Euripides, Hippolytus
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§ 500 NURSE: Dishonourable they may be, but better for you than honour. Actions are better, if they'll actually save your life, Than words, in which you will die exulting. PHAEDRA: Don’t, by the gods --- you speak well, but shamefully --- Go any further than this! As I have been completely undermined
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§ 505 In my soul by love, and if you speak well of dishonour, I will be spent in the very thing I’m now running from! NURSE: If that is your decision, then although you should not be going astray, Yet if you are going astray, listen to me – for that is the favour that comes second. In the house I have potions and things to soothe
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§ 510 Passion --- just now I thought of them --- And they'll stop you from this illness without any shame Or harm to your mind, if you are not bad. But I need to get some token belonging to The man you long for, either a lock of hair or something
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§ 515 From his clothes, and from the two make a single charm. PHAEDRA: Is it an ointment or a potion? NURSE: I don’t know --- be willing to benefit from it, not learn, my child. PHAEDRA: I fear that you'll be seen to be too clever for me. NURSE: You’re afraid of everything, you know --- What do you fear?
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§ 520 PHAEDRA: That you'll say something about this to Theseus’ son. NURSE: Let it be, child. I will fix all this well. Only you, lady Aphrodite of the sea, Be my helper. As for all the rest I have in mind, It will be enough to speak to our dear ones inside. (NURSE GOES BEHIND THE DOORS OF THE STAGE)
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§ 525 CHORUS: Love, Love, you who drip longing From the eyes, bringing to the soul A sweet delight for those whom you attack, May you never appear to me with evil, Or come in undue measure.
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§ 530 For the shaft neither of fire nor of the stars Exceeds that sent by Love, the son Of the goddess Aphrodite.
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§ 535 Uselessly, uselessly does the land of Greece, Beside the river Alpheus and at Delphi Increase the slaughter of cattle, If we do not reverence Love, The king of men,
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§ 540 Aphrodite’s son who is the key-holder of the dearest bedrooms, And who destroys people and sends them Through every disaster when he comes.
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§ 545 And she, the filly In Oechalia unyoked to a bed, Who was formerly without a husband and unwed, Was yoked by Aphrodite from Eurytus' house
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§ 550 and like a wild Naiad or Maenad, along with blood And smoke, in murderous Marriage given to the son of Alcmene. Wretched she was in her marriage!
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§ 555 You sacred walls Of Thebes, and mouth of [the fountain] Dirke, you would Agree with me about how great Aphrodite is when she Comes! With fire-encompassing thunder
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§ 560 The mother of twice-born Bacchus was married to a bloody Fate and put to rest by her. For she is terrible and breathes over everything, and like a bee She hovers. (ARGUMENT BETWEEN HIPPOLYTUS AND NURSE CAN BE HEARD INSIDE. PHAEDRA HAS HER EAR PRESSED TO THE DOOR)
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§ 565 PHAEDRA: Quiet, ladies! I am undone! CHORUS: What terrible thing, Phaedra, is happening in your house? PHAEDRA: Shhh! Let me hear what they're saying! CHORUS: I’ll be quiet --- but this is an evil prelude. PHAEDRA: Ah! Oh god no!
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§ 570 I’m wretched from my sufferings! CHORUS: What’s this sound you’re groaning? What are you shouting? Tell me, lady, what words are frightening you, Rushing upon your mind?
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§ 575 PHAEDRA: I’m ruined! Stand at these doors And listen to what a din is falling on the house! CHORUS: You are at the door-bolts, and you are concerned with the voices Conveyed from the house!
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§ 580 Tell me, tell me, what awful thing has come to us! PHAEDRA: The horse-loving Amazon's son, Hippolytus, Is shouting, saying terrible bad things to the servant!
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§ 585 CHORUS: I can hear a cry, but I can’t catch it clearly. Tell me what The shouting is that has come through your doors! PHAEDRA: Well, he clearly declares that she is the pimp
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§ 590 Of evils, and that she has betrayed the bed of her mistress! CHORUS: Oh this is terrible! You've been betrayed, my dear! What plan can we come up with for you? The secret has been revealed, and you are ruined!
