章节正文
(THEONOE and her attendants enter the palace.)
LEADER
No man ever prospered by unjust practices, but in a righteous
cause there is hope of safety.
HELEN
Menelaus, on the maiden's side are we quite safe. Thou must from
that point start, and by contributing thy advice, devise with me a
scheme to save ourselves.
MENELAUS
Hearken then; thou hast been a long while in the palace, and art
intimate with the king's attendants.
HELEN
What dost thou mean thereby? for thou art suggesting hopes, as
if resolved on some plan for our mutual help.
MENELAUS
Couldst thou persuade one of those who have charge of cars and
steeds to furnish us with a chariot?
HELEN
I might; but what escape is there for us who know nothing of the
country and the barbarian's kingdom?
MENELAUS
True; 'tis impossible. Well, supposing I conceal myself in the
palace and slay the king with this two-edged sword?
HELEN
His sister would never refrain from telling her brother that
thou wert meditating his death.
MENELAUS
We have not so much as a ship to make our escape in; for the
sea. hath swallowed the one we had.
HELEN
Hear me, if haply even a woriian can utter words of wisdom. Dost
thou consent to be dead in word, though not really so?
MENELAUS
'Tis a bad omen; still, if by saying so I shall gain aught, I am
ready to be dead in word, though not in deed.
HELEN
I, too, will mourn thee with hair cut short and dirges, as is
women's way, before this impious wretch.
MENELAUS
What saving remedy doth this afford us twain? There is deception
in thy scheme.
HELEN
I will beg the king of this country leave to bury thee in a
cenotaph, as if thou hadst really died at sea.
MENELAUS
Suppose he grant it; how, e'en then, are we to escape without a
ship, after having committed me to my empty tomb?
HELEN
I will bid him give me a vessel, from which to let drop into the
sea's embrace thy funeral offerings.
MENELAUS
A clever plan in truth, save in one particular; suppose he bid
thee rear the tomb upon the strand, thy pretext comes to naught.
HELEN
But I shall say it is not the custom in Hellas to bury those who
die at sea upon the shore.
MENELAUS
Thou removest this obstacle too; I then will sail with thee and
help stow the funeral garniture in the same ship.
HELEN
Above all, it is necessary that thou and all thy sailors who
escaped from the wreck should be at hand.
MENELAUS
Be sure if once I find a ship at her moorings, they shall be there
man for man, each with his sword.
HELEN
Thou must direct everything; only let there be winds to waft our
rails and a good ship to speed before them!
MENELAUS
So shall it be; for the deities will cause my troubles to cease.
But from whom wilt thou say thou hadst tidings of my death?
HELEN
From thee; declare thyself the one and only survivor, telling
how thou wert sailing with the son of Atreus, and didst see him
perish.
MENELAUS
Of a truth the garments I have thrown about me, will bear out my
tale that they were rags collected from the wreckage.
HELEN
They come in most opportunely, but they were near being lost
just at the wrong time. Maybe that misfortune will turn to fortune.
MENELAUS
Am I to enter the palace with thee, or are we to sit here at the
tomb quietly?
HELEN
Abide here; for if the king attempts to do thee any mischief, this
tomb and thy good sword will protect thee. But I will go within and
cut off my hair, and exchange my white robe for sable weeds, and
rend my cheek with this hand's blood-thirsty nail. For 'tis a mighty
struggle, and I see two possible issues; either I must die if detected
in my plot, or else to my country shall I come and save thy soul
alive. O Hera! awful queen, who sharest the couch of Zeus, grant
some respite from their toil to two unhappy wretches; to thee I
pray, tossing my arms upward to heaven, where thou hast thy home in
the star-spangled firmament. Thou, too, that didst win the prize of
beauty at the price of my marriage; O Cypris! daughter of Dione,
destroy me not utterly. Thou hast injured me enough aforetime,
delivering up my name, though not my person, to live amongst
barbarians. Oh! suffer me to die, if death is thy desire, in my native
land. Why art thou so insatiate in mischief, employing every art of
love, of fraud, and guileful schemes, and spells that bring
bloodshed on families? Wert thou but moderate, only that!-in all
else thou art by nature man's most well, come deity; and I have reason
so to say.
