Andromache
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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springs they bathedνίψαν. So Hermann. αἰγλᾶντα, Musgrave. ἐν ῥοαῖς, Aldus. their dazzling skin, then sought the son of Priam, comparing their rival charms in more than rancorous phrase.Reading ὑπερβολαῖς λόγων δθσφρόνων. Hermann places a stop after Πριαμίδαν, and then reads ὑπερβολαῖς λόγων δ’ εὐφρόνων. But Cypris won the day by her deceitful promises,
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sweet-sounding words, but fraught with ruthless overthrow to Phrygia’s hapless town and Ilium’s towers.
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Menelaus
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Behold I bring thy son with me, whom thou didst steal away to a neighbour’s house
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without my daughter’s knowledge. Thou wert so sure this image of the goddess would protect thee and those who hid him, but thou hast not proved clever enough for Menelaus. And so if thou refuse to leave thy station here,
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he shall be slain instead of thee. Wherefore weigh it well: wilt die thyself, or see him slain for the sin whereof thou art guilty against me and my daughter?
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Andromache
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O fame, fame! full many a man ere
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now of no account hast thou to high estate exalted. Those, indeed, who truly have a fair repute, I count blest; but those who get it by false pretences, I will never allow have aught but the accidental appearance of wisdom. Thou for instance, caitiff that thou art, didst thou ever wrest
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Troy from Priam with thy picked troops of Hellenes? thou that hast raised such a storm, at the word of thy daughter, a mere child, and hast entered the lists with a poor captive; unworthy I count thee of Troy’s capture, and Troy still more disgraced by thy victory.
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Those who only in appearance are men of sense make an outward show, but inwardly resemble the common herd, save it be in wealth, which is their chiefest strength.Lines 330-332 are condemned by Dobree and bracketed by Nauck as spurious.
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Come now, Menelaus, let us discuss this argument. Suppose I am slainτέθνηκα δὴ, Reiske. by thy daughter, and she work her will on me,
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yet can she never escape the pollution of murder, and public opinion will make thee too an accomplice in this deed of blood, for thy share in the business must needs implicate thee. But even supposing I escape death myself, will ye kill my child? Even then, how will his father
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brook the murder of his child? Troy has no such coward’s tale to tell of him; nay, he will follow duty’s call; his actions will prove him a worthy scion of Peleus and Achilles. Thy daughter will he thrust forth from his house; and what wilt thou
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say when seeking to betroth her to another? wilt say her virtue made her leave a worthless lord? Nay, that will be false. Who then will wed her? wilt thou keep her without a husband in thy halls, grown grey in widowhood? Unhappy wretch! dost not see the flood-gates of trouble opening wide for thee?
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How many a wrong against a wife wouldst thou prefer thy daughter to have found to suffering what I now describe? We ought not on trifling grounds to promote serious mischief; nor should men, if we women are so deadly a curse, bring their nature down to our level.
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No! if, as thy daughter asserts, I am practising sorcery against her and making her barren, right willingly will I, without any crouching at altars, submit in my own person to the penalty that lies in her husband’s hands,
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seeing that I am no less chargeable with injuring him if I make him childless. This is my case; but for thee, there is one thingi.e. I am afraid, even if I prove the malice and falseness of her charges against me, you will not punish her, for your partiality and weakness in such cases is well known. I fear in thy disposition; it was a quarrel for a woman that really induced thee to destroy poor Ilium’s town.
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Chorus
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Thou hast said too much for a woman speaking to men. that discretion hath shot away its last shaft from thy soul’s quiver.i.e. there is no more to be said on that subject. The suggestion by Paley of ἐξετόξευσας is very plausible.
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Menelaus
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Woman, these are petty matters, unworthy, as thou sayest, of my despotic sway, unworthy too of Hellas. Yet mark this well; his special fancy of the hour is of more moment to a man than Troy’s capture.
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I then have set myself to help my daughter because I consider her loss of a wife’s rights a grave matter; for whatever else a woman suffers is secondary to this; if she loses her husband’s love she loses her life therewith. Now, as it is right Neoptolemus should rule my slaves,
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so my friends and I should have control of his; for friends, if they be really friends, keep nothing to themselves, but have all in common. So if I wait for the absent instead of making the best arrangement I can at once of my affairs, I show weakness, not wisdom.
