Euripides, The Phoenician Women, ed. Gilbert Murray, 801

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Χορός

ὦ ζαθέων πετάλων πολυθηρότα-

τον νάπος, Ἀρτέμιδος χιονοτρόφον ὄμμα Κιθαιρών,

μήποτε τὸν θανάτῳ προτεθέντα, λόχευμʼ Ἰοκάστας,

ὤφελες Οἰδιπόδαν θρέψαι, βρέφος ἔκβολον οἴκων,

χρυσοδέτοις περόναις ἐπίσαμον·
805

μηδὲ τὸ παρθένιον πτερόν, οὔρειον τέρας, ἐλθεῖν

πένθεα γαίας

Σφιγγὸς ἀμουσοτάταισι σὺν ᾠδαῖς,

ἅ ποτε Καδμογενῆ τετραβάμοσι χαλαῖς

τείχεσι χριμπτομένα φέρεν αἰθέρος εἰς ἄβατον φῶς

γένναν, ἃν ὁ κατὰ χθονὸς Ἅιδας
810

Καδμείοις ἐπιπέμπει· δυσδαίμων δʼ ἔρις ἄλλα

θάλλει παίδων

Οἰδιπόδα κατὰ δώματα καὶ πόλιν.

οὐ γὰρ ὃ μὴ καλὸν οὔποτʼ ἔφυ καλόν,

οὐδʼ οἱ μὴ νόμιμοι
815

παῖδες ματρὶ λόχευμα, μίασμα πατρός·

ἣ δὲ συναίμονος ἐς λέχος ἦλθεν.

The Phoenician Women. Euripides. ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Φοίνισσαι (Greek) (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. III. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1920-1978))

Translations (3)

The Phoenician Maidens Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 801 focus

Chorus

O snow-capped Cithaeron, dear to Artemis, holy vale of leaves, crowded with wild animals, would that you had never reared the one exposed to die, Oedipus, Jocasta’s child, when as a baby he was cast forth from his home,

marked with a golden brooch; and would that the Sphinx, that winged maid, monster from the hills, had never come as a grief to our land with her inharmonious songs, she that once drew near our walls and snatched the sons of Cadmus away in her taloned feet to the untrodden light of heaven,
805

sent by Hades from hell to plague the men of Thebes ; once more unhappy strife is coming into bloom between the sons of Oedipus in home and city. For never can wrong be right,
810

nor can there be good in unlawful children, their mother’s birth pangs, their father’s pollution; she came to the bed of her son. . . .
815

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

No corresponding passage available

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1841; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Euripides. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Volume 1, Heidelberg: C. F. Winter, 1841. 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.) — 801 focus

Heiliger Wildnisse Nacht,

Schneevolles Gebirg, durchschwärmt von Gewild, o der Artemis Auge, Kitharon!
790

Daß du den Dedipus nimmer genährt, den Gebornen Jokaste's,

Welcher, dem Tode geweiht, mit der goldnen Spange gezeichnet,

Säugling, vom Hause des Vaters entrückt ward! :

War' auch nimmer das Graun des Gebirgs, die geflügelte

Jungfrau,

Sphinx, zur Trauer dem Lande genaht mit den Liedern des
795

Unheils,

Sie, die einst vierklauig die thebischen Mauern bestürmte,

Und der Kadmeier Geschlecht in der Luft unbewandelten Lichtraum

Trug! Aidoneus unter der Erde

Sandte sie Kadmos' Volk. Nun blüht unselige Zwietracht

In der Stadt und im Haus
800

Wiederum unter den Söhnen des Dedipus.

Niemals wird Unschönes zu Schönem ja,

Nimmer gedeiht das in Sünden Geborene,

Schande dem Vater und Schmach der Erzeugerinn

Welche des Sohns Lager bestiegen.
805
Schlußgesang.

Euripides The Phoenician Women 801

ed. Gilbert Murray

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