(HELEN enters the palace and MENELAUS withdraws into the
background.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
Thee let me invoke, tearful Philomel, lurking 'neath the leafy
covert in thy place of song, most tuneful of all feathered
songsters, oh! come to aid me in my dirge, trilling through thy
tawny throat, as I sing the piteous woes of Helen, and the tearful
fate of Trojan dames made subject to Achaea's spear, on the day that
there came to their plains one who sped with foreign oar across the
dashing billows, bringing to Priam's race from Lacedaemon thee his
hapless bride, Helen,-even Paris, luckless bridegroom, by the guidance
of Aphrodite.
antistrophe 1
And many an Achaean hath breathed his last amid the spearmen's
thrusts and hurtling hail of stones, and gone to his sad end; for
these their wives cut off their hair in sorrow, and their houses are
left without a bride; and one of the Achaeans, that had but a single
ship, did light a blazing beacon on sea-girt Euboea, and destroy
full many of them, wrecking them on the rocks of Caphareus and the
shores that front the Aegean main, by the treacherous gleam he
kindled; when thou, O Menelaus, from the very day of thy start,
didst drift to harbourless hills, far from thy country before the
breath of the storm, bearing on thy ship a prize that was no prize,
but a phantom made by Hera out of cloud for the Danai to struggle
over.
strophe 2
What mortal claims, by searching to the utmost limit, to have
found out the nature of God, or of his opposite, or of that which
comes between, seeing as he doth this world of man tossed to and fro
by waves of contradiction and strange vicissitudes? Thou, Helen, art
the daughter of Zeus; for thy sire was the bird that nestled in Leda's
bosom; and yet for all that art thou become a by-word for
wickedness, through the length and breadth of Hellas, as faithless,
treacherous wife and godless woman; nor can I tell what certainty
is, whatever may pass for it amongst men. That which gods pronounce
have I found true.
antistrophe 2
O fools! all ye who try to win the meed of valour through war
and serried ranks of chivalry, seeking thus to still this mortal coil,
in senselessness; for if bloody contests are to decide, there will
never be any lack of strife in the towns of men; the maidens of the
land of Priam left their bridal bowers, though arbitration might
have put thy quarrel right, O Helen. And now Troy's sons are in Hades'
keeping in the world below, and fire hath darted on her walls, as
darts the flame of Zeus, and thou art bringing woe on woe to hapless
sufferers in their misery.
(THEOCLYMENUS and his hunting attendants enter.)
THEOCLYMENUS
All hail, my father's tomb! I buried thee, Proteus, at the place
where men go out, that I might often greet thee; and so, ever as I
go out and in, I, thy son Theoclymenus call on thee, father. Ho!
servants, to the palace take my hounds and hunting nets! How often
have I blamed myself for never punishing those miscreants with
death! I have just heard that son of Hellas has come openly to my
land, escaping the notice of the guard, a spy maybe or a would-be
thief of Helen; death shall be his lot if only I can catch him. Ha!
I find all my plans apparently frustrated, the daughter of Tyndareus
has deserted her seat at the tomb and sailed away from my shores.
Ho! there, undo the bars, loose the horses from their stalls, bring
forth my chariot, servants, that the wife, on whom my heart is set,
may not get away from these shores unseen, for want of any trouble I
can take. Yet stay; for I see the object of my pursuit is still in the
palace, and has not fled. (HELEN enters from the palace, clad in the
garb of mourning.) How now, lady, why hast thou arrayed thee in
sable weeds instead of white raiment, and from thy fair head hast
shorn thy tresses with the steel, bedewing thy cheeks the while with
tears but lately shed? Is it in response to visions of the night
that thou art mourning, or, because thou hast heard some warning voice
within, art thus distraught with grief?
HELEN
My lord,-for already I have learnt to say that name,--I am undone;
my luck is gone; I cease to be.
THEOCLYMENUS
In what misfortune art thou plunged? What hath happened?
HELEN
Menelaus, ah me! how can I say it? is dead, my husband.
THEOCLYMENUS
How knowest thou? Did Theonoe tell thee this?
HELEN
Both she, and one who was there when he perished.
THEOCLYMENUS
What! hath one arrived who actually announces this for certaint?
HELEN
One hath; oh may he come e'en as I wish him to!
THEOCLYMENUS
Who and where is he? that I may learn this more surely.
HELEN
There he is, sitting crouched beneath the shelter of this tomb,
THEOCLYMENUS
Great Apollo! how clad in unseemly rags!
HELEN
Ah me! methinks my own husband too is in like plight.
THEOCLYMENUS
From what country is this fellow? whence landed he here?
