§1032τὸν φύτορʼ οἰκτίρας, ἀνεπίφθονον εἴρυσον ἔγχος, §1035παῖσον ἐμᾶς ὑπὸ κλῇδος· ἀκοῦ δʼ ἄχος, ᾧ μʼ ἐχόλωσεν
Show pity on the father who begot you, draw a sword that none will blame, and strike beneath my collarbone; heal the pain with which your godless mother has enraged me.
May I see her fall just so, in the very same way she has destroyed me!
O sweet Hades, O brother of Zeus, lull me, lull me to rest, putting an end to wretched me by a swift-winged death.
I shuddered, friends, as I heard these disasters of the king, by what terrible sufferings he, being such a great man, is driven.
Oh, I who have endured so many hot and wordless labors with my hands and back!
§1048κοὔπω τοιοῦτον οὔτʼ ἄκοιτις ἡ Διὸς §1049προύθηκεν οὔθʼ ὁ στυγνὸς Εὐρυσθεὺς ἐμοί, §1050οἷον τόδʼ ἡ δολῶπις Οἰνέως κόρη §1051καθῆψεν ὤμοις τοῖς ἐμοῖς Ἐρινύων §1052ὑφαντὸν ἀμφίβληστρον, ᾧ διόλλυμαι.
And never did the wife of Zeus nor the hateful Eurystheus impose such a thing upon me as this woven net of the Erinyes, which the deceitful daughter of Oeneus has fastened upon my shoulders, by which I am utterly destroyed.
§1053πλευραῖσι γὰρ προσμαχθὲν ἐκ μὲν ἐσχάτας §1054βέβρωκε σάρκας, πλεύμονός τʼ ἀρτηρίας §1055ῥοφεῖ ξυνοικοῦν, ἐκ δὲ χλωρὸν αἷμά μου §1056πέπωκεν ἤδη, καὶ διέφθαρμαι δέμας §1057τὸ πᾶν, ἀφράστῳ τῇδε χειρωθεὶς πέδῃ.
For glued to my sides, it has devoured my flesh from the very surface to the depths, and dwelling within, it drains the passages of my lungs, and has already drunk up my fresh blood; and my whole body is decayed, subdued by this unutterable fetter.
§1058κοὐ ταῦτα λόγχη πεδιάς, οὔθʼ ὁ γηγενὴς §1059στρατὸς Γιγάντων οὔτε θήρειος βία, §1060οὔθʼ Ἑλλὰς οὔτʼ ἄγλωσσος οὔθʼ ὅσην ἐγὼ §1061γαῖαν καθαίρων ἱκόμην, ἔδρασέ πω·
Neither the spear on the plain, nor the earth-born host of the Giants, nor the violence of beasts, nor Greece, nor the land of foreign tongue, nor all the lands I came to purify, ever did such a thing to me.
But a woman, being female and not of a man's nature, alone and without a sword has brought me down.
O child, become my true son indeed, and do not honor the name of your mother more.
§1066δός μοι χεροῖν σαῖν αὐτὸς ἐξ οἴκου λαβὼν §1067ἐς χεῖρα τὴν τεκοῦσαν, ὡς εἰδῶ σάφα §1068εἰ τοὐμὸν ἀλγεῖς μᾶλλον ἢ κείνης ὁρῶν §1069λωβητὸν εἶδος ἐν δίκῃ κακούμενον.
Bring her with your own hands from the house and place her in my hands, so that I may know clearly whether you grieve more at my pain or at seeing her ruined form punished in justice.
§1070ἴθʼ, ὦ τέκνον, τόλμησον·
Come, my child, dare!
οἴκτιρόν τέ με §1071πολλοῖσιν οἰκτρόν, ὅστις ὥστε παρθένος §1072βέβρυχα κλαίων, καὶ τόδʼ οὐδʼ ἂν εἷς ποτε §1073τόνδʼ ἄνδρα φαίη πρόσθʼ ἰδεῖν δεδρακότα, §1074ἀλλʼ ἀστένακτος αἰὲν εἱπόμην κακοῖς.
Pity me, who am pitiable to many, weeping and crying out like a maiden; and no one could ever say they had seen this man doing such a thing before, but I always followed my troubles without a groan.
§1075νῦν δʼ ἐκ τοιούτου θῆλυς ηὕρημαι τάλας.
But now, from being such a man, I am found wretchedly female.
§1076καὶ νῦν προσελθὼν στῆθι πλησίον πατρός, §1077σκέψαι θʼ ὁποίας ταῦτα συμφορᾶς ὕπο §1078πέπονθα· δείξω γὰρ τάδʼ ἐκ καλυμμάτων.
And now, come near and stand beside your father, and see under what kind of disaster I have suffered; for I will show you this from beneath the coverings.
