Olympians
AphroditeApolloAresArtemisAthenaHadesHephaestusHeraHermesHestiaPoseidonZeusAll Olympians
Titans
AsteriaAstraeusAtlasClymeneCriusCronusDioneEosEpimetheusEurybiaEurynomeHyperionAll Titans
Greek Gods
AeolusAetherAmphitriteAnemoiApateAsclepiusAuraBiaChaosCirceDeimosDemeterAll Greek Gods
Myths
CreaturesElementsFiguresGigantesGreek MythsHeroesMonstersMortalsMoviesNorsePlacesPlanetsAll Myths
Plays
AeschylusAristophanesEuripidesSophoclesAll Plays
Ancient Sources
ApollodorusHomerHesiodAeschylusSophoclesEuripidesAristophanesApolloniusOvidPausaniasPindarAll Ancient Sources
Olympians
Olympians
AphroditeApolloAresArtemisAthenaHadesHephaestusHeraHermesHestiaPoseidonZeusAll Olympians
Titans
Titans
AsteriaAstraeusAtlasClymeneCriusCronusDioneEosEpimetheusEurybiaEurynomeHyperionAll Titans
Greek Gods
Greek Gods
AeolusAetherAmphitriteAnemoiApateAsclepiusAuraBiaChaosCirceDeimosDemeterAll Greek Gods
Myths
Myths
CreaturesElementsFiguresGigantesGreek MythsHeroesMonstersMortalsMoviesNorsePlacesPlanetsAll Myths
Plays
Plays
AeschylusAristophanesEuripidesSophoclesAll Plays
Ancient Sources
Ancient Sources
ApollodorusHomerHesiodAeschylusSophoclesEuripidesAristophanesApolloniusOvidPausaniasPindarAll Ancient Sources

Euripides · Hecuba Ἑκάβη

Euripides, Hecuba 296–333: First episode: Odysseus refuses and defends the honour due to Achilles

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Hecuba / 296–333

The Chorus says that no one can hear Hecuba's tale without tears. Odysseus tells Hecuba not to count as a foe a man who speaks wisely, and says that he is ready to save her life in return for the service that he received. He says that Achilles died most nobly for Hellas, and that it would be a foul reproach to treat a friend well in life but not when he is dead, and that the Greeks must honour the brave, while the barbarians do not. The Chorus laments the curse of slavery.

Lines 296–333 · 343 words · click a number to copy its link

Chorus Leader

296–298
296οὐκ ἔστιν οὕτω στερρὸς ἀνθρώπου φύσις, ἥτις γόων σῶν καὶ μακρῶν ὀδυρμάτων κλύουσα θρήνους οὐκ ἂν ἐκβάλοι δάκρυ.

Human nature is not so stony-hearted as to hear your plaintive tale and catalogue of sorrows, without shedding a tear.

