Euripides, Rhesus, ed. Gilbert Murray, 833

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Ἡνίοχος

τί τοῖσδʼ ἀπειλεῖς βάρβαρός τε βαρβάρου

γνώμην ὑφαιρῇ τὴν ἐμήν, πλέκων λόγους;

σὺ ταῦτʼ ἔδρασας· οὐδένʼ ἂν δεξαίμεθα
835

οὔθʼ οἱ θανόντες οὔτʼ ἂν οἱ τετρωμένοι

ἄλλον· μακροῦ γε δεῖ σε καὶ σοφοῦ λόγου,

ὅτῳ με πείσεις μὴ φίλους κατακτανεῖν,

ἵππων ἐρασθείς, ὧν ἕκατι συμμάχους

τοὺς σοὺς φονεύεις, πόλλʼ ἐπισκήπτων μολεῖν.
840

ἦλθον, τεθνᾶσιν· εὐπρεπέστερον Πάρις

ξενίαν κατῄσχυνʼ ἢ σὺ συμμάχους κτανών.

μὴ γάρ τι λέξῃς ὥς τις Ἀργείων μολὼν

διώλεσʼ ἡμᾶς· τίς δʼ ὑπερβαλὼν λόχους

Τρώων ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς ἦλθεν, ὥστε καὶ λαθεῖν;
845

σὺ πρόσθεν ἡμῶν ἧσο καὶ Φρυγῶν στρατός.

τίς οὖν τέτρωται, τίς τέθνηκε συμμάχων

τῶν σῶν, μολόντων ὧν σὺ πολεμίων λέγεις;

ἡμεῖς δʼ ἑκὰς τετρώμεθʼ, οἳ δὲ μειζόνως

παθόντες οὐχ ὁρῶσιν ἡλίου φάος.
850

ἁπλῶς δʼ Ἀχαιῶν οὐδένʼ αἰτιώμεθα.

τίς δʼ ἂν χαμεύνας πολεμίων κατʼ εὐφρόνην

Ῥήσου μολὼν ἐξηῦρεν, εἰ μή τις θεῶν

ἔφραζε τοῖς κτανοῦσιν; οὐδʼ ἀφιγμένον

τὸ πάμπαν ᾖσαν· ἀλλὰ μηχανᾷ τάδε.
855

Ἕκτωρ

χρόνον μὲν ἤδη συμμάχοισι χρώμεθα

ὅσονπερ ἐν γῇ τῇδʼ Ἀχαιικὸς λεώς,

κοὐδὲν πρὸς αὐτῶν οἶδα πλημμελὲς κλύων·

ἐν σοὶ δʼ ἂν ἀρχοίμεσθα. μή μʼ ἔρως ἕλοι

τοιοῦτος ἵππων ὥστʼ ἀποκτείνειν φίλους.
860

καὶ ταῦτʼ Ὀδυσσεύς· τίς γὰρ ἄλλος ἄν ποτε

ἔδρασεν ἢ ʼβούλευσεν Ἀργείων ἀνήρ;

δέδοικα δʼ αὐτὸν καί τί μου θράσσει φρένας,

μὴ καὶ Δόλωνα συντυχὼν κατακτάνῃ·

χρόνον γὰρ ἤδη φροῦδος ὢν οὐ φαίνεται.
865

Ἡνίοχος

οὐκ οἶδα τοὺς σοὺς οὓς λέγεις Ὀδυσσέας·

ἡμεῖς δʼ ὑπʼ ἐχθρῶν οὐδενὸς πεπλήγμεθα.

Ἕκτωρ

σὺ δʼ οὖν νόμιζε ταῦτʼ, ἐπείπερ σοι δοκεῖ.

Ἡνίοχος

ὦ γαῖα πατρίς, πῶς ἂν ἐνθάνοιμί σοι;

Ἕκτωρ

μὴ θνῇσχʼ· ἅλις γὰρ τῶν τεθνηκότων ὄχλος.
870

Ἡνίοχος

ποῖ δὴ τράπωμαι δεσποτῶν μονούμενος;

Ἕκτωρ

οἶκός σε κεύθων οὑμὸς ἐξιάσεται.

Ἡνίοχος

καὶ πῶς με κηδεύσουσιν αὐθεντῶν χέρες;

Ἕκτωρ

ὅδʼ αὖ τὸν αὐτὸν μῦθον οὐ λήξει λέγων.

Ἡνίοχος

ὄλοιθʼ ὁ δράσας. οὐ γὰρ ἐς σὲ τείνεται
875

γλῶσσʼ, ὡς σὺ κομπεῖς· ἡ Δίκη δʼ ἐπίσταται.

