Euripides, Electra, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 150

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O verwunde dein Haupt!

Dem süßtönenden Schwane gleich,

Der am Ufer des Stroms umher

Nach dem trauten Vater ruft,
150

Welchen trüglicher Schlingen Nez

Todtend umsing, so wein' ich laut,

Unglückseliger Vater, um dich,

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

Current edition Experimental

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1852; OCR review) (OCR draft) (German) (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.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ἠλέκτρα Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. II. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1921-1962)) — 112-212 focus

Ἠλέκτρα

σύντεινʼ — ὥρα — ποδὸς ὁρμάν· ὤ,

ἔμβα, ἔμβα κατακλαίουσα·

ἰώ μοί μοι.

ἐγενόμαν Ἀγαμέμνονος
115

καί μʼ ἔτεκεν Κλυταιμήστρα

στυγνὰ Τυνδάρεω κόρα,

κικλήσκουσι δέ μʼ ἀθλίαν

Ἠλέκτραν πολιῆται.

φεῦ φεῦ σχετλίων πόνων
120

καὶ στυγερᾶς ζόας.

ὦ πάτερ, σὺ δʼ ἐν Ἀΐδα

κεῖσαι, σᾶς ἀλόχου σφαγαῖς

Αἰγίσθου τʼ, Ἀγάμεμνον.

125

Ἠλέκτρα

ἴθι τὸν αὐτὸν ἔγειρε γόον,
125

ἄναγε πολύδακρυν ἁδονάν.

127

Ἠλέκτρα

σύντεινʼ — ὥρα — ποδὸς ὁρμάν· ὤ,

ἔμβα, ἔμβα, κατακλαίουσα·

ἰώ μοί μοι.

τίνα πόλιν, τίνα δʼ οἶκον, ὦ
130

τλᾶμον σύγγονʼ, ἀλατεύεις

οἰκτρὰν ἐν θαλάμοις λιπὼν

πατρῴοις ἐπὶ συμφοραῖς

ἀλγίσταισιν ἀδελφάν;

ἔλθοις τῶνδε πόνων ἐμοὶ
135

τᾷ μελέᾳ λυτήρ,

ὦ Ζεῦ Ζεῦ, πατρί θʼ αἱμάτων

ἐχθίστων ἐπίκουρος, Ἄρ-

γει κέλσας πόδʼ ἀλάταν.

140

Ἠλέκτρα

θὲς τόδε τεῦχος ἐμῆς ἀπὸ κρατὸς ἑ-
140

λοῦσʼ, ἵνα πατρὶ γόους νυχίους

ἐπορθροβοάσω,

ἰαχάν, Ἀΐδα μέλος,

Ἀΐδα, πάτερ, σοι

κατὰ γᾶς ἐνέπω γόους

οἷς ἀεὶ τὸ κατʼ ἦμαρ
145

διέπομαι, κατὰ μὲν φίλαν

ὄνυχι τεμνομένα δέραν

χέρα τε κρᾶτʼ ἐπὶ κούριμον

τιθεμένα θανάτῳ σῷ.

150

Ἠλέκτρα

αἶ αἶ, δρύπτε κάρα·
150

οἷα δέ τις κύκνος ἀχέτας

ποταμίοις παρὰ χεύμασιν

πατέρα φίλτατον καλεῖ,

ὀλόμενον δολίοις βρόχων

ἕρκεσιν, ὣς σὲ τὸν ἄθλιον,
155

πάτερ, ἐγὼ κατακλαίομαι,

157

Ἠλέκτρα

λουτρὰ πανύσταθʼ ὑδρανάμενον χροῒ

κοίτᾳ ἐν οἰκτροτάτᾳ θανάτου.

ἰώ μοι, ἰώ μοι

πικρᾶς μὲν πελέκεως τομᾶς
160

σᾶς, πάτερ, πικρᾶς δʼ ἐκ

Τροΐας ὁδίου βουλᾶς·

οὐ μίτραισι γυνή σε

δέξατʼ οὐδʼ ἐπὶ στεφάνοις,

ξίφεσι δʼ ἀμφιτόμοις λυγρὰν

Αἰγίσθου λώβαν θεμένα
165

δόλιον ἔσχεν ἀκοίταν.

167

Χορός

Ἀγαμέμνονος ὦ κόρα,

ἤλυθον, Ἠλέκτρα, ποτὶ

σὰν ἀγρότειραν αὐλάν.

