles within?

435

Old woman

Who’s at the door? Get away from the house and don’t annoy my master by standing at the court-yard gate! Or else you will die because you are

a Hellene, and they have no business here.

440

Menelaos

My good woman, you can say these same words in a different tone, for I shall be persuaded; but let go your angry speech.

Old woman

Go away! Stranger, my orders are to let no Hellene come near this house.

Menelaos

Ah! Do not push me, or thrust me away by force.

445

Old woman

You are to blame, for not heeding what I say.

Menelaos

Announce to your master inside—

Old woman

I think someone would be sorry, if I announced your words.

Menelaos

I come as a shipwrecked man and a guest; such people are safe from violence.

Old woman

Well, go to some other house instead of this one.

450

Menelaos

No; I am going inside. You listen to me.

Old woman

Know that you’re only causing trouble; and soon you’ll be thrown out by force.

Menelaos

Alas! Where are those glorious armies of mine?

Old woman

Perhaps you were grand somewhere, but not here.

Menelaos

O my fortune, how we have been unworthily dishonored.

455

Old woman

Why are your eyes wet with tears? To whom are you lamenting?

Menelaos

To my fortunes, which were happy before this.

Old woman

Well then, why don’t you go away and give these tears to your friends.

Menelaos

What is this land? Whose palace is this?

Old woman

Proteus lives here, the land is Egypt .

460

Menelaos

Egypt ? O wretched, that I have sailed here!

Old woman

And why do you blame the bright gleam of the Nile ?

Menelaos

I do not blame it; I am sighing for my fate.

Old woman

Many people are doing badly; you are not the only one.

Menelaos

Is the king you name in the house?

465

Old woman

This is his tomb; his son rules the land.

Menelaos

And where might he be? Abroad, or in the house?

Old woman

He is not inside; he is most bitterly opposed to the Hellenes.

Menelaos

What cause does he have? I have felt the consequences of it!

Old woman

Helen, the daughter of Zeus, is in this house.

470

Menelaos

What do you mean? What did you say? Tell me again.

Old woman

The daughter of Tyndareus, who once lived in Sparta .

Menelaos

Where did she come from? What is the meaning of this?

Old woman

She came here from the land of Lakedaimon.

Menelaos

When? Surely I have not been robbed of my wife from the cave?

475

Old woman

Before the Achaeans went to Troy , stranger. But get away from the house; for something is happening within, by which the palace is thrown into confusion. You have not come at the right time; and if my master

catches you, death will be your guest-gift. For I am well-disposed to Hellenes, for all that I spoke harshly to you in fear of my master.

480

Menelaos

What can I say? For after my former troubles, this present event that I hear of is an unhappy one,

if I have come here, bringing my wife who was taken from Troy , and she is kept safe in the cave, but some other woman who has the same name as my wife lives in this house. She said the woman was born the child of Zeus.

485

Can there be a man with the name of Zeus by the banks of Nile ? For there is only one in heaven. Where in the world is there a Sparta , except by the streams of Eurotas, with its lovely reeds? The name of Tyndareus is the name of one alone.

490

Is there any land of the same name as Lakedaimon or Troy ? I do not know what to say; for there are probably many things in the wide world that have the same names, both cities and women; there is nothing, then, to marvel at.

495

Besides, I will not run away from a servant’s fears; for no man is so barbaric at heart as to refuse me food when he has heard my name. The fire of Troy is famous, and I, Menelaos, who lighted it, am well known in every land.

500

I will wait for the master of the house; he gives me two things to look out for: if he is a cruel sort of person, I will keep myself hidden and go back to the shipwreck; but if he shows any softening, I will ask for help in my present state.

505

This is the worst evil for me in my misery, to beg the means of life from other kings, when I am myself a king; but it is necessary. The saying is not mine, but it is a wise word: nothing is stronger than dreadful necessity.

