Helen, By Euripides

me a scheme to save ourselves. MENELAUS Hearken then; thou hast been a long while in the palace, and art intimate with the king's attendants. HELEN What dost thou mean thereby? for thou art suggesting hopes, as if resolved on some plan for our mutual help. MENELAUS Couldst thou persuade one of those who have charge of cars and steeds to furnish us with a chariot? HELEN I might; but what escape is there for us who know nothing of the country and the barbarian's kingdom? MENELAUS True; 'tis impossible. Well, supposing I conceal myself in the palace and slay the king with this two-edged sword? HELEN His sister would never refrain from telling her brother that thou wert meditating his death. MENELAUS We have not so much as a ship to make our escape in; for the sea. hath swallowed the one we had. HELEN Hear me, if haply even a woriian can utter words of wisdom. Dost thou consent to be dead in word, though not really so? MENELAUS 'Tis a bad omen; still, if by saying so I shall gain aught, I am ready to be dead in word, though not in deed. HELEN I, too, will mourn thee with hair cut short and dirges, as is women's way, before this impious wretch. MENELAUS What saving remedy doth this afford us twain? There is deception in thy scheme. HELEN I will beg the king of this country leave to bury thee in a cenotaph, as if thou hadst really died at sea. MENELAUS Suppose he grant it; how, e'en then, are we to escape without

MENELAUS Suppose he grant it; how, e'en then, are we to escape without a ship, after having committed me to my empty tomb? HELEN I will bid him give me a vessel, from which to let drop into the sea's embrace thy funeral offerings. MENELAUS A clever plan in truth, save in one particular; suppose he bid thee rear the tomb upon the strand, thy pretext comes to naught. HELEN But I shall say it is not the custom in Hellas to bury those who die at sea upon the shore. MENELAUS Thou removest this obstacle too; I then will sail with thee and help stow the funeral garniture in the same ship. HELEN Above all, it is necessary that thou and all thy sailors who escaped from the wreck should be at hand. MENELAUS Be sure if once I find a ship at her moorings, they shall be there man for man, each with his sword. HELEN Thou must direct everything; only let there be winds to waft our rails and a good ship to speed before them! MENELAUS So shall it be; for the deities will cause my troubles to cease. But from whom wilt thou say thou hadst tidings of my death? HELEN From thee; declare thyself the one and only survivor, telling how thou wert sailing with the son of Atreus, and didst see him perish. MENELAUS Of a truth the garments I have thrown about me, will bear out my tale that they were rags collected from the wreckage. HELEN They come in most opportunely, but they were near being lost just at the wrong time. Maybe that misfortune will turn to fortune.

just at the wrong time. Maybe that misfortune will turn to fortune. MENELAUS Am I to enter the palace with thee, or are we to sit here at the tomb quietly? HELEN Abide here; for if the king attempts to do thee any mischief, this tomb and thy good sword will protect thee. But I will go within and cut off my hair, and exchange my white robe for sable weeds, and rend my cheek with this hand's blood-thirsty nail. For 'tis a mighty struggle, and I see two possible issues; either I must die if detected in my plot, or else to my country shall I come and save thy soul alive. O Hera! awful queen, who sharest the couch of Zeus, grant some respite from their toil to two unhappy wretches; to thee I pray, tossing my arms upward to heaven, where thou hast thy home in the star-spangled firmament. Thou, too, that didst win the prize of beauty at the price of my marriage; O Cypris! daughter of Dione, destroy me not utterly. Thou hast injured me enough aforetime, delivering up my name, though not my person, to live amongst barbarians. Oh! suffer me to die, if death is thy desire, in my native land. Why art thou so insatiate in mischief, employing every art of love, of fraud, and guileful schemes, and spells that bring bloodshed on families? Wert thou but moderate, only that!-in all else thou art by nature man's most well, come deity; and I have reason so to say. (HELEN enters the palace and MENELAUS

