HELEN
A monologue from the
play by Euripides
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from The Plays of Euripides in English, vol. i. Trans.
Shelley Dean Milman. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1920. |
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- HELEN: At thy knees I fall,
- O virgin, as a suppliant, and here take
- My miserable seat, both for myself,
- And him whom, scarce restored to me, I see
- Now on the verge of death. Forbear t' inform
- Thy brother, that to these fond arms my lord
- Again is come. O save him, I implore thee;
- Nor gratify thy brother, by betraying
- The feelings of humanity, to purchase
- A wicked and unjust applause: for Jove
- Detests all violence, he bids us use
- What we possess, but not increase our stores
- By rapine. It is better to be poor,
- Than gain unrighteous wealth. For all mankind
- Enjoy these common blessings, Air and Earth;
- Nor ought we our own house with gold to fill,
- By keeping fraudfully another's right,
- Or seizing it by violence. For Hermes,
- Commissioned by the blest immortal powers,
- Hath, at my cost, consigned me to thy sire,
- To keep me for this husband, who is here
- And claims me back again: but by what means
- Can he receive me after he is dead?
- Or how can the Egyptian king restore me
- A living consort to my breathless lord?
- Consider therefore, both the will of Heaven
- And that of thy great father. Would the god,
- Would the deceased, surrender up or keep
- Another's right? I deem they would restore it.
- Hence to thy foolish brother shouldst not thou
- Pay more respect than to thy virtuous sire.
- And sure if thou, a prophetess, who utter'st
- Th' oracular responses of the gods,
- Break'st through thy father's justice, to comply
- With an unrighteous brother: it were base
- In thee to understand each mystic truth
- Revealed by the immortal powers, the things
- That are, and those that are not; yet o'erlook
- The rules of justice. But O stoop to save
- Me, miserable me, from all those ills
- In which I am involved; this great exertion
- Of thy benignant aid, my fortunes claim.
- For there is no man who abhors not Helen;
- 'Tis rumored through all Greece that I betrayed
- My husband, and abode beneath the roofs
- Of wealthy Phrygia. But to Greece once more
- Should I return and to the Spartan realm;
- When they are told, and see, how to the arts
- Of these contending goddesses they owe
- Their ruin; but that I have to my friends
- Been ever true, they to the rank I held
- 'Midst chaste and virtuous matrons, will restore me:
- My daughter too, whom no man dares to wed,
- From me her bridal portion shall receive;
- And I, no longer doomed to lead the life
- Of an unhappy vagrant, shall enjoy
- The treasures that our palaces contain.
- Had Menelaus died, and been consumed
- In the funeral pyre, I should have wept
- For him far distant in a foreign realm;
- But now shall I for ever be bereft
- Of him who lives, and seem to have escaped
- From every danger. Virgin, act not thus;
- To thee I kneel a suppliant; O confer
- On me this boon, and emulate the justice
- Of your great sire. For fair renown attends
- The children, from a virtuous father sprung,
- Who equal their hereditary worth.
MORE
MONOLOGUES BY EURIPIDES |
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