HELEN
From Hellas, one of the Achaeans who sailed with my husband.
LEADER
No man ever prospered by unjust practices, but in a righteous
cause there is hope of safety.
HELEN
Menelaus, on the maiden's side are we quite safe. Thou must from
that point start, and by contributing thy advice, devise with me a
scheme to save ourselves.
MENELAUS
Hearken then; thou hast been a long while in the palace, and art
intimate with the king's attendants.
HELEN
What dost thou mean thereby? for thou art suggesting hopes, as
if resolved on some plan for our mutual help.
MENELAUS
Couldst thou persuade one of those who have charge of cars and
steeds to furnish us with a chariot?
HELEN
I might; but what escape is there for us who know nothing of the
country and the barbarian's kingdom?
MENELAUS
True; 'tis impossible. Well, supposing I conceal myself in the
palace and slay the king with this two-edged sword?
HELEN
His sister would never refrain from telling her brother that
thou wert meditating his death.
MENELAUS
We have not so much as a ship to make our escape in; for the
sea. hath swallowed the one we had.
HELEN
Hear me, if haply even a woriian can utter words of wisdom. Dost
thou consent to be dead in word, though not really so?
MENELAUS
'Tis a bad omen; still, if by saying so I shall gain aught, I am
ready to be dead in word, though not in deed.
HELEN
I, too, will mourn thee with hair cut short and dirges, as is
women's way, before this impious wretch.
MENELAUS
What saving remedy doth this afford us twain? There is deception
in thy scheme.
HELEN
I will beg the king of this country leave to bury thee in a
cenotaph, as if thou hadst really died at sea.
MENELAUS
Suppose he grant it; how, e'en then, are we to escape without a
ship, after having committed me to my empty tomb?
HELEN
I will bid him give me a vessel, from which to let drop into the
sea's embrace thy funeral offerings.
MENELAUS
A clever plan in truth, save in one particular; suppose he bid
thee rear the tomb upon the strand, thy pretext comes to naught.
HELEN
But I shall say it is not the custom in Hellas to bury those who
die at sea upon the shore.
MENELAUS
Thou removest this obstacle too; I then will sail with thee and
help stow the funeral garniture in the same ship.
HELEN
Above all, it is necessary that thou and all thy sailors who
escaped from the wreck should be at hand.
MENELAUS
Be sure if once I find a ship at her moorings, they shall be there
man for man, each with his sword.
HELEN
Thou must direct everything; only let there be winds to waft our
rails and a good ship to speed before them!
MENELAUS
So shall it be; for the deities will cause my troubles to cease.
But from whom wilt thou say thou hadst tidings of my death?
HELEN
From thee; declare thyself the one and only survivor, telling
how thou wert sailing with the son of Atreus, and didst see him
perish.
MENELAUS
Of a truth the garments I have thrown about me, will bear out my
tale that they were rags collected from the wreckage.
HELEN
They come in most opportunely, but they were near being lost
just at the wrong time. Maybe that misfortune will turn to fortune.
MENELAUS
Am I to enter the palace with thee, or are we to sit here at the
tomb quietly?
HELEN
Abide here; for if the king attempts to do thee any mischief, this
tomb and thy good sword will protect thee. But I will go within and
cut off my hair, and exchange my white robe for sable weeds, and
rend my cheek with this hand's blood-thirsty nail. For 'tis a mighty
struggle, and I see two possible issues; either I must die if detected
in my plot, or else to my country shall I come and save thy soul
alive. O Hera! awful queen, who sharest the couch of Zeus, grant
some respite from their toil to two unhappy wretches; to thee I
pray, tossing my arms upward to heaven, where thou hast thy home in
the star-spangled firmament. Thou, too, that didst win the prize of
beauty at the price of my marriage; O Cypris! daughter of Dione,
destroy me not utterly. Thou hast injured me enough aforetime,
delivering up my name, though not my person, to live amongst
barbarians. Oh! suffer me to die, if death is thy desire, in my native
land. Why art thou so insatiate in mischief, employing every art of
love, of fraud, and guileful schemes, and spells that bring
bloodshed on families? Wert thou but moderate, only that!-in all
else thou art by nature man's most well, come deity; and I have reason
so to say.
