Euripides · Rhesus Ῥῆσος

Euripides, Rhesus 224–265: First choral song: prayer for Dolon's success; a shepherd arrives

The Chorus calls on Apollo to guide Dolon to the ships and bring him back to Ilium with the horses of Peleus' son. It hopes that he may kill Menelaus or Agamemnon and bring the head to Helen. A shepherd then arrives, wishing to bring his masters news as good as he now bears.

Lines 224–265 · 256 words · click a number to copy its link

Chorus

224Θυμβραῖε καὶ Δάλιε καὶ Λυκίας 225ναὸν ἐμβατεύων Ἄπολλον, ὦ δία κεφαλά, μόλε τοξή- ρης, ἱκοῦ ἐννύχιος καὶ γενοῦ σωτήριος ἀνέρι πομπᾶς 230ἁγεμὼν καὶ ξύλλαβε Δαρδανίδαις, ὦ παγκρατές, ὦ Τροΐας τείχη παλαιὰ δείμας.

Lord of Thymbra and of Delos, who haunt your temple in Lycia, Apollo, O divine head, come with all your archery, appear this night, and by your guidance save this man, and aid the Dardanians, O almighty god whose hands in days of old built the walls of Troy.

Chorus

233μόλοι δὲ ναυκλήρια, καὶ στρατιᾶς Ἑλλάδος διόπτας 235ἵκοιτο, καὶ κάμψειε πάλιν θυμέλας οἴ- κων πατρὸς Ἰλιάδας. Φθιάδων δʼ ἵππων ποτʼ ἐπʼ ἄντυγα βαίη, δεσπότου πέρσαντος Ἀχαιὸν Ἄρη, 240τὰς πόντιος Αἰακίδᾳ Πηλεῖ δίδωσι δαίμων.

May he come to the ships! May he reach the army of Hellas and spy it out, then turn again and reach the altars of his father’s home in Ilium! May he mount the chariot drawn by Phthia’s horses, when our master has sacked Achaea’s camp, those horses that the sea-god gave to Peleus, son of Aeacus.

Chorus

243ἐπεὶ πρό τʼ οἴκων πρό τε γᾶς ἔτλα μόνος ναύσταθμα βὰς κατιδεῖν· ἄγαμαι 245λήματος· ἦ σπανία τις τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ὅταν ᾖ δυσάλιος ἐν πελάγει καὶ σαλεύῃ 250πόλις. ἔστι Φρυγῶν τις ἔστιν ἄλκιμος· ἔνι δὲ θράσος ἐν αἰχ- μᾷ· πόθι Μυσῶν ὃς ἐμὰν συμμαχίαν ἀτίζει;

For he alone had heart enough for home and country to go and spy on the naval station; I admire his spirit; how few stout hearts there are, when on the sea the sunlight dies and the city labors in the surge. Phrygia yet has left a valiant few, and bold hearts in the battle’s press; it is only Mysia’s sons who scorn us as allies.

Chorus

254τίνʼ ἄνδρʼ Ἀχαιῶν ὁ πεδοστιβὴς σφαγεὺς 255οὐτάσει ἐν κλισίαις, τετράπουν μῖμον ἔχων ἐπιγαίου θηρός; ἕλοι Μενέλαν, κτανὼν δʼ Ἀγαμεμνόνιον κρᾶτʼ ἐνέγκοι 260Ἑλένᾳ κακόγαμβρον ἐς χέρας γόον, ὃς ἐπὶ πόλιν, ὃς ἐπὶ γᾶν Τροΐαν χιλιόναυν ἤλυθʼ ἔχων στρατείαν.

Which of the Achaeans will the earth-treading murderer slay in their beds, as he pretends to be a four-footed beast on the ground? May he lay Menelaus low, slay Agamemnon and bring his head to Helen’s hands, causing her to lament her evil kinsman, who has come against my city, against the land of Troy with his army of a thousand ships.

Messenger

264ἄναξ, τοιούτων δεσπόταισιν ἄγγελος 265εἴην τὸ λοιπὸν οἷά σοι φέρω μαθεῖν.

Lord, in days to come may it be mine to bring my masters such news as I am bearing to you now.

People and places in this passage

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.