and I have reason so to say. (HELEN enters the palace and MENELAUS withdraws into the background.) CHORUS (singing, strophe 1) Thee let me invoke, tearful Philomel, lurking 'neath the leafy covert in thy place of song, most tuneful of all feathered songsters, oh! come to aid me in my dirge, trilling through thy tawny throat, as I sing the piteous woes of Helen, and the tearful fate of Trojan dames made subject to Achaea's spear, on the day that there came to their plains one who sped with foreign oar across the dashing billows, bringing to Priam's race from Lacedaemon thee his hapless bride, Helen,-even Paris, luckless bridegroom, by the guidance of Aphrodite. (antistrophe 1) And many an Achaean hath breathed his last amid the spearmen's thrusts and hurtling hail of stones, and gone to his sad end; for these their wives cut off their hair in sorrow, and their houses are left without a bride; and one of the Achaeans, that had but a single ship, did light a blazing beacon on sea-girt Euboea, and destroy full many of them, wrecking them on the rocks of Caphareus and the shores that front the Aegean main, by the treacherous gleam he kindled; when thou, O Menelaus, from the very day of thy start, didst drift to harbourless hills, far from thy country before the breath of the storm, bearing on thy ship a prize that was no prize, but a phantom made by Hera out of cloud for the Danai to struggle over.

out of cloud for the Danai to struggle over. (strophe 2) What mortal claims, by searching to the utmost limit, to have found out the nature of God, or of his opposite, or of that which comes between, seeing as he doth this world of man tossed to and fro by waves of contradiction and strange vicissitudes? Thou, Helen, art the daughter of Zeus; for thy sire was the bird that nestled in Leda's bosom; and yet for all that art thou become a by-word for wickedness, through the length and breadth of Hellas, as faithless, treacherous wife and godless woman; nor can I tell what certainty is, whatever may pass for it amongst men. That which gods pronounce have I found true. (antistrophe 2) O fools! all ye who try to win the meed of valour through war and serried ranks of chivalry, seeking thus to still this mortal coil, in senselessness; for if bloody contests are to decide, there will never be any lack of strife in the towns of men; the maidens of the land of Priam left their bridal bowers, though arbitration might have put thy quarrel right, O Helen. And now Troy's sons are in Hades' keeping in the world below, and fire hath darted on her walls, as darts the flame of Zeus, and thou art bringing woe on woe to hapless sufferers in their misery. (THEOCLYMENUS and his hunting attendants enter.) THEOCLYMENUS All hail, my father's tomb! I buried thee, Proteus, at the place where men go out, that I might often greet thee; and

at the place where men go out, that I might often greet thee; and so, ever as I go out and in, I, thy son Theoclymenus call on thee, father. Ho! servants, to the palace take my hounds and hunting nets! How often have I blamed myself for never punishing those miscreants with death! I have just heard that son of Hellas has come openly to my land, escaping the notice of the guard, a spy maybe or a would-be thief of Helen; death shall be his lot if only I can catch him. Ha! I find all my plans apparently frustrated, the daughter of Tyndareus has deserted her seat at the tomb and sailed away from my shores. Ho! there, undo the bars, loose the horses from their stalls, bring forth my chariot, servants, that the wife, on whom my heart is set, may not get away from these shores unseen, for want of any trouble I can take. Yet stay; for I see the object of my pursuit is still in the palace, and has not fled. (HELEN enters from the palace, clad in the garb of mourning.) How now, lady, why hast thou arrayed thee in sable weeds instead of white raiment, and from thy fair head hast shorn thy tresses with the steel, bedewing thy cheeks the while with tears but lately shed? Is it in response to visions of the night that thou art mourning, or, because thou hast heard some warning voice within, art thus distraught with grief? HELEN My lord,-for already I have learnt to say that name,--I am undone; my luck is gone; I cease to be.