ἔμολέ τις ἔμολεν γαλακτοπότας ἀνὴρ
170

Μυκηναῖος ὀρειβάτας·

ἀγγέλλει δʼ ὅτι νῦν τριταί-

αν καρύσσουσιν θυσίαν

Ἀργεῖοι, πᾶσαι δὲ παρʼ Ἥ-

ραν μέλλουσιν παρθενικαὶ στείχειν.

Ἠλέκτρα

οὐκ ἐπʼ ἀγλαΐαις, φίλαι,
175

θυμὸν οὐδʼ ἐπὶ χρυσέοις

ὅρμοις ἐκπεπόταμαι

τάλαινʼ, οὐδʼ ἱστᾶσα χοροὺς

Ἀργείαις ἅμα νύμφαις

εἱλικτὸν κρούσω πόδʼ ἐμόν.
180

δάκρυσι νυχεύ-

ω, δακρύων δέ μοι μέλει

δειλαίᾳ τὸ κατʼ ἦμαρ.

σκέψαι μου πιναρὰν κόμαν

καὶ τρύχη τάδʼ ἐμῶν πέπλων,
185

εἰ πρέποντʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος

κούρᾳ ʼσται βασιλείᾳ

τᾷ Τροίᾳ θʼ, ἃ ʼμοῦ πατέρος

μέμναταί ποθʼ ἁλοῦσα.

190

Χορός

μεγάλα θεός· ἀλλʼ ἴθι,
190

καὶ παρʼ ἐμοῦ χρῆσαι πολύ-

πηνα φάρεα δῦναι,

χρύσεά τε — χαρίσαι — προσθήματʼ ἀγλαΐας.

δοκεῖς τοῖσι σοῖς δακρύοις

μὴ τιμῶσα θεούς, κρατή-

σειν ἐχθρῶν; οὔτοι στοναχαῖς,
195

ἀλλʼ εὐχαῖσι θεοὺς σεβί-

ζουσʼ ἕξεις εὐαμερίαν, ὦ παῖ.

Ἠλέκτρα

οὐδεὶς θεῶν ἐνοπᾶς κλύει

τᾶς δυσδαίμονος, οὐ παλαι-

ῶν πατρὸς σφαγιασμῶν.
200

οἴμοι τοῦ καταφθιμένου

τοῦ τε ζῶντος ἀλάτα,

ὅς που γᾶν ἄλλαν κατέχει,

μέλεος ἀλαί-

νων ποτὶ θῆσσαν ἑστίαν,
205

τοῦ κλεινοῦ πατρὸς ἐκφύς.

αὐτὰ δʼ ἐν χερνῆσι δόμοις

ναίω ψυχὰν τακομένα

δωμάτων πατρίων φυγάς,

οὐρείας ἀνʼ ἐρίπνας.
210

μάτηρ δʼ ἐν λέκτροις φονίοις

ἄλλῳ σύγγαμος οἰκεῖ.

Translations (2)

Electra Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 112-210 focus

Electra

Hasten your step, it is time; go onward, onward, weeping! Ah me!

I am Agamemnon’s child, and Clytemnestra, hated daughter of Tyndareus, bore me; the citizens call me unhappy Electra.
115

Alas for my cruel pain and hateful life! O father, Agamemnon, you lie in Hades, by the butchery of your wife and Aegisthus.
120

125

Electra

Come, waken the same lament, take up the enjoyment of long weeping.
125

127

Electra

Hasten your step, it is time; go onward, onward, weeping. Ah me!

In what city and what household do you wander about, my wretched brother, leaving your pitiable sister in our ancestral home, to great pain?
130

Come to me, the unhappy one, as a deliverer from this pain, oh Zeus, Zeus, and as a defender for my father against his most hateful bloodshed; bring the wanderer to shore in Argos .
135

140

Electra

Take this pitcher from my head and put it down, so that I may cry aloud the night-time laments for my father. A wail, a song of death, of death, for you, father, under the earth, I speak the laments
140

in which I am always engaged, day by day, tearing my skin with my nails, and striking my cropped head with my hand, for your death.
145

150

Electra

Oh, oh, tear my face; as a clear-sounding swan beside the river’s streams calls to its dearest father, dying in the crafty snares of the
150

net, so I lament you, my unhappy father,
155

157

Electra

washed by the very last bath, in the most piteous bed of death. Oh, me,

your bitter cleaving by the axe, father, the bitter plans of the way from Troy ! Your wife welcomed you with no victor’s garlands or crowns, but with a two-edged sword,
160

making you the mournful victim of Aigisthus, she got a treacherous bed-fellow.
165

