Euripides' SUPPLIANTS Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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Theseus: Forasmuch as with this thy art thou hast ever served the
state and me by carrying my proclamations far and wide, so now cross
Asopus and the waters of Ismenus, and declare this message to the
haughty king of the Cadmeans: "Theseus, thy neighbour, one who well
may win the boon he craves, begs as a favour thy permission to bury
the dead, winning to thyself thereby the love of all the Erechtheidae."
And if they will acquiesce, come back again, but if they hearken not,
thy second message runneth thus, they may expect my warrior host;
for at the sacred fount of Callichorus my army camps in readiness
and is being reviewed. Moreover, the city gladly of its own accord
undertook this enterprise, when it perceived my wish. Ha! who comes
hither to interrupt my speech? A Theban herald, so it seems, though
I am not sure thereof. Stay; haply he may save the thy trouble. For
by his coming he meets my purpose half-way.

Theban Herald: Who is the despot of this land? To whom must I announce
the message of Creon, who rules o'er the land of Cadmus, since Eteocles
was slain by the hand of his brother Polyneices, at the sevenfold
gates of Thebes?

Theseus: Sir stranger, thou hast made a false beginning to thy speech,
in seeking here a despot. For this city is not ruled by one man, but
is free. The people rule in succession year by year, allowing no preference
to wealth, but the poor man shares equally with the rich.

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