Page:The Plays of Euripides Vol. 1- Edward P. Coleridge (1910).djvu/352

324. But why? This case is surely fraught with woe.

. The death of Aias my brother at Troy, was my ruin.

. How so? surely 'twas not thy sword that stole his life away?

. He threw himself on his own blade and died.

. Was he mad? for who with sense endowed would bring himself to this?

. Dost thou know aught of Achilles, son of Peleus?

. He came, so I have heard, to woo Helen once.

. When he died, he left his arms for his comrades to contest.

. Well, if he did, what harm herein to Aias?

. When another won these arms, to himself he put an end.

. Art thou then a sufferer by woes that he inflicted?

. Yes, because I did not join him in his death.

. So thou camest, sir stranger, to Ilium's famous town?

. Aye, and, after helping to sack it, myself did learn what ruin meant.

. Is Troy already fired and utterly by flames consumed?

. Yea, so that not so much as one vestige of her walls is now to be seen.

. Woe is thee, poor Helen! thou art the cause of Phrygia's ruin.

. And of Achæa's too. Ah! 'tis a tale of grievous misery!

. How long is it since the city was sacked?

. Nigh seven fruitful seasons have come and gone.

. And how much longer did ye abide in Troy?

. Many a weary month, till through ten full years the moon had held her course.