Page:The Plays of Euripides Vol. 1- Edward P. Coleridge (1910).djvu/218

190. Why are they come to us, with suppliant hand outstretched?

. I know; but 'tis for them to tell their story, my son.

. To thee, in thy mantle muffled, I address my inquiries; unveil thy head, let lamentation be, and speak; for naught can be achieved save through the utterance of thy tongue.

. Victorious prince of the Athenian realm, Theseus, to thee and to thy city I, a suppliant, come.

. What seekest thou? What need is thine?

. Dost know how I did lead an expedition to its ruin?

. Assuredly; thou didst not pass through Hellas, all in silence.

. There I lost the pick of Argos' sons.

. These are the results of that unhappy war.

. I went and craved their bodies from Thebes.

. Didst thou rely on heralds, Hermes' servants, in order to bury them?

. I did; and even then their slayers said me nay.

. Why, what say they to thy just request?

. Say! Success makes them forget how to bear their fortune.

. Art come to me then for counsel? or wherefore?

. With the wish that thou, O Theseus, shouldst recover the sons of the Argives.

. Where is your Argos now? were its vauntings all in vain?

. Defeat and ruin are our lot. To thee for aid we come.

. Is this thy own private resolve, or the wish of all the city?