View:
By Card
Chorus
At thy knees I fall, aged dame, and my old lips beseech thee;
arise, rescue from the slain my children’s bodies, whose limbs, by death relaxed, are left a prey to savage mountain beasts,
45
At thy knees I fall, aged dame, and my old lips beseech thee;
arise, rescue from the slain my children’s bodies, whose limbs, by death relaxed, are left a prey to savage mountain beasts,
45
Chorus
beholding the bitter tears which spring to my eyes
and my old wrinkled skin torn by my hands; for what can I do else? who never laid out my children dead within my halls, nor now behold their tombs heaped up with earth.
50
beholding the bitter tears which spring to my eyes
and my old wrinkled skin torn by my hands; for what can I do else? who never laid out my children dead within my halls, nor now behold their tombs heaped up with earth.
50
Chorus
Thou too, honoured lady, once a son didst bear,
crowning thy lord’s marriage with fond joy; then share, O share with me thy mother’s feelings, in such measure as my sad heart grieves for my own dead sons;
55
and persuade thy son, whose aid we implore, to go unto the river Ismenus, there to place within my hapless arms the bodies of my children, slain in their prime and left without a tomb.
1
60
Thou too, honoured lady, once a son didst bear,
crowning thy lord’s marriage with fond joy; then share, O share with me thy mother’s feelings, in such measure as my sad heart grieves for my own dead sons;
55
and persuade thy son, whose aid we implore, to go unto the river Ismenus, there to place within my hapless arms the bodies of my children, slain in their prime and left without a tomb.
1
60
Chorus
Though
2
not as piety enjoins, yet from sheer necessity I have come to the fire-crowned altars of the gods, falling on my knees with instant supplication,
for my cause is just, and ’tis in thy power, blest as thou art in thy children, to remove from me my woe; so in my sore distress I do beseech thee of my misery place in my hands my son’s
65
dead body, that I may throw my arms about his hapless limbs.
70
Though
2
not as piety enjoins, yet from sheer necessity I have come to the fire-crowned altars of the gods, falling on my knees with instant supplication,
for my cause is just, and ’tis in thy power, blest as thou art in thy children, to remove from me my woe; so in my sore distress I do beseech thee of my misery place in my hands my son’s
65
dead body, that I may throw my arms about his hapless limbs.
70
Chorus
Behold a rivalry in sorrow! woe takes up the tale of woe; hark! thy servants beat their breasts. Come ye who join the mourners’ wail, come, O sympathetic band, to join the dance,
Behold a rivalry in sorrow! woe takes up the tale of woe; hark! thy servants beat their breasts. Come ye who join the mourners’ wail, come, O sympathetic band, to join the dance,
Chorus
Sorrow’s charm doth drive me wild, insatiate, painful,
endless, even as the trickling stream that gushes from some steep rock’s face; for ’tis woman’s way to fall a-weeping o’er
80
the cruel calamity of children dead. Ah me! would I could die and forget my anguish!
85
Sorrow’s charm doth drive me wild, insatiate, painful,
endless, even as the trickling stream that gushes from some steep rock’s face; for ’tis woman’s way to fall a-weeping o’er
80
the cruel calamity of children dead. Ah me! would I could die and forget my anguish!
85
The Suppliant Maidens. Euripides. E. P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by Tufts University.