Aeschylus Eumenides 381

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Eumenides. Aeschylus. . 2026.

Current edition Experimental

Εὐμενίδες (1518 edition; OCR draft) (Greek) (Aeschylus, Eumenides, 1518 edition. VLM-assisted OCR with native lineation and automated correspondence to the Smyth edition.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (11)
Εὐμενίδες First1KGreek (Aeschyli Tragoediae. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 397-489 focus
Εὐμενίδες Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926.) — 397-489 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 381 focus
μένει γάρ· εὐμήχανοι δὲ καὶ τέλειοι, κακῶν
τε μνήμονες, σεμναὶ
καὶ δυσπαρήγοροι βροτοῖς,
ἄτιμ᾿ ἀτίετα διόμεναι
385
λάχη θεῶν διχοστατοῦντ᾽
ἀναλίῳ λάπα, δυσοδοπαίπαλα
δερκομένοισι καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 381 focus
μένει γάρ· εὐμήχανοι
τε καὶ τέλειοι, κακῶν
1
τε μνήμονες, σεμναὶ
375
καὶ δυςπαρήγοροι βροτοῖς,
ἄτιμ᾽ ἀτίετα διόμεναι
λάχη, θεῶν διχοστατοῦντ᾽
ἀνηλίῳ λάμπα, δυςοδοπαίπαλα
δερκομένοισι καὶ δυςομμάτοις ὁμῶς.
380
2
ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 381 focus
Μένει γάρ· εὐμήχανοι
τε καὶ δὲ καὶ τέλειοι κακῶν
τε μνήμονες Σεμναὶ
καὶ δυσπαρήγοροι -ράγωγοι βροτοῖς,
ἄτιμ' ἀτίετα ἀτίεται -ετον διόμεναι
380
λάχη θεῶν διχοστατοῦντ'
ἀνηλίῳ λάμπᾳ λαμπαὶ (sine acc.),
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Arthur Sidgwick, 1887.) — 381 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 381 focus
μένει γάρ. εὐμήχανοι
τε καὶ τέλειοι κακῶν
385
τε μνήμονες, σεμναὶ
καὶ δυσπαρήγοροι βροτοῖς,
ἄτιμ᾽ ἀτίετα διέπομεν
λάχη θεῶν διχοστατοῦντ᾽
ἀνηλίῳ λάμπα, δυσοδοπαίπαλα
390
δερκομένοισι καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς.
4
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Martin L. West, 1990.) — 381 focus
μέλει γάρ, εὐμήχανοι
δὲ καὶ τέλειοι, κακῶν
τε μνάμονες, σεμναὶ
καὶ δυσπαρήγοροι βροτοῖς,
{ἄτιμα} ἀτίετα διόμεναι λάχη
385
θεῶν διχοστατοῦντ᾽ ἀναλίωι λάπαι,
†δυσοδοπαίπαλα† δερχομένοισι
καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς.
Aeschyli Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Eumenides. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 381 focus
μένει γάρ. εὐμήχανοι
δὲ καὶ τέλειοι κακών
τε μνήμονες Σεμναί,
καὶ δυσπαρήγοροι βροτοῖς
ἄτιμ᾿ ἀτίετα διόμεναι
390
λάχη θεῶν διχοστατοῦντ᾽ ἀνηλίωι
λάμπαι, δυσοδοπαίπαλα δερκομένοισι
καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς. –
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by F. A. Paley, 1885.) — 381 focus
μένει γάρ· εὐμήχανοι
δὲ καὶ τέλειοι, κακῶν
360
τε μνήμονες Σεμναὶ,
καὶ δυσπαρήγοροι βροτοῖς,
ἄτιμ᾿ ἀτίετα διόμεναι
λάχη, θεῶν διχοστατοῦντ᾽,
ἀνηλίῳ λάμπᾳ, δυσοδοπαίπαλα
365
δερκομένοισι καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by Friedrich Blass, 1907.) — 381 focus
μένει γάρ· εὐμήχανοί
τε καὶ τέλειοι, κακῶν
τε μνήμονες Σεμναί,
καὶ δυσπαρήγοροι βροτοῖς,
ἄτιμ᾿ ἀτίετα διέπομεν
385
λάχη θεῶν διχοστατοῦντ᾽
ἀνηλίωι λάμπᾶι,
δυσποροπαίπαλα δερκομένοισι
καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς.
Translations (10)
Eumenides Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 397-485 focus
The Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (The Eumenides. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 381 focus
For 'tis fixed 4
. But we 5
both quick of contrivance and persevering in accomplishing it, and awfully mindful of evil deeds, and impla­ cable to mortals, executing an office ignoble and unhonoured. apart from gods with a sunless torch, in a way alike difficult to be trodden by those who see and by the blind 6
