§1ἢ οἵη προλιποῦσα δόμους καὶ πατρίδα γαῖαν §2ἤλυθεν ἐς Θήβας μετʼ ἀρήιον Ἀμφιτρύωνα §3Ἀλκμήνη, θυγάτηρ λαοσσόου Ἠλεκτρύωνος· §4ἥ ῥα γυναικῶν φῦλον ἐκαίνυτο θηλυτεράων §5εἴδεΐ τε μεγέθει τε· νόον γε μὲν οὔ τις ἔριζε
Or like her who, leaving her home and fatherland, came to Thebes with warlike Amphitryon, Alcmene, daughter of Electryon, the stirrer of the people; she indeed surpassed the race of feminine women both in beauty and in stature; and in mind indeed no one competed with her, of those whom mortal women bore to mortal men, having shared their bed.
§6τάων, ἃς θνηταὶ θνητοῖς τέκον εὐνηθεῖσαι. §7τῆς καὶ ἀπὸ κρῆθεν βλεφάρων τʼ ἄπο κυανεάων §8τοῖον ἄηθʼ οἶόν τε πολυχρύσου Ἀφροδίτης.
And from her head and from her dark eyelids there breathed such a fragrance as from golden Aphrodite.
§9ἣ δὲ καὶ ὣς κατὰ θυμὸν ἑὸν τίεσκεν ἀκοίτην, §10ὡς οὔ πώ τις ἔτισε γυναικῶν θηλυτεράων· §11ἦ μέν οἱ πατέρʼ ἐσθλὸν ἀπέκτανε ἶφι δαμάσσας, §12χωσάμενος περὶ βουσί· λιπὼν δʼ ὅ γε πατρίδα γαῖαν §13ἐς Θήβας ἱκέτευσε φερεσσακέας Καδμείους.
And she, even so, respected her husband in her heart, as no one yet of feminine women respected theirs; indeed he had slain her noble father, subduing him by force, being wroth about cattle; and leaving his fatherland, he came as a suppliant to Thebes, to the shield-bearing Cadmeans.
§14ἔνθʼ ὅ γε δώματʼ ἔναιε σὺν αἰδοίῃ παρακοίτι §15νόσφιν ἄτερ φιλότητος ἐφιμέρου, οὐδέ οἱ ἦεν §16πρὶν λεχέων ἐπιβῆναι ἐυσφύρου Ἠλεκτρυώνης, §17πρίν γε φόνον τίσαιτο κασιγνήτων μεγαθύμων §18ἧς ἀλόχου, μαλερῷ δὲ καταφλέξαι πυρὶ κώμας §19ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων Ταφίων ἰδὲ Τηλεβοάων.
There he dwelt in the halls with his modest wife, apart, without desireable love; nor was it permitted for him to ascend the bed of fair-ankled Electryone, before he should avenge the murder of the great-hearted brothers of his wife, and consume with raging fire the villages of the hero men, the Taphians and Teleboans.
§20τὼς γάρ οἱ διέκειτο, θεοὶ δʼ ἐπὶ μάρτυροι ἦσαν· §21τῶν ὅ γʼ ὀπίζετο μῆνιν, ἐπείγετο δʼ ὅττι τάχιστα §22ἐκτελέσαι μέγα ἔργον, ὅ οἱ Διόθεν θέμις ἦεν.
For thus it was laid down for him, and the gods were witnesses; he feared their wrath, and hasted as quickly as possible to accomplish the great work which was his duty from Zeus.
§23τῷ δʼ ἅμα ἱέμενοι πολέμοιό τε φυλόπιδός τε §24Βοιωτοὶ πλήξιπποι, ὑπὲρ σακέων πνείοντες, §25Λοκροί τʼ ἀγχέμαχοι καὶ Φωκῆες μεγάθυμοι §26ἕσποντʼ· ἦρχε δὲ τοῖσιν ἐὺς πάις Ἀλκαίοιο §27κυδιόων λαοῖσι.
And with him, rushing for war and battle, horse-striking Boeotians, breathing over their shields, and close-fighting Locrians and great-hearted Phocians followed; and the noble son of Alcaeus led them, glorying in his hosts.
πατὴρ δʼ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε §28ἄλλην μῆτιν ὕφαινε μετὰ φρεσίν, ὥς ῥα θεοῖσιν §29ἀνδράσι τʼ ἀλφηστῇσιν ἀρῆς ἀλκτῆρα φυτεύσαι.
But the father of men and gods was weaving another counsel in his mind, that for gods and bread-eating men he might generate a defender against ruin.
§30ὦρτο δʼ ἀπʼ Οὐλύμποιο δόλον φρεσὶ βυσσοδομεύων, §31ἱμείρων φιλότητος ἐυζώνοιο γυναικός, §32ἐννύχιος· τάχα δʼ ἷξε Τυφαόνιον· τόθεν αὖτις §33Φίκιον ἀκρότατον προσεβήσατο μητίετα Ζεύς.
He rushed from Olympus, brooding guile in his deep heart, desiring the love of the well-girdled woman, by night; and swiftly he came to Typhaonium, and thence again wise Zeus approached the highest peak of Phicium.
