EURIPID.ES
of noble houses first this taint begins:
when wickedness approves itself to those
of noble birth, it will surely be approved
by their inferiors. Truly, too, I hate
lip-worshippers of chastity who own
a lecherous daring when they have privacy.
0 Cypris, Sea-Born Goddess, how can they 415
look frankly in the faces of their husbands
and never shiver with fear lest their accomplice,
the darkness, and the rafters of the house
take voice and cry aloud?
This then, my friends, is my destruction:
1 cannot bear that I should be discovered 420
a traitor to my husband and my children.
God grant them rich and glorious life in Athens—
famous Athens—freedom in word and deed,
and from their mother an honorable name.
It makes the stoutest-hearted man a slave
if in his soul he knows his parents' shame. 425
The proverb runs: "There is one thing alone
that stands the brunt of life throughout its course,
a quiet conscience," ... a just and quiet conscience
whoever can attain it.
Time holds a mirror, as for a young girl,
and sometimes as occasion falls, he shows us
the ugly rogues of the world. I would not wish
that I should be seen among them. 430
Chorus Leader
How virtue is held lovely everywhere,
and harvests a good name among mankind!
(The Nurse returns.)
Nurse
Mistress, the trouble you have lately told me,
coming on me so suddenly, frightened me;
but now I realize that I was foolish. 435