§413οὐδέν·
Messenger: Nothing.
σὺ μέντοι κάρτα τοῦτο δρῶν κυρεῖς.
But you indeed happen to be doing exactly this.
§414ἄπειμι· μῶρος δʼ ἦ πάλαι κλύων σέθεν.
Lichas: I am going; I was foolish long ago to listen to you.
§415οὔ, πρίν γʼ ἂν εἴπῃς ἱστορούμενος βραχύ.
Messenger: No, not until you speak a little in answer to my questions.
§416λέγʼ, εἴ τι χρῄζεις· καὶ γὰρ οὐ σιγηλὸς εἶ.
Lichas: Speak, if you desire anything; for indeed you are not silent.
§417τὴν αἰχμάλωτον, ἣν ἔπεμψας ἐς δόμους, κάτοισθα δήπου;
Messenger: The captive woman, whom you sent to this house—you surely know her, don't you?
§418φημί·
Lichas: I do.
πρὸς τί δʼ ἱστορεῖς;
But with what purpose do you ask?
Messenger: Did you not then say that this woman, whom you look upon as if in ignorance, you were bringing as Iole, the offspring of Eurytus?
§421ποίοις ἐν ἀνθρώποισι;
Lichas: Among what kind of people?
τίς πόθεν μολὼν §422σοὶ μαρτυρήσει ταῦτʼ ἐμοῦ κλύειν πάρα;
Who, coming from where, will testify for you that they heard these things from me?
§423πολλοῖσιν ἀστῶν·
Messenger: Many of the citizens.
ἐν μέσῃ Τραχινίων §424ἀγορᾷ πολύς σου ταῦτά γʼ εἰσήκουσʼ ὄχλος.
In the middle of the marketplace of the Trachinians, a great crowd of people heard you say these very things.
§425κλύειν γʼ ἔφασκον·
Lichas: I said I "heard" it.
ταὐτὸ δʼ οὐχὶ γίγνεται §426δόκησιν εἰπεῖν κἀξακριβῶσαι λόγον.
But it is not the same thing to state an opinion and to make a story precise.
§427ποίαν δόκησιν;
Messenger: What kind of opinion?
οὐκ ἐπώμοτος λέγων §428δάμαρτʼ ἔφασκες Ἡρακλεῖ ταύτην ἄγειν;
Did you not, speaking under oath, say that you were bringing this woman as a wife for Heracles?
§429ἐγὼ δάμαρτα;
Lichas: I, a wife?
πρὸς θεῶν, φράσον, φίλη §430δέσποινα, τόνδε τίς ποτʼ ἐστὶν ὁ ξένος.
By the gods, tell me, dear mistress, who on earth is this stranger?
§431ὃς σοῦ παρὼν ἤκουσεν, ὡς ταύτης πόθῳ §432πόλις δαμείη πᾶσα, κοὐχ ἡ Λυδία §433πέρσειεν αὐτήν, ἀλλʼ ὁ τῆσδʼ ἔρως φανείς.
Messenger: One who, being present, heard you say that for the love of this girl the whole city was destroyed, and that it was not the Lydian servitude that destroyed it, but the love for this woman which became manifest.
Lichas: Lady, let this man be gone; for to babble with a sick man is not the part of a wise man.
Deianeira: Do not, I entreat you by Zeus who sends lightning over the high glen of Oeta, hide your speech from me.
§438οὐ γὰρ γυναικὶ τοὺς λόγους ἐρεῖς κακῇ §439οὐδʼ ἥτις οὐ κάτοιδε τἀνθρώπων, ὅτι §440χαίρειν πέφυκεν οὐχὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀεί.
For you will not speak your words to a base woman, nor to one who does not know the ways of humans, that it is not natural for them always to rejoice in the same things.
Now, whoever stands up against Eros as a boxer to come to blows, does not think well.
For he rules even the gods as he wills, and me indeed; and how should he not also rule another such as I?
§445ὥστʼ εἴ τι τὠμῷ τʼ ἀνδρὶ τῇδε τῇ νόσῳ §446ληφθέντι μεμπτός εἰμι, κάρτα μαίνομαι, §447ἢ τῇδε τῇ γυναικὶ τῇ μεταιτίᾳ §448τοῦ μηδὲν αἰσχροῦ μηδʼ ἐμοὶ κακοῦ τινος.
So that if I blame my husband caught by this disease, I am surely mad, or if I blame this woman who is the cause of nothing shameful nor of any evil to me.
