Aeschylus Eumenides 103

Anna Swanwick (Translator)

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Chorus
By us in sooth our shafts have all been shot,
The issue of the cause I wait to hear.

Eumenides. Aeschylus. Anna Swanwick (Translator). London. 1886.

Sponsored by University of Leipzig.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition Experimental

Eumenides (OCR draft) (English) (Eumenides. Anna Swanwick, 1886.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (12)
Εὐμενίδες First1KGreek (Aeschyli Tragoediae. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 143-177 focus
Εὐμενίδες Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926.) — 143-177 focus
Εὐμενίδες (1518 edition; OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides, 1518 edition. VLM-assisted OCR with native lineation and automated correspondence to the Smyth edition.) — 94 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 94 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 94 focus
ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 94 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Arthur Sidgwick, 1887.) — 94 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 94 focus
εὕδοιτ᾽ ἄν, ὠή, καὶ καθευδουσῶν τί δεῖ;
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Martin L. West, 1990.) — 94 focus
Aeschyli Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Eumenides. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 94 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by F. A. Paley, 1885.) — 94 focus
εὕδοιτ᾿ ἂν, ὠὴ, καὶ καθευδουσῶν τί δεῖ;
ἐγὼ δ᾽ ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν ὧδ᾽ ἀπητιμασμένη
95
ἄλλοισιν ἐν νεκροῖσιν, ὡς μὲν ἔκτανον
ὄνειδος ἐν φθιτοῖσιν οὐκ ἐκλείπεται,
αἰσχρῶς δ᾽ ἀλῶμαι· προὐννέπω δ᾽ ὑμῖν ὅτι
ἔχω μεγίστην αἰτίαν κείνων ὕπο·
παθοῦσα δ᾽ οὕτω δεινὰ πρὸς τῶν φιλτάτων,
100
οὐδεὶς ὑπέρ μου δαιμόνων μηνίεται,
κατασφαγείσης πρὸς χερῶν μητροκτόνων.
ὁρᾶτε πληγὰς τάσδε καρδίας ὅθεν·
εὔδουσα γὰρ φρὴν ὄμμασιν λαμπρύνεται·
ἐν ἡμέρᾳ δὲ μοῖρ᾽ ἀπρόσκοπος βροτῶν.
105
ἢ πολλὰ μὲν δὴ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐλείξατε·
χοάς τ᾽ ἀοίνους, νηφάλια μειλίγματα,
καὶ νυκτίσεμνα δεῖπν᾿ ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάρᾳ πυρὸς
ἔθυον, ὥραν οὐδενὸς κοινὴν θεῶν.
καὶ πάντα ταῦτα λὰξ ὁρῶ πατούμενα·
110
ὁ δ᾽ ἐξαλύξας οἴχεται νεβροῦ δίκην,
καὶ ταῦτα κούφως ἐκ μέσων ἀρκυστάτων
ὤρουσεν, ὑμῖν ἐγκατιλλώψας μέγα.
ἀκούσαθ᾽· ὡς ἔλεξα τῆς ἐμῆς πέρι
ψυχῆς· φρονήσατ᾽, ὦ κατὰ χθονὸς θεαί.
115
ὄναρ γὰρ ὑμᾶς νῦν Κλυταιμνήστρα καλῶ.
μύζοιτ᾽ ἂν, ἀνὴρ δ᾽ οἴχεται φεύγων πρόσω·
φίλοις γάρ εἰσιν, οὐκ ἐμοὶ, προσίκτορες.
ἄγαν ὑπνώσσεις, κου κατοικτίζεις πάθος.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by Friedrich Blass, 1907.) — 94 focus
εὕδοιτ᾽ ἂν, ὠή, καὶ καθευδουσῶν τί δεῖ;
ἐγὼ δ᾽ ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν ὧδ᾽ ἀπητιμασμένη
95
ὡς μὲν ἔκτανον
ἄλλοισιν ἐν νεκροῖσιν
ὄνειδος ἐν φθιτοῖσιν οὐκ ἐκλείπεται,
αἰσχρῶς δ᾽ ἀλῶμαι· προυννέπω δ᾽ ὑμῖν ὅτι
ἔχω μεγίστην αἰτίαν κείνων ὑπερ·
παθοῦσα δ᾽ οὕτω δεινὰ πρὸς τῶν φιλτάτων,
100
οὐδεὶς ὑπέρ μου δαιμόνων μηνίσεται,
κατασφαγείσης πρὸς χερῶν μητροκτόνων;
δρα δὲ πληγὰς τᾶσδε καρδίᾶι σέθεν.
εύδουσα γὰρ φρὴν ὄμμασιν λαμπρύνεται,
ἐν ἡμέρᾶι δὲ μοῖρ᾽ ἀπρόσκοπος βροτῶν.
105
ἢ πολλὰ μὲν δὴ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐλείξατε,
χοάς τ᾽ ἀοίνους, νηφάλια μειλίγματα,
καὶ νυκτίσεμνα δεῖπν᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάρᾶι πυρὸς
ἔθυον, ὥραν οὐδενὸς κοινὴν θεῶν.
καὶ πάντα ταῦτα λὰξ ὁρῶ πατούμενα.
110
ὁ δ᾽ ἐξαλύξας οἴχεται νεβροῦ δίκην,
καὶ ταῦτα κούφως ἐκ μέσων ἀρκυστάτων
ὤρουσεν ὑμῖν ἐγκατιλλώψας μέγα.
ἀκούσαθ᾽, ὡς ἔλεξα τῆς ἐμῆς περὶ
ψυχῆς, φρονήσατ᾽, ὦ κατὰ χθονὸς θεαί.
115
ὄναρ γὰρ ὑμᾶς νῦν Κλυταιμήστρα καλῶ.
μυγμός.
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.)) — 143-175 focus
The Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (The Eumenides. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 94 focus
Sleep on, will ye 2
