Euripides, Hecuba, ed. Gilbert Murray, 1

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Πολυδώρου εἴδωλον

Ἥκω νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα καὶ σκότου πύλας
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λιπών, ἵνʼ Ἅιδης χωρὶς ᾤκισται θεῶν,

Πολύδωρος, Ἑκάβης παῖς γεγὼς τῆς Κισσέως

Πριάμου τε πατρός, ὅς μʼ, ἐπεὶ Φρυγῶν πόλιν

κίνδυνος ἔσχε δορὶ πεσεῖν Ἑλληνικῷ,
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δείσας ὑπεξέπεμψε Τρωικῆς χθονὸς

Πολυμήστορος πρὸς δῶμα Θρῃκίου ξένου,

ὃς τήν δʼ ἀρίστην Χερσονησίαν πλάκα

σπείρει, φίλιππον λαὸν εὐθύνων δορί.

πολὺν δὲ σὺν ἐμοὶ χρυσὸν ἐκπέμπει λάθρᾳ
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πατήρ, ἵνʼ, εἴ ποτʼ Ἰλίου τείχη πέσοι,

τοῖς ζῶσιν εἴη παισὶ μὴ σπάνις βίου.

νεώτατος δʼ ἦ Πριαμιδῶν, ὃ καί με γῆς

ὑπεξέπεμψεν· οὔτε γὰρ φέρειν ὅπλα

οὔτʼ ἔγχος οἷός τʼ ἦ νέῳ βραχίονι.
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ἕως μὲν οὖν γῆς ὄρθʼ ἔκειθʼ ὁρίσματα

πύργοι τʼ ἄθραυστοι Τρωικῆς ἦσαν χθονὸς

Ἕκτωρ τʼ ἀδελφὸς οὑμὸς εὐτύχει δορί,

καλῶς παρʼ ἀνδρὶ Θρῃκὶ πατρῴῳ ξένῳ

τροφαῖσιν ὥς τις πτόρθος ηὐξόμην, τάλας·
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ἐπεὶ δὲ Τροία θʼ Ἕκτορός τʼ ἀπόλλυται

ψυχή, πατρῴα θʼ ἑστία κατεσκάφη,

αὐτὸς δὲ βωμῷ πρὸς θεοδμήτῳ πίτνει

σφαγεὶς Ἀχιλλέως παιδὸς ἐκ μιαιφόνου,

κτείνει με χρυσοῦ τὸν ταλαίπωρον χάριν
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ξένος πατρῷος καὶ κτανὼν ἐς οἶδμʼ ἁλὸς

μεθῆχʼ, ἵνʼ αὐτὸς χρυσὸν ἐν δόμοις ἔχῃ.

κεῖμαι δʼ ἐπʼ ἀκταῖς, ἄλλοτʼ ἐν πόντου σάλῳ,

πολλοῖς διαύλοις κυμάτων φορούμενος,

ἄκλαυτος ἄταφος· νῦν δʼ ὑπὲρ μητρὸς φίλης
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Ἑκάβης ἀίσσω, σῶμʼ ἐρημώσας ἐμόν,

τριταῖον ἤδη φέγγος αἰωρούμενος,

ὅσονπερ ἐν γῇ τῇδε Χερσονησίᾳ

μήτηρ ἐμὴ δύστηνος ἐκ Τροίας πάρα.

Hecuba. Euripides. ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1902.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Ἑκάβη (Greek) (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. I. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902. (Reprinted 1906-1974))

Translations (3)

Hecuba Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 1 focus

Scene: Before Agamemnon’s tent in the Greek camp upon the shore of the Thracian Chersonese. The Ghost of Polydorus appears.

