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Euripides · The Trojan Women §1039-1146

Helen taken away and Astyanax's body returned

Passage 12 of 14 · Greek

Summary

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.

§1039λόγοις ἐνεῖται.
...is woven into your speech.
— βαῖνε λευστήρων πέλας
Go near those who will stone you.
§1040πόνους τʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἀπόδος ἐν μικρῷ μακροὺς §1041θανοῦσʼ, ἵνʼ εἰδῇς μὴ καταισχύνειν ἐμέ.
And by dying, pay back in a brief moment the long labors of the Achaeans, so that you may learn not to bring disgrace upon me.
§1042μή, πρός σε γονάτων, τὴν νόσον τὴν τῶν θεῶν §1043προσθεὶς 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.
§1044μηδʼ οὓς ἀπέκτεινʼ ἥδε συμμάχους προδῷς· §1045ἐγὼ 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.
§1046παῦσαι, γεραιά· τῆσδε δʼ οὐκ ἐφρόντισα.
Menelaus: Cease, old woman; I care nothing for her.
§1047λέγω δὲ προσπόλοισι πρὸς πρύμνας νεῶν §1048τήνδʼ ἐκκομίζειν, ἔνθα ναυστολήσεται.
I order my servants to carry her away to the sterns of the ships, where she will be sailed.
§1049μή νυν νεὼς σοὶ ταὐτὸν ἐσβήτω σκάφος.
Hecuba: Let her not embark on the same ship's hull as you.
§1050τί δʼ ἔστι;
Menelaus: Why is that?
μεῖζον βρῖθος ἢ πάροιθʼ ἔχει;
Has she a greater weight than before?
§1051οὐκ ἔστʼ ἐραστὴς ὅστις οὐκ ἀεὶ φιλεῖ.
Hecuba: He is no lover who does not love forever.
§1052ὅπως ἂν ἐκβῇ τῶν ἐρωμένων ὁ νοῦς.
Menelaus: That depends on how the mind of the beloved turns out.
§1053ἔσται δʼ ἃ βούλῃ· ναῦν γὰρ οὐκ ἐσβήσεται §1054ἐς 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.
§1055ἐλθοῦσα δʼ Ἄργος ὥσπερ ἀξία κακῶς §1056κακὴ θανεῖται καὶ γυναιξὶ σωφρονεῖν §1057πάσαισι θήσει.
And having come to Argos, as she deserves, she, evil woman, shall die an evil death, and shall make all women be chaste.
ῥᾴδιον μὲν οὐ τόδε· §1058ὅμως δʼ ὁ τῆσδʼ ὄλεθρος ἐς φόβον βαλεῖ §1059τὸ 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.
§1060οὕτω δὴ τὸν ἐν Ἰλίῳ §1061ναὸν καὶ θυόεντα βω- §1062μὸν προύδωκας Ἀχαιοῖς, §1063ὦ Ζεῦ, καὶ πελάνων φλόγα §1064σμύρνης αἰθερίας τε κα- §1065πνὸν καὶ Πέργαμον ἱερὰν §1066Ἰδαῖά τʼ Ἰδαῖα κισσοφόρα νάπη §1067χιόνι κατάρυτα ποταμίᾳ §1069τέρμονα πρωτόβολόν θʼ ἁλίῳ, §1070τὰν καταλαμπομέναν ζαθέαν θεράπναν.
Chorus: Thus indeed your temple in Ilium and your fragrant altar you have betrayed to the Achaeans, O Zeus, and the flame of sacrificial cakes, and the smoke of heavenly myrrh, and sacred Pergamon, and the ivy-bearing Idaean glens, watered by river snow, and the boundary first struck by the sun, the radiant sacred habitation.
§1071φροῦδαί σοι θυσίαι χορῶν τʼ §1072εὔφημοι κέλαδοι κατʼ ὄρ- §1073φναν τε παννυχίδες θεῶν, §1074χρυσέων τε ξοάνων τύποι §1075Φρυγῶν τε ζάθεοι σελᾶ- §1076ναι συνδώδεκα πλήθει.
Gone are your sacrifices, and the auspicious sounds of choruses, and the all-night festivals of the gods in the darkness, and the shapes of golden wooden images, and the sacred moons of the Phrygians, twelve in number.
§1077μέλει μέλει μοι τάδʼ εἰ φρονεῖς, ἄναξ, §1078οὐράνιον ἕδρανον ἐπιβεβὼς §1079αἰθέρα τε πτόλεως ὀλομένας, §1080ἃν πυρὸς αἰθομένα κατέλυσεν ὁρμά.
It concerns me, indeed it concerns me, O Lord, whether you care about these things, having mounted your heavenly throne and the upper air of our ruined city, which the burning onslaught of fire destroyed.
§1081ὦ φίλος ὦ πόσι μοι, §1082σὺ μὲν φθίμενος ἀλαίνεις §1085ἄθαπτος ἄνυδρος, ἐμὲ δὲ πόντιον σκάφος §1086ἀίσσον πτεροῖσι πορεύσει §1087ἱππόβοτον Ἄργος, ἵνα τείχεα §1088λάινα Κυκλώπιʼ οὐράνια νέμονται.
O my dear husband, you indeed, having perished, wander unburied and without water, while the seafaring hull darting with wings will carry me to horse-rearing Argos, where the stone Cyclopean walls, reaching to heaven, are occupied.
