Heraclidae
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Iolaus
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I hold this true, and long have held: Nature hath made one man upright for his neighbours’ good, while another hath a disposition wholly given over to gain, useless alike to the state and difficult to have dealings with,
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but for himself the best of men; and this I know, not from mere hearsay. I, for instance, from pure regard and reverence for my kith and kin, though I might have lived at peace in Argos, alone of all my race shared with Heracles his labours, while he was yet with us, and now that he dwells in heaven,
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I keep these his children safe beneath my wing, though myself I need protection. For when their father passed from earth away, Eurystheus would first of all have slain us, but we escaped. And though our home is lost, our life was saved. But in exile we wander from city to city,
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ever forced to roam. For, added to our former wrongs, Eurystheus thought it fit to put this further outrage upon us: wheresoe’er he heard that we were settling, thither would he send heralds
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demanding our surrender and driving us from thence, holdingReading προτείνων (Canter’s emendation of προτιμῶν MS.). out this threat, that Argos is no mean city to make a friend or foe, and furthermore pointing to his own prosperity. So they, seeing how weak my means, and these little ones left without a father,
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bow to his superior might and drive us from their land. And I share the exile of these children, and help them bear their evil lot by my sympathy, loth to betray them, lest someone say, Look you! now that the children’s sire is dead,
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Iolaus no more protects them, kinsman though he is. Not one corner left us in the whole of Hellas, we are come to Marathon and its neighbouring land, and here we sit as suppliants at the altars of the gods, and pray their aid; for ’tis said
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two sons of Theseus dwell upon these plains, the lot of their inheritance, scions of Pandion’s stock, related to these children; this the reason we have come on this our way to the borders of glorious Athens. To lead the flight two aged guides are we;
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my care is centred on these boys, while she, I mean Alcmena, clasps her son’s daughter in her arms, and bears her for safety within this shrine, for we shrink from letting tender maidensTradition only assigned one daughter, Macaria, to the hero. παρθένους is to be understood quite generally. come anigh the crowd or stand as suppliants at the altar.
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Now Hyllus and the elder of his brethren are seeking some place for us to find a refuge, if we are driven by force from this land.
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O children, children, come hither! hold unto my robe; for lo! I see a herald coming towards us from Eurystheus,
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by whom we are persecuted, wanderers excluded from every land. A curse on thee and him that sent thee, hateful wretch! for that same tongue of thine hath oft announced its master’s evil hests to these children’s noble sire as well.
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Copreus
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Doubtless thy folly lets thee think this is a good position to have taken up, and that thou art come to a city that will help thee. No ! there is none that will prefer thy feeble arm to the might of Eurystheus. Begone! why take this trouble? Thou must arise and go
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to Argos, where awaits thee death by stoning.
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Iolaus
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Not so, for the god’s altar will protect me, and this land of freedom, wherein we have set foot.
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Copreus
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Wilt give me the trouble of laying hands on thee?
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Iolaus
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By force at least shalt thou never drag these children hence.
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Copreus
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That shalt thou soon learn; it seems thou wert a poor prophet, after all, in this. [Copreus here seizes the children.
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Iolaus
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This shall never happen while I live.
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Copreus
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Begone! for I will take them hence, for all thy refusals, for I holdElmsley, followed by Nauck, reads κομίζων. that they belong to Eurystheus, as they do indeed.
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Iolaus
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Help, ye who long nave had your home in Athens!
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we suppliants at Zeus’ altar in your market-place are being haled by force away, our sacred wreaths defiled, shame to your city, to the gods dishonour.
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Chorus
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Hark, hark! What cry is this that rises near the altar? At once explain the nature of the trouble.
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Iolaus
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See this aged frame hurled in its feebleness upon the ground! Woe is me!
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Chorus
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Who threw thee down thus pitiably?
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Iolaus
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Behold the man who flouts your gods, kind sirs, and tries by force to drag me from my seat before the altar of Zeus.
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Chorus
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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?i.e. the Euripus between Euboea and Attica.
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Iolaus
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Sirs, no island life I lead,
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but from Mycenae to thy land I come.
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Chorus
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What do they call thee, aged sir, those folk in Mycenae?
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Iolaus
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Maybe ye have heard of Iolaus, the comrade of Heracles, for he was not unknown to fame.
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Chorus
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Yea, I have heard of him in bygone days; but tell me, whose are the tender boys thou bearest in thine arms?
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Iolaus
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These, sirs, are the sons of Heracles, come as suppliants to you and your city.
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Chorus
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What is their quest? Are they anxious, tell me, to obtain an audience of the state?
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Iolaus
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That so they may escape surrender, nor be tom with violence from thy altars, and brought to Argos.
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Copreus
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Nay, this will nowise satisfy thy masters,
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who o’er thee have a right, and so have tracked thee hither.
