Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/197

Rh

Hold ye her—hold! Set to her throat the sword,

And silent wait, till Menelaus learn

That men, not Phrygian cowards, hath he found,

And fares now as 'tis meet that cowards fare.

(Str.) What ho! friends, ho! awake

A din by the halls, let your clamour outbreak,

That the blood that therein hath been shed

Thrill not the souls of the people of Argos with dread,

And unto the mansion of kings to the rescue they haste,

Ere I look on the carcase of Helen beyond doubt cast

Blood-besprent mid the palace-hall,

Or hear the tale by the mouth of a thrall;

For I know of the havoc in part, but I know not all.

By the hand of Justice the vengeance-doom

Of the Gods upon Helen's head hath come;

For she filled with tears all Hellas-land

For the sake of Paris, the traitor banned,

Who drew the array of Hellas away unto Ilium's strand.

But lo, the bars clash of the royal halls!

Hush ye;—there comes forth of her Phrygians one

Of whom we shall learn what befell within.

Enter Phrygian.

From the death by the Argive swords have I fled!

In my shoon barbaric I sped;

O'er the colonnade's rafters of cedar I clomb;

'Twixt the Dorian triglyphs I slid; and I come,