1 EURIPIDES' TROJAN WOMEN PREFACE, TRANSLATION, and ...

Menelaus
Nothing decided, but the whole army handed you over to me,
whom you’ve wronged, to kill.
Helen
May I at least answer the charges, and show that if I die, it is unjust?
Menelaus
I have not come to debate with you, but to kill you.
Hecuba
Oh listen to her Menelaus, don’t let her die without a hearing,
and then let me answer her. You do not know the terrible things
she did at Troy; after you hear the whole story you will kill her,
and she won’t have a chance to escape.
Menelaus
I suppose I can spare the time. Let her speak if she wants to.
But I want her to know that it is because you ask;
I do not grant her this for her sake.
Helen
I see you are against me, so whether I speak well or not does not matter;
you will not talk to me because you regard me as the enemy.
I shall guess what you would say and answer your charges, point by point.
First, she, by giving birth to Paris, was the cause of all these evils.
Second, the old king, in not slaying the child, Alexander, that grim firebrand,
destroyed me and Troy. Listen to what followed. He became
the judge in a contest between three goddesses.
Athena promised him that he could head an army of Phrygians and conquer Greece.
Hera promised that he would rule Asia, and Europe’s borders,
if he would declare her the winner. Cypris boasting of my beauty,
promised me to him if she would be chosen fairest.
Look what happened then: Cypris won, and my marriage helped Greece;
it is not conquered by barbarians, nor subjected to war, nor ruled by a tyrant.
All these benefits came to Greece, but I was ruined, sold for my beauty;
and I am now blamed rather than crowned with a victory wreath,
as I should have been. You will say this is off the point because
I have not said why I left your house in secret;
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