§598ὃς λεχέων στυγερῶν χάριν ὤλεσε §598aπέργαμα Τροίας· αἱματόεντα δὲ §599θεᾷ παρὰ Παλλάδι σώματα νεκρῶν §600γυψὶ φέρειν τέταται· ζυγὰ δʼ ἤνυσε §600aδούλια Τροίᾳ.
He destroyed for the sake of a hateful marriage the Pergamus of Troy; and the bloody bodies of the dead beside the goddess Pallas are stretched out for vultures to carry away; and he brought the yoke of slavery upon Troy.
§601ὦ πατρίς, ὦ μελέα §601bκαταλειπομέναν σε δακρύω, §602νῦν τέλος οἰκτρὸν ὁρᾷς. §602bκαὶ ἐμὸν δόμον ἔνθʼ ἐλοχεύθην.
O my fatherland, O wretched one, I weep for you as you are left behind, now you behold a pitiable end, and my home where I was born.
§603ὦ τέκνʼ, ἐρημόπολις μάτηρ ἀπολείπεται ὑμῶν,
O children, your mother, reft of her city, is left behind by you.
What a dirge, and what griefs, and tears upon tears are poured out in our home!
ὁ θανὼν δʼ ἐπι- §607λάθεται ἀλγέων.
But the dead forgets their sufferings.
How sweet are tears to those who fare ill, and the wailing of dirges, and the Muse that holds grief.
O mother of the man who once with the spear of the Argives destroyed the most, of Hector, do you behold these things?
I see the deeds of the gods, how some they build up on high when they are nothing, and others who seemed great they destroy.
We are led away as booty with my child; and noble birth has come to slavery, having undergone such great changes.
Terrible is the power of necessity; just now from me too Cassandra has gone, torn away by force.
§618φεῦ φεῦ·
Alas, alas!
Some other Ajax, as it seems, a second one, has appeared for your child.
νοσεῖς δὲ χἅτερα.
And you suffer other things too.
Of which indeed there is neither measure nor number for me; for evil comes to vie with evil.
Your child Polyxena has died at the tomb of Achilles, slaughtered, a gift to a lifeless corpse.
§624οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινα.
Alas, wretched me!
τοῦτʼ ἐκεῖνʼ ὅ μοι πάλαι §625Ταλθύβιος αἴνιγμʼ οὐ σαφῶς εἶπεν σαφές.
This is that very thing which long ago Talthybius spoke to me, an enigma not clearly clear.
I saw her myself, and getting down from this carriage I covered her with robes and beat my breast for the dead.
§628αἰαῖ, τέκνον, σῶν ἀνοσίων προσφαγμάτων·
Alas, my child, for your unholy sacrifice!
§629αἰαῖ μάλʼ αὖθις, ὡς κακῶς διόλλυσαι.
Alas indeed once more, how wretchedly you are destroyed.
She has perished as she has perished; but nevertheless, while I live, she has perished with a happier fate.
It is not the same thing, my child, to die and to behold the light; for the former is nothing, but in the latter there are hopes.
O mother, O you who bore me, listen to a most beautiful discourse, so that I may put joy into your heart.
I say that not to be born is equal to dying, and to die is better than to live miserably.
§638ἀλγεῖ γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν ᾐσθημένος· §639ὁ δʼ εὐτυχήσας ἐς τὸ δυστυχὲς πεσὼν §640ψυχὴν ἀλᾶται τῆς πάροιθʼ εὐπραξίας.
For the dead suffers nothing, having no perception of evils; but he who was prosperous, falling into misfortune, wanders in his soul away from his former well-being.
But she, just as if she had not seen the light, has died and knows nothing of her own misfortunes.
But I, having shot my arrow at good reputation, and having obtained much of it, missed good fortune.
For all things that are found to be modest for women, these I labored out in the house of Hector.