.
LES EUMÉNIDES (OCR draft) Experimental (LES EUMÉNIDES. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 381 focus
est la nuit que sa souillure, volant autour de lui, étend sur ses yeux — cependant qu'une nuée sombre s'abat sur sa
maison, ainsi que le proclame une douloureuse rumeur 1 .
((Fiévreux) D'un pied puissant au plus haut je bondis, pour retomber d'un poids plus lourd et fugitifs de chanceler sous le faix pesant du malheur.)
Plus vif.
Mon lot reste immuable : adresse et ténacité, mémoire fidèle des crimes et cœur insensible aux pleurs des humains, tout cela a été donné aux Redoutables 2 pour leur permettre
de poursuivre la tâche humble et méprisée, qui les tient éloi-
The Furies (OCR draft) Experimental (The Furies. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 381 focus
But ſhall ſhelt'ring wall or gloom
That from dark'ning guilt is ſpread,
Hide him from his rigorous doom,
425
Or protect his deſtin’d head?
Mine the vengeance to deſign,
And to ſtamp it deep is mine.
Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 381 focus
e al nostro fine agevoli
troviamo i mezzi. Memori
e severe ai mortali, e inesorabili,
senza onore né pregio,
420
viviam lunge dai Numi,
dove non s'apre tramite
né ai vivi, né ai defunti, ove non brillano
giammai del sole i lumi.
Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 381 focus
Et perfectè malorumq; memores atroces,
Et conſolatione carentes mortalibus
Ignominioſe iniuſte furentes.
Sortis deorum diſsentiere faciunt,
Et ſine ſole lucere difficiles acceſsu
370
Reſpicientibus & uidentibus malè ſimul.
Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1919–1923.) — 381 focus
Er wartet auf uns;
wir wissen den Weg,
wir finden das Ziel,
vergessen nie die Schuld.
Wir sind die Erhab'nen.
Uns rührt kein menschliches Bitten.
Wir üben ein Amt
ohn' Ehren und Würde
385 verbannt von den Göttern
in brauende Dünste
des ewigen Dunkels,
unnahbar, unerfindlich
wackerem Auge wie blödem.
English (E. D. A. Morshead, 1889, second edition) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, The Furies — Morshead translation. Wikisource transcription; speech corresp and card milestones aligned to Smyth perseus-grc2.) — 381 focus
Stern and fixed the law is; we have hands t' achieve it,
Cunning to devise.
Queens are we and mindful of our solemn vengeance;
Not by tear or prayer
Shall a man avert it. In unhonoured darkness,
455
Far from gods, we fare,
Lit unto our task with torch of sunless regions,
And o'er a deadly way—
Deadly to the living as to those who see not
Life and light of day—
460
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1854; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylos. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1854. Native Donner line citations, Smyth card correspondence, selected textual readings and metrical facsimiles. Remaining OCR differences and unattributed reading notes are documented in the linked review inventory.) — 381 focus
So bleibt es steh'n: Mittel stets,
Die Bahn zum Ziel finden wir,
Graunvoll der Schuld Rächer;
Kein Menschenfleh'n besänftigt uns.
360
Ein ungeehrt, verachtet Amt
Verwalten wir, das, Göttern fern, der Sonne Glanz fliehet,
Schwer zu erklimmen den Menschen im Lichte,
Wie dem blinden Volk der Nacht.
Vierte Gegenstrophe.
English (Smyth; revised Bannon and Nagy, CHS) (OCR draft) Experimental (CHS Primary Sources revision of Herbert Weir Smyth’s translation by Cynthia Bannon and Gregory Nagy, with transliterated Greek terms tagged and aligned to the Smyth edition.)