510

Chorus

I have heard the prophetic maiden, who gave a clear answer within the palace: Menelaos is not yet dead and buried, gone to the land of shadows where darkness takes the place of light;

515

but he is still wearing out his life on the ocean swell and has not yet reached the haven of his country, wretched in his wandering life,

520

bereft of every friend, approaching every land in his sea-going ship from the land of Troy .

525

Helen

Here I am, once again coming back to the sanctuary of this tomb, after learning the welcome words of Theonoe,

who knows all things truly; she says my husband is alive and sees the light of day; he is roaming here and there on countless voyages, not without practice in wandering, and he shall come here when he finds an end to his suffering.

530

But she left one thing unsaid: if he will escape when he has come? And I refrained from asking that question clearly; I was so glad when she told me he was safe. She said that he was near this land somewhere, cast up, shipwrecked, with a few friends.

535

Oh, when will you come? How much I long for your arrival!

540

Ah! Who is this? I am not being ambushed by the plots of Proteus’ impious son, am I? Shall I not, like a young racehorse or a worshipper of Bacchus, reach the tomb? There is something wild

about the looks of this man who is hunting me down.

545

Menelaos

You there! the one trying with fearful effort to reach the base of the tomb and the pillars of burnt sacrifice, stay where you are. Why do you flee? I am amazed and speechless at the sight of your body.

Helen

Women, I am being ill-treated. This man is keeping me from the tomb, and he wants to take me and give me to the king, whose wooing I was seeking to avoid.

550

Menelaos

I am no thief, nor a servant of evil men.

Helen

And yet the clothes you are wearing are unsightly enough.

Menelaos

Put fear aside and stop your rapid flight.

555

Helen

I do so, now that I have reached this spot.

Menelaos

Who are you? Whom do I see in you, lady?

Helen

But who are you? The same reason prompts us both.

Menelaos

I never saw a closer resemblance.

Helen

O gods! For the recognizing of friends is a god.

560

Menelaos

Are you a woman from Hellas , or a native of this land?

Helen

From Hellas ; but I want to learn your story too.

Menelaos

You seem to me very much like Helen, lady.

Helen

And you seem to me like Menelaos; I don’t know what to say.

Menelaos

Well, you have correctly recognized a most unfortunate man.

565

Helen

Oh, at last you have come to the arms of your wife!

Menelaos

What do you mean by wife? Do not touch my robe.

Helen

The one whom Tyndareus, my father, gave to you.

Menelaos

O torch-bearing Hekate, send visions that are favorable!

Helen

You see in me no specter of the night, attendant on the queen of phantoms.

570

Menelaos

As one man, I am certainly not the husband of two women.

Helen

You are the master of what other wife?

Menelaos

The one hidden in the cave, whom I am bringing from Troy .

Helen

You have no other wife but me.

Menelaos

Can it be that I am in my right mind, but my sight is failing?

575

Helen

Don’t you think that when you look at me you see your wife?

Menelaos

Your body resembles hers, but the real truth robs me of this belief.

Helen

Look; what more do you need? Who knows better than you?

Menelaos

You are like her; I will not deny that at least.

Helen

Who then shall teach you, if not your own eyes?

580

Menelaos

It is there that I am ailing, because I have another wife.

Helen

I did not go to Troy ; that was a phantom.

Menelaos

And who fashions living bodies?

Helen

The air, out of which you have a wife that the gods labored over.

Menelaos

What god’s handiwork? You are saying things beyond hope.

585

Helen

Hera’s, as a substitute, so that Paris would not have me.

Menelaos

How then could you be here and in Troy at the same time?

Helen

The name may be in many places, though not the body.

Menelaos

Let me go! I have come here with enough pain.

Helen

Will you leave me, and take that phantom bride away?

590

Menelaos

Yes, and fare well, for your likeness to Helen.

Helen

I am ruined! I found you, my husband, but I will not have you.

Menelaos

The greatness of my troubles over there convinces me; you do not.

Helen

Ah me! Who was ever more miserable than I am?

Those whom I love best are leaving me, and I shall never reach the Hellenes or my own country.