? and what need is there of sleepers? But I thus dishonored by you among the other dead, because I was a slayer, reproach among the dead ceases not: and in disgrace I wander, and I declare to you that I have the greatest reproach from those. But having suffered thus dreadful things from those most dear, none of the deities is enraged on account of me, slaughtered by matricidal hands. Behold these blows on thee, my heart 3
, for the slumbering mind is keen in its eyes 4
, but during day the fate of mortals can not foresee 5
futurity. Full oftentimes have ye tasted of my offerings 6
, both wineless libations, temperate­ soothing gifts, and I have offered at the hearth of fire nightly solemn feasts at an hour common to none of the gods. And all these things I behold trampled under the heel. But he is gone having escaped like a fawn, and moreover lightly has he rushed from the midst of the toils, having greatly laughed at you. Hear what I have said in behalf of this my soul, O goddesses beneath the earth: for I Clytemnestra, a dream 7
now call upon you. Snore on, but the man is gone flying afar: for the gods of supplication are friendly to my relatives, not to me 8
. Soundly you slumber, and pity not my suffering; but Orestes murderer of me his mother is gone. Do you cry oh? do you slumber? will you not quickly arise? What thing has been done by you except to work evils? Sleep and toil powerful conspirers have wasted the strength of the fell dragon.
LES EUMÉNIDES (OCR draft) Experimental (LES EUMÉNIDES. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 94 focus
j'ai vraiment grand besoin de dormeuses! Et, tandis qu'entre les morts vous me réservez tels mépris, l'injure « Meurtrière ! » ne m'est pas épargnée, à moi, chez les ombres, et j'erre là dans la honte... Oui, vous dis-je, de mes actes on me fait grand crime là-bas, et, en revanche,
après le sort atroce que j'ai subi d'un fils, aucun dieu ne s'indigne en faveur d'une mère qu'égorgea un bras parricide. Vois : que ton cœur contemple mes plaies dans le som- meil : l'âme mortelle est toute éclairée d'yeux, à qui le don de
The Furies (OCR draft) Experimental (The Furies. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 94 focus
What, can you fleep? Is this a time t' indulge
Your indolent repoſe? Thro' your neglect
I am diſhonour'd 'mongſt the dead, revil'd,
For that I flew him with inceſſant taunts,
125
And wander with disgrace: this infamy,
I tell you, is thro' you: my horrid ſuff'rings,
From those moſt dear to me, excite no anger
Of one offended God;
yet I was ſlain
130
By my fon's hand. With thy mind's eye behold
Theſe wounds: in ſleep the vig'rous foul, ſet free
From groſs corporeal ſenſe, with keener view
Looks thro' the fate of mortals, dimly ſeen
Thro' the day's troubled beam.
135
Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 94 focus
Ehi là! Dormite? E che bisogno ho io
di sonnacchiose?
Perché m'offendete
Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 94 focus
Dormiat igitur, aurora & dormientib. quid opus est?
Ego uerò à uobis fic ignominia affecta
Cum alijs mortuis, ſic enim interfeci.
100
Probrum mortuis non deficit.
Turpè uerò capta ſum. prædico enim uobis quòd
Habeo maximam cauſam ab illis,
Patiens ſic atrocia, ab amiciſsimis.
Nullus pro me deorum ſuccenſet,
105
Iugulata parricidis manibus.
Vide plagas has tui cordis.
Dormiens enim meis oculis illuminatur.
In die uerò parca ſpeculatrix mortalium.
Certè multa meorum ſuſcepi
110
Inferiasq; uiro carentes, nephalia placamenta
Et noctigrauas coenas in foco ignis
Sacrificaui in hora nulli deorum communi.
Et omnia hæc ideo pedibus conculcata eſse.
Iſte uerò fugiens uenit instar cadaueris,
115
Et hæc leuiter ex medijs retibus
Impetum fecit, uobis inſaniens ualde.
Audite quemadmodum dixi de mea
Anima, intelligite ſubterraneæ deæ,
Somnium uos nunc Clytemneſtra uoco.
120
Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1919–1923.) — 94 focus
Ihr schlaft wohl? Holla, taugt es, daſs ihr schlafend
liegt?
95 Und ich, von euch so preisgegeben in der Schar
der Schatten - ach, die Toten hören stets den Schimpf