undone; my luck is gone; I cease to be. THEOCLYMENUS In what misfortune art thou plunged? What hath happened? HELEN Menelaus, ah me! how can I say it? is dead, my husband. THEOCLYMENUS How knowest thou? Did Theonoe tell thee this? HELEN Both she, and one who was there when he perished. THEOCLYMENUS What! hath one arrived who actually announces this for certaint? HELEN One hath; oh may he come e'en as I wish him to! THEOCLYMENUS Who and where is he? that I may learn this more surely. HELEN There he is, sitting crouched beneath the shelter of this tomb, THEOCLYMENUS Great Apollo! how clad in unseemly rags! HELEN Ah me! methinks my own husband too is in like plight. THEOCLYMENUS From what country is this fellow? whence landed he here? HELEN From Hellas, one of the Achaeans who sailed with my husband. THEOCLYMENUS What kind of death doth he declare that Menelaus died? HELEN The most piteous of all; amid the watery waves at sea. THEOCLYMENUS On what part of the savage ocean was he sailing? HELEN Cast up on the harbourless rocks of Libya. THEOCLYMENUS How was it this man did not perish if he was with him aboard? HELEN There are times when churls have more luck than their betters. THEOCLYMENUS Where left he the wreck, on coming hither? HELEN There, where perdition catch it, but not Menelaus! THEOCLYMENUS He is lost; but on what vessel came this man? HELEN According to his story sailors fell in with him and picked

HELEN According to his story sailors fell in with him and picked him up. THEOCLYMENUS Where then is that ill thing that was sent to Troy in thy stead? HELEN Dost mean the phantom-form of cloud? It hath passed into the air. THEOCLYMENUS O Priam, and thou land of Troy, how fruitless thy ruin! HELEN I too have shared with Priam's race their misfortunes. THEOCLYMENUS Did this fellow leave thy husband unburied, or consign him to the grave? HELEN Unburied; woe is me for my sad lot! THEOCLYMENUS Wherefore hast thou shorn the tresses of thy golden hair? HELEN His memory lingers fondly in this heart, whate'er his fate. THEOCLYMENUS Are thy tears in genuine sorrow for this calamity? HELEN An easy task no doubt to escape thy sister's detection! THEOCLYMENUS No, surely; impossible. Wilt thou still make this tomb thy abode? HELEN Why jeer at me? canst thou not let the dead man be? THEOCLYMENUS No, thy loyalty to thy husband's memory makes thee fly from me. HELEN I will do so no more; prepare at once for my marriage. THEOCLYMENUS Thou hast been long in bringing thyself to it; still I do commend the now. HELEN Dost know thy part? Let us forget the past. THEOCLYMENUS On what terms? One good turn deserves another. HELEN Let us make peace; be reconciled to me. THEOCLYMENUS I relinquish my quarrel with thee; let it take wings and fly away. HELEN Then by thy knees, since thou art my friend indeed,-

HELEN Then by thy knees, since thou art my friend indeed,- THEOCLYMENUS What art so bent on winning, that to me thou stretchest out a suppliant hand? HELEN My dead husband would I fain bury. THEOCLYMENUS What tomb can be bestowed on lost bodies? Wilt thou bury a shade? HELEN In Hellas we have a custom, whene'er one is drowned at sea- THEOCLYMENUS What is your custom? The race of Pelops truly hath some skill in matters such as this. HELEN To hold a burial with woven robes that wrap no corpse. THEOCLYMENUS Perform the ceremony; rear the tomb where'er thou wilt. HELEN 'Tis not thus we give drowned sailors burial. THEOCLYMENUS How then? I know nothing of your customs in Hellas. HELEN We unmoor, and carry out to sea all that is the dead man's due. THEOCLYMENUS What am I to give thee then for thy dead husband? HELEN Myself I cannot say; I had no such experience in my previous happy life. THEOCLYMENUS Stranger, thou art the bearer of tidings I welcome. MENELAUS Well, I do not, nor yet doth the dead man. THEOCLYMENUS How do ye bury those who have been drowned at sea? MENELAUS Each according to his means. THEOCLYMENUS As far as wealth goes, name thy wishes for this lady's sake. MENELAUS There must be a blood-offering first to the dead. THEOCLYMENUS Blood of what? Do thou show me and I will comply. MENELAUS Decide that thyself; whate'er thou givest will suffice. THEOCLYMENUS Amongst barbarians 'tis customary to sacrifice a horse

