Stasimon 5
[Episode]
Ah! there I see the sepulchre ready e’en now for Capaneus, his consecrated tomb, and the votive offerings Theseus gives unto the dead outside the shrine, and nigh yon lightning-smitten chief
980
Chorus
I see his noble bride, Evadne, daughter of King Iphis. Wherefore stands she on the towering rock, which o’ertops this temple, advancing along yon path?
985
[Episode 1]
What light, what radiancy did the sun-god’s car dart forth, and the moon athwart the firmament, while round her in the gloom swift starsNone of the proposed emendations of this corrupt passage are convincing. Hermann’s λάμπαι δ’ ὠκύθοοί νιν ἀμφιππεύουσι is here followed. Nauck has λαμπαδ’ ἱν’ ὠκυθόαι νύμφαι ἱππεύουσι. careered,
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Evadne
in the day that the city of Argos raised the stately chant of joy at my wedding, in honour of my marriage with mail-clad Capaneus?
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Now from my home in frantic haste with frenzied mind I rush to join thee, seeking to share with thee the fire’s bright flame and the self-same tomb, to rid me of my weary
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life in Hades’ halls, and of the pains of existence; yea, for ’tis the sweetest end to share the death of those we love, if only fate will sanction it.
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Chorus
Behold yon pyre, which thou art overlooking, nigh thereto,
set apart for Zeus! There is thy husband’s body, vanquished by the blazing bolt.
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Evadne
Life’s goal I now behold from my station here; may fortune aid me in my headlong leap from this rock
in honour’s cause, down into the fire below, to mix my ashes in the ruddy blaze
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with my husband’s, to lay me side by side with him, there in the couch of Persephone; for ne’er will I, to save my life, prove untrue to thee where thou liest in thy grave.
1020
Away with life and marriage too! Oh!The following verses are corrupt almost beyond hope of emendation, nor is it quite clear what the poet intended. By reading φανεῖεν, as Paley suggests, with τέκνοισιν ἐμοῖς and supplying the hiatus by εἴη δ’, it is possible to extract an intelligible sense, somewhat different, however, from that proposed by Hermann or Hartung, and only offered here for want of a better. may my children live to see the dawn of a fairer, happier wedding-day in Argos! May loyalty inspire the husband’s heart,
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his nature fusing with his wife’s!
1030
Chorus
Lo! the aged Iphis, thy father, draweth nigh to hear thy startling scheme, which yet he knows not and will grieve to learn.
Iphis
Unhappy child! lo! I am come, a poor old man,
with twofold sorrow in my house to mourn, that I may carry to his native land the corpse of my son Eteocles, slain by the Theban spear, and further in quest of my daughter who rushed headlong from the house, for she was the wife of Capaneus
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and longed with him to die. Ere this she was well guarded in my house, but, when I took the watch away in the present troubles, she escaped. But I feel sure that she is here; tell me if ye have seen her.
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Evadne
Why question them? Lo, here upon the rock, father, o’er the pyre of Capaneus, like some bird I hover lightly, in my wretchedness.
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Iphis
What wind hath blown thee hither, child? Whither away? Why didst thou pass the threshold of my house and seek this land?
Evadne
It would but anger thee to hear what I intend, and so I fain would keep thee ignorant, my father.
1050
Iphis
What! hath not thy own father a right to know?
Evadne
Thou wouldst not wisely judge my intention.
Iphis
Why dost thou deck thyself in that apparel?
Evadne
A purport strange this robe conveys, father.
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Iphis
Thou hast no look of mourning for thy lord.
Evadne
No, the reason why I thus am decked is strange, maybe.
Iphis
Dost thou in such garb appear before a funeral-pyre?
Evadne
Yea, for hither it is I come to take the meed of victory.
Iphis
Victory! what victory? This would I learn of thee.
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Evadne
A victory o’er all women on whom the sun looks down.
Iphis
In Athena’s handiwork or in prudent counsel?
Evadne
In bravery; for I will lay me down and die with my lord.
Iphis
What dost thou say? What is this silly riddle thou propoundest?
Evadne
To yonder pyre where lies dead Capaneus, I will leap down.
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Iphis
My daughter, speak not thus before the multitude!
Evadne
The very thing I wish, that every Argive should learn it.
Iphis
Nay, I will ne’er consent to let thee do this deed.
Evadne
(as she is throwing herself). ’Tis all one; thou shalt never catch me in thy grasp.
Lo! I cast me down, no joy to thee, but to myself and to my husband blazing on the pyre with me.
