Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/292

236 She, torn from home—yet fain to be undone;

Thou, murderess of Hellas' noblest son,

Pleading that for a daughter's sake thou slew'st

A husband!—ah, men knew thee not as I,

Thee, who, before thy daughter's death was doomed,

When from thine home thy lord had newly passed,

Wert sleeking at the mirror thy bright hair!

The woman who, her husband far from home,

Bedecks herself, blot out her name as vile!

She needeth not to flaunt abroad a face

Made fair, except she be on mischief bent.

Of Hellas' daughters none save thee I know,

Who, when the might of Troy prevailed, was glad,

Whose eyes were clouded when her fortunes sank,

Who wished not Agamemnon home from Troy.

Yet reason fair thou hadst to be true wife:

Not worser than Aegisthus was thy lord,

Whom Hellas chose to lead her war-array.

And, when thy sister Helen so had sinned,

High praise was thine to win; for sinners' deeds

Lift up the good for ensamples in men's sight.

If, as thou say'st, my father slew thy daughter,

How did I wrong thee, and my brother how?

Why, having slain thy lord, didst thou on us

Bestow not our sire's halls, but buy therewith

An alien couch, and pay a price for shame?

Nor is thy spouse now exiled for thy son,

Nor for me slain, who hath dealt me living death

Twice crueller than my sister's: yea, if blood

'Gainst blood in judgment rise, I and thy son,

Orestes, must slay thee to avenge our sire:

For, if thy claim was just, this too is just.

Whoso, regarding wealth, or birth, shall wed