Chorus Leader
No one born lawless ever prospered, but in a lawful cause there is hope of safety.
Helen Menelaos, as far as the maiden is concerned, we are safe. For the rest, you must contribute your advice and frame a device to save ourselves.
Menelaos Then listen; you have been in the house for a long time and are intimate with the king’s servants.
Helen What do you mean by that? You are offering hope, as if you were really about to do something useful for both of us.
Menelaos Could you persuade someone in charge of the wagons and horses to give us a chariot?
Helen I might; but how will we escape, in our ignorance of the country and the barbarian land?
Menelaos You are right; a dilemma. Well, what if I were to hide in the house and kill the king with this two-edged sword?
Helen His sister would never be silent or allow you to intend her own brother’s death.
Menelaos Nor indeed is there a ship in which we might safely escape; for the sea holds the one we had.
Helen Listen to me, if even a woman can say something wise. Are you willing to be called dead in word, though you are not dead?
Menelaos It is a bad omen; but if I profit by it, I am ready to be called dead in word, though I am not dead.
Helen And truly I would mourn you, as women do, with hair cut short and laments before this impious man.
Menelaos What saving remedy does this have for us two? There is a flavor of deception in your scheme.
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 Suppose he allows it; then how shall we escape with no ship, when we have buried my body in the empty tomb?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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 enter the house with you, or am I to sit quietly here at this tomb?
Cite This Text