§1333τὸν σὸν δ’ ἀλάστορ’ εἰς ἔμ’ ἔσκηψαν θεοί· §1334κτανοῦσα γὰρ δὴ σὸν κάσιν παρέστιον §1335τὸ καλλίπρῳρον εἰσέβης Ἀργοῦς σκάφος.
But the gods have cast your avenging spirit upon me; for having killed your own brother at the hearth, you embarked on the beautiful-prowed ship Argo.
§1336ἤρξω μὲν ἐκ τοιῶνδε· νυμφευθεῖσα δὲ §1337παρ’ ἀνδρὶ τῷδε καὶ τεκοῦσά μοι τέκνα, §1338εὐνῆς ἕκατι καὶ λέχους σφ’ ἀπώλεσας.
You began with such deeds as these; and having been wedded to this husband and having borne children to me, for the sake of the marriage bed and union you destroyed them.
§1339οὐκ ἔστιν ἥτις τοῦτ’ ἂν Ἑλληνὶς γυνὴ §1340ἔτλη ποθ’, ὧν γε πρόσθεν ἠξίουν ἐγὼ §1341γῆμαι σέ, κῆδος ἐχθρὸν ὀλέθριόν τ’ ἐμοί, §1342λέαιναν, οὐ γυναῖκα, τῆς Τυρσηνίδος §1343Σκύλλης ἔχουσαν ἀγριωτέραν φύσιν.
There is no Greek woman who would ever have dared this, in preference to whom I deemed it worthy to marry you—a hostile and destructive marriage alliance for me, a lioness, not a woman, having a nature wilder than Tuscan Scylla.
But indeed I could not bite you with ten thousand reproaches; such is the insolence inborn in you.
§1346ἔρρ’, αἰσχροποιὲ καὶ τέκνων μιαιφόνε·
Go to ruin, evildoer and murderer of your children!
§1347ἐμοὶ δὲ τὸν ἐμὸν δαίμον’ αἰάζειν πάρα, §1348ὃς οὔτε λέκτρων νεογάμων ὀνήσομαι, §1349οὐ παῖδας οὓς ἔφυσα κἀξεθρεψάμην §1350ἕξω προσειπεῖν ζῶντας, ἀλλ’ ἀπώλεσα.
But for me, it remains to bewail my own fate, I who shall neither enjoy my new marriage, nor have the children alive to address, whom I begot and reared, but have lost them.
§1351μακρὰν ἂν ἐξέτεινα τοῖσδ’ ἐναντίον §1352λόγοισιν, εἰ μὴ Ζεὺς πατὴρ ἠπίστατο §1353οἷ’ ἐξ ἐμοῦ πέπονθας οἷά τ’ εἰργάσω·
I would have prolonged my speech at length against these words of yours, if father Zeus did not know what kind of things you have received from me and what you have done.
§1354σὺ δ’ οὐκ ἔμελλες τἄμ’ ἀτιμάσας λέχη §1355τερπνὸν διάξειν βίοτον ἐγγελῶν ἐμοί· §1356οὐδ’ ἡ τύραννος, οὐδ’ ὁ σοὶ προσθεὶς γάμους §1357Κρέων ἀνατεὶ τῆσδέ μ’ ἐκβαλεῖν χθονός.
You were not going to mock me and live a pleasant life after dishonoring my bed; nor was the royal bride, nor Creon who offered you the marriage, going to exile me from this land with impunity.
§1358πρὸς ταῦτα καὶ λέαιναν, εἰ βούλῃ, κάλει §1359καὶ Σκύλλαν ἣ Τυρσηνὸν ᾤκησεν πέδον· §1360τῆς σῆς γὰρ ὡς χρὴ καρδίας ἀνθηψάμην.
Therefore call me a lioness, if you wish, and Scylla who inhabited the Tyrrhenian plain; for I have gripped your heart as was necessary.
§1361καὐτή γε λυπῇ καὶ κακῶν κοινωνὸς εἶ.
You yourself also suffer and share in the evils.
§1362σάφ’ ἴσθι· λύει δ’ ἄλγος, ἢν σὺ μὴ’γγελᾷς.
Know it well; but the pain is worth it, if you cannot mock me.
§1363ὦ τέκνα, μητρὸς ὡς κακῆς ἐκύρσατε.
O children, how you met with an evil mother!
§1364ὦ παῖδες, ὡς ὤλεσθε πατρῴᾳ νόσῳ.
O sons, how you perished by your father's disease!
§1365οὔτοι νυν ἡμὴ δεξιά σφ’ ἀπώλεσεν.
Surely it was not my right hand that destroyed them.
§1366ἀλλ’ ὕβρις, οἵ τε σοὶ νεοδμῆτες γάμοι.
No, but your insolence, and your newly-formed marriage.
§1367λέχους σφε κἠξίωσας οὕνεκα κτανεῖν.
Did you really deem it worthy to kill them for the sake of the marriage bed?
§1368σμικρὸν γυναικὶ πῆμα τοῦτ’ εἶναι δοκεῖς;
Do you think this is a minor grief for a woman?
§1369ἥτις γε σώφρων· σοὶ δὲ πάντ’ ἐστὶν κακά.
Yes, for one who is self-controlled; but to you, everything is evil.
§1370οἵδ’ οὐκέτ’ εἰσί· τοῦτο γάρ σε δήξεται.
They are no more; for this will bite you.
