§997μήτηρ ὑπεκλαβοῦσα, καὶ κλῄει πύλας.
holding him, and she bars the doors.
§998ὁ δʼ ὡς ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς δὴ Κυκλωπίοισιν ὢν §999σκάπτει μοχλεύει θύρετρα, κἀκβαλὼν σταθμὰ §1000δάμαρτα καὶ παῖδʼ ἑνὶ κατέστρωσεν βέλει.
And he, as if indeed he were at the very Cyclopean walls, digs and levers the doors, and having thrown down the door-posts, laid low his wife and child with a single arrow.
§1001κἀνθένδε πρὸς γέροντος ἱππεύει φόνον· §1002ἀλλʼ ἦλθεν εἰκών, ὡς ὁρᾶν ἐφαίνετο, §1003Παλλὰς κραδαίνουσʼ ἔγχος ἐπὶ λόφῳ κέαρ, §1004κἄρριψε πέτρον στέρνον εἰς Ἡρακλέους, §1005ὅς νιν φόνου μαργῶντος ἔσχε, κεἰς ὕπνον §1006καθῆκε· πίτνει δʼ ἐς πέδον, πρὸς κίονα §1007νῶτον πατάξας, ὃς πεσήμασι στέγης §1008διχορραγὴς ἔκειτο κρηπίδων ἔπι.
And from there, he rides on to the murder of the old man; but there came an image, as it seemed to look upon, Pallas, brandishing her spear with wrath over her helmet-crest, and threw a stone at the chest of Heracles, which held him from his raging murder, and cast him into sleep; and he falls to the ground, having struck his back against a pillar, which, by the fall of the roof, lay split in two upon the foundations.
§1010ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐλευθεροῦντες ἐκ δρασμῶν πόδα §1009σὺν τῷ γέροντι δεσμὰ σειραίων βρόχων §1011ἀνήπτομεν πρὸς κίονʼ, ὡς λήξας ὕπνου §1012μηδὲν προσεργάσαιτο τοῖς δεδραμένοις.
And we, freeing our feet from flight, along with the old man, tied bonds of corded nooses to the pillar, so that when he ceased from sleep he might not add anything further to what had been done.
And the wretched man sleeps an unhappy sleep, having murdered his children and wife.
ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν §1015οὐκ οἶδα θνητῶν ὅστις ἀθλιώτερος.
I, therefore, do not know who of mortals is more miserable.
§1016—ὁ φόνος ἦν ὃν Ἀργολὶς ἔχει πέτρα §1017τότε μὲν περισαμότατος καὶ ἄπιστος Ἑλλάδι §1018τῶν Δαναοῦ παίδων· τάδε δʼ ὑπερέβαλε, παρ- §1020έδραμε τὰ τότε κακὰ τάλανι διογενεῖ κόρῳ.
—The murder which the Argolic rock holds was then indeed most famous and incredible to Greece, that of the children of Danaus; but these evils have surpassed, and outrun the misfortunes of that time, for this wretched son of Zeus.
§1021—μονοτέκνου Πρόκνης φόνον ἔχω λέξαι §1023θυόμενον Μούσαις· σὺ δὲ τέκνα τρίγονʼ, ὦ §1024δάιε, τεκόμενος, λυσσάδι συγκατειργάσω μοίρᾳ.
—I can speak of the murder by Procne of her only child, offered to the Muses; but you, having begotten three children, O cruel man, have destroyed them together with a mad fate.
—Alas, what groan or lamentation, or song of the dead, or what dance-tune of Hades shall I sound?
§1028—φεῦ φεῦ·
—Alas, alas!
Behold, the double doors of the high-gated house are thrown open.
§1031—ἰώ μοι·
—Ah, me!
§1032ἴδεσθε δὲ τέκνα πρὸ πατρὸς §1033ἄθλια κείμενα δυστάνου, §1034εὕδοντος ὕπνον δεινὸν ἐκ παίδων φόνου.
Behold the wretched children lying before their unhappy father, who sleeps a terrible sleep after the murder of his children.
§1035—περὶ δὲ δεσμὰ καὶ πολύβροχʼ ἁμμάτων §1036ἐρείσμαθʼ Ἡράκλειον §1037ἀμφὶ δέμας τάδε λαΐνοις §1038ἀνημμένα κίοσιν οἴκων.
—And around his body are bonds and many-knotted fastenings, of Heracles' frame, these tied to the stone pillars of the house.