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Arise then, leave the goddess’s shrine, for by thy death this child escapeth his, whereas, if thou refuse to die, I will slay him; for one of you twain must perish.
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Andromache
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Ah me! ’tis a bitter lot thou art offering about my
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life; whether I take it or not I am equally unfortunate. Attend to me, thou who for a trifling cause art committing an awful crime. Why art thou bent on slaying me? What reason hast thou? What city have I betrayed? Which of thy children was ever slain by me?
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What house have I fired? I was forced to be my master’s concubine; and spite of that wilt thou slay me, not him who is to blame, passing by the cause and hurrying to the inevitable result? Ah me! my sorrows! Woe for my hapless country!
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How cruel my fate! Why had I to be a mother too and take upon me a double load of suffering? Yet why do I mourn the past, and o’er the present never shedThe word ἐξικμάζω which strictly means to extract the moisture is here explained by the Schol. as = δακρύω. There is no parallel to this usage, and the word, though left in the text by most editors is, as Dindorf remarks, almost certainly corrupt, due perhaps to a gloss, such as ἐξετάζω for ἐξιχνεύω. (Cf. Paley’s note ad loc.) a tear or compute its griefs? I that saw Hector butchered and dragged behind the chariot,
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and Ilium, piteous sight! one sheet of flame, while I was haled away by the hair of my head to the Argive ships in I slavery, and on my arrival in Phthia was assigned to Hector’s murderer as his mistress. What pleasure then has life for me? Whither am I to turn my gaze?
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to the present or the past? My babe alone was left me, the light of my life; and him these ministers of death would slay. No! they shall not, if my poor life can save him; for if he be saved, hope in him lives on,
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while to ’twere shame to refuse to die for my son. Lo! here I leave the altar and give myself into your hands, to cut or stab, to bind or hang. Ah! my child, to Hades now thy mother passes to save thy dear life. Yet if thou escape thy doom,
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remember me, my sufferings and my death, and tell thy father how I fared, with fond caress and streaming eye and arms thrown round his neck. Ah! yes, his children are to every man as his own soul; and i.e. the childless man may laugh at the father for his fondness; he may even escape some pain and annoyance from having no family, but still in his heart he feels a void which nothing else can fill. whoso sneers at this through inexperience,
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though he suffers less anguish, yet tastes the bitter in his cup of bliss.
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Chorus
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Thy tale with pity fills me; for every man alike, stranger though he be, feels pity for another’s distress. Menelaus, ’tis thy duty to reconcile thy daughter and this captive, giving her a respite from sorrow.
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Menelaus
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Ho! sirrahs, catch me this woman; hold her fast; for ’tis no welcome story she will have to hear. It was to make thee leave the holy altar of the goddess that I held thy child’s death before thy eyes, and so induced thee to give thyself up to me to die.
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So stands thy case, be well assured; but as for this child, my daughter shall decide whether she will slay him or no. Get thee hence into the house, and there learn to bridle thy insolence in speaking to the free, slave that thou art.
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Andromache
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Alas! thou hast by treachery beguiled me; I was deceived.
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Menelaus
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Proclaim it to the world; I do not deny it
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Andromache
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Is this counted cleverness amongst you who dwell by the Eurotas?
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Menelaus
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Yes, and amongst Trojans too, that those who suffer should retaliate.
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Andromache
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Thinkest thou God’s hand is shortened, and that thou wilt not be punished?
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Menelaus
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Whene’er that comes, I am ready to bear it. But thy life will I have.
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Andromache
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Wilt likewise slay this tender chick, whom thou hast snatched from ’neath my wing?
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Menelaus
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Not I, but I will give him to my daughter to slay if she will.
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Andromache
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Ah me! why not begin my mourning then for thee, my child?
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Menelaus
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Of a truth ’tis no very sure hope that he has left.
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Andromache
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O citizens of Sparta, the bane of all the race of men, schemers of guile, and masters in lying, devisers of evil plots, with crooked minds and tortuous methods and ne’er one honest thought, ’tis wrong that ye should thrive in Hellas.