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§ 595 Oh god, ah! Betrayed by your friend! PHAEDRA: She has destroyed me by telling him about my disaster! In a dear way, in a bad way, not curing this illness! CHORUS: What then? What will you do, who have suffered inconceivably? PHAEDRA: I know of only one way out --- to die as soon as I can,
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§ 600 The only cure for these current pains! (HIPPOLYTUS AND THE NURSE COME OUTSIDE, STILL TALKING) HIPPOLYTUS: Mother Earth and unveilings of the Sun! What words I have heard! Unspeakable! NURSE: Quiet, my child, before someone hears you! HIPPOLYTUS: There’s no way, after hearing such terrible things, that I’m going to keep quiet. NURSE: (FALLS PROSTRATE AT HIPPOLYTUS’ FEET AND TAKES HIS HAND AND THE HEM OF HIS ROBE)
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§ 605 Please! I beg you, by your right hand! HIPPOLYTUS: (PUSHES HER AWAY) Don’t hold my hand or touch my clothes! NURSE: (TAKES HIS KNEES) I beg you, by your knees, don’t destroy me! HIPPOLYTUS: Why? (SNEERING) If, as you say, you haven’t done anything wrong? NURSE: This story is not one to be shared with anyone!
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§ 610 HIPPOLYTUS: Noble things are nobler when spoken among the crowd! NURSE: Don’t dishonour the oaths you took, my child! HIPPOLYTUS: My tongue has sworn, but my mind is unsworn! NURSE: My child, what are you going to do? Destroy your dear ones? HIPPOLYTUS: I spit on them! No pervert is dear to me!
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§ 615 NURSE: Forgive me --- it’s usual for people to make a mistake, my child! HIPPOLYTUS: Zeus, why did you establish women into the light of day As an evil counterfeit for men? For if you now wanted to seed the human race, This shouldn’t have been provided from women,
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§ 620 But in your temples people should have put in their place Gold, iron or the weight of bronze, To buy the seed of children. Each would be at the cost Of their worth, and in their houses They should live free without females.
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§ 625 But as it is, intending to bring the evil first Into our house, we completely exhaust the house’s wealth. That is why it is clear that a woman is a great evil: For the father who has sown and brought her up Establishes a dowry to get rid of the evil.
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§ 630 But the man who takes the ruinous shoot into his house Delights in adding jewellery to his statue, Beautiful jewellery to a most evil thing, and toils for her dresses, Poor man, undermining his house’s wealth. He has a fatal choice: either a man makes a good connection by marriage,
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§ 635 And rejoicing in his in-laws he preserves for himself a bitter marriage, Or a good marriage, and taking useless Sons-in-law his misfortune presses upon the good. It’s easiest for the man who has nothing, but useless In her simplicity a wife just sits in the house.
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§ 640 Clever women I hate: I wish there were not In my house a woman who thinks more than she should. Aphrodite produces more criminality In clever women, but a helpless woman Is removed from committing stupidity by her slender judgment.
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§ 645 A servant should not pass in to see a woman, But rather they should make them live with wild animals In silence, where they would be unable to speak to anyone, And not be able to receive other people’s voices in turn. But as it is bad women indoors plot
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§ 650 Bad things, and their servants bring these outside. (SCOWLING AT THE NURSE) That’s how you have come here, vile creature, To traffic in my father’s inviolable marriage-bed! I will wipe this away with streams from springs, Washing them into my ears. How could I be so vile,
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§ 655 When even hearing about such things I think I am impure? Rest assured, lady, it’s my piety that saves you. For if I were not caught unbroken of the oaths of the gods, I would never have held back from telling all of this to my father. Now I’m going away from the house, while Theseus
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§ 660 Is out of the country. I will keep my mouth shut. But I will watch, when I go along with my father on foot, How you and your mistress look at him --- By tasting your boldness I will know. May you be ruined! I will never exhaust my hatred
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§ 665 Of women, not even if someone says I say it always. For somehow or other they are always bad. Let someone teach them to be chaste now, Or allow me to always attack them! (EXIT HIPPOLYTUS) PHAEDRA: Wretched and of ill fortune Are the fates of women!