THEOCLYMENUS Amongst barbarians 'tis customary to sacrifice a horse or bull, MENELAUS If thou givest at all, let there be nothing mean in thy gift. THEOCLYMENUS I have no lack of such in my rich herds MENELAUS Next an empty bier is decked and carried in procession. THEOCLYMENUS It shall be so; what else is it customary to add? MENELAUS Bronze arms; for war was his delight. THEOCLYMENUS These will be worthy of the race of Pelops, and these will we give. MENELAUS And with them all the fair increase of productive earth. THEOCLYMENUS And next, how do ye pour these offerings into the billows? MENELAUS There must be a ship ready and rowers. THEOCLYMENUS How far from the shore does the ship put out? MENELAUS So far that the foam in her wake can scarce be seen from the strand. THEOCLYMENUS Why so? wherefore doth Hellas observe this custom? MENELAUS That the billow may not cast up again our expiatory offerings. THEOCLYMENUS Phoenician rowers will soon cover the distance. MENELAUS 'Twill be well done, and gratifying to Menelaus, too. THEOCLYMENUS Canst thou not perform these rites well enough without Helen? MENELAUS This task belongs to mother, wife, or children. THEOCLYMENUS 'Tis her task then, according to thee, to bury her husband. MENELAUS To be sure; piety demands that the dead be not robbed of their due. THEOCLYMENUS Well, let her go; 'tis my interest to foster piety in a wife. And thou, enter the house and choose adornment for the dead.

a wife. And thou, enter the house and choose adornment for the dead. Thyself, too, will not send empty-handed away, since thou hast done her a service. And for the good news thou hast brought me, thou shalt receive raiment instead of going bare, and food, too, that thou mayst reach thy country; for as it is, I see thou art in sorry plight. As for thee, poor lady, waste not thyself in a hopeless case; Menelaus has met his doom, and thy dead husband cannot come to life. MENELAUS This then is thy duty, fair young wife; be content with thy present husband, and forget him who has no existence; for this is thy best course in face of what is happening. And if ever I come to Hellas and secure my safety, I will clear thee of thy former ill-repute, if thou prove a dutiful wife to thy true husband. HELEN I will; never shall my husband have cause to blame me; thou shalt thyself attend us and be witness thereto. Now go within, poor wanderer, and seek the bath, and change thy raiment. I will show my kindness to thee, and that without delay. For thou wilt perform all service due with kindlier feeling for my dear lord Menelaus, if at my hands thou meet with thy deserts. (THEOCLYMENUS, HELEN, MENELAUS enter the palace.) CHORUS (singing, strophe 1) Through wooded glen, o'er torrent's flood, and ocean's booming waves rushed the mountain-goddess, mother of the gods, in frantic haste, once long ago, yearning for her daughter lost, whose name men dare

once long ago, yearning for her daughter lost, whose name men dare not utter; loudly rattled the Bacchic castanets in shrill accord, what time those maidens, swift as whirlwinds, sped forth with the goddess on her chariot yoked to wild creatures, in quest of her that was ravished from the circling choir of virgins; here was Artemis with her bow, and there the grim-eyed goddess, sheathed in mail, and spear in hand. But Zeus looked down from his throne in heaven, and turned the issue otherwhither. (antistrophe 1) Soon as the mother ceased from her wild wandering toil, in seeking her daughter stolen so subtly as to baffle all pursuit, she crossed the snow-capped heights of Ida's nymphs; and in anguish cast her down amongst the rocks and brushwood deep in snow; and, denying to man all increase to his tillage from those barren fields, she wasted the human race; nor would she let the leafy tendrils yield luxuriant fodder for the cattle, wherefore many a beast lay dying; no sacrifice was offered to the gods, and on the altars were no cakes to burn; yea, and she made the dew-fed founts of crystal water to cease their flow, in her insatiate sorrow for her child. (strophe 2) But when for gods and tribes of men alike she made an end to festal cheer, Zeus spoke out, seeking to soothe the mother's moody soul, "Ye stately Graces, go banish from Demeter's angry heart the grief her wanderings bring upon her for her child, and go, ye Muses too,

