Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 178

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Ein Lied, antwortend dem Liede, Gesang

In barbarischem Ton, asiatischem Klang,

O Gebieterin, heb' ich dir an,¹

Die Gesänge der Trauer in Liedern,

Wie Hades ohne des Paans Laut
175

Anstimmt, den Entschlafnen geweiht.²

Weh' über den Stamm der Atreiden! Das Licht³

Einheimischer Zepter erloschen,

Und dahin dein Vatergeschlecht!

Bei welchem der glucklichen Herrscher
180

In Argos' Lande begann's?

Drangsal stürmt' her auf Drangsal,

Da mit kreisendem Flügelgespanne,

Sein heiliges Aug' abwendend, der Gott

Die durchmessenen Bahnen zuruckfloh.⁴
185

Und zum anderen Leid kam anderes Leid⁵

Um das goldene Lamm in der Herrscher Palast,

Mord auf Mord und Mühn auf Mühen.

Drum schreitet ihr Haus durch råchend der Geist

Der erschlagenen Tantalossöhne,
190

Und es stürzt in unheilbringendem Sturz

Sich ein Damon auf dich.

Iphigenia.

Iphigenia in Tauris. Euripides. Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator). . .

Current edition Experimental

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1845; OCR review) (OCR draft) (German) (Euripides. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Volume 2, Heidelberg: C. F. Winter, 1845. 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)

Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. II. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1921-1962)) — 123-235 focus

Χορός

εὐφαμεῖτʼ, ὦ

πόντου δισσὰς συγχωρούσας

πέτρας Ἀξείνου ναίοντες.
125

ὦ παῖ τᾶς Λατοῦς,

Δίκτυννʼ οὐρεία,

πρὸς σὰν αὐλάν, εὐστύλων

ναῶν χρυσήρεις θριγκούς,

πόδα παρθένιον ὅσιον ὁσίας
130

κλῃδούχου δούλα πέμπω,

Ἑλλάδος εὐίππου πύργους

καὶ τείχη χόρτων τʼ εὐδένδρων

ἐξαλλάξασʼ Εὐρώπαν,
135

πατρῴων οἴκων ἕδρας.

ἔμολον· τί νέον; τίνα φροντίδʼ ἔχεις;

τί με πρὸς ναοὺς ἄγαγες ἄγαγες,

ὦ παῖ τοῦ τᾶς Τροίας πύργους

ἐλθόντος κλεινᾷ σὺν κώπᾳ
140

χιλιοναύτα

μυριοτευχοῦς Ἀτρείδα; τῶν κλεινῶν;

143

Ἰφιγένεια

ἰὼ δμωαί,

δυσθρηνήτοις ὡς θρήνοις

ἔγκειμαι, τᾶς οὐκ εὐμούσου
145

μολπᾶς βοὰν ἀλύροις ἐλέγοις, αἰαῖ,

αἰαῖ, κηδείοις οἴκτοισιν·

αἵ μοι συμβαίνουσʼ ἆται,

σύγγονον ἁμὸν κατακλαιομένα

ζωᾶς, οἵαν οἵαν ἰδόμαν
150

ὄψιν ὀνείρων

νυκτός, τᾶς ἐξῆλθʼ ὄρφνα.

ὀλόμαν ὀλόμαν·

οὐκ εἴσʼ οἶκοι πατρῷοι·

οἴμοι μοι φροῦδος γέννα.

φεῦ φεῦ τῶν Ἄργει μόχθων.
155

ἰὼ δαῖμον,

μόνον ὅς με κασίγνητον συλᾷς

Ἀίδᾳ πέμψας, ᾧ τάσδε χοὰς

μέλλω κρατῆρά τε τὸν φθιμένων
160

ὑδραίνειν γαίας ἐν νώτοις

πηγάς τʼ οὐρείων ἐκ μόσχων

Βάκχου τʼ οἰνηρὰς λοιβὰς

ξουθᾶν τε πόνημα μελισσᾶν,
165

ἃ νεκροῖς θελκτήρια κεῖται.

ἀλλʼ ἔνδος μοι πάγχρυσον

τεῦχος καὶ λοιβὰν Ἅιδα.

ὦ κατὰ γαίας Ἀγαμεμνόνιον
170

θάλος, ὡς φθιμένῳ τάδε σοι πέμπω·

δέξαι δʼ· οὐ γὰρ πρὸς τύμβον σοι

ξανθὰν χαίταν, οὐ δάκρυʼ οἴσω.

