Helen

Perseus Greek · Perseus Greek · 691 sections

2.1353
You made burnt offerings that were neither right nor holy, in the chambers of the gods,
2.1355
and you have incurred the wrath of the great mother, child, by not honoring her sacrifices. Oh! Great is the power of dappled fawn-skin robes,
2.1360
and green ivy that crowns a sacred thyrsos, the whirling beat of the tambourine circling in the air, hair streaming wildly for the revelry of Bromios,
2.1365
and the night-long festivals of the goddess. . . . You gloried in your beauty alone.
1369
My friends, all goes well for us inside;
1370
for the daughter of Proteus, who aids us in our theft, has told her brother nothing when questioned as to my husband’s coming; for my sake she said that he was not alive, but dead and buried. . . . My husband has snatched up by chance fine things indeed;
1375
for he is carrying away the armor he was intending to let fall into the sea, putting his noble arm through the shield-strap and holding a spear in his right hand, on pretence of joining in the service to the dead. He has equipped his body with weapons conveniently for the battle,
1380
in order to to set up the trophies of countless barbarians, whenever we embark on the oared ship. I adorned him with robes in place of his shipwrecked garments, and I washed him, a long-delayed bath in water from the stream.
1385
But I must be silent, for the man is coming from the house who thinks he holds my marriage ready in his hands; and I claim your goodwill and strict silence, so that, when we have saved ourselves, we may be able some day to save you also.
1390
Advance in order, servants, as the stranger directed, bearing the funeral gifts for the sea. But you, Helen, if you will agree with my words, be persuaded and stay here; for you will do your husband equal service whether you are present or not.
1395
For I am afraid that some sudden passion should persuade you to throw your body into the swelling waves, stricken by love for your former husband; you are grieving for him too much, although he is lost.
1399
O my new husband, I must honor
1400
my first marriage-bed and the one whose company I shared as a bride; for I could even die with my husband, I loved him so much. But how could he thank me, if I were to share death with him? Let me go and pay funeral rites to the dead in person.
1405
May the gods give to you the things I wish and also to this stranger here, for his assistance! And you will have in me such a wife at home as you ought to have, since you are doing a good service to Menelaos and to me; for surely these events are leading to some good fortune.
1410
But now appoint someone to give us a ship in which to carry these gifts, so that I may have your kindness in full.
1412
(to an attendant.) You, go and give them a Sidonian ship of fifty oars, and rowers also.
1414
This man who is ordering the funeral will be in command of the ship, won’t he?
1415
Most certainly; my sailors must obey him.
1416
Repeat the order, so that they may clearly understand you.
1417
I repeat the order, and a third time too, if you wish it.
1418
May you have benefit from it—and I from my plans!
1419
Do not ruin your skin with too much weeping now.
1420
This day will show my gratitude to you.
1421
The state of the dead is nothingness; toil for them is vain.
1422
There is something of what I say both there and here.
1423
You will not find in me a husband at all inferior to Menelaos.
1424
You are not at fault in any way; good luck is all I need.
1425
That is in your power, if you show kindness to me.
1426
This is not a lesson I shall have to learn now, to love my friends.
1427
Would you like me to send out the equipment in person, working together with you?
1428
Not at all! Do not become a slave to your slaves, lord.
1429
Come then! I have no concern with the customs of the race of Pelops.
1430
My house is pure; for Menelaos did not die here. Let someone go and tell my chieftans to bring marriage-offerings to my house; the whole earth must ring with joyful wedding-songs
1435
in celebration of my wedding with Helen, so that it may be envied. You, stranger, go and give to the sea’s embrace these offerings to this woman’s husband, who was once alive; and then hurry back home with my wife, so that after sharing with me her marriage-feast, you may
1440
set out for home or remain here in happiness. Exit Theoklymenos.
1441
O Zeus, called father and god of wisdom, look on us and alter our woes! As we drag our fortunes to the rocky hill, make haste to join with us; if you touch us with your finger-tip only,
1445
we shall reach our longed-for goal. There has been enough distress in what we have suffered before. I have invoked you, gods, with many names, good and painful; I am not bound to be unfortunate forever, but to advance in a straight course. If you grant me one favor,
1450
you will make me fortunate hereafter. Exeunt Menelaos and Helen.
1.1451
O swift Phoenician ship of Sidon, dear to the surging waves, mother of the oar, leader of the lovely dancing
1.1455
of dolphins, when the sea is clear of breezes and Ocean’s gray-green daughter, spirit of calm, says these words: Spread your sails
1.1460
to the sea-breezes, as you go on your way, grasp your oars of pine, oh! sailors, sailors, speeding Helen on her way to the shore with good harbor, where once Perseus lived..
1.1465
Perhaps you may find the daughters of Leukippos beside the swell of the river or before the temple of Pallas, when at last you join in the dances or the revels of Hyakinthos
1.1470