595

Messenger

(entering hurriedly.) Menelaos, I find you, after taking great trouble to look for you, wandering over the whole of this foreign land; I am sent by the comrades whom you left behind.

Menelaos

What is it? Surely you are not being plundered by the foreigners?

600

Messenger

It is a miracle; what I say is of less account than what happened.

Menelaos

Tell me; for, judging by this eagerness, you are certainly bringing something new.

Messenger

I say that you have suffered countless labors in vain.

Menelaos

You are mourning over old sorrows; what is your message?

Messenger

Your wife has disappeared, taken up into the folds of the unseen air; she is hidden in heaven, and as she left the hallowed cave where we were keeping her, she said this: Miserable Phrygians, and all the Achaeans! On my account you were dying by the banks of Skamandros,

605

through Hera’s contrivance, for you thought that Paris had Helen when he didn’t. But I, since I have stayed my appointed time, and kept the laws of fate, will now depart into the sky, my father; but the unhappy daughter of Tyndareus,

610

guilty in no way, has borne an evil name without reason.

615

Catching sight of Helen

Welcome, daughter of Leda, were you here after all? I was just announcing your departure up to the hidden starry realms, not knowing that you had a winged body. I will not let you mock us like this again,

for you gave your fill of trouble to your husband and his allies in Ilion .

620

Menelaos

This is the meaning of that; her words have turned out to be true. O longed-for day, that has given you to my arms!

Helen

O Menelaos, dearest of men, the time was long, but delight is just now ours.

625

With joy I have found my husband, friends, I have embraced my dear one, after long days of blazing light.

Menelaos

And I have found you; but I have many questions about t; now I do not know what to begin with first.

630

Helen

I am so happy, the hair rises on my head and my tears run down. I fling my arms around your neck,

dear husband, to have my delight.

635

Menelaos

O dearest sight! I have no fault to find: I have my wife, the daughter of Zeus and Leda; your brothers on their snow-white steeds

blessed you, blessed you at an earlier time, while torches blazed, but the god who took you from my home is driving us on to another fortune, better than this. An evil that was good brought you together with me, your husband

640

after a long time, but may I still benefit by my good luck.

645

Chorus

May you benefit indeed, and I join in the same prayer; for when there are two, it is not possible for one to be unhappy and the other not.

Helen

My dear friends, I no longer sigh or grieve over what is past.

I have my husband, for whom I have been waiting to come from Troy for many years.

650

Menelaos

You have me, and I have you; although it was hard to live through so many days, I now understand the actions of the goddess. My joy is tearful; it has more

delight than sorrow.

655

Helen

What can I say? What mortal could ever have hoped for this? I hold you to my heart, little as I ever thought to.

Menelaos

And I hold you, whom we thought to have gone to Ida’s city and the unhappy towers of Ilion .

By the gods, how were you taken from my home?

660

Helen

Ah! ah! You are setting out on a bitter beginning. Ah! ah! You are asking about a bitter tale.

Menelaos

Speak; all gifts from the gods should be heard.

Helen

I detest the story I am now to introduce.

Menelaos

Tell it anyway. It is sweet to hear of troubles.

665

Helen

Not to the bed of the young barbarian, on the wings of oars, on the wings of desire for lawless marriage—

Menelaos

What god or fate tore you from your country?

Helen

Ah, my husband! The son of Zeus, of Zeus, brought me to the Nile .

670

Menelaos

Amazing! Who sent you there? O dreadful story!

Helen

I have wept bitterly, and my eyes are wet with tears; the wife of Zeus ruined me.

Menelaos

Hera? Why did she want to bring trouble to the two of us?

675

Helen

Alas for my terrible fate, the baths and springs, where the goddesses brightened the beauty from which the judgment came.

Menelaos

Regarding the judgment, Hera made it a cause of these troubles for you?

Helen

To take me away from Paris —

680

Menelaos

How? Tell me.

Helen

To whom Kypris had promised me.

Menelaos

O unhappy one!

Helen

Unhappy, unhappy; and so she brought me to Egypt .

