§1245λάβ’, ἕρπε πρὸς βαλβῖδα λυπηρὰν βίου, §1246καὶ μὴ κακισθῇς μηδ’ ἀναμνησθῇς τέκνων, §1247ὡς φίλταθ’, ὡς ἔτικτες· ἀλλὰ τήνδε γε §1248λαθοῦ βραχεῖαν ἡμέραν παίδων σέθεν,
Take it, go to the painful starting line of life, and do not be cowardly, nor remember your children, how very dear they are, how you gave them birth; but for this brief day at least, forget your children, and weep hereafter.
For even if you kill them, yet they were born dear to you—and I am a wretched woman.
O Earth and all-shining beam of the Sun, look down, look upon this lost woman, before she lays her bloody and kin-slaying hand upon her children.
§1254τέκνοις προσβαλεῖν χέρ’ αὐτοκτόνον· §1255τεᾶς γὰρ ἀπὸ χρυσέας γονᾶς §1256ἔβλαστεν, θεοῦ δ’ αἷμά τι πίτνειν §1257φόβος ὑπ’ ἀνέρων.
For from your golden seed she was born, and there is fear that a god's blood may fall by the hands of men.
§1258ἀλλά νιν, ὦ φάος διογενές, κάτειρ- §1259γε κατάπαυσον, ἔξελ’ οἴκων φονίαν §1260τάλαινάν τ’ Ἐρινὺν ὑπ’ ἀλαστόρων.
But keep her back, O light born of Zeus, stop her, drive out of the house the murderous and wretched Fury sent by avenging spirits.
§1261μάταν μόχθος ἔρρει τέκνων, §1262ἆρα μάταν γένος φίλιον ἔτεκες, ὦ §1263κυανεᾶν λιποῦσα Συμπληγάδων §1264πετρᾶν ἀξενωτάταν ἐσβολάν;
In vain is the toil for children gone, did you then in vain give birth to a dear race, O you who left the dark-blue Symplegades rocks' most inhospitable passage?
Wretched woman, why does heavy anger fall upon your mind, and hostile murder follow?
ἀμείβεται §1268χαλεπὰ γὰρ βροτοῖς ὁμογενῆ μιά- §1269σματα ἐπὶ γαῖαν αὐτοφόνταις ξυνῳ- §1270δὰ θεόθεν πίτνοντ’ ἐπὶ δόμοις ἄχη.
For harsh pollutions of kindred blood bring grief to mortals, with woes falling from the gods upon the house in harmony with the self-slayers upon the earth.
§1270aαἰαῖ.
Alas!
§1273—ἀκούεις βοὰν ἀκούεις τέκνων;
—Do you hear, do you hear the cry of the children?
§1274—ἰὼ τλᾶμον, ὦ κακοτυχὲς γύναι.
—O wretched, O ill-fated woman!
§1271—οἴμοι, τί δράσω;
—Ah me, what shall I do?
ποῖ φύγω μητρὸς χέρας;
Where can I escape my mother's hands?
§1272—οὐκ οἶδ’, ἄδελφε φίλτατ’· ὀλλύμεσθα γάρ.
—I do not know, dearest brother; for we are being destroyed.
§1275παρέλθω δόμους;
—Shall I enter the house?
ἀρῆξαι φόνον §1276δοκεῖ μοι τέκνοις.
I think I should ward off the murder from the children.
§1277—ναί, πρὸς θεῶν, ἀρήξατ’·
—Yes, by the gods, ward it off!
ἐν δέοντι γάρ.
For it is in time of need.
§1278—ὡς ἐγγὺς ἤδη γ’ ἐσμὲν ἀρκύων ξίφους.
—How close we are now to the snare of the sword!
§1279—τάλαιν’, ὡς ἄρ’ ἦσθα πέτρος ἢ σίδα- §1280ρος, ἅτις τέκνων §1281ὃν ἔτεκες ἄροτον αὐτόχειρι μοίρᾳ κτενεῖς.
—Wretched woman, how you were indeed stone or iron, you who will kill the harvest of children you bore by a self-handed fate.
§1282—μίαν δὴ κλύω μίαν τῶν πάρος §1283γυναῖκ’ ἐν φίλοις χέρα βαλεῖν τέκνοις· §1284Ἰνὼ μανεῖσαν ἐκ θεῶν, ὅθ’ ἡ Διὸς §1285δάμαρ νιν ἐξέπεμψε δωμάτων ἄλῃ·
—I hear of only one, indeed only one woman in times past who laid her hand upon her dear children: Ino, driven mad by the gods, when the wife of Zeus sent her out of her home in wanderings.
§1286πίτνει δ’ ἁ τάλαιν’ ἐς ἅλμαν φόνῳ §1287τέκνων δυσσεβεῖ, §1288ἀκτῆς ὑπερτείνασα ποντίας πόδα, §1289δυοῖν τε παίδοιν συνθανοῦσ’ ἀπόλλυται.
And the wretched woman fell into the sea after the unholy murder of her children, stretching her foot over the marine cliff, and dying with her two children, she perished.
