Mycenaean friends, who hold the first place in the Pelasgian seat of the Argives.
§1248τίνα θροεῖς αὐδάν, πότνια;
What cry do you utter, mistress?
παραμένει §1250γὰρ ἔτι σοι τόδʼ ἐν Δαναϊδῶν πόλει.
For this still remains for you in the city of the Danaids.
Stand, some of you on this carriage-way, and others here on another path to guard the house.
§1253τί δέ με τόδε χρέος ἀπύεις;
And why do you call out this task to me?
§1254ἔνεπέ μοι, φίλα.
Tell me, friend.
Fear holds me lest someone, standing at the house during the bloody murder, should find calamities upon calamities.
Go, let us hasten; I indeed will watch this path, the one toward the sun's rays.
§1260καὶ μὴν ἐγὼ τόνδʼ, ὃς πρὸς ἑσπέραν φέρει.
And indeed I will watch this one, which leads toward the evening.
§1261δόχμιά νυν κόρας διάφερʼ ὀμμάτων.
Now cast your eyes askance.
§1262ἐκεῖθεν ἐνθάδʼ, εἶτα παλινσκοπιὰν
From there to here, then looking back again.
§1265ἔχομεν, ὡς θροεῖς.
We keep watch, as you say.
Now roll your eyelids, give all things to your pupils through your curls.
§1268ὅδε τις ἐν τρίβῳ.
Here is someone on the path.
τίς ὅδʼ ἄρʼ ἀμ- §1270φὶ μέλαθρον πολεῖ σὸν ἀγρότας ἀνήρ;
Who is this countryman, then, who wanders about your house?
We are undone then, friends; he will immediately reveal to our enemies the hidden sword-bearing beasts.
Keep fearless; the path which you suspect is empty, friend.
§1275τί δέ;
And what?
τὸ σὸν βέβαιον ἔτι μοι μένει;
Does your side still remain secure for me?
Give some good news, if these areas before the courtyard are empty.
§1278καλῶς τά γʼ ἐνθένδʼ.
Things on this side are well.
ἀλλὰ τἀπὶ σοῦ σκόπει· §1279ὡς οὔτις ἡμῖν Δαναϊδῶν πελάζεται.
But watch what is on your side; since no one of the Danaids is approaching us.
§1280ἐς ταὐτὸν ἥκεις· καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ τῇδʼ ὄχλος.
You come to the same point; for indeed there is no crowd here either.
§1281φέρε νυν ἐν πύλαισιν ἀκοὰν βάλω.
Come now, let me direct my hearing at the gates.
Why do you who are in the house delay in quietness to stain the victim with blood?
§1286οὐκ εἰσακούουσʼ· ὦ τάλαινʼ ἐγὼ κακῶν.
They do not listen; oh wretched me for these evils!
§1287ἆρʼ ἐς τὸ κάλλος ἐκκεκώφηται ξίφη;
Have the swords been deafened by her beauty?
Soon some armed man of the Argives, rushing with a running foot, will reach the house.
Look now more carefully; it is not a contest of sitting; but roll some here, others there.
§1295ἀμείβω κέλευθον σκοποῦσα πάντῃ.
I change my path, watching everywhere.
§1296ἰὼ Πελασγὸν Ἄργος, ὄλλυμαι κακῶς.
Oh Pelasgian Argos, I am wretchedly destroyed!
§1297— ἠκούσαθʼ; ἅνδρες χεῖρʼ ἔχουσιν ἐν φόνῳ.
—Did you hear? The men have their hands in murder.
§1298— Ἑλένης τὸ κώκυμʼ ἐστίν, ὡς ἀπεικάσαι.
—It is the wailing of Helen, as one may conjecture.
Oh Zeus's, oh Zeus's everlasting power, come as an ally to my friends by all means.
§1301Μενέλαε, θνῄσκω· σὺ δὲ παρών μʼ οὐκ ὠφελεῖς.
Menelaus, I die; and you, though present, do not help me.
§1302φονεύετε, καίνετε, §1303ὄλλυτε, δίπτυχα δίστομα φάσγανα §1304ἐκ χερὸς ἱέμενοι §1305τὰν λιποπάτορα λιπόγαμον, ἃ §1306πλείστους ἔκανεν Ἑλλάνων §1307δορὶ παρὰ ποταμὸν ὀλομένους, §1308ὅθι δάκρυα δάκρυσιν ἔπεσεν §1309σιδαρέοισι βέλεσιν ἀμ- §1310φὶ τὰς Σκαμάνδρου δίνας.
