Sophocles Trachiniae 18

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Chorus
Scene III. 94
Deianira, Attendant.
On thee we call, great god of day,
To whom the night, with all her staiTy train,
Yields her solitary reign,
To send us some propitious I'ay :
Say thou, whose all-beholding eye
Doth nature's every part descry.
What dangerous ocean, or what land unknown
From Deianira keeps Alcmena's valiant son.
For she nor joy nor comfort knows,
But weeps her absent lord, and vainly tries
To close her ever-streaming eyes.
Or soothe her sorrows to repose :
Like the sad bird of night, alone
She makes her solitary moan ;
Aiid still, as on her widowed bed reclined
She lies, unnumbered fears perplex her anxious mind.
E'en as the troubled billows roar,
When angry Boreas rules th' inclement skies.
And waves on waves tumultuous rise
To lash the Cretan shore :
Thus sorrows still on sorrows prest
Fill the great Alcides' breast ;
95
Unfading yet shall his fair virtues bloom,
95
And some protecting god preserve him from the tomb.
95
"Wherefore, to better thoughts inclined,
95
Let us with hope's fair prospect fill thy breast,
95
Calm thy anxious thoughts to rest,
95
And ease thy troubled mind :
95
No bliss on man, unmixed with woe.
95
Doth Jove, great lord of all, bestow ;
95
But good with ill, and pleasure still with pain,
95
Like heaven's revolving signs, alternate reign.
95
Epode.
95
Not always do the shades of night remain,
95
Nor ever with hard fate is man oppressed ;
95
The wealth that leaves us may return again,
95
Sorrow and joy successive fill the breast ;
95
Fearless then of every ill.
95
Let cheerful hope support thee still :
95
Remember, queen, there is a power above ;
95
And when did the great father, careful Jove,
95
Forget his children dear, and kind paternal love 1
95
TRACIIIMjE,
95

Trachiniae. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.

Current edition Experimental

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 18 focus
χρόνῳ δ᾽ ἐν ὑστέρῳ μέν, ἀσμένῃ δέ μοι,
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-93 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 18 focus
DÊ
141
I see you have been told of my distress,
And that hath brought you. But my inward woe,
Be it evermore unknown to you, as now!
Such the fair garden of untrammeled ease
Where the young life grows safely. No fierce heat,
No rain, no wind disturbs it, but unharmed
It rises amid airs of peace and joy,
Till maiden turn to matron, and the night
140
Inherit her dark share of anxious thought,
140
Haunted with fears for husband or for child.
140
Then, imaged through her own calamity,
140
Some one may guess the burden of my life.
140
Full many have been the sorrows I have wept,
140
But one above the rest I tell to-day.
When my great husband parted last from home,
He left within the house an ancient scroll
Inscribed with characters of mystic note,
Which Heracles had never heretofore,
In former labours, cared to let me see,—
As bound for bright achievement, not for death.
But now, as though his life had end, he told
What marriage-portion I must keep, what shares
He left his sons out of their father’s ground:
And set a time, when fifteen moons were spent,
Counted from his departure, that even then
Or he must die, or if that date were out
And he had run beyond it, he should live
Thenceforth a painless and untroubled life.
Such by Heaven’s fiat was the promised end
Of Heracles’ long labours, as he said;
So once the ancient oak-tree had proclaimed
In high Dodona through the sacred Doves.
Of which prediction on this present hour
In destined order of accomplishment
The veritable issue doth depend.
And I, dear friends, while taking rest, will oft
Start from sweet slumbers with a sudden fear,
Scared by the thought, my life may be bereft
Of the best husband in the world of men.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1 focus
Wohl sagt ein Spruch der Menschen schon in alter Zeit, 1
1
Kein irdisch Leben könne man, bevor es schloß,
Erkennen, ob es glücklich, ob unselig sei:
Ich aber weiß von meinem, eh' in Hades' Haus
Ich wandre, daß es bitter ist und jammervoll.
5
Schon, als in Deneus', meines Vaters, Haus ich war, 2
Und noch zu Pleuron wohnte, litt ich herbe Qual
Der Ehe wegen, wie noch kein Aetolerweib.
Ein Strom, genannt Acheloos, war mein Freier, der 3
Um mich in drei Gestalten bei dem Vater warb:
10
Leibhaft erschien er als ein Stier, dann wand er sich
Als bunter Drache, kam darauf in Mannsgestalt
Mit Stiereshaupte; von dem dichtbeschatteten
Barthaare strömten Bäche lautern Quellentranks.
So war der Freier, dessen ich gewärtig war,
15
Und täglich sehnt' ich Arme mir den Tod herbei,
Bevor ich solchem Manne mich als Braut gesellt.
Doch endlich, spät erst, aber vielwillkommen mir,
Erschien Alkmene's und des Zeus gepries'ner Sohn,
Der mit dem Strome kühn bestand den Kampf der Schlacht,
20
Und mich erlöste. Zwar des Kampfes Gang und Art
Beschreib' ich nicht; wie könnt ich's auch? Wer ohne Furcht
Dem grausen Schauspiel zugeseh'n, erzähle der's!
Denn ich erschüttert saß ich da, voll banger Angst,
Daß mir die Schönheit herben Gram bereite noch.
25
Doch gab ein gutes Ende Zeus, der Kampfeshort,
Wenn's anders gut war. Denn nachdem Herakles mich
Zum Weib erkoren, nähr' ich Sorg' um Sorge ſtets,
Um ihn mich härmend; zeugt ja doch die eine Nacht,
Die andre Nacht, ihr folgend, treibt hinweg das Leid.
30
Ich gab ihm Kinder, die der Vater irgendwann,
So wie der Landmann, der ein fernes Feld bebaut,
Nur bei der Aussaat und der Ernt' Einmal geseh'n.
So war das Leben, welches mir den Gatten stets
In's Haus und aus dem Hause trieb in fremdem Dienst. 4
35
Doch nun, nachdem er seiner Kämpfe Ziel errang,
Durchwühlt die Sorge mein Gemüth am heftigsten.
Denn seit den tapfern Iphitos sein Arm erschlug,
Sind wir in Trachis, wohnen als Vertrieb'ne hier
Bei'm alten Gastfreund; doch wohin Herakles sich 5
40
Gewendet, Niemand weiß es; mir nur ließ der Held,
Von hinnen ziehend, bittre Weh'n um sich zurück.
Ia, fast gewiß erkenn' ich's, daß ein Leid ihn traf.
Denn lange her schon ist es, fünfzehn Monde weilt
Er außen, ohne daß von ihm mir Kunde kam.
45
Ein schweres Leid ist's: also zeigt das Blatt mir an,
Das er zurückließ, als er schied; daß dieses mir
Kein Leiden bringe, fleh' ich oft die. Götter an.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 18 focus
Deianira
STRO. 2. ANTIS. 2. BPOD. 141
Inform'd, I ween, of my afflictions thou
Art present here: what anguish rends my heart
May'st thou ne'er know by suffering; thou as yet
Art inexperienc'd. Youth at random roves
O'er its own flow'ry fields; nor scorching heat
Nor show'r annoys it, nor the noxious force
Of boisterous winds; in pleasures it supports
A life that knows not trouble, till the name
140
Of virgin now is lost in that of wife:
140
Then first she shares anxiety; the night
140
Then for her husband bids her wake to fears,
140
Or for her children; then she may be taught
140
By her own feelings what th' oppressive woe
140
That weighs me down. My tears have often flow'd
140
For many sufferings; but my present griefe
Springs from such cause as never rose before;
This I will tell thee. When my royal lord
On his last emprize issued from his house,
He left with me a writing of old date,
His mandates, which before when marching forth
To many contests he forbore to show,.!
But went as to o'ercome, and not to die.
But now, as to return no more, he gave
In charge what portion for my nuptial dow'r
I should receive, and to his sons assign'd do
To each his share of his paternal land and N
Nay, he the time determined; from these realms
Beyond the complete year three waining moons/
Should he be absent, then the fates required
That he must die; the dangers of that timeo
Should he surmount, then all his future life!
Will pass unshaded with affliction's cloud,
To all the toils of Hercules, he said,
Such is the period by the gods assign'd;
Thus at Dodona the prophetic Doves
Gave from their ancient beech the voice of fate.
These truths are certain, and the present time
Gives dreadful expectation of th' event;
So that, loved virgins, from sweet sleep I start,
Distracted with my fears lest I remain
Now of the noblest of mankind bereaved.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-92 focus

