Euripides, Heracleidae, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 608

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Ohne die Himmlischen acht' ich der Sterblichen

Keinen für glucklich, keinen für elend.
605

Nimmer auch wandelt in Glück und in Seligkeit

Ewig dasselbe Geschlecht; Ein Schicksal

Folgt auf das andre,

Hebt auf die Höhen des Lebens den Niedrigen,¹

Stürzt den Geweihten des Glückes in Irrsal.²
610

Keiner entfloh dem Geschick; kein Weiser vermag ihm zu wehren;

Wer es bekämpft, hat ewig vergebliche Mühe.

Gegenstrophe.

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

Current edition Experimental

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1852; OCR review) (OCR draft) (German) (Euripides. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Volume 3, Heidelberg: C. F. Winter, 1852. 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)

Ἡρακλεῖδαι Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. I. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 608-629c focus

Χορός

οὔτινά φημι θεῶν ἄτερ ὄλβιον, οὐ βαρύποτμον,

ἄνδρα γενέσθαι·

οὐδὲ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀεὶ βεβάναι δόμον
610

εὐτυχίᾳ· παρὰ δʼ ἄλλαν ἄλλα

μοῖρα διώκει.

τὸν μὲν ἀφʼ ὑψηλῶν βραχὺν ᾤκισε,

τὸν δʼ ἀλέταν εὐδαίμονα τεύχει.

μόρσιμα δʼ οὔτι φυγεῖν θέμις, οὐ σοφί-
615

ᾳ τις ἀπώσεται, ἀλλὰ μάταν ὁ πρό-

θυμος ἀεὶ πόνον ἕξει.

618

Χορός

ἀλλὰ σὺ μὴ προπίτνων τὰ θεῶν φέρε, μηδʼ ὑπεράλγει

φροντίδα λύπᾳ·
620

εὐδόκιμον γὰρ ἔχει θανάτου μέρος

ἁ μελέα πρό τʼ ἀδελφῶν καὶ γᾶς·

οὐδʼ ἀκλεής νιν

δόξα πρὸς ἀνθρώπων ὑποδέξεται·

ἁ δʼ ἀρετὰ βαίνει διὰ μόχθων.
625

ἄξια μὲν πατρός, ἄξια δʼ εὐγενί-

ας τάδε γίγνεται· εἰ δὲ σέβεις θανά-

τους ἀγαθῶν, μετέχω σοι.

Translations (2)

Heracleidae Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906.) — 608-625 focus

Chorus

Without the will of heaven none is blest, none curst, I do maintain;

nor doth the same house for ever tread the path of bliss; for one kind of fortune follows hard upon another; one man it brings to naught from his high estate, another though of no¹ account it crowns with happiness.
610

To shun what fate decrees, is no wise permitted; none by cunning shall thrust it from him; but he, who vainly would do so, shall have unceasing trouble.
615

618

Chorus

Then fall not prostrate thou, but bear what heaven sends, and set a limit

to thy soul’s grief; for she, poor maid! in dying for her brothers and this land, hath won a glorious death, and splendid fame shall be her meed from all mankind;
620

for virtue’s path leads through troublous ways. Worthy of her father, worthy of her noble birth is this conduct. And if thou dost honour the virtuous dead, I share with thee that sentiment.
625

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

No corresponding passage available

Notes on the current edition

Heracleidae

1. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] L. ἐφ᾽ ὑψηλῶν.

2. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] Ε. τὸν δ' εὐδαίμονα τεύχει ἀλάταν.

Euripides Heracleidae 608

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

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