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Euripides · Suppliants Ἱκέτιδες

Euripides, Suppliants 514–563: Second episode: Theseus defends the right of burial

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Suppliants / 514–563

Theseus tells Adrastus to be silent and answers the Herald himself. He says that Athens will not take orders, and that he did not join the warriors who went to Thebes. He says that the dead have been wronged and that the ancient law that the dead be buried is the common right of Hellas, and that, if the Thebans allow them burial, the body may return to the earth, and the breath to the air.

Lines 514–563 · 498 words · click a number to copy its link

Theseus

514–548
514καὶ μὴ ʼπίπροσθεν τῶν ἐμῶν τοὺς σοὺς λόγους 515θῇς· οὐ γὰρ ἥκει πρὸς σὲ κηρύσσων ὅδε, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἔμʼ· ἡμᾶς κἀποκρίνασθαι χρεών. καὶ πρῶτα μέν σε πρὸς τὰ πρῶτʼ ἀμείψομαι. οὐκ οἶδʼ ἐγὼ Κρέοντα δεσπόζοντʼ ἐμοῦ οὐδὲ σθένοντα μεῖζον, ὥστʼ ἀναγκάσαι 520δρᾶν τὰς Ἀθήνας ταῦτʼ· ἄνω γὰρ ἂν ῥέοι τὰ πράγμαθʼ οὕτως, εἰ ʼπιταξόμεσθα δή. πόλεμον δὲ τοῦτον οὐκ ἐγὼ καθίσταμαι, ὃς οὐδὲ σὺν τοῖσδʼ ἦλθον ἐς Κάδμου χθόνα· νεκροὺς δὲ τοὺς θανόντας, οὐ βλάπτων πόλιν 525οὐδʼ ἀνδροκμῆτας προσφέρων ἀγωνίας, θάψαι δικαιῶ, τὸν Πανελλήνων νόμον σῴζων. τί τούτων ἐστὶν οὐ καλῶς ἔχον; εἰ γάρ τι καὶ πεπόνθατʼ Ἀργείων ὕπο, τεθνᾶσιν, ἠμύνασθε πολεμίους καλῶς, 530αἰσχρῶς δʼ ἐκείνοις, χἡ δίκη διοίχεται. ἐάσατʼ ἤδη γῇ καλυφθῆναι νεκρούς, ὅθεν δʼ ἕκαστον ἐς τὸ φῶς ἀφίκετο, ἐνταῦθʼ ἀπελθεῖν, πνεῦμα μὲν πρὸς αἰθέρα, τὸ σῶμα δʼ ἐς γῆν· οὔτι γὰρ κεκτήμεθα 535ἡμέτερον αὐτὸ πλὴν ἐνοικῆσαι βίον, κἄπειτα τὴν θρέψασαν αὐτὸ δεῖ λαβεῖν. δοκεῖς κακουργεῖν Ἄργος οὐ θάπτων νεκρούς; ἥκιστα· πάσης Ἑλλάδος κοινὸν τόδε, εἰ τοὺς θανόντας νοσφίσας ὧν χρῆν λαχεῖν 540ἀτάφους τις ἕξει· δειλίαν γὰρ ἐσφέρει τοῖς ἀλκίμοισιν οὗτος ἢν τεθῇ νόμος. κἀμοὶ μὲν ἦλθες δείνʼ ἀπειλήσων ἔπη, νεκροὺς δὲ ταρβεῖτʼ, εἰ κρυβήσονται χθονί; τί μὴ γένηται; μὴ κατασκάψωσι γῆν 545ταφέντες ὑμῶν; ἢ τέκνʼ ἐν μυχῷ χθονὸς φύσωσιν, ἐξ ὧν εἶσί τις τιμωρία; σκαιόν γε τἀνάλωμα τῆς γλώσσης τόδε, φόβους πονηροὺς καὶ κενοὺς δεδοικέναι.