§449οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτʼ·
It is not so.
ἀλλʼ εἰ μὲν ἐκ κείνου μαθὼν §450ψεύδει, μάθησιν οὐ καλὴν ἐκμανθάνεις.
But if indeed you, having learned from him, speak falsely, you are learning a lesson that is not good.
And if you are educating yourself in this way, when you wish to be good, you will be seen to be bad.
But speak the whole truth; for to a free man to be called a liar is a ruin that is not honorable.
And that you will escape notice, that too is impossible; for there are many to whom you have spoken, who will tell me.
And if you are afraid, you fear not well; since not to find out—that is what would pain me.
§459τὸ δʼ εἰδέναι τί δεινόν;
But to know—what is there to fear?
οὐχὶ χἀτέρας §460πλείστας ἀνὴρ εἷς Ἡρακλῆς ἔγημε δή;
Has not Heracles, as one man, already married very many other women?
§461κοὔπω τις αὐτῶν ἔκ γʼ ἐμοῦ λόγον κακὸν §462ἠνέγκατʼ οὐδʼ ὄνειδος· ἥδε τʼ οὐδʼ ἂν εἰ §463κάρτʼ ἐντακείη τῷ φιλεῖν, ἐπεί σφʼ ἐγὼ §464ᾤκτιρα δὴ μάλιστα προσβλέψασʼ, ὅτι §465τὸ κάλλος αὐτῆς τὸν βίον διώλεσεν, §466καὶ γῆν πατρῴαν οὐχ ἑκοῦσα δύσμορος §467ἔπερσε κἀδούλωσεν.
And never yet has any of them borne a bad word or reproach from me; nor would this girl, even if she should be deeply melted in loving, since I pitied her indeed most of all when I looked at her, because her beauty destroyed her life, and she, ill-fated, destroyed and enslaved her fatherland against her will.
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν §468ῥείτω κατʼ οὖρον· σοὶ δʼ ἐγὼ φράζω κακὸν §469πρὸς ἄλλον εἶναι, πρὸς δʼ ἔμʼ ἀψευδεῖν ἀεί.
But let these things flow down the wind; but I tell you to be bad to another, but always to speak the truth to me.
Obey me speaking good things, and you will not complain in time of this woman, and you will gain gratitude from me.
§472ἀλλʼ, ὦ φίλη δέσποινʼ, ἐπεί σε μανθάνω §473θνητὴν φρονοῦσαν θνητὰ κοὐκ ἀγνώμονα, §474πᾶν σοι φράσω τἀληθὲς οὐδὲ κρύψομαι.
Lichas: But, O dear mistress, since I perceive that you, being mortal, think mortal thoughts and are not unfeeling, I will tell you the whole truth and will not hide it.
§475ἔστιν γὰρ οὕτως ὥσπερ οὗτος ἐννέπει.
For it is indeed so as this man says.
§476ταύτης ὁ δεινὸς ἵμερός ποθʼ Ἡρακλῆ §477διῆλθε, καὶ τῆσδʼ εἵνεχʼ ἡ πολύφθορος §478καθῃρέθη πατρῷος Οἰχαλία δόρει.
A terrible desire for this girl once went through Heracles, and for her sake Oechalia, her ancestral home, was destroyed by the spear.
And these things—for I must also speak on his behalf— he neither told me to hide nor ever denied them.
§481ἀλλʼ αὐτός, ὦ δέσποινα, δειμαίνων τὸ σὸν §482μὴ στέρνον ἀλγύνοιμι τοῖσδε τοῖς λόγοις, §483ἥμαρτον, εἴ τι τήνδʼ ἁμαρτίαν νέμεις.
But I myself, O mistress, fearing lest I might pain your breast with these words, did wrong, if indeed you consider this a wrong.
§484ἐπεί γε μὲν δὴ πάντʼ ἐπίστασαι λόγον, §485κείνου τε καὶ σὴν ἐξ ἴσου κοινὴν χάριν §486καὶ στέργε τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ βούλου λόγους, §487οὓς εἶπας ἐς τήνδʼ, ἐμπέδως εἰρηκέναι· §488ὡς τἄλλʼ ἐκεῖνος πάντʼ ἀριστεύων χεροῖν
But since you now know the whole story, equally for his sake and for your own common grace, both cherish the woman and wish that the words which you spoke toward her remain firmly said; Since he, who in all other things is best with his hands,