Lines 1200-1601. Euripides. 1909-14. Hippolytus. The Harvard Classics.

Fiction > Harvard Classics > Euripides > Hippolytus

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Euripides (480 or 485–406 B.C.). Hippolytus.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

Lines 1200–1601


Far from my griefs; and a thought, deep in the dark of my mind,	1200
Clings to a great Understanding. Yet all the spirit within me
Faints, when I watch men’s deeds matched with the guerdon they find.
For Good comes in Evil’s traces,
And the Evil the Good replaces;	1204
And Life, ’mid the changing faces,
Wandereth weak and blind.

Women What wilt thou grant me, O God? Lo, this is the prayer of my travail—
Some well-being; and chance not very bitter thereby;	1208
A Spirit uncrippled by pain; and a mind not deep to unravel
Truth unseen, nor yet dark with the brand of a lie.
With a veering mood to borrow
Its light from every morrow,	1212
Fair friends and no deep sorrow,
Well could man live and die!

Men Yet my spirit is no more clean,
And the weft of my hope is torn,	1216
For the deed of wrong that mine eyes have seen,
The lie and the rage and the scorn;
A Star among men, yea, a Star
That in Hellas was bright,	1220
By a Father’s wrath driven far
To the wilds and the night.
Oh, alas for the sands of the shore!
Alas for the brakes of the hill,	1224
Where the wolves shall fear thee no more,
And thy cry to Dictynna is still!

Women No more in the yoke of thy car
Shall the colts of Enetia fleet;	1228
Nor Limna’s echoes quiver afar
To the clatter of galloping feet.
The sleepless music of old,
That leaped in the lyre,	1232
Ceaseth now, and is cold,
In the halls of thy sire.
The bowers are discrowned and unladen
Where Artemis lay on the lea;	1236
And the love-dream of many a maiden
Lost, in the losing of thee.

A Maiden And I, even I,
For thy fall, O Friend,	1240
Amid tears and tears,
Endure to the end
Of the empty years,
Of a life run dry.	1244
In vain didst thou bear him,
Thou Mother forlorn!
Ye Gods that did snare him,
Lo, I cast in your faces	1248
My hate and my scorn!
Ye love-linkèd Graces,
(Alas for the day!)
Was he naught, then, to you,	1252
That ye cast him away,
The stainless and true,
From the old happy places?

LEADER Look yonder! ’Tis the Prince’s man, I ween,	1256
Speeding toward this gate, most dark of mien. [A HENCHMAN enters in haste.

HENCHMAN Ye women, whither shall I go to seek
King Theseus? Is he in this dwelling? Speak!

LEADER Lo, where he cometh through the Castle gate! [THESEUS comes out from the Castle.	1260

HENCHMAN O King, I bear thee tidings of dire weight
To thee, aye, and to every man, I ween,
From Athens to the marches of Trozên.

THESEUS What? Some new stroke hath touched, unknown to me,	1264
The sister cities of my sovranty?

HENCHMAN Hippolytus is … Nay, not dead; hut stark
Outstretched, a hairsbreadth this side of the dark.

THESEUS (as though unmoved) How slain? Was there some other man, whose wife	1268
He had like mine defiled, that sought his life?

HENCHMAN His own wild team destroyed him, and the dire
Curse of thy lips.
The boon of thy great Sire	1272
Is granted thee, O King, and thy son slain.

THESEUS Ye Gods! And thou, Poseidon! Not in vain
I called thee Father; thou hast heard my prayer!
How did he die? Speak on. How closed the snare	1276
Of Heaven to slay the shamer of my blood?

