by Euripides
The Complete Works of
EURIPIDES
(c. 480–406 BC)
Contents
The Translations
ALCESTIS
MEDEA
HERACLEIDAE
HIPPOLYTUS
ANDROMACHE
HECUBA
THE SUPPLIANTS
ELECTRA
HERACLES
THE TROJAN WOMEN
IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS
ION
HELEN
PHOENICIAN WOMEN
ORESTES
BACCHAE
IPHIGENIA AT AULIS
RHESUS
CYCLOPS
The Greek Texts
LIST OF GREEK TEXTS
The Biographies
INTRODUCTION TO EURIPIDES by Arthur S. Way
EURIPIDES by T. W. Lumb
The Delphi Classics Catalogue
© Delphi Classics 2013
Version 1
The Complete Works of
EURIPIDES
By Delphi Classics, 2013
COPYRIGHT
Complete Works of Euripides
First published in the United Kingdom in 2013 by Delphi Classics.
© Delphi Classics, 2013.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.
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The Translations
Euripides was born on Salamis Island in c. 484 BC and he was the son of a retailer that lived in a village near Athens. Upon the receipt of an oracle saying that his son was fated to win “crowns of victory”, Mnesarchus insisted that the boy should train for a career in athletics, though he was destined to win theatrical victories instead.
ALCESTIS
Translated by Theodore Alois Buckley
Alcestis was first produced at the City Dionysia festival in 438 BC as the final part of a tetralogy of unconnected plays in the competition of tragedies, for which Euripides won second prize. It is most likely the oldest surviving work by Euripides, although at the time of its first performance he had been producing plays for seventeen years.
The drama concerns the unusual bargain arranged for King Admetus in return for a longer life. Admetus was granted by the Fates the privilege of living past the allotted time of his death. Apollo wished to repay Admetus’ hospitality and so offered him this gift. However, it came with the condition that Admetus must find someone to take his place when Death came to claim him. At the time of his death, he had still not found a willing substitute. Even his father, Pheres, was unwilling to volunteer, believing it was ludicrous that he should be asked to give up the life he enjoyed so much to humour the strange arrangement. Finally, Admetus’ devoted wife Alcestis agreed to be taken in his place, as she wished not to leave her children fatherless or be bereft of her husband. The drama focuses on Alcestis’ sacrifice and the effect it has on her family and the other characters, with a subtle exploration of male and female differences in Euripides’ contemporary society.
Alcestis and Admetus, as depicted in an ancient Roman fresco, 45–79 CE
‘Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis’ by Frederic Leighton, 1870
CONTENTS
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
THE ARGUMENT.
ALCESTIS
Bust of Euripides — Roman copy after a Greek original, c. 330 BC
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
APOLLO.
DEATH.
CHORUS OF PHERŒANS.
ATTENDANTS.
ALCESTIS.
ADMETUS.
EUMELUS.
HERCULES.
PHERES.
THE ARGUMENT.
Apollo desired of the Fates that Admetus, who was about to die, might give a substitute to die for him, that so he might live for a term equal to his former life; and Alcestis, his wife, gave herself up, while neither of his parents were willing to die instead of their son. But not long after the time when this calamity happened, Hercules having arrived, and having learned from a servant what had befallen Alcestis, went to her tomb, and having made Death retire, covers the lady with a robe; and requested Admetus to receive her and keep her for him; and said he had borne her off as a prize in wrestling; but when he would not, he unveiled her, and discovered her whom he was lamenting.
ALCESTIS
APOLLO.
O mansions of Admetus, wherein I endured to acquiesce in the slave’s table, though a God; for Jove was the cause, by slaying my son Æsculapius, hurling the lightning against his breast: whereat enraged, I slay the Cyclops, forgers of Jove’s fire; and me my father compelled to serve for hire with a mortal, as a punishment for these things. But having come to this land, I tended the herds of him who received me, and have preserved this house until this day: for being pious I met with a pious man, the son of Pheres, whom I delivered from dying by deluding the Fates: but those Goddesses granted me that Admetus should escape the impending death, could he furnish in his place another dead for the powers below. But having tried and gone through all his friends, his father and his aged mother who bore him, he found not, save his wife, one who was willing to die for him, and view no more the light: who now within the house is borne in their hands, breathing her last; for on this day is it destined for her to die, and to depart from life. But I, lest the pollution come upon me in the house, leave this palace’s most dear abode. But already I behold Death near, priest of the dead, who is about to bear her down to the mansions of Pluto; but he comes at the right time, observing this day, in the which it was destined for her to die.
DEATH, APOLLO.
DEA. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! What dost thou at the palace? why tamest here, Phœbus? Art thou again at thy deeds of injustice, taking away and putting an end to the honors of the powers beneath? Did it not suffice thee to stay the death of Admetus, when thou didst delude the Fates by fraudful artifice? But now too dost thou keep guard for her, having armed thine hand with thy bow, who then promised, in order to redeem her husband, herself, the daughter of Pelias, to die for him?
