by Euripides
Now to one who was erst called happy, such changes are a grievous thing; though he who is always unfortunate feels no such pain, for sorrow is his birthright. This, methinks, is the piteous pass I shall one day come to; for earth will cry out forbidding me to touch her, the sea and the river-springs will refuse me a crossing, and I shall become like Ixion who revolves in chains upon that wheel. Wherefore this is best, that henceforth I be seen by none of the Hellenes, amongst whom in happier days I lived in bliss. What right have I to live? what profit can I have in the possession of a useless, impious life? So let that noble wife of Zeus break forth in dancing, beating with buskined foot on heaven’s bright floor; for now hath she worked her heart’s desire in utterly confounding the chiefest of Hellas’ sons. Who would pray to such a goddess? Her jealousy of Zeus for his love of a woman hath destroyed the benefactors of Hellas, guiltless though they were.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
This is the work of none other of the gods than the wife of Zeus; thou art right in that surmise.
THESEUS I cannot counsel you to die rather than to go on suffering. There is not a man alive that hath wholly ‘scaped misfortune’s taint, nor any god either, if what poets sing is true. Have they not intermarried in ways that law forbids? Have they not thrown fathers into ignominious chains to gain the sovereign power? Still they inhabit Olympus and brave the issue of their crimes. And yet what shalt thou say in thy defence, if thou, child of man, dost kick against the pricks of fate, while they do not? Nay, then, leave Thebes in compliance with the law, and come with me to the city of Pallas. There, when I have purified thee of thy pollution, will I give thee temples and the half of all I have. Yea, I will give thee all those presents I received from the citizens for saving their children, seven sons and daughters seven, on the day I slew the bull of Crete; for I have plots of land assigned me throughout the country; these shall henceforth be called after thee by men, whilst thou livest; and at thy death, when thou art gone to Hades’ halls, the city of Athens shall unite in exalting thy honour with sacrifices and a monument of stone. For ’tis a noble crown for citizens to win from Hellas, even a reputation fair, by helping a man of worth. This is the return that I will make thee for saving me, for now art thou in need of friends. But when heaven delights to honour a man, he has no need of friends; for the god’s aid, when he chooses to give it, is enough.
HERACLES
Alas! this is quite beside the question of my troubles. For my part, I do not believe that the gods indulge in unholy unions; and as for putting fetters on parents’ hands, I have never thought that worthy of belief, nor will I now be so persuaded, nor again that one god is naturally lord and master of another. For the deity, if he be really such, has no wants; these are miserable fictions of the poets. But I, for all my piteous plight, reflected whether I should let myself be branded as a coward for giving up my life. For whoso schooleth not his frail mortal nature to bear fate’s buffets as he ought, will never be able to withstand even a man’s weapon. I will harden my heart against death and seek thy city, with grateful thanks for all thou offerest me.
(He weeps.)
Of countless troubles have I tasted, God knows, but never yet did faint at any or shed a single tear; nay, nor ever dreamt that I should come to this, to let the tear-drop fall. But now, it seems, I must be fortune’s slave. Well, let it pass; old father mine, thou seest me go forth to exile, and in me beholdest my own children’s murderer. Give them burial and lay them out in death with the tribute of a tear, for the law forbids my doing so. Rest their heads upon their mother’s bosom and fold them in her arms, sad pledges of our union, whom I, alas! unwittingly did slay. And when thou hast buried these dead, live on here still, in bitternes maybe, but still constrain thy soul to share my sorrows. O children! he who begat you, your own father, hath been your destroyer, and ye have had no profit of my triumphs, all my restless toil to win you a fair name in life, a glorious guerdon from a sire. Thee too, unhappy wife, this hand hath slain, a poor return to make thee for preserving mine honour so safe, for all the weary watch thou long hast kept within my house. Alas for you, my wife, my sons! and woe for me, how sad my lot, cut off from wife and child! Ah! these kisses, bitter-sweet! these weapons which ’tis pain to own! I am not sure whether to keep or let them go; dangling at my side they thus will say, “With us didst thou destroy children and wife; we are thy children’s slayers, and thou keepest us.” Shall I carry them after that? what answer can I make? Yet, am I to strip me of these weapons, the comrades of my glorious career in Hellas, and put myself thereby in the power of my foes, to die a death of shame? No! I must not let them go, but keep them, though it grieve me. In one thing, Theseus, help my misery; come to Argos with me and aid in settling my reward for bringing Cerberus thither; lest, if I go all alone, my sorrow for my sons do me some hurt.