§1039—ὁ δʼ ὥς τις ὄρνις ἄπτερον καταστένων §1040ὠδῖνα τέκνων, πρέσβυς ὑστέρῳ ποδὶ §1041πικρὰν διώκων ἤλυσιν πάρεσθʼ ὅδε.
—And he, like some bird lamenting the wingless pain of its young, the old man with slow step pursuing his bitter path, is present here.
—Cadmean elders, will you not in silence, in silence permit him who is yielded to sleep to forget his evils?
—I groan with tears for you, old man, and the children, and the victorious head.
§1047ἑκαστέρω πρόβατε, μὴ §1048κτυπεῖτε, μὴ βοᾶτε, μὴ §1049τὸν εὔδιʼ ἰαύονθʼ §1049aὑπνώδεά τʼ εὐνᾶς §1050ἐγείρετε.
—Go further away, do not make a noise, do not shout, do not wake him who peacefully slumbers and sleeps in his bed.
§1050bοἴμοι.
—Ah, me!
§1051φόνος ὅσος ὅδʼ
—How great is this slaughter!
§1051bἆ ἆ,
—Ah, ah!
§1052διά μʼ ὀλεῖτε.
—You will destroy me.
§1052bκεχυμένος ἐπαντέλλει.
—The shed blood rises.
—Will you not quietly wail your lament, O elders?
—Or else, waking up, having loosened his bonds, he will destroy the city, and kill his father, and throw down the house.
§1057ἀδύνατʼ ἀδύνατά μοι.
—Impossible, impossible for me!
—Be silent, let me check his breath; let me place my ear near.
§1060bεὕδει;
—Is he sleeping?
§1060cναί, εὕδει §1061ὕπνον γʼ ἄυπνον ὀλόμενον, ὃς ἔκανεν ἄλοχον, §1064ἔκανε δὲ τέκεα, τοξήρει ψαλμῷ.
—Yes, he sleeps indeed a deadly sleep-no-sleep, he who slew his wife, and slew his children with the twanging of his bow.
—He is turning, waking up and shifting; come, let me hide my body in the shadow of the roof.
§1071θάρσει· νὺξ ἔχει βλέφαρα παιδὶ σῷ.
—Take heart; night holds the eyelids of your child.
§1072ὁρᾶθʼ ὁρᾶτε.
—Look, look!
τὸ φάος ἐκ- §1073λιπεῖν μὲν ἐπὶ κακοῖσιν οὐ §1074φεύγω τάλας, ἀλλʼ εἴ με κανεῖ πατέρʼ ὄντα, §1075πρὸς δὲ κακοῖς κακὰ μήσεται §1076πρὸς Ἐρινύσι θʼ αἷμα σύγγονον ἕξει.
To leave the light indeed in these evils I do not flee, wretched as I am, but if he kills me, his father, he will devise evils upon evils, and in addition to the Furies he will have kindred blood.
§1078τότε θανεῖν σʼ ἐχρῆν, ὅτε δάμαρτι σᾷ §1079φόνον ὁμοσπόρων ἔμολες ἐκπράξας §1080Ταφίων περίκλυστον ἄστυ πέρσας.
—Then you ought to have died, when for your wife you went to exact vengeance for the murder of her brothers, having destroyed the sea-girt city of the Taphians.
—Flee, flee, elders, far from the house, pursue your flight; flee the mad man who is waking up.
—For soon, throwing another murder upon murder, he will again throw the city of the Cadmeans into Bacchic frenzy.
—O Zeus, why did you hate your son so excessively, and bring him into this sea of troubles?
§1088ἔα·
—Ah!
—I am breathing, and I see what I ought to see, the air, and the earth, and these arrows of the Sun.
§1091ὡς ἐν κλύδωνι καὶ φρενῶν ταράγματι §1092πέπτωκα δεινῷ καὶ πνοὰς θερμὰς πνέω §1093μετάρσιʼ, οὐ βέβαια, πνευμόνων ἄπο.
—But as if in a wave and confusion of mind I have fallen into a terrible state, and I breathe hot breath, gasps, not steady, from my lungs.
§1094ἰδού, τί δεσμοῖς ναῦς ὅπως ὡρμισμένος §1095νεανίαν θώρακα καὶ βραχίονα, §1096πρὸς ἡμιθραύστῳ λαΐνῳ τυκίσματι §1097ἧμαι, νεκροῖσι γείτονας θάκους ἔχων;
—Behold, why like a ship moored with cables in my youthful chest and arm, am I seated against a half-broken stone pillar, having my seat neighboring the dead?