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    Euripides, Helen (ed. E. P. Coleridge)

    Menelaos

    Editions and translations: Greek (ed. Gilbert Murray) | English (ed. E. P. Coleridge)
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    An old woman comes out of the palace in answer to his call.
    Old woman

    Who's at the door? Get away from the house and don't annoy my master by standing at the court-yard gate! Or else you will die because you are [440]  a Hellene, and they have no business here.

    Menelaos

    My good woman, you can say these same words in a different tone, for I shall be persuaded; but let go your angry speech.

    Old woman

    Go away! Stranger, my orders are to let no Hellene come near this house.

    Menelaos

    [445]  Ah! Do not push me, or thrust me away by force.

    Old woman

    You are to blame, for not heeding what I say.

    Menelaos

    Announce to your master inside--

    Old woman

    I think someone would be sorry, if I announced your words.

    Menelaos

    I come as a shipwrecked man and a guest; such people are safe from violence.

    Old woman

    [450]  Well, go to some other house instead of this one.

    Menelaos

    No; I am going inside. You listen to me.

    Old woman

    Know that you're only causing trouble; and soon you'll be thrown out by force.

    Menelaos

    Alas! Where are those glorious armies of mine?

    Old woman

    Perhaps you were grand somewhere, but not here.

    Menelaos

    [455]  O my fortune, how we have been unworthily dishonored.

    Old woman

    Why are your eyes wet with tears? To whom are you lamenting?

    Menelaos

    To my fortunes, which were happy before this.

    Old woman

    Well then, why don't you go away and give these tears to your friends.

    Menelaos

    What is this land? Whose palace is this?

    Old woman

    [460]  Proteus lives here, the land is Egypt.

    Menelaos

    Egypt? O wretched, that I have sailed here!

    Old woman

    And why do you blame the bright gleam of the Nile?

    Menelaos

    I do not blame it; I am sighing for my fate.

    Old woman

    Many people are doing badly; you are not the only one.

    Menelaos

    [465]  Is the king you name in the house?

    Old woman

    This is his tomb; his son rules the land.

    Menelaos

    And where might he be? Abroad, or in the house?

    Old woman

    He is not inside; he is most bitterly opposed to the Hellenes.

    Menelaos

    What cause does he have? I have felt the consequences of it!

    Old woman

    [470]  Helen, the daughter of Zeus, is in this house.

    Menelaos

    What do you mean? What did you say? Tell me again.

    Old woman

    The daughter of Tyndareus, who once lived in Sparta.

    Menelaos

    Where did she come from? What is the meaning of this?

    Old woman

    She came here from the land of Lakedaimon.

    Menelaos

    [475]  When? Surely I have not been robbed of my wife from the cave?


    There is one comment on or cross reference to this page.

    Cross references from James Adam, The Republic of Plato:
    8, 554A

    Preferred URL for linking to this page: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Eur.+Hel.+437

    The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

    This text is based on the following book(s):
    Euripides. The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. Helen, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
    OCLC: 32280428


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