Menelaos

Then she gave him a phantom instead, as I hear from you.

Helen

Sorrow, sorrow to your house,

mother, alas.

685

Menelaos

What do you mean?

Helen

My mother is no more; through shame of my disgraceful marriage she tied a noose around her neck.

Menelaos

Alas! Is our daughter Hermione alive?

Helen

Ah, my husband! Unmarried, and without children, she mourns my

fatal marriage.

690

Menelaos

O Paris, who utterly destroyed my whole house, these things ruined you also, and countless bronze-clad Danaans.

Helen

The god cast me out, ill-fated and accursed, from my country,

from my city, and from you, when I left my home and bed—yet I did not leave them—for a shameful marriage.

695

Chorus Leader

If indeed you should find happiness in the future, it would be a match for the past.

Messenger

Menelaos, give me as well a share of that joy which I understand, but not clearly.

700

Menelaos

Come and take part in our talk, old man, you too.

Messenger

This woman is not the arbitrator of all the trouble in Troy ?

Menelaos

She is not; I was tricked by the gods

and had in my arms the baneful image of a cloud.

705

Messenger

What are you saying? We suffered in vain for the sake of a cloud?

Menelaos

It was the work of Hera, and the rivalry of the three goddesses.

Messenger

And the one who is truly your wife is this woman here?

Menelaos

This is she; trust my word for that.

710

Messenger

O daughter, how intricate and hard to trace out is the nature of the god! In some way that is good, he twists everything about, now up, now down; one man suffers, and one who has not suffered comes afterwards to a bad end,

having no security in his current fortune. You and your husband have had your share of trouble, you in repute, he in the heat of battle. In his eagerness, while he was eager, he got nothing; but now that he has achieved the greatest good fortune, he has it without cause.

715

You did not, after all, bring shame upon your old father or on the twin sons of Zeus, nor did you do such things as were spoken of. Now again I renew your wedding rites and remember the blazing torch I bore, running beside the four yoked horses; and you,

720

in the chariot as a bride, were leaving your happy home with this man here. Whoever pays no reverence to his master’s affairs, rejoicing with him and grieving with his troubles, is worthless. Although I was born a servant, let me still be numbered among honest

725

slaves; my mind is free, if not my name. For this is better than to suffer double misery as one man: to have a worthless heart and, being a slave, to owe obedience to any other.

730

Menelaos

Come, old man—often by my shield

you have had your full share of trouble and hard work—now also have a share in my success, and go tell the friends I left behind the state of matters here, as you found them, and how my fortune stands; and bid them wait at the beach and watch eagerly for the

735

struggle which I expect awaits me; and if we should be able somehow to steal this woman away from the land, tell them to keep good watch so that we may share the luck and escape, if we can, from the barbarians.

740

Messenger

It shall be done, lord. Now indeed I see how worthless

the seers’ doings are, and how full of falsehood; there was no health in the blaze of sacrifice after all, or in the cry of winged birds; even to think that birds can help mankind is certainly foolish. For Calchas gave no word or sign to the army,

745

when he saw his friends dying on behalf of a cloud, nor did Helenos; but the city was taken by storm in vain. You might say: because the god did not want them to? Then why do we consult prophets? We ought to sacrifice to the gods and ask a blessing, but leave divination alone;

750

for this was invented otherwise, as a bait for a livelihood, and no man grows rich by sacrifices if he is idle. But sound judgment and discernment are the best of seers. Exit Messenger.

755

Chorus Leader

My views about seers coincide exactly with this old man’s; whoever has the gods as friends

would have the best prophecy at home.

760

Helen

All right; so far all is well. But how you were saved, my poor husband, from Troy , there is no gain in knowing, yet friends have a desire to learn what their friends have suffered.

Menelaos

Truly you have asked a great deal all at once. Why should I tell you about our losses in the Aegean , and Nauplios’ beacons on Euboia , and my visits to Crete and the cities of Libya , and the mountain-peaks of Perseus? For I would not satisfy you with the tale,

765

and by telling you these evils I would suffer still, as I did when I experienced them; and so my grief would be doubled.

