Andromache
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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I had all I wanted, wealth in plenty, a house in which I was mistress, and as for children, mine would be born in wedlock, while hers would be bastards, half-slaves to mine. Oh! never, never,–this truth will I repeat,–should men of sense, who have wives,
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allow women-folk to visit them in their homes, for they teach them mischief; one, to gain some private end, helps to corrupt their honour; another, having made a slip herself, wants a companion in misfortune, while many are wantons; and hence it is
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men’s houses are tainted. Wherefore keep strict guard upon the portals of your houses with bolts and bars; for these visits of strange women lead to no good result, but a world of mischief.Nauck incloses line 953 in brackets.
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Chorus
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Thou hast given thy tongue too free a rein regarding thy own sex.
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I can pardon thee in this case, but still women ought to smooth over their sisters’ weaknesses.
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Orestes
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’Twas sage counsel he gave who taught men to hear the arguments on both sides. I, for instance, though aware of the confusion in this house,
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the quarrel between thee and Hector’s wife, waited awhile and watched to see whether thou wouldst stay here or from fear of that captive art minded to quit these halls. Now it was not so much regard for thy message that brought me hither,
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as the intention of carrying thee away from this house, if, as now, thou shouldst grant me a chance of saying so. For thou wert mine formerly, but art now living with thy present husband through thy father’s baseness; since he, before invading Troy’s domains, betrothed thee to me, and thenReading ἐμοὶ δοὺς, εἴθ. afterwards promised thee
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to thy present lord, provided he captured the city of Troy.
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So, as soon as Achilles’ son returned hither, I forgave thy father, but entreated the bridegroom to forego his marriage with thee, telling him all I had gone through and my present misfortune; I might get
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a wife, I said, from amongst friends, but outside their circle ’twas no easy task for one exiled like myself from home. Thereat he grew abusive, taunting me with my mother’s murder and those blood-boltered fiends.i.e. the avenging fiends that pursued Orestes after his mother’s murder. And I was humbled by the fortunes of my house,
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and though ’tis true, I grieved, yet did I endure my sorrow, and reluctantly departed, robbed of thy promised hand. Now therefore, since thou findest thy fortune so abruptly changed and art fallen thus on evil days and hast no help, I will take thee hence and place thee in thy father’s hands.
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For kinshipHermann reading τοι for γὰρ assigns these two lines with great plausibility to the Chorus; Nauck prints them so. hath strong claims, and in adversity there is naught better than a kinsman’s kindly aid.
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Hermione
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As for my marriage, my father must look to it; ’tis not for me to decide that. Yes, take me hence as soon as may be,
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lest my husband come back to his house before I am gone, or Peleus hear that I am deserting his son’s abode and pursue me on horse-back.
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Orestes
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Rest easy about the old man’s power; and, as for Achilles’ son with all his insolence to me, never fear him;
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such a crafty net this hand hath woven and set for his death with knots that none can loose; whereof I will not speak before the time, but, when my plot begins to work, Delphi’s rock will witness it. If but my allies
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in the Pythian land abide by their oaths, this same murderer of his mother will show that no one else shall marry thee my rightful bride.Reading, as Paley suggests, γαμεῖν σε μηδέν᾽, ἣν ἐχρῆν ἐμέ. To his cost will he demand satisfaction of King Phoebus for his father’s blood; nor shall his repentance avail him, though he is now submitting to the god.
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No! he shall perish miserably by Apollo’s hand and my fake accusations; so shall he end out my enmity. For the deity upsets the fortune of them that hate him. and suffers them not to be high-minded. Exeunt Orestes and Hermione.
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Chorus
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O Phoebus! who didst fence the hill of Ilium with a fair coronal of towers,
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and thou, ocean-god! coursing o’er the main with thy dark steeds, wherefore did ye hand over in dishonour
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your own handiwork to the war-god, master of the spear, abandoning Troy to wretchedness?
