Heracleidae

1Iolaus See this aged frame hurled in its feebleness upon the ground! Woe is me! Chorus Who threw thee down thus pitiably? Iolaus Behold the man who flouts your gods, kind sirs, and tries by force to drag me from my seat before the altar of Zeus. Chorus From what land, old stranger, art thou come to this confederate state of four cities? or have ye left Euboea’s cliffs, and, with the oar that sweeps the sea, put in here from across the firth?†Iolaus Sirs, no island life I lead, but from Mycenae to thy land I come. Chorus What do they call thee, aged sir, those folk in Mycenae? Iolaus Maybe ye have heard of Iolaus, the comrade of Heracles, for he was not unknown to fame. Chorus Yea, I have heard of him in bygone days; but tell me, whose are the tender boys thou bearest in thine arms? Iolaus These, sirs, are the sons of Heracles, come as suppliants to you and your city.

1Chorus What is their quest? Are they anxious, tell me, to obtain an audience of the state? Iolaus That so they may escape surrender, nor be tom with violence from thy altars, and brought to Argos. Copreus Nay, this will nowise satisfy thy masters, who o’er thee have a right, and so have tracked thee hither. Chorus Stranger,’tis but right we should reverence the gods’ suppliants, suffering none with violent hand to make them†leave the altars, for that will dread Justice ne’er permit. Copreus Do thou then drive these subjects of Eurystheus forth, and this hand of mine shall abstain from violence. Chorus’Twere impious for the state to neglect the suppliant stranger’s prayer. Copreus Yet’tis well to keep clear of troubles, by adopting that counsel, which is the wiser.

1Chorus Though loud thy boasts, there be others care no more for thee for that, O stranger†from the land of Argos; nor wilt thou scare my soul with swelling words. Not yet be this the fate of mighty Athens, beauteous town! But thou art void of sense, and so is he, who lords it o’er Argos, the son of Sthenelus,

1Chorus —thou that comest to another state, in no wise weaker than Argos, and, stranger that thou art, wouldst drag away by force suppliants of the gods, wanderers that cling†to my land for help, refusing to yield to our king, nor yet having any honest plea to urge. How can such conduct count as honourable, at least in wise men’s judgment?

1Chorus Without the will of heaven none is blest, none curst, I do maintain; nor doth the same house for ever tread the path of bliss; for one kind of fortune follows hard upon another; one man it brings to naught from his high estate, another though of no†account it crowns with happiness. To shun what fate decrees, is no wise permitted; none by cunning shall thrust it from him; but he, who vainly would do so, shall have unceasing trouble.

1Chorus Then fall not prostrate thou, but bear what heaven sends, and set a limit to thy soul’s grief; for she, poor maid! in dying for her brothers and this land, hath won a glorious death, and splendid fame shall be her meed from all mankind; for virtue’s path leads through troublous ways. Worthy of her father, worthy of her noble birth is this conduct. And if thou dost honour the virtuous dead, I share with thee that sentiment.

1Chorus O earth, and moon that shines by night, and dazzling radiance of the god, that giveth light to man, bear the tidings to me, shout aloud to heaven for joy, and beside our ruler’s throne, and in the shrine of grey-eyed Athene. For my fatherland and home will I soon decide the issue of the strife with the gleaming sword, because I have taken suppliants under my protection.

1Chorus’Tis a fearful thing, that a city prosperous as Mycenae is, one famed for martial prowess, should harbour wrath against my land; still, my countrymen, it were a shameful thing in us to yield up suppliant strangers at the bidding of Argos. Zeus is on my side, I am not afraid; Zeus hath a favour unto me, as is my due; never by me†shall gods be thought weaker than mortal men.

2Chorus O dread goddess, thine the soil whereon we stand, thine this city, for thou art its mother, queen, and saviour; wherefore turn some other way the impious king, who leadeth a host from Argos with brandished lance against this land; for, such my worth, I little merit exile from my home.

2Chorus For thy worship†is aye performed with many a sacrifice, and never art thou forgotten as each month draweth to its close, when young voices sing and dancers’ music is heard abroad, while on our wind-swept hill goes up the cry of joy to the beat of maidens’ feet by night.

1Chorus Sweet is the dance to me, whenso the clear-toned flute and lovely Aphrodite shed grace upon the feast; and a joyful thing too it is, I trow, to witness the good luck of friends, who till then ne’er dreamt of it. For numerous is the offspring of Fate, that bringeth all to pass, and of Time, the son of Cronos.

1Chorus Thine is the path of justice, O my city; this must no man wrest from thee, thy reverence for the gods, and, whoso denieth it of thee, draws nigh to frenzy’s goal, with these plain proofs in view. Yea, for the god proclaims it clearly, by cutting short the bad man’s pride in every case.

2Chorus In heaven, mother, lives thy son, passed from earth away; that he went down to Hades’ halls, his body burnt by the fire’s fierce flame, is past belief; in golden halls reclined he has to wife Hebe, lovely nymph. Thou, O Hymen, hast honoured them, children both of Zeus.

2Chorus Things for the most part form a single chain; for instance, men say Athene used to champion their father, and now the citizens of that goddess have saved his children, and checked the insolence of him, whose heart preferred violence to justice. God save me from such arrogance, such greed of soul! [Eurystheus is brought in bound.