Behold, look all of you upon this wretched body, see the miserable man, in what a pitiable state I am!
§1081αἰαῖ, ἆ τάλας,
Alas, wretched me!
§1082ἔθαλψεν ἄτης σπασμὸς ἀρτίως ὅδʼ αὖ, §1083διῇξε πλευρῶν, οὐδʼ ἀγύμναστόν μʼ ἐᾶν §1084ἔοικεν ἡ τάλαινα διάβορος νόσος.
The spasm of ruin has just now burned me again, it shot through my sides, and this wretched, devouring disease seems determined not to leave me untrained by pain.
§1085ὦναξ Ἀίδη, δέξαι μʼ,
Lord Hades, receive me!
§1086ὦ Διὸς ἀκτίς, παῖσον,
O beam of Zeus, strike!
Shake, Lord, hurl down the bolt of lightning, father!
δαίνυται γὰρ αὖ πάλιν, §1089ἤνθηκεν, ἐξωρμήκεν.
For it feasts again, it has blossomed, it has broken out.
ὦ χέρες χέρες, §1090ὦ νῶτα καὶ στέρνʼ, ὦ φίλοι βραχίονες,
O hands, hands, O back and chest, O dear arms!
§1091ὑμεῖς δὲ κεῖνοι δὴ καθέσταθʼ, οἵ ποτε §1092Νεμέας ἔνοικον, βουκόλων ἀλάστορα §1093λέοντʼ, ἄπλατον θρέμμα κἀπροσήγορον, §1094βίᾳ κατειργάσασθε, Λερναίαν θʼ ὕδραν, §1095διφυῆ τʼ ἄμικτον ἱπποβάμονα στρατὸν §1096θηρῶν, ὑβριστὴν ἄνομον, ὑπέροχον βίαν, §1097Ἐρυμάνθιόν τε θῆρα, τόν θʼ ὑπὸ χθονὸς §1098Ἅιδου τρίκρανον σκύλακʼ, ἀπρόσμαχον τέρας, §1099δεινῆς Ἐχίδνης θρέμμα, τόν τε χρυσέων §1100δράκοντα μήλων φύλακʼ ἐπʼ ἐσχάτοις τόποις.
Are you indeed those who once by force subdued the dweller of Nemea, the scourge of herdsmen, the lion, an unapproachable and unspeakable monster, and the Lernaean hydra, and the double-natured, savage, horse-walking host of beasts, insolent, lawless, of supreme might, and the Erymanthian beast, and the three-headed dog of Hades beneath the earth, an invincible monster, offspring of the terrible Echidna, and the dragon that guarded the golden apples at the ends of the earth?
I tasted of countless other labors, and no one ever set up a trophy over my hands.
§1103νῦν δʼ ὧδʼ ἄναρθρος καὶ κατερρακωμένος §1104τυφλῆς ὑπʼ ἄτης ἐκπεπόρθημαι τάλας, §1105ὁ τῆς ἀρίστης μητρὸς ὠνομασμένος, §1106ὁ τοῦ κατʼ ἄστρα Ζηνὸς αὐδηθεὶς γόνος.
But now, thus jointless and torn to tatters, I have been utterly sacked by a blind ruin, wretched me—I who was named after the best of mothers, I who was declared the offspring of Zeus among the stars.
§1107ἀλλʼ εὖ γέ τοι τόδʼ ἴστε, κἂν τὸ μηδὲν ὦ §1108κἂν μηδὲν ἕρπω, τήν γε δράσασαν τάδε §1109χειρώσομαι κἀκ τῶνδε·
But know this well: even if I am as nothing and cannot crawl, I will subdue her who did this even from this state.
Let her only come near, so that she may be taught to report to all that both alive and dead I took vengeance on the wicked.
O wretched Greece, what grief I see you will have, if you are deprived of this man!
§1114ἐπεὶ παρέσχες ἀντιφωνῆσαι, πάτερ, §1115σιγὴν παρασχὼν κλῦθί μου, νοσῶν ὅμως· §1116αἰτήσομαι γάρ σʼ ὧν δίκαια τυγχάνειν.
Since you have granted me a turn to speak, father, give me silence and listen to me, diseased though you are; for I shall ask of you what is just to obtain.
§1117δός μοι σεαυτόν, μὴ τοσοῦτον ὡς δάκνει §1118θυμῷ δύσοργος· οὐ γὰρ ἂν γνοίης ἐν οἷς §1119χαίρειν προθυμεῖ κἀν ὅτοις ἀλγεῖς μάτην.
Give yourself to me, not to the extent that you are stung in your angry spirit; for you would not know in what things you wish to rejoice and in what things you suffer in vain.