Base outland upstart, ruleth the New Folk?[1]
Thou shalt not joy in lordship over me,
Nor that which I have gotten by toil of hand
Shalt thou have! Hence with curses whence thou cam'st! 260
There outrage! Whilst I live, thou ne'er shalt slay
Herakles' sons! Not hidden in earth too deep
For help is he, though he hath left his babes.
Thou, ruin of this land, possessest her;
And he, her saviour, faileth of his due! 265
Am I a busy meddler then, who aid
Dead friends in plight where friends are needed most?
Ah right hand, how thou yearn'st to grip the spear,
But in thy weakness know'st thy yearning vain!
Else had I smitten thy taunt of bondslave dumb, 270
And we had ruled with honour this our Thebes
Wherein thou joyest! A city plagued with strife
And evil counsels thinketh not aright;
Else never had she gotten thee for lord.
Megara.
Fathers, I thank you. Needs must friends be filled 275
With righteous indignation for friends' wrongs.
Yet for our sake through wrath against your lords
Suffer not scathe. Amphitryon, hearken thou
My counsel, if my words seem good to thee:
I love my sons,—how should I not love whom 280
I bare and toiled for?—and to die I count
Fearful: yet—yet—against the inevitable
- ↑ Perhaps a later influx of population (like the Plebeians at Rome). Others would render, "the young men." Others again would read ἐγγενῶν or τῶν ἐτῶν, "rules the native-born."
