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Euripides · The Trojan Women §762-873

Lament for Troy's lost favor and arrival of Menelaus

Passage 9 of 14 · Greek

Summary

After Andromache is deprived of Astyanax and led away uttering curses against Helen, the Chorus laments how Troy's former glory and divine favor have vanished in vain. Menelaus then enters, declaring his resolve to punish and carry Helen back to Greece.

§762πρόσπιτνε τὴν τεκοῦσαν, ἀμφὶ δʼ ὠλένας §763ἕλισσʼ ἐμοῖς νώτοισι καὶ στόμʼ ἅρμοσον.
: Cling to her who bore you, wind arms around my back, and join your mouth to mine.
§764ὦ βάρβαρʼ ἐξευρόντες Ἕλληνες κακά, §765τί τόνδε παῖδα κτείνετʼ οὐδὲν αἴτιον;
Greeks who have devised barbarian evils, do you kill this child who is guilty of nothing?
§766ὦ Τυνδάρειον ἔρνος, οὔποτʼ εἶ Διός, §767πολλῶν δὲ πατέρων φημί σʼ ἐκπεφυκέναι, §768Ἀλάστορος μὲν πρῶτον, εἶτα δὲ Φθόνου, §769Φόνου τε Θανάτου θʼ ὅσα τε γῆ τρέφει κακά.
scion of Tyndareus, you are never the child of Zeus, I say you were born of many fathers: of an Avenging Spirit, then of Envy, Murder, of Death, and of all the evils that earth nurtures.
§770οὐ γάρ ποτʼ αὐχῶ Ζῆνά γʼ ἐκφῦσαί σʼ ἐγώ, §771πολλοῖσι κῆρα βαρβάροις Ἕλλησί τε.
I will never boast that Zeus begot you, are a deadly fate to many barbarians and Greeks.
§772ὄλοιο·
you perish!
καλλίστων γὰρ ὀμμάτων ἄπο §773αἰσχρῶς τὰ κλεινὰ πεδίʼ ἀπώλεσας Φρυγῶν.
For from your most beautiful eyes have shamefully destroyed the glorious plains of the Phrygians.
§774ἀλλʼ ἄγετε φέρετε ῥίπτετʼ, εἰ ῥίπτειν δοκεῖ· §775δαίνυσθε τοῦδε σάρκας.
come, take him, carry him off, cast him down, if casting him down is resolved; on his flesh.
ἔκ τε γὰρ θεῶν §776διολλύμεσθα, παιδί τʼ οὐ δυναίμεθʼ ἂν §777θάνατον ἀρῆξαι.
For by the gods are being destroyed, and we would not be able ward off death from our child.
κρύπτετʼ ἄθλιον δέμας §778καὶ ῥίπτετʼ ἐς ναῦς· ἐπὶ καλὸν γὰρ ἔρχομαι §779ὑμέναιον, ἀπολέσασα τοὐμαυτῆς τέκνον.
Hide my wretched body cast me into the ship; for I am going to a fine, after losing my own child.
§780τάλαινα Τροία, μυρίους ἀπώλεσας §781μιᾶς γυναικὸς καὶ λέχους στυγνοῦ χάριν.
Troy, you have destroyed countless thousands the sake of one woman and a hateful bed.
§782ἄγε παῖ, φίλιον πρόσπτυγμα μεθεὶς §783μητρὸς μογερᾶς, βαῖνε πατρῴων §784πύργων ἐπʼ ἄκρας στεφάνας, ὅθι σοι §785πνεῦμα μεθεῖναι ψῆφος ἐκράνθη.
: Come, child, releasing the loving embrace your grieving mother, go the top crest of your ancestral towers, where it has decreed by vote for you to yield up your breath.
§786λαμβάνετʼ αὐτόν.
him.
τὰ δὲ τοιάδε χρὴ §787κηρυκεύειν, ὅστις ἄνοικτος §788καὶ ἀναιδείᾳ τῆς ἡμετέρας §789γνώμης μᾶλλον φίλος ἐστίν.
But such messages should be heralded one who is pitiless more a friend to shamelessness than to feeling.
§790ὦ τέκνον, ὦ παῖ παιδὸς μογεροῦ, §791συλώμεθα σὴν ψυχὴν ἀδίκως §792μήτηρ κἀγώ.
: O child, O child of my suffering son, are unjustly robbed of your life, both mother and I.
τί πάθω;
What can I endure?
