Euripides, Alcestis, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 435

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Tochter von Pelias' Stamm,

Froh wohne mir nun in des Schattenreiches

Heimland, in dem sonnenlosen Hause!

Doch Aides wiss' es, der Gott mit dem dunkelen Haar, und der Alte,

Welcher am Steuer gebeut, jener Seelenschiffer,
430

Er habe die beste Frau, die beste,

Wohl über den Acheron geleitet

Mit dem Doppelruder.

Gegenstrophe 1.

Alcestis. Euripides. Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator). . .

Current edition Experimental

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1841; OCR review) (OCR draft) (German) (Euripides. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Volume 1, Heidelberg: C. F. Winter, 1841. Harvard OCR compared with an independent BSB copy. Native Donner verse citations, Murray reference cards, explicitly located notes and page facsimiles. Unresolved OCR, verse divisions, unlocated notes and printed errata are documented in the source review.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ἄλκηστις Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. I. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 435-475 focus

Χορός

ὦ Πελίου θύγατερ,
435

χαίρουσά μοι εἰν Ἀίδαο δόμοις

τὸν ἀνάλιον οἶκον οἰκετεύοις.

ἴστω δ’ Ἀίδας ὁ μελαγχαίτας θεὸς ὅς τ’ ἐπὶ κώπᾳ

πηδαλίῳ τε γέρων
440

νεκροπομπὸς ἵζει,

πολὺ δὴ πολὺ δὴ γυναῖκ’ ἀρίσταν

λίμναν Ἀχεροντίαν πορεύ-

σας ἐλάτᾳ δικώπῳ.

445

Χορός

πολλά σε μουσοπόλοι
445

μέλψουσι καθ’ ἑπτάτονόν τ’ ὀρείαν

χέλυν ἔν τ’ ἀλύροις κλέοντες ὕμνοις,

Σπάρτᾳ κύκλος ἁνίκα Καρνείου περινίσσεται ὥρας

μηνός, ἀειρομένας
450

παννύχου σελάνας,

λιπαραῖσί τ’ ἐν ὀλβίαις Ἀθάναις.

τοίαν ἔλιπες θανοῦσα μολ-

πὰν μελέων ἀοιδοῖς.

455

Χορός

εἴθ’ ἐπ’ ἐμοὶ μὲν εἴη,
455

δυναίμαν δέ σε πέμψαι

φάος ἐξ Ἀίδα τεράμνων

καὶ Κωκυτοῖο ῥεέθρων

ποταμίᾳ νερτέρᾳ τε κώπᾳ.

σὺ γὰρ ὤ, μόνα, ὦ φίλα γυναικῶν,
460

σὺ τὸν αὑτᾶς

ἔτλας πόσιν ἀντὶ σᾶς ἀμεῖψαι

ψυχᾶς ἐξ Ἅιδα. κούφα σοι

χθὼν ἐπάνωθε πέσοι, γύναι. εἰ δέ τι

καινὸν ἕλοιτο πόσις λέχος, ἦ μάλ’ ἂν ἔμοιγ’ ἂν εἴη

στυγηθεὶς τέκνοις τε τοῖς σοῖς.
465

466

Χορός

ματέρος οὐ θελούσας

πρὸ παιδὸς χθονὶ κρύψαι

δέμας, οὐδὲ πατρὸς γεραιοῦ,

ὃν ἔτεκον δʼ, οὐκ ἔτλαν ῥύεσθαι,

σχετλίω, πολιὰν ἔχοντε χαίταν.
470

σὺ δ’ ἐν ἥβᾳ

νέᾳ προθανοῦσα φωτὸς οἴχῃ.

τοιαύτας εἴη μοι κῦρσαι

συνδυάδος φιλίας ἀλόχου· τοῦτο γὰρ

ἐν βιότῳ σπάνιον μέρος· ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἔμοιγ’ ἄλυπος

δι’ αἰῶνος ἂν ξυνείη.
475

Translations (2)

Alcestis Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906.) — 435-475 focus

Chorus

Daughter of Pelias, be thine a happy life in that sunless home in Hades’ halls! Let Hades know, that swarthy god,
435

and that old man who sits to row and steer alike at his death-ferry, that he hath carried o’er the lake of Acheron in his two-oared skiff a woman peerless amidst her sex.
440

445

Chorus

Oft of thee the Muses’ votaries shall sing on the seven-stringed mountain shell and in hymns that need no harp,¹ glorifying thee, oft as the season in his cycle cometh round at Sparta in that Carnean² month
445

when all night long the moon sails high o’erhead, yea, and in splendid Athens, happy town. So glorious a theme has thy death bequeathed to tuneful bards.
450

455

Chorus

Would it were in my power and range to bring thee to the light from the chambers of Hades and the streams of Cocytus with the oar that sweeps yon nether flood!
455

For thou, and thou alone, most dear of women, hadst the courage to redeem thy husband from Hades in exchange for thy own life. Light lie the earth above thee, lady! And if ever thy lord take to him a new wife, I vow he will earn my hatred
460

and thy children’s too.
465

466

Chorus

His mother had no heart to plunge into the darkness of the tomb for her son, no! nor his aged sire.³ Their own child they had not the courage to rescue,

the wretches! albeit they were grey-headed. But thou in thy youth and beauty hast died for thy lord and gone thy way. O be it mine to have for partner such a loving wife! for this lot is rare in life. Surely she should be my help-meet all my life
470

and never cause one tear.
475

Alcestis (OCR draft) Experimental (Alcestis. Robert Potter's English verse translation, first published in 1781–1783; text from the 1808 Oxford printing.)

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Euripides Alcestis 435

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

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