(MENELAUS and his guards lead ANDROMACHE out.)CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
Never, oh! never will I commend rival wives or sons of different mothers, a cause of strife, of bitterness, and grief in every house.
would have a husband content with one wife whose rights he shareth with no other.
antistrophe 1
Not even in states is dual monarchy better to bear than undivided rule; it only doubles burdens and causes faction amongst the citizens. Often too will the Muse sow strife 'twixt rivals in the art of minstrelsy.
strophe 2
Again, when strong winds are drifting mariners, the divided counsel of the wise does not best avail for steering, and their collective wisdom has less weight than the inferior mind of the single man who has sole authority; for this is the essence of power alike in house and state, whene'er men care to find the proper moment.
antistrophe 2
This Spartan, the daughter of the great chief Menelaus, proves this; for she hath kindled hot fury against a rival, and is bent on slaying the hapless Trojan maid and her child to further her bitter quarrel. 'Tis a murder gods and laws and kindness all forbid. Ah!
lady, retribution for this deed will yet visit thee.
But lo! before the house I see those two united souls, condemned to die. Alas! for thee, poor lady, and for thee, unhappy child, who art dying on account of thy mother's marriage, though thou hast no share therein and canst not be blamed by the royal house.
(ANDROMACHE enters, her arms bound. Her son clings to her. MENELAUS and the guards follow, intent on accomplishing the murder. The following lines are chanted responsively.)ANDROMACHE
Behold me journeying on the downward path, my hands so tightly bound with cords that they bleed.
MOLOSSUS
O mother, mother mine! I too share thy downward path, nestling 'neath thy wing.
ANDROMACHE
A cruel sacrifice! ye rulers of Phthia!
MOLOSSUS
Come, father! succour those thou lovest.
ANDROMACHE
Rest there, my babe, my darling! on thy mother's bosom, e'en in death and in the grave.
MOLOSSUS
Ah, woe is me! what will become of me and thee too, mother mine?
MENELAUS
Away, to the world below! from hostile towers ye came, the pair of you; two different causes necessitate your deaths; my sentence takes away thy life, and my daughter Hermione's requires his; for it would be the height of folly to leave our foemen's sons, when we might kill them and remove the danger from our house.
ANDROMACHE
O husband mine! I would I had thy strong arm and spear to aid me, son of Priam.
MOLOSSUS
Ah, woe is me! what spell can I now find to turn death's stroke aside?
ANDROMACHE
Embrace thy master's knees, my child, and pray to him.
MOLOSSUS
Spare, O spare my life, kind master!
ANDROMACHE
Mine eyes are wet with tears, which trickle down my cheeks, as doth a sunless spring from a smooth rock. Ah me!
MOLOSSUS
What remedy, alas! can I provide me 'gainst my ills?
MENELAUS
Why fall at my knees in supplication? hard as the rock and deaf as the wave am I. My own friends have I helped, but for thee have no tie of affection; for verily it cost me a great part of my life to capture Troy and thy mother; so thou shalt reap the fruit thereof and into Hades' halls descend.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Behold! I see Peleus drawing nigh; with aged step he hasteth hither.
(PELEUS enters with an attendant.)
PELEUS (calling out as he comes in sight)What means this? I ask you and your executioner; why is the palace in an uproar? give a reason; what mean your lawless machinations?
Menelaus, hold thy hand. Seek not to outrun justice. (To his attendant) Forward! faster, faster! for this matter, methinks, admits of no delay; now if ever would I fain resume the vigour of my youth. First however will breathe new life into this captive, being to her as the breeze that blows a ship before the wind. Tell me, by what right have they pinioned thine arms and are dragging thee and thy child away? Like a ewe with her lamb art thou led to the slaughter, while I and thy lord were far away.
ANDROMACHE
Behold them that are haling me and my child to death, e'en as thou seest, aged prince. Why should I tell thee? For not by one urgent summons alone but by countless messengers have I sent for thee. No doubt thou knowest by hearsay of the strife in this house with this man's daughter, and the reason of my ruin. So now they have torn and are dragging me from the altar of Thetis, the goddess of thy chiefest adoration and the mother of thy gallant son, without any proper trial, yea, and without waiting for my absent master;because, forsooth, they knew my defencelessness and my child's, whom they mean to slay with me his hapless mother, though he has done no harm. But to thee, O sire, I make my supplication, prostrate at thy knees, though my hand cannot touch thy friendly beard; save me, Iadjure thee, reverend sir, or to thy shame and my sorrow shall we be slain.
PELEUS
Loose her bonds, I say, ere some one rue it; untie her folded hands.
MENELAUS
I forbid it, for besides being a match for thee, I have a far better right to her.
PELEUS
What! art thou come hither to set my house in order? Art not content with ruling thy Spartans?
MENELAUS
She is my captive; I took her from Troy.
PELEUS
Aye, but my son's son received her as his prize.
MENELAUS
Is not all I have his, and all his mine?
PELEUS
For good, but not evil ends; and surely not for murderous violence.
MENELAUS
Never shalt thou wrest her from my grasp.
PELEUS
With this good staff I'll stain thy head with blood!
MENELAUS
Just touch me and see! Approach one step!
PELEUS
