Page:The Plays of Euripides Vol. 1- Edward P. Coleridge (1910).djvu/325

Rh. This was the name it received, that day she came to do battle for the gods.

. How, daughter, can this harm thy enemies?

. Hast heard of Erichthonius, or no? of course thou hast.

. Him whom Earth produced, the founder of thy race?

. To him whilst yet a babe did Pallas give

. Ha! what? thou hast something yet to add.

. Two drops of Gorgon's blood.

. What power could they exert on the nature of a human creature?

. The one with death is fraught, the other cures disease.

. What held them when she tied them to the child's body?

. With links of gold she fastened them; this to my sire did Erichthonius give.

. And at his death it came to thee?

. Yea, and here at my wrist I wear it.

. How works the spell of this double gift of Pallas?

. Each drop of gore which trickled from the hollow vein

. What purpose does it serve? what virtue does it carry?

. Wards off disease, and nourishes man's life.

. What doth that second drop effect, of which thou madest mention?

. It kills, for it is venom from the Gorgon's snakes.

. Dost thou carry this charm mixed in one phial, or separate?

. Separate; for good is no companion for evil.