Epeisodion 1
Chorus Leader
You have sorrows, I know; but it is best to bear as lightly as we can the necessary evils of life.
Helen
Dear friends, to what a fate am I yoked? Did my mother bear me as a wonder to mankind? For no other woman, Hellene or barbarian, gives birth to a white vessel of chicks, in which they say Leda bore me to Zeus.
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My life and all I do is a wonder, partly because of Hera, and partly my beauty is to blame. If only I could be rubbed out like a painting, and have again in turn a plainer form instead of beauty, and the Hellenes would have forgotten the evil fate that I now have,
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and would remember what part of my life is not evil, as they now remember what is.
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When someone looks to one event only, and is ill-treated by the gods, it is hard, but all the same it can be borne. But I am involved in countless troubles.
First, although I never acted wrongly, my good name is gone. And this trouble is stronger than the reality, if someone incurs blame for wrongs that are not his own. Next, the gods have removed me from my native country to barbarian habits, and bereft of friends
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I have become a slave although I am free by birth; for among barbarians all are slaves except one. And the only anchor of my fortunes is gone, the hope that my husband would come one day and free me of my woes—he is dead, he no longer exists.
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My mother is dead, and I am called her murderer—unjustly, but that injustice is mine to bear; while the one who was born the glory of the house, my daughter, is growing gray as a virgin, without a husband; and those two Dioskouroi, called the sons of Zeus, are no more.
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But with all my misfortunes, I am as good as dead in my circumstances, though not in fact. And this is the last evil of all: if ever I should come home, I would be shut out by barred doors, for people would think I was that Helen of Troy, coming back with Menelaos.
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If my husband were still alive, we could have recognized each other by recourse to tokens which are evident to us alone. But now this is not so, and he can never be saved.
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Why then do I still live? What fortune do I have left? Shall I choose marriage in exchange for evils,
and live with a barbarian man, seated at his sumptuous table? But whenever a husband she hates lives with a woman, her own body is also hateful to her. It is best to die; how could this not be well done? To hang oneself, high in the air, is unseemly,
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even slaves consider it undignified; but to stab oneself is noble and good, and the moment of rending life from the body is short. For I have come to such a depth of misery; other women have good fortune from their beauty,
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but the same thing has destroyed me.
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Chorus Leader
Helen, do not suppose that stranger who came here, whoever he was, has spoken the whole truth.
Helen
And yet he said very clearly that my husband was dead.
Chorus Leader
Many words might be said in falsehood also.
Helen
And the opposite of falsehood is clear in its truth.
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Chorus Leader
You are carried towards misfortune instead of what is good.
Helen
Yes, for terror has embraced me and leads me to the thing I fear.
Chorus Leader
How much goodwill is there in this house for you?
Helen
All are my friends, except the one who hunts me in marriage.
Chorus Leader
Then do you know what you should do? Leave your seat at the monument—
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Helen
What sort of word of advice are you coming to?
Chorus Leader
Go inside and question the daughter of the sea-nymph, Theonoe, who knows all things, about your husband, whether he is still alive, or has left the light of day;
and when you know for certain, rejoice or be full of mourning, according to your fortune. Before you know anything correctly, what good would it do you to grieve? But be persuaded by me; leave this tomb and join the girl;
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when you have someone in this house from whom you can learn the whole truth, why do you look further? And I myself want to go in and ask about the prophecies of the maiden with you; for, truly, women ought to help each other.
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