Helen
[330] Dear friends, I welcome your advice. Come in, come into the house, to learn within about my struggles. Chorus
You are calling on one who is wholly willing. Helen
[335] Oh, what an unhappy day! What tearful word shall I hear, unhappy as I am? Chorus
Do not be a prophetess of sorrow, dear friend, anticipating lamentation. Helen
[340] What has my poor husband suffered? Does he see the light and the sun's chariot and the paths of the stars? Or does he have a lasting fate [345] among the dead beneath the earth? Chorus
Take a brighter view of the future, whatever will happen. Helen
For I call on you, I swear to you, Eurotas green with watery reeds, [350] if this rumor of my husband's death is true—and what was obscure in those words?—I will stretch a deadly noose about my neck, or drive inward a murderous thrust of slaughter that gushes from the throat, [355] a contest of the blade through my flesh, as a sacrifice to the three goddesses and to the son of Priam, who once sat on the hollows of Ida, near the ox-stalls. Chorus
[360] May sorrow be turned aside elsewhere, and may your lot be fortunate!