To weep, indeed, is permitted; by weeping we pour out our anger, and through my bosom tears go like a river.
These alone I have, and always and always I pour them out; my neglected cheeks are wet with an everlasting fountain.
Is it by the fate of our race, which wanders down into our years, that we, the mothers of Tantalus' line, are a fitting prey?
I will not recall the lies of the river swan nor complain that Jupiter lay hid in feathers.
§8.69Qua duo porrectus longe freta distinet Isthmos, §8.70Vecta peregrinis Hippodamia rotis; §8.71Taenaris Idaeo trans aequor ab hospite rapta §8.72Argolicas pro se vertit in arma manus.
Where the long-stretched Isthmus separates two seas, Hippodamia was carried off on foreign wheels; the Taenarian woman was snatched across the sea by the Idaean guest, and turned the Argive hands to arms on her behalf.
§8.75Vix equidem memini, memini tamen.
Indeed, I scarcely remember, yet I do remember.
omnia luctus, §8.76Omnia solliciti plena timoris erant; §8.77Flebat avus Phoebeque soror fratresque gemelli, §8.78Orabat superos Leda suumque Iovem.
All was grief, all things were full of anxious fear; My grandfather wept, and my sister Phoebe, and my twin brothers, Leda prayed to the gods above and to her own Jupiter.
§8.79Ipsa ego, non longos etiamtunc scissa capillos, §8.80Clamabam: 'sine me, me sine, mater, abis?' §8.81Nam coniunx aberat! ne non Pelopeia credar,
I myself, tearing my even then not long hair, kept crying out: 'Are you leaving without me, mother, without me?' For my husband was away!
§8.82Ecce, Neoptolemo praeda parata fui!
Lest I should not be believed to be a daughter of Pelops, lo, I have been made a prey ready for Neoptolemus!
§8.83Pelides utinam vitasset Apollinis arcus!
Would that the son of Peleus had escaped the bows of Apollo!
§8.84Damnaret nati facta proterva pater; §8.85Nec quondam placuit nec nunc placuisset Achilli §8.86Abducta viduum coniuge flere virum.
His father would condemn the shameless deeds of his son; neither did it please Achilles once, nor would it have pleased him now, that a husband, widowed by his wife being taken away, should weep.
What injury of mine has made the heavenly gods unjust, that I should complain that some star is hostile to me — alas, wretched me?
I was small, without my mother; my father was bearing arms, and though both are living, I was bereaved of both.
§8.91Non tibi blanditias primis, mea mater, in annis §8.92Incerto dictas ore puella tuli; §8.93Non ego captavi brevibus tua colla lacertis §8.94Nec gremio sedi sarcina grata tuo.
I did not bring to you, my mother, in my early years childish endearments, spoken with faltering mouth; I did not clasp your neck with my short arms, nor did I sit in your lap, a pleasing burden.
My care was no concern to you, nor, when betrothed to a husband, did I enter my new bridal chambers with a mother preparing them.
I had gone out to meet you on your return — I will confess the truth — and the face of my parent was not known to me!
§8.99Te tamen esse Helenen, quod eras pulcherrima, sensi; §8.100Ipsa requirebas, quae tua nata foret!
Yet I felt that you were Helen, because you were most beautiful; you yourself were asking which was your daughter!
§8.101Pars haec una mihi, coniunx bene cessit Orestes; §8.102Is quoque, ni pro se pugnat, ademptus erit.
This one part fell well to me, my husband Orestes; he too, unless he fights for himself, will be taken away.
Pyrrhus holds me captive, though my father is returned and victorious — this gift destroyed Troy has given to me!
§8.105Cum tamen altus equis Titan radiantibus instant, §8.106Perfruor infelix liberiore malo; §8.107Nox ubi me thalamis ululantem et acerba gementem §8.108Condidit in maesto procubuique toro, §8.109Pro somno lacrimis oculi funguntur obortis, §8.110Quaque licet, fugio sicut ab hoste virum.
Yet when high Titan presses on with his gleaming horses, unhappy, I enjoy a freer misfortune; When night has hidden me in the bedchamber, wailing and groaning bitterly, and I have lain down on my sorrowful bed, instead of sleep my eyes perform their office with welling tears, and, as far as is permitted, I flee my husband as if from an enemy.
§8.111Saepe malis stupeo rerumque oblita locique §8.112Ignara tetigi Scyria membra manu, §8.113Utque nefas sensi, male corpora tacta relinquo §8.114Et mihi pollutas credor habere manus.
Often I am numbed by my misfortunes, and, forgetting both things and place, unwittingly I have touched Scyrian limbs with my hand, and when I sensed the wickedness, I abandon the ill-touched body and believe that I have polluted hands.
Often instead of Neoptolemus' name, the name of Orestes escapes, and I love the slip of my tongue as an omen.
§8.117Per genus infelix iuro generisque parentem, §8.118Qui freta, qui terras et sua regna quatit; §8.119Per patris ossa tui, patrui mihi, quae tibi debent, §8.120Quod se sub tumulo fortiter ulta iacent — §8.121Aut ego praemoriar primoque exstinguar in aevo, §8.122Aut ego Tantalidae Tantalis uxor ero!
I swear by our unhappy race, and the parent of our race, who shakes the seas, who shakes the lands and his own kingdoms; by the bones of your father, my uncle, which owe to you the fact that they lie bravely avenged under their tomb — Either I shall die before my time and be extinguished in my youth, or I, a descendant of Tantalus, shall be the wife of a descendant of Tantalus!