§1290τί δῆτ’ οὖν γένοιτ’ ἂν ἔτι δεινόν;
What then could ever happen more terrible?
O bed of women full of trouble, how many evils you have already wrought for mortals!
§1293γυναῖκες, αἳ τῆσδ’ ἐγγὺς ἕστατε στέγης, §1294ἆρ’ ἐν δόμοισιν ἡ τὰ δείν’ εἰργασμένη §1295Μήδεια τοῖσδ’ ἔτ’, ἢ μεθέστηκεν φυγῇ;
Women, you who stand near this house, is she who did these terrible deeds, Medea, still in this house, or has she departed in flight?
§1296δεῖ γάρ νιν ἤτοι γῆς γε κρυφθῆναι κάτω, §1297ἢ πτηνὸν ἆραι σῶμ’ ἐς αἰθέρος βάθος, §1298εἰ μὴ τυράννων δώμασιν δώσει δίκην·
For she must either be hidden beneath the earth or raise her winged body into the depth of the air, if she is not to pay the penalty to the house of the rulers.
Does she trust that, having killed the rulers of the land, she herself will escape from this house scot-free?
§1301ἀλλ’ οὐ γὰρ αὐτῆς φροντίδ’ ὡς τέκνων ἔχω· §1302κείνην μὲν οὓς ἔδρασεν ἔρξουσιν κακῶς, §1303ἐμῶν δὲ παίδων ἦλθον ἐκσῴσων βίον, §1304μή μοί τι δράσωσ’ οἱ προσήκοντες γένει, §1305μητρῷον ἐκπράσσοντες ἀνόσιον φόνον.
But indeed I do not care for her so much as for the children; those whom she harmed will do harm to her, but I came to save the lives of my children, lest the relatives by birth do something to them, avenging the unholy maternal murder.
O wretched man, you do not know to what evils you have come, Jason; for you would not have uttered these words.
§1308τί δ’ ἔστιν;
What is it?
ἦ που κἄμ’ ἀποκτεῖναι θέλει;
Does she wish to kill me too?
§1309παῖδες τεθνᾶσι χειρὶ μητρῴᾳ σέθεν.
Your children are dead by their mother's hand.
§1310οἴμοι τί λέξεις;
Ah me, what will you say?
ὥς μ’ ἀπώλεσας, γύναι.
How you have destroyed me, woman!
§1311ὡς οὐκέτ’ ὄντων σῶν τέκνων φρόντιζε δή.
Think of your children as being no more.
§1312ποῦ γάρ νιν ἔκτειν’;
Where did she kill them?
ἐντὸς ἢ ἔξωθεν δόμων;
Inside or outside the house?
§1313πύλας ἀνοίξας σῶν τέκνων ὄψῃ φόνον.
If you open the gates, you will see the slaughter of your children.
§1314χαλᾶτε κλῇδας ὡς τάχιστα, πρόσπολοι, §1315ἐκλύεθ’ ἁρμούς, ὡς ἴδω διπλοῦν κακόν, §1316τοὺς μὲν θανόντας—τὴν δὲ τείσωμαι δίκην.
Slacken the bars as quickly as possible, servants, loosen the joints, so that I may see the double evil: those who are dead, and that I may exact the penalty from her.
Why do you shake and unbar these gates, seeking the dead and me who did the deed?
§1319παῦσαι πόνου τοῦδ’.
Cease from this toil.
εἰ δ’ ἐμοῦ χρείαν ἔχεις, §1320λέγ’, εἴ τι βούλῃ, χειρὶ δ’ οὐ ψαύσεις ποτέ.
If you have need of me, speak, if you wish anything, but you will never touch me with your hand.
Such a chariot my father's father, the Sun, gives to us, a defense against a hostile hand.
§1323ὦ μῖσος, ὦ μέγιστον ἐχθίστη γύναι §1324θεοῖς τε κἀμοὶ παντί τ’ ἀνθρώπων γένει, §1325ἥτις τέκνοισι σοῖσιν ἐμβαλεῖν ξίφος §1326ἔτλης τεκοῦσα, κἄμ’ ἄπαιδ’ ἀπώλεσας·
O hatred, O most hateful woman to the gods and to me and to the whole race of men, you who dared to cast the sword against your children, whom you bore, and destroyed me, making me childless!
And having done this, you look upon both the sun and the earth, having dared the most unholy deed.
§1329ὄλοι’·
May you perish!
ἐγὼ δὲ νῦν φρονῶ, τότ’ οὐ φρονῶν, §1330ὅτ’ ἐκ δόμων σε βαρβάρου τ’ ἀπὸ χθονὸς §1331Ἕλλην’ ἐς οἶκον ἠγόμην, κακὸν μέγα, §1332πατρός τε καὶ γῆς προδότιν ἥ σ’ ἐθρέψατο.
But I am wise now, though not wise then, when from your home and from a barbarian land I brought you to a Greek home, a great evil, a betrayer of both your father and the land that reared you.