τηλόσε γὰρ δὴ σᾶς ἀπενάσθην
175

πατρίδος καὶ ἐμᾶς, ἔνθα δοκήμασι

κεῖμαι σφαχθεῖσʼ ἁ τλάμων.

178

Χορός

ἀντιψάλμους ᾠδὰς ὕμνων τʼ

Ἀσιητᾶν σοι βάρβαρον ἀχὰν
180

δεσποίνᾳ γʼ ἐξαυδάσω,

τὰν ἐν θρήνοισιν μοῦσαν

νέκυσι μελομέναν, τὰν ἐν μολπαῖς

Ἅιδας ὑμνεῖ δίχα παιάνων.
185

οἴμοι, τῶν Ἀτρειδᾶν οἴκων·

ἔρρει φῶς σκήπτρων, οἴμοι,

πατρῴων οἴκων.

ἦν ἐκ τῶν εὐόλβων Ἄργει

βασιλέων ἀρχά,
190

μόχθος δʼ ἐκ μόχθων ᾄσσει·

δινευούσαις ἵπποισι ῥιφαὶ

Πέλοπος πταναῖς· ἀλλάξας δʼ ἐξ

ἕδρας ἱερὸν ἱερὸν ὄμμʼ αὐγᾶς

ἅλιος. ἄλλαις δʼ ἄλλα προσέβα
195

χρυσέας ἀρνὸς μελάθροις ὀδύνα,

φόνος ἐπὶ φόνῳ, ἄχεα ἄχεσιν

ἔνθεν τῶν πρόσθεν δμαθέντων

Τανταλιδᾶν ἐκβαίνει ποινά γʼ
200

εἰς οἴκους, σπεύδει δʼ ἀσπούδαστʼ

ἐπὶ σοὶ δαίμων.

203

Ἰφιγένεια

ἐξ ἀρχᾶς μοι δυσδαίμων

δαίμων τᾶς ματρὸς ζώνας

καὶ νυκτὸς κείνας· ἐξ ἀρχᾶς
205

λόχιαι στερρὰν παιδείαν

Μοῖραι ξυντείνουσιν θεαί,

τᾷ μναστευθείσᾳ ʼξ Ἑλλάνων,

ἃν πρωτόγονον θάλος ἐν θαλάμοις

Λήδας ἁ τλάμων κούρα
210

σφάγιον πατρῴᾳ λώβᾳ

καὶ θῦμʼ οὐκ εὐγάθητον

ἔτεκεν, ἔτρεφεν εὐκταίαν·

ἱππείοις δʼ ἐν δίφροισι

ψαμάθων Αὐλίδος ἐπέβασαν
215

νύμφαιον, οἴμοι, δύσνυμφον

τῷ τᾶς Νηρέως κούρας, αἰαῖ.

νῦν δʼ ἀξείνου πόντου ξείνα

δυσχόρτους οἴκους ναίω,

ἄγαμος ἄτεκνος ἄπολις ἄφιλος,
220

οὐ τὰν Ἄργει μέλπουσʼ Ἥραν

οὐδʼ ἱστοῖς ἐν καλλιφθόγγοις

κερκίδι Παλλάδος Ἀτθίδος εἰκὼ

καὶ Τιτάνων ποικίλλουσʼ, ἀλλʼ

αἱμόρραντον δυσφόρμιγγα
225

ξείνων αἱμάσσουσʼ ἄταν βωμούς,

οἰκτράν τʼ αἰαζόντων αὐδὰν

οἰκτρόν τʼ ἐκβαλλόντων δάκρυον.

καὶ νῦν κείνων μέν μοι λάθα,

τὸν δʼ Ἄργει δμαθέντα κλαίω
230

σύγγονον, ὃν ἔλιπον ἐπιμαστίδιον,

ἔτι βρέφος, ἔτι νέον, ἔτι θάλος

ἐν χερσὶν ματρὸς πρὸς στέρνοις τʼ

Ἄργει σκηπτοῦχον Ὀρέσταν.
235

Translations (2)

Iphigenia Among the Tauri Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 123-235 focus

Chorus

Keep a holy silence, you who inhabit the double clashing

rocks of the Black Sea !
125

O daughter of Leto, Dictynna of the mountains, to your hall, to the golden walls of your temple with beautiful pillars,

I, the servant of the holy key-holder, bend my holy virgin steps. For I have left the towers and walls of Hellas , famous for horses, and
130

