Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/69

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In argument o'ermastered by the lowly: 190
Yet will I not abandon mine own cause.
Say, thou rash girl, in what assurance strong
Should I thrust thee from lawful wedlock-rights?
Is Sparta meaner than the Phrygians' burg?
Soareth my fortune?—dost thou see me free? 195
Or by my young and rounded loveliness,
My city's greatness, and my noble friends
Exalted, would I wrest from thee thine home?
Sooth, to bear sons myself instead of thee—
Slave-sons, a wretched drag upon my life! 200
Nay, though thou bear no children, who will brook
That sons of mine be lords of Phthia-land?
O yea, the Greeks love me—for Hector's sake!—
Myself obscure, nor ever a Phrygian queen!
Not of my philtres thy lord hateth thee, 205
But that thy nature is no mate for his.
That is the love-charm: woman, 'tis not beauty
That witcheth bridegrooms, nay, but nobleness.
Let aught vex thee—O then a mighty thing
Is thy Laconian city, Skyros naught! 210
Thy wealth thou flauntest, settest above Achilles
Menelaus: therefore thy lord hateth thee.
A wife, though low-born be her lord, must yet
Content her, without wrangling arrogance.
But if in Thrace with snow-floods overstreamed 215
Thou hadst for lord a prince, where one man shares
His couch's boon in turn with many wives,
Wouldst thou have slain these?—ay, and so be found
Branding all women with the slur of lust—
A shameful thing! Yet herein more than men's 220
Is our affliction; but we bear up bravely.
Ah, dear, dear Hector, I would take to my heart