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Chorus
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Many a well-horsed car ye yoked on the banks of Simois,
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and many a bloody tournament did ye ordain with never a prize to win; and Ilium’s princes are dead and gone; no longer in Troy
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is seen the blaze of fire on altars of the gods with the smoke of incense.
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Peleus
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Ye dames of Phthia, answer my questions. I heard a vague rumour that the daughter of Menelaus had left these halls
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and fled; so now am I come in hot haste to learn if this be true; for it is the duty of those who are at home to labour in the interests of their absent friends.
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Chorus
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Thou hast heard aright, O Peleus; ill would it become me to hide the evil case in which I now find myself;
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our queen has fled and left these halls.
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Peleus
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What was she afraid of? explain that to me.
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Chorus
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She was fearful her lord would cast her out
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Peleus
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In returnNauck reads ἀντίποινα for MSS ἀντὶ παιδὸς. for plotting his child’s death? surely not?
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Chorus
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Yea, and she was afraid of yon captive.
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Peleus
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With whom did she leave the house? with her father?
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Chorus
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The son of Agamemnon came and took her hence.
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Peleus
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What view hath he to furtherNauck προτείνων. thereby? Will he marry her?
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Chorus
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Yes, and he is plotting thy grandson’s death.
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Peleus
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From an ambuscade, or meeting him fairly face to face?
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Chorus
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In the holy place of Loxias, leagued with Delphians.
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Peleus
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God help us! This is an immediate danger. Hasten one of you with all speed to the Pythian altar and tell our friends there what has happened here, ere Achilles’ son be slain by his enemies. Enter a Messenger.
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Messenger
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Woe worth the day! what evil tidings have I brought for thee, old sire, and for all who love my master! woe is me!
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Peleus
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Alas! my prophetic soul hath a presentiment.
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Messenger
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Aged Peleus, hearken! Thy grandson is no more; so grievously is he smitten
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by the men of Delphi and the strangeri.e. Orestes. from Mycenae.
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Chorus
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Ah! what wilt thou do, old man? Fall not; uplift thyself.
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Messenger
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Hearken; if thou art eager alsoReading εἰ καὶ, for which Hermann has εἴπερ. Dindorf εἴ τι. to avenge thy friends,
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lift up thyself and hear what happened.
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Peleus
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Ah, destiny! how tightly hast thou caught me in thy toils, a poor old man at life’s extremest verge! But tell me how he was taken from me, my one son’s only child; unwelcome as such news is, I fain would hear it.
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Messenger
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As soon as we reached the famous soil of Phoebus, for three whole days were we feasting our eyes with the sight. And this, it seems, caused suspicion; for the folk, who dwell near the god’s shrine, began to collect in groups,
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while Agamemnon’s son, going to and fro through the town, would whisper in each man’s ear malignant hints: Do ye see yon fellow, going in and out of the god’s treasure-chambers, which are full of the gold stored there by all mankind? He is come hither a second time on the same mission as before,
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eager to sack the temple of Phoebus. Thereon there ran an angry murmur through the city, and the magistrates flocked to their council-chamber, while those, who have charge of the god’s treasures, had a guard privately placed amongst the colonnades.
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But we, knowing naught as yet of this, took sheep fed in the pastures of Parnassus, and went our way and stationed ourselves at the altars with vouchers and Pythian seers. And one said: What prayer, young warrior,
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wouldst thou have us offer to the god? Wherefore art thou come? And he answered: I wish to make atonement to Phoebus for my past transgression; for once I claimed from him satisfaction for my father’s blood. Thereupon the rumour, spread by Orestes, proved to have great weight,
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suggesting that my master was lying and had come on a shameful errand. But he crosses the threshold of the temple to pray to Phoebus before his oracle,Also explained by the Schol. as = πρὸ τῶν θυσῶν, i.e. before sacrificing. and was busy with his burnt-offering; when a body of men armed with swords set themselvesHermann’s ἀνθυφειστήκει. in ambush against him
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in the cover of the bay- trees, and Clytemnestra’s son, that had contrived the whole plot was one of them. There stood the young man praying to the god in sight of all, when lo! with their sharp swords they stabbed Achilles’ unprotected son from behind.