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What crime is wanting in your list? How rife is murder with you! How covetous ye are! One word upon your lips, another in your heart, this is what men always find with you. Perdition catch ye! Still death is not so grievous, asHermann alters ὡς into ὃς, i.e. the death you have determined to inflict; but the change seems unnecessary. thou thinkest, to me. No! for my life ended
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in the day that hapless Troy was destroyed with my lord, that glorious warrior, whose spear oft made a coward like thee quit the field and seek thy ship. But now against a woman hast thou displayed the terrors of thy panoply, my would-be murderer. Strike then! for this
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my tongue shall never flatter thee or that daughter of thine. For though thou wert of great account in Sparta, why so was I in Troy. And if I am now in sorry plight, presume not thou on this; thou too mayst be so yet.
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Chorus
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Never, oh! never will I commend rival wives or sonsἀμφιμάτορας κὀρους is explained as meaning brothers by different mothers but the same father. of different mothers, a cause of strife, of bitterness, and grief every house. I would have a husband content with one wife whose rights
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he shareth with no other.
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Chorus
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Not even in states is dual monarchy better to bear than undivided rule;
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it only doubles burdens and causes faction amongst the citizens. Often too will the Muse sow strife ’twixt rivalsReading τόνων θ᾽ ὕμνου σθνεργάταιν δυοῖν for τεκτόνοιν θ᾽ ὕμνοιν ἐργάταιν. The emendation was due to Hermann (τόνων) and Duport. in the art of minstrelsy.
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Chorus
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But lo!
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before the house I see those two united souls, condemned to die. Alas! for thee, poor lady, and for thee, unhappy child, who art dying on account of thy mother’s marriage, though thou hast no share therein
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and canst not be blamed by the royal house.
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Andromache
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Behold me journeying on the downward path, my hands so tightly bound with cords that they bleed.
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Molossus
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O mother, mother mine! I too share thy
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downward path, nestling ’neath thy wing.
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Andromache
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A cruel sacrifice! ye rulers of Phthia!
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Andromache
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Restκεῖσο δὴ, Nauck. there, my babe, my darling! on thy mother’s bosom, e’en in death and in the grave.
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Molossus
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Ah, woe is me! what will become of me and thee too, mother mine?
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Menelaus
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Away, to the world below! from hostile towers ye came, the pair of you; two different causes necessitate your deaths; my sentence takes away thy life, and my daughter Hermione’s requires his; for it would be the
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height of folly to leave our foemen’s sons, when we might kill them and remove the danger from our house.
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Andromache
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O husband mine! I would I had thy strong arm and spear
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to aid me, son of Priam.
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Molossus
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Ah, woe is me! what spell can I now find to turn death’s stroke aside?
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Andromache
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Embrace thy master’s knees, my child, and pray to him.
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Andromache
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Mine eyes are wet with tears, which trickle down my cheeks, as doth a sunless spring from a smooth rock. Ah me!
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Molossus
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What remedy, alas! can I provide me ’gainst my ills?
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Menelaus
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Why fall at my knees in supplication? hard as the rock and deaf as the wave am I. My own friends have I helped,
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but for thee have I no tie of affection; for verily it cost me a great part of my life to capture Troy and thy mother; so thou shalt reap the fruit thereof and into Hades’ halls descend.
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Chorus
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Behold! I see Peleus drawing nigh; with aged step he hasteth hither.
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Peleus
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calling out as he comes in sight. What means this? I ask you and your executioner; why is the palace in an uproar? give a reason; what mean your lawless machinations?
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Menelaus, hold thy hand. Seek not to outrun justice. To his attendant. Forward! faster, faster! for this matter, methinks, admits of no delay; now if ever would I fainHerwerden conjectures μενοινῶ for μ᾽ ἐπαινῶ, which is certainly a strange expression. resume the vigour of my youth. First however
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will I breathe new life into this captive, being to her as the breeze that blows a ship before the wind. Tell me, by what right have they pinioned thine arms and are dragging thee and thy child away? like a ewe with her lamb art thou led to the slaughter, while I and thy lord were far away.