770

Helen

Your answer is better than my question. Leave out the rest, and tell me only this: how long were you a weary wanderer over the surface of the sea?

Menelaos

Besides those ten years in Troy , I went through seven cycles of years on board ship.

775

Helen

Alas, poor man, you have spoken of a long time; and, saved from there, you have come here to the slaughter.

Menelaos

What do you mean? What will you say? Ah, my wife, you have ruined me.

Helen

Escape from this land and flee as quickly as possible. The man who lives in this house will kill you.

780

Menelaos

What have I done to deserve such a fate?

Helen

You have come unexpectedly to hinder my marriage.

Menelaos

What! Does someone plan to marry my wife?

Helen

And to act in violence against me, which I have endured.

785

Menelaos

Does he have private power, or is he the ruler of the country?

Helen

He is the lord of this land, the son of Proteus.

Menelaos

This is that riddle I heard from the servant.

Helen

Which one of the barbarian’s gates were you standing beside?

Menelaos

This one, from which I was being driven away like a beggar.

790

Helen

You were surely not begging for food, were you? How unhappy I am!

Menelaos

That was the deed, though it did not have that name.

Helen

Then you know everything, it seems, about my marriage.

Menelaos

I do. But if you have escaped his bed—that I do not know.

Helen

Know that I have saved myself untouched for you.

795

Menelaos

What could persuade me of this? If true, your words are sweet.

Helen

Do you see my wretched sanctuary at this tomb?

Menelaos

I see a miserable bed of straw, but what do you have to do with it?

Helen

Here, as a suppliant, I am asking for an escape from his bed.

Menelaos

For want of an altar, or because it is the barbarians’ way?

800

Helen

This was as good a protection to me as the temples of the gods.

Menelaos

Then it’s not possible for me to take you home by ship?

Helen

A sword is waiting for you, rather than my bed.

Menelaos

So I would be the most wretched of mortals.

Helen

Do not feel shame now, but escape from this land.

805

Menelaos

Leaving you behind? I ravaged Troy for your sake.

Helen

Yes, for that is better than that our union should cause your death.

Menelaos

Oh! these are coward’s words, unworthy of those days at Troy .

Helen

You could not kill the tyrant, your possible intention.

Menelaos

Does he then have a body that cannot be wounded by a sword?

810

Helen

You will hear. But to undertake impossibilities is no mark of wisdom.

Menelaos

And so I am to offer my hands to be bound, in silence?

Helen

You are in a dilemma; we need some contrivance.

Menelaos

Yes, for it is sweeter to die in action than by not acting.

Helen

There is one hope, and only one, for our safety.

815

Menelaos

Are we to buy it, or dare it, or win it with words?

Helen

If the tyrant were not to learn of your arrival.

Menelaos

Will any one tell him about me? He will certainly not know who I am.

Helen

He has within an ally equal to the gods.

Menelaos

A voice that has settled in the inmost parts of his house?

820

Helen

No, but his sister; she is called Theonoe.

Menelaos

The name is prophetic; tell me what she does.

Helen

She knows everything, and she will tell her brother that you are here.

Menelaos

We must die; for I cannot escape her notice.

Helen

Perhaps we might persuade her by supplication—

825

Menelaos

To do what? What hope are you leading me to?

Helen

Not to tell her brother that you are here in this land.

Menelaos

If we persuade her, could we get away from this country?

Helen

Easily, in common with her; but secretly we could not.

Menelaos

The task is yours; it is suitable for women to deal with women.

830

Helen

Be sure that I will clasp her knees.

Menelaos

Well, then, what if she rejects our proposals?

Helen

You will die. And I, the unhappy one, will be married by force.

Menelaos

You would be a traitor; that force of yours is all an excuse.

Helen

But I have sworn a sacred oath by your life—

835

Menelaos

What do you mean? To die? And never to take his bed in exchange for mine?

