This ruins cities, this lays houses waste,
This joins with the assault of war to break
Full numbered armies into hopeless rout;
And in the unbroken host ’tis nought but rule
That keeps those many bodies from defeat,
I must be zealous to defend the law,
And not go down before a woman’s will. 
Else, if I fall, ’twere best a man should strike me;
Lest one should say, ‘a woman worsted him.’

CH.  Unless our sense is weakened by long time,
Thou speakest not unwisely.

HAEM.  O my sire,
Sound wisdom is a God implanted seed,
Of all possessions highest in regard. 
I cannot, and I would not learn to say
That thou art wrong in this; though in another,
It may be such a word were not unmeet. 
But as thy son, ’tis surely mine to scan
Men’s deeds, and words, and muttered thoughts toward thee. 
Fear of thy frown restrains the citizen
In talk that would fall harshly on thine ear. 
I under shadow may o’erhear, how all
Thy people mourn this maiden, and complain
That of all women least deservedly
She perishes for a most glorious deed. 
’Who, when her own true brother on the earth
Lay weltering after combat in his gore,
Left him not graveless, for the carrion few
And raw devouring field dogs to consume—­
Hath she not merited a golden praise?’
Such the dark rumour spreading silently. 
Now, in my valuing, with thy prosperous life,
My father, no possession can compare. 
Where can be found a richer ornament
For children, than their father’s high renown? 
Or where for fathers, than their children’s fame? 
Nurse not one changeless humour in thy breast,
That nothing can be right but as thou sayest. 
Whoe’er presumes that he alone hath sense,
Or peerless eloquence, or reach of soul,
Unwrap him, and you’ll find but emptiness. 
’Tis no disgrace even to the wise to learn
And lend an ear to reason.  You may see
The plant that yields where torrent waters flow
Saves every little twig, when the stout tree
Is torn away and dies.  The mariner
Who will not ever slack the sheet that sways
The vessel, but still tightens, oversets,
And so, keel upward, ends his voyaging. 
Relent, I pray thee, and give place to change. 
If any judgement hath informed my youth,
I grant it noblest to be always wise,
But,—­for omniscience is denied to man—­
Tis good to hearken to admonishment.

CH.  My lord, ’twere wise, if thou wouldst learn of him
In reason; and thou, Haemon, from thy sire! 
Truth lies between you.

CR.  Shall our age, forsooth,
Be taught discretion by a peevish boy?

HAEM.  Only in what is right.  Respects of time
Must be outbalanced by the actual need.

CR.  To cringe to rebels cannot be a need.

HAEM.  I do not claim observance for the vile.

CR.  Why, is not she so tainted?  Is ’t not proved?