§24.1μῆτερ ἐμή, τίφθʼ ὧδε φίλον κατὰ θυμὸν ἰάπτεις §24.2ἐκπάγλως ἀχέουσα, τὸ πρὶν δέ τοι οὐκέτʼ ἔρευθος §24.3σώζετʼ ἐπὶ ῥεθέεσσι;
My mother, why do you thus vex your own dear heart, grieving exceedingly, and the redness that once was yours no longer is preserved upon your cheeks?
τί μοι τόσον ἠνίησαι;
Why are you so vexed with me?
§24.4ἦ ῥʼ ὅτι ἄλγεα πάσχει ἀπείριτα φαίδιμος υἱὸς §24.5ἀνδρὸς ὑπʼ οὐτιδανοῖο, λέων ὡσείθʼ ὑπὸ νεβροῦ;
Is it because your glorious son suffers boundless pains at the hands of a worthless man, like a lion by a fawn?
Alas for me, why indeed have the immortal gods so dishonored me?
τί νύ μʼ ὧδε κακῇ γονέες τέκον αἴσῃ;
Why did my parents beget me under such an evil fate?
§24.8δύσμορος, ἥτʼ ἐπεὶ ἀνδρὸς ἀμύμονος ἐς λέχος ἦλθον, §24.9τὸν μὲν ἐγὼ τίεσκον ἴσον φαέεσσιν ἐμοῖσιν §24.10ἠδʼ ἔτι νῦν σέβομαί τε καὶ αἰδέομαι κατὰ θυμόν· §24.11τοῦ δʼ οὔτις γένετʼ ἄλλος ἀποτμότερος ζωόντων, §24.12οὐδὲ τόσων σφετέρῃσιν ἐγεύσατο φροντίσι κηδέων.
Ill-fated as I am, who, when I came to the bed of a blameless man, whom I honored equal to my own eyes, and whom even now I revere and respect in my heart; yet of living men none has become more ill-fated than he, nor has anyone tasted so many sorrows in his mind.
§24.13σχέτλιος, ὃς τόξοισιν, ἅ οἱ πόρεν αὐτὸς Ἀπόλλων §24.14ἠέ τινος Κηρῶν ἢ Ἐριννύος αἰνὰ βέλεμνα, §24.15παῖδας ἑοὺς κατέπεφνε καὶ ἐκ φίλον εἵλετο θυμὸν §24.16μαινόμενος κατὰ οἶκον, ὁ δʼ ἔμπλεος ἔσκε φόνοιο.
Wretched man, who with the bow which Apollo himself gave him, or the dreadful shafts of some Ker or Erinys, slaughtered his own children and took away their dear life, raging through the house, and he was full of slaughter.
§24.17τοὺς μὲν ἐγὼ δύστηνος ἐμοῖς ἴδον ὀφθαλμοῖσι §24.18βαλλομένους ὑπὸ πατρί· τὸ δʼ οὐδʼ ὄναρ ἤλυθεν ἄλλῳ·
Unhappy that I am, I saw them with my own eyes being struck down by their father—a thing that never came to another even in a dream.
Nor was I able to help them as they cried out intensely for their mother, since an unconquerable evil was close at hand.
§24.21ὡς δʼ ὄρνις ὀδύρηται ἐπὶ σφετέροισι νεοσσοῖς §24.22ὀλλυμένοις, οὕστʼ αἰνὸς ὄφις ἔτι νηπιάχοντας §24.23θάμνοις ἐν πυκινοῖσι κατεσθίει· ἡ δὲ κατʼ αὐτοὺς §24.24πωτᾶται κλάζουσα μάλα λιγὺ πότνια μήτηρ, §24.25οὐδʼ ἄρʼ ἔχει τέκνοισιν ἐπαρκέσαι· ἦ ῥά οἱ αὐτῇ §24.26ἆσσον ἴμεν μέγα τάρβος ἀμειλίκτοιο πελώρου· §24.27ὣς ἐγὼ αἰνοτόκεια φίλον γόνον αἰάζουσα §24.28μαινομένοισι πόδεσσι δόμον κάτα πολλὸν ἐφοίτων.
And as a bird laments over her own nestlings perishing, which a dread serpent devours while they are still tiny, in the thick bushes; and she flies around them shrieking very shrilly, the mistress mother, yet she has no power to help her children; indeed, even for herself there is a great fear of going nearer to the ruthless monster; so I, a mother of sorrow, lamenting my dear offspring, traversed the great house with frantic steps.
§24.29ὥς γʼ ὄφελον μετὰ παισὶν ἅμα θνήσκουσα καὶ αὐτὴ §24.30κεῖσθαι φαρμακόεντα διʼ ἥπατος ἰὸν ἔχουσα, §24.30aἢ καὶ σοῖς ἀγανοῖσιν ὑπαὶ βελέεσσι δαμῆναι §24.31Ἄρτεμι θηλυτέρῃσι μέγα κρείουσα γυναιξί.
