Euripides, Orestes, Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator), 332

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Wo (Zeus, ach!)

Wohnt das Mitleiden? Welch

Blutiger Kampf umdroht,

Stürmt dich, o Armer, auf, welchem ein Rachegott,

Der in das Haus einzog,
325

Thränen zu Thränen häuft, deiner Gebarerinn

Schnode vergossnes Blut, das dich zur Wuth entflammt?

Ja, dein jammert uns, ja, dein jammert uns!

Großer Besiz besteht dauernd im Leben nicht;

Sondern erschütternd, wie Segel des fluchtigen
330

Schiffes, versenkt ein Gott des Reichthumes Füll'

In graunvolles Leid,

Wie in der Meeresflut gierig verschlingend Grab.

Denn welch andres Geschlecht auch soll ich

Hinfort ehren, als das Haus Tantalos',
335

Den Stamm, der aus göttlicher Vermählung sproß?

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

Euripides Orestes 332

Johann Jakob Christian Donner (Translator)

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