AP. Fear not, I cleave to justice and honest arguments.
DEA. What business then has your bow, if you cleave to justice?
AP. It is my habit ever to bear it.
DEA. Yes, and without regard to justice to aid this house.
AP. Ay, for I am afflicted at the misfortunes of a man that is dear to me.
DEA. And wilt thou deprive me of this second dead?
AP. But neither took I him from thee by force.
DEA. How then is he upon earth, and not beneath the ground?
AP. Because he gave in his stead his wife, after whom thou art now come.
DEA. Yes, and will bear her off to the land beneath.
AP. Take her away, for I know not whether I can persuade thee.
DEA. What? to slay him, whom I ought? for this was I commanded.
AP. No: but to cast death upon those about to die.
DEA. Yes, I perceive thy speech, and what thou aim’st at.
AP. Is it possible then for Alcestis to arrive at old age?
DEA. It is not: consider that I too am delighted with my due honors.
AP. Thou canst not, however, take more than one life.
DEA. When the young die I earn the greater glory.
AP. And if she die old, she will be sumptuously ento
mbed.
DEA. Thou layest down the law, Phœbus, in favor of the rich.
AP. How sayest thou? what? hast thou been clever without my perceiving it?
DEA. Those who have means would purchase to die old.
AP. Doth it not then seem good to thee to grant me this favor?
DEA. No in truth; and thou knowest my ways.
AP. Yes, hostile to mortals, and detested by the Gods.
DEA. Thou canst not have all things, which thou oughtest not.
AP. Nevertheless, thou wilt stop, though thou art over-fierce; such a man will come to the house of Pheres, whom Eurystheus hath sent after the chariot and its horses, to bring them from the wintry regions of Thrace, who in sooth, being welcomed in the mansions of Admetus, shall take away by force this woman from thee; and there will be no obligation to thee at my hands, but still thou wilt do this, and wilt be hated by me.
DEA. Much though thou talkest, thou wilt gain nothing. This woman then shall descend to the house of Pluto; and I am advancing upon her, that I may begin the rites on her with my sword; for sacred is he to the Gods beneath the earth, the hair of whose head this sword hath consecrated.
CHORUS.
SEMICH. Wherefore in heaven’s name is this stillness before the palace? why is the house of Admetus hushed in silence?
SEMICH. But there is not even one of our friends near, who can tell us whether we have to deplore the departed queen, or whether Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, yet living views this light, who has appeared to me and to all to have been the best wife toward her husband.
CHOR. Hears any one either a wailing, or the beating of hands within the house, or a lamentation, as though the thing had taken place? There is not however any one of the servants standing before the gates. Oh would that thou wouldst appear, O Apollo, amidst the waves of this calamity!
SEMICH. They would not however be silent, were she dead.
SEMICH. For the corse is certainly not gone from the house.
SEMICH. Whence this conjecture? I do not presume this. What is it gives you confidence?
SEMICH. How could Admetus have made a private funeral of his so excellent wife?
CHOR. But before the gates I see not the bath of water from the fountain, as is the custom at the gates of the dead: and in the vestibule is no shorn hair, which is wont to fall in grief for the dead; the youthful hand of women for the youthful wife sound not.
SEMICH. And yet this is the appointed day, —
SEMICH. What is this thou sayest?
SEMICH. In the which she must go beneath the earth.
SEMICH. Thou hast touched my soul, hast touched my heart.
SEMICH. When the good are afflicted, he must mourn, who from the beginning has been accounted good.
CHOR. But there is not whither in the earth any one having sent naval equipment, or to Lycia, or to the thirsty site of Hammon’s temple, can redeem the unhappy woman’s life, for abrupt fate approaches, and I know not to whom of those that sacrifice at the hearths of the Gods I can go. But only if the son of Phœbus were viewing with his eyes this light, could she come, having left the darksome habitations and the gates of Pluto: for he raised up the dead, before that the stroke of the lightning’s fire hurled by Jove destroyed him. But now what hope of life can I any longer entertain? For all things have already been done by the king, and at the altars of all the Gods abound the victims dropping with blood, and no cure is there of these evils.
CHORUS, FEMALE ATTENDANT.
CHOR. But here comes one of the female attendants from the house, in tears; what shall I hear has happened? To mourn indeed, if any thing happens to our lords, is pardonable: but whether the lady be still alive, or whether she be dead, we would wish to know.
ATT. You may call her both alive and dead.
CHOR. And how can the same woman be both alive and dead?
ATT. Already she is on the verge of death, and breathing her life away.
CHOR. Oh wretched man, being what thyself of what a wife art thou bereft!
ATT. My master knows not this yet, until he suffer.
CHOR. Is there no longer hope that she may save her life?
ATT. No, for the destined day makes its attack upon her.
CHOR. Are not then suitable preparations made for these events?
ATT. Yes, the adornments are ready, wherewith her husband will bury her.
CHOR. Let her know then that she will die glorious, and by far the best of women under the sun.