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§ 670 What skill do I now have, or what Words to untie the knot, now that I have fallen? I have met with justice --- Oh Earth and Sunlight! Where can I escape my fortune? How am I to hide my pain, dear ladies?
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§ 675 What god could appear to my aid, what Person sitting beside me or helping me in my vile Deeds? A suffering alongside me Has come, one hard to escape from, to the other side of life. I am the most ill-fortuned of women!
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§ 680 CHORUS: Alas! It has been done, mistress --- your servant’s skills Have not turned out right, but are in a bad way! PHAEDRA: (TO THE NURSE) You horrible woman, destroyer of your dear ones, What have you done to me? May Zeus our father Obliterate you root and branch by wounding you with lightning!
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§ 685 Did I not tell you --- Didn’t I think ahead of your mind? --- To keep silent about what I am now damaged by? But you could not help yourself! Now I will die With my good reputation gone! But I need new words! For he, his heart sharpened in anger,
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§ 690 Will tell his father your disobedience against me, Will tell old Pittheus my misfortune, And will fill the whole world with disgusting words! I wish you would die, and whoever else is eager To assist their dear ones, when they are unwilling, in ignoble deeds!
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§ 695 NURSE: Mistress, you have a right to blame my bad actions --- The sting you feel is overruling your power to discern. But I too have something to say about this. I nursed you and have your interests at heart. It was for your illness That I sought a medicine, and found what I did not want.
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§ 700 If I had been successful, I would certainly be counted among the wise; For it is according to our fortunes that we obtain wisdom. PHAEDRA: Can this be proper and enough for me, That you wound me and then agree with what I have said? NURSE: I was talking too long --- I didn't show self-control.
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§ 705 But there is a way to be saved even from this, my child. PHAEDRA: Stop talking! Before this you did not Advise me well, but attempted bad actions. Out of here, leave, and look To yourself --- I will settle my affairs well. (EXIT NURSE. TO THE CHORUS)
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§ 710 Noble daughters of Troezen, Grant me this large favour I'm asking you: Hide in silence whatever you have heard from here! CHORUS: I swear by holy Artemis, Zeus’ daughter, Never to reveal to the light any of your evils!
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§ 715 PHAEDRA: Nobly said. But weighing towards this I have found One thing out of this disaster, For me to give my children a reputable life, And myself benefit with regard to the current events. I will never bring shame on the Cretan house,
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§ 720 Nor come to Theseus’s face With shameful deeds for the sake of my one life. CHORUS: Are you intending to do something incurable and horrible? PHAEDRA: Die. But how? --- that’s what I’ll be planning. CHORUS: You have spoken well, you know. PHAEDRA: Advise me well on that.
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§ 725 But I’m going to delight Aphrodite, who is destroying me, By departing from life today. I will be defeated by bitter love. However, I will become an evil thing to that other man By my death, so that he may know not to be so high and mighty
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§ 730 Over my suffering. By sharing in common This illness of mine, he will learn to show self-control. (EXIT PHAEDRA) CHORUS: I wish I were under a steep rock cavern Where god would place Me as a winged bird Among the fluttering herds;
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§ 735 I would be lifted up over the ocean Wave of the Adriatic Shore, and the waters of the river Eridanus, Where into the purple swell The wretched sisters of Phaethon
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§ 740 In pity for him drip the amber-shining Beams of their tears. I wish I could reach the apple-seeded shore Of the singing Hesperides, Where the sea-ruler Of the purple wave
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§ 745 No longer grants passage to sailors, Ordaining the sacred boundary Of the sky, which Atlas upholds; There ambrosial fountains flow, Beside the beds in Zeus's chambers,
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§ 750 Where the bliss-giving hallowed earth Increases happiness for the gods. White-winged Cretan Vessel, you that over the ocean Wave salt-struck of brine
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§ 755 Conveyed my queen from her prosperous home, To her ill-married benefit. For from both sides with an evil omen she flew from the Cretan land
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§ 760 To famous Athens, and on the shores of Mounychos they tied The cables’ woven Ends, and stepped onto the mainland. Instead of which, with Aphrodite’s dread
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§ 765 Illness of impure Passion she was struck; And being waterlogged with difficult misfortune, from her bridal Roof hanging
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§ 770 She will attach a noose and fit it around her white neck, Feeling ashamed of the hateful goddess, choosing Instead a story with a good reputation,
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§ 775 And removing that painful passion from her mind. NURSE: (FROM BEHIND THE STAGE) Help! Help! Everyone run here now! Phaedra has hung herself! CHORUS: A: Oh god, it is done then: the queen is no more, Hanging in a noose.