§647πρῶτον μέν, ἔνθα — κἂν προσῇ κἂν μὴ προσῇ §648ψόγος γυναιξίν — αὐτὸ τοῦτʼ ἐφέλκεται §649κακῶς ἀκούειν, ἥτις οὐκ ἔνδον μένει, §650τούτου παρεῖσα πόθον ἔμιμνον ἐν δόμοις· §651ἔσω τε μελάθρων κομψὰ θηλειῶν ἔπη §652οὐκ εἰσεφρούμην, τὸν δὲ νοῦν διδάσκαλον §653οἴκοθεν ἔχουσα χρηστὸν ἐξήρκουν ἐμοί.
First of all, where — whether it attaches or does not attach as a reproach to women — this very thing draws on a bad reputation, whoever does not stay inside, dismissing the desire for this, I remained in the house; and within the halls the clever words of women I did not let enter, but having my mind as a good teacher of itself, I was content with myself.
§654γλώσσης τε σιγὴν ὄμμα θʼ ἥσυχον πόσει §655παρεῖχον· ᾔδη δʼ ἁμὲ χρῆν νικᾶν πόσιν, §656κείνῳ τε νίκην ὧν ἐχρῆν παριέναι.
And silence of tongue and a quiet eye to my husband I offered; and I knew in what things I ought to rule my husband, and to yield victory to him in what things it was proper.
§657καὶ τῶνδε κληδὼν ἐς στράτευμʼ Ἀχαιϊκὸν §658ἐλθοῦσʼ ἀπώλεσέν μʼ· ἐπεὶ γὰρ ᾑρέθην, §659Ἀχιλλέως με παῖς ἐβουλήθη λαβεῖν §660δάμαρτα· δουλεύσω δʼ ἐν αὐθεντῶν δόμοις.
And the report of these things, coming to the Achaean army, destroyed me; for when I was captured, the son of Achilles wished to take me as his wife; and I shall be a slave in the house of murderers.
§661κεἰ μὲν παρώσασʼ Ἕκτορος φίλον κάρα §662πρὸς τὸν παρόντα πόσιν ἀναπτύξω φρένα, §663κακὴ φανοῦμαι τῷ θανόντι· τόνδε δʼ αὖ §664στυγοῦσʼ ἐμαυτῆς δεσπόταις μισήσομαι.
And if, casting aside the dear memory of Hector, I open my heart to my present husband, I shall appear base to the dead; and if, on the other hand, hating him, I shall be hated by my own masters.
§665καίτοι λέγουσιν ὡς μίʼ εὐφρόνη χαλᾷ §666τὸ δυσμενὲς γυναικὸς εἰς ἀνδρὸς λέχος· §667ἀπέπτυσʼ αὐτήν, ἥτις ἄνδρα τὸν πάρος §668καινοῖσι λέκτροις ἀποβαλοῦσʼ ἄλλον φιλεῖ.
And yet they say that one night relaxes the hatred of a woman for a man's bed; I spit upon her who, having lost her former husband, loves another in a new bed.
§669ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ πῶλος ἥτις ἂν διαζυγῇ §670τῆς συντραφείσης, ῥᾳδίως ἕλξει ζυγόν. §671καίτοι τὸ θηριῶδες ἄφθογγόν τʼ ἔφυ §672ξυνέσει τʼ ἄχρηστον τῇ φύσει τε λείπεται.
But not even a filly which is separated from her mate will easily draw the yoke; and yet the beast is voiceless and useless in understanding and left behind in nature.
§673σὲ δʼ, ὦ φίλʼ Ἕκτορ, εἶχον ἄνδρʼ ἀρκοῦντά μοι §674ξυνέσει γένει πλούτῳ τε κἀνδρείᾳ μέγαν· §675ἀκήρατον δέ μʼ ἐκ πατρὸς λαβὼν δόμων §676πρῶτος τὸ παρθένειον ἐζεύξω λέχος.
But you, O dear Hector, I had as a husband sufficient for me, great in understanding, birth, wealth, and courage; and receiving me pure from the halls of my father, you first yoked my maidenly bed.
And now you have perished, and I am carried by ship to Greece as a captive to the yoke of slavery.