§34ἔνθα καθεζόμενος φρεσὶ μήδετο θέσκελα ἔργα· §35αὐτῇ μὲν γὰρ νυκτὶ τανυσφύρου Ἠλεκτρυώνης §36εὐνῇ καὶ φιλότητι μίγη, τέλεσεν δʼ ἄρʼ ἐέλδωρ· §37αὐτῇ δʼ Ἀμφιτρύων λαοσσόος, ἀγλαὸς ἥρως, §38ἐκτελέσας μέγα ἔργον ἀφίκετο ὅνδε δόμονδε.
Sitting there, he devised wondrous deeds in his mind; for on that very night he mingled in bed and love with Electryone, and accomplished his desire; and on that very night Amphitryon, the stirrer of the people, the glorious hero, having accomplished his great work, returned to his own home.
§39οὐδʼ ὅ γʼ ἐπὶ δμῶας καὶ ποιμένας ἀγροιώτας §40ὦρτʼ ἰέναι, πρίν γʼ ἧς ἀλόχου ἐπιβήμεναι εὐνῆς· §41τοῖος γὰρ κραδίην πόθος αἴνυτο ποιμένα λαῶν.
And he did not rush to go to his servants and rustic shepherds before he should ascend the bed of his own wife; for such desire seized the heart of the shepherd of the people.
§42ὡς δʼ ὅτʼ ἀνὴρ ἀσπαστὸν ὑπεκπροφύγῃ κακότητα §43νούσου ὕπʼ ἀργαλέης ἢ καὶ κρατεροῦ ὑπὸ δεσμοῦ, §44ὥς ῥα τότʼ Ἀμφιτρύων χαλεπὸν πόνον ἐκτολυπεύσας §45ἀσπασίως τε φίλως τε ἑὸν δόμον εἰσαφίκανεν.
And as when a man joyfully escapes from misery, under a grievous disease or under a strong bond, so indeed then did Amphitryon, having wound up his difficult labor, joyfully and gladly enter into his own home.
And all night long he lay with his modest wife, delighting in the gifts of golden Aphrodite.
§48ἣ δὲ θεῷ δμηθεῖσα καὶ ἀνέρι πολλὸν ἀρίστῳ §49Θήβῃ ἐν ἑπταπύλῳ διδυμάονε γείνατο παῖδε, §50οὐ καθʼ ὁμὰ φρονέοντε· κασιγνήτω γε μὲν ἤστην· §51τὸν μὲν χειρότερον, τὸν δʼ αὖ μέγʼ ἀμείνονα φῶτα, §52δεινόν τε κρατερόν τε, βίην Ἡρακληείην· §53τὸν μὲν ὑποδμηθεῖσα κελαινεφέι Κρονίωνι, §54τὸν δʼ ἄρα Ἰφικλῆα δορυσσόῳ Ἀμφιτρύωνι, §55κεκριμένην γενεήν· τὸν μὲν βροτῷ ἀνδρὶ μιγεῖσα, §56τὸν δὲ Διὶ Κρονίωνι, θεῶν σημάντορι πάντων.
And she, subdued by a god and by a man far the best, bore twin children in seven-gated Thebes, not of one mind; yet they were indeed brothers; the one inferior, but the other, again, a far better man, terrible and strong, the mighty Heracles; the one indeed she bore subdued under the dark-clouded son of Cronos, but the other, Iphicles, to Amphitryon, the shaker of the spear, a separate lineage; the one having mingled with a mortal man, but the other with Zeus, the son of Cronos, ruler of all the gods.
§57ὃς καὶ Κύκνον ἔπεφνεν, Ἀρητιάδην μεγάθυμον. §58εὗρε γὰρ ἐν τεμένει ἑκατηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος §59αὐτὸν καὶ πατέρα ὅν Ἄρην, ἄατον πολέμοιο, §60τεύχεσι λαμπομένους σέλας ὣς πυρὸς αἰθομένοιο, §61ἑσταότʼ ἐν δίφρῳ· χθόνα δʼ ἔκτυπον ὠκέες ἵπποι §62νύσσοντες χηλῇσι, κόνις δέ σφʼ ἀμφιδεδήει §63κοπτομένη πλεκτοῖσιν ὑφʼ ἅρμασι καὶ ποσὶν ἵππων.
Who also slew Cycnus, the great-hearted son of Ares; for he found him in the sanctuary of far-shooting Apollo, himself and his father Ares, insatiable of war, shining in their armor like the gleam of blazing fire, standing in their chariot; and the swift horses beat the earth, striking with their hoofs, and the dust burned around them, beaten under the well-knit chariots and the feet of the horses.
§64ἅρματα δʼ εὐποίητα καὶ ἄντυγες ἀμφαράβιζον §65ἵππων ἱεμένων· κεχάρητο δὲ Κύκνος ἀμύμων, §66ἐλπόμενος Διὸς υἱὸν ἀρήιον ἡνίοχόν τε §67χαλκῷ δηιώσειν καὶ ἀπὸ κλυτὰ τεύχεα δύσειν.
And the well-made chariots and rail-rims rattled around as the horses rushed on; and blameless Cycnus rejoiced, hoping to slay the warlike son of Zeus and his charioteer with bronze, and to strip off their glorious armor.
But Phoebus Apollo did not harken to his prayers; for he himself aroused the mighty Heracles against him.
§70πᾶν δʼ ἄλσος καὶ βωμὸς Ἀπόλλωνος Παγασαίου
And the whole grove and altar of Pagasaean Apollo...