Helen

Yes, by the same sword; I will lie at your side.

Menelaos

Then on these conditions touch my right hand.

Helen

I touch it, swearing that I will leave the light of day if you die.

Menelaos

And I will end my life if I lose you.

840

Helen

How then shall we die so as to insure our reputation for this?

Menelaos

I will kill you on the tomb’s surface, and then kill myself. But first I will fight a great contest for your bed. Let anyone who wishes come near!

For I will not disgrace my Trojan fame, nor, on my return to Hellas , will I receive great blame—I who robbed Thetis of Achilleus, and saw the slaughter of Aias, son of Telamon, and the son of Neleus made childless;

845

shall I not resolve to die for my wife? Most certainly; for if the gods are wise, they lightly bury in the earth a brave man who has been killed by his enemies, while cowards they cast up out of the earth onto a harsh rock.

850

Chorus Leader

O gods, may the race of Tantalos be fortunate at last, and may it be set free from evils!

855

Helen

Ah, I am unhappy, for so is my fate! Menelaos, we are destroyed. The prophetess Theonoe is coming out of the house; it resounds as the

bolts are unfastened. Try to escape! But what is the use of trying? For whether she is absent or present she knows of your arrival here. Oh, I am lost, unfortunate! Saved from Troy and from a barbarian land, you have come only to fall upon barbarian swords.

860

Theonoe

Please lead the way with blazing torches, and purify, according to the sacred law, the inmost corners of the air, so I may receive the pure breath of heaven; and you in turn, if someone has harmed the path by treading with unholy foot, submit it to the cleansing fire,

865

and strike the torch in front of me, so that I may pass through. And when you have paid back to the gods my customary observance, take the household flame within.

870

Helen, what about my prophecy—how is it? This man, your husband Menelaos, has openly arrived,

robbed of his ships and of your counterfeit. O unhappy man! What troubles you have escaped to come here; nor do you know whether you are to return home or to stay here. For there will be strife among the gods, and a solemn assembly held by Zeus on your account this very day.

875

Hera, who was hostile to you before, is now friendly and wants to bring you safely home, with this woman, so that Hellas may learn that the marriage of Paris , Kypris’ gift, was false; but Kypris wishes to ruin your journey home,

880

so that she may not be convicted, or seem to have bought the prize of beauty by a marriage that was profitless as regards Helen. Now the decision rests with me, whether to ruin you, as Kypris wishes, by telling my brother of your presence here, or to save your life by taking Hera’s side,

885

keeping my brother in the dark, for his orders are for me to tell him, whenever you happen to come to this land.

890

One of you, go show my brother this man is here, so that I may secure my position.

Helen

Maiden, I fall at your knees as a suppliant,

and seat myself in this sad posture on behalf of myself and of this man; I am on the point of seeing him slain, after I have found him with such difficulty. Please do not tell your brother that my husband has returned to my loving arms,

895

but save us, I beseech you; do not forsake the piety that was once yours for your brother’s sake, buying favors that are wicked and unjust. For the god hates violence, and commands everyone to have their possessions without robbery.

900

Wealth that is unjust, though it may bring some power, ought to be avoided. Heaven is common to all mortals, and so is the earth, where people ought to fill up their homes without having another’s property, or taking it away by force.

905

At a critical time, but unhappily for me, Hermes gave me to your father to keep safe for my husband, this man who is here and wishes to have me back. But how could he recover me if he is dead? How could your father ever restore the living to the dead? Now examine the will of the god and of your father;

910

would the deity and your dead father be willing to give back again their neighbor’s goods, or would they not? I think they would. It is not, therefore, right that you should attach more importance to a thoughtless brother more than a good father. If you, who are a prophet and believe in divine affairs,

915

ruin the lawful intention of your father and gratify your lawless brother, it is disgraceful that you should have full knowledge of divine matters, both what is and what will be, and yet not know what is right. Save me, the unhappy one, enveloped in these troubles,

920

and give me this addition to my fate; for there is no mortal who does not hate Helen; I am famous throughout Hellas as the one who betrayed my husband and lived in Phrygia ’s golden halls. If I come to Hellas and set foot once more in Sparta ,

925

they will hear and see how they were ruined by the wiles of gods, while I was no traitor to my friends after all; and so they will lead me back to virtue again, and I shall betroth my daughter, whom no man now will marry; and, leaving this bitter beggar’s life here, shall enjoy the goods that are in my home.

