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Euripides · Trojan Women Τρῳάδες

Euripides, Trojan Women 1–47: Prologue: Poseidon bids farewell to ruined Troy

Ancient Sources / Euripides / Trojan Women / 1–47

Poseidon, who with Phoebus built the walls of Troy, says that he has come from the Aegean to a city that lies in ruins, with its temples forsaken and Priam dead at the altar, while the Greeks carry off the spoils. He tells how the captive women are being allotted, some to Arcadia, some to Thessaly, some to the sons of Theseus, while the rest wait in the tents, and says that he bids farewell to the city, which would still stand if Pallas had not decreed its ruin. He sees Hecuba lying at the gate, and learns that Polyxena has died and that Cassandra has been taken by Agamemnon.

Lines 1–47 · 396 words · click a number to copy its link

Poseidon

1–47
1Ἥκω λιπὼν Αἴγαιον ἁλμυρὸν βάθος πόντου Ποσειδῶν, ἔνθα Νηρῄδων χοροὶ κάλλιστον ἴχνος ἐξελίσσουσιν ποδός. ἐξ οὗ γὰρ ἀμφὶ τήνδε Τρωικὴν χθόνα 5Φοῖβός τε κἀγὼ λαΐνους πύργους πέριξ ὀρθοῖσιν ἔθεμεν κανόσιν, οὔποτʼ ἐκ φρενῶν εὔνοιʼ ἀπέστη τῶν ἐμῶν Φρυγῶν πόλει· ἣ νῦν καπνοῦται καὶ πρὸς Ἀργείου δορὸς ὄλωλε πορθηθεῖσʼ· ὁ γὰρ Παρνάσιος 10Φωκεὺς Ἐπειός, μηχαναῖσι Παλλάδος ἐγκύμονʼ ἵππον τευχέων ξυναρμόσας, πύργων ἔπεμψεν ἐντὸς ὀλέθριον βρέτας· 15ἔρημα δʼ ἄλση καὶ θεῶν ἀνάκτορα φόνῳ καταρρεῖ· πρὸς δὲ κρηπίδων βάθροις πέπτωκε Πρίαμος Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου θανών. πολὺς δὲ χρυσὸς Φρύγιά τε σκυλεύματα πρὸς ναῦς Ἀχαιῶν πέμπεται· μένουσι δὲ 20πρύμνηθεν οὖρον, ὡς δεκασπόρῳ χρόνῳ ἀλόχους τε καὶ τέκνʼ εἰσίδωσιν ἄσμενοι, οἳ τήνδʼ ἐπεστράτευσαν Ἕλληνες πόλιν. ἐγὼ δέ — νικῶμαι γὰρ Ἀργείας θεοῦ Ἥρας Ἀθάνας θʼ, αἳ συνεξεῖλον Φρύγας — 25λείπω τὸ κλεινὸν Ἴλιον βωμούς τʼ ἐμούς· ἐρημία γὰρ πόλιν ὅταν λάβῃ κακή, νοσεῖ τὰ τῶν θεῶν οὐδὲ τιμᾶσθαι θέλει. πολλοῖς δὲ κωκυτοῖσιν αἰχμαλωτίδων βοᾷ Σκάμανδρος δεσπότας κληρουμένων. 30καὶ τὰς μὲν Ἀρκάς, τὰς δὲ Θεσσαλὸς λεὼς εἴληχʼ Ἀθηναίων τε Θησεῖδαι πρόμοι. ὅσαι δʼ ἄκληροι Τρῳάδων, ὑπὸ στέγαις ταῖσδʼ εἰσί, τοῖς πρώτοισιν ἐξῃρημέναι στρατοῦ, σὺν αὐταῖς δʼ ἡ Λάκαινα Τυνδαρὶς 35Ἑλένη, νομισθεῖσʼ αἰχμάλωτος ἐνδίκως. τὴν δʼ ἀθλίαν τήνδʼ εἴ τις εἰσορᾶν θέλει, πάρεστιν, Ἑκάβην κειμένην πυλῶν πάρος, δάκρυα χέουσαν πολλὰ καὶ πολλῶν ὕπερ· ᾗ παῖς μὲν ἀμφὶ μνῆμʼ Ἀχιλλείου τάφου 40λάθρα τέθνηκε τλημόνως Πολυξένη· φροῦδος δὲ Πρίαμος καὶ τέκνʼ· ἣν δὲ παρθένον μεθῆκʼ Ἀπόλλων δρομάδα Κασάνδραν ἄναξ, τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τε παραλιπὼν τό τʼ εὐσεβὲς γαμεῖ βιαίως σκότιον Ἀγαμέμνων λέχος. 45ἀλλʼ, ὦ ποτʼ εὐτυχοῦσα, χαῖρέ μοι, πόλις ξεστόν τε πύργωμʼ· εἴ σε μὴ διώλεσεν Παλλὰς Διὸς παῖς, ἦσθʼ ἂν ἐν βάθροις ἔτι.

From the depths of salt Aegean floods I, Poseidon, have come, where choirs of Nereids dance in a graceful maze; for since the day that Phoebus and I with exact measurement set towers of stone about this land of Troy and ringed it round, never from my heart has passed away a kindly feeling for my Phrygian town, which now is smouldering and overthrown, a prey to Argive might. For, from his home beneath Parnassus, Phocian Epeus, aided by the craft of Pallas, framed a horse to bear within its womb an armed army, and sent it within the battlements, a deadly statue; Groves stand forsaken and temples of the gods run down with blood, and at the altar’s very base, before the god who watched his home, Priam lies dead. While to Achaean ships great store of gold and Phrygian spoils are being conveyed, and they who came against this town, those sons of Hellas, only wait a favoring breeze to follow in their wake, that after ten long years they may with joy behold their wives and children. Vanquished by Hera, Argive goddess, and by Athena, who helped to ruin Phrygia, I am leaving Ilium, that famous town, and my altars; for when dreary desolation seizes on a town, the worship of the gods decays and tends to lose respect. Scamander’s banks re-echo long and loud the screams of captive maids, as they by lot receive their masters. Arcadia takes some, and some the people of Thessaly; others are assigned to Theseus’ sons, the Athenian chiefs. And such of the Trojan women as are not portioned out are in these tents, set apart for the leaders of the army; and with them Spartan Helen, daughter of Tyndareus, justly counted among the captives. And if you would see that queen of misery, Hecuba, you can; for there she lies before the gates, weeping many tears for many sorrows; at Achilles’ tomb, without her knowledge, her daughter Polyxena has died most piteously; Priam is gone, and her children too; Cassandra, whom the lord Apollo left to be a virgin, frenzied maid, has been forced by Agamemnon, in contempt of the god’s ordinance and of piety, to a dishonored wedlock. Farewell, O city once prosperous! farewell, you ramparts of polished stone! if Pallas, daughter of Zeus, had not decreed your ruin, you would be standing firmly still.

People and places in this passage

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

  1. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.5.1–23The death of Achilles, the Wooden Horse and the fall of Troy
  2. Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 13.415–563Troy burns; Aethra rescued
  3. Homer, Iliad 4.73–219Pandarus breaks the truce and wounds Menelaus
  4. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.12.1–7Dardanus, Priam and the royal house of Troy
  5. Homer, Iliad 20.75–155Apollo rouses Aeneas; the gods sit apart
  6. Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 14.1–120The spoil of Troy

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.