O land of Cadmus, and all ye folk of Thebes! cut off your hair, and mourn with me; go to my children’s burial, and with united dirge lament alike the dead and me; for on all of us hath Hera inflicted the same cruel blow of destruction.
THESEUS
Rise, unhappy man! thou hast had thy fill of tears.
HERACLES I cannot rise; my limbs are rooted here.
THESEUS
Yea, even the strong are o’erthrown by misfortunes.
HERACLES
Ah! would I could grow into a stone upon this spot, oblivious of trouble!
THESEUS
Peace! give thy hand to a friend and helper.
HERACLES
Nay, let me not wipe off the blood upon thy robe.
THESEUS
Wipe it off and spare not; I will not say thee nay.
HERACLES
Reft of my own sons, I find thee as a son to me.
THESEUS
Throw thy arm about my neck; I will be thy guide.
HERACLES A pair of friends in sooth are we, but one a man of sorrows. Ah! aged sire, this is the kind of man to make a friend.
AMPHITRYON
Blest in her sons, the country that gave him birth!
HERACLES O Theseus, turn me back again to see my babes.
THESEUS
What charm dost think to find in this to soothe thy soul?
HERACLES I long to do so, and would fain embrace my sire.
AMPHITRYON
Here am I, my son; thy wish is no less dear to me.
THESEUS
Hast thou so short a memory for thy troubles?
HERACLES
All that I endured of yore was easier to bear than this.
THESEUS
If men see thee play the woman, they will scoff.
HERACLES
Have I by living grown so abject in thy sight? ’twas not so once, methinks.
THESEUS
Aye, too much so; for how dost show thyself the glorious Heracles of yore?
HERACLES
What about thyself? what kind of hero wert thou when in trouble in the world below?
THESEUS I was worse than anyone as far as courage went.
HERACLES
How then canst thou say of me, that I am abased by my troubles?
THESEUS
Forward!
HERACLES
Farewell, my aged sire!
AMPHITRYON
Farewell to thee, my son!
HERACLES
Bury my children as I said.
AMPHITRYON
But who will bury me, my son?
HERACLES I will.
AMPHITRYON
When wilt thou come?
HERACLES
After thou hast buried my children.
AMPHITRYON
How?
HERACLES I will fetch thee from Thebes to Athens. But carry my children within, a grievous burden to the earth. And I, after ruining my house by deeds of shame, will follow in the wake of Theseus, totally destroyed. Whoso prefers wealth or might to the possession of good friends, thinketh amiss.
(THESEUS and his attendants lead HERACLES away.)
THE TROJAN WOMEN
Translated by Gilbert Murray
One of Euripides’ most widely performed plays today, The Trojan Women was initially performed in 415 BC during the Peloponnesian War and is often considered a commentary on the capture of the Aegean island of Melos and the subsequent slaughter and subjugation of its populace by the Athenians earlier that year. It was the third tragedy of a trilogy of dealing with the Trojan War, with the first play, Alexandros, concerning the recognition of the Trojan prince Paris, who had been abandoned in infancy by his parents and rediscovered in adulthood. The second tragedy, Palamedes, dealt with the Greeks’ mistreatment of Palamedes. The trilogy was presented at the Dionysia along with the comedic satyr play Sisyphos. Euripides won second prize at the City Dionysia for his effort, losing to the obscure tragedian Xenocles, whose works are now largely lost, surviving only in small fragments.