τί σʼ ἐγώ, §793δύσμορε, δράσω;
What can I do for you, one?
τάδε σοι δίδομεν §794πλήγματα κρατὸς στέρνων τε κόπους· §795τῶνδε γὰρ ἄρχομεν.
These we give you: beatings of our head and the strikings of our breast; over these we have power.
οἲ ʼγὼ πόλεως, §796οἴμοι δὲ σέθεν·
Alas for the city, alas for you!
τί γὰρ οὐκ ἔχομεν;
For what do we not have?
§797τίνος ἐνδέομεν μὴ οὐ πανσυδίᾳ §798χωρεῖν ὀλέθρου διὰ παντός;
do we lack that we should not in full haste through utter destruction?
§799μελισσοτρόφου Σαλαμῖνος ὦ βασιλεῦ Τελαμών, §800νάσου περικύμονος οἰκήσας ἕδραν §801τᾶς ἐπικεκλιμένας ὄχθοις ἱεροῖς, ἵνʼ ἐλαίας §802πρῶτον ἔδειξε κλάδον γλαυκᾶς Ἀθάνα, §803οὐράνιον στέφανον λιπαραῖσί τε κόσμον Ἀθήναις, §804ἔβας ἔβας τῷ τοξοφόρῳ συναρι- §805στεύων ἅμʼ Ἀλκμήνας γόνῳ §806Ἴλιον Ἴλιον ἐκπέρσων πόλιν §807ἁμετέραν τὸ πάροιθεν· §809ὅθʼ Ἑλλάδος ἄγαγε πρῶτον ἄνθος ἀτυζόμενος §810πώλων, Σιμόεντι δʼ ἐπʼ εὐρείτᾳ πλάταν §811ἔσχασε ποντοπόρον καὶ ναύδετʼ ἀνήψατο πρυμνᾶν §812καὶ χερὸς εὐστοχίαν ἐξεῖλε ναῶν, §814Λαομέδοντι φόνον· κανόνων δὲ τυκίσματα Φοίβου §815πυρὸς φοίνικι πνοᾷ καθελὼν §816Τροίας ἐπόρθησε χθόνα.
: O Telamon, king of bee-nourishing Salamis, inhabit a dwelling of the wave-girt island lies near the sacred hills, where Athena showed the branch of the gray olive, heavenly crown and an adornment for gleaming Athens, went, you went, sharing the prize of valor with the bow-bearing of Alcmene, sack Ilium, Ilium, our city former times; he led the flower of Greece, vexed on account of the steeds, on the broad-flowing Simois stayed his sea-faring oar bound the cables from the sterns, from the ships brought forth the accurate skill of his hand, death to Laomedon; and pulling down the stone-masonry of Phoebus built by rules, the red breath of fire, ravaged the land of Troy.
§818δὶς δὲ δυοῖν πιτύλοιν τείχη περὶ §819Δαρδανίας κατέλυσεν
with two separate assaults did he destroy walls around Dardania.
§820μάταν ἄρʼ, ὦ χρυσέαις ἐν οἰνοχόαις ἁβρὰ βαίνων, §821Λαομεδόντιε παῖ, §823Ζηνὸς ἔχεις κυλίκων πλήρωμα, καλλίσταν λατρείαν· §825ἁ δέ σε γειναμένα πυρὶ δαίεται· §826ἠιόνες δʼ ἅλιαι §829ἴακχον οἰωνὸς οἷ- §830ον τεκέων ὕπερ βοᾷ, §831ᾇ μὲν εὐνάτορας, ᾇ δὲ παῖδας, §832ᾇ δὲ ματέρας γεραιάς.
vain then, O you who walk gracefully with golden wine-pitchers, of Laomedon, you hold the filling of Zeus' cups, a most beautiful service; the land that gave you birth is consumed with fire; the sea-shores out as a bird over its young, for husbands, some for children, for aged mothers.
§833τὰ δὲ σὰ δροσόεντα λουτρὰ §834γυμνασίων τε δρόμοι §835βεβᾶσι, σὺ δὲ πρόσωπα νεα- §836ρὰ χάρισι παρὰ Διὸς θρόνοις §837καλλιγάλανα τρέφεις· Πριάμοιο δὲ γαῖαν §838Ἑλλὰς ὤλεσʼ αἰχμά.
are your dewy baths the courses of your gymnasia; you, by the throne of Zeus, preserve your young with graces in lovely calm; while the Greek spear destroyed the land of Priam.
§840Ἔρως Ἔρως, ὃς τὰ Δαρδάνεια μέλαθρά ποτʼ ἦλθες §842οὐρανίδαισι μέλων, §844ὡς τότε μὲν μεγάλως Τροίαν ἐπύργωσας, θεοῖσι §845κῆδος ἀναψάμενος.