Ghost

I have come from out of the charnel-house and gates of gloom, where Hades dwells apart from gods, I Polydorus, a son of Hecuba, the daughter of Cisseus, and of Priam. Now my father, when Phrygia ’s capital
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was threatened with destruction by the spear of Hellas , took alarm and conveyed me secretly from the land of Troy to Polymestor’s house, his guest-friend in Thrace , who sows these fruitful plains of Chersonese , curbing by his might a nation delighting in horses.
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And with me my father sent much gold by stealth, so that, if ever Ilium ’s walls should fall, his children that survived might not want for means to live. I was the youngest of Priam’s sons; and this it was that caused my secret removal from the land; for my childish arm was not able
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to carry weapons or to wield the spear. So long then as the bulwarks of our land stood firm, and Troy ’s battlements abode unshaken, and my brother Hector prospered in his warring, I, poor child, grew up and flourished, like some vigorous shoot,
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at the court of the Thracian, my father’s guest-friend. But when Troy fell and Hector lost his life and my father’s hearth was rooted up, and he himself fell butchered at the god-built altar by the hands of Achilles’ murderous son;
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then my father’s friend killed me, his helpless guest, for the sake of the gold, and then cast me into the swell of the sea, to keep the gold for himself in his house. And there I lie, at one time upon the strand, at another in the salt sea’s surge, drifting ever up and down upon the billows,
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unwept, unburied; but now I am hovering over the head of my dear mother Hecuba, a disembodied spirit, keeping my airy station these three days, ever since my poor mother came from Troy to linger here in the Chersonese .
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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

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1841; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (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.) — 1 focus

Dem Thal der Todten und dem Thor der Finsterniß,¹²
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Wo fern den Göttern Hades wohnt, entwandert' ich

Polydoros, Sohn des Priamos und Hekabe's,

Der Tochter Kisseus'. Als Gefahr die Phrygerstadt³

Umfing, zu fallen durch den Speer von Hellas Volk;
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Da sandte fürchtend Priamos von Troja mich

Zu Polymestor, seinem Freund in Thrakia,

Der hier des Chersonesos beste Flur bestellt,⁴

Und mit dem Speer ein roſſeliebend Volk regirt.

Auch viel des Goldes sandt' er ingeheim mit mir,
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Daß, wenn die Mauern Ilions hinsånken einst,

Nicht darbten seine Kinder, die noch übrig sei'n.

Ich war der Söhne jungster; drum entsandt' er auch

Mich aus dem Lande: weder Schild noch Lanze ja

zu führen taugt ich Knabe schon mit meinem Arm.
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So lange Troja's Mauer ungebrochen stand,

Und unzertrümmert seine Thurm' aushielten, auch

Mein Bruder Hektor glücklich rang im Speereskampf,

Erwuchs ich bei des Vaters Freund, dem Thrakier,

Ich Armer, wie des Baumes Sproß, liebreich gepflegt.
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Doch als die Zinnen Ilions, als Hektor auch

Gefallen, meines Vaters Heerd zertrummert ward,

Er selbst am gottgeweihten Hochaltare sank,

Vom Sohn' Achilleus' hingewürgt in grausem Mord:

Erschlug des Goldes halber mich Unseligen
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Der Freund des Vaters, und versenkt in Meeresflut

Den Todten, daß er selber Herr des Goldes sei.

Am Ufer lieg' ich, unbestattet, unbeweint,

Bald treib' ich hoch auf wildem Meer, umhergewogt

Vom Wellenstrudel: nun verließ ich meinen Leib,
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Der Mutter wegen wandl' ich um, der Hekabe,

Und hebe mich zum Lichte schon den dritten Tag,

Seitdem die theure Mutter (unglückselig Loos!)

Auf diesem Insellande weilt, von Troja fern.

Notes on the current edition

Hecuba

τὰ τοῦ δράματος πρόσωπα

Πολυδώρου εἴδωλον

Ἑκάβη

Χορός Αἰχμαλωτίδων Γυναικών

Πολυξένη

Ὀδυσσεύς

Ταλθύβιος

Θεράπαινα

Ἀγαμέμνων

Πολυμήστωρ

τὰ τοῦ δράματος πρόσωπα

Euripides Hecuba 1

ed. Gilbert Murray

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