The tragedy follows the fates of the women of Troy after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed and as their remaining families are about to be taken away as slaves. The drama is celebrated for its in depth exploration of grief, while the Greeks continue to add to the sufferings of the Trojan women, as their young children are brutally murdered, their homes burnt to the ground and they are parcelled off as concubines to the victorious Greek commanders. One of the principal sufferers is Queen Hecuba, who the Greek herald Talthybius arrives to tell that she and her children will be taken away with the Greek general Odysseus, while Cassandra, her daughter, is destined to become the conquering general Agamemnon’s concubine.
‘The Trojan Women Set Fire to their Fleet’ by Claude Lorrain
CONTENTS
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
THE TROJAN WOMEN
Aomawa Baker as Andromache in the 2003 performance of The Trojan Women, directed by Brad Mays at the ARK Theatre Company in Los Angeles
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
THE GOD POSEIDON.
THE GODDESS PALLAS ATHENA.
HECUBA, Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, mother of Hector and Paris.
CASSANDRA, daughter of Hecuba, a prophetess.
ANDROMACHE, wife of Hector, Prince of Troy.
HELEN, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta; carried off by Paris, Prince of Troy.
TALTHYBIUS, Herald of the Greeks.
MENELAUS, King of Sparta, and, together with his brother Agamemnon,
General of the Greeks.
SOLDIERS ATTENDANT ON TALTHYBIUS AND MENELAUS.
CHORUS OF CAPTIVE TROJAN WOMEN, YOUNG AND OLD, MAIDEN AND MARRIED.
The Troädes was first acted in the year 415 B.C. “The first prize was won by Xenocles, whoever he may have been, with the four plays Oedipus, Lycaon, Bacchae and Athamas, a Satyr-play. The second by Euripides with the Alexander, Palamêdês, Troädes and Sisyphus, a Satyr-play.” — AELIAN, Varia Historia, ii. 8.
THE TROJAN WOMEN
The scene represents a battlefield, a few days after the battle. At the back are the walls of Troy, partially ruined. In front of them, to right and left, are some huts, containing those of the Captive Women who have been specially set apart for the chief Greek leaders. At one side some dead bodies of armed men are visible. In front a tall woman with white hair is lying on the ground asleep.
It is the dusk of early dawn, before sunrise. The figure of the god POSEIDON is dimly seen before the walls.
POSEIDON.
Up from Aegean caverns, pool by pool
Of blue salt sea, where feet most beautiful
Of Nereid maidens weave beneath the foam
Their long sea-dances, I, their lord, am come,
Poseidon of the Sea. ’Twas I whose power,
With great Apollo, builded tower by tower
These walls of Troy; and still my care doth stand
True to the ancient People of my hand;
Which now as smoke is perished, in the shock
Of Argive spears. Down from Parnassus’ rock
The Greek Epeios came, of Phocian seed,
And wrought by Pallas’ mysteries a Steed
Marvellous, big with arms; and through my wall
It passed, a death-fraught image magical.
The groves are empty and the sanctuaries
Run red with blood. Unburied Priam lies
By his own hearth, on God’s high altar-stair,
And Phrygian gold goes forth and raiment rare
To the Argive ships; and weary soldiers roam
Waiting the wind that blows at last for home,
For wives and children, left long years away,
Beyond the seed’s tenth fullness and decay,
To work this land’s undoing.
And for me,
Since Argive Hera conquereth, and she
Who wrought with Hera to the Phrygians’ woe,
Pallas, behold, I bow mine head and go
Forth from great Ilion and mine altars old.