§1089τέκνων δὲ πλῆθος ἐν πύλαις §1090δάκρυσι κατᾴορα στένει· §1091βοᾷ βοᾷ· §1092Μᾶτερ, ὤμοι, μόναν δή μʼ Ἀχαιοὶ κομί- §1093ζουσι σέθεν ἀπʼ ὀμμάτων §1094κυανέαν ἐπὶ ναῦν §1095εἰναλίαισι πλάταις §1096ἢ Σαλαμῖνʼ ἱερὰν §1097ἢ δίπορον κορυφὰν §1098Ἴσθμιον, ἔνθα πύλας §1099Πέλοπος ἔχουσιν ἕδραι. §1100εἴθʼ ἀκάτου Μενέλα §1101μέσον πέλαγος ἰούσας, §1102δίπαλτον ἱερὸν ἀνὰ μέσον πλατᾶν πέσοι §1103Αἰγαίου κεραυνοφαὲς πῦρ,
And a multitude of children at the gates groan, covered in tears; they cry out, they cry out: "Mother, alas, the Achaeans are carrying me alone away from your eyes to the dark ship with marine oars, either to sacred Salamis or to the double-sea peak of the Isthmus, where the gates and seats of Pelops are held." Would that, while the boat of Menelaus is going through the middle of the sea, between the double-sweeping sacred oars, the lightning-bright fire of the Aegean might fall!
§1105Ἰλιόθεν ὅτε με πολύδακρυν §1106Ἑλλάδι λάτρευμα γᾶθεν ἐξορίζει, §1107χρύσεα δʼ ἔνοπτρα, παρθένων §1108χάριτας, ἔχουσα τυγχάνει §1109Διὸς κόρα·
when he banishes me, weeping many tears, from my land as a slave to Greece, while the golden mirrors, the delights of young girls, happen to be held by the daughter of Zeus!
§1110μηδὲ γαῖάν ποτʼ ἔλθοι Λάκαιναν πατρῷ- §1111όν τε θάλαμον ἑστίας, §1112μηδὲ πόλιν Πιτάνας §1113χαλκόπυλόν τε θεάν, §1114δύσγαμον αἶσχος ἑλὼν §1115Ἑλλάδι τᾷ μεγάλᾳ §1116καὶ Σιμοεντιάσιν §1117μέλεα πάθεα ῥοῇσιν.
May she never reach the Laconian land and her ancestral hearth-chamber, nor the city of Pitane and the bronze-gated goddess, having brought an ill-wedded shame upon great Greece and to the streams of Simois, miserable sufferings.
§1118ἰὼ ἰώ,
Alas, alas!
§1118aκαίνʼ ἐκ καινῶν μεταβάλλουσαι §1119χθονὶ συντυχίαι.
New fortunes shifting from new fortunes for this land!
λεύσσετε Τρώων §1120τόνδʼ Ἀστυάνακτʼ ἄλοχοι μέλεαι §1121νεκρόν, ὃν πύργων δίσκημα πικρὸν §1122Δαναοὶ κτείναντες ἔχουσιν.
See, wretched Trojan wives, this dead Astyanax, whom the Danaans, having killed him by a bitter hurling from the towers, hold.
§1123Ἑκάβη, νεὼς μὲν πίτυλος εἷς λελειμμένος §1124λάφυρα τἀπίλοιπʼ Ἀχιλλείου τόκου §1125μέλλει 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.
§1126αὐτὸς δʼ ἀνῆκται Νεοπτόλεμος, καινάς τινας §1127Πηλέως ἀκούσας συμφοράς, ὥς νιν χθονὸς §1128Ἄκαστος 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.
§1129οὗ θᾶσσον οὕνεκʼ, ἢ χάριν μονῆς ἔχων, §1130φροῦδος, μετʼ αὐτοῦ δʼ Ἀνδρομάχη, πολλῶν ἐμοὶ §1131δακρύων ἀγωγός, ἡνίκʼ ἐξώρμα χθονός, §1132πάτραν τʼ ἀναστένουσα καὶ τὸν Ἕκτορος §1133τύμβον προσεννέπουσα.
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.
καί σφʼ ᾐτήσατο §1134θάψαι νεκρὸν τόνδʼ, ὃς πεσὼν ἐκ τειχέων §1135ψυχὴν ἀφῆκεν Ἕκτορος τοῦ σοῦ γόνος· §1136φόβον τʼ Ἀχαιῶν, χαλκόνωτον ἀσπίδα §1137τήνδʼ, ἣν πατὴρ τοῦδʼ ἀμφὶ πλεύρʼ ἐβάλλετο, §1138μή νυν πορεῦσαι Πηλέως ἐφʼ ἑστίαν, §1139μηδʼ ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν θάλαμον, οὗ νυμφεύσεται §1140μήτηρ νεκροῦ τοῦδʼ Ἀνδρομάχη, λύπας ὁρᾶν, §1141ἀλλʼ ἀντὶ κέδρου περιβόλων τε λαΐνων §1142ἐν τῇδε θάψαι παῖδα· σὰς δʼ ἐς ὠλένας §1143δοῦναι, πέπλοισιν ὡς περιστείλῃς νεκρὸν §1144στεφάνοις θʼ, ὅση σοι δύναμις, ὡς ἔχει τὰ σά·
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, 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, 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.
§1145ἐπεὶ βέβηκε, καὶ τὸ δεσπότου τάχος §1146ἀφείλετʼ 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.

Notes

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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.'
  4. 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.

Cite this passage

Euripides, The Trojan Women §1039-1146. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg011.humanitext-grc2:1039-1146

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