Ἕκτωρ

λάζυσθʼ· ἄγοντες δʼ αὐτὸν ἐς δόμους ἐμούς,

οὕτως ὅπως ἂν μὴ ʼγκαλῇ πορσύνετε·

ὑμᾶς δʼ ἰόντας τοῖσιν ἐν τείχει χρεὼν

Πριάμῳ τε καὶ γέρουσι σημῆναι νεκροὺς
880

θάπτειν κελεύθου λεωφόρου πρὸς ἐκτροπάς.

Rhesus. Euripides. ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (3)

Rhesus Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 833 focus

Charioteer

Why threaten these? Why try to undermine my barbarian mind with your subtle words, you yourself a barbarian?

You did this deed; neither they who have died nor we who are wounded will believe it was any other. A long and clever speech you’ll need to prove to me you did not slay your friends because you coveted the horses, and to gain them murdered
835

your own allies, after strongly imposing on them come. They came, they are dead; Paris found more decent means to shame the rights of hospitality than you, who killed your allies. No, do not tell me some Argive came and slaughtered us. Who could have passed the Trojan lines
840

and come against us without detection? You and your Phrygian troops were camped in front of us. Who was wounded, who was slain among your friends, when that foe you speak of came? It was we, far off, were wounded, while some have met a sterner
845

fate and said farewell to the sunlight. Briefly, then, I blame no Achaean. For what enemy could have come and found the lowly bed of Rhesus in the dark, unless some god were guiding the murderers’ steps? They did not know so much
850

as know of his arrival. No, this is your plot!
855

Hector

For a long time now I have had to do with allies, yes, ever since Achaea ’s army settled in this land, and never a harsh word have I known them say of me; but with you I am to make a beginning. Never may such longing

for horses seize me that I should slay my friends! This is the work of Odysseus; for who of all the Argives but he would have devised or carried out such a deed? I fear him; and my mind is a little troubled lest he should have met and slain Dolon as well;
860

for he has been gone a long time and does not appear.
865

Charioteer

I do not know this Odysseus of whom you speak. It was no enemy’s hand that struck us.

Hector

If it pleases you to think that, do so.

Charioteer

O land of my fathers, would I might die in you!

Hector

Die! No! Enough are those already dead.
870

Charioteer

Where am I to turn, I ask you, bereft of my master?

Hector

My house shall shelter you and cure you of your hurt.

Charioteer

How shall murderers’ hands care for me?

Hector

This fellow will never have done repeating the same story.

Charioteer

Curses on the doer of this deed! On you my tongue fixes no charge, as you complain; but Justice is over all.
875

Hector

Take him away; carry him to my palace and tend him carefully, that he may have no fault to find. And you must go to those upon the walls,

to Priam and his aged councillors, and tell them to give orders for the burial of the dead at the resting-place along the public road. The charioteer is carried off.
880

Rhesus Perseus (Euripides. The Rhesus of Euripides. Murray, Gilbert, translator. London: George Allen and Company, Ltd., 1913.) — 833 focus

THRACIAN.
HECTOR is standing over him ready to strike when the CHARIOTEER speaks.

Why threaten them? Art thou a Greek to blind

My barbarous wit so nimbly, in a wind

Of words? This work was thine. And no man’s head
835

Is asked by us, the wounded and the dead,

Save thine. It needs more play, and better feigned,

To hide from me that thou hast slain thy friend

By craft, to steal his horses.—That is why

He stabs his friends. He prays them earnestly,
840

Prays them to come; they came and they are dead.

A cleaner man was Paris, when he fled

With his host’s wife. He was no murderer.

Profess not thou that any Greek was there

To fall on us. What Greek could pass the screen

Of Trojan posts in front of us, unseen?
845

Thyself was stationed there, and all thy men.

What man of yours was slain or wounded when

Your Greek spies came? Not one; ’tis we, behind,

Are wounded, and some worse than wounded, blind

Forever to the sunlight. When we seek
850

Our vengeance, we shall go not to the Greek.

What stranger in that darkness could have trod

Straight to where Rhesus lay—unless some God

Pointed his path? They knew not, whispered not,

Rhesus had ever come. . . . ’Tis all a plot.
855

HECTOR
(steadied and courteous again).

Good allies I have had since first the Greek

Set foot in Troy , and never heard them speak

Complaint of Hector. Thou wilt be the first.

I have not, by God’s mercy, such a thirst

For horses as to murder for their sake.
860
He turns to his own men.

Odysseus! Yet again Odysseus! Take

All the Greek armies, is there one but he

Could have devised, or dared, this devilry?

I fear him; yea, fear in mine own despite,

Lest Dolon may have crossed him in the night

And perished; ’tis so long he cometh not.
865

THRACIAN.

I know not who Odysseus is, nor what.

I know it was no Greek that wounded us.

HECTOR.

To think thus pleasures thee? Well, have it thus.

THRACIAN.

Home, home! To die at home and rest my head!

HECTOR.