No corresponding passage available

Commentary

Commentary on Aeschylus: Eumenides (Aeschylus. Eumenides. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887.)

347. λάχη . here, as 1. 334, office.

347. ἐκράνθη , assigned: so Suppl. 943 ψῆφος κέκρανται, fixed, settled .

350. ἀθανάτων δ᾽ ἀπέχειν χέρας , but from the immortals to keep away. The ἀθανάτων δέ is opposed to the θνατῶν of the previous stanza 1. 336. Their 'office' is to pursue the guilty man, but they have nothing to do with gods.

374. κατὰ γᾶν , on earth, is the MS. reading: but as Hermann said, the sense below the earth, κατὰ γᾶs, is required in antithesis to ὑπ᾿ αἰθέρι. The same mistake occurs again 11. 838, 871. 11. 375, 376. Bold and imaginative expressions :

Before our black-robed assault,
And the vengeful measures of our foot;
i.e. [their human glories come to naught] when we the Furies attack them and weave these magic dances which make them our captive (as we are doing to Orestes).

Critical apparatus to Eumenides (OCR draft) (Latin and Greek critical apparatus to Gottfried Hermann's 1852 edition of Eumenides.) focus

mvp-comment-251-1 γεινομέναισι ... ἐφ᾽ ἁμὶν: Chori nomen praefixum in Flor. γιγνομέναισι M. G. Ald. Rob. Turn. γινομέναισι Ven. Flor. Cur γεινομέναισι scripserim quivis intelliget. Libri ἡμῖν. Correxit Porsonus.

mvp-comment-252-1 ἀθανάτων δίχ᾽ ἔχειν γέρας: Libri ἀθανάτων δ᾽ ἀπέχειν χέρας, nisi quod in Ven. est ἀθανάτων ἀπέχειν χεῖρας. Scholiastes μὴ πλησιάζειν ἡμᾶς τοῖς θεοῖς. Eversius, ut O. Millerus refert, scribendum coniecit ἀθανάτων ἀπ᾽ ἔχειν γέρας. Perspexit vitio laborare librorum scripturam, sed ἄπ᾿ ἔχειν non bene nec perspicue dictum est. Scribendum erat ἀθανάτων δίχ' ἔχειν γέρας. In fine versus ἐστὶν Farn. Ceteri ἐστί.

mvp-comment-253-1 συνδαίτωρ: συνδαίτωρ Turn. et, ut Franzius dicit, Flor. συνδάτωρ Μ. G. Par. Ven. Farn. Ald. Rob.

mvp-comment-254-1 παλλεύκων πέπλων δ᾽ ... ἄμοιρος ἄκληρος ἐτύχθην: Libri πανλεύκων (sic M. G. Ald. παλλεύκων Ven. Flor. Rob. Turn.) δὲ πέπλων | άμοιρος ἄκληρος ἐτύχθην. Male haec et ab aliis tractata sunt et a Dindorfio. Scripsi, ut olim in Opusc. VI. 2. p. 68. παλλεύκων πέπλων δ' * ἀγέραστος* ἄμοιρος ἄκληρος ἐτύχθην.

Commentary on the Eumenides (OCR draft) (Brief English notes on Aeschylus' Eumenides by F. A. Paley, 1885.) focus

mvp-comment-112-1 γεινομέναισι] at our birth. Cf. v. 71. What follows is obscure and difficult: the Schol. explains μὴ πλησιάζειν ἡμᾶς τοῖς θεοῖς, ‘but to abstain from (keep our hands off) the gods, and not one (of them) shares with us in our feast.' He probably thought the infinitive depended on μοῖρ᾽ ἐπέκλωσεν, ν. 321. A more probable meaning is, 'But tis for the gods (viz. Apollo and Pallas) not to interfere with us. This is said especially in regard to v. 314, and the allusion in the next verse to the sable robes indicates the unfitness of their office for the god of joy and brightness, who is οὐ τοιοῦτος ὥστε θρηνητοῦ τυχεῖν, Αg. 1042.

Selected scholia accompanying Blass's Eumenides (OCR draft) (The mixed Greek, Latin, and German scholia register printed with Friedrich Blass's 1907 edition, aligned to O. L. Smith's later recensional editions.) focus

mvp-comment-138-1 μὴ πλησιάζειν ἡμᾶς τοῖς θεοῖς.

mvp-comment-139-1 οὐδαμοῦ ὅπου ἑορτὴ καὶ ἀμπεχόνη καθαρὰ πάρειμι.

