Euripides Ion 836

ed. Gilbert Murray

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Πρεσβύτης

καὶ τῶνδʼ ἁπάντων ἔσχατον πείσῃ κακόν·

ἀμήτορʼ, ἀναρίθμητον, ἐκ δούλης τινὸς

γυναικός, ἐς σὸν δῶμα δεσπότην ἄγειν.

ἁπλοῦν ἂν ἦν γὰρ τὸ κακόν, εἰ παρʼ εὐγενοῦς

μητρός, πιθών σε, σὴν λέγων ἀπαιδίαν,
840

ἐσῴκισʼ οἴκους· εἰ δὲ σοὶ τόδʼ ἦν πικρόν,

τῶν Αἰόλου νιν χρῆν ὀρεχθῆναι γάμων.

ἐκ τῶνδε δεῖ σε δὴ γυναικεῖόν τι δρᾶν·

ἢ γὰρ ξίφος λαβοῦσαν ἢ δόλῳ τινὶ

ἢ φαρμάκοισι σὸν κατακτεῖναι πόσιν
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καὶ παῖδα, πρὶν σοὶ θάνατον ἐκ κείνων μολεῖν.

εἰ γάρ γʼ ὑφήσεις τοῦδʼ, ἀπαλλάξῃ βίου.

δυοῖν γὰρ ἐχθροῖν εἰς ἓν ἐλθόντοιν στέγος,

ἢ θάτερον δεῖ δυστυχεῖν ἢ θάτερον.

ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν σοι καὶ συνεκπονεῖν θέλω,
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καὶ συμφονεύειν παῖδʼ ἐπεισελθὼν δόμους

οὗ δαῖθʼ ὁπλίζει, καὶ τροφεῖα δεσπόταις

ἀποδοὺς θανεῖν τε ζῶν τε φέγγος εἰσορᾶν.

ἓν γάρ τι τοῖς δούλοισιν αἰσχύνην φέρει,

τοὔνομα· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα πάντα τῶν ἐλευθέρων
855

οὐδὲν κακίων δοῦλος, ὅστις ἐσθλὸς ᾖ.

Χορός

κἀγώ, φίλη δέσποινα, συμφορὰν θέλω

κοινουμένη τήνδʼ ἢ θανεῖν ἢ ζῆν καλῶς.

Ion. Euripides. ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Ἴων (Greek) (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. II. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1921-1962))

Editions (3)

Ion, Greek text (M. A. Bayfield, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (The Greek text and dramatic structure of M. A. Bayfield's second edition of 1924 (first edition 1889), aligned by line to the Murray reference edition.)

No corresponding passage available

Ion, Greek text (A. W. Verrall, 1890) (OCR draft) Experimental (The Greek text and dramatic structure of A. W. Verrall's 1890 edition, aligned by line to the Murray reference edition.)

No corresponding passage available

Ion, Greek text (Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1926) (OCR draft) Experimental (Wilamowitz's 1926 Greek edition with its critical apparatus, aligned by line to the Murray reference edition.)

No corresponding passage available

Translations (4)

Ion Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906.) — 836 focus

Old Servant

Of all thy wretched fate this will be the crowning sorrow, the bringing to thy house to be its lord some slave-girl’s child, whose mother is unknown, himself of no account. For this evil had been to itself confined,

had he persuaded thee, pleading thy childlessness, to let him establish in the house some high-born mother’s son; or if this had displeased thee, he ought to have sought a daughter of Aeolus in marriage. Wherefore must thou now put thy woman’s wit to work; either take the dagger, or by guile
840

or poison slay thy husband and his son, ere they deal out death to thee; since if thou spare him, thou wilt lose thy own life; for when two foes meet beneath one roof, one or the other must rue it.
845

Myself too am ready to share this labour with thee, and to help destroy the child when I have made my way into the chamber where he is furnishing the feast, and so repaying my masters for my maintenance I am willing either to die or still behold the light of life. ’Tis but a single thing that brands the slave with shame—
850

his name; in all else no upright slave is a whit worse than freeborn men.
855

Chorus

I too, beloved mistress, am ready to share thy fate, be it death or victory.

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

No corresponding passage available

Ion, English translation (A. W. Verrall, 1890) (OCR draft) Experimental (A. W. Verrall's English verse translation, passage-aligned to the Murray reference edition.)

No corresponding passage available

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1852; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (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.) — 836 focus

Von diesem allem duldest du das Aergste noch:

Ein Sklavenkind, verachtet, ohne Mutter, führt

Er dir in's Haus als Herrscher! Einfach wäre doch

Das Uebel, ließ er einer edeln Mutter Kind,

Wenn du's, die kinderlose Frau, gestattetest,
825

Einziehn im Hause: oder fiel dir dieses schwer,

Was freit' er keine vom Geschlecht des Aeolos?

Deswegen ziemt dir's, eine Frauenthat zu thun:

Du mußt ein Schwert ergreifen, mußt durch eine List,

Durch einen Gifttrank dein Gemahl und seinen Sohn
830

Dem Tode weihen, eh' er dir von ihnen kommt.

Versäumst du dieses, opferst du dein Leben auf.

Denn treffen unter Einem Dach zwei Feinde sich,

So muß von beiden Einer wohl zu Grunde gehn.

Ich meines Theiles bin bereit dir beizustehn,
835

Den Sohn zu morden im Gemach, wo Xuthos ihm

Das Mahl bestellt, und meinen Nåhrern so den Dank

Bezahlen d sterb' ich oder leb' im Sonnenlicht.

Denn was den Sklaven Schande bringt, ist einzig nur

Der Name; sonst in Allem ist ein Sklave ja
840

Nicht schlechter als die Freien, wenn er wacker ist.

Der Chor.

Auch ich, o Herrin, will mit dir dies Leid bestehn,

Und sterben oder lebend mich des Nuhmes freun.

Kreusa.