Euripides, Helen, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 1451

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Phoniker, auf, Sidons Kind!¹

Auf, schnelles Seeruder, der Wogen Vater,

Freundlich den Schiffenden!
1380

Chorführer schöntanzender Delphine, wann von den Winden

Nicht erregt, schweigt das Meer,

Und Pontos' helläugiges Kind, die Meerstille, den Ruf hebt:

„Spannt die Segel, und gebt sie preis schwellenden Lüften auf hoher See,

Nehmt die tannenen Ruder zur Hand, und geleitet Helena mir
1385

Zum gastfreundlichen Port, zum Haus des Perseus!"²

Erste Gegenstrophe.

Helen. 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)

Ἑλένη Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. III. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1920-1978)) — 1451-1511 focus

Χορός

Φοίνισσα Σιδωνιὰς ὦ

ταχεῖα κώπα, ῥοθίοισι μάτηρ

εἰρεσίας φίλα,

χοραγὲ τῶν καλλιχόρων

δελφίνων, ὅταν αὔραις
1455

πέλαγος ἀνήνεμον ᾖ,

γλαυκὰ δὲ Πόντου θυγάτηρ

Γαλάνεια τάδʼ εἴπῃ·

κατὰ μὲν ἱστία πετάσατʼ αὔ-

ραις λιπόντες εἰναλίαις,
1460

λάβετε δʼ εἰλατίνας πλάτας,

ὦ ναῦται, ναῦται,

πέμποντες εὐλιμένους

Περσείων οἴκων Ἑλέναν ἐπʼ ἀκτάς.

1465

Χορός

ἦ που κόρας ἂν ποταμοῦ
1465

παρʼ οἶδμα Λευκιππίδας ἢ πρὸ ναοῦ

Παλλάδος ἂν λάβοις

χρόνῳ ξυνελθοῦσα χοροῖς

ἢ κώμοις Ὑακίνθου

νύχιον ἐς εὐφροσύναν,
1470

ὃν ἐξαμιλλησάμενος

τροχῷ τέρμονα δίσκου

ἔκανε Φοῖβος, τᾷ Λακαί-

νᾳ γᾷ βούθυτον ἁμέραν·

ὁ Διὸς δʼ εἶπε σέβειν γόνος·
1475

μόσχον θʼ, ἃν οἴκοις

ἔλειπες, Ἑρμιόναν,

ἇς οὔπω πεῦκαι πρὸ γάμων ἔλαμψαν.

1478

Χορός

διʼ ἀέρος εἴθε ποτανοὶ

γενοίμεσθʼ ᾇ Λιβύας

οἰωνοὶ στοχάδες
1480

ὄμβρον λιποῦσαι χειμέριον

νίσονται πρεσβυτάτᾳ

σύριγγι πειθόμεναι

ποιμένος, ὃς ἄβροχα πεδία καρποφόρα τε γᾶς
1485

ἐπιπετόμενος ἰαχεῖ.

ὦ πταναὶ δολιχαύχενες,

σύννομοι νεφέων δρόμου,

βᾶτε Πλειάδας ὑπὸ μέσας

ὠρίωνά τʼ ἐννύχιον·
1490

καρύξατʼ ἀγγελίαν,

Εὐρώταν ἐφεζόμεναι,

Μενέλεως ὅτι Δαρδάνου

πόλιν ἑλὼν δόμον ἥξει.

1495

Χορός

μόλοιτέ ποθʼ ἵππιον οἶμον
1495

διʼ αἰθέρος ἱέμενοι

παῖδες Τυνδαρίδαι,

λαμπρῶν ἄστρων ὑπʼ ἀέλλαισιν·

οἳ ναίετʼ οὐράνιοι,

σωτῆρες τᾶς Ἑλένας,
1500

γλαυκὸν ἔπιτʼ οἶδμα κυανόχροά τε κυμάτων

ῥόθια πολιὰ θαλάσσας,

ναύταις εὐαεῖς ἀνέμων

πέμποντες Διόθεν πνοάς·
1505

δύσκλειαν δʼ ἀπὸ συγγόνου

βάλετε βαρβάρων λεχέων,

ἃν Ἰδαίων ἐρίδων

ποιναθεῖσʼ ἐκτήσατο, γᾶν

οὐκ ἐλθοῦσά ποτʼ Ἰλίου
1510

Φοιβείους ἐπὶ πύργους.

Translations (2)

Helen Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 1451-1510 focus

Chorus

O swift Phoenician ship of Sidon , dear to the surging waves, mother of the oar, leader of the lovely dancing

of dolphins, when the sea is clear of breezes and Ocean’s gray-green daughter, spirit of calm, says these words: Spread your sails
1455

to the sea-breezes, as you go on your way, grasp your oars of pine, oh! sailors, sailors, speeding Helen on her way to the shore with good harbor, where once Perseus lived..
1460

1465

Chorus

Perhaps you may find the daughters of Leukippos beside the swell of the river or before the temple of Pallas, when at last you join in the dances or the revels of Hyakinthos
1465

in night-long joy—Hyakinthos, whom Phoebus killed with the round discus, contesting for the farthest throw—a day of the sacrifice of oxen in the Lakonian land;
1470

the son of Zeus declared that his race would be honored; and you may find the girl whom you left at home, Hermione , for as yet no torch has lit the way to her marriage.
1475

1478

Chorus

Oh, that we had wings to cleave the air, where the birds of Libya go in their ranks,

leaving the winter rain, obedient to the piping of their veteran leader, who raises his exultant cry
1480

as he wings his way over unmoistened and crop-bearing plains of the earth. O you winged long-necked comrades of the racing clouds, go on beneath the Pleiades in their central station
1485

and Orion of the night; deliver the message, as you settle on Eurotas’ banks, that Menelaos has sacked the city of Dardanos , and will come home.
1490

1495

Chorus

May you come at last, speeding over your horses’ path through the sky, sons of Tyndareus, under the whirling of the radiant stars; you who dwell in heaven, Helen’s rescuers,
1495

go over the gray-green swell and the dark gray surge of sea-waves, sending the sailors
1500

favoring breezes from Zeus; and cast away from your sister her ill-fame from marriage with a barbarian, the punishment she received from the contest on Ida;
1505

but she never went to the land of Ilion , to the towers of Phoebus.
1510

Helen (OCR draft) Experimental (Helen. 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

Helen

1. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] Der Chor redet das Schiff an, welches Helena in die Heimat tragen soll.

2. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] Mykenä war von Perseus erbaut.

Euripides Helen 1451

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

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