von denen, die ich selber schlug. In Schanden muſs
ich einsam schweifen. Und ich sag's euch an, die Last
ihrer Anklagen drückt mich schwer, und ich, an der
100 das nächste Blut so fürchterliche That beging,
in Höll' und Himmel hab' ich keinen, der mich rächt,
ob Mutterblut mein Mörder auch vergossen hat.
Sie entblöfst die Brust.
Sieh hier die Wunde. Deine Seele nimmt sie wahr,
104 denn erst im Schlafe wird des Geistes Auge hell.
106 Ihr habt von meinen Schenkerhänden manchen Guſs
weinloser Spenden, nüchtern Opfer gern geschlürft,
und meines Herdes Flamme hat in nächt'gen Weih'n
euch manches Mahl bereitet, wo kein andrer Gott
110 geladen wird; für alles zahlt ihr Schmach als Dank.
Und er ist fort, ist ausgebrochen wie ein Reh,
war von den Netzen schon umstellt, und doch ent-
weicht
er leichten Sprunges, spottet euch hohngrinsend aus.
Hört mich, um meiner Seele Frieden ruf ich euch,
115 kommt zu euch, ihr Gewalt'gen aus dem Reich der
Nacht.
Als Traumerscheinung ruft euch Klytaimestra wach.
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.) — 94 focus
Sleep on! awake! what skills your sleep to me—
Me, among all the dead by you dishonoured—
Me from whom never, in the world of death,
120
Dieth this curse, 'Tis she who smote and slew,
And shamed and scorned I roam? Awake, and hear
My plaint of dead men's hate intolerable.
Me, sternly slain by them that should have loved,
Me doth no god arouse him to avenge,
125
Hewn down in blood by matricidal hands.
Mark ye these wounds from which the heart's blood ran,
And by whose hand, bethink ye! for the sense
When shut in sleep hath then the spirit-sight,
But in the day the inward eye is blind.
130
List, ye who drank so oft with lapping tongue
The wineless draught by me outpoured to soothe
Your vengeful ire! how oft on kindled shrine
I laid the feast of darkness, at the hour
Abhorred of every god but you alone!
135
Lo, all my service trampled down and scorned!
And he hath baulked your chase, as stag the hounds;
Yea, lightly bounding from the circling toils,
Hath wried his face in scorn, and flieth far.
Awake and hear—for mine own soul I cry—
140
Awake, ye powers of hell! the wandering ghost
That once was Clytemnestra calls—Arise.
[ The Furies mutter grimly, as in a dream.
Mutter and murmur! He hath flown afar—
My kin have gods to guard them, I have none!
[ The Furies mutter as before.
O drowsed in sleep too deep to heed my pain!
145
Orestes flies, who me, his mother, slew.
[ The Furies give a confused cry.
Yelping, and drowsed again? Up and be doing
That which alone is yours, the deed of hell!
[ The Furies give another cry.
Lo, sleep and toil, the sworn confederates,
Have quelled your dragon-anger, once so fell!
150
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.) — 94 focus
Ihr schlummert? He doch! Was bedarf's der Schlummernden?
Mich, die vor andern Todten so durch eure Schuld
95
Ein Spott geworden, mich verfolgt im Schattenland 1
Nastlos der Hohn der Todten, die ich mordete.
Schmachvoll umher dort irr' ich und verkünd' es euch,
Daß schwerer Vorwurf mich darob von jenen trifft.
Und thaten meine Liebsten auch so Grauses mir,
100
Zürnt doch um meinetwillen kein Unsterblicher,
Die durch des Muttermordes Hand geopfert ward.
Sieh diese Wunden mit des Herzens Blick dir an; 2
Denn schlafend späht des Geistes Auge klar umher,
Der Tag vergönnt ihm keinen Blick in Menschenloos.
105
Von meiner Habe schlürftet ihr vielfältig einst
Weinlose Spenden, unberauschenden Sühnetrank;
Manch heilig Nachtmahl brachten wir am Feuerherd
Euch dar in Stunden, die mit euch kein Gott getheilt.
Und alles dies in Staub getreten seh' ich's nun!
110
Doch er entrinnt euch, flieht davon, dem Rehe gleich;
Ja, mitten aus den Garnen ist er leichten Sprungs
Entschlüpft, und blickt hohnlachend nun nach euch zurück.
Vernehmt mich; denn um meine Seele sprach ich jetzt;
Merkt auf, besinnt euch, unterird'sche Göttinnen!
115
Ein Schatte, Klytämnestra, ruft euch dieses zu.
(Der Chor stöhnt.)
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.)

