Euripides, Hecuba, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 923

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

Ich wand des Haares Locken mir hinauf mit Bändern, ordnete,

In goldner Spiegel

Endlose Schimmer hineinblickend,
900

Um dann auf das Lager hinzusinken.

Da lief ein Tosen durch die Stadt,

Und über Troja's Veste scholl lauter Ruf:

Wann, Achaia's Söhne, zerstöret ihr, wann,

Ilios' Warten, und kehrt
905

Zurück zur Våterheimat?

Gegenstrophe 2.

Hecuba. 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)

Ἑκάβη Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. I. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902. (Reprinted 1906-1974)) — 905-952 focus

Χορός

σὺ μέν, ὦ πατρὶς Ἰλιάς,
905

τῶν ἀπορθήτων πόλις οὐκέτι λέξῃ·

τοῖον Ἑλλάνων νέφος ἀμφί σε κρύπτει

δορὶ δὴ δορὶ πέρσαν.

ἀπὸ δὲ στεφάναν κέκαρ-
910

σαι πύργων, κατὰ δʼ αἰθάλου

κηλῖδʼ οἰκτροτάταν κέχρω-

σαι· τάλαινʼ,

οὐκέτι σʼ ἐμβατεύσω.

914

Χορός

μεσονύκτιος ὠλλύμαν,

ἦμος ἐκ δείπνων ὕπνος ἡδὺς ἐπʼ ὄσσοις
915

σκίδναται, μολπᾶν δʼ ἄπο καὶ χοροποιῶν

θυσιᾶν καταλύσας

πόσις ἐν θαλάμοις ἔκει-

το, ξυστὸν δʼ ἐπὶ πασσάλῳ,
920

ναύταν οὐκέθʼ ὁρῶν ὅμι-

λον Τροίαν

Ἰλιάδʼ ἐμβεβῶτα.

923

Χορός

ἐγὼ δὲ πλόκαμον ἀναδέτοις

μίτραισιν ἐρρυθμιζόμαν

χρυσέων ἐνόπτρων λεύσ-
925

σουσʼ ἀτέρμονας εἰς αὐγάς,

ἐπιδέμνιος ὡς πέσοιμʼ ἐς εὐνάν.

ἀνὰ δὲ κέλαδος ἔμολε πόλιν·

κέλευσμα δʼ ἦν κατʼ ἄστυ Τροί-

ας τόδʼ· Ὦ
930

παῖδες Ἑλλάνων, πότε δὴ πότε τὰν

Ἰλιάδα σκοπιὰν

πέρσαντες ἥξετʼ οἴκους;

933

Χορός

λέχη δὲ φίλια μονόπεπλος

λιποῦσα, Δωρὶς ὡς κόρα,

σεμνὰν προσίζουσʼ οὐκ
935

ἤνυσʼ Ἄρτεμιν ἁ τλάμων·

ἄγομαι δὲ θανόντʼ ἰδοῦσʼ ἀκοίταν

τὸν ἐμὸν ἅλιον ἐπὶ πέλαγος,

πόλιν τʼ ἀποσκοποῦσʼ, ἐπεὶ

νόστιμον
940

ναῦς ἐκίνησεν πόδα καί μʼ ἀπὸ γᾶς

ὥρισεν Ἰλιάδος·

τάλαινʼ, ἀπεῖπον ἄλγει,

943

Χορός

τὰν τοῖν Διοσκούροιν Ἑλέναν κάσιν

Ἰδαῖόν τε βούταν

αἰνόπαριν κατάρᾳ
945

διδοῦσʼ, ἐπεί με γᾶς ἐκ

πατρῴας ἀπώλεσεν

ἐξῴκισέν τʼ οἴκων γάμος, οὐ γάμος ἀλλʼ ἀ-

λάστορός τις οἰζύς·

ἃν μήτε πέλαγος ἅλιον ἀπαγάγοι πάλιν,
950

μήτε πα-

τρῷον ἵκοιτʼ ἐς οἶκον.

Translations (2)

Hecuba Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 905-950 focus

Chorus

No more, my native Ilium , shall you be counted among the towns never sacked; so thick a cloud of Hellene troops is settling all around, wasting you with the spear;
905

you are shorn of your crown of towers, and fouled most piteously with filthy soot; no more, ah me! shall I tread your streets.
910

914

Chorus

It was in the middle of the night my ruin came,

in the hour when sleep steals sweetly over the eyes after the feast is done. After the music and dancing, my husband had brought the sacrifice to an end and was lying in our bridal-chamber,
915

his spear hung on a peg; with never a thought of the sailor-throng encamped upon the Trojan shores.
920

923

Chorus

And I was braiding my tresses beneath a tight-drawn head-band

before my golden mirror’s countless rays, so that I might lie down to rest; when through the city rose a din, and a cry went ringing down the streets of Troy : You
925

sons of Hellas , when, oh! when will you sack the citadel of Ilium , and seek your homes?
930

933

Chorus

I left my bed, wearing only a tunic, like a Dorian girl,

and sought in vain, ah me! to station myself at the holy hearth of Artemis; for, after seeing my husband slain, I was led away over the broad sea; with many a backward look at my city,
935

when the ship began her homeward voyage and parted me from Ilium ’s strand; till alas! for very grief I fainted,
940

943

Chorus

Cursing Helen the sister of the Dioscuri, and Paris the baleful shepherd of Ida;

for it was their marriage, which was no marriage but misery sent by some demon, that robbed me of my country and drove me from my home.
945

Oh! may the sea’s salt flood never carry her home again; and may she never set foot in her father’s halls!
950

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

No corresponding passage available

Euripides Hecuba 923

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Experimental

Stable identifiers