Page:Sophocles (Storr 1919) v2.djvu/179

 Alone of all the Greeks could steel his heart

To yield thy sister as a sacrifice;

A father who begat her and ne’er felt

A mother’s pangs of travail. Tell me now

Wherefore he offered her, on whose behalf?

The Greeks, thou sayest. And what right had they

To kill my child? For Menelaus’ sake,

His brother? Should such pretext stay my hand?

Had not his brother children twain to serve

As victims? Should not they, as born of sire

And mother for whose sake the host embarked,

Have been preferred before my innocent child?

Had Death forsooth some craving for my child

Rather than hers? or had the wretch, her sire,

A tender heart for Menelaus’ brood,

And for my flesh and blood no tenderness?

That choice was for a father rash and base;

So, though I differ from thee, I opine,

And could the dead maid speak, she would agree.

I therefore view the past without remorse,

And if to thee I seem perverted, clear

Thy judgment ere thou makst thyself a judge.

This time thou canst not say that I began

The quarrel or provoked thee. But if thou

Wilt give me leave, I fain would speak the truth

Regarding both my sister and my sire.

My leave is given, and, hadst thou always shown

This temper, I had listened without pain.

Hear then. Thou say’st, “I slew thy father.” Who

Could well avow a blacker crime than that? 167