Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/352
Chorus.
My mind as touching seers is even at one
With yonder ancient. Who hath Gods for friends
Hath the best divination in his home. 760
Helen.
Enough: unto this present all is well.
But, toil-tried, how thou earnest safe from Troy,
To know were profitless; yet friends must needs
Yearn to be told the afflictions of their friends.
Menelaus.
In one word, one thought's track, thou hast asked me much. 765
Why tell of those in the Aegean lost,
Of Nauplius' beacons on Eubœa's cliffs,[1]
Of Crete, of Libyan cities visited,
Of Perseus' heights?[2]—I should not with the tale
Sate thee, and telling should renew my pain,— 770
Toil-worn with suffering, should but grieve twice o'er.
Helen.
Wiser thine answer than my questioning is.
Yet—let the rest pass—tell but this, how long
O'er the sea-ridges vainly wanderedst thou?
- ↑ Palamedes, the son of Nauplius king of Eubœa, was one of the Greek captains who sailed to Troy. He was treacherously put to death by Greek chiefs who envied his prowess, and his father, in revenge, lit false signals on the cliffs of Kaphareus, by which the Greek fleet, on the home-voyage, was lured to destruction. See ll. 1126—1131.
- ↑ A headland at the west of the Nile Delta, where Perseus slew the Gorgon Medusa.