EURIPIDES
do we have, old man? We look to you. 80
The border is impassable by stealth;
sentries have been set on every road;
all hope that friends might rescue us is gone.
So tell me now if you have any plan, 85
or if you have resigned yourself to death.
Amphitryon
My child, I find it hard in such a case
to give advice offhand without hard thought.
We are weak, and weakness can only wait.
Megara
Wait for worse? Do you love life so much? 90
Amphitryon
I love it even now. I love its hopes.
Megara
And I. But hope is of things possible.
Amphitryon
A cure may come in wearing out the time.
Megara
It is the time between that tortures me.
Amphitryon
Even now, out of our very evils, 95
for you and me a better wind may blow.
My son, your husband, still may come. Be calm;
dry the living springs of tears that fill
your children's eyes. Console them with stories,
those sweet thieves of wretched make-believe. 100
Human misery must somewhere have a stop:
there is no wind that always blows a storm;
great good fortune comes to failure in the end.
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