- Source
- Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. II. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1921-1962)
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg011.humanitext-grc2:1039-1146
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
Menelaus condemns Helen to death and agrees not to transport her on his ship. The Chorus laments Troy's destruction and abandonment by the gods, and the messenger Talthybius brings the body of Astyanax to Hecuba, asking her to bury the child using Hector's shield.
λόγοις ἐνεῖται.1 — βαῖνε λευστήρων πέλας
...is woven into your speech. Go near those who will stone you.
πόνους τʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἀπόδος ἐν μικρῷ μακροὺς
And by dying, pay back in a brief moment the long labors of the Achaeans,
θανοῦσʼ, ἵνʼ εἰδῇς μὴ καταισχύνειν ἐμέ.
so that you may learn not to bring disgrace upon me.
μή, πρός σε γονάτων,2 τὴν νόσον τὴν τῶν θεῶνπροσθεὶς ἐμοὶ κτάνῃς με, συγγίγνωσκε δέ.
Helen: Do not, I entreat you by your knees, having attributed to me the sickness sent by the gods, kill me, but forgive me.
μηδʼ οὓς ἀπέκτεινʼ ἥδε συμμάχους προδῷς·ἐγὼ πρὸ κείνων καὶ τέκνων σε λίσσομαι.
Hecuba: Do not betray the allies whom she killed; on behalf of them and my children I entreat you.
παῦσαι, γεραιά· τῆσδε δʼ οὐκ ἐφρόντισα.λέγω δὲ προσπόλοισι πρὸς πρύμνας νεῶντήνδʼ ἐκκομίζειν, ἔνθα ναυστολήσεται.
Menelaus: Cease, old woman; I care nothing for her. I order my servants to carry her away to the sterns of the ships, where she will be sailed.
μή νυν νεὼς σοὶ ταὐτὸν ἐσβήτω σκάφος.
Hecuba: Let her not embark on the same ship’s hull as you.
τί δʼ ἔστι; μεῖζον βρῖθος ἢ πάροιθʼ ἔχει;
Menelaus: Why is that? Has she a greater weight than before?
οὐκ ἔστʼ ἐραστὴς ὅστις οὐκ ἀεὶ φιλεῖ.
Hecuba: He is no lover who does not love forever.
ὅπως ἂν ἐκβῇ3 τῶν ἐρωμένων ὁ νοῦς.
Menelaus: That depends on how the mind of the beloved turns out.
ἔσται δʼ ἃ βούλῃ· ναῦν γὰρ οὐκ ἐσβήσεταιἐς ἥνπερ ἡμεῖς· καὶ γὰρ οὐ κακῶς λέγεις·
Menelaus: It shall be as you wish; for she shall not embark on the same ship into which we do; for indeed you speak not badly.
ἐλθοῦσα δʼ Ἄργος ὥσπερ ἀξία κακῶς
And having come to Argos, as she deserves, she, evil woman, shall die an evil death,
κακὴ θανεῖται καὶ γυναιξὶ σωφρονεῖν
and shall make all women be chaste.
πάσαισι θήσει. ῥᾴδιον μὲν οὐ τόδε·ὅμως δʼ ὁ τῆσδʼ ὄλεθρος ἐς φόβον βαλεῖτὸ μῶρον αὐτῶν, κἂν ἔτʼ ὦσʼ ἐχθίονες.
This is indeed not easy; nevertheless, her destruction will cast fear into their folly, even if they are still more hostile.
οὕτω δὴ τὸν ἐν Ἰλίῳ
Chorus: Thus indeed your temple in Ilium
ναὸν καὶ θυόεντα βω-
and your fragrant
μὸν προύδωκας Ἀχαιοῖς,
altar you have betrayed to the Achaeans,
ὦ Ζεῦ, καὶ πελάνων φλόγα
O Zeus, and the flame of sacrificial cakes,
σμύρνης αἰθερίας τε κα-
and the smoke of heavenly myrrh,
πνὸν καὶ Πέργαμον ἱερὰν
and sacred Pergamon,
Ἰδαῖά τʼ Ἰδαῖα κισσοφόρα νάπη
and the ivy-bearing Idaean glens,
χιόνι κατάρυτα ποταμίᾳ
watered by river snow,
τέρμονα πρωτόβολόν θʼ ἁλίῳ,
and the boundary first struck by the sun,
τὰν καταλαμπομέναν ζαθέαν θεράπναν.
the radiant sacred habitation.