Nay, die not, friend. We have enough of dead.
870

THRACIAN.

How can I live? Lost, and my master slain.

HECTOR.

My house will shelter thee and heal thy pain.

THRACIAN.

Thy house? Will murderers’ nursing give me peace?

HECTOR.

Still the same tale! This man will never cease.

THRACIAN.

My curse rest—not on Hector, but on those
875

Who stabbed us, as thou say’st.—Ah, Justice knows!¹

HECTOR.

There, lift him.—Bear him to my house. Take pains,

If care can do it, that the man complains

No more of Troy.—Ye others, bear withal

To Priam and the Elders of the Wall
880

My charge, that, where the cart-road from the plain

Branches, they make due burial for our slain.

One party of Guards lifts carefully the wounded THRACIAN and goes off bearing him: another departs with the message to Troy.

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 833

ed. Gilbert Murray

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Ἡνίοχος

οὐκ οἶδα τοὺς σοὺς οὓς λέγεις Ὀδυσσέας·

ἡμεῖς δʼ ὑπʼ ἐχθρῶν οὐδενὸς πεπλήγμεθα.

Ἕκτωρ

σὺ δʼ οὖν νόμιζε ταῦτʼ, ἐπείπερ σοι δοκεῖ.

Ἡνίοχος

ὦ γαῖα πατρίς, πῶς ἂν ἐνθάνοιμί σοι;

Ἕκτωρ

μὴ θνῇσχʼ· ἅλις γὰρ τῶν τεθνηκότων ὄχλος.
870

Ἡνίοχος

ποῖ δὴ τράπωμαι δεσποτῶν μονούμενος;

Ἕκτωρ

οἶκός σε κεύθων οὑμὸς ἐξιάσεται.

Ἡνίοχος

καὶ πῶς με κηδεύσουσιν αὐθεντῶν χέρες;

Ἕκτωρ

ὅδʼ αὖ τὸν αὐτὸν μῦθον οὐ λήξει λέγων.

Ἡνίοχος

ὄλοιθʼ ὁ δράσας. οὐ γὰρ ἐς σὲ τείνεται
875

γλῶσσʼ, ὡς σὺ κομπεῖς· ἡ Δίκη δʼ ἐπίσταται.

Current edition Perseus

Charioteer

I do not know this Odysseus of whom you speak. It was no enemy’s hand that struck us.

Hector

If it pleases you to think that, do so.

Charioteer

O land of my fathers, would I might die in you!

Hector

Die! No! Enough are those already dead.
870

Charioteer

Where am I to turn, I ask you, bereft of my master?

Hector

My house shall shelter you and cure you of your hurt.

Charioteer

How shall murderers’ hands care for me?

Hector

This fellow will never have done repeating the same story.

Charioteer

Curses on the doer of this deed! On you my tongue fixes no charge, as you complain; but Justice is over all.
875

THRACIAN.

I know not who Odysseus is, nor what.

I know it was no Greek that wounded us.

HECTOR.

To think thus pleasures thee? Well, have it thus.

THRACIAN.

Home, home! To die at home and rest my head!

HECTOR.

Nay, die not, friend. We have enough of dead.
870

THRACIAN.

How can I live? Lost, and my master slain.

HECTOR.

My house will shelter thee and heal thy pain.

THRACIAN.

Thy house? Will murderers’ nursing give me peace?

HECTOR.

Still the same tale! This man will never cease.

THRACIAN.

My curse rest—not on Hector, but on those
875

Who stabbed us, as thou say’st.—Ah, Justice knows!¹

HECTOR.

There, lift him.—Bear him to my house. Take pains,

If care can do it, that the man complains

No more of Troy.—Ye others, bear withal

To Priam and the Elders of the Wall
880

My charge, that, where the cart-road from the plain

Branches, they make due burial for our slain.

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Ἡνίοχος οὐκ οἶδα τοὺς σοὺς οὓς λέγεις Ὀδυσσέας· ἡμεῖς δʼ ὑπʼ ἐχθρῶν οὐδενὸς πεπλήγμεθα.

Ἕκτωρ σὺ δʼ οὖν νόμιζε ταῦτʼ, ἐπείπερ σοι δοκεῖ.

Ἡνίοχος ὦ γαῖα πατρίς, πῶς ἂν ἐνθάνοιμί σοι;

Ἕκτωρ μὴ θνῇσχʼ· ἅλις γὰρ τῶν τεθνηκότων ὄχλος. 870

Ἡνίοχος ποῖ δὴ τράπωμαι δεσποτῶν μονούμενος;

Ἕκτωρ οἶκός σε κεύθων οὑμὸς ἐξιάσεται.

Ἡνίοχος καὶ πῶς με κηδεύσουσιν αὐθεντῶν χέρες;

Ἕκτωρ ὅδʼ αὖ τὸν αὐτὸν μῦθον οὐ λήξει λέγων.

