Euripides' SUPPLIANTS Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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53 pages - You are on Page 31

And the twain, clashing their shields together as they met in
the midst of the assembled host, were dealing death and courting it,
shouting loudly each to his fellow the battle-cry: "Slay, and with
thy spear strike home against the sons of Erechtheus." Fierce foes
to cope with were the warriors whom the dragon's teeth to manhood
reared; so fierce, they broke our left wing, albeit theirs was routed
by our right and put to flight, so that the struggle was evenly balanced.
Here again our chief deserved all praise, for this success was not
the only one he gained; no! next he sought that part of his army which
was wavering; and loud he called to them, that the earth rang again,
"My sons, if ye cannot restrain the earth-born warriors' stubborn
spear, the cause of Pallas is lost." His word inspired new courage
in all the Danaid host. Therewith himself did seize a fearsome mace,
weapon of Epidaurian warfare, and swung it to and fro, and with that
club, as with a sickle, he shore off necks and heads and helmets thereupon.
Scarce even then they turned themselves to fly. I cried aloud for
joy, and danced and clapped my hands; while to the gates they ran.
Throughout the town echoed the shrieks of young and old, as they crowded
the temples in terror. But Theseus, when he might have come inside
the walls, held back his men, for he had not come, said he, to sack
the town, but to ask for the bodies of the dead. Such the general
men should choose, one who shows his bravery in danger, yet hates
the pride of those that in their hour of fortune lose the bliss they
might have enjoyed, through seeking to scale the ladder's topmost
step.

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