§83μανίας ἂν ἔλθοιμʼ ἐς τέλος πόνων τʼ ἐμῶν, §84οὓς ἐξεμόχθουν περιπολῶν καθʼ Ἑλλάδα — §85σὺ δʼ εἶπας ἐλθεῖν Ταυρικῆς μʼ ὅρους χθονός, §86ἔνθʼ Ἄρτεμίς σοι σύγγονος βωμοὺς ἔχοι, §87λαβεῖν τʼ ἄγαλμα θεᾶς, ὅ φασιν ἐνθάδε §88ἐς τούσδε ναοὺς οὐρανοῦ πεσεῖν ἄπο· §89λαβόντα δʼ ἢ τέχναισιν ἢ τύχῃ τινί, §90κίνδυνον ἐκπλήσαντʼ, Ἀθηναίων χθονὶ §91δοῦναι — τὸ δʼ ἐνθένδʼ οὐδὲν ἐρρήθη πέρα — §92καὶ ταῦτα δράσαντʼ ἀμπνοὰς ἕξειν πόνων.
When shall I reach the end of my madness and my labors, which I have endured, wandering throughout Greece? — But you told me to go to the borders of the Tauric land, where your sister Artemis has her altars, and to take the image of the goddess, which they say fell here into these temples from heaven; and having taken it either by wiles or by some fortune, and having fulfilled the danger, to give it to the land of the Athenians —and nothing further was said of what comes next— and that having done these things, I would have respite from my labors.
And I have come, obeying your words, here to an unknown, inhospitable land.
But I ask you, Pylades —for you are my helper in this labor— what are we to do?
ἀμφίβληστρα γὰρ τοίχων ὁρᾷς §97ὑψηλά· πότερα δωμάτων προσαμβάσεις
For you see the high barriers of the walls; shall we mount the steps of the temple?
§98ἐκβησόμεσθα; πῶς ἂν οὖν λάθοιμεν ἄν;
How then could we escape notice?
Or shall we loosen the bronze-wrought locks with crowbars, of which we know nothing?
If we are caught opening the gates and planning our entrance, we shall die.
ἀλλὰ πρὶν θανεῖν, νεὼς ἔπι §103φεύγωμεν, ᾗπερ δεῦρʼ ἐναυστολήσαμεν.
But before we die, let us flee on the ship by which we sailed here.
To flee is not tolerable, nor are we accustomed to it, and the oracle of the god is not to be slighted.
§106ναοῦ δʼ ἀπαλλαχθέντε κρύψωμεν δέμας §107κατʼ ἄντρʼ ἃ πόντος νοτίδι διακλύζει μέλας — §108νεὼς ἄπωθεν, μή τις εἰσιδὼν σκάφος §109βασιλεῦσιν εἴπῃ κᾆτα ληφθῶμεν βίᾳ.
Departing from the temple, let us hide ourselves in the caves which the dark sea washes with its spray— far from the ship, lest someone seeing the vessel tell the rulers and then we be taken by force.
§110ὅταν δὲ νυκτὸς ὄμμα λυγαίας μόλῃ, §111τολμητέον τοι ξεστὸν ἐκ ναοῦ λαβεῖν §112ἄγαλμα πάσας προσφέροντε μηχανάς.
But when the eye of dark night comes, we must dare to take the polished image from the temple, employing every device.
§113ὅρα δέ γʼ εἴσω τριγλύφων ὅποι κενὸν §114δέμας καθεῖναι· τοὺς πόνους γὰρ ἁγαθοὶ §115τολμῶσι, δειλοὶ δʼ εἰσὶν οὐδὲν οὐδαμοῦ.
Look inside the triglyphs where there is an empty space to let down our bodies; for brave men dare to face labors, but cowards are nothing anywhere.
Surely we did not come a long journey by oar only to turn back again from the goal.
But you have spoken well, we must obey; we must go where we can hide ourselves in the land and escape notice.
§120οὐ γὰρ τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ γʼ αἴτιον γενήσεται §121πεσεῖν ἄχρηστον θέσφατον· τολμητέον· §122μόχθος γὰρ οὐδεὶς τοῖς νέοις σκῆψιν φέρει.
For the god's part will not be the cause of his oracle falling useless; we must dare; for no labor brings an excuse to the young.
Keep holy silence, O you who dwell near the twin clashing rocks of the inhospitable sea.