her wanderings bring upon her for her child, and go, ye Muses too, with tuneful choir." Thereon did Cypris, fairest of the blessed gods, first catch up the crashing cymbals, native to that land, and the drum with tight-stretched skin, and then Demeter smiled, and in her hand. did take the deep-toned flute, well pleased with its loud note. (antistrophe 2) Thou hast wedded as thou never shouldst have done in defiance of all right, and thou hast incurred, my daughter, the wrath of the great mother by disregarding her sacrifices. Oh! mighty is the virtue in dress of dappled fawn-skin, in ivy green that twineth round a sacred thyrsus, in whirling tambourines struck as they revolve in air in tresses wildly streaming for the revelry of Bromius, and likewise in the sleepless vigils of the goddess, when the moon looks down and sheds her radiance o'er the scene. Thou wert confident in thy charms alone. (HELEN comes out of the palace alone.) HELEN My friends, within the palace all goes well for us; for the daughter of Proteus, who is privy to our stealthy scheme, told her brother nothing when questioned as to my husband's coming, but for my sake declared him dead and buried. Most fortunate it is my lord hath had the luck to get these weapons; for he is now himself clad in the harness he was to plunge into the sea, his stalwart arm thrust through the buckler's strap, and in his right hand a spear, on pretence

through the buckler's strap, and in his right hand a spear, on pretence of joining in homage to the dead. He hath girded himself most serviceably for the fray, as if to triumph o'er a host of barbarian foes when once we are aboard yon oared ship; instead of his rags from the wreck hath he donned the robes I gave for his attire, and I have bathed his limbs in water from the stream, a bath he long hath wanted. But I must be silent, for from the house comes forth the man who thinks he has me in his power, prepared to be his bride; and thy goodwill I also claim and thy strict silence, if haply, when we save ourselves, we may save thee too some day. (THEOCLYMENUS and MENELAUS enter, with a train of attendants bearing the offerings for the funeral rites.) THEOCLYMENUS Advance in order, servants, as the stranger hath directed, bearing the funeral gifts the sea demands. But thou, Helen, if thou wilt not misconstrue my words, be persuaded and here abide; for thou wilt do thy husband equal service whether thou art present or not. For I am afraid that some sudden shock of fond regret may prompt thee to plunge into the swollen tide, in an ecstasy of gratitude toward thy former husband; for thy grief for him, though he is lost, is running to excess. HELEN O my new lord, needs must I honour him with whom I first shared married joys; for I could even die with my husband, so well I loved him; yet how could he thank me, were I to share death's doom with

him; yet how could he thank me, were I to share death's doom with him? Still, let me go and pay his funeral rites unto the dead in person. The gods grant thee the boon I wish and this stranger too, for the assistance he is lending here! And thou shalt find in me a wife fit to share thy house, since thou art rendering kindness to Menelaus and to me; for surely these events are to some good fortune tending. But now appoint someone to give us a ship wherein to convey these gifts, that I may find thy kindness made complete. THEOCLYMENUS (to an attendant) Go thou, and furnish them with a Sidonian galley of fifty oars and rowers also. HELEN Shall not he command the ship who is ordering the funeral? THEOCLYMENUS Most certainly; my sailors are to obey him. HELEN Repeat the order, that they may clearly understand thee. THEOCLYMENUS I repeat it, and will do so yet again if that is thy pleasure. HELEN Good luck to thee and to me in my designs! THEOCLYMENUS Oh! waste not thy fair complexion with excessive weeping. HELEN This day shall show my gratitude to thee. THEOCLYMENUS The state of the dead is nothingness; to toil for them is vain. HELEN In what I say, this world, as well as that, hath share. THEOCLYMENUS Thou shalt not find in me a husband at all inferior to Menelaus. HELEN With thee have I no fault to find; good luck is all I need. THEOCLYMENUS That rests with thyself, if thou show thyself a loving

