Euripides' HELEN Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

Euripides Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Euripides in Print

90 pages - You are on Page 18

Chorus: Oh may sorrow be averted otherwhither, and thou be blest!

Helen: Woe is thee, unhappy Troy! Thou through deeds not done by the
art ruined, and hast suffered direst woe; for the gift that Cypris
gave to me, hath caused a sea of blood to flow, and many an eye to
weep, with grief on grief and tear on tear. All this hath Ilium suffered
and mothers have lost their children; and virgin sisters of the slain
have cut off their tresses by the swollen tide of Phrygian Scamander.
And the land of Hellas hath lifted her voice of woe and broken forth
in wailing, smiting on her head, and making tender cheeks to stream
with gore beneath the rending nail. Ah blest maid Callisto, who long
ago in Arcady didst find favour with Zeus, in the semblance of beast
four-footed, how much happier was thy lot than my mother's, for thou
hast changed the burden of thy grief and now with savage eye art weeping
o'er thy shaggy monster-shape; aye, and hers was a happier lot, whom
on a day Artemis drove from her choir, changed to a hind with horns
of gold, the fair Titanian maid, daughter of Merops, because of her
beauty; but my fair form hath proved the curse of Dardan Troy and
doomed Achaea's sons. (Helen and the Chorus go into the palace. After
the doors have closed upon them, Menelaus enters. He is alone and
clad in rags.)

Previous Page / First / Next Page of Helen

Euripides Home Page ||| Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons
Aeschylus ||| Sophocles

Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/euripides/helen.asp?pg=18