Would that I too had died with my children and lay there with a poisoned arrow through my liver, or had been subdued beneath your gentle shafts, O Artemis, who rule greatly over female women.
§24.32τῷ χʼ ἡμᾶς κλαύσαντε φίλῃς ἐπὶ χερσὶ τοκῆες §24.33πολλοῖς σὺν κτερέεσσι πυρῆς ἐπέβησαν ὁμοίης, §24.34καί κεν ἕνα χρύσειον ἐς ὀστέα κρωσσὸν ἁπάντων §24.35λέξαντες κατέθαψαν, ὅθι πρῶτον γενόμεσθα.
Then would our parents have wept over us in their dear hands and with many funeral gifts have placed us upon the same pyre, and gathering all our bones into a single golden urn, buried them where we were first born.
§24.36νῦν δʼ οἱ μὲν Θήβην ἱπποτρόφον ἐνναίουσιν §24.37Ἀονίου πεδίοιο βαθεῖαν βῶλον ἀροῦντες· §24.38αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ Τίρυνθα κατὰ κραναὴν πόλιν Ἥρης §24.39πολλοῖσιν δύστηνος ἰάπτομαι ἄλγεσιν ἦτορ §24.40αἰεὶ ὁμῶς· δακρύων δὲ πάρεστί μοι οὐδʼ ἴʼ ἐρωή.
But now they dwell in horse-rearing Thebes, plowing the deep soil of the Aonian plain; while I in Tiryns, the rugged city of Hera, am vexed in my heart, unhappy one, with many pains always alike; and there is not even a brief respite from tears.
§24.41ἀλλὰ πόσιν μὲν ὁρῶ παῦρον χρόνον ὀφθαλμοῖσιν §24.42οἴκῳ ἐν ἡμετέρῳ· πολέων δὲ οἱ ἔργον ἑτοῖμον §24.43μόχθων, τοὺς ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἀλώμενος ἠδὲ θάλασσαν §24.44μοχθίζει πέτρης ὅγʼ ἔχων νόον ἠὲ σιδήρου §24.45καρτερὸν ἐν στήθεσσι·
And my husband I see but for a short time with my eyes in our house; for a task of many labors is ready for him, labors which, wandering over land and sea, he performs, having a strong mind of stone or iron stout within his breast.
σὺ δʼ ἠύτε λείβεται ὕδωρ, §24.46νύκτας τε κλαίουσα καὶ ἐκ Διὸς ἤμαθʼ ὁπόσσα.
But you, like water that pours, weep through the nights and all the days that come from Zeus.
§24.47ἄλλος μὰν οὐκ ἄν τις ἐυφρήναι με παραστὰς §24.48κηδεμόνων· οὐ γάρ σφε δόμων κατὰ τεῖχος ἐέργει.
And indeed no other of my kinsmen standing by could comfort me; for no wall of a house encloses them.
§24.49καὶ λίην πάντες γε πέρην πιτυώδεος Ἰσθμοῦ §24.50ναίουσʼ, οὐδέ μοί ἐστι πρὸς ὅντινά κε βλέψασα §24.51οἷα γυνὴ πανάποτμος ἀναψύξαιμι φίλον κῆρ, §24.52νόσφι γε δὴ Πύρρης συνομαίμονος· ἡ δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ §24.53ἀμφὶ πόσει σφετέρῳ πλέον ἄχνυται Ἰφικλῆι, §24.54σῷ υἱεῖ· πάντων γὰρ ὀϊζυρώτατα τέκνα §24.55γείνασθαί σε θεῷ τε καὶ ἀνέρι θνητῷ ἔολπα.
And in truth they all dwell far beyond the pine-clad Isthmus, nor is there anyone to whom I might look and, like an all-unhappy woman, refresh my dear heart, except indeed Pyrrha my sister; and she herself too grieves even more for her own husband Iphicles, your son; for I think you bore the most miserable children of all, to a god and to a mortal man.
§24.56ὣς ἄρʼ ἔφη· τὰ δέ οἱ θαλερώτερα δάκρυα μήλων §24.57κόλπον ἐς ἱμερόεντα κατὰ βλεφάρων ἐχέοντο, §24.58μνησαμένῃ τέκνων τε καὶ ὧν μετέπειτα τοκήων.
So she spoke; and her tears, more abundant than apples, poured down from her eyelids into her lovely bosom, as she remembered her children and then her own parents.
§24.59ὡς δʼ αὔτως δακρύοισι παρήια λεύκʼ ἐδίαινεν §24.60Ἀλκμήνη· βαρὺ δʼ ἥγε καὶ ἐκ θυμοῦ στενάχουσα §24.61μύθοισιν πυκινοῖσι φίλην νυὸν ὧδε μετηύδα·
And in the same way Alcmene wetted her pale cheeks with tears; groaning deeply from her very heart, she addressed her dear daughter-in-law with wise words: