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Euripides · Phoenician Women Φοίνισσαι

Euripides, Phoenician Women 1307–1355: Exodos: Creon and a Messenger bring news of the dead

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Phoenician Women / 1307–1355

Creon enters, carrying the body of Menoeceus, and asks for Jocasta. The Chorus tells him that she has gone to the brothers. A Messenger arrives and tells him that both sons and Jocasta are dead.

Lines 1307–1355 · 436 words · click a number to copy its link

Chorus Leader

1307–1308
1307ἀλλὰ γὰρ Κρέοντα λεύσσω τόνδε δεῦρο συννεφῆ πρὸς δόμους στείχοντα, παύσω τοὺς παρεστῶτας γόους.

But hark! I see Creon on his way here to the house with clouded brow, and so I will cease my present lamentations.

1310–1334
Κρέων 1310οἴμοι, τί δράσω; πότερʼ ἐμαυτὸν ἢ πόλιν στένω δακρύσας, ἣν πέριξ ἔχει νέφος ἐμός τε γὰρ παῖς γῆς ὄλωλʼ ὑπερθανών, τοὔνομα λαβὼν γενναῖον, ἀνιαρὸν δʼ ἐμοί· 1315ὃν ἄρτι κρημνῶν ἐκ δρακοντείων ἑλὼν αὐτοσφαγῆ δύστηνος ἐκόμισʼ ἐν χεροῖν, βοᾷ δὲ δῶμα πᾶν· ἐγὼ δʼ ἥκω μέτα γέρων ἀδελφὴν γραῖαν Ἰοκάστην, ὅπως λούσῃ προθῆταί τʼ οὐκέτʼ ὄντα παῖδʼ ἐμόν. 1320τοῖς γὰρ θανοῦσι χρὴ τὸν οὐ τεθνηκότα τιμὰς διδόντα χθόνιον εὐσεβεῖν θεόν. Χορός βέβηκʼ ἀδελφὴ σή, Κρέων, ἔξω δόμων κόρη τε μητρὸς Ἀντιγόνη κοινῷ ποδί. Κρέων ποῖ; κἀπὶ ποίαν συμφοράν; σήμαινέ μοι. Χορός 1325ἤκουσε τέκνα μονομάχῳ μέλλειν δορὶ ἐς ἀσπίδʼ ἥξειν βασιλικῶν δόμων ὕπερ. Κρέων πῶς φῄς; νέκυν τοι παιδὸς ἀγαπάζων ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἐς τόδʼ ἦλθον ὥστε καὶ τάδʼ εἰδέναι. Χορός ἀλλʼ οἴχεται μὲν σὴ κασιγνήτη πάλαι· 1330δοκῶ δʼ ἀγῶνα τὸν περὶ ψυχῆς, Κρέον, ἤδη πεπρᾶχθαι παισὶ τοῖσιν Οἰδίπου. Κρέων οἴμοι, τὸ μὲν σημεῖον εἰσορῶ τόδε, σκυθρωπὸν ὄμμα καὶ πρόσωπον ἀγγέλου στείχοντος, ὃς πᾶν ἀγγελεῖ τὸ δρώμενον.

Creon Ah me! what shall I do? Am I to mourn with tears myself or my city, which has a cloud around it? My son has died for his country, bringing glory to his name, but grievous woe to me. His body I have just now taken from the dragon’s rocky lair and sadly carried the self-slain victim here in my arms; and the house is filled with weeping; but now I have come for my sister Jocasta, age seeking age, that she may bathe my child’s corpse and lay it out. For those who are not dead must reverence the god below by paying honor to the dead.

Chorus Leader Your sister, Creon, has gone out, and her daughter Antigone went with her.

Creon Where did she go? What happened? Tell me.

Chorus Leader She heard that her sons were about to engage in single combat for the royal house.

Creon What do you mean? In my tenderness to my dead son, I was not able to learn this.

Chorus Leader It is some time, Creon, since your sister’s departure, and I expect the struggle for life and death is already decided by the sons of Oedipus.

Creon Alas! I see a sign there, the gloomy look and face of the messenger coming to tell us the whole matter.

1335–1339
Ἄγγελος 1335ὦ τάλας ἐγώ, τίνʼ εἴπω μῦθον ἢ τίνας γόους; Κρέων οἰχόμεσθʼ· οὐκ εὐπροσώποις φροιμίοις ἄρχῃ λόγου. Ἄγγελος ὦ τάλας, δισσῶς ἀυτῶ· μεγάλα γὰρ φέρω κακά. Κρέων πρὸς πεπραγμένοισιν ἄλλοις πήμασιν. λέγεις δὲ τί; Ἄγγελος οὐκέτʼ εἰσὶ σῆς ἀδελφῆς παῖδες ἐν φάει, Κρέον.

Messenger Ah, woe is me! What story can I tell, what lament can I make?

Creon We are lost; your opening words have no fair appearance.

Messenger Ah, woe is me! I say again; for I am bringing great horrors.

Creon In addition to the other sorrowful deeds. What is your tale?

Messenger Your sister’s sons are now no more, Creon.

1340–1355
Κρέων 1340αἰαῖ· μεγάλα μοι θροεῖς πάθεα καὶ πόλει. ὦ δώματʼ εἰσηκούσατʼ Οἰδίπου τάδε παίδων ὁμοίαις συμφοραῖς ὀλωλότων; Χορός ὥστʼ ἂν δακρῦσαί γʼ, εἰ φρονοῦντʼ ἐτύγχανεν. Κρέων 1345οἴμοι ξυμφορᾶς βαρυποτμωτάτας, Ἄγγελος εἰ καὶ τὰ πρὸς τούτοισί γʼ εἰδείης κακά. Κρέων καὶ πῶς γένοιτʼ ἂν τῶνδε δυσποτμώτερα; Ἄγγελος τέθνηκʼ ἀδελφὴ σὴ δυοῖν παίδοιν μέτα. Χορός 1350ἀνάγετʼ ἀνάγετε κωκυ- τόν, ἐπὶ κάρα τε λευκοπήχεις κτύπους χεροῖν. Κρέων ὦ τλῆμον, οἷον τέρμονʼ, Ἰοκάστη, βίου γάμων τε τῶν σῶν Σφιγγὸς αἰνιγμοὺς ἔτλης. πῶς καὶ πέπρακται διπτύχων παίδων φόνος 1355ἀρᾶς τʼ ἀγώνισμʼ Οἰδίπου; σήμαινέ μοι.

Creon Alas! you have a great tale of woe for me and the city. O house of Oedipus, have you heard these tidings of sons slain by the same fate?

Chorus Leader A tale to make it weep, if it were endowed with sense.

Creon Oh! most grievous stroke of fate!

Messenger If you only know the sorrows other than those!

Creon How can they be more hard to bear than these?

Messenger Your sister has died, with her two sons.

Chorus Loudly, loudly raise the wail, and with white hands strike upon your heads!

Creon Oh, wretched Jocasta! what an end to life and marriage you have found the riddling of the Sphinx! Tell me how her two sons accomplished the bloody deed, the struggle caused by the curse of Oedipus.

People and places in this passage

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

  1. Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 513–582Second episode: Creon and Oedipus
  2. Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 848–886Third episode (cont.): Creon seizes Oedipus

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.