Heracleidae

Perseus Greek · Perseus Greek · 218 sections

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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, holding 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 maidens 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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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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Not so, for the god’s altar will protect me, and this land of freedom, wherein we have set foot.
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Wilt give me the trouble of laying hands on thee?
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By force at least shalt thou never drag these children hence.
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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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This shall never happen while I live.
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Begone! for I will take them hence, for all thy refusals, for I hold that they belong to Eurystheus, as they do indeed.
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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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See this aged frame hurled in its feebleness upon the ground! Woe is me!
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Who threw thee down thus pitiably?
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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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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?
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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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What do they call thee, aged sir, those folk in Mycenae?
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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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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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These, sirs, are the sons of Heracles, come as suppliants to you and your city.
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What is their quest? Are they anxious, tell me, to obtain an audience of the state?
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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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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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Stranger, ’tis but right we should reverence the gods’ suppliants, suffering none with violent hand to make them leave the altars, for that will dread Justice ne’er permit.
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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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’Twere impious for the state to neglect the suppliant stranger’s prayer.
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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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’Tis time to use our forethought, ere the host of Argos approach our frontier,
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for exceeding fierce are the warriors of Mycenae, and in the present case still more than heretofore. For all heralds observe this custom, to exaggerate what happened twofold. Bethink thee what a tale he will tell his master
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of his dreadful treatment, how he came very near losing his life altogether.
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Children have no fairer prize than this, the being born of a good and noble sire, and the power to wed from noble families; but whoso is enslaved by passion
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and makes a lowborn match, I cannot praise for leaving to his children a legacy of shame, to gratify himself. For noble birth offers a stouter resistance to adversity than base parentage; we, for instance, in the last extremity of woe, have found friends
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and kinsmen here, the only champions of these children through all the length and breadth of this Hellenic world. Give, children, give to them your hand, and they the same to you; draw near to them. Ah! children, we have made trial of our friends,
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and if ever ye see the path that leads you back to your native land, and possess your home and the honours of your father, count them ever as your friends and saviours, and never lift against their land the foeman’s spear, in memory of this, but hold this city
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first midst those ye love. Yea, they well deserve your warm regard, in that they have shifted from our shoulders to their own the enmity of so mighty a land as Argos and its people, though they saw we were vagabonds and beggars; still they did not give us up nor drive us forth.
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So while I live, and after death,—come when it will,—loudly will I sing thy praise, good friend, and will extol thee as I stand at Theseus’ side, and cheer his heart, as I tell how thou didst give kind welcome and protection to the sons of Heracles, and how nobly
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thou dost preserve thy father’s fame through the length of Hellas, and hast not fallen from the high estate, to which thy father brought thee, a lot which few others can boast; for ’mongst the many wilt thou find one maybe, that is not degenerate from his sire.
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This land is ever ready
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in an honest cause to aid the helpless. Wherefore ere now it hath endured troubles numberless for friends, and now in this I see a struggle nigh at hand.
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Thou hast spoken well, and I feel confident their conduct will be such; our kindness will they not forget.
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Now will I muster the citizens and set them in array, that I may receive Mycenae’s host with serried ranks. But first will I send scouts to meet them, lest they fall upon me unawares; for at Argos every man is prompt to answer to the call,
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and I will assemble prophets and ordain a sacrifice. But do thou leave the altar of Zeus and go with the children into the house; for there are those, who will care for thee, even though I be abroad. Enter then my house, old man.
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I will not leave the altar. Let
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us sit here still, praying for the city’s fair success, and when thou hast made a glorious end of this struggle, will we go unto the house; nor are the gods who champion us weaker than the gods of Argos, O king; Hera, wife of Zeus, is their leader;
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Athena ours. And this I say is an omen of success, that we have the stronger deity, for Pallas will not brook defeat. [Exit Demophon.
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Though loud thy boasts, there be others care no more for thee for that,
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O stranger from the land of Argos; nor wilt thou scare my soul with swelling words. Not yet be this the fate of mighty Athens, beauteous town!
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But thou art void of sense, and so is he, who lords it o’er Argos, the son of Sthenelus,
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—thou that comest to another state, in no wise weaker than Argos,
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and, stranger that thou art, wouldst drag away by force suppliants of the gods, wanderers that cling to my land for help, refusing to yield to our king, nor yet having any honest plea to urge. How can such conduct count as honourable,
