Chorus Leader
The arguments here proposed are worthy of pity,
[945]
and so are you. But I am anxious to hear what Menelaos will say to save his life.
Menelaos
Menelaos
I could not endure to fall at your knees, or wet my eyes with tears; for if I were cowardly, I would greatly dishonor Troy.
[950]
And yet they say that it is fitting for a noble man to let tears fall from his eyes in misfortune. But I will not choose this honorable course, if it is honorable, in preference to bravery. But, if you think it right to save a stranger
[955]
seeking justly to regain his wife, then restore her and save us in addition; if not, I would be wretched, not now for the first time but as often before, and you will seem to be an evil woman. What I consider honest and worthy of me,
[960]
and what will touch your heart most closely, these things I will say at the tomb of your father, with regret for his loss.
Old man, dwelling in this tomb of stone, give her back, I demand of you my wife, whom Zeus sent here for you to keep for me. [965] I know you will never restore her to me yourself, for you are dead; but this woman here will not think it right that her father, invoked from below, once so glorious, should bear a tarnished name; for she is the one in authority now.