HENCHMAN ’Twas by the bank of beating sea we stood,
We thralls, and decked the steeds, and combed each mane;
Weeping; for word had come that ne’er again	1280
The foot of our Hippolytus should roam
This land, but waste in exile by thy doom.
So stood we till he came, and in his tone
No music now save sorrow’s, like our own,	1284
And in his train a concourse without end
Of many a chase-fellow and many a friend.
At last he brushed his sobs away, and spake:
“Why this fond loitering? I would not break	1288
My Father’s law—Ho, there! My coursers four
And chariot, quick! This land is mine no more.”
Thereat, be sure, each man of us made speed.
Swifter than speech we brought them up, each steed	1292
Well dight and shining, at our Prince’s side.
He grasped the reins upon the rail: one stride
And there he stood, a perfect charioteer,
Each foot in its own station set. Then clear	1296
His voice rose, and his arms to heaven were spread:
“O Zeus, if I be false, strike thou me dead!
But, dead or living, let my Father see
One day, how falsely he hath hated me!”	1300
Even as he spake, he lifted up the goad
And smote; and the steeds sprang. And down the road
We henchmen followed, hard beside the rein,
Each hand, to speed him, toward the Argive plain	1304
And Epidaurus.
So we made our way
Up toward the desert region, where the bay
Curls to a promontory near the verge	1308
Of our Trozên, facing the southward surge
Of Saron’s gulf. Just there an angry sound,
Slow-swelling, like God’s thunder underground,
Broke on us, and we trembled. And the steeds	1312
Pricked their ears skyward, and threw back their heads.
And wonder came on all men, and affright,
Whence rose that awful voice. And swift our sight
Turned seaward, down the salt and roaring sand.	1316
And there, above the horizon, seemed to stand
A wave unearthly, crested in the sky;
Till Skiron’s Cape first vanished from mine eye,
Then sank the Isthmus hidden, then the rock	1320
Of Epidaurus. Then it broke, one shock
And roar of gasping sea and spray flung far,
And shoreward swept, where stood the Prince’s car.
Three lines of wave together raced, and, full	1324
In the white crest of them, a wild Sea-Bull
Flung to the shore, a fell and marvellous Thing.
The whole land held his voice, and answering
Roared in each echo. And all we, gazing there,	1328
Gazed seeing not; ’twas more than eyes could bear.
Then straight upon the team wild terror fell.
Howbeit, the Prince, cool-eyed and knowing well
Each changing mood a horse has, gripped the reins	1332
Hard in both hands; then as an oarsman strains
Up from his bench, so strained he on the thong,
Back in the chariot swinging. But the young
Wild steeds bit hard the curb, and fled afar;	1336
Nor rein nor guiding hand nor morticed car
Stayed them at all. For when he veered them round,
And aimed their flying feet to grassy ground,
In front uprose that Thing, and turned again	1340
The four great coursers, terror-mad. But when
Their blind rage drove them toward the rocky places,
Silent, and ever nearer to the traces,
It followed rockward, till one wheel-edge grazed.	1344
The chariot tript and flew, and all was mazed
In turmoil. Up went wheel-box with a din,
Where the rock jagged, and nave and axle-pin.
And there—the long reins round him—there was he	1348
Dragging, entangled irretrievably.
A dear head battering at the chariot side,
Sharp rocks, and rippled flesh, and a voice that cried:
“Stay, stay, O ye who fattened at my stalls,	1352
Dash me not into nothing!—O thou false
Curse of my Father!—Help! Help, whoso can,
An innocent, innocent and stainless man!”
Many there were that laboured then, I wot,	1356
To bear him succour, but could reach him not,
Till—who knows how?—at last the tangled rein
Unclasped him, and he fell, some little vein
Of life still pulsing in him.	1360
All beside,
The steeds, the hornèd Horror of the Tide,
Had vanished—who knows where?—in that wild land.
O King, I am a bondsman of thine hand;	1364
Yet love nor fear nor duty me shall win
To say thine innocent son bath died in sin.
All women born may hang themselves, for me,
And swing their dying words from every tree	1368
On Ida! For I know that he was true!

LEADER O God, so cometh new disaster, new
Despair! And no escape from what must be!