Ἡνίοχος ὄλοιθʼ ὁ δράσας. οὐ γὰρ ἐς σὲ τείνεται 875 γλῶσσʼ, ὡς σὺ κομπεῖς· ἡ Δίκη δʼ ἐπίσταται.

Current edition Perseus

Charioteer I do not know this Odysseus of whom you speak. It was no enemy’s hand that struck us.

Hector If it pleases you to think that, do so.

Charioteer O land of my fathers, would I might die in you!

Hector Die! No! Enough are those already dead. 870

Charioteer Where am I to turn, I ask you, bereft of my master?

Hector My house shall shelter you and cure you of your hurt.

Charioteer How shall murderers’ hands care for me?

Hector This fellow will never have done repeating the same story.

Charioteer Curses on the doer of this deed! On you my tongue fixes no charge, as you complain; but Justice is over all. 875

THRACIAN. I know not who Odysseus is, nor what. I know it was no Greek that wounded us.

HECTOR. To think thus pleasures thee? Well, have it thus.

THRACIAN. Home, home! To die at home and rest my head!

HECTOR. Nay, die not, friend. We have enough of dead. 870

THRACIAN. How can I live? Lost, and my master slain.

HECTOR. My house will shelter thee and heal thy pain.

THRACIAN. Thy house? Will murderers’ nursing give me peace?

HECTOR. Still the same tale! This man will never cease.

THRACIAN. My curse rest—not on Hector, but on those 875 Who stabbed us, as thou say’st.—Ah, Justice knows! 1

HECTOR. There, lift him.—Bear him to my house. Take pains, If care can do it, that the man complains No more of Troy.—Ye others, bear withal To Priam and the Elders of the Wall 880 My charge, that, where the cart-road from the plain Branches, they make due burial for our slain.

Stable identifiers

Ἡνίοχος

οὐκ οἶδα τοὺς σοὺς οὓς λέγεις Ὀδυσσέας·

ἡμεῖς δʼ ὑπʼ ἐχθρῶν οὐδενὸς πεπλήγμεθα.

Ἕκτωρ

σὺ δʼ οὖν νόμιζε ταῦτʼ, ἐπείπερ σοι δοκεῖ.

Ἡνίοχος

ὦ γαῖα πατρίς, πῶς ἂν ἐνθάνοιμί σοι;

Ἕκτωρ

μὴ θνῇσχʼ· ἅλις γὰρ τῶν τεθνηκότων ὄχλος.
870

Ἡνίοχος

ποῖ δὴ τράπωμαι δεσποτῶν μονούμενος;

Ἕκτωρ

οἶκός σε κεύθων οὑμὸς ἐξιάσεται.

Ἡνίοχος

καὶ πῶς με κηδεύσουσιν αὐθεντῶν χέρες;

Ἕκτωρ

ὅδʼ αὖ τὸν αὐτὸν μῦθον οὐ λήξει λέγων.

Ἡνίοχος

ὄλοιθʼ ὁ δράσας. οὐ γὰρ ἐς σὲ τείνεται
875

γλῶσσʼ, ὡς σὺ κομπεῖς· ἡ Δίκη δʼ ἐπίσταται.

Charioteer

I do not know this Odysseus of whom you speak. It was no enemy’s hand that struck us.

Hector

If it pleases you to think that, do so.

Charioteer

O land of my fathers, would I might die in you!

Hector

Die! No! Enough are those already dead.
870

Charioteer

Where am I to turn, I ask you, bereft of my master?

Hector

My house shall shelter you and cure you of your hurt.

Charioteer

How shall murderers’ hands care for me?

Hector

This fellow will never have done repeating the same story.

Charioteer

Curses on the doer of this deed! On you my tongue fixes no charge, as you complain; but Justice is over all.
875

THRACIAN.

I know not who Odysseus is, nor what.

I know it was no Greek that wounded us.

HECTOR.

To think thus pleasures thee? Well, have it thus.

THRACIAN.

Home, home! To die at home and rest my head!

HECTOR.

Nay, die not, friend. We have enough of dead.
870

THRACIAN.

How can I live? Lost, and my master slain.

HECTOR.

My house will shelter thee and heal thy pain.

THRACIAN.

Thy house? Will murderers’ nursing give me peace?

HECTOR.

Still the same tale! This man will never cease.

THRACIAN.

My curse rest—not on Hector, but on those
875

Who stabbed us, as thou say’st.—Ah, Justice knows!¹

HECTOR.

There, lift him.—Bear him to my house. Take pains,

If care can do it, that the man complains

No more of Troy.—Ye others, bear withal

To Priam and the Elders of the Wall
880

My charge, that, where the cart-road from the plain

Branches, they make due burial for our slain.