Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/367

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HELEN.
311

Helen.

I might persuade—yet what avails our flight
Who know these plains not, nor the alien's land?


Menelaus.

Thou hast named a hopeless bar. Lo, should I hide
Within, and slay the king with this keen sword?


Helen.

His sister would not suffer thee, nor spare 1045
To tell thy purposed murder of her kin.


Menelaus.

No ship have we wherein we might escape
Fleeing; for that I had the sea hath whelmed.


Helen.

Hearken—if woman's lips may wisdom speak:—
Wouldst thou consent, ere death, in name to die? 1050


Menelaus.

Evil the omen: yet, if this shall help,
Ready I am, ere death, in name to die.


Helen.

Yea, with shorn hair and dirges will I mourn thee
Before the tyrant, after woman's wont.


Menelaus.

What salve of safety for us twain hath this? 1055
Sooth, the device is something overworn![1]

  1. ↑ Menelaus intimates that such a trick might prove to have been tried once too often. Moreover, an apology to
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