Andromache

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.

  1. O Phoebus! who didst fence the hill of Ilium with a fair coronal of towers,
  2. and thou, ocean-god! coursing o’er the main with thy dark steeds, wherefore did ye hand over in dishonour
  3. your own handiwork to the war-god, master of the spear, abandoning Troy to wretchedness?
Chorus
  1. Many a well-horsed car ye yoked on the banks of Simois,
  2. and many a bloody tournament did ye ordain with never a prize to win; and Ilium’s princes are dead and gone; no longer in Troy
  3. is seen the blaze of fire on altars of the gods with the smoke of incense.
Chorus
  1. The son of Atreus is no more, slain by the hand of his wife, and she herself hath paid the debt of blood by death,
  2. and from her children’s hands received her doom. The god’s own bidding from his oracle was levelled against her, in the day that Agamemnon’s son set forth from Argos and visited his shrine;
  3. so he slew[*](Reading Hermann’s emendation κτάνεν for MSS κτεάνων.) her, aye, spilt his own mother’s blood. O Phoebus, O thou power divine, how can I believe the story?
Chorus
  1. Anon wherever Hellenes gather, was heard the voice of lamentation, mothers weeping o’er their children’s fate,
  2. as they left their homes to mate with strangers. Ah! thou art not the only one, nor thy dear ones either, on whom the cloud of grief hath fallen. Hellas had to bear the visitation, and thence the scourge crossed to Phrygia’s
  3. fruitful fields, raining the bloody drops the; death-god loves.[*](Reading Hermann’s τὸν Ἅιδα φόνον.)
Peleus
  1. Ye dames of Phthia, answer my questions. I heard a vague rumour that the daughter of Menelaus had left these halls
  2. and fled; so now am I come in hot haste to learn if this be true; for it is the duty of those who are at home to labour in the interests of their absent friends.
Chorus
  1. Thou hast heard aright, O Peleus; ill would it become me to hide the evil case in which I now find myself;
  2. our queen has fled and left these halls.
Peleus
  1. What was she afraid of? explain that to me.
Chorus
  1. She was fearful her lord would cast her out
Peleus
  1. In return[*](Nauck reads ἀντίποινα for MSS ἀντὶ παιδὸς.) for plotting his child’s death? surely not?
Chorus
  1. Yea, and she was afraid of yon captive.