Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/159

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THE CHILDREN OF HERAKLES.

103

And cried, "O captain of the host, who hast come
From Argos, wherefore spare we not this land? 805
Lo, if thou rob Mycenæ of one man,
Nought shalt thou hurt her:—come now, man to man
Fight thou with me: so, slaying, lead away
Herakles' sons; or, falling, leave to me
My father's honour and halls to have and hold." 810
"Yea!" the host shouted, counting this well said
For valour and for rest from battle-toil:
Yet he, unshamed for them that heard the challenge,
And his own cowardice, war-chief though he were,
Dared not draw nigh the essay of valour's spear, 815
But was sheer craven. And this dastard wretch
Came to enslave the sons of Herakles!
So to the ranks again went Hyllus back:
And the priests, knowing now that end of strife
Should not by clash of champion shields be attained. 820
Did sacrifice, nor tarried, but straightway
Spilled from the victims' throats the auspicious blood.^[1]
Then mounted these their cars: their shield-rims those
Before their bodies cast. Then Athens' king
Cried to his host, as high-born chieftain should: 825
"Countrymen, now must each one play the man

↑ The reading (βροτείων) is doubtful; for (1), there was no question of more than one human victim; (2), so passing a reference to such a sacrifice is most unlikely; (3), the king had promised that women should attend Makaria at her death. This, he must have known, could not be done on the field of battle; nor was there any reason why the sacrifice should not be performed in a temple. Hence we may conclude that the victims here referred to were those regularly slain with a view to ascertain if the omens were favourable for immediate onset: this seems to be indicated by the peculiar (yet in such connection appropriate) word οὔριον.

[1] The reading (βροτείων) is doubtful; for (1), there was no question of more than one human victim; (2), so passing a reference to such a sacrifice is most unlikely; (3), the king had promised that women should attend Makaria at her death. This, he must have known, could not be done on the field of battle; nor was there any reason why the sacrifice should not be performed in a temple. Hence we may conclude that the victims here referred to were those regularly slain with a view to ascertain if the omens were favourable for immediate onset: this seems to be indicated by the peculiar (yet in such connection appropriate) word οὔριον.

[1]