Aeschylus · Fragments Ἀποσπάσματα

Aeschylus, Fragments 249–272: Doubtful fragments (2), elegiac lines and the epitaph

This last section has further lines assigned to Aeschylus by modern editors: a spectre seen in sleep, Fortune sovereign among the gods, Justice who sees without a voice, and the Teucer who stayed the Phrygians. Two short elegiac fragments and an epigram on Thessalian champions follow. The book ends with the epitaph of Aeschylus at Gela, which names Marathon and the long-haired Medes.

Fragments 249–272 · 389 words · click a number to copy its link
ἀλλ᾽ εἴτ᾽ ἔνυπνον φάντασμα φοβῇχθονίας θ᾽ Ἑκάτης κῶμον ἐδέξω

But either thou art frightened of a spectre beheld in sleep and hast joined the revel-rout of nether Hecate

οὐ γάρ με Νὺξ ἔτικτε δεσπότην λύρας,οὐ μάντιν, οὐδ᾽ ἰατρόν, ἀλλ᾽ εὐνάτοραψυχαῖς·

For Night brought me not forth to be the lord of the lyre, nor to be seer or leech, but to lull to rest men’s souls.

<ὁ> Ζεὺς κατεῖδε χρόνιος εἰς τὰς διφθέρας.

Zeus looked late into his book.

ἔπειτα πάσης Ἑλλάδος καὶ ξυμμάχωνβίον διῴκησ᾽ ὄντα πρὶν πεφυρμένονθηρσίν θ᾽ ὅμοιον. πρῶτα μὲν τὸν πάνσοφονἀριθμὸν ηὕρηκ᾽ ἔξοχον σοφισμάτων.

Thereafter I ordered the life of all Hellas and of the allies, the life aforetime confused and like to that of wild beasts. First I invented number, all-wise, chiefest of sciences.

ὁρᾷ Δίκη σ᾽ ἄναυδος οὐχ ὁρωμένηεὕδοντα καὶ στείχοντα καὶ καθήμενον.ἑξῆς δ᾽ ὀπαδεῖ δόχμιον, ἄλλοθ᾽ ὕστερον.

Justice, voiceless, unseen, seeth thee when thou sleepest and when thou goest forth and when thou liest down. Continually doth she attend thee, now aslant thy course, now at a later time.

πάντων τύραννος ἡ τύχη ᾽στι τῶν θεῶν,τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλ᾽ ὀνόματα ταῦτα προσκεῖται μάτην·μόνη διοικεῖ γοῦν ἅπανθ᾽ ᾗ βούλεται.

Sovereign of all the gods is Fortune, and these other names are given her in vain; for she alone disposeth all things as she wills.

οὐ χρὴ ποδώκη τὸν τρόπον λίαν φορεῖν.

One must not have a manner too swift-paced.

ὡς οἰνοπλῆγες <καὶ> μεθυστάδες γάμων

Like maids, wine-stricken and drunk with love

<νοτὶς> προσαυρίζουσα χερσαίᾳ †τροχῇ

Moisture meeting a current from dry land (?)

. . προσαιθρίζουσα πόμπιμον φλόγα

Raising to the skies the missive flame

ἄσσουσα δ᾽ ἐξέλαμψεν ἀστραπῆς δίκην.

Shooting upward, [the flame] flashed forth like lightning.

ὀργῆς ματαίας εἰσὶν αἴτιοι λόγοι.

Words do provoke to senseless wrath.

<τὸ> μελαμβόρεον <δὲ> καταιγίζειπνεῦμα βίαιον καὶ φρικῶδες.

The black North, a blast violent and chilling, descends in a tempest.

λέληθεν οὐδὲν τῶνδέ μ᾽ ὧν σὺ νουθετεῖς·γνώμην δ᾽ ἔχοντά μ᾽ ἡ φύσις βιάζεται.

Naught escapes me whereof thou admonishest me; yet, for all my resolve, Nature constrains me.

Τεῦκρος δὲ τόξου χρώμενος φειδωλίᾳὑπὲρ τάφρου πηδῶντας ἔστησεν Φρύγας.

Teucer, plying his bow with sure aim, stayed the Phrygians as they would overleap the foss.

οὐκ ἦν ἄρ᾽ οὐδὲν πῆμ᾽ ἐλευθέραν δάκνονψυχὴν ὁμοίως ἀνδρὸς ὡς ἀτιμία.οὕτως πέπονθα καί με συμφορᾶς ἀεὶβαθεῖα κηλὶς ἐκ βυθῶν ἀναστρέφειλύσσης πικροῖς κέντροισιν ἠρεθισμένον.

So then ’tis true—no misery gnaws a free man’s soul like dishonour. Thus do I suffer, and the deep stain of my calamity ever stirs me from the depths, agitated as I am by the piercing goads of frenzy.

ἄλλον ἄλλῃ πρὸς πόλει τεταγμένον

Another man stationed against another State

βέβληκ᾽ Ἀχιλλεὺς δύο κύβω καὶ τέσσαρα.

Achilles has thrown two aces and a four.

χωρὶς τὰ Μυσῶν καὶ Φρυγῶν ὁρίσματα

[It is hard to mark] the boundaries between the Mysians and the Phrygians.

Κίλιξ δὲ χώρα καὶ Σύρων ἐπιστροφαί

The Cilician country and the haunts of the Syrians

Τυρσηνῶν γενεάν, φαρμακοποιὸν ἔθνος

The race of the Tyrrhenes, a nation that maketh drugs.

βριθὺς ὁπλιτοπάλας, δάϊος ἀντιπάλοις

[A warrior,] sturdy, heavy-armed, terrific to the foe

Εἰς ἑτέρους προμάχους Θεσσαλῶν.κυανέη καὶ τούσδε μενέγχεας ὤλεσεν ἄνδραςμοῖρα, πολύρρηνον πατρίδα ῥυομένους.ζῶον δὲ φθιμένων πέλεται κλέος, οἵ ποτε γυίοιςτλήμονες Ὀσσαίαν ἀμφιέσαντο κόνιν.

On other Thessalian champions.

Dark Fate likewise laid low these valiant spearmen defending their fatherland, rich in sheep. But living is the glory of the dead who of old, steadfast in battle, clothed themselves in Ossa’s dust.

Αἰσχύλον Εὐφορίωνος Ἀθηναῖον τόδε κεύθειμνῆμα καταφθίμενον πυροφόροιο Γέλας·ἀλκὴν δ᾽ εὐδόκιμον Μαραθώνιον ἄλσος ἂν εἴποικαὶ βαθυχαιτήεις Μῆδος ἐπιστάμενος.

This tomb hideth the dust of Aeschylus, an Athenian, Euphorion’s son, who died in wheat-bearing Gela; his glorious valour the precinct of Marathon may proclaim, and the long-haired Medes, who knew it well.

English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth (1926). Original text: Herbert Weir Smyth (ed. and transl.), Aeschylus, vol. II (Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Fragments), Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1926, Selected Fragments pp. 380-521 (Greek text and facing translation).

Text layer: Public domain: Smyth's 1926 Greek text and translation (Smyth died 1937; published 1926); transcribed from the Internet Archive scan. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.