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But he stepped back, for it was not a mortal wound he had received, and drew his sword, and snatching armour from the pegs where it hung on a pillar, took his stand upon the altar-steps, the picture of a warrior grim; then cried he to the sons of Delphi, and asked them:
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Why seek to slay me when I am come on a holy mission? What cause is there why I should die? But of all that throng of bystanders, no man answered him a word, but they set to hurling stones. Then he, though bruised and battered by the showers of missiles from all sides,
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coveredPaley considers that this line is probably an interpolation; Nauck regards the next as corrupt. himself behind his mail and tried to ward off the attack, holding his shield first here, then there, at arm’s length, but all of no avail; for a storm of darts, arrows and javelins, hurtling spits with double points, and butchers’ knives for slaying steers, came flying at his feet;
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and terrible was the war-dance thou hadst then seen thy grandson dance to avoid their marksmanship. At last, when they were hemming him in on all sides, allowing him no breathing space, he left the shelter of the altar, the hearth where victims are placed, and with one bound was on them as on the Trojans of yore;
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and they turned and fled like doves when they see the hawk. Many fell in the confusion; some wounded, and others trodden down by one another along the narrow passages; and in that hushed holy house uprose unholy din
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and echoed back from the rocks. Calm and still my master stood there in his gleaming harness like a flash of light, till from the inmost shrine there came a voice of thrilling horror, stirring the crowd to make a stand. Then fell Achilles’ son,
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smitten through the flank by some Delphian’s biting blade, some fellow that slew him with a host to help; and as he fell, there was not one that did not stab him, or cast a rock and batter his corpse. So his whole body,
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once so fair, was marred with savage wounds. At last they cast the lifeless clay, lying near the altar, forth from the fragrant fane. And we gathered up his remains forthwith and are bringing them to thee,
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old prince, to mourn and weep and honour with a deep-dug tomb.
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This is how that prince who vouchsafeth oracles to others, that judge of what is right for all the world, hath revenged himself on Achilles’ son, remembering his ancient quarrel as a wicked man would.
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How then can he be wise? Exit Messenger. The body of Neoptolemus is carried in on a bier.
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Chorus
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Lo! E’en now our prince is being carried on a bier from Delphi’s land unto his home. Woe for him and his sad fate, and woe for thee, old sire! for this is not the welcome thou wouldst give Achilles’ son,
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the lion’s whelp; thyself too by this sad mischanceκύρσας is probably corrupt. Nauck omits it, and marks a lacuna. dost share his evil lot.
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Peleus
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Ah! woe is me! here is a sad sight for me to see and take unto my halls!
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Ah me! ah me! I am undone, thou city of Thessaly! My line now ends; I have no children left me in my home. Oh! the sorrows I seem born to endure! What
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friend can I look to for relief? Ah, dear lips, and cheeks, and hands! Would thy destiny had slain thee ’neath Ilium’s walls beside the banks of Simois!
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Chorus
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Had he so died, my aged lord, he had won him honour thereby,
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and thine had been the happier lot.
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Peleus
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O marriage, marriage, woe to thee! thou bane of my home, thou destroyerὤλεσας ὤλεσας ἀμὰν (Hermann). of my city! Ah my child, my boy! wouldPaley has a long note on this passage, the sum of which seems to be that it is corrupt and unintelligible. Various emendation, all unsatisfactory, have been proposed. I have followed Hermann’s correction, the sense of which is thus given by Paley, would that your union with the captive Andromache had not involved you in the death intended for her;reading ὤφελ᾽ ἐμοὶ γέρας κ.τ.λ. that the honour of wedding thee,
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fraught with evil as it was to my children and house, had not thrown oer thee, my son, Hermiones deadly net! O that the thunderbolt had slain her sooner! and that thou, rash mortal, hadst never charged
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the great god Phoebus with aiming that murderous shaft that spilt thy hero-fathers blood!Phoebus was said to have aimed the arrow of Paris, that slew Achilles.