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§ 780 NURSE: Hurry! Someone bring a knife So we can cut this knot from her neck! CHORUS: B: Dear ladies, what should we do? Go into the house And free the queen from the noose? C: Why should we? Aren’t there young man-servants there?
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§ 785 Meddling is not safe in life. NURSE: Lift up and stretch out her wretched corpse --- This is bitter house-keeping for my masters. CHORUS: D: The lady is dead then, from what I hear: They are already stretching her out as a corpse. (ENTER THESEUS)
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§ 790 THESEUS: Ladies, do you know what this shouting is in the house? A deep roar of servants reached my ears. For the house has not seen fit to open its doors And welcome me with good intention as one who is a sacred ambassador. Has anything untoward happened to old Pittheus?
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§ 795 Although he's already advanced in age, he would still Cause us grief it he were to depart our house. CHORUS: This event is not about old people, Theseus: it’s the death of the young that pains us. THESEUS: Alas! Is it my children’s life that has been stolen?
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§ 800 CHORUS: They're still alive --- it’s their mother’s death that is most painful to you. THESEUS: What do you mean? Is my wife dead? How? CHORUS: She hung herself. THESEUS: Because she was hardened with grief? Or was it from some circumstance? CHORUS: That's all we know --- we too just now
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§ 805 Arrived at the house to be a mourner of your calamity. THESEUS: Oh god! Why is my head garlanded With these woven leaves, an ill-fated sacred ambassador? (THROWS HIS GARLAND ON THE FLOOR) Servants, loosen the bolts of the doors, Untie the fastenings, so that I may see the bitter sight
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§ 810 Of my wife, whose death has killed me! CHORUS: A: Ah ah! Poor woman, your wretched evils! You suffered, you committed Such an act as to confound this house! B: Oh oh! For your bravery! [or boldness] Dying violently and because of an unholy
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§ 815 Disaster, a wrestling-bout of your own wretched hand! C: Who then, poor woman, has extinguished your life? THESEUS: Alas for my pains! I have suffered, city, The worst of all my evils! Misfortune, How heavy you stand over me and my house,
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§ 820 An unbreakable stain from some avenging spirit! [ Alastor ] It has knocked me down, and made life unbearable. Poor me, I can see an ocean of evils, So great that I will never swim back again,
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§ 825 Nor pass beyond the wave of this disaster. What words, poor me, what fortune Heavy-fated, lady, can I happen to address you with? Like a bird you have disappeared from my hands, Setting out in a sudden leap into Hades.
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§ 830 Oh oh, terrible terrible are these sufferings! From somewhere afar I am bringing back on myself The fate of divinities because of the misdeeds Of someone from long ago. CHORUS: These horrible events, my lord, have not come to you alone,
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§ 835 But along with many other men you have lost your shared bed. THESEUS: I want to live below the earth, the earth, In gloom, sharing in the darkness of death, poor me, Since I have been robbed of your dearest companionship: For you have killed me more than killed yourself!
