Euripides, Orestes, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 316

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Weh, weh, weh!
305

Die ihr eilt hochbeschwingt,

Furchtbare Göttinnen,

Denen wir freudenlos Feste begehen, von

Seufzern und Thränen schwer,

Ihr schwarzfarbenen Erinnyen, die ihr euch
310

In die Unendlichkeit schwingt, in des Aethers Höhn,

Um Mord Rache, Rach' übend um Menschenblut,

Zu euch fleh ich, ja, zu euch fleh' ich laut:

Laßt Agamemnons Sohn, lasset vergessen ihn

Des Wahnsinns, der wildtobenden Raserei!
315

Weh um das Ungluck, weh,

Wonach, Armer, dich lüstete, daß du Tod

Verntetest, als du von Phobos' Dreifuß

Den Ausspruch empfingst aus dem geweihten Mund,

Am Siz, wo der Erd' heiliger Nabel ist!¹
320
Gegenstrophe.

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

Current edition Experimental

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1841; OCR review) (OCR draft) (German) (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.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ὀρέστης Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. III. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1920-1978)) — 316-347 focus

Χορός

αἰαῖ,

δρομάδες ὦ πτεροφόροι

ποτνιάδες θεαί,

ἀβάκχευτον αἳ θίασον ἐλάχετʼ ἐν

δάκρυσι καὶ γόοις,
320

μελάγχρωτες εὐμενίδες, αἵτε τὸν

ταναὸν αἰθέρʼ ἀμπάλλεσθʼ, αἵματος

τινύμεναι δίκαν, τινύμεναι φόνον,

καθικετεύομαι καθικετεύομαι,

τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονος
325

γόνον ἐάσατʼ ἐκλαθέσθαι λύσσας

μανιάδος φοιταλέου. φεῦ μόχθων,

οἵων, ὦ τάλας, ὀρεχθεὶς ἔρρεις,

τρίποδος ἄπο φάτιν, ἃν ὁ Φοῖβος ἔλακε, δε-

ξάμενος ἀνὰ δάπεδον,
330

ἵνα μεσόμφαλοι λέγονται μυχοί.

332

Χορός

ἰὼ Ζεῦ,

τίς ἔλεος, τίς ὅδʼ ἀγὼν

φόνιος ἔρχεται,

θοάζων σε τὸν μέλεον, ᾧ δάκρυα
335

δάκρυσι συμβάλλει

πορεύων τις ἐς δόμον ἀλαστόρων

ματέρος αἷμα σᾶς, ὅ σʼ ἀναβακχεύει;

ὁ μέγας ὄλβος οὐ μόνιμος ἐν βροτοῖς·
340

κατολοφύρομαι κατολοφύρομαι.

ἀνὰ δὲ λαῖφος ὥς

τις ἀκάτου θοᾶς τινάξας δαίμων

κατέκλυσεν δεινῶν πόνων ὡς πόντου

λάβροις ὀλεθρίοισιν ἐν κύμασιν.

τίνα γὰρ ἔτι πάρος οἶκον ἕτερον ἢ τὸν ἀπὸ
345

θεογόνων γάμων,

τὸν ἀπὸ Ταντάλου, σέβεσθαί με χρή;

Translations (2)

Orestes Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 316-345 focus

Chorus

Ah! ah! you goddesses swiftly careering on your wings, whose lot it is to hold a revel, not with Bacchic rites,

in tears and groans; you black-skinned avenging spirits, that dart along the spacious air, exacting a penalty for blood, a penalty for murder, I beg you, I beg you!
320

Allow the son of Agamemnon to forget his wild whirling frenzy.
325

Alas for the toils which you, poor wretch, strove after to your ruin, when you heard the voice from the tripod, proclaimed by Phoebus,

at his sanctuary, where the hollows are called the navel of the earth.
330

332

Chorus

O Zeus! What pity, what deadly struggle is here,

hurrying you on, the wretch on whom some avenging fiend is heaping tears upon tears, bringing to the house your mother’s blood, which drives you raving mad?
335

Great prosperity is not secure among mortals. I lament, I lament! But some divine power, shaking it to and fro like the sail of a swift ship, plunges it deep in the waves of grievous affliction, violent and deadly as the waves of the sea.
340

For what other family must I still revere, rather than the one from a divine marriage, from Tantalus.
345

Orestes (OCR draft) Experimental (Orestes. 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

Orestes

1. [OCR note; compare the printed page.] Der Grieche dachte sich Delphi als den Mittelpunkt der Erde.

Euripides Orestes 316

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

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