Euripides' HERACLES Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

Euripides Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Euripides in Print

63 pages - You are on Page 31

(strophe 2)

Deck thee with garlands, O Ismenus! break forth into dancing, ye
paved streets of our seven-gated city! come Dirce, fount of waters
fair; and joined with her ye daughters of Asopus, come from your father's
waves to add your maiden voices to our hymn, the victor's prize that
Heracles hath won. O Pythian rock, with forests crowned, and haunts
of the Muses on Helicon! make my city and her walls re-echo with cries
of joy; where sprang the earth-born crop to view, a warrior-host with
shields of brass, who are handing on their realm to children's children,
a light divine to Thebes.

(antistrophe 2)

All hail the marriage! wherein two bridegrooms shared; the one, a
mortal; the other, Zeus, who came to wed the maiden sprung from Perseus;
for that marriage of thine, O Zeus, in days gone by has been proved
to me a true story beyond all expectation; and time hath shown the
lustre of Heracles' prowess, who emerged from caverns 'neath the earth
after leaving Pluto's halls below. To me art thou a worthier lord
than that base-born king, who now lets it be plainly seen in this
struggle 'twixt armed warriors, whether justice still finds favour
in heaven. (The spectres of Madness and Iris appear from above. The
Chorus sees them.) Ha! see there, my old comrades! is the same wild
panic fallen on us all; what phantom is this I see hovering o'er the
house? Fly, fly, bestir thy tardy steps! begone! away! away! O saviour
prince, avert calamity from me!

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