Helen: My mother is no more; she tied a hanging noose around her neck because of the shame of my ill-fated marriage.
§688ὤμοι·
Menelaus: Alas!
θυγατρὸς δʼ Ἑρμιόνης ἔστιν βίος;
But is my daughter Hermione still living?
Helen: Unmarried, childless, O husband, she groans for my unmarried marriage.
§691ὦ πᾶν κατʼ ἄκρας δῶμʼ ἐμὸν πέρσας Πάρις, §692τάδε καὶ σὲ διώλεσε μυριάδας τε §693χαλκεόπλων Δαναῶν.
Menelaus: O Paris, who utterly destroyed my whole house, this has destroyed both you and myriads of bronze-armed Danaans.
§694ἐμὲ δὲ πατρίδος ἄπο κακόποτμον ἀραίαν §695ἔβαλε θεὸς ἀπό τε πόλεος ἀπό τε σέθεν, §696ὅτε μέλαθρα λέχεά τʼ ἔλιπον — οὐ λιποῦσʼ §697ἐπʼ αἰσχροῖς γάμοις.
Helen: But me, ill-fated and accursed, a god cast away from my fatherland, from my city, and from you, when I left my home and bed—though I did not leave them for a shameful marriage.
Chorus: If you should obtain happy fortune for the future, it would suffice to compensate for the past.
Messenger: Menelaus, grant me too a share of the joy, which I myself perceive indeed, but do not clearly grasp.
§702ἀλλʼ, ὦ γεραιέ, καὶ σὺ κοινώνει λόγων.
Menelaus: But, old man, do you also share in our conversation.
§703οὐχ ἥδε μόχθων τῶν ἐν Ἰλίῳ βραβεύς;
Messenger: Was this not the arbiter of our labors in Ilium?
Menelaus: Not she; by the gods, we were deceived, holding a sorrowful image of a cloud in our hands.
§706τί φῄς;
Messenger: What do you say?
§707νεφέλης ἄρʼ ἄλλως εἴχομεν πόνους πέρι;
Did we then endure labors in vain for the sake of a cloud?
§708Ἥρας τάδʼ ἔργα καὶ θεῶν τρισσῶν ἔρις.
Menelaus: These are the deeds of Hera and the strife of the three goddesses.
§709ἡ δʼ οὖσʼ ἀληθῶς ἐστιν ἥδε σὴ δάμαρ;
Messenger: And is this woman here truly your wife?
§710αὕτη· λόγοις ἐμοῖσι πίστευσον τάδε.
Menelaus: She indeed; trust my words in this.
Messenger: O daughter, how subtle and hard to trace is the deity!
εὖ δέ πως πάντα στρέφει §713ἐκεῖσε κἀκεῖσʼ ἀναφέρων· ὃ μὲν πονεῖ, §714ὃ δʼ οὐ πονήσας αὖθις ὄλλυται κακῶς, §715βέβαιον οὐδὲν τῆς ἀεὶ τύχης ἔχων.
Yet somehow he turns all things well, carrying them now this way, now that; one man labors, while another, without having labored, is in turn miserably destroyed, holding nothing secure in his ever-shifting fortune.
For you and your husband shared in labors— you indeed in reports, and he in the ardor of the spear.
And when he was striving, he possessed nothing; but now he holds the greatest blessings, having received them spontaneously and most fortunately.
So you did not shame your aged father and the Dioscuri, nor did you do such things as are rumored.
§722νῦν ἀνανεοῦμαι τὸν σὸν ὑμέναιον πάλιν §723καὶ λαμπάδων μεμνήμεθʼ ἃς τετραόροις §724ἵπποις τροχάζων παρέφερον· σὺ δʼ ἐν δίφροις §725ξὺν τῷδε νύμφη δῶμʼ ἔλειπες ὄλβιον.
Now I renew your wedding song again, and I remember the torches which I, running alongside the four-horse chariot, carried; and you, as a bride in the chariot with this man, were leaving your blessed home.
For bad is he who does not revere his masters' affairs, and rejoice with them, and share their pains in misfortunes.
§728ἐγὼ μὲν εἴην, κεἰ πέφυχʼ ὅμως λάτρις, §729ἐν τοῖσι γενναίοισιν ἠριθμημένος §730δούλοισι, τοὔνομʼ οὐκ ἔχων ἐλεύθερον, §731τὸν νοῦν δέ·
May I indeed, even if I am a servant, be numbered among the noble-minded slaves, not holding a free name, but holding a free mind.
κρεῖσσον γὰρ τόδʼ ἢ δυοῖν κακοῖν §732ἕνʼ ὄντα χρῆσθαι, τὰς φρένας τʼ ἔχειν κακὰς §733ἄλλων τʼ ἀκούειν δοῦλον ὄντα τῶν πέλας.
