Stasimon 1
[Episode]
What saving remedy does this have for us two? There is a flavor of deception in your scheme.
1055
Helen
I will beg the tyrant of this country for permission to bury you in an empty tomb, as if you had really died at sea.
Menelaos
Soppose he allows it; then how shall we escape with no ship,
when we have buried my body in the empty tomb?
1060
Helen
I will urge him to give me a vessel, from which I shall have the offerings from your tomb let down into the sea’s embrace.
Menelaos
You have spoken well, except for one thing: if he commands you to set up a tomb on the dry land, your pretext comes to nothing.
Helen
But I will say it is not the custom in Hellas to bury those who have died at sea on the dry land.
1065
Menelaos
You are setting this right, too; then I will sail with you, and help let down the funeral offerings, in the same ship.
Helen
You must above all be at hand,
with your sailors who escaped from the wreck.
1070
Menelaos
Be sure that if I have a ship at anchor, they will be posted, man beside man, each with his sword.
Helen
You must direct everything; only let there be winds in our sails to guide us, and a speedy ship.
Menelaos
It will be so; for the deities will bring my troubles to an end. But from whom will you say that you heard I was dead?
1075
Helen
From you; allege that you were the only one to escape death, when you were sailing with the son of Atreus, and that you saw him dead.
Menelaos
It is true that these rags thrown around my body
will bear witness with me as to the shipwreck.
1080
Helen
They have come at the right time, although then they seemed an ill-timed loss. Perhaps that misery may turn to good fortune.
Menelaos
Should I to enter the house with you, or am I to sit quietly here at this tomb?
Helen
Stay here; for if he does something harsh to you, this tomb and your sword would protect you. But I will go into the house, cut off my hair, exchange my white robe for a dark one, and tear my cheek with nails that make the flesh bloody.
1085
For the contest is a great one, and I see two turns of the scale: either I must die if I am detected in my plot, or else come home and save you as well.
1090
