§1Μῆτερ ἐμή, τίφθ’ ὧδε φίλον κατὰ θυμὸν ἰάπτεις §2ἐκπάγλως ἀχέουσα, τὸ πρὶν δέ τοι οὐκέτ’ ἔρευθος §3σῴζετ’ ἐπὶ ῥεθέεσσι;
"My mother, why do you so vex your own dear heart grieving exceedingly, and your color of old is no longer preserved upon your cheeks?
τί μοι τόσον ἠνίησαι;
Why are you so vexed with me?
Is it because your glorious son suffers boundless pains under a worthless man, like a lion under a fawn?
Ah, woe is me! Why indeed have the immortal gods so dishonored me?
τί νύ μ’ ὧδε κακῇ γονέες τέκον αἴσῃ;
Why indeed did my parents beget me under such an evil fate?
§8δύσμορος, ἥτ’ ἐπεὶ ἀνδρὸς ἀμύμονος ἐς λέχος ἦλθον, §9τὸν μὲν ἐγὼ τίεσκον ἴσον φαέεσσιν ἐμοῖσιν §10ἠδ’ ἔτι νῦν σέβομαί τε καὶ αἰδέομαι κατὰ θυμόν· §11τοῦ δ’ οὔτις γένετ’ ἄλλος ἀποτμότερος ζωόντων, §12οὐδὲ τόσων σφετέρῃσιν ἐγεύσατο φροντίσι κηδέων.
Ill-fated that I am, who, since I came to the bed of a blameless man, whom I honored equal to my own eyes and even now revere and respect in my heart; yet than him no other of living men has been more ill-fated, nor has tasted so many sorrows in his own mind.
§13σχέτλιος, ὃς τόξοισιν, ἅ οἱ πόρεν αὐτὸς Ἀπόλλων §14ἠέ τινος Κηρῶν ἢ Ἐρινύος αἰνὰ βέλεμνα, §15παῖδας ἑοὺς κατέπεφνε καὶ ἐκ φίλον εἵλετο θυμὸν §16μαινόμενος κατὰ οἶκον, ὃ δ’ ἔμπλεος ἔσκε φόνοιο.
Wretched man, who with the bow which Apollo himself gave him, or the dreadful shafts of some Ker or Erinys, slew his own children and took away their dear life, raving through the house, which was filled with slaughter.
§17τοὺς μὲν ἐγὼ δύστηνος ἐμοῖς ἴδον ὀφθαλμοῖσι §18βαλλομένους ὑπὸ πατρί, τὸ δ’ οὐδ’ ὄναρ ἤλυθεν ἄλλῳ.
Those indeed did I, wretched woman, see with my own eyes being struck down by their father—a thing that has not come even in a dream to another.
Nor could I aid them as they called aloud for their mother, since an unconquerable evil was close at hand.
§21ὡς δ’ ὄρνις δύρηται ἐπὶ σφετέροισι νεοσσοῖς §22ὀλλυμένοις, οὕστ’ αἰνὸς ὄφις ἔτι νηπιάχοντας §23θάμνοις ἐν πυκινοῖσι κατεσθίει· ἣ δὲ κατ’ αὐτοὺς §24πωτᾶται κλάζουσα μάλα λιγὺ πότνια μήτηρ, §25οὐδ’ ἄρ’ ἔχει τέκνοισιν ἐπαρκέσαι· ἦ γάρ οἱ αὐτῇ §26ἆσσον ἴμεν μέγα τάρβος ἀμειλίκτοιο πελώρου· §27ὣς ἐγὼ αἰνοτόκεια φίλον γόνον αἰάζουσα §28μαινομένοισι πόδεσσι δόμον κάτα πολλὸν ἐφοίτων.
And as a bird wails over her own nestlings perishing, which a terrible serpent, while they are still tiny, devours in the thick bushes; and she flies about them fluttering and crying full shrilly, the mistress mother, yet has no power to succor her children; for she herself has great fear of coming nearer to the pitiless monster; so I, ill-fated mother, wailing for my own dear children, with frantic feet kept wandering much through the house.
§29ὥς γ’ ὄφελον μετὰ παισὶν ἅμα θνῄσκουσα καὶ αὐτὴ §30κεῖσθαι φαρμακόεντα δι’ ἥπατος ἰὸν ἔχουσα, §31Ἄρτεμι θηλυτέρῃσι μέγα κρείουσα γυναιξί.
Would that I too, dying together with my children, were lying with a venomous arrow through my liver, O Artemis, who rule mightily over womenfolk.
