Hippolytus 267–312: The Nurse presses Phaedra to speak

Euripides, Hippolytus 267–312: First episode: the Nurse presses Phaedra to speak

The Chorus asks the Nurse what she has learned, and she says that Phaedra has had no food for three days and will not speak. The Nurse begs her to be gentle and to let her find some better course, and warns her that if she dies she betrays her children, who will lose their father's house to the Amazon's son, whom she names: Hippolytus. Phaedra cries out and begs her never to mention that man again.

267–312

Χορός 267γύναι γεραιά, βασιλίδος πιστὴ τροφὲ Φαίδρας, ὁρῶμεν τάσδε δυστήνους τύχας, ἄσημα δ’ ἡμῖν ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ νόσος· 270σοῦ δ’ ἂν πυθέσθαι καὶ κλύειν βουλοίμεθ’ ἄν. Τροφός οὐκ οἶδ’ ἐλέγχους· οὐ γὰρ ἐννέπειν θέλει. Χορός οὐδ’ ἥτις ἀρχὴ τῶνδε πημάτων ἔφυ; Τροφός ἐς ταὐτὸν ἥκεις· πάντα γὰρ σιγᾷ τάδε. Χορός ὡς ἀσθενεῖ τε καὶ κατέξανται δέμας. Τροφός 275πῶς δ’ οὔ, τριταίαν γ’ οὖσ’ ἄσιτος ἡμέραν; Χορός πότερον ὑπ’ ἄτης ἢ θανεῖν πειρωμένη; Τροφός θανεῖν; ἀσιτεῖ γ’ εἰς ἀπόστασιν βίου. Χορός θαυμαστὸν εἶπας, εἰ τάδ’ ἐξαρκεῖ πόσει. Τροφός κρύπτει γὰρ ἥδε πῆμα κοὔ φησιν νοσεῖν. Χορός 280ὃ δ’ ἐς πρόσωπον οὐ τεκμαίρεται βλέπων; Τροφός ἔκδημος ὢν γὰρ τῆσδε τυγχάνει χθονός. Χορός σὺ δ’ οὐκ ἀνάγκην προσφέρεις, πειρωμένη νόσον πυθέσθαι τῆσδε καὶ πλάνον φρενῶν; Τροφός ἐς πάντ’ ἀφῖγμαι κοὐδὲν εἴργασμαι πλέον· 285οὐ μὴν ἀνήσω γ’ οὐδὲ νῦν προθυμίας, ὡς ἂν παροῦσα καὶ σύ μοι ξυμμαρτυρῇς οἵα πέφυκα δυστυχοῦσι δεσπόταις. ἄγ’, ὦ φίλη παῖ, τῶν πάροιθε μὲν λόγων λαθώμεθ’ ἄμφω, καὶ σύ θ’ ἡδίων γενοῦ 290στυγνὴν ὀφρὺν λύσασα καὶ γνώμης ὁδόν, ἐγώ θ’ ὅπῃ σοι μὴ καλῶς τόθ’ εἱπόμην μεθεῖσ’ ἐπ’ ἄλλον εἶμι βελτίω λόγον. κεἰ μὲν νοσεῖς τι τῶν ἀπορρήτων κακῶν, γυναῖκες αἵδε συγκαθιστάναι νόσον· 295εἰ δ’ ἔκφορός σοι συμφορὰ πρὸς ἄρσενας, λέγ’, ὡς ἰατροῖς πρᾶγμα μηνυθῇ τόδε. εἶἑν· τί σιγᾷς; οὐκ ἐχρῆν σιγᾶν, τέκνον, ἀλλ’ ἤ μ’ ἐλέγχειν, εἴ τι μὴ καλῶς λέγω, ἢ τοῖσιν εὖ λεχθεῖσι συγχωρεῖν λόγοις. 300φθέγξαι τι, δεῦρ’ ἄθρησον. — ὦ τάλαιν’ ἐγώ, γυναῖκες, ἄλλως τούσδε μοχθοῦμεν πόνους, ἴσον δ’ ἄπεσμεν τῷ πρίν· οὔτε γὰρ τότε λόγοις ἐτέγγεθ’ ἥδε νῦν τ’ οὐ πείθεται. — ἀλλ’ ἴσθι μέντοι — πρὸς τάδ’ αὐθαδεστέρα 305γίγνου θαλάσσης — εἰ θανῇ, προδοῦσα σοὺς παῖδας πατρῴων μὴ μεθέξοντας δόμων, μὰ τὴν ἄνασσαν ἱππίαν Ἀμαζόνα, ἣ σοῖς τέκνοισι δεσπότην ἐγείνατο νόθον φρονοῦντα γνήσι’, οἶσθά νιν καλῶς, 310Ἱππόλυτον Φαίδρα οἴμοι. Τροφός θιγγάνει σέθεν τόδε; Φαίδρα ἀπώλεσάς με, μαῖα, καί σε πρὸς θεῶν τοῦδ’ ἀνδρὸς αὖθις λίσσομαι σιγᾶν πέρι.

Chorus O aged dame, faithful nurse of Phaedra, our queen, we see her sorry plight; but what it is that ails her we cannot discern, so fain would learn of thee and hear thy opinion.

Nurse I question her, but am no wiser, for she will not answer.

Chorus Nor tell what source these sorrows have?

Nurse The same answer thou must take, for she is dumb on every point.

Chorus How weak and wasted is her body!

Nurse What marvel? ’tis three days now since she has tasted food.

Chorus Is this infatuation, or an attempt to die?

Nurse ’Tis death she courts; such fasting aims at ending life.

Chorus A strange story! is her husband satisfied?

Nurse She hides from him her sorrow, and vows she is not ill.

Chorus Can he not guess it from her face?

Nurse He is not now in his own country.

Chorus But dost not thou insist in thy endeavour to find out her complaint, her crazy mind?

Nurse I have tried every plan, and all in vain; yet not even now will I relax my zeal, that thou too, if thou stayest, mayst witness my devotion to my unhappy mistress. Come, come, my darling child, let us forget, the twain of us, our former words; be thou more mild, smoothing that sullen brow and changing the current of thy thought, and I, if in aught before I failed in humouring thee, will let that be and find some better course. If thou art sick with ills thou canst not name, there be women here to help to set thee right; but if thy trouble can to men’s ears be divulged, speak, that physicians may pronounce on it. Come, then, why so dumb? Thou shouldst not so remain, my child, but scold me if I speak amiss, or, if I give good counsel, yield assent. One word, one look this way! Ah me! Friends, we waste our toil to no purpose; we are as far away as ever; she would not relent to my arguments then, nor is she yielding now. Well, grow more stubborn than the sea, yet be assured of this, that if thou diest thou art a traitress to thy children, for they will ne’er inherit their father’s halls, nay, by that knightly queen the Amazon who bore a son to lord it over thine, a bastard born but not a bastard bred, whom well thou knowest, e’en Hippolytus.

Phaedra Oh! oh!

Nurse Ha! doth that touch the quick?

Phaedra Thou hast undone me, nurse; I do adjure by the gods, mention that man no more.

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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.

Euripides, Hippolytus 267–312: First episode: the Nurse presses Phaedra to speak

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