THEOCLYMENUS That rests with thyself, if thou show thyself a loving wife to me. HELEN This is not a lesson I shall have to learn now, to love my friends. THEOCLYMENUS Is it thy wish that I should escort thee in person with active aid? HELEN God forbid! become not thy servant's servant, O king! THEOCLYMENUS Up and away! I am not concerned with customs which the race of Pelops holds. My house is pure, for Menelaus did not die here; go some one now and bid my vassal chiefs bring marriage-offerings to my palace; for the whole earth must re-echo in glad accord the hymn of my wedding with Helen, to make men envious. Go, stranger, and pour into the sea's embrace these offerings to Helen's former lord, and then speed back again with my bride, that after sharing with me her marriage-feast thou mayst set out for home, or here abide in happiness. (THEOCLYMENUS and his retinue enter the palace.) MENELAUS O Zeus, who art called the father of all and god of wisdom, look down on us and change our woe to joy! Lend us thy ready help, as we seek to drag our fortunes up the rugged hill; if with but thy finger-tip thou touch us, we shall reach our longed-for goal. Sufficient are the troubles we ere this have undergone. Full oft have I invoked you gods to near my joys and sorrows; I do not deserve to be for ever unhappy, but to advance and prosper. Grant me but this one boon, and so will ye crown my future with blessing. (MENELAUS, HELEN and their

so will ye crown my future with blessing. (MENELAUS, HELEN and their train of attendants depart.) CHORUS (singing, strophe 1) Hail! thou swift Phoenician ship of Sidon! dear to the rowers, mother to the foam, leader of fair dolphins' gambols, what time the deep is hushed and still, and Ocean's azure child, the queen of calm, takes up her parable and says: "Away! and spread your canvas to the ocean-breeze. Ho! sailors, ho! come grip your oars of pine, speeding Helen on her way to the sheltered beach where Perseus dwelt of yore." (antistrophe 1) It may be thou wilt find the daughters of Leucippus beside the brimming river or before the temple of Pallas, when at last with dance and revelry thou joinest in the merry midnight festival of Hyacinthus, him whom Phoebus slew in the lists by a quoit hurled o'er the mark; wherefore did the son of Zeus ordain that Laconia's land should set apart that day for sacrifice; there too shalt thou find the tender maid, whom ye left in your house, for as yet no nuptial torch has shed its light for her. (strophe 2) Oh! for wings to cleave the air in the track of Libyan cranes, whose serried ranks leave far behind the wintry storm at the shrill summons of some veteran leader, who raises his exultant cry as he wings his way o'er plains that know no rain and yet bear fruitful increase. Ye feathered birds with necks outstretched, comrades of the racing

Ye feathered birds with necks outstretched, comrades of the racing clouds, on on! till ye reach the Pleiads in their central station and Orion, lord of the night; and as ye settle on Eurotas' banks proclaim the glad tidings that Menelaus hath sacked the city of Dardanus, and will soon be home. (antistrophe 2) Ye sons of Tyndareus at length appear, speeding in your chariot through the sky, denizens of heaven's courts beneath the radiant whirling stars, guide this lady Helen safely o'er the azure main, across the foam-flecked billows of the deep-blue sea, sending the mariners a favouring gale from Zeus; and from your sister snatch the ill-repute of wedding with a barbarian, even the punishment bequeathed to her from that strife on Ida's mount, albeit she never went to the land of Ilium, to the battlements of Phoebus. (The SECOND MESSENGER enters in haste, as THEOCLYMENUS comes out of the palace.) SECOND MESSENGER O king, at last have I found thee in the palace; for new tidings of woe art thou soon to hear from me. THEOCLYMENUS How now? MESSENGER Make haste to woo a new wife; for Helen hath escaped. THEOCLYMENUS Borne aloft on soaring wings, or treading still the earth? MESSENGER Menelaus has succeeded in bearing her hence; 'twas he that brought the news of his own death. THEOCLYMENUS O monstrous story! what ship conveyed her from these shores? Thy tale is past belief. MESSENGER The very ship thou didst thyself give the stranger; and