930

And if this man were dead and slaughtered on a funeral pyre, I would be cherishing his memory with tears far away; but shall I be robbed of him when he is now alive and safe?

935

Ah! not that, maiden, I beseech you:

grant me this favor, and imitate the character of a just father; for this is the fairest glory for children, when the child of a good father resembles its parents in character.

940

Chorus Leader

The arguments here proposed are worthy of pity,

and so are you. But I am anxious to hear what Menelaos will say to save his life.

945

Menelaos

I could not endure to fall at your knees, or wet my eyes with tears; for if I were cowardly, I would greatly dishonor Troy .

And yet they say that it is fitting for a noble man to let tears fall from his eyes in misfortune. But I will not choose this honorable course, if it is honorable, in preference to bravery. But, if you think it right to save a stranger

950

seeking justly to recover his wife, then restore her and save us in addition; if not, I would be wretched, not now for the first time but as often before, and you will seem to be an evil woman. What I consider honest and worthy of me,

955

and what will touch your heart most closely, these things I will say at the tomb of your father, with regret for his loss.

960

Old man, dwelling in this tomb of stone, give her back, I demand of you my wife, whom Zeus sent here for you to keep for me.

I know you will never restore her to me yourself, for you are dead; but this woman here will not think it right that her father, invoked from below, once so glorious, should bear a tarnished name; for she is the one in authority now.

965

969

You, too, Hades of the world below, I call as an ally;

you who have received so many bodies slain by my sword for Helen’s sake, you have your payment; either restore them to life again now, or compel this woman to show herself better than her pious father, and give me back my wife.

970

But if you will rob me of her, I will tell you what she omitted in her speech. So that you may know, maiden, I am bound by an oath, first to go into battle with your brother; he or I must die; the matter is simple.

975

If he refuses to meet me face to face, but hunts us down, two suppliants at the tomb, by starvation, I am resolved to kill this woman, and then to plunge this two-edged sword through my heart, on the surface of the tomb, so that streams of blood may

980

run down the grave; we will lie, two corpses side by side upon this polished slab, a deathless grief to you, and a reproach to your father. Your brother will never marry this woman, nor will any other; but I will carry her off,

985

if not to my house, at any rate to death.

990

Why do I say this? If I turned to women’s ways with tears, rather than being active, I would be pitied more. Kill me, if it seems good to you; you will not kill those who are without fame; but it is better to yield to what I say,

so that you may act with justice, and I recover my wife.

995

Chorus Leader

You must judge these arguments, maiden. Decide in such a way as to please all.

Theonoe

My nature and my inclination lean towards piety; and I respect myself, and I would not defile

my father’s fame, or gratify my brother at the cost of seeming infamous. There is a great temple of justice in my nature; and having this heritage from Nereus, I will try to keep it, Menelaos.

1000

Since Hera wishes to serve you, I will cast my vote on her side. May Kypris be gracious to me; but she has had nothing to do with me, and I will try to remain a virgin always. As for your reproaches against my father at this tomb,

1005

I have the same words to say. I would be doing wrong if I do not give her back; for that man, if he were alive, would have given her back for you to have, and you to her.

1010

For truly there is retribution for these things, both among the dead and among all men living. The mind

of the dead does not live, yet it has eternal thought as it falls into eternal ether. So as not to give advice at length, I will be silent as to what you have entreated, and I will never aid my brother’s folly with my counsel.

