Stasimon 1
[Episode]
Your answer is better than my question. Leave out the rest, and tell me only this: how long were you a weary wanderer over the surface of the sea?
Menelaos
Besides those ten years in Troy, I went through seven cycles of years on board ship.
775
Helen
Alas, poor man, you have spoken of a long time; and, saved from there, you have come here to the slaughter.
Menelaos
What do you mean? What will you say? Ah, my wife, you have ruined me.
Helen
Escape from this land and flee as quickly as possible. The man who lives in this house will kill you.
780
Menelaos
What have I done to deserve such a fate?
Helen
You have come unexpectedly to hinder my marriage.
Menelaos
What! Does someone plan to marry my wife?
Helen
And to act in violence against me, which I have endured.
785
Menelaos
Does he have private power, or is he the ruler of the country?
Helen
He is the lord of this land, the son of Proteus.
Menelaos
This is that riddle I heard from the servant.
Helen
Which one of the barbarian’s gates were you standing beside?
Menelaos
This one, from which I was being driven away like a beggar.
790
Helen
You were surely not begging for food, were you? How unhappy I am!
Menelaos
That was the deed, though it did not have that name.
Helen
Then you know everything, it seems, about my marriage.
Menelaos
I do. But if you have escaped his bed—that I do not know.
Helen
Know that I have saved myself untouched for you.
795
Menelaos
What could persuade me of this? If true, your words are sweet.
Helen
Do you see my wretched sanctuary at this tomb?
Menelaos
I see a miserable bed of straw, but what do you have to do with it?
Helen
Here, as a suppliant, I am asking for an escape from his bed.
Menelaos
For want of an altar, or because it is the barbarians’ way?
800
Helen
This was as good a protection to me as the temples of the gods.
Menelaos
Then it’s not possible for me to take you home by ship?
Helen
A sword is waiting for you, rather than my bed.
Menelaos
So I would be the most wretched of mortals.
Helen
Do not feel shame now, but escape from this land.
805
Menelaos
Leaving you behind? I ravaged Troy for your sake.
