AL.

AN.

AL.

AN.

AL.

AN.

AL.

AN.

AL.

AN.

AL.

AN.
AL.

To aid the Greeks is justice in thine eyes!
A Greek, or any one whose cause is just.

I see that thou hast hastily condemned me.

A man's own conscience must pass judgment for him.
The ambassadors, 'tis known, are lodged with thee.
To every honest man my house is open.

But most to him who comes not empty-handed!
So I must now corrupt the court, since I
Have seized another's wife, for whom he sues!
I know naught of thy wife, but gifts thou tak 'st,
And Grecian gifts; my own to thee were small!
Loth am I from another to obtain
Present or wife. Thou speakest, I perceive,
Even as thou hast lived: without restraint.
This hear: I will have naught to do with thee.
And I regret that I asked aught of thee.
I trust my gods, that e'en without thine aid
Or favor, I may yet be fortunate,
And find an advocate to plead my cause.
Such as thyself!

God grant, a man of honor!

CHORUS

Had but youth's fire

Wisdom to guide,

From his desire

Nature would hide

Vainly her treasures. To knowledge in power they were never denied.

Favored of Fate,

Youth might secure,

With such a mate,

Pleasures more sure:

So would he lighten the sorrowful load that his friends must

endure.

Now lost is health,

By passions shaken;
Wasted his wealth,

Wisdom forsaken;

And in the shame of his ruin his country itself has partaken.

Thy gifts are dear,

O God on high!

Discretion clear

With youth we buy;

And, pronouncing it goodlier, yet for the years it has cost us we sigh!

Lo, Helen comes. Upon what meditates

This wretched woman? For she knows the lords

Today decide her fate; if she must stay

In Troy, or may revisit Grecian Sparta.

HELEN

All this as in a mirror I beheld:
Infamous Alexander could not long

Enjoy his conquest, for the powerful Greeks
Would soon destroy his rest and quietude.
Now is he like the wolf that spoiled the fold,
And they the shepherds following with their dogs
Upon his track. When they shall press him hard,
He must abandon the poor sheep at last,
And flee to shelter him in some dim wood.
What sort of bridal journey will it be,
My homecoming? Alas! Shall I be dragged
Behind the stern of some fleet Grecian ship,
A chain around my neck? What countenance
Shall I present in greeting my dear brethren?
How shall I come before thee in my shame,
My husband, and account myself to thee,
Or gaze once more on thy beloved face?
Would Spartan soil had never felt thy tread,
Unhappy son of Priam! Bereft was I
Of blessings Daughter of a princely line,
I married with a house of honored princes;
God gave me beauty, children, more than these,
Gave me good fame-now through an evil man
I have lost all! My fatherland, my friends,
Are far away, and if my children live
I know not! I myself am but a slave,
Subject to biting taunts and evil fame;
And what the Fates still further have conspired
Against me, none can know save Thou, my God!

LADY.

HEL.

LADY.

HEL.

LADY.

OLD LADY

Dear child, let not anxiety annoy

Thy soul, for so it must be in this world,

At one time joy and at another woe:

Of these two threads the garment of our life
Is woven. Our delights are insecure,

But likewise must our sorrows yield, when, God
Decreeing it, Time brings to them surcease.

Unequal is the plaiting of that wreath,
Good mother; to the lot of mortal man
Falls more of sorrow than of happiness.

Far more to heart men take their grievous hours
Than those that are according to their mind.
Hence it must seem that anguish e'er prevails
Over the fleeting moments of our bliss.

In God's name, mother, there is more of ill
In this world than of good! Bethink thee, that
In but one fashion man is born, and yet
To perish he can find such ample means
It is impossible to guess them. So
One single health is his, to cherish 'gainst
A countless host of varied ills. But she

Whose hands control the course of human fate,
Fortune, all-powerful ruler, witnesseth

That less prosperity is seen on earth

Than evil, as men term it. For that queen,

Though, blindly generous, she makes rich a few-
See with what harsh and grievous poverty

She tortures all men else; yet neither greed
Nor envy working moves her to such course,
But the constraint of cold necessity.

And it is notable, that even now,

When she would favor one, she takes the gift,
Ere she bestows it, from another. Hence
My oft-repeated words are proven true:
Less prevalent is good on earth than ill.

If more, or less, or equal the amount
Of these two, little profits us to know.
For this let us pray God, that we may find
Of adverse fortune the least possible;
But that we should experience none at all,
Think not upon it: such is not man's lot.

MES.

HEL.

MES.

But why do we await so long a time
News from the council? Alexander will
Without delay, I know, send messengers
As soon as they conclude there the debate;
But women are more fitly found at home
Than dallying about the market-place.

CHORUS

O ye who hold men's justice in your hands,
Ruling the glorious Commonwealth's broad lands;
Ye, to whom charge is given that ye feed
The people, and full power God's flock to lead:
Hold ye this vision: to the common eye
Your presence here on earth doth God supply.
Then set not on your own affairs your mind,
So much as on what touches all mankind.
Bethink you, though ye hold supremacy
O'er lesser man, ye in humility

Must also bow before a higher Lord

One day, and give account of deed and word.
There hardly shall the guilty miss his fate,
For that Lord whom no gifts propitiate,
Cares not what rank each culprit held on earth,
Whether of princely line or lowly birth,
Whether in peasant's smock or rich brocade
He come; unto the utmost must be paid

The slightest wrong. So I, methinks, shall win
Less condemnation, since I with my sin
Only myself destroy. For one can see,
The crimes of those in high authority
Have ruined fairest cities, to the ground
Have overthrown wide empires, far renowned.

MESSENGER HELEN

Good news unto my mistress dear I bring!

Full well I know she has awaited long

This message, weeping, and her heart with fears

Disquieting. But on the instant now

Forth from the house she comes. Behold, O Queen,
In me a messenger of grateful news!

God grant thou bring me somewhat comforting!

E'en as they came, so thy ambassadors

Depart again, but thou art still with us.

HEL.

MES.

Wert thou, then, in attendance on the council, Or didst thou hear this news from some one else? Present was I through all. And Alexander Ordered me to depart and come to thee.

HEL.

As yet

MES.

see not truly why I have

Cause for rejoicing. Yet, what hath occurred?
Tell me.

I will; do thou but hearken.

First spake the King, when all our Lords were set In council:

"I am never wont to do

Aught save by your advice; and though that were
My custom (I myself remember not

Having so done), from this cause I must needs
Wish my son absent, lest a father's love
Seduce me in the presence of my child.

But though, methinks, it was not said in vain,
"Thicker is blood than water,' yet with me
Greater is duty to the Commonwealth.
Therefore, my lords, whatever shall seem best
To all, that will I too approve. My son
In Greece obtained a wife, I know not how,
Whom now these Greek ambassadors require.
Whether to yield her up or no, thereon

"Upon the first complaint

Of these Greek envoys, adequate account
I gave of this affair, nor would I now
Idly assail your ears; but having said
Some little, unto God I leave the rest,
And to my father's grace, and to you all,
Sitting in judgment. How I chose my life
You know: on councils of the market-place
I never gazed, preferring in the glades
To chase the fleet-foot deer, or savage boar
Through the thick groves; or, shepherding my flocks,
To sleep alone in forest huts. No whit

Thought I of Helen then. As yet my ear
Had never heard that name, when Venus first
Commended her to me, unwilling judge
Between three goddesses, and gave her me
As wife. Men beg the gods for happiness;