MESSENGER The very ship thou didst thyself give the stranger; and that thou mayest briefly know all, he is gone, taking thy sailors with him. THEOCLYMENUS How was it? I long to know, for I never thought that a single arm could master all those sailors with whom thou wert despatched. MESSENGER Soon as the daughter of Zeus had left this royal mansion and come unto the sea, daintily picking her way, most craftily she set to mourn her husband, though he was not dead but at her side. Now when we reached thy docks well walled, we began to launch the fastest of Sidonian ships, with her full complement of fifty rowers, and each task in due succession followed; some set up the mast, others ranged the oars with their blades ready, and stored the white sails within the hold, and the rudder was let down astern and fastened securely. While we were thus employed, those Hellenes, who had been fellow-voyagers with Menelaus, were watching us, it seems, and they drew nigh the beach, clad in the rags of shipwrecked men,-well built enough, but squalid to look upon. And the son of Atreus, directly he saw them approach, bespoke them, craftily introducing the reason for his mourning: "Ye hapless mariners, how have ye come hither? your Achaean ship where wrecked? Are ye here to help bury dead Atreus' son, whose missing body this lady, daughter of Tyndareas, is honouring with a cenotaph?" Then they with feigned tears proceeded to the ship, bearing aboard

Then they with feigned tears proceeded to the ship, bearing aboard the offerings to be thrown into the deep for Menelaus. Thereat were we suspicious, and communed amongst ourselves regarding the number of extra voyagers; but still we kept silence out of respect for thy orders, for by intrusting the command of the vessel to the stranger thou didst thus spoil all. Now the other victims gave no trouble, and we easily put them aboard; only the bull refused to go forward along the gangway, but rolled his eyes around and kept bellowing, and, arching his back and glaring askance towards his horns, he would not let us touch him. But Helen's lord cried out: "O! ye who laid waste the town of Ilium, come pick up yon bull, the dead man's offering, on your stout shoulders, as is the way in Hellas, and cast him into the hold;" and as he spoke he drew his sword in readiness. Then they at his command came and caught up the bull and carried him bodily on to the deck. And Menelaus stroked the horse on neck and brow, coaxing it to go aboard. At length, when the ship was fully freighted, Helen climbed the ladder with graceful step and took her seat midway betwixt the rowers' benches, and he sat by her side, even Menelaus who was called dead; and the rest, equally divided on the right and left side of the ship, sat them down, each beside his man, with swords concealed beneath their cloaks, and the billows soon were echoing to the rowers'

beneath their cloaks, and the billows soon were echoing to the rowers' song, as we heard the boatswain's note. Now when we were put out a space, not very far nor very near, the helmsman asked, "Shall we, sir stranger, sail yet further on our course, or will this serve? For thine it is to command the ship." And he answered: "'Tis far enough for me," while in his right hand he gripped his sword and stepped on to the prow; then standing o'er the bull to slay it, never a word said he of any dead man, but cut its throat and thus made prayer: "Poseidon, lord of the sea, whose home is in the deep, and ye holy daughters of Nereus, bring me and my wife safe and sound to Nauplia's strand from hence! Anon a gush of blood, fair omen for the stranger, spouted into the tide. One cried, "There is treachery in this voyage; why should we now sail to Nauplia? Give the order, helmsman, turn thy rudder." But the son of Atreus, standing where he slew the bull, called to his comrades, "Why do ye, the pick of Hellas, delay to smite and slay the barbarians and fling them from the ship into the waves?" While to thy crew the boatswain cried the opposite command: "Ho! some of you catch up chance spars, break up the benches, or snatch the oar-blade from the thole, and beat out the brains of these our foreign foes." Forthwith up sprang each man, the one part armed with poles that sailors use, the other with swords. And the ship ran down with

that sailors use, the other with swords. And the ship ran down with blood; while Helen from her seat upon the stern thus cheered them on: "Where is the fame ye won in Troy? show it against these barbarians." Then as they hasted to the fray, some would fall and some rise up again, while others hadst thou seen laid low in death. But Menelaus in full armour, made his way, sword in hand, to any point where his watchful eye perceived his comrades in distress; so we leapt from the ship and swam, and he cleared the benches of thy rowers. Then did the prince set himself to steer, and bade them make a straight course to Hellas. So they set up the mast, and favouring breezes blew; and they are clear away, while I, from death escaped, let myself down by the anchor chain into the sea; and, just as I was spent, one threw me a rope and rescued me, and drew me to land to bring to thee this message. Ah! there is naught more serviceable to mankind than a prudent distrust. LEADER OF THE CHORUS I would never have believed that Menelaus could have eluded us and thee, O king, in the way he did on his coming. THEOCLYMENUS Woe is me! cozened by a woman's tricks! My bride hath escaped me. If the ship could have been pursued and overtaken, I would have used every means forthwith to catch the strangers; as it is, I will avenge myself upon my treacherous sister, in that she saw Menelaus in my palace and did not tell me. Wherefore shall she nevermore deceive

