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Euripides · Helen Ἑλένη

Euripides, Helen 998–1029: Fifth episode: Theonoe decides to keep their secret

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Helen / 998–1029

Theonoe says that she is inclined to piety and will not dishonor her father's name or please her brother at the cost of justice. She votes on Hera's side and says that Proteus would have given Helen back. She promises to keep silent and tells them to pray to Kypris and Hera for their return.

Lines 998–1029 · 296 words · click a number to copy its link

Theonoe

998–1029
998ἐγὼ πέφυκά τʼ εὐσεβεῖν καὶ βούλομαι, φιλῶ τʼ ἐμαυτήν, καὶ κλέος τοὐμοῦ πατρὸς 1000οὐκ ἂν μιάναιμʼ, οὐδὲ συγγόνῳ χάριν δοίην ἂν ἐξ ἧς δυσκλεὴς φανήσομαι. ἔνεστι δʼ ἱερὸν τῆς δίκης ἐμοὶ μέγα ἐν τῇ φύσει· καὶ τοῦτο Νηρέως πάρα ἔχουσα σῴζειν, Μενέλεως, πειράσομαι. 1005Ἥρᾳ δʼ, ἐπείπερ βούλεταί σʼ εὐεργετεῖν, ἐς ταὐτὸν οἴσω ψῆφον· ἡ Κύπρις δʼ ἐμοὶ ἵλεως μὲν εἴη, ξυμβέβηκε δʼ οὐδαμοῦ· πειράσομαι δὲ παρθένος μένειν ἀεί. ἃ δʼ ἀμφὶ τύμβῳ τῷδʼ ὀνειδίζεις πατρί, 1010ἡμῖν ὅδʼ αὑτὸς μῦθος. ἀδικοίημεν ἄν, εἰ μὴ ἀποδώσω· καὶ γὰρ ἂν κεῖνος βλέπων ἀπέδωκεν ἂν σοὶ τήνδʼ ἔχειν, ταύτῃ δὲ σέ. καὶ γὰρ τίσις τῶνδʼ ἐστὶ τοῖς τε νερτέροις καὶ τοῖς ἄνωθεν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις· ὁ νοῦς 1015τῶν κατθανόντων ζῇ μὲν οὔ, γνώμην δʼ ἔχει ἀθάνατον εἰς ἀθάνατον αἰθέρʼ ἐμπεσών. ὡς οὖν παραινῶ μὴ μακράν, σιγήσομαι ἅ μου καθικετεύσατʼ, οὐδὲ μωρίᾳ ξύμβουλος ἔσομαι τῇ κασιγνήτου ποτέ. 1020εὐεργετῶ γὰρ κεῖνον οὐ δοκοῦσʼ ὅμως, ἐκ δυσσεβείας ὅσιον εἰ τίθημί νιν. αὐτοὶ μὲν οὖν ὁδόν τινʼ ἐξευρίσκετε, ἐγὼ δʼ ἀποστᾶσʼ ἐκποδὼν σιγήσομαι. ἐκ τῶν θεῶν δʼ ἄρχεσθε χἱκετεύετε 1025τὴν μέν σʼ ἐᾶσαι πατρίδα νοστῆσαι Κύπριν, Ἥρας δὲ τὴν ἔννοιαν ἐν ταὐτῷ μένειν ἣν ἐς σὲ καὶ σὸν πόσιν ἔχει σωτηρίας. σὺ δʼ, ὦ θανών μοι πάτερ, ὅσον γʼ ἐγὼ σθένω, οὔποτε κεκλήσῃ δυσσεβὴς ἀντʼ εὐσεβοῦς.

My nature and my inclination lean towards piety; and I respect myself, and I would not defile my father’s fame, or gratify my brother at the cost of seeming infamous. There is a great temple of justice in my nature; and having this heritage from Nereus, I will try to keep it, Menelaos. Since Hera wishes to serve you, I will cast my vote on her side. May Kypris be gracious to me; but she has had nothing to do with me, and I will try to remain a virgin always. As for your reproaches against my father at this tomb, I have the same words to say. I would be doing wrong if I do not give her back; for that man, if he were alive, would have given her back for you to have, and you to her. For truly there is retribution for these things, both among the dead and among all men living. The mind of the dead does not live, yet it has eternal thought as it falls into eternal ether. So as not to give advice at length, I will be silent as to what you have entreated, and I will never aid my brother’s folly with my counsel. For I am doing him a service, though he does not think it, if I turn him from his godless life to holiness. You yourselves devise some course of action; I will stand out of your way by my silence. Begin with the gods, and beg Kypris to allow you to return to your country, and Hera that her intention to save you and your husband may remain the same. And you, my own dead father, never, as far as I have strength, shall you be called impious instead of pious.

People and places in this passage

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

  1. Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.15.1–11Sparta: heroes’ shrines, Hercules and Hippocoon, Enyalius in fetters and Morpho
  2. Euripides, Trojan Women 966–1032Third episode: Hecuba answers Helen
  3. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.3.1–35Paris and Helen; the muster at Aulis and the landing at Troy
  4. Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.396–562The Minyades become bats; Athamas and Ino
  5. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 31.199–282Book 31: Hera borrows the cestus of Aphrodite
  6. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 8.178–332Book 8: Hera as Semele's nurse

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.