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We have therefore good reason to thank Euripides, because, apart from his other merits as a poet, he chose this subject for a play,The Erechtheusof Euripides is now lost. Apart from the passage quoted by Lycurgus, a few other fragments have been preserved, including one of 34 lines given by Stobaeus,Florileg. iii. 18. believing that in the conduct of those people the citizens would have a fine example which they could keep before them and so implant in their hearts a love of their country. You must hear the iambic lines, gentlemen of the jury, which, in the play, are spoken by the mother of the girl. You will find in them a greatness of spirit and a nobility worthy of Athens and a daughter of Cephisus. Speech from Euripides He wins men’s hearts who with a ready hand Confers his favors; he who in the doing Delays and falters is less generous. But I consent to give my child to die For many reasons: first there is no state I count more worthy to accept my gift Than Athens, peopled by no alien race. For we are of this soil, while other towns, Formed as by hazard in a game of draughts, Take their inhabitants from diverse parts. He who adopts a city, having left Some other town, resembles a bad peg Fixed into wood of better quality, A citizen in name but not in fact. And secondly: it is that we may guard Our country and the altars of the gods That we get children for ourselves at all. This city, though it bears a single name, Holds many people in it. Should I then Destroy all these, when it is in my power To give one girl to die on their behalf? The mere ability to count, and tell The greater from the less, convinces me That this, the ruin of one person’s home, Is of less consequence and brings less grief Than would result if the whole city fell. If I had sons at home instead of girls, When hostile flames beset the city’s walls, Should I not send them forth into the fight, Though fearing for them? May my children then Fight also, vie with men, and not become Mere shapes of vanity within the state. And yet, when mothers send their sons to war With tears, they often daunt them as they leave. I hate the women who above all else Prefer their sons to live and put this thought Before their honor, urging cowardice. But if they fall in battle they obtain A common grave and glory which they share With many others; whereas she, my child, By dying for this city will attain A garland destined solely for herself. And she will save her mother and you too And both her sisters. Is it right to scorn Honors like these? Except in nature’s way This girl whom I shall give for sacrifice To save her native land is not my own. And if the city falls, what further chance Shall I have left me to enjoy my child? So far as rests with me, all shall be saved. Let others rule in Athens; I will be Her savior, and without my wish no man Shall harm what most concerns our common good, The ancient laws our fathers handed down. Eumolpus and his slavish Thracian train Shall set no trident in our midst or deck It round with garlands, where the olive tree And Gorgon’s golden head have been revered; Nor shall Athena meet with utter scorn. Come, citizens, and use my travail’s fruit To save yourselves and conquer, knowing well That I could never hesitate to save This city for the sake of one poor life. My country, were the love of all your sons As great as mine! You could not suffer ill, And we possessing you would live secure. Euripides