Wecklein’s commentary on Eumenides (1888; German; OCR draft) (Explanatory commentary, pp. 251–322; HW42J8 and HXJHA8 OCR collated, with missing comparison pages 294–295 explicitly marked. Unresolved OCR and provisional reference mappings are explicitly marked.) focus

mvp-comment-191-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 276

mvp-comment-191-2 erstes Stasimon, welches besonders in den Ephymnien den Charakter des ὕμνος δέσμιος hat. ,, Apollon beraubt uns unseres Rechtes, indem er uns diesen Flüchtling entzieht, der uns zur Sühne des Muttermords zukommt und dem unser grauser Gesang gilt. Denn SO hat das Schicksal bestimmt, dafs wir die Mörder verfolgen und peinigen. Drum weil Umsturz von Häusern unser Los ist, haben die Götter des Lichts keine Gemeinschaft mit uns und Feste der Freude sind uns versagt. Dafür sind die Götter dieser traurigen Sorge überhoben und brauchen sich nicht mit Blutbefleckten zu befassen. Wir verfolgen den Mörder und stürzen ihn von der Höhe seines Ruhms. Er wird, ohne dessen in seiner Geistesnacht inne zu werden, von der Stimme des Volkes verurteilt und allgemeine Mifsachtung umnachtet sein Haus (vgl. Cho. 53 ff. , Ag. 463 ff. ). So steht es fest: Geniessen wir auch nicht die Ehre, den oberen Göttern gesellt zu sein, so haben doch die Sterblichen die vom Schicksal gegebene Satzung, auf der unser altheiliges Amt beruht, zu fürchten und zu verehren." Wenn man aus den drei Ephymnien schliefsen darf, wird jedes der drei ersten Strophenpaare von einem Stoichos, die Ephymnien und das vierte Strophenpaar von dem Gesamtchore vorgetragen.

mvp-comment-202-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 277

mvp-comment-202-2 γιγνομέναισι: Hom. Υ 127 πείσεται άσσα οἱ αἶσα γινομένῳ ἐπένησε λίνῳ, ὅτε μιν τέκε μήτηρ. - ἐφ᾽ ἁμὶν ἐκράνθη, ἡμῖν ἐπεκράνθη. Die Verkürzung der zweiten Silbe von ἡμῖν, welche bei Sophokles öfter vorkommt, findet sich bei Äschylos nur hier, bei Euripides nirgends.

mvp-comment-203-1 1

mvp-comment-203-2 Wecklein 1888, p. 277

mvp-comment-203-3 ἀθανάτων . . γέρας: Schol. μὴ πλησιάζειν ἡμᾶς τοῖς θεοῖς.

mvp-comment-204-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 277

mvp-comment-204-2 παλλεύκων (zu 52) πέ πλων ἀνέορτος ἄφαρος ἐτύχθην giebt in dichterischer Weise den Gedanken: des hellweifsen Festgewandes Freude ist mir versagt. Schol. οὐδαμοῦ ὅπου ἑορτὴ καὶ ἀμπεχόνη καθαρά, πάρειμι. Mit πέπλων ἀνέορτος ἄφαρος (zu Ag. 158 ) vgl. 894 und Eur. El. 310 άv έog τος ἱερῶν, Eur. Phoen. 324

ἄπεπλος φαρέων λευκών.

Commentary (Arthur Sidgwick, 1887) (OCR draft) (Arthur Sidgwick's commentary on the Eumenides, aligned to the canonical Greek text.) focus

ἀθανάτων δ᾽ ἀπέχειν χέρας , but from the immortals to keep away. The ἀθανάτων δέ is opposed to the θνατῶν of the previous stanza l. 336

. Their office is to pursue the guilty man, but they have nothing to do with gods.

mvp-sidgwick-170-1-1 This line does not correspond to the antistrophic line,

Ζεὺς γὰρ αἱματοσταγὲς ἀξιόμισον ἔθνος τόδε λέσχας,
but both make good sense, and there is no specially suspicious word in either. Under these circumstances it is quite easy to make them correspond in numerous different ways, by changing one, or the other, or both. But the best correction is to read ἀνέορτον for ἄμοιρον here, and in the antistrophe to read δ' αἱμοσταγές for γὰρ αἱματοσταγές. In pure white robes I have no festal part.

mvp-sidgwick-170-2-1 The Eumenides as nether and evil powers had no lot nor part in the festivals of gods where white robes were worn: they were μελανεί- μονες, black-robed, l. 376

,
μέλαιναι,
l. 52 , φαιοχίτωνες, dusky in garb, Cho. 1048 , as became daughters of Night.