169. μάντις ὤν , i. e. ‘though a seer,' and thus the last who should have allowed pollution.

174. τόν , Orestes: for Epic form cp. 137, 357.

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

mvp-comment-71-1 καρδίας ὅθεν: καρδίαι σέθεν Μ. καρδία σέθεν G. Par. Flor. καρδία σέθεν Ven. Farn. Rob. καρδίας σέθεν Ald. Turn. καρδίας ἔθεν, id ut esset idem quod quédev, Canterus scribendum putabat. Defendit Schoemannus καρδίᾳ σέθεν. Sed ad δρα plane inutiliter καρδίᾳ σέθεν additum esset, praesertim quum oé v prorsus supervacaneum sit. Scripsi, ut in Opusc. VI. 2. p. 28. scribendum esse dixeram, ὅρα δὲ πληγὰς τάςδε καρδίας ὅθεν. O. Müllero hanc emendationem eo evertere conanti, quod v. 582. Orestes matrem interfecisse dicitur ξιφουλκῇ χειρὶ πρὸς δέρην τεμών, assensus est Linwoodius. Quasi tam anxie haec rimanda essent, aut quasi nemo gladio superne iugulo alicuius defixo cor percutere possit. Ipse Linwoodius καρδίας σέθεν scripsit et πληγάς καρδίας metaphorice dictas ad convicia a Clytaemnestrae choro iniecta referendas putavit. Hoc nemo intellexisset. Contorta sunt et improbabilia quae Schne dewinus in Notitiis litterariis Gottingensibus a. 1845. p. 1948 seqq. de his versibus protulit.

