The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 57 



" Zeus, Father art thou called, and the Wise God : 

 Look upon us, and from our woes redeem ; 

 And as we drag our fortunes up the steep. 

 Lay to thine hand : a finger-touch from thee. 

 And good-speed's haven long desired we win. 

 Suffice our travail heretofore endured. 

 Oft have ye been invoked, ye Gods, to hear 

 My joys and griefs : no endless ills I merit. 

 But in plain paths to tread. Grant this one boon. 

 And happy shall ye make me all my days." 



The prayer of the chorus tends to the same purport : 



Hel. 855-56:. 



<i t?€ot, yeveff^cio drf ttot' evrvxes yevos 

 TO TavTCLXewv Kal neracTTriTco KaKOiv. 



" Gods, grant at least fair fortune to the line 

 Of Tantalus, and rescuing from ills ! " 



Menelaus prays to his dead father-in-law, and to Hades. He 

 is well aware that though the dead cannot restore Helen, the re- 

 quest will not be altogether vain : 



Hel. 926 if. : 



cj ykpov, OS oiKels rovbe Xacvov racpov, 

 awodos, airaiTU Tr]v efxijv dafjiapTo. ere, k. t. X. 



" O ancient, dweller in this tomb of stone, 

 Restore thy trust : I claim of thee my wife. 

 Sent hither of Zeus to thee, to ward for me. 

 Thou who art dead, canst ne'er restore, I know: 

 But this thy child will think scorn that her sire, 

 Glorious of old, from the underworld invoked 

 Have infamy, etc. 



O Hades, on thy championship I call, 

 . . . render back my wife." 



The prophetess Theonoe advises Helen to pray to the Gods, w. 

 1024 fif., and to address to her dead father the following prayer: 



Hel. 1028-29-: 



(TV 8', Si z}avchv jjLoi Trdrep, ocrov 7' kyoi a^evoj, 

 oinroTe KeKK-qaei dvcrcre^ris clvt' evae^ovs. 



" And thou, dead sire, so far as in me lies. 

 Impious for righteous ne'er shalt be misnamed." 



Ill 



