DEM. Since by thy speed, old man, thou hast outstripped
Thy juniors, and already reached the shrine
Of Jove, inform me what event hath caused
This multitude t’ assemble.
CHOR. There the sons
Of Hercules in suppliant posture sit,
And with their wreaths, as you behold, O king,
Adorn the altar; that is Iolaus,
The faithful comrade of their valiant sire.
DEM. How needed their distress these clamorous shrieks?
CHOR. [_turning towards_ COPREUS.]
He raised the uproar, when by force he strove
To bear them hence, and on his knees, to earth
Threw the old man, till I for pity wept.
DEM. Although he in the habit which he wears
Adopts the mode of Greece, such deeds as these
Speak the barbarian. But without delay
On thee it is incumbent now to tell me
The country whence thou cam’st.
COP. I am an Argive;
Thus far to solve your question: but from whence
I come, and on what errand, will I add;
Mycene’s king, Eurystheus, sends me hither
To fetch these vagrants home: yet I, O stranger,
Will with abundant justice, in my actions,
As well as words, proceed; myself an Argive,
I bear away these Argives, I but seize
The fugitives who from my native land
Escaped, when by the laws which there prevail
They were ordained to bleed. We have a right,
Because we are the rulers of the city,
To execute the sentence we enact
’Gainst our own subjects. To the sacred hearths
Of many other states when they repaired,
We urged the self-same reasons, and none ventured
To be the authors of their own destruction.
But haply they in you may have perceived
A foolish tenderness, and hither come,
Desperate themselves, you also to involve
In the same perils, whether they succeed
Or fail in the emprise: for they no hope
Can cherish, while you yet retain your reason,
That you alone, in all the wide extent
Of Greece, whose various regions they have traversed,
Should pity those calamities which rise
But from their own imprudence. Now compare
Th’ alternative proposed; by sheltering them
In these dominions, or allowing us
To bear them hence, what gain may you expect?
Side but with us, these benefits are yours:
Eurystheus’ self, and Argos’ numerous troops,
Will aid this city with their utmost might;
But if, by their seducing language moved,
Ye harbour groundless pity for their woes,
Arms must decide the strife. Nor vainly think
We will desist till we have fully tried
The temper of our swords. But what excuse
Have ye to plead? Of what domains bereft
Are ye provoked to wage a desperate war
With the Tirynthian Argives? What allies
Will aid you? What pretext can ye allege
To claim funereal honours for the slain?
The curses of your city will await
Such conduct; for the sake of that old man,
Whom I may justly call a tomb, a shadow,
And those unfriended children, should you step
Into the yawning gulf. Suppose the best
Which possibly can happen, that a prospect
Of future good hence rises; distant hopes
Fall short of present gain. In riper years
Ill can these youths be qualified to fight
Against the Argive host (if this elate
Your soul with hope), and ere that wished event
There is a length of intermediate time
In which ye may be ruined; but comply
With my advice; on me no gift bestow,
Let me but take what to ourselves belongs,
Mycene shall be yours. But oh, forbear
To act as ye are wont, nor form a league
With those of no account, when mightier friends
May be procured.
DEM. Who can decide a cause
Or ascertain its merits till he hear
Both sides distinctly?
IOL. In your land, O king,
This great advantage, freedom of reply
To the malignant charge against me urged,
I find, and no man, as from other cities,
Shall drive me hence. But we have nothing left
For which it now behoves us to contend
With him, nor aught, since that decree hath passed,
To do with Argos; from our native land
We are cast forth. In this distressful state,
How can he drag us back again with justice
As subjects of Mycene, to that realm
Which hath already banished us? We there
Are only foreigners. But why should he
Whom Argos dooms to exile, by all Greece
Be also exiled? Not by Athens sure;
For ne’er will Athens from its blest domains
Expel the race of Hercules, appalled
By Argos’ menaced wrath. For neither Trachis,
Nor is that city of Achaia here,
Whence thou by boasting of the might of Argos
In words like those which thou hast uttered now,
These suppliants didst unjustly drive away
Though seated at the altars. If thy threats
Here too prevail, no longer shall we find
Freedom, not e’en in Athens; but I know
Full well the generous temper of its sons,
And rather would they die. For to the brave
Shame is a load which renders life most hateful.
