CHORUS:But why
Be sure of the worst, and weep too soon?

[ΧΟΡΟΣ: μὴ πρόμαντις ἀλγέων
προλάμβαν᾽, ὦ φίλα, γόους.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist

Helen [Ἑλένη], l. 338ff (412 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1954)]
    (Source)

Counseling Helen not to catastrophize about her fate or that of her husband until she has talked with the prophetess Theonoë.

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

Do not, dear lady, do not thus, in thought
Presaging ill, anticipate thy griefs.
[tr. Potter (1783), l. 370ff]

Forbear these plaintive strains, my dearest queen,
Nor with presaging soul anticipate
Evils to come.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Do not, O dear one, anticipate lamentations like a prophetess of woes.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]

Do not be a prophetess of sorrow, dear friend, anticipating lamentation.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Nay, forestall not, O friend, lamentation
Prophetic of grief.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1912)]

Lady, till the truth appear,
Gentle lady, grieve not so.
Weep not till you know.
[tr. Sheppard (1925)]

Do not anticipate your grief,
dear lady, do not cry before you know.
[tr. Warner (1951)]

Do not be prophetic of grief.
Do not, dear, anticipate sorrow.
[tr. Lattimore (1956)]

Dear lady, do not prophesy sorrow yet nor weep too soon!
[tr. Davie (2002)]

Dear mistress mine, be not a prophetess of sorrow, forestalling lamentation.
[tr. Athenian Society (2006)]

Wait till you're certain, don't jump to conclusions.
[tr. A. Wilson (2007)]

Why prophesy grief, Helen?
Why cry before you have to?
[tr. Theodoridis (2011)]

As a prophetess of woe
do not, my dear, lament too soon.
[tr. Ambrose et al. (2018)]

Do not be a prophetess of sorrow, dear friend [phila], anticipating lamentation.
[tr. Coleridge / Helen Heroization Team]