Peleus Lead on, my child, safe beneath my sheltering wing, and thou too, poor lady; for thou art come into a quiet haven after the rude storm.
Andromache Heaven reward thee and all thy race, old sire, for having saved my child and me his hapless mother! Only beware lest they fall upon us twain in some lonely spot upon the road and force me from thee, when they see thy age, my weakness, and this child’s tender years; take heed to this, that we be not a second time made captive, after escaping now.
Peleus Forbear such words, prompted by a woman’s cowardice. Go on thy way; who will lay a finger on you? Methinks he will do it to his cost. For by heaven’s grace I rule o’er many a knight and spearman bold in my kingdom of Phthia; yea, and myself can still stand straight, no bent old man as thou dost think; such a fellow as that a mere look from me will put to flight in spite of my years. For e’en an old man, be he brave, is worth a host of raw youths; for what avails a fine figure if a man is a coward?
Chorus
Oh! to have never been born, or sprung from noble sires, the heir to mansions richly stored; for if aught untoward e’er befall, there is no lack of champions for sons of noble parents, and there is honour and glory for them when they are proclaimed scions of illustrious lines; time detracts not from the legacy these good men leave, but the light of their goodness still burns on when they are dead.
Chorus
Better is it not to win a discreditable victory, than to make justice miscarry by an invidious exercise of power; for such a victory, though men think it sweet for the moment, grows barren in time and comes very near being a family reproach. This is the life I commend, this the life. I set before me as my ideal, to exercise no authority beyond what is right either in the marriage-chamber or in the state.
Chorus
O aged son of Aeacus! now am I sure that thou wert with the Lapithae, wielding thy famous spear, when they fought the Centaurs; and on Argo’s deck didst pass the cheerless strait beyond the sea-beat Symplegades on her voyage of note; and when in days long gone the son of Zeus spread slaughter round Troy’s famous town, thou too didst share his triumphant return to Europe.
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