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Chorus
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Look, look! A dim form of divine appearance in seen hovering in mid air. What is that moving? what influence divine am I conscious of? Look, maidens, mark it well; see, yonder is some deity, wafted through the lustrous air and alighting on the plains
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of Phthia, home of steeds.
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Thetis
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O Peleus! because of my wedded days with thee now long agone, I Thetis am come from the halls of Nereus. And first I counsel thee not to grieve to excess in thy present distress,
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for I too who need ne’er have born children to my sorrow, have lost the child of our love, Achilles swift of foot, foremost of the sons of Hellas. Next will I declare why I am come, and do thou give ear. Carry yonder corpse, Achilles’ son,
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to the Pythian altar and there bury it, a reproach to Delphi, that his tomb may proclaim the violent death he met at the hand of Orestes. And for his captive wife Andromache,–she must dwell in the Molossian land,
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united in honourable wedlock with Helenus, and with her this babe, the sole survivor as he is of all the line of Aeacus, for from him a succession of prosperous kings of Molossia is to go on unbroken; for
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the race that springs from thee and me, my aged lord, must not thus be brought to naught; no! nor Troy’s line either; for her fateτὰκείνης (Lenting). too is cared for by the gods, albeit her fall was due to the eager wish of Pallas. Thee too, that thou mayst know the saving grace of wedding me, will I, a goddess born and daughter of a god, This line is probably interpolated.
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release from all the ills that flesh is heir to and make a deity to know not death nor decay. From henceforth in the halls of Nereus shalt thou dwell with me, god and goddess together; thence shalt thou rise dry-shod from out the main
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and see Achilles, our dear son, settled in his island-home by the strand of Leuce, that is girdled by the Euxine sea. But get thee to Delphi’s god-built town, carrying this corpse with thee, and, after thou hast buried him,
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return and settle in the cave which time hath hollowed in the Sepian rock and there abide, till from the sea I come with choir of fifty Nereids to be thy escort thence; for fate’s decree thou must fulfil; such is the pleasure of Zeus.
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Cease then to mourn the dead; this is the lot which heaven assigns to all, and all must pay their debt to death.
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Peleus
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Great queen, my honoured wife, from Nereus sprung, all hail! thou art
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acting herein as befits thyself and thy children. So I will stay my grief at thy bidding, goddess, and, when I have buried the dead, will seek the glens of Pelion, even the place where I took thy beauteous form to my embrace. Surely after this every prudent man will seek to marry a wife of noble stock
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and give his daughter to a husband good and true, never setting his heart on a worthless woman, not even though she bring a sumptuous dowry to his house. So would men ne’er suffer ill at heaven’s hand.
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Chorus
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Many are the shapes of Heaven’s denizens,
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and many a thing they bring to pass contrary to our expectation; that which we thought would be is not accomplished, while for the unexpected God finds out a way. E’en such hath been the issue of this matter.
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Chorus
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Come, quit the bright sanctuary of the Nereid divine. Recognize that thou art in bondage on a foreign soil, in a strange city, where thou seest none of all thy friends, luckless lady,
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cast on evil days.
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Chorus
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Yea, I did pity thee most truly, Trojan dame, when thou earnest to this house; but from fear of my mistress I hold my peace, albeit I sympathize with thee,
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lest she, whom Zeus’s daughter bore, discoverεὕρυ. So Hermann for ἴδυ. my good will toward thee.
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Chorus
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Would God his mother had smitten him a cruel death-blowμόρον, Hermann’s correction for Πάριν. on the head before he made his home on Ida’s
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slopes, in the hour Cassandra, standing by the holy bay-tree, cried out, Slay him, for he will bring most grievous bane on Priam’s town. To every prince she went, to every elder sued
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for the babe’s destruction.
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Chorus
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Ah! had they listened, Ilium’s daughters ne’er had felt the yoke of slavery, andσύ τ᾽ ἂν. So Pflugk for οὔτε σὺ. thou, lady, hadst been established in the royal palacei.e. as queen in Troy after Priam’s death.; and Hellas had been freed of all the anguish