Peace, Adrastus! say no more; set not thy words before mine, for ’tis not to thee this fellow is come with his message, but to me, and I must answer him. Thy first assertion will I answer first: I am not aware that Creon is my lord and master, or that his power outweigheth mine, that so he should compel Athens to act on this wise; nay! for then would the tide of time have to flow backward, if we are to be ordered about, as he thinks. ’Tis not I who choose this war, seeing that I did not even join these warriors to go unto the land of Cadmus; but still I claim to bury the fallen dead, not injuring any state nor yet introducing murderous strife, but preserving the law of all Hellas. What is not well in this? If ye suffered aught from the Argives—lo! they are dead; ye took a splendid vengeance on your foes and covered them with shame, and now your right is at an end. Let the dead now be buried in the earth, and each element return to the place from whence it came to the body, the breath to the air, the body to the ground; for in no wise did we get it for our own, but to live our life in, and after that its mother earth must take it back again. Dost think ’tis Argos thou art injuring in refusing burial to the dead? Nay! all Hellas shares herein, if a man rob the dead of their due and keep them from the tomb; for, if this law be enacted, it will strike dismay into the stoutest hearts. And art thou come to cast dire threats at me, while thy own folk are afraid of giving burial to the dead? What is your fear? Think you they will undermine your land in their graves, or that they will beget children in the womb of earth, from whom shall rise an avenger? A silly waste of words, in truth it was, to show your fear of paltry groundless terrors.

Theseus

549–563
549ἀλλʼ, ὦ μάταιοι, γνῶτε τἀνθρώπων κακά· 550παλαίσμαθʼ ἡμῶν ὁ βίος· εὐτυχοῦσι δὲ οἳ μὲν τάχʼ, οἳ δʼ ἐσαῦθις, οἳ δʼ ἤδη βροτῶν, τρυφᾷ δʼ ὁ δαίμων· πρός τε γὰρ τοῦ δυστυχοῦς, ὡς εὐτυχήσῃ, τίμιος γεραίρεται, ὅ τʼ ὄλβιός νιν πνεῦμα δειμαίνων λιπεῖν 555ὑψηλὸν αἴρει. γνόντας οὖν χρεὼν τάδε ἀδικουμένους τε μέτρια μὴ θυμῷ φέρειν ἀδικεῖν τε τοιαῦθʼ οἷα μὴ βλάψαι πόλιν. πῶς οὖν ἂν εἴη; τοὺς ὀλωλότας νεκροὺς θάψαι δὸς ἡμῖν τοῖς θέλουσιν εὐσεβεῖν. 560ἢ δῆλα τἀνθένδʼ· εἶμι καὶ θάψω βίᾳ. οὐ γάρ ποτʼ εἰς Ἕλληνας ἐξοισθήσεται ὡς εἰς ἔμʼ ἐλθὼν καὶ πόλιν Πανδίονος νόμος παλαιὸς δαιμόνων διεφθάρη.

Go, triflers, learn the lesson of human misery; our life is made up of struggles; some men there be that find their fortune soon, others have to wait, while some at once are blest. Fortune lives a dainty life; to her the wretched pays his court and homage to win her smile; her likewise doth the prosperous man extol, for fear the favouring gale may leave him. These lessons should we take to heart, to bear with moderation, free from wrath, our wrongs, and do naught to hurt a whole city. What then? Let us, who will the pious deed perform, bury the corpses of the slain. Else is the issue clear; I will go and bury them by force. For never shall it be proclaimed through Hellas that heaven’s ancient law was set at naught, when it devolved on me and the city of Pandion.

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 10.10.1–8Delphi: offerings of the Athenians and Argives, and the Tarentine offerings and founding of Tarentum
  2. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.7.1–7Creon, Antigone, the Epigoni and Alcmaeon
  3. Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.30.1–4Athens: the Academy, tomb of Plato and Colonus
  4. Epic Cycle, Summaries and Fragments 3.1–4.4Thebaid and Epigoni
  5. Pindar, Nemean Odes 9.1–55Nemean 9: for Chromius — Adrastus and the Seven
  6. Pindar, Isthmian Odes 7.1–51Isthmian 7: for Strepsiades — the glories of Thebes

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.

Suppliants 514–563: Theseus defends the right of burial