in my palace and did not tell me. Wherefore shall she nevermore deceive another by her prophetic art. (A SERVANT comes out of the palace.) SERVANT Ho, there! whither away so fast, my lord? on what bloody thought intent? THEOCLYMENUS Whither justice calls me. Out of my path! SERVANT I will not loose thy robe, for on grievous mischief art thou bent. THEOCLYMENUS Shalt thou, a slave, control thy master? SERVANT Yea, for I am in my senses. THEOCLYMENUS I should not say so, if thou wilt not let me SERVANT Nay, but that I never will. THEOCLYMENUS Slay my sister most accursed. SERVANT Say rather, most righteous. THEOCLYMENUS "Righteous?" She who betrayed me? SERVANT There is an honourable treachery, which 'tis right to commit. THEOCLYMENUS By giving my bride to another? SERVANT Only to those who had a better right. THEOCLYMENUS Who hath any rights o'er mine? SERVANT He that received her from her father. THEOCLYMENUS Nay, but fortune gave her to me. SERVANT And destiny took her away. THEOCLYMENUS "Tis not for thee to decide my affairs. SERVANT Only supposing mine be the better counsel. THEOCLYMENUS So I am thy subject, not thy ruler. SERVANT Aye, a subject bound to do the right, and eschew the wrong. THEOCLYMENUS It seems thou art eager to be slain. SERVANT Slay me; thy sister shalt thou never slay with my consent, but me perchance; for to die for their masters is the fairest death that noble slaves can find. (THE DIOSCURI appear from above.)

that noble slaves can find. (THE DIOSCURI appear from above.) DIOSCURI Restrain those bursts of rage that hurry thee to undue lengths, Theoclymenus, king of this country. We are the twin sons of Zeus that call to thee by name, whom Leda bore one day, with Helen too who hath fled from thy palace. For thou art wroth for a marriage never destined for thee; nor is thy sister Theonoe, daughter of a Nereid goddess, wronging thee because she honours the word of God and her father's just behests. For it was ordained that Helen should abide within thy halls up till the present time, but since Troy is razed to the ground and she hath lent her name to the goddesses, no longer need she stay, now must she be united in the self-same wedlock as before, and reach her home and share it with her husband. Withhold then thy malignant blade from thy sister, and believe that she herein is acting with discretion. Long, long ago had we our sister saved, seeing that Zeus has made us gods, but we were too weak for destiny as well as the deities, who willed these things to be. This is my bidding to thee; while to my sister I say, "Sail on with thy husband; and ye shall have a prosperous breeze; for we, thy brethren twain, will course along the deep and bring you safely to your fatherland. And when at last thy goal is reached and thy life ended, thou shalt be famous as a goddess, and with thy twin brethren share the drink-offering,

and like us receive gifts from men, for such is the will of Zeus. Yea, and that spot where the son o Maia first appointed thee a home when from Sparta he removed thee, after stealing an image of thee from Heaven's mansions to prevent thy marriage with Paris, even the isle that lies like a sentinel along the Attic coast, shall henceforth be called by thy name amongst men, for that it welcomed thee when stolen from thy home. Moreover, Heaven ordains that the wanderer Menelaus shall find a home within an island of the blest; for to noble souls hath the deity no dislike, albeit these oft suffer more than those of no account." THEOCLYMENUS Ye sons of Leda and of Zeus, I will forego my former quarrel about your sister, nor no longer seek to slay mine own. Let Helen to her home repair, if such is Heaven's pleasure. Ye know that ye are sprung of the same stock as your sister, best of women, chastest too; hail then for the true nobility of Helen's soul, a quality too seldom found amongst her sex! CHORUS (chanting) Many are the forms the heavenly will assumes; and many a thing God brings to pass contrary to expectation: that which was looked for is not accomplished, while Heaven finds out a way for what we never hoped; e'en such has been the issue here. THE END