, Eros, who once came to the Dardanian halls, by the heavenly gods, greatly then did you build up Troy, weaving a kinship with the gods!
τὸ μὲν οὖν Διὸς §846οὐκέτʼ ὄνειδος ἐρῶ· §847τὸ τᾶς δὲ λευκοπτέρου §849φίλιον Ἁμέρας βροτοῖς §850φέγγος ὀλοὸν εἶδε γαῖαν, §851εἶδε περγάμων ὄλεθρον, §852τεκνοποιὸν ἔχουσα τᾶσδε §854γᾶς πόσιν ἐν θαλάμοις, §855ὃν ἀστέρων τέθριππος ἔλα- §856βε χρύσεος ὄχος ἀναρπάσας, §857ἐλπίδα γᾷ πατρίᾳ μεγάλαν·
The reproach of Zeus, therefore, will no longer speak of; the friendly light white-winged Day to mortals this land with destructive eye, the ruin of the citadel, she held in her chambers a child-begetting of this land, the golden chariot of four horses of the stars up and carried away, great hope for his native land.
τὰ θεῶν δὲ §858φίλτρα φροῦδα Τροίᾳ.
But the love of the gods Troy is gone.
§860ὦ καλλιφεγγὲς ἡλίου σέλας τόδε, §861ἐν ᾧ δάμαρτα τὴν ἐμὴν χειρώσομαι §862Ἑλένην·
: O beautiful-beaming light of this sun, which I shall lay my hands upon my wife Helen!
ὁ γὰρ δὴ πολλὰ μοχθήσας ἐγὼ §863Μενέλαός εἰμι καὶ στράτευμʼ Ἀχαιϊκόν.
For I am Menelaus, have toiled much, and so is the Achaean army.
§864ἦλθον δὲ Τροίαν οὐχ ὅσον δοκοῦσί με §865γυναικὸς οὕνεκʼ, ἀλλʼ ἐπʼ ἄνδρʼ ὃς ἐξ ἐμῶν §866δόμων δάμαρτα ξεναπάτης ἐλῄσατο.
came to Troy not so much, as they think, the sake of a woman, but to march against the man who, his host, plundered my wife from my home.
§867κεῖνος μὲν οὖν δέδωκε σὺν θεοῖς δίκην §868αὐτός τε καὶ γῆ δορὶ πεσοῦσʼ Ἑλληνικῷ.
, then, with the help of the gods, has paid the penalty, himself and his land which has fallen by the Greek spear.
§869ἥκω δὲ τὴν τάλαιναν — οὐ γὰρ ἡδέως §870ὄνομα δάμαρτος ἥ ποτʼ ἦν ἐμὴ λέγω — §871ἄξων· δόμοις γὰρ τοῖσδʼ ἐν αἰχμαλωτικοῖς §872κατηρίθμηται Τρῳάδων ἄλλων μέτα.
I have come to lead away the wretched woman — for I do not speak the name of her who was once my wife —; she is numbered among the other Trojan women in these captive
§873οἵπερ γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐξεμόχθησαν δορί,
those who won her with the toil of the spear...

Notes

  1. §788ἀναιδείᾳ τῆς ἡμετέρας γνώμης μᾶλλον φίλος — The genitive τῆς ἡμετέρας γνώμης serves as the genitive of comparison governed by the comparative adverb μᾶλλον ('more than our mind/sympathy'), while the dative ἀναιδείᾳ is dependent on the adjective φίλος ('friendly to, a friend of shamelessness'). Thus the structure means: 'one who is a friend to shamelessness rather than to our feelings.'
  2. §797μὴ οὐ — The double negative construction of μὴ οὐ with the infinitive (χωρεῖν) following a verb of lacking or denying (ἐνδέομεν). It expresses a strong rhetorical negative assertion: 'What do we lack so as NOT to go to utter destruction?' implying that nothing is lacking and they are completely ruined.

Cite this passage

Euripides, The Trojan Women §762-873. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg011.humanitext-grc2:762-873

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