§284νέα γάρ, οὐδὲν θαῦμʼ, ἀπεζεύχθης νέου.
For, being young, it is no wonder you were parted from a young brother.
§285εἷς ἂν μόνος νιν τῶν ἐμῶν γνοίη φίλων.
Only one of my friends could recognize him.
§286ἆρʼ ὃν λέγουσιν αὐτὸν ἐκκλέψαι φόνου;
Is it the one who they say snatched him away from death?
§287πατρός γε παιδαγωγὸς ἀρχαῖος γέρων.
Yes, my father's old tutor.
§288ὁ κατθανὼν δὲ σὸς πατὴρ τύμβου κυρεῖ;
And did your dead father receive a tomb?
§289ἔκυρσεν ὡς ἔκυρσεν, ἐκβληθεὶς δόμων.
He got what he got, having been cast out of his house.
§290οἴμοι, τόδʼ οἷον εἶπας·
Alas, what a thing you have said!
— αἴσθησις γὰρ οὖν §291κἀκ τῶν θυραίων πημάτων δάκνει βροτούς.
For indeed sympathy even for the sufferings of strangers bites mortals.
Speak, so that knowing I may bear to your brother words unpleasant, but necessary to hear.
§294ἔνεστι δʼ οἶκτος ἀμαθίᾳ μὲν οὐδαμοῦ, §295σοφοῖσι δʼ ἀνδρῶν· καὶ γὰρ οὐδʼ ἀζήμιον §296γνώμην ἐνεῖναι τοῖς σοφοῖς λίαν σοφήν.
There is no pity in ignorance, but in wise men; for indeed it is not without penalty to have an overly wise mind in wise men.
§297κἀγὼ τὸν αὐτὸν τῷδʼ ἔρον ψυχῆς ἔχω.
And I have the same desire in my soul as this man.
For being far from the city, I do not know the evils in the town, but now I too wish to learn.
I would speak, if I must—and I must speak to a friend— of my heavy fortunes and my father's.
§302ἐπεὶ δὲ κινεῖς μῦθον, ἱκετεύω, ξένε, §303ἄγγελλʼ Ὀρέστῃ τἀμὰ καὶ κείνου κακά, §304πρῶτον μὲν οἵοις ἐν πέπλοις αὐλίζομαι, §305πίνῳ θʼ ὅσῳ βέβριθʼ, ὑπὸ στέγαισί τε §306οἵαισι ναίω βασιλικῶν ἐκ δωμάτων, §307αὐτὴ μὲν ἐκμοχθοῦσα κερκίσιν πέπλους, §308ἢ γυμνὸν ἕξω σῶμα κἀστερήσομαι, §309αὐτὴ δὲ πηγὰς ποταμίους φορουμένη, §310ἀνέορτος ἱερῶν καὶ χορῶν τητωμένη.
Since you stir this tale, I entreat you, stranger, announce to Orestes my evils and his own, first, in what kind of clothes I lodge, and with how much filth I am weighed down, and under what kind of roof I dwell, having come out of royal halls, myself working hard on clothes with shuttles, or else I shall have a naked body and be deprived, and myself carrying river water, deprived of festivals and barred from dances.
§311ἀναίνομαι γυναῖκας οὖσα παρθένος, §312ἀναίνομαι δὲ Κάστορʼ, ᾧ πρὶν ἐς θεοὺς §313ἐλθεῖν ἔμʼ ἐμνήστευον, οὖσαν ἐγγενῆ.
I shrink from other women, being a virgin, and I am ashamed before Castor, to whom, before he went among the gods, they betrothed me, being his kinswoman.
§314μήτηρ δʼ ἐμὴ Φρυγίοισιν ἐν σκυλεύμασιν §315θρόνῳ κάθηται, πρὸς δʼ ἕδραισιν Ἀσίδες §316δμωαὶ στατίζουσʼ, ἃς ἔπερσʼ ἐμὸς πατήρ, §317Ἰδαῖα φάρη χρυσέαις ἐζευγμέναι §318πόρπαισιν.
And my mother sits on a throne among Phrygian spoils, and by her seat stand Asian handmaids whom my father plundered, fastened with golden brooches in their Idaean robes.
αἷμα δʼ ἔτι πατρὸς κατὰ στέγας §319μέλαν σέσηπεν, ὃς δʼ ἐκεῖνον ἔκτανεν, §320ἐς ταὐτὰ βαίνων ἅρματʼ ἐκφοιτᾷ πατρί, §321καὶ σκῆπτρʼ ἐν οἷς Ἕλλησιν ἐστρατηλάτει §322μιαιφόνοισι χερσὶ γαυροῦται λαβών.
And my father's black blood is still rotted in the house, and he who killed him rides out going in the same chariot as my father, and taking the scepter with which he used to lead the Greeks, he prides himself with blood-stained hands.
