EURIPIDES
The First Maiden
Or I help pitying a man who dies?
The Fourth Maiden
The one who lives will be the one I pity.
The Third Maiden
Which is the sadder fate?
The Fourth Maiden
I cannot tell. I watch and cannot tell 655
Whether to pity you, or you, the more.
Orestes
What is it, Pylades? What puzzles you?
Pylades
What do you think it is that puzzles me?
Orestes
That woman and the way she put her questions. 660
The sort of questions: the defeat of Troy,
The Achaeans' homecoming, what happened to Calchas,
To Achilles, and her being so concerned
At Agamemnon's death and then inquiring
About his wife and children. I believe 665
It true that she herself belongs in Argos
Or she would never send a letter there
And care about occurrences in Argos
As if they flowed within her very veins.
Pylades
Yes, that is what at first had puzzled me,
And then I thought it natural enough 670
That in a place even half civilized
People should care about the fate of kings.
But that was not what puzzled me, not that.
400