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Andromache
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Behold them that are haling me and my child to death,
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e’en as thou seest, aged prince. Why should I tell thee? For not by one urgent summons alone but by countless messengers have I sent for thee. No doubt thou knowest by hearsay of the strife in this house with this man’s daughter, and the reason of my ruin.
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So now they have torn and are dragging me from the altar of Thetis, the goddess of thy chiefest adoration and the mother of thy gallant son, without any proper trial, yea, and without waiting for my absent master; because, forsooth, they knew my defencelessness
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and my child’s, whom they mean to slay with me his hapless mother, though he has done no harm. But to thee, O sire, I make my supplication, prostrate at thy knees, though my hand cannot touch thy friendly beard; save me, I adjure thee, reverend sir,
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or to thy shame and my sorrow shall we be slain.
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Peleus
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Loose her bonds, I say, ere some one rue it; untie her folded hands.
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Menelaus
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I forbid it, for besidesReading τάλλα τ᾽ with Nauck for γ᾽ ἄλλος. being a match for thee,
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I have a far better right to her.
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Peleus
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What! art thou come hither to set my house in order? Art not content with ruling thy Spartans?
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Menelaus
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She is my captive; I took her from Troy.
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Peleus
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Aye, but my son’s son received her as his prize.
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Menelaus
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Is not all I have his, and all his mine?
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Peleus
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For good, but not evil ends; and surely not for murderous violence.
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Menelaus
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Never shalt thou wrest her from my grasp.
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Peleus
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With this good staff I’ll stain thy head with blood!
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Menelaus
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Just touch me and see! Approach one step!
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Peleus
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What! shalt thou rank with men? chief of cowards, son of cowards! What right hast thou to any place ’mongst men? Thou who didst let a Phrygian rob thee of thy wife, leaving thy home without bolt or guard,Reading ἄφρουρα, Lenting. as if forsooth the cursed woman thou hadst there was a model of virtue.
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No! a Spartan! maid could not be chaste, e’en if she would, who leaves her home and bares her limbs and lets her robe float free, to share; with youths their races and their sports,--
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customs I cannot away with. Is it any wonder then that ye fail to educate your women in virtue? Helen might have asked thee this, seeing that she said goodbye to thy affection and tripped off with her young gallant to a foreign land.
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And yet for her sake thou didst marshal all the hosts of Hellas and lead them to Ilium, whereas thou shouldst have shown thy loathing for her by refusing to stir a spear, once thou hadst found her false; yea, thou shouldst have let her stay there, and even paid a price to save ever having her back again.
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But that was not at all the way thy thoughts were turned; wherefore many a brave life hast thou ended, and many an aged mother hast thou left childless in her home, and grey-haired sires of gallant sons hast reft. Of that sad band am I a member, seeing in thee
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Achilles murderer like a malignant fiend; for thou and thou alone hast returned from Troy without a scratch, bringing back thy splendid weapons in their splendid cases just as they went. As for me, I ever told that amorous boy to form no alliance with thee
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nor take unto his home an evil mother’s child; for daughters bear the marks of their mothers’ ill-repute into their new homes. Wherefore, ye wooers, take heed to this my warning: Choose the daughter of a good mother. And more than this, with what wanton insult didst thou treat thy brother,
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bidding him sacrifice his daughter in his simpleness! So fearful wast thou of losing thy worthless wife. Then after capturing Troy,–for thither too will I accompany thee,–thou didst not slay that woman, when she was in thy power; but as soon as thine eyes caught sight of her breast, thy sword was dropped
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and thou didst take her kisses, fondling the shameless traitress, too weak to stem thy hot desire, thou caitiff wretch! Yet spite of all thou art the man to come and work havoc in my grandson’s halls when he is absent, seeking to slay with all indignity a poor weak woman and her babe; but that babe
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shall one day make thee and thy daughter in thy home rue it, e’en though his birth be trebly base. Yea, for oft ere now hath seed, sown on barren soil, prevailed o’er rich deep tilth, and many a bastard has proved a better man than children better born. Take thy daughter hence with thee! Far better is it for mortals