§323Ἀγαμέμνονος δὲ τύμβος ἠτιμασμένος §324οὔπω χοάς ποτʼ οὐδὲ κλῶνα μυρσίνης §325ἔλαβε, πυρὰ δὲ χέρσος ἀγλαϊσμάτων.
And Agamemnon's dishonored tomb has never yet received libations or a branch of myrtle, and his funeral pyre is dry of ornaments.
§326μέθῃ δὲ βρεχθεὶς τῆς ἐμῆς μητρὸς πόσις §327ὁ κλεινός, ὡς λέγουσιν, ἐνθρῴσκει τάφῳ §328πέτροις τε λεύει μνῆμα λάινον πατρός, §329καὶ τοῦτο τολμᾷ τοὔπος εἰς ἡμᾶς λέγειν· §330ποῦ παῖς Ὀρέστης;
And drenched in wine, my mother's famous husband, as they say, leaps upon the grave and pelts with stones my father's stone monument, and dares to say this word against us: "Where is the boy Orestes?
ἆρά σοι τύμβῳ καλῶς §331παρὼν ἀμύνει; — ταῦτʼ ἀπὼν ὑβρίζεται.
Does he stand by well to defend you at your tomb?" —Thus is he insulted in his absence.
§332ἀλλʼ, ὦ ξένʼ, ἱκετεύω σʼ, ἀπάγγειλον τάδε.
But, O stranger, I entreat you, report these things.
§333πολλοὶ δʼ ἐπιστέλλουσιν, ἑρμηνεὺς δʼ ἐγώ, §334αἱ χεῖρες ἡ γλῶσσʼ ἡ ταλαίπωρός τε φρήν, §335κάρα τʼ ἐμὸν ξυρῆκες, ὅ τʼ ἐκεῖνον τεκών.
Many charge you, and I am their spokesman— my hands, my tongue, my wretched mind, my shorn head, and he who begot him.
§336αἰσχρὸν γάρ, εἰ πατὴρ μὲν ἐξεῖλεν Φρύγας, §337ὁ δʼ ἄνδρʼ ἕνʼ εἷς ὢν οὐ δυνήσεται κτανεῖν, §338νέος πεφυκὼς κἀξ ἀμείνονος πατρός.
For it is shameful, if the father destroyed the Phrygians, but he, being one, cannot kill one man, being young and born of a better father.
But look, I see this man—I mean your husband— having ceased from his labor, hastening to the house.
§341ἔα·
Ah!
τίνας τούσδʼ ἐν πύλαις ὁρῶ ξένους;
What strangers are these I see at the gates?
For what reason have they come to these rustic gates?
ἦ ʼμοῦ δεόμενοι;
Are they in need of me?
γυναικί τοι §344αἰσχρὸν μετʼ ἀνδρῶν ἑστάναι νεανιῶν.
For a woman, indeed, it is shameful to stand with young men.
§345ὦ φίλτατʼ, εἰς ὕποπτα μὴ μόλῃς ἐμοί· §346τὸν ὄντα δʼ εἴσῃ μῦθον· οἵδε γὰρ ξένοι §347ἥκουσʼ Ὀρέστου πρός με κήρυκες λόγων.
O dearest, do not fall into suspicion of me; you shall know the true story; for these strangers have come as messengers of words from Orestes to me.
§348ἀλλʼ, ὦ ξένοι, σύγγνωτε τοῖς εἰρημένοις.
But, O strangers, forgive what was said.
§349τί φασίν;
What do they say?
ἁνὴρ ἔστι καὶ λεύσσει φάος;
Is the man alive and seeing the light?
§350ἔστιν λόγῳ γοῦν, φασὶ δʼ οὐκ ἄπιστʼ ἐμοί.
He is, in word at least; and they say what is not incredible to me.
§351ἦ καί τι πατρὸς σῶν τε μέμνηται κακῶν;
And does he remember his father's and your evils?
§352ἐν ἐλπίσιν ταῦτʼ· ἀσθενὴς φεύγων ἀνήρ.
These are in hopes; an exiled man is weak.
§353ἦλθον δʼ Ὀρέστου τίνʼ ἀγορεύοντες λόγον;
But what message of Orestes did they come to speak?
§354σκοποὺς ἔπεμψε τούσδε τῶν ἐμῶν κακῶν.
He sent them as observers of my evils.
§355οὐκοῦν τὰ μὲν λεύσσουσι, τὰ δὲ σύ που λέγεις.
So they see some things, and you, I suppose, tell the rest.
§356ἴσασιν, οὐδὲν τῶνδʼ ἔχουσιν ἐνδεές.
They know; they have no lack of these things.
§357οὐκοῦν πάλαι χρῆν τοῖσδʼ ἀνεπτύχθαι πύλας;
Should not then the gates have been opened to them long ago?
Go into the house; for in return for your good words you shall obtain such hospitality as my house contains.
§360αἴρεσθʼ, ὀπαδοί, τῶνδʼ ἔσω τεύχη δόμων.
Take up their baggage inside the house, servants.