Enough of Athens—for immoderate praise
Becomes invidious; I remember too
How oft I have been heretofore distressed
By overstrained encomiums. But on you
How greatly ’tis incumbent to protect
These children will I show, since o’er this land
You rule; for Pittheus was the son of Pelops,
From Pittheus Æthra sprung, from Æthra Theseus
Your father; from your ancestors to those
Of your unhappy suppliants I proceed;
Alcides was the son of thundering Jove
And of Alcmena; from Lysidice,
Daughter of Pelops, did Alcmena spring,
One common grandsire gave your grandame birth,
And theirs; so near in blood are you to them;
But, O Demophoon, what beyond the ties
Of family you to these children owe
Will I inform you, and relate how erst
With Theseus in one bark I sailed, and bore
Their father’s shield, when we that belt, the cause
Of dreadful slaughter, sought; and from the caves
Of Pluto, Hercules led back your sire.
This truth all Greece attests. They in return
From you implore this boon, that to their foes
They may not be surrendered up, nor torn
By force from these your tutelary gods,
And banished from this realm. For to yourself
’Twere infamous and baneful to your city
Should suppliants, exiles, sprung from ancestors
The same with yours (ah, miserable me!
Behold, behold them!) with a forceful arm
Be dragged away. But to your hands, and beard,
Lifting these hallowed branches, I entreat you
Slight not Alcides’ children, undertake
Their cause; and, oh, to them become a kinsman,
Become a friend, a father, brother, lord,
For better were it to admit these claims,
Than suffer them to fall beneath the rage
Of Argive tyrants.
CHOR. I with pity heard
Their woes, O king, but now I clearly see
How noble birth to adverse fortune yields;
For though they spring from an illustrious sire,
Yet meet they with afflictions they deserve not.
DEM. Three powerful motives urge me, while I view
The misery which attends you, not to spurn
These strangers; first dread Jove, before whose altars
You with these children sit; next kindred ties,
And services performed in ancient days,
Give them a claim to such relief from me
As from their godlike father mine obtained;
And last of all that infamy which most
I ought to loathe; for if I should permit
A foreigner this altar to despoil,
I in a land of freedom shall no longer
Appear to dwell, but to surrender up,
Through fear, the suppliants to their Argive lords,
In this extreme of danger. Would to heaven
You had arrived with happier auspices;
But tremble not lest any brutal hand
Should from this hallowed altar force away
You and the children. Therefore go thou back
To Argos, and this message to Eurystheus
Deliver; tell him too if there be aught
Which ’gainst our guests he can allege, the laws
Are open; but thou shalt not drag them hence.
COP. Not if I prove that it is just, and bring
Prevailing reasons?
DEM. How can it be just
To drive away the suppliant?
COP. Hence no shame
Shall light on me, but ruin on your head.
DEM. Should I permit thee to convey them hence
In me ’twere base indeed.
COP. Let them be banished
From your domains, and I elsewhere will seize them.
DEM. Thou fool, who deem’st thyself more wise than
Jove!
COP. All villains may, it seems, take refuge here.
DEM. This altar of the gods, to all affords
A sure asylum.
COP. In a different light,
This to Mycene’s rulers will appear.
DEM. Am not I then the monarch of this realm?
COP. Offer no wrong to them, if you are wise.
DEM. Do ye then suffer wrong when I refuse
To violate the temples of the gods?
COP. I would not have you enter on a war
Against the Argives.
DEM. Equally inclined
Am I to peace, yet will not I yield up
These suppliants.
COP. Hence am I resolved to drag
Those who belong to me.
DEM. Thou then to Argos
Shalt not with ease return.
COP. Soon will I make
Th’ experiment and know.
DEM. If thou presume
To touch them, thou immediately shalt rue it.
COP. I by the gods conjure you not to strike
A herald.
DEM. Strike I will, unless that herald
Learn to behave discreetly.
CHOR. Go. And you,
O king, forbear to touch him.
COP. I retire:
For weak in combat is a single arm.
