Euripides, Andromache, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 766

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Nicht leben möcht' ich, oder aus edlem Geschlecht

Entsprossen sein, aus reichem begütertem Haus!

Wenn ein boses Schicksal den Edlen getroffen,¹
745

Ist ihm die Hülfe nicht fern;

Und welche der Ruf als erlauchte Namen preiſt,

Ehr' ist ihnen und Ruhm: nie tilgt die gewaltige Zeit

Des wackern Mannes Spuren; im Tode sogar

Leuchtet seine Tugend.
750
Gegenstrophe.

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

Current edition Experimental

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1845; OCR review) (OCR draft) (German) (Euripides. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Volume 2, Heidelberg: C. F. Winter, 1845. 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)

Ἀνδρομάχη Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. I. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 766-801 focus

Χορός

μὴ γενοίμαν ἢ πατέρων ἀγαθῶν

εἴην πολυκτήτων τε δόμων μέτοχος.

εἴ τι γὰρ πάσχοι τις ἀμήχανον, ἀλκᾶς
770

οὐ σπάνις εὐγενέταις,

κηρυσσομένοισι δ’ ἀπ’ ἐσθλῶν δωμάτων

τιμὰ καὶ κλέος· οὔτοι λείψανα τῶν ἀγαθῶν

ἀνδρῶν ἀφαιρεῖται χρόνος· ἁ δ’ ἀρετὰ
775

καὶ θανοῦσι λάμπει.

777

Χορός

κρεῖσσον δὲ νίκαν μὴ κακόδοξον ἔχειν

ἢ ξὺν φθόνῳ σφάλλειν δυνάμει τε δίκαν.
780

ἡδὺ μὲν γὰρ αὐτίκα τοῦτο βροτοῖσιν,

ἐν δὲ χρόνῳ τελέθει

ξηρὸν καὶ ὀνείδεσιν ἔγκειται δόμων.

ταύταν ᾔνεσα ταύταν καὶ φέρομαι βιοτάν,
785

μηδὲν δίκας ἔξω κράτος ἐν θαλάμοις

καὶ πόλει δύνασθαι.

789

Χορός

ὦ γέρον Αἰακίδα,

πείθομαι καὶ σὺν Λαπίθαισί σε Κενταύ-
790

ρων ὁμιλῆσαι δορὶ

κλεινοτάτῳ· καὶ ἐπ’ Ἀργῴου δορὸς ἄξενον ὑγρὰν

ἐκπερᾶσαι ποντιᾶν Ξυμπληγάδων

κλεινὰν ἐπὶ ναυστολίαν,
795

Ἰλιάδα τε πόλιν ὅτε πάρος

εὐδόκιμον ὁ Διὸς ἶνις ἀμφέβαλε φόνῳ,

κοινὰν τὰν εὔκλειαν ἔχοντ’
800

Εὐρώπαν ἀφικέσθαι.

Translations (2)

Andromache Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.) — 766-800 focus

Chorus

Oh! to have never been born, or sprung from noble sires, the heir to mansions richly stored;

for if aught untoward e’er befall, there is no lack of champions for sons of noble parents, and there is honour and glory for them when they are proclaimed scions of illustrious lines; time detracts not from the legacy these good
770

men leave, but the light of their goodness still burns on when they are dead.
775

777

Chorus

Better is it not to win a discreditable victory,

than to make justice miscarry by an invidious exercise of power; for such a victory, though men think it sweet for the moment, grows barren in time and comes very near being a family reproach.
780

This is the life I commend, this the life. I set before me as my ideal, to exercise no authority beyond what is right either in the marriage-chamber or in the state.
785

789

Chorus

O aged son of Aeacus!

now am I sure that thou wert with the Lapithae, wielding thy famous spear, when they fought the Centaurs; and on Argo’s deck didst pass the cheerless strait beyond the sea-beat Symplegades
790

on her voyage of note; and when in days long gone the son of Zeus spread slaughter round Troy’s famous town,
795

thou too didst share his triumphant return to Europe.
800

Andromache (OCR draft) Experimental (Andromache. 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

Andromache

1. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] L. εἴ τι γὰρ πάσχοι τις ἀμήχανον, ἀλκᾶς.

Euripides Andromache 766

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

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