§126ὦ παῖ τᾶς Λατοῦς, §127Δίκτυννʼ οὐρεία, §128πρὸς σὰν αὐλάν, εὐστύλων §129ναῶν χρυσήρεις θριγκούς, §130πόδα παρθένιον ὅσιον ὁσίας §131κλῃδούχου δούλα πέμπω, §132Ἑλλάδος εὐίππου πύργους §134καὶ τείχη χόρτων τʼ εὐδένδρων §135ἐξαλλάξασʼ Εὐρώπαν, §136πατρῴων οἴκων ἕδρας.
O child of Leto, mountain Dictynna, to your court, to the golden cornices of the beautiful-columned temple, I guide my holy, maidenly foot, as a servant to the holy keyholder, having left the towers of Greece famed for horses, and Europe with its walls and well-wooded pastures, the seats of my ancestral home.
§137ἔμολον·
I have come; what is new?
τί νέον; τίνα φροντίδʼ ἔχεις;
What care do you have?
§138τί με πρὸς ναοὺς ἄγαγες ἄγαγες, §139ὦ παῖ τοῦ τᾶς Τροίας πύργους §140ἐλθόντος κλεινᾷ σὺν κώπᾳ §141χιλιοναύτα §142μυριοτευχοῦς Ἀτρείδα;
Why have you summoned me to the temple, O child of him who went to the towers of Troy with the famous fleet of a thousand ships, the son of Atreus with his myriad weapons?
§143ἰὼ δμωαί, §144δυσθρηνήτοις ὡς θρήνοις §145ἔγκειμαι, τᾶς οὐκ εὐμούσου §146μολπᾶς ἀλύροις ἐλέγοις, αἰαῖ, §147αἰαῖ, κηδείοις οἴκτοισιν· §148αἵ μοι συμβαίνουσʼ ἆται, §149σύγγονον ἁμὸν κατακλαιομένα §150ζωᾶς, οἵαν οἵαν ἰδόμαν §151ὄψιν ὀνείρων §152νυκτός, τᾶς ἐξῆλθʼ ὄρφνα.
O attendants, in what mournful lamentations am I engaged, with the unmusical song of lyreless elegies, alas, alas, with funeral laments; the ruin that has befallen me, as I bewail my brother who has lost his life—such, such was the vision of dreams I saw in the night whose darkness has departed.
I am undone, undone; my ancestral house is no more; alas, my family is gone.
§155φεῦ φεῦ τῶν Ἄργει μόχθων.
Ah, the troubles of Argos!
§156ἰὼ δαῖμον, §157μόνον ὅς με κασίγνητον συλᾷς §159Ἀίδᾳ πέμψας, ᾧ τάσδε χοὰς §160μέλλω κρατῆρά τε τὸν φθιμένων §161ὑδραίνειν γαίας ἐν νώτοις §162πηγάς τʼ οὐρείων ἐκ μόσχων §164Βάκχου τʼ οἰνηρὰς λοιβὰς §165ξουθᾶν τε πόνημα μελισσᾶν, §166ἃ νεκροῖς θελκτήρια κεῖται.
O fate, who rob me of my only brother, sending him to Hades, for whom I am about to pour these libations and the bowl of the dead on the back of the earth, the streams from mountain heifers, and the wine libations of Bacchus, and the labor of the swift bees, which lie as soothing offerings for the dead.
But hand me the all-golden vessel and the libation of Hades.
§170ὦ κατὰ γαίας Ἀγαμεμνόνιον §171θάλος, ὡς φθιμένῳ τάδε σοι πέμπω· §172δέξαι δʼ· οὐ γὰρ πρὸς τύμβον σοι §173ξανθὰν χαίταν, οὐ δάκρυʼ οἴσω.
O Agamemnonian shoot beneath the earth, to you as dead I send these; receive them; for I shall not bring to your tomb my golden hair, nor my tears.
For indeed I was banished far from your country and mine, where in appearance I lie sacrificed, wretched one.
§178ἀντιψάλμους ᾠδὰς ὕμνων τʼ §180Ἀσιητᾶν σοι βάρβαρον ἀχὰν §181δεσποίνᾳ γʼ ἐξαυδάσω, §183τὰν ἐν θρήνοισιν μοῦσαν §184νέκυσι μελομέναν, τὰν ἐν μολπαῖς §185Ἅιδας ὑμνεῖ δίχα παιάνων.
And I will sing in response the songs and hymns of the Asians, a barbarian cry, to my mistress, the music which is concerned with the dead in lamentations, which Hades hymns in songs apart from paeans.
§186οἴμοι, τῶν Ἀτρειδᾶν οἴκων·
Alas, the house of the Atridae!
Gone is the light of the scepter, alas, of my ancestral home.