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§ 840 What deadly misfortune was it, and from where, That came to your heart, wretched lady? Can’t anyone tell me what happened? Or does the royal house Roof over a useless crowd of my servants? Alas for me, because of you,
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§ 845 In my wretchedness, what pain in the house have I seen, Unendurable and unspeakable! I am ruined, My house is deserted, my children orphaned! You have left behind, those whom you bore, left them, dear Woman, best of all women whom the light
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§ 850 Of the sun sees, and the star-faced Brilliance of night! CHORUS: Woe is me! Woe! The house has such a great evil! My eyelids have tears Poured over them, and are moistened by your misfortune.
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§ 855 But I've long been shivering in fear for the pain that's to follow! THESEUS: (SEES THE NOTE ON PHAEDRA’S HAND) Aha! What is this note attached To her dear hand? Is she trying to tell me something new? Did the poor woman write a letter, Entreating me about our marriage and the children?
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§ 860 Take heart, poor woman: there is no way that another woman Will enter the marriage-bed and house of Theseus. The impressions of the golden seal-stone Of her who is dead are coaxing me! Come, unwind the wrappings of the seal, So that I can see what this note is trying to tell me!
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§ 865 CHORUS: A: Ah no! God in turn is bringing this Unexpected thing in succession! For me, certainly, May the fate of a life not worth living come to me. B: Ah no! I say that the house of my masters
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§ 870 Is lost, and is no more! CHORUS: God, if at all possible, do not make our house fall, But listen to my prayer. For like a seer I can see a bird of omen from some evil quarter. THESEUS: (LOOKING AT THE NOTE) Alas! This is some other horrible thing piled upon me!
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§ 875 It's unbearable, unreadable! Woe is me! CHORUS: What is it? Tell me, if it's something that can be put in words. THESEUS: The note is shouting to me, shouting unforgettably! Where am I to escape The weight of my misfortune? I'm going away to die, Such a dirge have I seen uttered
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§ 880 In writing, poor me! CHORUS: Ah no, it's the beginning of evils, this tale you are revealing! THESEUS: This thing I can no longer hold back in the gate Of my mouth, difficult to pass through, a ruinous Evil. Oh City!
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§ 885 Hippolytus has dared to touch my marriage-bed With violence, dishonouring the revered eye of Zeus! Father Poseidon, with one of those Three curses which you once promised me, undermine My son! May he not escape this
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§ 890 Day, if in fact you granted me those curses clearly! CHORUS: Lord, take back your oath, by the gods! You will find out at some stage that you are mistaken! Listen to me! THESEUS: Impossible! On top of this I will drive him out of this country, And he will be struck by either of two fates!
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§ 895 For either Poseidon will send him dead To the house of Hades, respecting my curses, Or he will be exiled from this country, wandering To a foreign land, and will bail out to the bottom a grievous life! CHORUS: (SEEING HIPPOLYTUS APPROACHING) Here is your son come at the right time,
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§ 900 Hippolytus --- Give up your evil anger, lord Theseus, and plant the best for your house! (ENTER HIPPOLYTUS) HIPPOLYTUS: I heard your shouting and came here, father, In a hurry. I don’t know what you are groaning About, but I would like to hear about it from you.
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§ 905 Well, what is it? I can see your wife, father, Dead. This is worthy of the greatest shock. Only just now I left her --- she was not long Alive. (THESEUS REFUSES TO SPEAK) What happened to her? How did she die?
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§ 910 Father, I want to find this out from you! You are silent --- this is no time for silence, in bad circumstances! The heart that longs to hear everything Is caught being acquisitive even in bad circumstances. It is not right to hide from those dear to you,
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§ 915 And even more than dear, your misfortune, father! THESEUS: You people who have committed many errors in vain, Why do you teach countless skills And scheme at everything, and discover things, But you do not understand or ever pursue one thing,
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§ 920 Teaching thinking to those who have no sense? HIPPOLYTUS: That’s a clever sophist you’re describing, who is capable Of forcing people who do not think to think well! But you're speaking too finely when you don’t need to, father --- I fear that your tongue is going too far because of your suffering.