(HELEN enters the palace and MENELAUS withdraws into the
background.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
Thee let me invoke, tearful Philomel, lurking 'neath the leafy
covert in thy place of song, most tuneful of all feathered
songsters, oh! come to aid me in my dirge, trilling through thy
tawny throat, as I sing the piteous woes of Helen, and the tearful
fate of Trojan dames made subject to Achaea's spear, on the day that
there came to their plains one who sped with foreign oar across the
dashing billows, bringing to Priam's race from Lacedaemon thee his
hapless bride, Helen,-even Paris, luckless bridegroom, by the guidance
of Aphrodite.
antistrophe 1
And many an Achaean hath breathed his last amid the spearmen's
thrusts and hurtling hail of stones, and gone to his sad end; for
these their wives cut off their hair in sorrow, and their houses are
left without a bride; and one of the Achaeans, that had but a single
ship, did light a blazing beacon on sea-girt Euboea, and destroy
full many of them, wrecking them on the rocks of Caphareus and the
shores that front the Aegean main, by the treacherous gleam he
kindled; when thou, O Menelaus, from the very day of thy start,
didst drift to harbourless hills, far from thy country before the
breath of the storm, bearing on thy ship a prize that was no prize,
but a phantom made by Hera out of cloud for the Danai to struggle
over.
strophe 2
What mortal claims, by searching to the utmost limit, to have
found out the nature of God, or of his opposite, or of that which
comes between, seeing as he doth this world of man tossed to and fro
by waves of contradiction and strange vicissitudes? Thou, Helen, art
the daughter of Zeus; for thy sire was the bird that nestled in Leda's
bosom; and yet for all that art thou become a by-word for
wickedness, through the length and breadth of Hellas, as faithless,
treacherous wife and godless woman; nor can I tell what certainty
is, whatever may pass for it amongst men. That which gods pronounce
have I found true.
antistrophe 2
O fools! all ye who try to win the meed of valour through war
and serried ranks of chivalry, seeking thus to still this mortal coil,
in senselessness; for if bloody contests are to decide, there will
never be any lack of strife in the towns of men; the maidens of the
land of Priam left their bridal bowers, though arbitration might
have put thy quarrel right, O Helen. And now Troy's sons are in Hades'
keeping in the world below, and fire hath darted on her walls, as
darts the flame of Zeus, and thou art bringing woe on woe to hapless
sufferers in their misery.
(THEOCLYMENUS and his hunting attendants enter.)
THEOCLYMENUS
All hail, my father's tomb! I buried thee, Proteus, at the place
where men go out, that I might often greet thee; and so, ever as I
go out and in, I, thy son Theoclymenus call on thee, father. Ho!
servants, to the palace take my hounds and hunting nets! How often
have I blamed myself for never punishing those miscreants with
death! I have just heard that son of Hellas has come openly to my
land, escaping the notice of the guard, a spy maybe or a would-be
thief of Helen; death shall be his lot if only I can catch him. Ha!
I find all my plans apparently frustrated, the daughter of Tyndareus
has deserted her seat at the tomb and sailed away from my shores.
Ho! there, undo the bars, loose the horses from their stalls, bring
forth my chariot, servants, that the wife, on whom my heart is set,
may not get away from these shores unseen, for want of any trouble I
can take. Yet stay; for I see the object of my pursuit is still in the
palace, and has not fled. (HELEN enters from the palace, clad in the
garb of mourning.) How now, lady, why hast thou arrayed thee in
sable weeds instead of white raiment, and from thy fair head hast
shorn thy tresses with the steel, bedewing thy cheeks the while with
tears but lately shed? Is it in response to visions of the night
that thou art mourning, or, because thou hast heard some warning voice
within, art thus distraught with grief?
HELEN
My lord,-for already I have learnt to say that name,--I am undone;
my luck is gone; I cease to be.
THEOCLYMENUS
In what misfortune art thou plunged? What hath happened?
HELEN
Menelaus, ah me! how can I say it? is dead, my husband.
THEOCLYMENUS
How knowest thou? Did Theonoe tell thee this?
HELEN
Both she, and one who was there when he perished.
THEOCLYMENUS
What! hath one arrived who actually announces this for certaint?
HELEN
One hath; oh may he come e'en as I wish him to!
THEOCLYMENUS
Who and where is he? that I may learn this more surely.
HELEN
There he is, sitting crouched beneath the shelter of this tomb,
THEOCLYMENUS
Great Apollo! how clad in unseemly rags!
HELEN
Ah me! methinks my own husband too is in like plight.
THEOCLYMENUS
From what country is this fellow? whence landed he here?