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at least in wise men’s judgment?
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I am for peace myself; yet I tell thee, wicked king, although thou come unto my city, thou shalt not get so easily what thou expectest.
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Thou art not the only man to wield a sword or targe with plates of brass. Nay, thou eager warrior, I warn thee, bring not war’s alarms against our lovely
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town; restrain thyself.
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My son, why, prithee, art thou returned with that anxious look? Hast thou news of the enemy? Are they coming, are they here, or what thy tidings? For of a surety yon herald will not play us false.
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No! sure I am their captain, prosperous heretofore, will come, with thoughts exceeding proud against Athens. But Zeus doth punish overweening pride.
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The host of Argos is come, and Eurystheus its king;
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my own eyes saw him, for the man who thinks he knows good generalship must see the foe not by messengers alone. As yet, however, he hath not sent his host into the plain, but, camped upon a rocky brow,
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is watching—I only tell thee what I think this means—to see by which road to lead his army hither without fighting, and how to take up a safe position in this land. However, all my plans are by this time carefully laid; the city is under arms, the victims
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stand ready to be slain to every god, whose due this is; my seers have filled the town with sacrifices, to turn the foe to flight and keep our country safe. All those who chant prophetic words have I assembled, and have examined ancient oracles, both public and secret,
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as means to save this city. And though the several answers differ in many points, yet in one is the sentiment of all clearly the same; they bid me sacrifice to Demeter’s daughter some maiden from a noble father sprung.
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Now I, though in your cause I am as zealous as thou seest, yet will not slay my child, nor will I compel any of my subjects to do so against his will; for who of his own will doth harbour such an evil thought as to yield with his own hands the child he loves?
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And now thou mayest see angry gatherings, where some declare, ’tis right to stand by suppliant strangers, while others charge me with folly; but if I do this deed, a civil war is then and there on foot.
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Do thou then look to this and help to find a way to save yourselves and this country without causing me to be slandered by the citizens. For I am no despot like a barbarian monarch; but provided I do what is just, just will my treatment be.
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Can it be that heaven forbids this city to help strangers, when it hath the will and longing so to do?
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My children, we are even as those mariners, who have escaped the storm’s relentless rage, and have the land almost within their reach, but after all are driven back from shore by tempests to the deep again.
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Even so we, just as we reach the shore in seeming safety, are being thrust back from this land. Ah me! Why, cruel hope, didst thou then cheer my heart, though thou didst not mean to make the boon complete?
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The king may well be pardoned, if he will not slay his subjects’ children; and with my treatment here I am content; if indeed ’tis heaven’s will, I thus should fare, still is my gratitude to thee in no wise lost. Children, I know not what to do for you.
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Whither shall we turn? for what god’s altar have we left uncrowned? to what fenced city have we failed to go? Ruin and surrender are our instant lot, poor children! If I must die, ’tis naught to me, save that thereby I give those foes of mine some cause for joy.
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But you, children, I lament and pity, and that aged mother of your sire, Alcmena. Ah, woe is thee for thy long span of life! and woe is me for all my idle toil! ’Twas after all our destined doom to fall into the hands of our hated foe,
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and die a death of shame and misery. But lend me thine aid, thou knowest how; for all hope of these children’s safety has not yet left me. Give me up instead of them to the Argives, O king; run no risk, but let me save
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the children; to love my life becomes me not; let it pass. Me will Eurystheus be most glad to take and treat despitefully, as I was Heracles’ companion; for the man is but a boor; wherefore wise men ought to pray to get a wise man for their foe, and not a proud senseless fool;
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for so, even if by fortune flouted, one would meet with much consideration.
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Old man, blame not this city; for though perhaps a gain to us, yet would it be a foul reproach that we betrayed strangers.
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A generous scheme is thine, but impossible.
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’Tis not in quest of thee yon king comes marching hither; what would Eurystheus gain by the death of one so old? Nay, ’tis these children’s blood he wants. For there is danger to a foe in the youthful scions of a noble race, whose memory dwells upon their father’s wrongs;
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all this Eurystheus must foresee. But if thou hast any scheme besides, that better suits the time, be ready with it, for, since I heard that oracle, I am at a loss and full of fear. [Exit Demophon.
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Sirs, impute not boldness to me, because
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I venture forth; this shall be my first request, for a woman’s fairest crown is this, to practise silence and discretion, and abide at home in peace. But when I heard thy lamentations, Iolaus, I came forth, albeit I was not appointed to take the lead in my family.
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Still in some sense am I fit to do so, for these my brothers are my chiefest care, and I fain would ask, as touching myself, whether some new trouble, added to the former woes, is gnawing at thy heart.
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My daughter, ’tis nothing new that I should praise thee, as I justly may,
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above all the children of Heracles. Our house seemed to be prospering, when back it fell again into a hopeless state; for the king declares the prophets signify that he must order the sacrifice, not of bull or heifer, but of some tender maid
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of noble lineage, if we and this city are to exist. Herein is our perplexity; the king refuses either to sacrifice his own or any other’s child. Wherefore, though he use not terms express, yet doth he hint,
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that, unless we find some way out of this perplexity, we must seek some other land, for he this country fain would save.
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Are these indeed the terms on which our safety depends?
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Yea, on these; if, that is, we are successful otherwise.

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