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Euripides · Hippolytus Ἱππόλυτος

Euripides, Hippolytus 1090–1152: Third choral song; Hippolytus leaves Troezen

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Hippolytus / 1090–1152

Hippolytus takes his leave of Artemis, of Athens and of Troezen and of his companions, saying that he is going to exile with a purer soul, for all his father's doubts. The Chorus sings that when it considers the gods and their care for men it takes heart, but that it is hard to see the fate of mankind, and mourns the banishment of the young hunter. It sees a servant of Hippolytus hurrying toward the palace.

Lines 1090–1152 · 417 words · click a number to copy its link

Hippolytus

1090–1101
1090ἄραρεν, ὡς ἔοικεν· ὦ τάλας ἐγώ· ὡς οἶδα μὲν ταῦτ’, οἶδα δ’ οὐχ ὅπως φράσω. ὦ φιλτάτη μοι δαιμόνων Λητοῦς κόρη, σύνθακε, συγκύναγε, φευξόμεσθα δὴ κλεινὰς Ἀθήνας. ἀλλὰ χαιρέτω πόλις 1095καὶ γαῖ’ Ἐρεχθέως· ὦ πέδον Τροζήνιον, ὡς ἐγκαθηβᾶν πόλλ’ ἔχεις εὐδαίμονα, χαῖρ’· ὕστατον γάρ σ’ εἰσορῶν προσφθέγγομαι. ἴτ’ ὦ νέοι μοι τῆσδε γῆς ὁμήλικες, προσείπαθ’ ἡμᾶς καὶ προπέμψατε χθονός· 1100ὡς οὔποτ’ ἄλλον ἄνδρα σωφρονέστερον ὄψεσθε, κεἰ μὴ ταῦτ’ ἐμῷ δοκεῖ πατρί.

The sentence then, it seems, is passed. Ah, misery I How well I know the truth herein, but know no way to tell it! O daughter of Latona, dearest to me of all deities, partner, comrade in the chase, far from glorious Athens must I fly. Farewell, city and land of Erechtheus; farewell, Troezen, most joyous home wherein to pass the spring of life; ’tis my last sight of thee, farewell! Come, my comrades in this land, young like me, greet me kindly and escort me forth, for never will ye behold a purer soul, for all my father’s doubts.

Chorus

1102–1107
1102ἦ μέγα μοι τὰ θεῶν μελεδήμαθ’, ὅταν φρένας ἔλθῃ, λύπας παραιρεῖ· ξύνεσιν δέ τιν’ ἐλπίδι κεύθων λείπομαι ἔν τε τύχαις θνατῶν καὶ ἐν ἔργμασι λεύσσων· 1105ἄλλα γὰρ ἄλλοθεν ἀμείβεται, μετὰ δ’ ἵσταται ἀνδράσιν αἰὼν πολυπλάνητος αἰεί.

In very deed the thoughts I have about the gods, whenso they come into my mind, do much to soothe its grief, but though I cherish secret hopes of some great guiding will, yet am I at fault when I survey the fate and doings of the sons of men; change succeeds to change, and man’s life veers and shifts in endless restlessness.

Chorus

1111–1118
1111εἴθε μοι εὐξαμένᾳ θεόθεν τάδε μοῖρα παράσχοι, τύχαν μετ’ ὄλβου καὶ ἀκήρατον ἄλγεσι θυμόν· 1115δόξα δὲ μήτ’ ἀτρεκὴς μήτ’ αὖ παράσημος ἐνείη· ῥᾴδια δ’ ἤθεα τὸν αὔριον μεταβαλλομένα χρόνον αἰεὶ βίον συνευτυχοίην.

Fortune grant me this, I pray, at heaven’s hand,—a happy lot in life and a soul from sorrow free; opinions let me hold not too precise nor yet too hollow; but, lightly changing my habits to each morrow as it comes, may I thus attain a life of bliss!

Chorus

1120–1130
1120οὐκέτι γὰρ καθαρὰν φρέν’ ἔχω τὰ παρ’ ἐλπίδα λεύσ- σων, ἐπεὶ τὸν Ἑλλανίας φανερώτατον ἀστέρ’ Ἀθήνας εἴδομεν εἴδομεν ἐκ πατρὸς ὀργᾶς 1125ἄλλαν ἐπ’ αἶαν ἱέμενον. ὦ ψάμαθοι πολιήτιδος ἀκτᾶς, ὦ δρυμὸς ὄρειος, ὅθι κυνῶν ὠκυπόδων μέτα θῆρας ἔναιρεν 1130Δίκτυνναν ἀμφὶ σεμνάν.

For now no more is my mind free from doubts, unlooked-for sights greet my vision; for lo! I see the morning star of Athens, eye of Hellas, driven by his father’s fury to another land. Mourn, ye sands of my native shores, ye oak-groves on the hills, where with his fleet hounds he would hunt the quarry to the death, attending on Dictynna, awful queen.

Chorus

1131–1139
1131οὐκέτι συζυγίαν πώλων Ἐνετᾶν ἐπιβάσῃ τὸν ἀμφὶ Λίμνας τρόχον κατέχων ποδὶ γυμνάδος ἵππου. μοῦσα δ’ ἄυπνος ὑπ’ ἄντυγι χορδᾶν 1135λήξει πατρῷον ἀνὰ δόμον· ἀστέφανοι δὲ κόρας ἀνάπαυλαι Λατοῦς βαθεῖαν ἀνὰ χλόαν· νυμφιδία δ’ ἀπόλωλε φυγᾷ σᾷ λέκτρων ἅμιλλα κούραις.

No more will he mount his car drawn by Venetian steeds, filling the course round Limna with the prancing of his trained horses. Nevermore in his fathers house shall he wake the Muse that never slept beneath his lute-strings; no hand will crown the spots where rests the maiden Latona ’mid the boskage deep; nor evermore shall our virgins vie to win thy love, now thou art banished; while I with tears at thy unhappy fate shall endure a lot all undeserved.

Chorus

1142–1150
1142— ἐγὼ δὲ σᾷ δυστυχίᾳ δάκρυσι διοίσω πότμον ἄποτμον· ὦ τάλαινα μᾶ- 1145τερ, ἔτεκες ἀνόνατα· φεῦ· μανίω θεοῖσιν· ἰὼ ἰώ· συζύγιαι Χάριτες, τί τὸν τάλαν’ ἐκ πατρίας γᾶς οὐδὲν ἄτας αἴτιον 1150πέμπετε τῶνδ’ ἀπ’ οἴκων;

Ah! hapless mother, in vain didst thou bring forth, it seems. I am angered with the gods; out upon them! O ye linked Graces, why are ye sending from his native land this poor youth, a guiltless sufferer, far from his home?

Chorus

1151–1152
1151— καὶ μὴν ὀπαδὸν Ἱππολύτου τόνδ’ εἰσορῶ σπουδῇ σκυθρωπὸν πρὸς δόμους ὁρμώμενον.

But lo! I see a servant of Hippolytus hasting with troubled looks towards the palace.

People and places in this passage

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

  1. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.59.1–4.63.5Theseus
  2. Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.32.1–10Troezen: Hippolytus’ precinct, the acropolis and the roads from the city
  3. Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.22.1–8Athens: Propylaea, Wingless Victory and the picture gallery of the Acropolis
  4. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.1.1–24Theseus and the Minotaur; Daedalus, Phaedra and Pirithous
  5. Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.477–551Egeria and Hippolytus
  6. Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 939–988Second episode: Orestes tells of the trial at Athens and Apollo's oracle

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.