Epeisodion 2
Iolaus
My son, why, prithee, art thou returned with that anxious look? Hast thou news of the enemy? Are they coming, are they here, or what thy tidings? For of a surety yon herald will not play us false.
No! sure I am their captain, prosperous heretofore, will come, with thoughts exceeding proud against Athens. But Zeus doth punish overweening pride.
385
Demophon
The host of Argos is come, and Eurystheus its king;
my own eyes saw him, for the man who thinks he knows good generalship must see the foe not by messengers alone. As yet, however, he hath not sent his host into the plain, but, camped upon a rocky brow,
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is watching—I only tell thee what I think this means—to see by which road to lead his army hither without fighting, and how to take up a safe position in this land. However, all my plans are by this time carefully laid; the city is under arms, the victims
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stand ready to be slain to every god, whose due this is; my seers have filled the town with sacrifices, to turn the foe to flight and keep our country safe. All those who chant prophetic words have I assembled, and have examined ancient oracles, both public and secret,
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as means to save this city. And though the several answers differ in many points, yet in one is the sentiment of all clearly the same; they bid me sacrifice to Demeter’sPersephone, queen of the dead. daughter some maiden from a noble father sprung.
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Now I, though in your cause I am as zealous as thou seest, yet will not slay my child, nor will I compel any of my subjects to do so against his will; for who of his own will doth harbour such an evil thought as to yield with his own hands the child he loves?
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And now thou mayestHartung unnecessarily reads ἀστῶν ἴδοις. see angry gatherings, where some declare, ’tis right to stand by suppliant strangers, while others charge me with folly; but if I doReading εἰ δὲ δὴ which gives a quite intelligible sense; yet it has been altered by some into ἢν δὲ μὴ. this deed, a civil war is then and there on foot.
415
Do thou then look to this and help to find a way to save yourselves and this country without causing me to be slandered by the citizens. For I am no despot like a barbarian monarch; but providedCobet proposed ἤνπερ ἄδικα, i.e. if I do what is unjust, I shall get my deserts. I do what is just, just will my treatment be.
420
Chorus
Can it be that heaven forbids this city to help strangers, when it hath the will and longing so to do?
425
Iolaus
My children, we are even as those mariners, who have escaped the storm’s relentless rage, and have the land almost within their reach, but after all are driven back from shore by tempests to the deep again.
Even so we, just as we reach the shore in seeming safety, are being thrust back from this land. Ah me! Why, cruel hope, didst thou then cheer my heart, though thou didst not mean to make the boon complete?
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The king may well be pardoned, if he will not slay his subjects’ children; and with my treatment here I am content; if indeed ’tis heaven’s will, I thus should fare, still is my gratitude to thee in no wise lost. Children, I know not what to do for you.
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Whither shall we turn? for what god’s altar have we left uncrowned? to what fenced city have we failed to go? Ruin and surrender are our instant lot, poor children! If I must die, ’tis naught to me, save that thereby I give those foes of mine some cause for joy.
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But you, children, I lament and pity, and that aged mother of your sire, Alcmena. Ah, woe is thee for thy long span of life! and woe is me for all my idle toil! ’Twas after all our destined doom to fall into the hands of our hated foe,
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and die a death of shame and misery. But lend me thine aid, thou knowest how; for all hope of these children’s safety has not yet left me. Give me up instead of them to the Argives, O king; run no risk, but let me save
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the children; to love my life becomes me not; let it pass. MeUsener, followed by Nauck, regards lines 456 to 460 as spurious. will Eurystheus be most glad to take and treat despitefully, as I was Heracles’ companion; for the man is but a boor; wherefore wise men ought to pray to get a wise man for their foe, and not a proud senseless fool;
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for so, even if by fortuneReading with Tyrrwhitt κἀτυχής for καὶ δίκης, which in the Aldine became καὶ τύχης and suggested the emendation. flouted, one would meet with much consideration.
460
Chorus
Old man, blameBut Iolaus has praised, not blamed Athens. And so Hartung proposes to read ἐπαινέσης, Usener τήνδε ταῦτ’ ἄιτει. not this city; for though perhaps a gainReading κέρδος. Nauck has ψευδές. to us, yet would it be a foul reproach that we betrayed strangers.
Demophon
A generous scheme is thine, but impossible.
’Tis not in quest of thee yon king comes marching hither; what would Eurystheus gain by the death of one so old? Nay, ’tis these children’s blood he wants. For there is danger to a foe in the youthful scions of a noble race, whose memory dwells upon their father’s wrongs;
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all this Eurystheus must foresee. But if thou hast any scheme besides, that better suits the time, be ready with it, for, since I heard that oracle, I am at a loss and full of fear. [Exit Demophon.
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Macaria
Sirs, impute not boldness to me, because
I venture forth; this shall be my first request, for a woman’s fairest crown is this, to practise silence and discretion, and abide at home in peace. But when I heard thy lamentations, Iolaus, I came forth, albeit I was not appointed to take the lead in my family.
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Still in some sense am I fit to do so, for these my brothers are my chiefest care, and I fain would ask, as touching myself, whether some new trouble, added to the former woes, is gnawing at thy heart.
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Iolaus
My daughter, ’tis nothing new that I should praise thee, as I justly may,
above all the children of Heracles. Our house seemed to be prospering, when back it fell again into a hopeless state; for the king declares the prophets signify that he must order the sacrifice, not of bull or heifer, but of some tender maid
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of noble lineage, if we and this city are to exist. Herein is our perplexity; the king refuses either to sacrifice his own or any other’s child. Nauck condemns lines 494 to 497. Wherefore, though he use not terms express, yet doth he hint,
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that, unless we find some way out of this perplexity, we must seek some other land, for he this country fain would save.
495
