1. AEACUS: Why do you dash at Helen, and choke her, Protesilaus?
1. ΑΙΑΚΟΣ: Τί ἄγχεις, ὦ Πρωτεσίλαε, τὴν Ἑλένην προσπεσών;
PROTESILAUS: It was because of her that I was killed, Aeacus, and left my house half-built, and my newly-wed wife a widow.
ΠΡΩΤΕΣΙΛΑΟΣ: Ὅτι διὰ ταύτην, ὦ Αἰακέ, ἀπέθανον ἡμιτελῆ μὲν τὸν δόμον καταλιπών, χήραν τε νεόγαμον γυναῖκα.
AEACUS: Then blame Menelaus, for taking you to Troy to fight for a woman like that.
ΑΙΑΚΟΣ: Αἰτιῶ τοίνυν τὸν Μενέλαον, ὅστις ὑμᾶς ὑπὲρ τοιαύτης γυναικὸς ἐπὶ Τροίαν ἤγαγεν.
PROTESILAUS: Quite right. I should blame him. MENELAUS: Don’t blame me, my good man; it would be fairer to blame Paris. Though I was his host, he carried off my wife with him, contrary to all justice. Paris ought to be strangled, and not by you only, but by all the soldiers on both sides, for bringing death to so many.
ΠΡΩΤΕΣΙΛΑΟΣ: Εὖ λέγεις· ἐκεῖνόν μοι αἰτιατέον. ΜΕΝΕΛΑΟΣ: Οὐκ ἐμέ, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἀλλὰ δικαιότερον τὸν Πάριν, ὃς ἐμοῦ τοῦ ξένου τὴν γυναῖκα παρὰ πάντα τα δίκαια ᾤχετο ἁρπάσας· οὗτος γὰρ οὐχ ὑπὸ σοῦ μόνου, ἀλλ’ ὑπὸ πάντων Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων ἄξιος ἄγχεσθαι τοσούτοις θανάτου αἴτιος γεγενημένος.
PROTESILAUS: A better idea; then you, accursed Paris, are the one I’ll keep forever in my grip. PARIS: That would be unjust too, Protesilaus, for I practise the same craft as you; I’m a lover too, and subject to the same god; you know how it’s none of our wishing, but some divine power leads us wherever it chooses, and it’s impossible to resist him.
ΠΡΩΤΕΣΙΛΑΟΣ: Ἄμεινον οὕτω· σὲ τοιγαροῦν, ὦ Δύσπαρι, οὐκ ἀφήσω ποτὲ ἀπὸ τῶν χειρῶν. ΠΑΡΙΣ: Ἄδικα ποιῶν, ὦ Πρωτεσίλαε, καὶ ταῦτα ὁμότεχνον ὄντα σοι· ἐρωτικὸς γὰρ καὶ αὐτός εἰμι καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ θεῷ κατέσχημαι· οἶσθα δὲ ὡς ἀκούσιόν τί ἐστιν καί τις ἡμᾶς δαίμων ἄγει ἔνθα ἂν ἐθέλῃ, καὶ ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν ἀντιτάττεσθαι αὐτῷ.
2. PROTESILAUS: True enough. Well, I wish I could catch Eros here.
2. ΠΡΩΤΕΣΙΛΑΟΣ: Εὖ λέγεις. εἴθε οὖν μοι τὸν Ἔρωτα ἐνταῦθα λαβεῖν δυνατὸν ἦν.
AEACUS: I will answer you in defence of Eros. He will say that he may have been the cause of the love of Paris, but that you, Protesilaus, were the sole cause of your own death; for, when your fleet was approaching the land of Troy, you forgot your new-wed wife, and made that mad adventurous leap ashore before any of the others; you were in love with glory, and because of her were the first to die at the landing of the army.
ΑΙΑΚΟΣ: Ἐγώ σοι καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἔρωτος ἀποκρινοῦμαι τὰ δίκαια· φήσει γὰρ αὐτὸς μὲν τοῦ ἐρᾶν τῷ Πάριδι ἴσως γεγενῆσθαι αἴτιος, τοῦ θανάτου δέ σοι οὐδένα ἄλλον, ὦ Πρωτεσίλαε, ἢ σεαυτόν. ὃς ἐκλαθόμενος τῆς νεογάμου γυναικός, ἐπεὶ προσεφέρεσθε τῇ Τρῳάδι, οὕτως φιλοκινδύνως καὶ ἀπονενοημένως προεπήδησας τῶν ἄλλων δόξης ἐρασθείς, δι’ ἣν πρῶτος ἐν τῇ ἀποβάσει ἀπέθανες.
PROTESILAUS: Then, Aeacus, I shall retort with an even stronger argument in my defence; the responsibility lies not with me, but with Fate and the way the thread was spun from the start.
ΠΡΩΤΕΣΙΛΑΟΣ: Οὐκοῦν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ σοι, ὦ Αἰακέ, ἀποκρινοῦμαι δικαιότερα· οὐ γὰρ ἐγὼ τούτων αἴτιος, ἀλλὰ ἡ Μοῖρα καὶ τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὕτως ἐπικεκλῶσθαι.
AEACUS: Quite right; why, then, blame the present company?
ΑΙΑΚΟΣ: Ὀρθῶς· τί οὖν τούτους αἰτιᾷ;