Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/156

128 Sending to thine ear venomous messages,

Telling of dreams from Agamemnon sent,

Telling how Gods of the Underworld abhorred

Aegisthus' couch,—a hateful thing on earth,—

Till the house blazed with fire unnatural.

Menelaus, this I warn thee—yea, will do:—

If thou regard mine hate, our tie of kin,

Shield not this man from death in heaven's despite.

Leave him to die by stoning of the folk,

Or never set thou foot in Spartan land!

Thou hast heard—remember! Choose the impious not,

To thrust aside the friends that reverence God.

My servants, lead me from this dwelling hence.

[Exit.

Go, that unharassed what I yet would say

May reach his ears, escaped thine hindering age.

Menelaus, why pace to and fro in thought,

Treading the mazes of perplexity?

Let be: somewhat I muse within myself:

I know not whither in this chance to turn.

End not thy pondering straightway: hearken first

Unto my pleading, and resolve thee then.

Speak; thou hast well said. Silence is sometimes

Better than speech, and speech sometimes than silence.