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Chorus
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Stranger, ’tis but right we should reverence the gods’ suppliants, suffering none with violent hand to make themReading σφε (Musgrave) for MS. σε. Schmidt, τάδ’ ἀλιτεῖν σ’ ἕδη thee (i.e. Copreus) to transgress against. leave the altars, for that will dread Justice ne’er permit.
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Copreus
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Do thou then drive these subjects of Eurystheus forth, and this hand of mine shall abstain from violence.
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Chorus
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’Twere impious for the state to neglect the suppliant stranger’s prayer.
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Copreus
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Yet ’tis well to keep clear of troubles,
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by adopting that counsel, which is the wiser.
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Chorus
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Thou then, shouldst have told the monarch of this land thy errand before being so bold, out of regard to his country’s freedom, instead of trying to drag strangers by force from the altars of the gods.
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Copreus
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Who is monarch of this land and state?
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Chorus
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Demophon, son of gallant Theseus.
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Copreus
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Surely it were most to the purpose to discuss this matter somewhat with him; all else has been said in vain.
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Chorus
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Lo! here he comes in person, in hot haste, and Acamas his brother, to hear what thou hast to say.
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Demophon
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Since thou for all thy years hast outstripped younger men in coming to the rescue to this altar of Zeus, do thou tell me what hath chanced to bring this crowd together.
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Chorus
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There sit the sons of Heracles as suppliants, having wreathed the altar, as thou seest, O king,
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and with them is Iolaus, trusty comrade of their sire.
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Demophon
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Why should this event have called for cries of pain?
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Chorus
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(turning to Copreus). This fellow caused the uproar by trying to drag them forcibly from this altar, and he tripped up the old man, till my tears for pity flowed.
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Demophon
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Hellenic dress and fashion in his robes doth he no doubt adopt, but deeds like these betray the barbarian. Thou, sirrah, tell me straight the country whence thou earnest thither.
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Copreus
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An Argive I; since that thou seek’st to know.
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Who sent me, and the object of my coming, will I freely tell. Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, sends me hither to fetch these back; and I have come, sir stranger, with just grounds in plenty, alike for speech or action. An Argive myself, Argives I come to fetch,
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taking with me these runaways from my native city, on whom the doom of death was passed by our laws there; and we have a right, since we rule our city independently, to ratify its sentences. And though they have come as suppliants to the altars of numerous others,
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we have taken our stand on these same arguments, and no one has ventured to bring upon himself evils of his own getting. But they have come hither, either because they perceived some folly in thee, or, in their perplexity, staking all on one risky throw to win or lose;
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for surely they do not suppose that thou, if so thou hast thy senses still, and only thou, in all the breadth of Hellas they have traversed, wilt pity their foolish troubles. Come now, put argument against argument: what will be thy gain, suppose thou admit them to thy land, or let us take them hence?
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From us these benefits are thine to win: this city can secure as friends Argos, with its far-reaching arm, and Eurystheus’ might complete; whilst if thou lend an ear to their piteous pleading and grow soft, the matter
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must result in trial of arms; for be sure we shall not yield this struggle without appealing to the sword. What pretext wilt thou urge? Of what domains art thou robbed that thou shouldst take and wage war with the Tirynthian Argives? What kind of allies art thou aiding? ForNauck brackets this sentence as spurious. whom
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will they have fallen whom thou buriest? Surely thou wilt get an evil name from the citizens, if for the sake of an old man with one foot in the grave, a mere shadow I may say, and for these children, thou wilt plunge into troublous waters. The besti.e. a hope that they will do the same for you in your hour of need. Jebb suggested (Cf. Jerram) Ἐρῶ τὸ λῷστον· ἐλπιδ’ εὑρήσει μόνον I will put your case in the best light: you will find hope and nothing more. A most tempting elucidation of a very puzzling passage. thou canst say is, that thou wilt find in them a hope, and nothing more;
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and yet this falls far short of the present need; for these would be but a poor match for Argives even when fully armed and in their prime, if haply that raises thy spirits; moreover, the time ’twixt now and then is long, wherein ye may be blotted out. Nay, hearken to me;
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give me naught, but let me take mine own, and so gain Mycenae; but forbear to act now, as is your Athenian way, and take the weaker side, when it is in thy power to choose the stronger as thy friends.
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Chorus
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Who can decide a cause or ascertain its merits,
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till from both sides he clearly learn what they would say?
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Iolaus
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O king, in thy land I start with this advantage, the right to hear and speak in turn, and none, ere that, will drive me hence as elsewhere they would. ’Twixt us and him is naught in common,
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for we no longer have aught to do with Argos since that decree was passed, but we are exiles from our native land; how then can he justly drag us back as subjects of Mycenae,Mycenae and Argos are used indiscrimately, in the same way that Euripides elsewhere speaks of Greeks as Argives, Achaeans, Hellenes, etc., without distinction. seeing that they have banished us? For we are strangers.