ATT. And how not the best? who will contest it? What must the woman be, who has surpassed her? and how can any give greater proof of esteeming her husband, than by being willing to die for him? And these things indeed the whole city knoweth. But what she did in the house you will marvel when you hear. For, when she perceived that the destined day was come, she washed her fair skin with water from the river; and having taken from her closets of cedar vesture and ornaments, she attired herself becomingly; and standing before the altar she prayed: “O mistress, since I go beneath the earth, adoring thee for the last time, I will beseech thee to protect my orphan children, and to the one join a loving wife, and to the other a noble husband: nor, as their mother perishes, let my children untimely die, but happy in their paternal country let them complete a joyous life.” — But all the altars, which are in the house of Admetus, she went to, and crowned, and prayed, tearing the leaves from off the myrtle boughs, tearless, without a groan, nor did the approaching evil change the natural beauty of her skin. And then rushing to her chamber, and her bed, there indeed she wept and spoke thus: “O bridal bed, whereon I loosed my virgin zone with this man, for whom I die, farewell! for I hate thee not; but me alone hast thou lost; for dreading to betray thee, and my husband, I die; but thee some other woman will possess, more chaste there can not, but perchance more fortunate.” — And falling on it she kissed it; but all the bed was bathed with the flood that issued from her eyes. But when she had satiety of much weeping, she goes hastily forward, rushing from the bed. And ofttimes having left her chamber, she oft returned, and threw herself upon the bed again. And her children, hanging to the garments of their mother, wept; but she, taking them in her arms, embraced them, first one and then the other, as about to die. But all the domestics wept throughout the house, bewailing their mistress, but she stretched out her right hand to each, and there was none so mean, whom she addressed not, and was answered in return. Such are the woes in the house of Admetus. And had he died indeed, he would have perished; but now that he has escaped death, he has grief to that degree which he will never forget.
CHOR. Surely Admetus groans at these evils, if he must be deprived of so excellent a wife.
ATT. Yes, he weeps, holding his dear wife in his hands, and prays her not to leave him, asking impossibilities; for she wastes away, and is consumed by sickness, but fainting a wretched burden in his arms, yet still though but feebly breathing, she fain would glance toward the rays of the sun; as though never again, but now for the last time she is to view the sun’s beam and his orb. But I will go and announce your presence, for it is by no means all that are well-wishers to their lords, so as to come kindly to them in their misfortunes; but you of old are friendly to my master.
SEMICH. O Jove, what means of escape can there in any way be, and what method to rid us of the fortune which attends my master?
SEMICH. Will any appear? or must I cut my locks, and clothe me even now in black array of garments?
SEMICH. ’Tis plain, my friends, too plain; but still let us pray to the Gods, for the power of the Gods is mightiest.
SEMICH. O Apollo, king of healing, find out some remedy for the evils of Admetus, procure it, O! procure it. For before this also thou didst find remedy, and now become our deliverer from death, and stop the murderous Pluto.
SEMICH. Alas! alas! woe! woe! O son of Pheres, how didst thou fare when thou wert deprived of thy wife?
SEMICH. Alas! alas! these things would even justify self-slaughter, and there is more, than whereat one might thr
ust one’s neck in the suspending noose.
SEMICH. For not a dear, but a most dear wife, wilt thou see dead this day.
SEMICH. Behold, behold; lo! she doth come from the house, and her husband with her. Cry out, O groan, O land of Pheres, for the most excellent woman, wasting with sickness, departing beneath the earth to the infernal Pluto. Never will I aver that marriage brings more joy than grief, forming my conjectures both from former things, and beholding this fortune of the king; who, when he has lost this most excellent wife, will thenceforward pass a life not worthy to be called life.
ALCESTIS, ADMETUS, EUMELUS, CHORUS.
ALC. Thou Sun, and thou light of day, and ye heavenly eddies of the fleeting clouds —
ADM. He beholds thee and me, two unhappy creatures, having done nothing to the Gods, for which thou shouldst die.
ALC. O earth, and ye roofs of the palace, and thou bridal bed of my native Iolcos.
ADM. Lift up thyself, unhappy one, desert me not; but entreat the powerful Gods to pity.
ALC. I see — I see the two-oared boat — and the ferryman of the dead, holding his hand on the pole — Charon even now calls me— “Why dost thou delay? haste, thou stoppest us here” — with such words vehement he hastens me.
ADM. Ah me! a bitter voyage this thou speakest of! Oh! unhappy one, how do we suffer!
ALC. He pulls me, some one pulls me — do you not see? — to the hall of the dead, the winged Pluto, staring from beneath his black eyebrows — What wilt thou do? — let me go — what a journey am I most wretched going!
ADM. Mournful to thy friends, and of these especially to me and to thy children, who have this grief in common.
ALC. Leave off supporting me, leave off now, lay me down, I have no strength in my feet. Death is near, and darkling night creeps upon mine eyes — my children, my children, no more your mother is — no more. — Farewell, my children, long may you view this light!
