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Translated by E. Coleridge.
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Euripides in Print
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53 pages - You are on Page 23
Leader: The punishment Zeus hath inflicted was surely enough; there
was no need to heap this wanton insult on us.
Adrastus: Abandoned wretch!
Theseus: Peace, Adrastus! say no more; set not thy words before mine,
for 'tis not to thee this fellow is come with his message, but to
me, and I must answer him. Thy first assertion will I answer first:
I am not aware that Creon is my lord and master, or that his power
outweigheth mine, that so he should compel Athens to act on this wise;
nay! for then would the tide of time have to flow backward, if we
are to be ordered, as he thinks. 'Tis not I who choose this war, seeing
that I did not even join these warriors to go unto the land of Cadmus;
but still I claim to bury the fallen dead, not injuring any state
nor yet introducing murderous strife, but preserving the law of all
Hellas. What is not well in this? If ye suffered aught from the Argives-lo!
they are dead; ye took a splendid vengeance on your foes and covered
them with shame, and now your right is at an end. Let the dead now
be buried in the earth, and each element return to the place from
whence it came to the body, the breath to the air, the body to the
ground; for in no wise did we get it for our own, but to live our
life in, and after that its mother earth must take it back again.
Dost think 'tis Argos thou art injuring in refusing burial to the
dead? Nay! all Hellas shares herein, if a man rob the dead of their
due and keep them from the tomb; for, if this law be enacted, it will
strike dismay into the stoutest hearts. And art thou come to cast
dire threats at me while thy own folk are afraid of giving burial
to the dead? What is your fear? Think you they will undermine your
land in their graves, or that they will beget children in the womb
of earth, from whom shall rise an avenger? A silly waste of words,
in truth it was, to show your fear of paltry groundless terrors. Go,
triflers, learn the lesson of human misery; our life is made up of
struggles; some men there be that find their fortune soon, others
have to wait, while some at once are blest. Fortune lives a dainty
life; to her the wretched pays his court and homage to win her smile;
her likewise doth the prosperous man extol, for fear the favouring
gale may leave him. These lessons should we take to heart, to bear
with moderation, free from wrath, our wrongs, and do naught to hurt
a whole city. What then? Let us, who will the pious deed perform,
bury the corpses of the slain. Else is the issue clear; I will go
and bury them by force. For never shall it be proclaimed through Hellas
that heaven's ancient law was set at naught, when it devolved on me
and the city of Pandion.
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