1070
[Episode]
O lady, what a fearful deed!
Iphis
Ah me! I am undone, ye dames of Argos!
Chorus
Alack, alack! a cruel blow is this to thee,
but thou must yet witness, poor wretch, the full horror of this deed.
1075
Iphis
A more unhappy wretch than me ye could not find.
Chorus
Woe for thee, unhappy man! Thou, old sir, hast been made partaker in the fortune of Oedipus, thou and my poor city too.
Iphis
Ah, why are mortal men denied this boon, to live their youth twice o’er, and twice in turn to reach old age? If aught goes wrong within our homes, we set it right by judgment more maturely formed, but our life we may not so correct. Now if we had a second spell of youth
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and age, this double term of life would let us then correct each previous slip. I, for instance, seeing others blest with children, longed to have them too, and found my ruin in that wish. Whereas if I had had my present experience,
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and by a father’s lightFollowing Paley’s τεκών for the MSS. τέκνων. had learnt how cruel a thing it is to be bereft of children, never should I have fallen on such evil days as these,—I who did beget a brave young son, proud parent that I was, and after all am now bereft of him. Enough of this. What remains for such a hapless wretch as me?
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Shall I to my home, there to see its utter desolation and the blank within my life? or shall I to the halls of that dead Capaneus?—halls I smiled to see in days gone by, when yet my daughter was alive. But she is lost and gone, she that would ever draw down my cheek
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to her lips, and take my head between her hands; for naught is there more sweet unto an aged sire than a daughter’s love; our sons are made of sterner stuff, but less winning are their caresses. Oh! take me to my house at once,
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in darkness hide me there, to waste and fret this aged frame with fasting! What shall it avail me to touch my daughter’s bones? Old age, resistless foe, how do I loathe thy presence! Them too I hate, whoso desire to lengthen out the span of life,
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seeking to turn the tide of death aside by philtres,Reading βρωτοῖσι καὶ βοτοῖσι καῖ μαγεύμασι, as restored from Plutarch’s quotation of the passage. drugs, and magic spells,—folk that death should take away to leave the young their place, when they no more can benefit the world.
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[Choral]
Woe, woe! Behold your dead sons’
Chorus
bones are brought hither; take them, servants of your weak old mistress, for in me is no strength left by reason of my mourning for my sons; time’s comrade long have I been, and many a tear for many a sorrow have I shed.
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For what sharper pang wilt thou ever find for mortals than the sight of children dead?
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[Choral 1]
Poor mother mine, behold I bring my father’s bones gathered from the fire,
Children
a burden grief has rendered heavy, though this tiny urn contains my all.
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Chorus
Ah me! ah me! Why bear thy tearful load to the fond mother of the dead,
a handful of ashes in the stead of those who erst were men of mark in Mycenae?
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Children
Woe worth the hour! woe worth the day! Reft of my hapless sire, a wretched orphan shall I inherit a desolate house, torn from my father’s arms.
Chorus
Woe is thee! Where is now the toil I spent upon my sons? what thank have I for nightly watch? Where the mother’s nursing care? the sleepless vigils mine eyes have kept? the loving kiss upon my children’s brow?
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[Choral 2]
Thy sons are dead and gone. Poor mother!
Children
dead and gone; the boundless air now wraps them round.The second half of this line is assigned to the Chorus in the Greek.
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Chorus
Turned to ashes by the flame, they have winged their flight to Hades.These lines are assigned to the Chorus in the Greek.
Children
Father, thou hearest thy children’s lamentation; say, shall I e’er, as warrior dight, avenge thy slaughter?
Chorus
God grant it, O my child!
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Children
Some day, if god so will, shall the avenging of my father be my task; not yet this sorrow sleeps.
Chorus
Alas! Fortune’s sorrows are enough for me, I have troubles and to spare already.
Children
Shall Asopus’ laughing tide ever reflect my brazen arms as I lead on my Argive troops?
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Chorus
To avenge thy fallen sire.
[Choral 3]
Methinks I see thee still before my eyes, my father—
Chorus
Printing a loving kiss upon thy cheek.
Children
But thy words of exhortation are borne on the winds away.
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Chorus
Two mourners hath he left behind, thy mother and thee, bequeathing to thee an endless legacy of grief for thy father.
Children
The weight of grief I have to bear hath crushed me utterly.
Chorus
Come, let me clasp the ashes of my son to my bosom.
1160
Children
I weep to hear that piteous word; it stabs me to the heart.
Chorus
My child, thou art undone; no more shall I behold thee, thy own fond mother’s treasure.