Euripides, Rhesus, Edward P. Coleridge (Translator), 710

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Chorus

Once before he came into this city, with swimming bleary eyes, clad in rags and tatters, his sword hidden in his cloak.
710

And like some vagrant menial he slunk about begging his living, his head rough and dirty; and he spoke bitterly of the royal house of the Atreidae—as though he were really opposed to those chiefs!
715

Would, oh! would he had perished, as was his due, before he set foot on Phrygia ’s soil!
720

Whether it was really Odysseus or not, I am afraid;

for Hector will blame us sentinels.

What can he allege?

He will suspect.

What have we done? Why are you afraid?
725

They got past us—

Well, who?

The ones who came this night to the Phrygian army.

Rhesus. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Rhesus (English) (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Editions (1)

Ῥῆσος Perseus (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. III. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1920-1978)) — 710 focus

Χορός

ἔβα καὶ πάρος
710

κατὰ πόλιν, ὕπαφρον ὄμμʼ ἔχων,

ῥακοδύτῳ στολᾷ

πυκασθείς, ξιφήρης

κρύφιος ἐν πέπλοις.

βίον δʼ ἐπαιτῶν εἷρπʼ ἀγύρτης τις λάτρις,
715

ψαφαρόχρουν κάρα πολυπινές τʼ ἔχων·

πολλὰ δὲ τὰν

βασιλίδʼ ἑστίαν Ἀτρειδᾶν κακῶς

ἔβαζε δῆθεν ἐχθρὸς ὢν στρατηλάταις.

ὄλοιτʼ ὄλοιτο πανδίκως,
720

πρὶν ἐπὶ γᾶν Φρυγῶν ποδὸς ἴχνος βαλεῖν.

— εἴτʼ οὖν Ὀδυσσέως εἴτε μή, φόβος μʼ ἔχει·

Ἕκτωρ γὰρ ἡμῖν τοῖς φύλαξι μέμψεται.

— τί λάσκων; — δυσοίζων.

— τί δρᾶσαι; τί ταρβεῖς;
725

— καθʼ ἡμᾶς περᾶσαι — τίνʼ ἀνδρῶν;

— οἳ τῆσδε νυκτὸς ἦλθον ἐς Φρυγῶν στρατόν.

Translations (2)

Rhesus Perseus (Euripides. The Rhesus of Euripides. Murray, Gilbert, translator. London: George Allen and Company, Ltd., 1913.) — 710 focus

CHORUS.

He came once, of old,
710

Up thro’ the city throng,

Foam on his lips, a-cold,

Huddled in rags that hung

Covering just the sword

Hid in his mantle’s pleat;

His face grimed and scored,
715

A priest of wandering feet,

Who begged his bread in the street.

Many and evil things

He cast on the brother kings

Like one long hurt, who nurseth anger sore;

Would that a curse, yea, would

The uttermost wrath of God
720

Had held those feet from walking Ilion ’s shore!

DIVERS GUARDS
(talking).

Odysseus or another, ’tis the guard

Will weep for this. Aye, Hector will be hard.—

What will he say?—He will suspect.—Suspect?

What evil? What should make you fear?—
725

’Twas we that left a passage clear.—

A passage?—Yea, for these men’s way,

Who came by night into the lines unchecked.

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

No corresponding passage available

Euripides Rhesus 710

Edward P. Coleridge (Translator)

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