For this is better than, being one person, to suffer two evils: to have a bad mind and to obey others as a slave of those nearby.
§734ἄγʼ, ὦ γεραιέ, πολλὰ μὲν παρʼ ἀσπίδα §735μοχθήματʼ ἐξέπλησας ἐκπονῶν ἐμοί, §736καὶ νῦν μετασχὼν τῆς ἐμῆς εὐπραξίας §737ἄγγειλον ἐλθὼν τοῖς λελειμμένοις φίλοις §738τάδʼ ὡς ἔχονθʼ ηὕρηκας οἷ τʼ ἐσμὲν τύχης, §739μένειν τʼ ἐπʼ ἀκταῖς τούς τʼ ἐμοὺς καραδοκεῖν §740ἀγῶνας οἳ μένουσί μʼ, ὡς ἐλπίζομεν, §741κεἰ τήνδε πως δυναίμεθʼ ἐκκλέψαι χθονός, §742φρουρεῖν ὅπως ἂν εἰς ἓν ἐλθόντες τύχης §743ἐκ βαρβάρων σωθῶμεν, ἢν δυνώμεθα.
Menelaus: Come, old man, you have fulfilled many labors by my shield, working hard for me; and now, having shared in my good fortune, go and announce to the friends left behind how you found these things, and in what state of fortune we are, and bid them to remain on the shore and watch for the struggles that await me, as we expect, and if we should somehow be able to steal this woman away from the land, to keep watch so that, coming into a single fortune, we may be saved from the barbarians, if we are able.
§744ἔσται τάδʼ, ὦναξ.
Messenger: This shall be, king.
ἀλλά τοι τὰ μάντεων §745ἐσεῖδον ὡς φαῦλʼ ἐστὶ καὶ ψευδῶν πλέα.
But indeed, I have seen that the art of prophets is worthless and full of falsehoods.
§746οὐδʼ ἦν ἄρʼ ὑγιὲς οὐδὲν ἐμπύρου φλογὸς §747οὐδὲ πτερωτῶν φθέγματʼ· εὔηθες δέ τοι §748τὸ καὶ δοκεῖν ὄρνιθας ὠφελεῖν βροτούς.
Nor, as it turned out, was there anything sound in the flame of sacrifices, nor in the voices of winged creatures; it is foolish even to think that birds benefit mortals.
§749Κάλχας γὰρ οὐκ εἶπʼ οὐδʼ ἐσήμηνε στρατῷ §750νεφέλης ὑπερθνῄσκοντας εἰσορῶν φίλους §751οὐδʼ Ἕλενος, ἀλλὰ πόλις ἀνηρπάσθη μάτην.
For Calchas did not speak nor signal to the army, seeing his friends dying for the sake of a cloud, nor did Helenus; but the city was plundered in vain.
You might say: "Because God did not wish it?" Why then do we consult omens?
τοῖς θεοῖσι χρὴ §754θύοντας αἰτεῖν ἀγαθά, μαντείας δʼ ἐᾶν· §755βίου γὰρ ἄλλως δέλεαρ ηὑρέθη τόδε, §756κοὐδεὶς ἐπλούτησʼ ἐμπύροισιν ἀργὸς ὤν· §757γνώμη δʼ ἀρίστη μάντις ἥ τʼ εὐβουλία.
We should sacrifice to the gods and ask for blessings, and let prophecies be; for this was invented as a mere bait of life, and no one ever grew rich by sacrifices while being idle; rather, good judgment is the best prophet, along with wise counsel.
§758ἐς ταὐτὸ κἀμοὶ δόξα μαντειῶν πέρι §759χωρεῖ γέροντι· τοὺς θεοὺς ἔχων τις ἂν §760φίλους ἀρίστην μαντικὴν ἔχοι δόμοις.
Chorus: My opinion too about prophecies goes to the same point, old man; if one has the gods as friends, he would possess the best prophetic art in his house.
§761εἶἑν· τὰ μὲν δὴ δεῦρʼ ἀεὶ καλῶς ἔχει.
Helen: Well; things up to this point indeed stand well.
§762ὅπως δʼ ἐσώθης, ὦ τάλας, Τροίας ἄπο, §763κέρδος μὲν οὐδὲν εἰδέναι, πόθος δέ τις §764τὰ τῶν φίλων φίλοισιν αἰσθέσθαι κακά.
But how you were saved, O wretched one, from Troy— though there is no profit in knowing, yet friends have a certain desire to perceive the misfortunes of their friends.
§765ἦ πόλλʼ ἀνήρου μʼ ἑνὶ λόγῳ μιᾷ θʼ ὁδῷ.
Menelaus: Indeed you ask many things of me in a single question and on a single path.