299–333
Ὀδυσσεύς 299Ἑκάβη, διδάσκου, μηδὲ τῷ θυμουμένῳ 300τὸν εὖ λέγοντα δυσμενῆ ποιοῦ φρενός. ἐγὼ τὸ μὲν σὸν σῶμʼ ὑφʼ οὗπερ εὐτύχουν σῴζειν ἕτοιμός εἰμι κοὐκ ἄλλως λέγω· ἃ δʼ εἶπον εἰς ἅπαντας οὐκ ἀρνήσομαι, Τροίας ἁλούσης ἀνδρὶ τῷ πρώτῳ στρατοῦ 305σὴν παῖδα δοῦναι σφάγιον ἐξαιτουμένῳ. ἐν τῷδε γὰρ κάμνουσιν αἱ πολλαὶ πόλεις, ὅταν τις ἐσθλὸς καὶ πρόθυμος ὢν ἀνὴρ μηδὲν φέρηται τῶν κακιόνων πλέον. ἡμῖν δʼ Ἀχιλλεὺς ἄξιος τιμῆς, γύναι, 310θανὼν ὑπὲρ γῆς Ἑλλάδος κάλλιστʼ ἀνήρ. οὔκουν τόδʼ αἰσχρόν, εἰ βλέποντι μὲν φίλῳ χρώμεσθʼ, ἐπεὶ δʼ ὄλωλε, μὴ χρώμεσθʼ ἔτι; εἶεν· τί δῆτʼ ἐρεῖ τις, ἤν τις αὖ φανῇ στρατοῦ τʼ ἄθροισις πολεμίων τʼ ἀγωνία; 315πότερα μαχούμεθʼ ἢ φιλοψυχήσομεν, τὸν κατθανόνθʼ ὁρῶντες οὐ τιμώμενον; καὶ μὴν ἔμοιγε ζῶντι μέν, καθʼ ἡμέραν κεἰ σμίκρʼ ἔχοιμι, πάντʼ ἂν ἀρκούντως ἔχοι· τύμβον δὲ βουλοίμην ἂν ἀξιούμενον 320τὸν ἐμὸν ὁρᾶσθαι· διὰ μακροῦ γὰρ ἡ χάρις. εἰ δʼ οἰκτρὰ πάσχειν φῄς, τάδʼ ἀντάκουέ μου· εἰσὶν παρʼ ἡμῖν οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἄθλιαι γραῖαι γυναῖκες ἠδὲ πρεσβῦται σέθεν, νύμφαι τʼ ἀρίστων νυμφίων τητώμεναι, 325ὧν ἥδε κεύθει σώματʼ Ἰδαία κόνις. τόλμα τάδʼ. ἡμεῖς δʼ, εἰ κακῶς νομίζομεν τιμᾶν τὸν ἐσθλόν, ἀμαθίαν ὀφλήσομεν· οἱ βάρβαροι δὲ μήτε τοὺς φίλους φίλους ἡγεῖσθε, μήτε τοὺς καλῶς τεθνηκότας 330θαυμάζεθʼ, ὡς ἂν ἡ μὲν Ἑλλὰς εὐτυχῇ, ὑμεῖς δʼ ἔχηθʼ ὅμοια τοῖς βουλεύμασιν. Χορός αἰαῖ· τὸ δοῦλον ὡς κακὸν πέφυκʼ ἀεὶ τολμᾷ θʼ ἃ μὴ χρή, τῇ βίᾳ νικώμενον.

Odysseus O Hecuba, be schooled by me, and do not in your angry mood count him a foe who speaks wisely. Your life I am prepared to save, for the service I received; I do not say otherwise. But what I said to all, I will not now deny, that after Troy’s capture I would give your daughter to the chief man of our army because he asked a victim. For here is a source of weakness to many states, whenever a man of brave and generous soul receives no greater honor than his inferiors. Now Achilles, lady, deserves honor at our hands, since on behalf of Hellas the man died most nobly. Is not this a foul reproach to treat him as a friend in life, but, when he is gone from us, to treat him so no more? Enough! what will they say, if once more there comes a gathering of the army and a contest with the foe? Shall we fight or nurse our lives, seeing the dead have no honors? For myself, indeed, when alive, if my daily store were scant, yet it would be all-sufficient, but my tomb I should wish to be an object of respect, for this gratitude has long to run. You speak of cruel sufferings; hear my answer. Among us are grey old women and men no less miserable than you, and brides bereft of gallant husbands, over whom this Trojan dust has closed. Endure these sorrows; for us, if we are wrong in resolving to honor the brave, we shall bring upon ourselves a charge of ignorance; but as for you barbarians, do not regard your friends as such and pay no homage to your gallant dead, so that Hellas may prosper and you may reap the fruits of such policy.

Chorus Leader Alas! how cursed is slavery always in its nature, forced by the might of the stronger to endure unseemly treatment.

People and places in this passage

Passages in other works that tell of the same people and places, oldest and closest first.

  1. Euripides, Trojan Women 230–293First episode: Talthybius announces the allotment of the captives
  2. Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 14.228–328Polyxeina is sacrificed
  3. Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.481–575Hecuba and Polymestor
  4. Homer, Iliad 24.159–321Iris to Priam; the ransom is packed
  5. Euripides, Trojan Women 1287–1332Exodos: the Trojan women are led away to the Greek ships
  6. Homer, Iliad 24.677–804Hermes wakes Priam; Hector's funeral

English translation by Edward P. Coleridge (1891). Original text: Greek text: Gilbert Murray (ed.), Euripidis Fabulae, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902, as digitised by Perseus. English: Edward P. Coleridge, The Plays of Euripides, London: George Bell and Sons, first published 1891 (Bohn's Classical Library; the Perseus header records a later printing).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.