§32τῷ χ’ ἡμέας κλαύσαντε φίλῃσ’ ἐνὶ χερσὶ τοκῆες §33πολλοῖς σὺν κτερέεσσι πυρῆς ἐπέβησαν ὁμοίης, §34καί κεν ἕνα χρύσειον ἐς ὀστέα κρωσσὸν ἁπάντων §35λέξαντες κατέθαψαν, ὅθι πρῶτον γενόμεσθα.
Then would my parents, weeping for us, with their own dear hands have placed us upon a single pyre with many funeral gifts, and would have gathered all our bones into one golden urn and buried them where we were first born.
§36νῦν δ’ οἳ μὲν Θήβην ἱπποτρόφον ἐνναίουσιν §37Ἀονίου πεδίοιο βαθεῖαν βῶλον ἀροῦντες· §38αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ Τίρυνθα κάτα κραναὴν πόλιν Ἥρης §39πολλοῖσιν δύστηνος ἰάπτομαι ἄλγεσιν ἦτορ §40αἰὲν ὁμῶς· δακρύων δὲ παρεστί μοι οὐδ’ ἴ ἐρωή.
But now they dwell in horse-breeding Thebes, plowing the deep soil of the Aonian plain; while I, in Tiryns, the rocky city of Hera, wretchedly vex my heart with many griefs ever alike; and there is to me no ceasing, not even a little, of tears.
§41ἀλλὰ πόσιν μὲν ὁρῶ παῦρον χρόνον ὀφθαλμοῖσιν §42οἴκῳ ἐν ἡμετέρῳ· πολέων γάρ οἱ ἔργον ἑτοῖμον §43μόχθων, τοὺς ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἀλώμενος ἠδὲ θάλασσαν §44μοχθίζει πέτρης ὅγ’ ἔχων νόον ἠὲ σιδήρου §45καρτερὸν ἐν στήθεσσι·
And indeed I see my husband but for a little time with my eyes in our house; for there is ready for him a task of many labors, which, wandering over land and sea, he endures, having a heart of stone or iron within his breast.
σὺ δ’ ἠύτε λείβεαι ὕδωρ, §46νύκτας τε κλαίουσα καὶ ἐκ Διὸς ἤμαθ’ ὁπόσσα.
But you are melted like water, weeping through the nights and through all the days that come from Zeus.
§47ἄλλος μὰν οὐκ ἄν τις ἐϋφρήναι με παραστὰς §48κηδεμόνων· οὐ γάρ σφε δόμων κατὰ τεῖχος ἐέργει· §49καὶ λίην πάντες γε πέρην πιτυώδεος Ἰσθμοῦ §50ναίουσ’, οὐδέ μοί ἐστι πρὸς ὅντινά κε βλέψασα §51οἷα γυνὴ πανάποτμος ἀναψύξαιμι φίλον κῆρ, §52νόσφι γε δὴ Πύρρης συνομαίμονος· ἣ δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ §53ἀμφὶ πόσει σφετέρῳ πλέον ἄχνυται Ἰφικλῆι, §54σῷ υἱεῖ· πάντων γὰρ ὀϊζυρώτατα τέκνα §55γείνασθαί σε θεῷ τε καὶ ἀνέρι θνητῷ ἔολπα. §56ὣς ἄρ’ ἔφη· τὰ δέ οἱ θαλερώτερα δάκρυα μήλων §57κόλπον ἐς ἱμερόεντα κατὰ βλεφάρων ἐχέοντο, §58μνησαμένῃ τέκνων τε καὶ ὧν μετέπειτα τοκήων.
Nor indeed could any other of my kinsmen, standing by, comfort me; for no wall of a house encloses them near; indeed, they all dwell far beyond the pine-clad Isthmus, and there is no one to whom I might look and, like a woman all-unfortunate, refresh my dear heart, save only indeed Pyrrha my sister; and she herself too grieves even more for her husband Iphicles, your son; for indeed I think that you bore children more wretched than all others, to a god and to a mortal man." So she spoke; and her tears, fresher than apples, poured down from her eyelids into her lovely bosom, as she remembered her children and her own parents thereafter.
§59ὣς δ’ αὔτως δακρύοισι παρήϊα λεύκ’ ἐδίαινεν §60Ἀλκμήνη· βαρὺ δ’ ἥγε καὶ ἐκ θυμοῦ στενάχουσα §61μύθοισιν πυκινοῖσι φίλην νυὸν ὧδε μετηύδα·
And in like manner did Alcmene wet her white cheeks with tears; and she, sighing heavily and from her heart, with prudent words thus addressed her dear daughter-in-law: