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

You saw him wearing his foreign robes, which shone with golden splendor,
and you went mad for him. Argos simply wasn’t up to your taste,
so you exchanged your Sparta for a Phrygian city flowing with gold a
nd you hoped to spend it all. Menelaus’ halls were not good enough
to satisfy your desire for wanton luxury. So you say that my son
forced you to leave? Hardly. What Spartan heard you call out?
What cry for help did you raise? Your brothers, young Castor,
and his twin, were still alive, not yet stars in the sky; 1000
why didn’t they hear you?
You came to Troy, with the Argives hot on your track:
they battled with deadly spears. If news came that your husband
was winning you would praise him and shame my child,
who had this great rival for his love; but if the Trojans were winning,
Menelaus was worthless. You always looked to the winning side;
intrinsic merit meant nothing to you. You say you were kept here
against your will, and you secretly tried to let your body down
from the towers using ropes to escape? Did anyone find you
trying to commit suicide by fitting a noose to your neck
or sharpening a sword, as any woman
who missed her former husband would have done?
How many times I pleaded with you, saying, “Daughter, please go.
My son can find a new bride. I’ll secretly escort you
to the Argive ships. Put an end to this war between the Greeks and us.”
But that was not what you wanted to do. You ran riot
in the halls of Alexander and luxuriated in barbarian customs.
These were important to you. And look at you now,
dressed to the hilt, looking shamelessly on the same sky
your husband does, you despicable woman. You should
have come without airs, dressed in rags, and trembling with fear,
your head shaven for shame, and shown more modesty
than audacity before the husband you wronged.
Menelaus, to sum up, crown Greece with her death,
and do what you know is right. Show women
that if they betray their husbands, they will die.
Chorus
Menelaus, show yourself worthy of your ancestors
and punish your wife. Be a brave foe to your enemies
and by her death erase this blot on womankind.
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