EURIPIDES
Chorus
O Earth, and the far shining
Ray of the Sun, look down, look down upon
This poor lost woman, look, before she raises
The hand of murder against her flesh and blood.
Yours was the golden birth from which 1255
She sprang, and now I fear divine
Blood may be shed by men.
O heavenly light, hold back her hand,
Check her, and drive from out the house
The bloody Fury raised by fiends of Hell. 1260
Vain waste, your care of children;
Was it in vain you bore the babes you loved,
After you passed the inhospitable strait
Between the dark blue rocks, Symplegades?
O wretched one, how has it come, 1265
This heavy anger on your heart,
This cruel bloody mind?
For God from mortals asks a stern
Price for the stain of kindred blood
In like disaster falling on their homes. 1270
(A cry from one of the children is heard.)
Chorus
Do you hear the cry, do you hear the children's cry?
O you hard heart, O woman fated for evil!
One of the children (from within)
What can I do and how escape my mother's hands?
Another child (from within)
O my dear brother, I cannot tell. We are lost.
Chorus
Shall I enter the house? Oh, surely I should 1275
Defend the children from murder.
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