l.

AG. Do you not then think that he, standing in the midst of the Greeks,
will tell the oracles which Calchas pronounced, and of me, that I promised
to offer a sacrifice to Diana, and then break my word. With which [words]
having carried away the army, he will bid the Greeks slay thee and me, and
sacrifice the damsel. And if I flee to Argos, they will come and ravage and
raze the land, Cyclopean walls and all. Such are my troubles. O unhappy me!
How, by the Gods, am I at a loss in these present matters! Take care of one
thing for me, Menelaus, going through the army, that Clytaemnestra may not
learn these matters, before I take and offer my daughter to Hades, that I
may fare ill with as few tears as possible. But do ye, O stranger women,
preserve silence.

CHORUS. Blest are they who share the nuptial bed of the Goddess
Aphrodite,[39] when she is moderate, and with modesty, obtaining a calm
from the maddening stings, when Love with his golden locks stretches his
twin bow of graces, the one for a prosperous fate, the other for the
upturning of life. I deprecate this [bow,] O fairest Venus, from our beds,
but may mine be a moderate grace, and holy endearments, and may I share
Aphrodite, but reject her when excessive. But the natures of mortals are
different, and their manners are different,[40] but that which is clearly
good is ever plain. And the education which trains[41] [men] up, conduces
greatly to virtue, for to have reverence is wisdom, and it possesses an
equivalent advantage, viz. to perceive what is fitting by one's mind, where
report bears unwasting glory to life.[42] 'Tis a great thing to hunt for
[the praise of] virtue, among women indeed, by a secret affection,[43] but
among men, on the other hand, honor being inherent,[44] [bears that praise,
honor,] which increases a state to an incalculable extent.[45]

Thou earnest, O Paris, +where thou wast trained up a shepherd with the
white heifers of Ida, trilling a barbarian lay, breathing an imitation of
the Phrygian pipes of Olympus on a reed. And the cows with their
well-filled udders browsed, when the judgment of the Goddesses drove thee
mad, which sends thee into Greece,+ before the ivory-decked palaces, thou
who didst strike love into the eyes of Helen which were upon thee, and
thyself wast fluttered with love. Whence strife, strife brings Greece
against the bulwarks of Troy with spears and ships.+ Alas! alas! great are
the fortunes of the great.[46] Behold