Euripides

Richard Rutherford

Translated by John Davie with an Introduction and Notes by Richard Rutherford.

Read until you are demented / your great thick books whose substance is as smoke.

A man, when he is vexed by those at home,

goes out to ease the disquiet in his heart.

And they say of us that we're never at risk,

sheltered at home, while they fight with spears.

How wrong they are: I'd rather three times over

stand behind a shield than give birth once.