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

mvp-comment-41-1 The Med. has ὅρα δὲ and σέθεν. But the verb is in the plural throughout this speech, and the sense is much simpler, See this wound over my heart, from whose hand it proceeded. The Schol. here observes, It is a tragic device to make the ghost of Clytemnestra retain the wound where she was stabbed.

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-1-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 251

mvp-comment-1-2 Prolog, wenn man das Erwachen der Erinyen 140-178 als Parodos und das zweite Erscheinen derselben 244-275 als Epiparodos gelten läfst. Andernfalls müfste man den Prolog bis zum eigentlichen Auftreten des Chors als der wirklichen Parodos, also 1-243 rechnen. Die Pythia, welche als Greisin (38) sich auf einen Stab stützt, kommt (durch eine Seitenthüre der Hinterwand) aus einem Nebenraume des Tempels zum Haupteingange desselben und verrichtet vor dem Eintritt ein Gebet (30 f.). Sie hat die χρηστηρία ἐσθής wie Kasandra in Agamemnon (zu Ag. 774 ). Gut bemerkt der Schol. :

φαίνεται ἐπὶ σκηνῆς τὸ μαντεῖον· η δὲ προφῆτις πρόεισιν ἐπικλήσεις, ὡς ἔθος, τῶν θεῶν ποιησομένη, ἀπροόπτως τε ἰδοῦσα τὰς Ἐρινύας κύκλῳ τοῦ Ὀρέστου καθευδούσας πάντα μηνύει τοῖς θεαταῖς, οὐχ ὡς διηγουμένη τὰ ὑπὸ τὴν σκηνήν, τοῦτο γὰρ νεωτερικὸν Εὐριπίδειον, ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς ἐκπλήξεως τὰ θορυβήσαντα αὐτὴν καταμηνύουσα φιλοτέχνως
(d. h. die Exposition ist nicht unvermittelt wie bei Euripides, sondern wohl motiviert). τὰ δὲ πρῶτα εὐχαὶ καὶ ἐπικλήσεις θεῶν, ἵνα ἀπὸ τῶν εὐφημοτέρων ἄρξηται ἡ προφῆτις (in der That breitet das Gebet der Priesterin über den Anfang eine weihevolle Stimmung aus). οἰκονομικῶς δὲ οὐκ ἐν ἀρχῇ διώκεται Ὀρέστης, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ δράματος κατατάττει, ταμιευόμενος τὰ ἀκμαιότατα ἐν μέσῳ.

mvp-comment-59-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 260

mvp-comment-59-2 ὅρα zur Chorführerin wie 131, 183. — τραγικώτερον τὸ εἴδωλον Κλυταιμήστρας σώζει τὴν σφαγήν Schol. - καρδίᾳ, mit dem Inneren.

mvp-comment-59-3 1

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

mvp-sidgwick-63-1-1 The MSS. read ὅρα δὲ πληγὰς τάσδε καρδίᾳ σέθεν, ‘behold these wounds with thy heart, the use of καρδίᾳ being at first sight supported by what follows for the mind sees in sleep.' But Aeschylus always uses καρδία (as we do heart) of emotion not of intelligence : grief, anxiety, care, fear, wrath, courage, favour, desire-never of perception. So I take Canter's καρδίας ὅθεν adopted by Dind. Pal. Herm. Paley is further no doubt right in reading ὁρᾶτε: the plural is wanted: the asyndeton improves the sense, being more passionate: and the singular clearly arose from σέθεν.

mvp-sidgwick-63-2-1 Behold these wounds in my heart, from whence they came; a fierce reminder of their duty to hunt Orestes, and a far finer sense than the MSS. reading.