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Or do ye claim that every exile from Argos is exiled from the bounds of Hellas? Not from Athens surely; for ne’er will she for fear of Argos drive the children of Heracles from her land. Here is no Trachis, not at all; no! nor that Achaean town, whence thou, defying justice,
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but boasting of the might of Argos in the very words thou now art using, didst drive the suppliants from their station at the altar. If this shall be, and they thy words approve, why then I trow this is no more Athens, the home of freedom. Nay, but I know the temper and nature of these citizens;
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they would rather die, for honour ranks before mere life with men of worth. Enough of Athens! for excessive praise is apt to breed disgust; and oft ere now I have myself felt vexed at praise that knows no bounds.
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But to thee, as ruler of this land, I fain would show the reason why thou art bound to save these children. Pittheus was the son of Pelops; from him sprung Aethra, and from her Theseus thy sire was born. And now will I trace back these children’s lineage for thee.
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Heracles was son of Zeus and Alcmena; Alcmena sprang from Pelops’ daughter; therefore thy father and their father would be the sons of first cousins. Thus then art thou to them related, O Demophon, but thy just debt to them beyond the ties of kinship
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do I now declare to thee; for I assert, in days gone by, I was with Theseus on the ship, as their father’s squire, when they went to fetch that girdle fraught with death; yea, and from Hades’ murky dungeons did Heracles bring thy father up; as all Hellas doth attest.
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The following six lines have been condemned by the joint verdict of Paley, Porson, and Dindorf. Wherefore in return they crave this boon of thee, that they be not surrendered up nor torn by force from the altars of thy gods and cast forth from the land. For this were shame on thee, andThis line as it stands has a syllable too many for the metre. Hermann omits τε. Wecklein inserts τῇ and omits κακόν. hurtful likewise in thy state, should suppliants, exiles,
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kith and kin of thine, be haled away by force. For pity’s sake! cast one glance at them. I do entreat thee, laying my suppliant bough upon thee, by thy hands and beard, slight not the sons of Heracles, now that thou hast them in thy power to help. Show thyself their kinsman and their friend;
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be to them father, brother, lord; for better each and all of these than to fall beneath the Argives’ hand.
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Chorus
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O king, I pity them, hearing their sad lot Now more than ever do I see noble birth o’ercome by fortune; for these, though sprung from a noble sire,
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are suffering what they ne’er deserved.
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Demophon
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Three aspects of the case constrain me, Iolaus, not to spurn the guests thou bringest; first and foremost, there is Zeus, at whose altar thou art seated with these tender children gathered round thee;
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next come ties of kin, and the debt I owe to treat them kindly for their father’s sake; and last, mine honour, which before all I must regard; for if I permit this altar to be violently despoiled by stranger hands, men will think
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the land I inhabit is free no more, and that through fearReading ὄκνῳ. I have surrendered suppliants to Argives, and this comes nigh to make one hang oneself. Would that thou hadst come under a luckier star! yet, as it is, fear not that any man shall tear thee and these children from the altar by force.
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Get thee (to Copreus) to Argos and tell Eurystheus so; yea and more, if he have any charge against these strangers, he shall have justice; but never shalt thou drag them hence.
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Copreus
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Not even if I have right upon my side and prove my case?
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Demophon
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How can it be right to drag the suppliant away by force?
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Copreus
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Well,Reading with Musgrave οὐκοῦν . . . ἀλλ’ οὐ. Jerram reads οὔκουν . . . ἀλλὰ σοὶ giving as the sense of this line and the next—Cop. No disgrace to me: the hurt will be thine. Dem. So it will, if I let thee take them. mine is the disgrace; no harm will come to thee.
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Demophon
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Tis harm to me, if I let them be haled away by thee.
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Copreus
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Banish them thyself, and then will I take them from elsewhere.
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Demophon
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Nature made thee a fool, to think thou knowest better than the god.
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Copreus
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It seems then evildoers are to find a refuge here.
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Demophon
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A temple of the gods is an asylum open to the world.
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Copreus
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Maybe they will not take this view in Mycensa.
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Demophon
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What! am I not lord of this domain?
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Copreus
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So long as thou injure not the Argives, and ifKirchhoff places a comma after ἐκείνους, and changes ἣν into ἄν, but this is not necessary. wise, thou wilt not.
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Demophon
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Be injured for all I care, provided I sin not against the gods.
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Copreus
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I would not have thee come to blows with Argos.
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Demophon
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I am of like mind in this; but I will not dismiss these from my protection.
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Copreus
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For all that, I shall take and drag my own away.
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Demophon
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Why then perhaps thou wilt find a difficulty in returning to Argos.
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Copreus
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That shall I soon find out by making the attempt.
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Demophon
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Touch them and thou shalt rue it, and that without delay.