When a still city lieth in the hold
Of Desolation, all God’s spirit there
Is sick and turns from worship. — Hearken where
The ancient River waileth with a voice
Of many women, portioned by the choice
Of war amid new lords, as the lots leap
For Thessaly, or Argos, or the steep
Of Theseus’ Rock. And others yet there are,
High women, chosen from the waste of war
For the great kings, behind these portals hid;
And with them that Laconian Tyndarid,
Helen, like them a prisoner and a prize.
And this unhappy one — would any eyes
Gaze now on Hecuba? Here at the Gates
She lies ‘mid many tears for many fates
Of wrong. One child beside Achilles’ grave
In secret slain, Polyxena the brave,
Lies bleeding. Priam and his sons are gone;
And, lo, Cassandra, she the Chosen One,
Whom Lord Apollo spared to walk her way
A swift and virgin spirit, on this day
Lust hath her, and she goeth garlanded
A bride of wrath to Agamemnon’s bed.
[He turns to go; and another divine Presence becomes visible in the dusk. It is the goddess PALLAS ATHENA.
O happy long ago, farewell, farewell,
Ye shining towers and mine old citadel;
Broken by Pallas, Child of God, or still
Thy roots had held thee true.
PALLAS.
Is it the will
Of God’s high Brother, to whose hand is given
Great power of old, and worship of all Heaven,
To suffer speech from one whose enmities
This day are cast aside?
POSEIDON.
His will it is:
Kindred and long companionship withal,
Most high Athena, are things magical.
PALLAS.
Blest be thy gentle mood! — Methinks I see
A road of comfort here, for thee and me.
POSEIDON.
Thou hast some counsel of the Gods, or word
Spoken of Zeus? Or is it tidings heard
From some far Spirit?
PALLAS.
For this Ilion’s sake,
Whereon we tread, I seek thee, and would make
My hand as thine.
POSEIDON.
Hath that old hate and deep
Failed, where she lieth in her ashen sleep?
Thou pitiest her?
PALLAS.
Speak first; wilt thou be one
In heart with me and hand till all be done?
POSEIDON.
Yea; but lay bare thy heart. For this land’s sake
Thou comest, not for Hellas?
PALLAS.
I would make
Mine ancient enemies laugh for joy, and bring
On these Greek ships a bitter hom
ecoming.
POSEIDON.
Swift is thy spirit’s path, and strange withal,
And hot thy love and hate, where’er they fall.
PALLAS.
A deadly wrong they did me, yea within
Mine holy place: thou knowest?
POSEIDON.
I know the sin
Of Ajax, when he cast Cassandra down….
PALLAS.
And no man rose and smote him; not a frown
Nor word from all the Greeks!
POSEIDON.
And ’twas thine hand
That gave them Troy!
PALLAS.
Therefore with thee I stand
To smite them.
POSEIDON.
All thou cravest, even now
Is ready in mine heart. What seekest thou?
PALLAS.
An homecoming that striveth ever more
And cometh to no home.
POSEIDON.
Here on the shore
Wouldst hold them or amid mine own salt foam?
PALLAS.
When the last ship hath bared her sail for home!
Zeus shall send rain, long rain and flaw of driven
Hail, and a whirling darkness blown from heaven;
To me his levin-light he promiseth
O’er ships and men, for scourging and hot death:
Do thou make wild the roads of the sea, and steep
With war of waves and yawning of the deep,
Till dead men choke Euboea’s curling bay.
So Greece shall dread even in an after day
My house, nor scorn the Watchers of strange lands!
POSEIDON.
I give thy boon unbartered. These mine hands
Shall stir the waste Aegean; reefs that cross
The Delian pathways, jag-torn Myconos,
Scyros and Lemnos, yea, and storm-driven
Caphêreus with the bones of drownèd men
Shall glut him. — Go thy ways, and bid the Sire
Yield to thine hand the arrows of his fire.
Then wait thine hour, when the last ship shall wind
Her cable coil for home! [Exit PALLAS.
How are ye blind,
Ye treaders down of cities, ye that cast
Temples to desolation, and lay waste