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-52-1 αἰόλα 1 φλογιζόμενον 2 ἐναριζομένα 3 κατευνάζει 4 τίκτει 5

mvp-comment-52-2 The text has been much suspected (see cr. n.), but without reason. The imagery, indeed, does not form a consistent whole: Night is slain, and then overcomes. But this is merely one of many instances in which the poet's language wavers between the figurative and the literal.

mvp-comment-52-3 κατευνάζει τε φλογιζόμενον 6

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

94-140. mvp-comment-81-1 Parodos. Where in the wide world is Heracles, reposing in what continent, or by what narrow sea? Tell us, bright, all-beholding Sun! For our Deianira, for whose hand he fought, wears out her soul in thinking of him on her lonely couch; so ceaseless are the toils that crowd upon him like stormy billows. But God hath hitherto protected him; wherefore let not hope weary, O my queen. No life is without pain, but, by Divine ordinance, grief succeeds to joy and joy to grief. Remember this and hope the best. Zeus cannot leave his offspring to destruction.' The metre beginning with an iambic rhythm passes quickly into dactylo-trochaic, changing again in the epode to iambo-trochaic (with occasional syncope), then to pure iambics, ending with a bacchius followed by three trochees.

94-95. mvp-comment-82-1 ἐναριζομένα τίκτει] Gives birth to, being despoiled.' The word αἰόλα (like ποικιλείμων in Aesch. Prom. 24) suggests the glories of the starry night. (See Buttmann, Lexil. § 12.) These perish with her as she vanishes, 'Shot through with orient beams.' Cp. ΕΙ. 19, μέλαινά τ᾽ ἄστρων ἐκλέλοιπεν εὐφρόνη: Aesch. Ag. 279, τῆς νῦν τεκούσης φῶς τόδ᾽ εὐφρόνης λέγω. The mention of day succeeding night prepares for the suggestion of hope, infr. 131. κατευνάζει τε φλογιζόμενον] And lays glowing to his rest.' φλογιζόμενον calls up the image of a red sunset.