in night-long joy—Hyakinthos, whom Phoebus killed with the round discus, contesting for the farthest throw—a day of the sacrifice of oxen in the Lakonian land;
1.1475
the son of Zeus declared that his race would be honored; and you may find the girl whom you left at home, Hermione, for as yet no torch has lit the way to her marriage.
2.1478
Oh, that we had wings to cleave the air, where the birds of Libya go in their ranks,
2.1480
leaving the winter rain, obedient to the piping of their veteran leader, who raises his exultant cry
2.1485
as he wings his way over unmoistened and crop-bearing plains of the earth. O you winged long-necked comrades of the racing clouds, go on beneath the Pleiades in their central station
2.1490
and Orion of the night; deliver the message, as you settle on Eurotas’ banks, that Menelaos has sacked the city of Dardanos, and will come home.
2.1495
May you come at last, speeding over your horses’ path through the sky, sons of Tyndareus, under the whirling of the radiant stars; you who dwell in heaven, Helen’s rescuers,
2.1500
go over the gray-green swell and the dark gray surge of sea-waves, sending the sailors
2.1505
favoring breezes from Zeus; and cast away from your sister her ill-fame from marriage with a barbarian, the punishment she received from the contest on Ida;
2.1510
but she never went to the land of Ilion, to the towers of Phoebus.
1621
Caught by a woman’s tricks, unhappy that I am! My bride has escaped me. If the ship could have been pursued and overtaken, I would have made an effort to catch the strangers at once; but now I will avenge myself upon my treacherous sister,
1625
for she saw Menelaos in my house and did not tell me. Therefore she will never deceive another man by her oracles.
1627
You, there! Where are you rushing off to, my lord? to what bloody deed?
1628
Where justice calls me. Get out of my way!
1629
I will not let go of your robe, for you are striving after great wickedness.
1630
Will you rule over your master, although you are a slave?
1630b
Yes, for I am in my right mind.
1631
Not in my opinion, if you will not let me—
1631b
No, I will not let you!
1632
Let me kill my most wicked sister—
1632b
No, she is most pious.
1633
Who betrayed me—
1633b
It was a noble betrayal, correctly done.
1634
When she gave my bride to another.
1634b
To the one who had a better right.
1635
Who has rights over my property?
1635b
The one who received her from her father.
1636
But fortune gave her to me.
1636b
And necessity took her away.
1637
It is not for you to judge my affairs.
1637b
Yes, if my counsel is better.
1638
So I am your subject, not your ruler.
1638b
Subject to do right, not wrong.
1639
It seems you desire to be killed.
1639b
Kill me;
1640
you will not kill your sister with my consent, but me instead; to die for their masters is the most glorious act for noble slaves.
1642
Restrain the anger that is wrongly carrying you away, Theoklymenos, king of this land. We, the twin sons of Zeus, are calling you; Leda once gave birth to us,
1645
with Helen, who has fled from your home. For you are angry about a marriage that is not destined for you; and your sister Theonoe, daughter of a Nereid goddess, does not wrong you when she honors the word of the gods and her father’s just commands.
1650
For it was ordained that Helen should live in your house up to the present time; but no longer, since Troy is wholly destroyed and she has provided her name to the gods; she must be united in her own marriage,
1655
and come home and live with her husband. But hold your black sword away from your sister, and believe that she is acting with discretion in this matter. Long ago, before this, we would have saved our sister, seeing that Zeus has made us gods;
1660
but we are weaker than fate and also than the gods, who decreed these things to happen in this way.
1662
This is my bidding to you, while I say to my sister: Sail on with your husband; and you shall have a favorable breeze; for we, your two savior brothers,
1665
riding over the sea, will send you to your fatherland. And when you make the last turn of the race-course and end your life, you will be named as a goddess, and share libations with the Dioskouroi, and receive gifts from men with us; for such is the will of Zeus.
1670
And the place where the son of Maia first set the boundary to your course through the air, when he took you away from Sparta, stealing your body so that Paris would not marry you—I mean the island stretched like a sentinel along the coast of Attica—shall be called by your name among men for the future, since it welcomed you
1675
when you were stolen from your home. And it is destined by the gods that the wanderer Menelaos will dwell in the islands of the blessed; for deities do not hate the well-born, but the sufferings of the multitude are greater.
1680
You sons of Leda and Zeus, I will let go my former quarrel over your sister; and mine I shall no longer try to kill. Let Helen go home, if the gods think it right. Know that you are born from the same blood as a sister
1685
who is the best and also most self-controlled; may you fare well, for the sake of Helen’s most noble mind, a quality not to be found in many women.
1688
Many are the forms of divinities, and many things the gods bring to pass unhoped for.
1690
And what was expected has not been fulfilled; for what was not expected, a god finds a way. Such was the result of this action.

Perseus Greek. CTS URN tlg0006.tlg014.perseus-eng2. Via the Perseus Digital Library / Open Greek and Latin TEI corpora. Licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source.