Οὐ μόνον δὲ Ὀδυσσεὺς περὶ Αἰόλον ἐξήμαρτεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἄλην, ὡς τοὺς μνηστῆρας ἐφόνευσεν, εἰς Ἤπειρον ἐλθὼν χρηστηρίων τινῶν ἕνεκα τὴν Τυρίμμα θυγατέρα ἔφθειρεν Εὐίππην, ὃς αὐτὸν οἰκείως τε ὑπεδέξατο καὶ μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας ἐξένιζε. Παῖς δὲ αὐτῷ γίνεται ἐκ ταύτης Εὐρύαλος.
Τοῦτον ἡ μήτηρ, ἐπεὶ εἰς ἥβην ἦλθεν, ἀποπέμπεται εἰς Ἰθάκην, συμβόλαιά τινα δοῦσα ἐν δέλτῳ κατεσφραγισμένα.
τοῦ δὲ Ὀδυσσέως κατὰ τύχην τότε μὴ παρόντος, Πηνελόπη καταμαθοῦσα ταῦτα καὶ ἄλλως δὲ προπεπυσμένη τὸν τῆς Εὐίππης ἔρωτα, πείθει τὸν Ὀδυσσέα παραγενόμενον, πρὶν ἢ γνῶναί τι τούτων ὡς ἔχει, κατακτεῖναι τὸν Εὐρύαλον ὡς ἐπιβουλεύοντα αὐτῷ.
Καὶ Ὀδυσσεὺς μὲν διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐγκρατὴς φῦναι μηδὲ ἄλλως ἐπιεικὴς αὐτόχειρ τοῦ παιδὸς ἐγένετο, καὶ οὐ μετὰ πολὺν χρόνον ἢ τόδε ἀπειργάσθαι πρὸς τῆς αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ γενεᾶς τρωθεὶς ἀκάνθῃ θαλασσίας τρυγόνος ἐτελεύτησεν.
From the Euryalus of Sophocles
1. AEOLUS was not the only one of his hosts to whom Ulysses did wrong: but even after his wanderings were over and he had slain Penelope’s wooers, he went to Epirus to consult an oracle, and there seduced Evippe, the daughter of Tyrimmas, who had received him kindly and was entertaining him with great cordiality; the fruit of this union was Euryalus. 2. When he came to man’s estate, his mother sent him to Ithaca, first giving him certain tokens, by which his father would recognise him, sealed up in a tablet. Ulysses happened to be from home, and Penelope, having learned the whole story (she had previously been aware of his love for Evippe), persuaded him, before he knew the facts of the case, to kill Euryalus, on the pretence that he was engaged in a plot against him. 3. So Ulysses, as a punishment for his incontinence and general lack of moderation, became the murderer of his own son; and not very long after this met his end after being wounded by his own offspring with a sea-fish’s prickle.
Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Πριάμου βουκολῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἴδην ἠράσθη τῆς Κεβρῆνος θυγατρὸς Οἰνώνης· λέγεται δὲ ταύτην ἔκ του θεῶν κατεχομένην θεσπίζειν περὶ τῶν μελλόντων, καὶ ἄλλως δὲ ἐπὶ συνέσει φρενῶν ἐπὶ μέγα διαβεβοῆσθαι.