167

Chorus

O Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, I have come to your rustic courtyard. A milk-drinker from Mycenae has come, he has come,

a mountain walker; he reports that the Argives are proclaiming a sacrifice for the third day from now, and that all maidens are to go to Hera’s temple.
170

Electra

My unhappy heart beats fast, friends, but not at adornment or gold; nor will I set up choruses with the maidens of Argos
175

and beat my foot in the mazes of the dance. By tears I pass the night; tears are my unhappy care day by day. See if my filthy hair,
180

and the rags of my dress, will be fit for a princess, a daughter of Agamemnon, or for Troy , once taken, which remembers my father.
185

190

Chorus

Mighty is the goddess; come then, and borrow from me thick-woven clothes to wear, and gold—as a favor to me—accessories to adornment. Do you think to rule over your enemies by tears, if you do not revere the gods?
190

Honoring the gods not by lamentation but by prayers, you will have good fortune, child.
195

Electra

No god attends to the voice of the ill-fated one,

or to the slaying of my father long ago. Alas for the dead, and for the living vagabond, who dwells in another land somewhere,
200

miserably wandering to a slave’s hearth, yet born of that renowned father. I myself live in a poor man’s house, wasting my life away, an exile from my father’s house,
205

on the mountain crags. But my mother, with a new husband, makes her home in a bed stained by blood.
210

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

No corresponding passage available

Euripides Electra 150

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

O verwunde dein Haupt!

Dem süßtönenden Schwane gleich,

Der am Ufer des Stroms umher

Nach dem trauten Vater ruft,
150

Welchen trüglicher Schlingen Nez

Todtend umsing, so wein' ich laut,

Unglückseliger Vater, um dich,

Current edition Experimental

Ἠλέκτρα

ἴθι τὸν αὐτὸν ἔγειρε γόον,
125

ἄναγε πολύδακρυν ἁδονάν.

Electra

Come, waken the same lament, take up the enjoyment of long weeping.
125

Electra

Oh, oh, tear my face; as a clear-sounding swan beside the river’s streams calls to its dearest father, dying in the crafty snares of the
150

net, so I lament you, my unhappy father,
155

Chorus

O Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, I have come to your rustic courtyard. A milk-drinker from Mycenae has come, he has come,

a mountain walker; he reports that the Argives are proclaiming a sacrifice for the third day from now, and that all maidens are to go to Hera’s temple.
170

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

O verwunde dein Haupt! Dem süßtönenden Schwane gleich, Der am Ufer des Stroms umher Nach dem trauten Vater ruft, 150 Welchen trüglicher Schlingen Nez Todtend umsing, so wein' ich laut, Unglückseliger Vater, um dich,

Current edition Experimental

Ἠλέκτρα ἴθι τὸν αὐτὸν ἔγειρε γόον, 125 ἄναγε πολύδακρυν ἁδονάν.

Electra Come, waken the same lament, take up the enjoyment of long weeping. 125

Electra Oh, oh, tear my face; as a clear-sounding swan beside the river’s streams calls to its dearest father, dying in the crafty snares of the 150 net, so I lament you, my unhappy father, 155

Chorus O Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, I have come to your rustic courtyard. A milk-drinker from Mycenae has come, he has come, a mountain walker; he reports that the Argives are proclaiming a sacrifice for the third day from now, and that all maidens are to go to Hera’s temple. 170

Stable identifiers

O verwunde dein Haupt!

Dem süßtönenden Schwane gleich,

Der am Ufer des Stroms umher

Nach dem trauten Vater ruft,
150

Welchen trüglicher Schlingen Nez

Todtend umsing, so wein' ich laut,

Unglückseliger Vater, um dich,

Ἠλέκτρα

ἴθι τὸν αὐτὸν ἔγειρε γόον,
125

ἄναγε πολύδακρυν ἁδονάν.

Electra

Come, waken the same lament, take up the enjoyment of long weeping.
125

Electra

Oh, oh, tear my face; as a clear-sounding swan beside the river’s streams calls to its dearest father, dying in the crafty snares of the
150

net, so I lament you, my unhappy father,
155

Chorus

O Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, I have come to your rustic courtyard. A milk-drinker from Mycenae has come, he has come,

a mountain walker; he reports that the Argives are proclaiming a sacrifice for the third day from now, and that all maidens are to go to Hera’s temple.
170