Thou art only too ready to rush into abuse; while, as for me, I came to Phthia by constraint and have therefore no intention either of doing or suffering anything mean. Now must I return home, for I have no time to waste; for there is a city not so very far from Sparta, which aforetime was friendly but now is hostile; against her will I march with my army and bring her into subjection. And when I have arranged that matter as I wish, I will return; and face to face with my son-in-law I will give my version of the story and hear his. And if he punish her, and for the future she exercise self-control, she shall find me do the like; but if he storm, I’ll storm as well; andPaley’s suggestion to omit this line as possibly spurious owing to the repetition of ἀντιλήψεται, and to read θυμουμένη in the preceding line, would clear up the ambiguity as to whether Andromache or Neoptolemus is meant as the subject of ἠ σώφρων. every act of mine shall be a reflex of his own. As for thy babbling, I can bear it easily; for, like to a shadow as thou art,Reading with Hermann and Dindorf, σκιᾲ ἀντίστοιχος ὢν. Another reading is σκιὰ – ὢς, i.e. like the shadow on a dial exactly opposite the sun. (Paley.) thy voice is all thou hast, and thou art powerless to do aught but talk. Exit Menelaus. PeleusLead on, my child, safe beneath my sheltering wing, and thou too, poor lady; for thou art come into a quiet haven after the rude storm.AndromacheHeaven reward thee and all thy race, old sire, for having saved my child and me his hapless mother! Only beware lest they fall upon us twain in some lonely spot upon the road and force me from thee, when they see thy age, my weakness, and this child’s tender years; take heed to this, that we be not a second time made captive, after escaping now.PeleusForbear such words, prompted by a woman’s cowardice. Go on thy way; who will lay a finger on you? Methinks he will do it to his cost. For by heaven’s grace I rule o’er many a knight and spearman bold in my kingdom of Phthia; yea, and myself can still stand straight, no bent old man as thou dost think; such a fellow as that a mere look from me will put to flight in spite of my years. For e’en an old man, be he brave, is worth a host of raw youths; for what avails a fine figure if a man is a coward? Exeunt Peleus, Andromache, and Molossus.

ChorusOh! to have never been born, or sprung from noble sires, the heir to mansions richly stored; for if aught untoward e’er befall, there is no lack of champions for sons of noble parents, and there is honour and glory for them when they are proclaimed scions of illustrious lines; time detracts not from the legacy these good men leave, but the light of their goodness still burns on when they are dead.

ChorusBetter is it not to win a discreditable victory, than to make justice miscarry by an invidious exercise of power; for such a victory, though men think it sweet for the moment, grows barren in time and comes very near being a family reproach. This is the life I commend, this the life. I set before me as my ideal, to exercise no authority beyond what is right either in the marriage-chamber or in the state.

ChorusO aged son of Aeacus! now am I sure that thou wert with the Lapithae, wielding thy famous spear, when they fought the Centaurs; and on Argo’s deck didst pass the cheerless strait beyond the sea-beat Symplegades on her voyage of note; and when in days long gone the son of Zeus spread slaughter round Troy’s famous town, thou too didst share his triumphant return to Europe.

NurseAlas! good friends, what a succession of troubles is to-day provided us! My mistress Hermione within the house, deserted by her father and in remorse for her monstrous deed in plotting the death of Andromache and her child, is bent on dying; for she is afraid her husband will in requital for this expel her with dishonour from his house or put her to death, because she tried to slay the innocent. And the servants that watch her can scarce restrain her efforts to hang herself, scarce catch the sword and wrest it from her hand. So bitter is her anguish, and she hath recognized the villainy of her former deeds. As for me, friends, I am weary of keeping my mistress from the fatal noose; do ye go in and try to save her life; for if strangers come, they prove more persuasive than the friends of every day.ChorusAh yes! I hear an outcry in the house amongst the servants, confirming the news thou hast brought. Poor sufferer! she seems about to show a lively grief for her grave crimes; for she has escaped her servants’ hands and is rushing from the house, eager to end her life.

Hermionerushing wildly on to the stage. Woe, woe is me! I will tear my hair and scratch cruel furrows in my cheeks.NurseMy child, what wilt thou do? Wilt thou disfigure thyself?

HermioneAh me! ah me! Begone, thou fine-spun veil! float from my head away!