1015

For I am doing him a service, though he does not think it, if I turn him from his godless life to holiness. You yourselves devise some course of action; I will stand out of your way by my silence. Begin with the gods, and beg

1020

Kypris to allow you to return to your country, and Hera that her intention to save you and your husband may remain the same. And you, my own dead father, never, as far as I have strength, shall you be called impious instead of pious. Exit Theonoe.

1025

Chorus Leader

No one born lawless ever prospered, but in a lawful cause there is hope of safety.

1030

Helen

Menelaos, as far as the maiden is concerned, we are safe. For the rest, you must contribute your advice and frame a device to save ourselves.

Menelaos

Then listen; you have been in the house for a long time and are intimate with the king’s servants.

1035

Helen

What do you mean by that? You are offering hope, as if you were really about to do something useful for both of us.

Menelaos

Could you persuade someone in charge of the wagons

and horses to give us a chariot?

1040

Helen

I might; but how will we escape, in our ignorance of the country and the barbarian land?

Menelaos

You are right; a dilemma. Well, what if I were to hide in the house and kill the king with this two-edged sword?

Helen

His sister would never be silent or allow you to intend her own brother’s death.

1045

Menelaos

Nor indeed is there a ship in which we might safely escape; for the sea holds the one we had.

Helen

Listen to me, if even a woman can say something wise.

Are you willing to be called dead in word, though you are not dead?

1050

Menelaos

It is a bad omen; but if I profit by it, I am ready to be called dead in word, though I am not dead.

Helen

And truly I would mourn you, as women do, with hair cut short and laments before this impious man.

Menelaos

What saving remedy does this have for us two? There is a flavor of deception in your scheme.

1055

Helen

I will beg the tyrant of this country for permission to bury you in an empty tomb, as if you had really died at sea.

Menelaos

Soppose he allows it; then how shall we escape with no ship,

when we have buried my body in the empty tomb?

1060

Helen

I will urge him to give me a vessel, from which I shall have the offerings from your tomb let down into the sea’s embrace.

Menelaos

You have spoken well, except for one thing: if he commands you to set up a tomb on the dry land, your pretext comes to nothing.

Helen

But I will say it is not the custom in Hellas to bury those who have died at sea on the dry land.

1065

Menelaos

You are setting this right, too; then I will sail with you, and help let down the funeral offerings, in the same ship.

Helen

You must above all be at hand,

with your sailors who escaped from the wreck.

1070

Menelaos

Be sure that if I have a ship at anchor, they will be posted, man beside man, each with his sword.

Helen

You must direct everything; only let there be winds in our sails to guide us, and a speedy ship.

Menelaos

It will be so; for the deities will bring my troubles to an end. But from whom will you say that you heard I was dead?

1075

Helen

From you; allege that you were the only one to escape death, when you were sailing with the son of Atreus, and that you saw him dead.

Menelaos

It is true that these rags thrown around my body

will bear witness with me as to the shipwreck.

1080

Helen

They have come at the right time, although then they seemed an ill-timed loss. Perhaps that misery may turn to good fortune.

Menelaos

Should I to enter the house with you, or am I to sit quietly here at this tomb?

Helen

Stay here; for if he does something harsh to you, this tomb and your sword would protect you. But I will go into the house, cut off my hair, exchange my white robe for a dark one, and tear my cheek with nails that make the flesh bloody.

1085

For the contest is a great one, and I see two turns of the scale: either I must die if I am detected in my plot, or else come home and save you as well.

1090

Lady Hera, you who lie in the bed of Zeus, grant relief from their labors to two pitiable creatures;

we beg you, casting our arms straight towards heaven, where you have your home in an embroidery of stars. And you, who won the prize of beauty at the price of my marriage, Kypris, daughter of Dione, do not destroy me utterly. You have maltreated me enough before now,

1095

handing over my name, though not my body, to barbarians. Let me die, if you want to kill me, in my native land. Why are you so insatiable for mischief, practising arts of love, deceits, and treacherous schemes, and magic spells that bring bloodshed on families?

1100

If you were only moderate, in other ways you are by nature the sweetest of gods for men; I don’t deny it. Exeunt Helen and Menelaos.

1105