must die with his mother—but Minos waited
till sunset before he said it aloud.
Only Daedalus dared to demur:
Locking the queen alone with her half-breed
in that tower was right, but, Your Royal Highness,
though you’ve conquered Greece, you can’t afford
to provoke the sun. Revenge might relieve
your shame, but why should her wickedness
make you ashamed? Many heroes
suffered from wives who were worse—or almost.
And let’s not forget the gods—like Hephaistos,
whose wife didn’t care for his cunning inventions.
If this could happen on the height of Olympus,
we mortals should weather our wives’ misdeeds.
No one who caught the king’s response
would think Greek a language low in obscenities.