Europe with its forests, my father’s home.
135

I have come. What is the news? What is troubling you? Why have you brought me, brought me to the shrine, you who are the daughter of Atreus’ son, master of a thousand ships and ten thousand soldiers,

who came to the towers of Troy with a famous fleet?
140

143

Iphigenia

Oh! My servants, how I am involved in mournful dirges,

in laments unfit for the lyre, of a song that is not melodious, alas! alas! wailing for my family. Ruin has come to me; I am lamenting the life of my brother,
145

such a vision I saw in my dreams, in the night whose darkness is now over.
150

I am lost, lost! My father’s house is no more; alas for my vanished family,

alas for the sufferings of Argos ! O fate, I had one brother only and you carry him off and send him to Hades. For him,
155

I am about to pour over the back of the earth these libations and the bowl of the dead: streams of milk from mountain cows, and offerings of wine from Bacchus,
160

and the labor of the tawny bees; these sacrifices are soothing to the dead.
165

(To a servant) Give me the golden vessel and the libation of Hades.

O child of Agamemnon beneath the earth, I send these to you as one dead. Accept them; for I will not bring to your tomb my yellow hair or my tears.
170

I live far indeed from your country and mine, where I am thought to lie, unhappily slaughtered.
175

178

Chorus

I will sing for you, my mistress, responsive songs and

a barbarian cry of Asian hymns; this song, dear to the dead,
180

Hades sings in laments, in chants—not songs of triumph.
185

Alas for the house of the Atreidae; the light of their scepter, alas, of the ancestral house, is lost. Once they ruled

as prosperous kings in Argos , but troubles dart out from troubles: Pelops, on his horses swiftly whirling, made his cast; the sun changed from its seat the holy beam of its rays.
190

One pain comes after another, to the house of the golden lamb. . . . from that earlier time when the Tantalids were killed,
195

punishment came to the house, and fate presses what you do not want upon you.
200

203

Iphigenia

From the beginning my fate was unhappy, from that first night of my mather’s marriage;

from the beginning the Fates attendant on my birth directed a hard upbringing for me, wooed by Hellenes, the first-born child in the home,
205

whom the unhappy daughter of Leda, by my father’s fault, bore as a victim and a sacrifice not joyful, she brought me up as an offering. In the horse-drawn chariot,
210

they set me as a bride on the sands of Aulis , oh woe, a wretched bride for the son of the Nereid, alas! But now, as a stranger I live in an unfertile home on this sea that is hostile to strangers,
215

without marriage, or children, or city, or friends, not raising hymns to Hera at Argos , nor embroidering with my shuttle, in the singing loom, the likeness of Athenian Pallas and the Titans; but
220

. . . a bloody fate, not to be hymned by the lyre, of strangers who wail a piteous cry and weep piteous tears. And now I must forget these things,
225

and lament my brother, killed in Argos , whom I left at the breast, still a baby, still an infant, still a young child in his mother’s arms and at her breast,
230

the holder of the scepter in Argos , Orestes.
235

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

No corresponding passage available

Notes on the current edition

Iphigenia in Tauris

1. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] Ε. δέσποιν', ἐξαυδάσω.

2. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] Ε. νέκυσι μελομέναν. M. f. Hermanns Ausgabe.

3. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] ff. L. οἴμοι, τῶν ᾿Ατρειδᾶν οἶκων ἔῤῥει φῶς σκήπτρων, οἴμοι, τῶν σῶν πατρῴων οἴκων.

4. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] 2. ἱερὸν μετέβαλεν ὄμμ' αὐγᾶς. Im zweiten Anapäst ist die Länge in zwei Kürzen aufgelöst. Nach dem Tode des Pelops (berichtet ein alter Ausleger) stritten seine beiden Söhne, Atreus und Thyestes, um die Thronfolge. Ein göttliches Zeichen sollte entscheiden: und siehe! Atreus fand in seiner Heerde ein Lamm mit goldenem Vließe. Aber seine Gemahlin Nërope entwendet das Thier, und schenkt es ihrem Buhlen Thyestes. Atreus, darüber ergrimmt, stürzt die Verrätherin in's Meer, ermordet ingeheim die Söhne des Bruders, und tischt ihm das Fleisch derselben auf: ein Gräuel, vor dem der erschreckte Sonnengott nach Morgen zurückfloh, und die Plejaden aus ihren Bahnen wichen.

5. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] L. ἄλλαις sc. ὀδύναις.

Euripides Iphigenia in Tauris 178

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

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Iphigenia.

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