Ὁ οὖν Ἀλέξανδρος αὐτὴν ἀγαγόμενος παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς τὴν Ἴδην, ὅπου αὐτῷ οἱ σταθμοὶ ἦσαν, εἶχε γυναῖκα, καὶ αὐτῇ φιλοφρονούμενος μηδαμὰ προλείψειν, ἐν περισσοτέρᾳ τε τιμῇ ἕξειν· ἡ δὲ συνιέναι μὲν ἔφασκεν εἰς τὸ παρὸν ὡς δὴ πάνυ αὐτῆς ἐρῴη, χρόνον μέντοι τινὰ γενήσεσθαι, ἐν ᾧ ἀπαλλάξας αὐτὴν εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην περαιωθήσεται, κἀκεῖ πτοηθεὶς ἐπὶ γυναικὶ ξένῃ πόλεμον ἐπάξεται τοῖς οἰκείοις·
ἐξηγεῖτο δὲ ὡς δεῖ αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τρωθῆναι, καὶ ὅτι οὐδεὶς αὐτὸν οἷός τε ἔσται ὑγιῆ ποιῆσαι ἢ αὐτή· ἑκάστοτε δὲ ἐπιλεγομένης αὐτῆς, ἐκεῖνος οὐκ εἴα μεμνῆσθαι. Χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος ἐπειδὴ Ἑλένην ἔγημεν, ἡ μὲν Οἰνώνη μεμφομένη τῶν πραχθέντων τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον εἰς Κεβρῆνα, ὅθενπερ ἦν γένος, ἀπεχώρησεν· ὁ δέ, παρήκοντος ἤδη τοῦ πολέμου, διατοξευόμενος Φιλοκτήτῃ τιτρώσκεται.
Ἐν νῷ δὲ λαβὼν τὸ τῆς Οἰνώνης ἔπος, ὅτε ἔφατο αὐτὸν πρὸς αὐτῆς μόνης οἷόν τε εἶναι ἰαθῆναι, κήρυκα πέμπει δεησόμενον, ὅπως ἐπειχθεῖσα ἀκέσηταί τε αὐτὸν καὶ τῶν παροιχομένων λήθην ποιήσηται, ἅτε δὴ κατὰ θεῶν βούλησιν ἀφικομένων· ἡ δὲ αὐθαδέστερον ἀπεκρίνατο ὡς χρὴ παρ’ Ἑλένην αὐτὸν ἰέναι κἀκείνης δεῖσθαι, αὐτὴ δὲ μάλιστα ἠπείγετο ἔνθα δὴ ἐπέπυστο κεῖσθαι αὐτόν.
Τοῦ δὲ κήρυκος τὰ λεχθέντα παρὰ τῆς Οἰνώνης θᾶττον ἀπαγγείλαντος, ἀθυμήσας ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐξέπνευσεν, Οἰνώνη δὲ ἐπεὶ νέκυν ἤδη κατὰ γῆς κείμενον ἐλθοῦσα εἶδεν, ἀνῴμωξέν τε καὶ πολλὰ κατολοφυραμένη διεχρήσατο ἑαυτήν.
From the Book of Poets of Nicander and the Trojan History of Cephalon of Gergitha
1. When Alexander, Priam’s son, was tending his flocks on Mount Ida, he fell in love with Oenone the daughter of Cebren: and the story is that she was possessed by some divinity and foretold the future, and generally obtained great renown for her understanding and wisdom. 2. Alexander took her away from her father to Ida, where his pasturage was, and lived with her there as his wife, and he was so much in love with her that he would swear to her that he would never desert her, but would rather advance her to the greatest honour. 3. She however said that she could tell that for the moment indeed he was wholly in love with her, but that the time would come when he would cross over to Europe, and would there, by his infatuation for a foreign woman, bring the horrors of war upon his kindred. 4. She also foretold that he must be wounded in the war, and that there would be nobody else, except herself, who would be able to cure him: but he used always to stop her, every time that she made mention of these matters. Time went on, and Alexander took Helen to wife: Oenone took his conduct exceedingly ill, and returned to Cebren, the author of her days: then, when the war came on, Alexander was badly wounded by an arrow from the bow of Philoctetes. 5. He then remembered Oenone’s words, how he could be cured by her alone, and he sent a messenger to her to ask her to hasten to him and heal him, and to forget all the past, on the ground that it had all happened through the will of the gods. 6. She returned him a haughty answer, telling him he had better go to Helen and ask her; but all the same she started off as fast as she might to the place where she had been told he was lying sick. However, the messenger reached Alexander first, and told him Oenone’s reply, and upon this he gave up all hope and breathed his last: 7. and Oenone, when she arrived and found him lying on the ground already dead, raised a great cry and, after long and bitter mourning, put an end to herself.
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