φροῦδαί σοι θυσίαι χορῶν τʼ
Gone are your sacrifices, and the
εὔφημοι κέλαδοι κατʼ ὄρ-
auspicious sounds of choruses, and
φναν τε παννυχίδες θεῶν,
the all-night festivals of the gods in the darkness,
χρυσέων τε ξοάνων τύποι
and the shapes of golden wooden images,
Φρυγῶν τε ζάθεοι σελᾶ-
and the sacred moons of the Phrygians,
ναι συνδώδεκα πλήθει.
twelve in number.
μέλει μέλει μοι τάδʼ εἰ φρονεῖς, ἄναξ,
It concerns me, indeed it concerns me, O Lord, whether you care about these things,
οὐράνιον ἕδρανον ἐπιβεβὼς
having mounted your heavenly throne
αἰθέρα τε πτόλεως ὀλομένας,
and the upper air of our ruined city,
ἃν πυρὸς αἰθομένα κατέλυσεν ὁρμά.
which the burning onslaught of fire destroyed.
ὦ φίλος ὦ πόσι μοι,
O my dear husband,
σὺ μὲν φθίμενος ἀλαίνεις
you indeed, having perished, wander
ἄθαπτος ἄνυδρος, ἐμὲ δὲ πόντιον σκάφος
unburied and without water, while the seafaring hull
ἀίσσον πτεροῖσι πορεύσει
darting with wings will carry me
ἱππόβοτον Ἄργος, ἵνα τείχεα
to horse-rearing Argos, where the stone
λάινα Κυκλώπιʼ οὐράνια νέμονται.
Cyclopean walls, reaching to heaven, are occupied.
τέκνων δὲ πλῆθος ἐν πύλαις
And a multitude of children at the gates
δάκρυσι κατᾴορα στένει·
groan, covered in tears;
βοᾷ βοᾷ·
they cry out, they cry out:
Μᾶτερ, ὤμοι, μόναν δή μʼ Ἀχαιοὶ κομί-
”Mother, alas, the Achaeans are carrying me alone away
ζουσι σέθεν ἀπʼ ὀμμάτων
from your eyes
κυανέαν ἐπὶ ναῦν
to the dark ship
εἰναλίαισι πλάταις
with marine oars,
ἢ Σαλαμῖνʼ ἱερὰν
either to sacred Salamis
ἢ δίπορον κορυφὰν
or to the double-sea peak
Ἴσθμιον, ἔνθα πύλας
of the Isthmus, where the gates
Πέλοπος ἔχουσιν ἕδραι.
and seats of Pelops are held.”
εἴθʼ ἀκάτου Μενέλα
Would that, while the boat of Menelaus
μέσον πέλαγος ἰούσας,4
is going through the middle of the sea,
δίπαλτον ἱερὸν ἀνὰ μέσον πλατᾶν πέσοι
between the double-sweeping sacred oars,
Αἰγαίου κεραυνοφαὲς πῦρ,
the lightning-bright fire of the Aegean might fall!
Ἰλιόθεν ὅτε με πολύδακρυν
when he banishes me, weeping many tears,
Ἑλλάδι λάτρευμα γᾶθεν ἐξορίζει,
from my land as a slave to Greece,
χρύσεα δʼ ἔνοπτρα, παρθένων
while the golden mirrors,
χάριτας, ἔχουσα τυγχάνει
the delights of young girls, happen to be held
Διὸς κόρα·
by the daughter of Zeus!
μηδὲ γαῖάν ποτʼ ἔλθοι Λάκαιναν πατρῷ-
May she never reach the Laconian land and
όν τε θάλαμον ἑστίας,
her ancestral hearth-chamber,
μηδὲ πόλιν Πιτάνας
nor the city of Pitane
χαλκόπυλόν τε θεάν,
and the bronze-gated goddess,
δύσγαμον αἶσχος ἑλὼν
having brought an ill-wedded shame
Ἑλλάδι τᾷ μεγάλᾳ
upon great Greece
καὶ Σιμοεντιάσιν
and to the streams
μέλεα πάθεα ῥοῇσιν.
of Simois, miserable sufferings.
ἰὼ ἰώ,
Alas, alas!
καίνʼ ἐκ καινῶν μεταβάλλουσαι
New fortunes shifting from new fortunes for this land!
χθονὶ συντυχίαι. λεύσσετε Τρώων
See, wretched Trojan wives,
τόνδʼ Ἀστυάνακτʼ ἄλοχοι μέλεαι
this dead Astyanax,
νεκρόν, ὃν πύργων δίσκημα πικρὸν
whom the Danaans, having killed him by a bitter hurling from the towers,
Δαναοὶ κτείναντες ἔχουσιν.
hold.
