The Suppliants (245-270)

observing such order as the state ordains. Shall I then become thy ally? What fair pretext should I urge before my countrymen? Depart in peace! For why[*][*] shouldst thou, having been ill-advised thyself, seek to drag our fortune down?

He erred; but with the young men rests this error, while he may well be pardoned.

I did not choose thee, king, to judge my affliction, but[*] came to thee to cure it; no! nor if in aught my fortunes prove me wrong,

came I to thee to punish or correct them, but to seek thy help. But if thou wilt not, I must be content with thy decision; for how can I help it? Come, aged dames, away! Yet leave behind you here the woven leaves of pale green foliage,

calling to witness heaven and earth, Demeter, that fire-bearing goddess, and the sun-god’s light, that our prayers to heaven availed us naught.

. . . . [*] who was Pelops’ son, and we are of the land of Pelops and share with thee the blood of ancestors.

What art thou doing? wilt thou betray these suppliant symbols, and banish from thy land these aged women without the boon they should obtain? Do not so; e’en the wild beast finds a refuge in the rock, the slave in the altars of the gods, and a state when tempest-tossed cowers to its neighbour’s shelter;

for naught in this life of man is blest unto its end.