HELEN
From Hellas, one of the Achaeans who sailed with my husband.
- thereby [´ðeəbai]
ad.因此，由此 (初中英语单词) - persuade [pə´sweid] v.(被)说服；使相信 (初中英语单词)
- charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
- conceal [kən´si:l] vt.藏；隐瞒 (初中英语单词)
- wisdom [´wizdəm] n.智慧，聪明，才智 (初中英语单词)
- vessel [´vesəl] n.容器；船；脉管 (初中英语单词)
- embrace [im´breis] vt.&n.拥抱；采纳；信奉 (初中英语单词)
- funeral [´fju:nərəl] n.葬礼，丧葬；困难 (初中英语单词)
- mischief [´mistʃif] n.伤害；故障；调皮 (初中英语单词)
- unhappy [ʌn´hæpi] a.不幸的；不快乐的 (初中英语单词)
- upward [´ʌpwəd] a.&ad.向上(的)；以上 (初中英语单词)
- moderate [´mɔdərit] a.适度的n.温和主义者 (初中英语单词)
- throat [θrəut] n.咽喉；嗓子；出入口 (初中英语单词)
- utmost [´ʌtməust] a.最大的 n.极端 (初中英语单词)
- whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
- bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
- pursuit [pə´sju:t] n.追踪；追击；事务 (初中英语单词)
- lately [´leitli] ad.近来，不久前 (初中英语单词)
- mourning [´mɔ:niŋ] n.悲伤；治丧；戴孝 (初中英语单词)
- learnt [lə:nt] learn 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
- actually [´æktʃuəli] ad.事实上；实际上 (初中英语单词)
- devise [di´vaiz] vt.设计，发明 (高中英语单词)
- mutual [´mju:tʃuəl] a.相互的；共同的 (高中英语单词)
- refrain [ri´frein] v.抑制；忍住 n.迭句 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- remedy [´remidi] n.药品 vt.医治；减轻 (高中英语单词)
- obstacle [´ɔbstəkl] n.障碍(物)；妨碍 (高中英语单词)
- tidings [´taidiŋz] n.消息，音信 (高中英语单词)
- misfortune [mis´fɔ:tʃən] n.不幸；灾祸 (高中英语单词)
- treacherous [´tretʃərəs] a.虚伪的；不忠的 (高中英语单词)
- bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)
- mortal [´mɔ:tl] a.致命的 n.凡人 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- breadth [bredθ] n.宽度，幅面，广度 (高中英语单词)
- amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
- chivalry [´ʃivəlri] n.侠义；骑士团 (高中英语单词)
- strife [straif] n.竞争；吵架；冲突 (高中英语单词)
- openly [´əupənli] ad.公开地；直率地 (高中英语单词)
- apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)
- chariot [´tʃæriət] n.古时双轮战车 (高中英语单词)
- unseen [,ʌn´si:n] a.未看见的 (高中英语单词)
- response [ri´spɔns] n.回答；响应 (高中英语单词)
- methinks [mi´θiŋks] vi.据我看来 (高中英语单词)
- unjust [ʌn´dʒʌst] a.不公平(正)的 (英语四级单词)
- resolved [ri´zɔlvd] a.决心的；坚定的 (英语四级单词)
- firmament [´fə:məmənt] n.苍穹，天空 (英语四级单词)
- bridegroom [´braidgru:m] n.新郎 (英语四级单词)
- contradiction [,kɔntrə´dikʃən] n.矛盾；反驳；抵触 (英语四级单词)
- valour [´vælə] n.英勇，勇猛 (英语四级单词)
- bridal [´braidl] a.&n.婚礼(的) (英语四级单词)
- raiment [´reimənt] n.衣饰 (英语四级单词)
- warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
- whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
- impious [´impiəs] a.不敬的；不孝的 (英语六级单词)
- survivor [sə´vaivə] n.未死的人；残存者 (英语六级单词)
- respite [´respait] n.暂缓 vt.缓期执行 (英语六级单词)
- invoke [in´vəuk] vt.调用，请求 (英语六级单词)
- beacon [´bi:kən] n.灯塔；信标 v.照亮 (英语六级单词)
- phantom [´fæntəm] n.幽灵；幻影 a.幻想的 (英语六级单词)
- arbitration [,ɑ:bi´treiʃən] n.仲裁；公断 (英语六级单词)
- hunting [´hʌntiŋ] n.打猎 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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