§1371οἵδ’ εἰσίν, οἴμοι, σῷ κάρᾳ μιάστορες.
They live, alas, as avengers upon your head.
§1372ἴσασιν ὅστις ἦρξε πημονῆς θεοί.
The gods know who began the suffering.
§1373ἴσασι δῆτα σήν γ’ ἀπόπτυστον φρένα.
Indeed they know your loathsome mind.
§1374στύγει·
Hate me then!
πικρὰν δὲ βάξιν ἐχθαίρω σέθεν.
But I detest your bitter speech.
§1375καὶ μὴν ἐγὼ σήν· ῥᾴδιον δ’ ἀπαλλαγαί.
And indeed I detest yours; but the parting is easy.
§1376πῶς οὖν;
How then?
τί δράσω;
What shall I do?
κάρτα γὰρ κἀγὼ θέλω.
For I too wish it very much.
§1377θάψαι νεκρούς μοι τούσδε καὶ κλαῦσαι πάρες.
Allow me to bury these dead and weep over them.
§1378οὐ δῆτ’, ἐπεί σφας τῇδ’ ἐγὼ θάψω χερί, §1379φέρουσ’ ἐς Ἥρας τέμενος Ἀκραίας θεοῦ, §1380ὡς μή τις αὐτοὺς πολεμίων καθυβρίσῃ, §1381τύμβους ἀνασπῶν· γῇ δὲ τῇδε Σισύφου §1382σεμνὴν ἑορτὴν καὶ τέλη προσάψομεν §1383τὸ λοιπὸν ἀντὶ τοῦδε δυσσεβοῦς φόνου.
No indeed, since I will bury them with this hand of mine, bringing them to the sanctuary of the goddess Hera of the Cape, so that none of my enemies may insult them by tearing up their tombs; and on this land of Sisyphus we will solemnize a holy festival and rites for the future, in atonement for this unholy murder.
And I myself will go to the land of Erechtheus, to dwell with Aegeus, the son of Pandion.
§1386σὺ δ’, ὥσπερ εἰκός, κατθανῇ κακὸς κακῶς, §1387Ἀργοῦς κάρα σὸν λειψάνῳ πεπληγμένος, §1388πικρὰς τελευτὰς τῶν ἐμῶν γάμων ἰδών.
But you, as is fitting, shall die a wretched death as a wretched man, struck on your head by a relic of the Argo, having seen the bitter end of my marriage.
But may the Fury of the children destroy you, and blood-exacting Justice!
And what god or spirit hears you, the oath-breaker and deceiver of strangers?
§1393φεῦ φεῦ, μυσαρὰ καὶ παιδολέτορ.
Alas, alas, abominable woman and child-slayer!
§1394στεῖχε πρὸς οἴκους καὶ θάπτ’ ἄλοχον.
Go to your house and bury your wife.
§1395στείχω, δισσῶν γ’ ἄμορος τέκνων.
I go, deprived of my two children.
§1396οὔπω θρηνεῖς· μένε καὶ γῆρας.
You do not yet mourn; wait also for old age.
§1397ὦ τέκνα φίλτατα.
O dearest children!
§1397bμητρί γε, σοὶ δ’ οὔ.
Yes, to their mother, but not to you!
§1398κἄπειτ’ ἔκανες;
And yet you killed them?
§1398bσέ γε πημαίνουσ’.
Yes, to cause you pain!
Alas, I, wretched man, long to embrace the dear mouths of my children!
Now you address them, now you greet them, though then you pushed them away!
By the gods, grant me to touch the soft skin of my children!
§1404οὐκ ἔστι· μάτην ἔπος ἔρριπται.
It cannot be; in vain has your word been flung out.
§1405Ζεῦ, τάδ’ ἀκούεις ὡς ἀπελαυνόμεθ’, §1406οἷά τε πάσχομεν ἐκ τῆς μυσαρᾶς §1407καὶ παιδοφόνου τῆσδε λεαίνης;
Zeus, do you hear how we are driven away, and what kind of things we suffer from this abominable and child-slaying lioness?
§1408ἀλλ’ ὁπόσον γοῦν πάρα καὶ δύναμαι §1409τάδε καὶ θρηνῶ κἀπιθεάζω, §1410μαρτυρόμενος δαίμονας ὥς μοι §1411τέκνα κτείνασ’ ἀποκωλύεις §1412ψαῦσαί τε χεροῖν θάψαι τε νεκρούς, §1413οὓς μήποτ’ ἐγὼ φύσας ὄφελον §1414πρὸς σοῦ φθιμένους ἐπιδέσθαι.
But as far at least as is allowed and I am able, I both mourn these things and call upon the gods, calling the spirits to witness how you, having killed my children, prevent me from touching them with my hands and burying the dead, whom I wish I had never begotten, to see them destroyed by you!
§1415πολλῶν ταμίας Ζεὺς ἐν Ὀλύμπῳ, §1416πολλὰ δ’ ἀέλπτως κραίνουσι θεοί· §1417καὶ τὰ δοκηθέντ’ οὐκ ἐτελέσθη, §1418τῶν δ’ ἀδοκήτων πόρον ηὗρε θεός.
Zeus is the steward of many things in Olympus, and the gods accomplish many things unexpectedly; and what was expected was not fulfilled, but for the unexpected a god found a way.
§1419τοιόνδ’ ἀπέβη τόδε πρᾶγμα.
Such was the outcome of this matter.