Slay, kill, destroy, the double-edged, two-mouthed swords letting go from your hands against her who abandoned her father, abandoned her marriage, who killed the greatest number of Greeks, destroyed by the spear beside the river, where tears fell upon tears because of iron missiles around the eddies of Scamander.
Be silent, be silent; I perceived some noise of a path falling about the house.
Oh dearest women, into the midst of the murder Hermione here is present; let us stop our shouting.
§1315στείχει γὰρ ἐσπεσοῦσα δικτύων βρόχους.
For she walks having fallen into the meshes of the net.
§1316καλὸν τὸ θήραμʼ, ἢν ἁλῷ, γενήσεται.
The prey, if she is caught, will be excellent.
§1317πάλιν κατάστηθʼ ἡσύχῳ μὲν ὄμματι, §1318χρόᾳ δʼ ἀδήλῳ τῶν δεδραμένων πέρι· §1319κἀγὼ σκυθρωποὺς ὀμμάτων ἕξω κόρας, §1320ὡς δῆθεν οὐκ εἰδυῖα τἀξειργασμένα.
Stand back again with a quiet eye, and with a color showing nothing of what has been done; and I will have gloomy pupils in my eyes, as if indeed not knowing what has been accomplished.
Oh virgin, have you come back, having crowned Clytemnestra's tomb and poured libations to the dead?
§1323ἥκω, λαβοῦσα πρευμένειαν. ἀλλά μοι
I have come, having obtained their favor.
But some fear has entered me concerning the cry which I hear in the house while I was far from the dwelling.
§1326τί δʼ;
Why?
ἄξιʼ ἡμῖν τυγχάνει στεναγμάτων.
It happens to be things worthy of groans for us.
§1327εὔφημος ἴσθι· τί δὲ νεώτερον λέγεις;
Speak words of good omen; what new thing do you say?
§1328θανεῖν Ὀρέστην κἄμʼ ἔδοξε τῇδε γῇ.
It was decreed by this land that Orestes and I should die.
§1329μὴ δῆτʼ, ἐμοῦ γε συγγενεῖς πεφυκότας.
May it indeed not be so, you who are my kinsmen.
§1330ἄραρʼ· ἀνάγκης δʼ ἐς ζυγὸν καθέσταμεν.
It is fixed; and we have been placed under the yoke of necessity.
§1331ἦ τοῦδʼ ἕκατι καὶ βοὴ κατὰ στέγας;
Was it on account of this that there was a cry in the house?
Yes, for falling down as a suppliant at Helen's knees, he cries out— Who?
οὐδὲν οἶδα μᾶλλον, ἢν σὺ μὴ λέγῃς.
I know nothing more, unless you say.
§1334τλήμων Ὀρέστης· μὴ θανεῖν, ἐμοῦ θʼ ὕπερ.
Wretched Orestes; that he might not die, and on my behalf.
§1335ἐπʼ ἀξίοισί τἄρʼ ἀνευφημεῖ δόμος.
For worthy reasons, then, does the house echo with cries.
§1336περὶ τοῦ γὰρ ἄλλου μᾶλλον ἂν φθέγξαιτό τις;
For about whom else would anyone utter a voice more?
§1337ἀλλʼ ἐλθὲ καὶ μετάσχες ἱκεσίας φίλοις, §1338σῇ μητρὶ προσπεσοῦσα τῇ μέγʼ ὀλβίᾳ, §1339Μενέλαον ἡμᾶς μὴ θανόντας εἰσιδεῖν.
But go and join in the supplication for your friends, falling before your mother who is greatly blessed, so that Menelaus may not see us having died.
But, oh you who were reared in the hands of my mother, pity us and relieve us of our evils.
Go here into the contest, and I will lead the way; for you alone hold the goal of safety for us.
§1344ἰδού, διώκω τὸν ἐμὸν ἐς δόμους πόδα.
Look, I speed my foot into the house.
§1345σώθηθʼ ὅσον γε τοὐπʼ ἐμέ.
May you be saved, as far as lies in me.