Aeschylus Eumenides 347

Herbert Weir Smyth (Translator)

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Eumenides. Aeschylus. Herbert Weir Smyth (Translator). New York. 1926.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Eumenides (English) (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Editions (12)
Εὐμενίδες First1KGreek (Aeschyli Tragoediae. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 299-396 focus
Εὐμενίδες Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926.) — 347 focus
Εὐμενίδες (1518 edition; OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides, 1518 edition. VLM-assisted OCR with native lineation and automated correspondence to the Smyth edition.) — 347 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 347 focus
γιγνομέναισι λάχη τάδ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἁμὶν ἐκράνθη,
ἀθανάτων δ᾽ ἀπέχειν χέρας, οὐδέ τις ἐστὶ
συνδαίτωρ μετάκοινος.
παλλεύκων δὲ πέπλων ἄμοιρος μούνα ἐτύχθην.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 347 focus
γεινομέναισι λάχη τάδ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἁμὶν ἐκράνθη,
345
ἀθανάτων δίχ᾽ ἔχειν γέρας, οὐδέ τις ἐστὶν
συνδαίτωρ μετάκοινος.
παλλεύκων πέπλων δ᾽ ἀγέραστος ἄμοιρος ἄκληρος ἐτύχθην.
ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 347 focus
Γιγνομέναισι λάχη τάδ' ἐφ' ἁμὶν ἀμῖν ἐκράνθη,
ἀθανάτων δ' ἀπέχειν χέρας, οὐδέ τίς ἐστιν -τι
συνδαίτωρ -δάτωρ μετάκοινος,
πανλεύκων παλλ- δὲ πέπλων ἄκληρος ἄμοιρος ἅμοιρος ἄκληρος ἐτύχθην 1
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Arthur Sidgwick, 1887.) — 347 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 347 focus
γιγνομέναισι λάχη
τάδ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἁμὶν ἐκράνθη,
ἀθανάτων δ᾽ ἀπέχειν
350
χέρας, οὐδέ τις ἐστὶ
συνδαίτωρ μετακοινος·
παλλεύκων δὲ πέπλων
ἄμοιρος ἄκληρος ἐτύχθην.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Martin L. West, 1990.) — 347 focus
Aeschyli Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Eumenides. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 347 focus
γιγνομέναισι λάχη τάδε φαμὶ κεκράνθαι,
ἀθανάτων δ᾽ ἀπέχειν χέρας, οὐδέ τίς ἐστι
συνδαίτωρ μετάκοινος·
παλλεύκων δὲ πέπλων ἀπόμοιρος ἄκληρος ἐτύχθην
350
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by F. A. Paley, 1885.) — 347 focus
γεινομέναισι λάχη τάδ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἁμὶν ἐκράνθη· στρ. β΄.
ἀθανάτων δ᾽ ἀπέχειν χέρας, οὐδέ τις ἐστὶ
330
ξυνδαίτωρ μετάκοινος.
παλλεύκων πέπλων δ᾽ * * ἄμοιρος ἄκληρος ἐτύχθην·
δωμάτων γὰρ εἱλόμαν
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by Friedrich Blass, 1907.) — 347 focus
γιγνομέναισι λάχη τάδ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἁμὶν ἐκράνθη,
στρ. β 347
ἀθανάτων δ᾽ ἀπέχειν χέρας, οὐδέ τις ἐστὶ
350
συνδαίτωρ μετάκοινος.
παλλεύκων δὲ πέπλων ἄκληρος ἄμοιρος ἐτύχθην.
Translations (10)
The Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (The Eumenides. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 347 focus
This lot was assigned to us at our birth: to keep our hands from the immortals, nor is there any common feeder with us; and of white garments am I ever destitute and devoid.
LES EUMÉNIDES (OCR draft) Experimental (LES EUMÉNIDES. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 347 focus
sans lyre, qui sèche les mortels d'effroi.
The Furies (OCR draft) Experimental (The Furies. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 347 focus
This taſk aſſign'd us at our natal hour,
Far from th' immortal Gods our ſteps we bend:
Nor welcome at the ſocial feaſt,
Nor honour'd with a ſplendent vest;
For mine I proudly claim the dreadful pow'r
395
From its firm base the ruin'd house to rend,
When in calm peace its ruthless lord
Diftains with a friend's blood his ſword.
Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 347 focus
schivo di lira.
Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 347 focus
Hymnus ex furijs,
Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1919–1923.) — 347 focus
Seit ich ward, darf ich mich
dieser Amtsgewalt berühmen.
350 Doch die Himmelsgötter bleiben
meinen Händen unerreichbar.
355 Niemand teilt meinen Tisch. Rebensaft und Festgewand
muſs ich ewig missen.
Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (Eumenides. Anna Swanwick, 1886.) — 347 focus
And crush him with heavy footfall where he lies;
†These limbs overthrow both the swift and the slow;
Once prostrate, our victims ne'er rise.
350
STROPHE III.
Men's glory, though beneath the sky
Proudly august, below the earth
Dwindles dishonoured, nothing worth,
Before our dark-stoled company,
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.) — 347 focus
When from womb of Night we sprang, on us this labour
Was laid and shall abide.
410
Gods immortal are ye, yet beware ye touch not
That which is our pride!
None may come beside us gathered round the blood-feast—
For us no garments white
Gleam on a festal day; for us a darker fate is,
415
Another darker rite.
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.) — 347 focus
Bei der Geburt ward uns vom Geschicke beschieden,
Ewig zu flieh'n der unsterblichen Götter Gemeinschaft.
330
Ihr Mahl theilen wir niemals;
Auch kein weißes Gewand darf unsere Glieder umhüllen.
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.

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-137-1 ἀντὶ τοῦ γέρα.

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

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.

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

λάχη . here, as l. 334

, office.

ἐκράνθη , assigned: so Suppl. 943

ψῆφος κέκρανται,
fixed, settled.

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.