EURIPIDES
Chorus
It's very hard to judge or understand
A case like this until we've heard hoth sides. 180
lolaus
I'll say in your land's favor, Majesty,
I'm not being driven out of here at least
Until I've listened and have had my say.
This man is nothing to us, and we want
No part of Argos. That's been so since they 185
Passed sentence on us; we're expatriates.
What earthly right has he to drag us all
Back to the town that drove us out, as though
They still had claims on us. We're aliens now.
Must Argive exiles leave the rest of Greece? 190
You can't intimidate Athenians
And make them drive out Heracles' own sons.
This isn't an Achaean town, you know,
Or Trachis, so your heavy-handed ways
Of getting temples to evict us and 195
Your saber-rattling will not work here.
If I were wrong, and you should have your way,
This wouldn't be the free state that I know.
But I do know what stuff they're made of here.
They'd sooner die. Like all right-thinking men 200
They're sure that death is better than disgrace.
So much for Athens. It's a bad mistake
To overpraise, and I myself have been
Annoyed at getting more than was my due.
But, I'll explain why you're in duty bound 205
To save these boys, as ruler of this land.
Pittheus was Pelops' son and in his turn
Sired Aethra, who gave birth to Theseus,
Your father. Now, to come back to these boys,
Their father springs from Zeus and Alcmene, 210
And she was Pelops' daughter, which would make
Near cousins of your father and of theirs.
So much for ties of blood, and now I'll tell
140