Suppliant Maidens (435-450)

I have considered them; and I am driven to this cruel predicament. I must take upon myself a mighty war against one side or the other.

There is no escape, it is as firmly fixed as a ship’s hull drawn tight by windlasses. There is no result without grievous hurt. Now when goods are plundered from a homestead,

other goods may come by grace of Zeus, guardian of household wealth; as a tongue that has shot arrows beside the mark, one speech may be the healer of another. But to avoid the shedding of kindred blood,

surely there is need of sacrifice and that many a victim fall to many a god as a deliverance from impending harm. For truly, it is to my undoing that I have come into this quarrel; and yet I prefer to be unskilled rather than practised in the lore of foretelling ill. But may my judgment belie itself and all go well!