Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1894) v1.djvu/113

Rh This is not daring, no, nor courage this,

To wrong thy friends, and blench not from their eyes,

But, of all plagues infecting men, the worst,

Even shamelessness. And yet 'tis well thou cam'st,

For I shall ease the burden of mine heart

Reviling thee, and thou be galled to hear.

And with the first things first will I begin.

I saved thee, as they know, what Greeks soe'er

Entered with thee the self-same Argo's hull,

Thee, sent to quell the flame-outbreathing bulls

With yoke-bands, and to sow the tilth of death.

The dragon, warder of the Fleece of Gold,

That sleepless kept it with his manifold coils,

I slew, and raised deliverance-light for thee.

Myself forsook my father and mine home,

And to Iolkos under Pelion came

With thee, more zealous in thy cause than wise,

And Pelias slew by his own children's hands—

Of all deaths worst,—so cast out all thy fear.

And thus of me, basest of men, entreated,

For a new bride hast thou forsaken me,

Though I had born thee children. Wert thou childless,

Not past forgiving were this marriage-craving.

But faith of oaths hath vanished. I know not

Whether thou deem'st the olden Gods yet rule,

Or that new laws are now ordained for men;

For thine heart speaks thee unto me forsworn.

Out on this right hand, which thou oft wouldst clasp,—

These knees!—how vainly have we been embraced

By a base man, thus frustrate of our hopes!