Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/102

46 See light and reap the harvest of my bed!"

And I gave ear unto these sirens' words,

These crafty, knavish, subtle gossip-mongers,

And swelled with wind of folly. Why behoved

To spy upon my lord? I had all my need,—

Great riches; in his palace was I queen;

The children I might bear should be true-born;

But hers, the bastards, half-thrall unto mine.

But never, never—yea, twice o'er I say it,—

Ought men of wisdom, such as have a wife,

Suffer that women visit in their halls

The wife: they are teachers of iniquity.

One, for her own ends, beckons on to sin;

One, that hath fallen, craves fellowship in shame;

And of sheer wantonness many tempt. And so

Men's homes are poisoned. Therefore guard ye well

With bolts and bars the portals of your halls;

For nothing wholesome comes when enter in

Strange women, nay, but mischief manifold.

Thou hast loosed a reinless tongue against thy sisters.

In thee might one forgive it; yet behoves

Woman with woman's frailty gently deal.

Wise was the rede of him who taught that men

Should hear the reasonings of the other side.

I, knowing what confusion vexed this house,

And of the feud 'twixt thee and Hector's wife,

Kept watch and waited, whether thou wouldst stay

Here, or, dismayed with dread of that spear-thrall,

Out of these halls wert minded to avoid.