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§ 925 THESEUS: Ah! There should be for mortals some clear token Of their dear ones, and discrimination of their minds, As to who is true and who is not a friend; And all people should have two voices, One impartial [or just], the other as it happened,
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§ 930 So that the one that thinks of wrongdoing is found out By the just one, and we wouldn't be deceived. HIPPOLYTUS: Has someone been slandering me in your ear, One of those close to me? Am I afflicted, though I'm not guilty of anything? I'm astonished. Your words astound me,
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§ 935 Veering and unseated from your mind! THESEUS: Ah, the mortal mind! How far will it go? What will be the limit of its boldness and audacity? For if a man’s life will be boasted of, And this later man will be a criminal of the former
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§ 940 With regard to exaggeration, the gods will have to add To this world another one, which will contain Those who are by nature wrongdoers and bad! (POINTS AT HIPPOLYTUS WHILE LOOKING AT EVERYONE ELSE) Now look at him! Although he’s from me, He brought shame on my marriage-bed and is found out
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§ 945 Manifestly by this dead woman to be utterly bad! (LOOKS AT HIPPOLYTUS, WHO IS HIDING HIS FACE IN HORROR) Go on then, since you have come to this defilement, Show your face here opposite your father! You because you’re an exceptional man associate With the gods? You chaste and virgin of evil?
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§ 950 I for one would not be persuaded by your vaunts, Imputing folly to the gods, by saying they think badly! Keep boasting on now and go on peddling your diet Of vegetarian food, and with Orpheus as your lord Go wild and honour the vapours rising from many books! Since you’ve been caught out! (LOOKS AT EVERYONE ELSE, POINTING TO HIPPOLYTUS)
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§ 955 It’s people like these That I say everyone should avoid! They go hunting With high-sounding words, while scheming shameful acts! (LOOKS BACK AT HIPPOLYTUS, POINTING TO PHAEDRA) She's dead --- Do you think that will save you? That is exactly what you're most caught in, you monster!
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§ 960 What oaths, what words could be stronger Than this woman, for you to escape blame? Now you will say that you hate her and that your bastardry, no doubt, Is by nature hostile to those who are legitimate. You say then that it is an evil passage [way] of life,
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg038:965
§ 965 If out of ill-will to you it destroys its dearest. Are you saying that stupidity doesn’t exist in men, But is [only] in women? (POINTS AT HIM TO THE AUDIENCE) I know these young men, Who are no less unstable than women, Whenever Aphrodite confuses their mind at its peak.
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg038:970
§ 970 Their masculinity benefits them, as an accomplice [lit. ‘lying with them’]! But wait! Why are we contending in words about all this, When this dead body (POINTING AT IT) is the clearest witness? Get out of this country as fast as you can, an exile, And don’t go to god-built Athens,
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg038:975
§ 975 Or to the borders of the country ruled by my spear. For if after suffering I am to be defeated in this by you, Isthmian Sinis will never be my witness That I killed him, but will say that I am boasting in vain; Nor will the rocks of Skiron near the sea
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg038:980
§ 980 Say that I come down heavy on those who are bad. CHORUS: I don’t know how I could say that anyone Is fortunate --- because what came first has all been turned back! HIPPOLYTUS: Father, your anger and the disarray of your mind Is terrible. But although the matter has fine words,
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg038:985
§ 985 If anyone were to unfold it, this is not fine. I am unboasting to give an account to the crowd, And with regard to my peers and to the few I am wiser. This, too, has its portion [or fate]: for those among the wise Who are paltry with the crowd, are more decorative at speaking.
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg038:990
§ 990 Nevertheless it is necessary, since this disaster has happened, For me to unleash my tongue. I will begin with speaking about the first point, Whence you first undermined me to slander me, And I was not going to respond. You can see this light (LOOKS UP AT THE SUN) And earth (LOOKS DOWN AT THE GROUND). Among these there is no man,
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg038:995
§ 995 Not even if you deny it, who is by nature more chaste [or pure] than I. First of all I know how to revere the gods, And to associate with people dear to me, who do not try to do me wrong, But for whom there is reverence neither to announce evil things, Nor to work shameful things under in return against those they associate with.
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Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by Colin Young (2019). Composed ca. 428 BCE. Licence: public domain. Source.