Ἑκάβη, νεὼς μὲν πίτυλος εἷς λελειμμένοςλάφυρα τἀπίλοιπʼ Ἀχιλλείου τόκουμέλλει πρὸς ἀκτὰς ναυστολεῖν Φθιώτιδας·
Talthybius: Hecuba, one remaining sweep of oars of a ship is about to sail the rest of the spoils of Achilles’ son to the shores of Phthia.
αὐτὸς δʼ ἀνῆκται Νεοπτόλεμος, καινάς τιναςΠηλέως ἀκούσας συμφοράς, ὥς νιν χθονὸςἌκαστος ἐκβέβληκεν, ὁ Πελίου γόνος.
Neoptolemus himself has set sail, having heard of some new misfortunes of Peleus, how Acastus, the son of Pelias, has expelled him from the land.
οὗ θᾶσσον οὕνεκʼ, ἢ χάριν μονῆς ἔχων,φροῦδος, μετʼ αὐτοῦ δʼ Ἀνδρομάχη, πολλῶν ἐμοὶδακρύων ἀγωγός, ἡνίκʼ ἐξώρμα χθονός,πάτραν τʼ ἀναστένουσα καὶ τὸν Ἕκτορος
Because of which, more quickly than if he had any desire to stay, he has gone; and with him went Andromache, who drew many tears from me when she departed from the land, groaning for her fatherland and addressing Hector’s tomb.
τύμβον προσεννέπουσα. καί σφʼ ᾐτήσατοθάψαι νεκρὸν τόνδʼ, ὃς πεσὼν ἐκ τειχέωνψυχὴν ἀφῆκεν Ἕκτορος τοῦ σοῦ γόνος·φόβον τʼ Ἀχαιῶν, χαλκόνωτον ἀσπίδατήνδʼ, ἣν πατὴρ τοῦδʼ ἀμφὶ πλεύρʼ ἐβάλλετο,
And she begged him to bury this dead child, who fell from the walls and breathed out his soul, the son of your Hector, and that this bronze-backed shield, the terror of the Achaeans, which his father used to put around his ribs,
μή νυν πορεῦσαι Πηλέως ἐφʼ ἑστίαν,μηδʼ ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν θάλαμον, οὗ νυμφεύσεται
not to carry to Peleus’ hearth, nor into the same chamber where Andromache, the mother of this dead child, will be wedded, to see her grief,
μήτηρ νεκροῦ τοῦδʼ Ἀνδρομάχη, λύπας ὁρᾶν,ἀλλʼ ἀντὶ κέδρου περιβόλων τε λαΐνωνἐν τῇδε θάψαι παῖδα· σὰς δʼ ἐς ὠλέναςδοῦναι, πέπλοισιν ὡς περιστείλῃς νεκρὸνστεφάνοις θʼ, ὅση σοι δύναμις, ὡς ἔχει τὰ σά·
but to bury the child in this shield instead of a cedar chest and stone enclosures, and to give him into your arms, so that you may wrap the corpse in robes and crowns, as far as your power permits, according to what you have.
ἐπεὶ βέβηκε, καὶ τὸ δεσπότου τάχοςἀφείλετʼ αὐτὴν παῖδα μὴ δοῦναι τάφῳ.
For she has gone, and the haste of her master prevented her from giving her child to the grave herself.
- 1039λόγοις ἐνεῖται
The third-person singular perfect middle/passive of ἐνίημι, meaning 'has been injected/woven into words' with the dative λόγοις. The logical subject is Cypris (χἡ Κύπρις), carried over from the end of the previous line (1038).
- 1042πρός σε γονάτων
A conventional formula of entreaty ('by your knees') where the personal pronoun in the accusative (σε) is inserted between the preposition πρός and its genitive object γονάτων, resulting in hyperbaton. The verb of begging is omitted but understood.
- 1052ὅπως ἂν ἐκβῇ
A clause with ὅπως ἄν taking the subjunctive ἐκβῇ. This is an elliptical reply by Menelaus to Hecuba's absolute statement in line 1051, expressing a conditional dependency: '[That depends on] how the mind of the beloved turns out.'
- 1100ἀκάτου... ἰούσας
A genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun ἀκάτου ('boat') and the genitive feminine singular present participle ἰούσας. It sets the temporal background ('while the boat of Menelaus is going through the middle of the sea') for the optative of wish (πέσοι) in the main clause.