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Euripides · Helen Ἑλένη

Euripides, Helen 142–178: First episode: Teucer departs; Helen begins her lament

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Helen / 142–178

Teucer says that the Dioscuri are said to have killed themselves because of their sister, and that he has come to ask Theonoe for an oracle about his voyage to Cyprus, where he will found a new Salamis. Helen warns him to leave before Theoclymenus, who kills every Greek he finds, returns from hunting. Teucer thanks her and goes, and Helen begins a lament and calls on the Sirens to join her.

Lines 142–178 · 304 words · click a number to copy its link
142–163
Τεῦκρος 142σφαγαῖς ἀδελφῆς οὕνεκʼ ἐκπνεῦσαι βίον. ἅλις δὲ μύθων· οὐ διπλᾶ χρῄζω στένειν. ὧν δʼ οὕνεκʼ ἦλθον τούσδε βασιλείους δόμους, 145τὴν θεσπιῳδὸν Θεονόην χρῄζων ἰδεῖν, σὺ προξένησον, ὡς τύχω μαντευμάτων ὅπῃ νεὼς στείλαιμʼ ἂν οὔριον πτερὸν ἐς γῆν ἐναλίαν Κύπρον, οὗ μʼ ἐθέσπισεν οἰκεῖν Ἀπόλλων, ὄνομα νησιωτικὸν 150Σαλαμῖνα θέμενον τῆς ἐκεῖ χάριν πάτρας. Ἑλένη πλοῦς, ὦ ξένʼ, αὐτὸς σημανεῖ· σὺ δʼ ἐκλιπὼν γῆν τήνδε φεῦγε πρίν σε παῖδα Πρωτέως ἰδεῖν, ὃς ἄρχει τῆσδε γῆς· ἄπεστι δὲ κυσὶν πεποιθὼς ἐν φοναῖς θηροκτόνοις· 155κτείνει γὰρ Ἕλληνʼ ὅντινʼ ἂν λάβῃ ξένον. ὅτου δʼ ἕκατι, μήτε σὺ ζήτει μαθεῖν ἐγώ τε σιγῶ· τί γὰρ ἂν ὠφελοῖμί σε; Τεῦκρος καλῶς ἔλεξας, ὦ γύναι· θεοὶ δέ σοι ἐσθλῶν ἀμοιβὰς ἀντιδωρησαίατο. 160Ἑλένῃ δʼ ὅμοιον σῶμʼ ἔχουσʼ οὐ τὰς φρένας ἔχεις ὁμοίας, ἀλλὰ διαφόρους πολύ. κακῶς δʼ ὄλοιτο μηδʼ ἐπʼ Εὐρώτα ῥοὰς ἔλθοι· σὺ δʼ εἴης εὐτυχὴς ἀεί, γύναι.

Teucer That they killed themselves because of their sister. But enough of such talk! I do not need to grieve twice. As to why I came to this royal palace, wanting to see the prophetess Theonoe, you be my patron, so I might obtain an oracle: how I should steer a favorable course to the island of Cyprus, where Apollo has declared I am to live, giving it the island name of Salamis in honor of that fatherland over there.

Helen The voyage itself will explain that, stranger; leave this land and escape, before the son of Proteus, the ruler of this land, catches sight of you; now he is away with his trusty hounds tracking his savage quarry to the death; for he kills every visitor from Hellas that he catches. Do not seek to learn his reason, and I will not say; for how could I help you?

Teucer Lady, you have spoken well. May the gods grant you a return for your kindness! Although you have a body like Helen’s, your heart is not like hers, but very different. May she die miserably, and never reach the streams of Eurotas! But may you always have good fortune, lady.

Helen

164–166
164ὤ, μεγάλων ἀχέων καταβαλλομένα μέγαν οἶκτον 165ποῖον ἁμιλλαθῶ γόον; ἢ τίνα μοῦσαν ἐπέλθω δάκρυσιν ἢ θρήνοις ἢ πένθεσιν; αἰαῖ.

Oh, as I begin the great lament of my great distress, what mourning shall I strive to utter? or what Muse shall I approach with tears or songs of death or woe? Alas!

Helen

167–178
167πτεροφόροι νεάνιδες, παρθένοι Χθονὸς κόραι Σειρῆνες, εἴθʼ ἐμοῖς γόοις 170μόλοιτʼ ἔχουσαι Λίβυν λωτὸν ἢ σύριγγας ἢ φόρμιγγας, αἰλίνοις κακοῖς τοῖς ἐμοῖσι σύνοχα δάκρυα· πάθεσι πάθεα, μέλεσι μέλεα, μουσεῖα θρηνήμα- σι ξυνῳδὰ πέμψειε 175Φερσέφασσα φόνια, χάριτας ἵνʼ ἐπὶ δάκρυσι παρʼ ἐμέθεν ὑπὸ μέλαθρα νύχια παιᾶνα νέκυσιν ὀλομένοις λάβῃ.

Winged maidens, virgin daughters of Earth, the Sirens, may you come to my mourning with Libyan flute or pipe or lyre, tears to match my plaintive woes; grief for grief and mournful chant for chant, may Persephone send choirs of death in harmony with my lamentation, so that she may receive as thanks from me, in addition to my tears, a paean for the departed dead beneath her gloomy roof.

People and places in this passage

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

  1. Hesiod, Fragments 1.68The suitors of Helen
  2. Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.19.1–10Olympia: the Chest of Cypselus, fourth and fifth fields
  3. Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.24.1–11Laconian coast: Zarax, Cyphanta, Brasiae, Las and Hypsa
  4. Homer, Iliad 3.111–244Helen on the wall of Troy
  5. Euripides, Orestes 1621–1693Exodos: Apollo appears and settles the quarrel
  6. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.10.1–9Hermes, Asclepius, Leda and the suitors of Helen

English translation by Edward P. Coleridge (1891). Original text: Greek text: Gilbert Murray (ed.), Euripidis Fabulae, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, 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.