But I again shall hither come, and bring
A host of Argives armed with brazen spears:
Unnumbered warriors wait for my return.
The king himself, Eurystheus, is their chief;
He on the borders of Alcathous’ realm
Waits for an answer. He in glittering mail,
Soon as he hears your arrogant reply,
To you, your subjects, this devoted realm,
And all its wasted forests will appear,
For we in vain at Argos should possess
A band so numerous of heroic youths,
If we chastised not your assuming pride.
[_Exit_ COPREUS.
DEM. Away, detested miscreant; for I fear not
Thy Argos: and thou ne’er, by dragging hence
These suppliants, shalt disgrace me: for this city
As an appendage to the Argive realm
I hold not, but its freedom will maintain.
CHOR. ’Tis time each sage precaution to exert,
Ere to the confines of this land advance
The troops of Argos: for Mycene’s wrath
Is terrible in combat, and more fierce
Than heretofore will they invade us now.
For to exaggerate facts beyond the truth
Is every herald’s custom. To his king,
How many specious tales do you suppose
Of the atrocious insults he endured,
He will relate, and add how he the loss
Of life endangered?
IOL. To the sons devolve
No honours which exceed the being born
Of an illustrious and heroic sire,
And wedding into virtuous families.
But on that man no praise will I bestow,
Who by his lusts impelled, among the wicked
A nuptial union forms; hence to his sons
Disgrace, instead of pleasure, he bequeaths.
For noble birth repels adversity
Better than abject parentage. When sinking
Under the utmost pressure of our woes,
We find these friends and kinsmen, who alone
Amid the populous extent of Greece
Stand forth in our behalf. Ye generous youths,
Now give them your right hands, and in return
Take those of your protectors: O my sons,
Draw near: we have made trial of our friends.
If ye again behold your native walls,
Possess the self-same mansions, and the honours
Which your illustrious father erst enjoyed;
These deem your saviours and your friends, nor wield
Against their fostering land the hostile spear.
On your remembrance let these benefits
Be ever stamped, and hold this city dear;
For they deserve your reverence, who from us
Repel so great a nation, such a swarm
Of fierce Pelasgian troops: and, though they see
Our poverty and exile, have refused
To yield us up, or banish from their realm.
Both while I live, and after the cold grave
Receives me at the destined hour, my friend,
I with loud voice your merits will applaud,
Approaching mighty Theseus, and my words
Shall soothe your father’s ear when I recount
With what humanity you have received us,
And how protected the defenceless sons
Of Hercules: by your illustrious birth
Distinguished, you the glories of your sire
Through Greece maintain: sprung from a noble lineage
Yet are you one among that chosen few
Who in no instance deviate from the virtues
Of your great ancestry: although ’mid thousands
Scarce is a single instance to be found
Of those who emulate their father’s worth.
CHOR. This country, in a just and honest cause,
Is ever prompt to succour the distressed.
Hence in its friends’ behalf hath it sustained
Unnumbered toils, and now another conflict
I see impending.
DEM. Rightly hast thou spoken,
And in such toils I feel a conscious pride.
These benefits shall never be forgotten;
But an assembly of the citizens
I instantly will summon, and arrange
A numerous squadron, to receive the onset
Of fierce Mycene’s host, first sending spies
To meet them, lest they unawares assail us.
For the bold warrior, who without delay
Goes forth to battle, keeps the foe aloof.
I also will collect the seers, and slay
The victims; but do you, old man, meanwhile
Enter the palace with these children, leaving
Jove’s altar: for my menial train are there,
Who will with fond solicitude attend you,
Although I am not present: but go in.
IOL. I will not leave the altar; on this seat
We supplicants will remain, and pray to Jove,
That prosperous fortunes may attend your city.
But when you from this conflict are with glory
Released, we to your palace will repair;
Nor are the gods, who war on our behalf,
O king, inferior to the gods of Argos.
For o’er that city, Jove’s majestic consort,
Juno, but here Minerva doth preside.
This I maintain, that nought ensures success
Beyond the aid of mightier deities,
Nor will imperial Pallas be subdued.
[_Exit_ DEMOPHOON.