THESEUS Hate of the man thus stricken lifted me	1372
At first to joy at hearing of thy tale;
But now, some shame before the Gods, some pale
Pity for mine own blood, bath o’er me come.
I laugh not, neither weep, at this fell doom.	1376

HENCHMAN How then? Behoves it bear him here, or how
Best do thy pleasure?—Speak, Lord. Yet if thou
Wilt mark at all my word, thou wilt not be
Fierce-hearted to thy child in misery.	1380

THESEUS Aye, bring him hither. Let me see the face
Of him who durst deny my deep disgrace
And his own sin; yea, speak with him, and prove
His clear guilt by God’s judgments from above. [The HENCHMAN departs to fetch HIPPOLYTUS; THESEUS sits waiting in stern gloom, while the CHORUS sing. At the close of their song a Divine Figure is seen approaching on a cloud in the air and the voice of ARTEMIS speaks.	1384

CHORUS Thou comest to bend the pride
Of the hearts of God and man,
Cypris and by thy side,
In earth-encircling span,	1388
He of the changing plumes,
The Wing that the world illumes,
As over the leagues of land flies he,
Over the salt and sounding sea.	1392

For mad is the heart of Love,
And gold the gleam of his wing;
And all to the spell thereof
Bend, when he makes his spring;	1396
All life that is wild and young
In mountain and wave and stream,
All that of earth is sprung,
Or breathes in the red sunbeam;	1400
Yea, and Mankind. O’er all a royal throne,
Cyprian, Cyprian, is thine alone!

A VOICE FROM THE CLOUD O thou that rulest in Aegeus’ Hall,
I charge thee, hearken!	1404
Yea, it is I,
Artemis, Virgin of God most High.
Thou bitter King, art thou glad withal
For thy murdered son?	1408
For thine ear bent low to a lying Queen,
For thine heart so swift amid things unseen?
Lo, all may see what end thou hast won!
Go, sink thine head in the waste abyss;	1412
Or aloft to another world than this,
Birdwise with wings,
Fly far to thine hiding,
Far over this blood that clots and clings;	1416
For in righteous men and in holy things
No rest is thine nor abiding! [The cloud has become stationary in the air.
Hear, Theseus, all the story of thy grief!
Verily, I bring but anguish, not relief;	1420
Yet, ’twas for this I came, to show how high
And clean was thy son’s heart, that he may die
Honoured of men; aye, and to tell no less
The frenzy, or in some sort the nobleness,	1424
Of thy dead wife. One Spirit there is, whom we
That know the joy of white virginity,
Most hate in heaven. She sent her fire to run
In Phædra’s veins, so that she loved thy son.	1428
Yet strove she long with love, and in the stress
Fell not, till by her Nurse’s craftiness
Betrayed, who stole, with oaths of secrecy,
To entreat thy son. And he, most righteously,	1432
Nor did her will, nor, when thy railing scorn
Beat on him, broke the oath that he had sworn,
For God’s sake. And thy Phædra, panic-eyed,
Wrote a false writ, and slew thy son, and died,	1436
Lying; but thou wast nimble to believe! [THESEUS, at first bewildered, then dumfounded, now utters a deep groan.
It stings thee, Theseus?—Nay, hear on, and grieve
Yet sorer. Wottest thou three prayers were thine
Of sure fulfilment, from thy Sire divine?	1440
Hast thou no foes about thee, then, that one—
Thou vile King!—must be turned against thy son?
The deed was thine. Thy Sea-born Sire but heard
The call of prayer, and bowed him to his word.	1444
But thou in his eyes and in mine art found
Evil, who wouldst not think, nor probe, nor sound
The deeps of prophet’s lore, nor day by day
Leave Time to search; but, swifter than man may,	1448
Let loose the curse to slay thine innocent son!

THESEUS O Goddess, let me die!

ARTEMIS Nay; thou hast done
A heavy wrong; yet even beyond this ill	1452
Abides for thee forgiveness. ’Twas the will
Of Cypris that these evil things should be,
Sating her wrath. And this immutably
Hath Zeus ordained in heaven no God may thwart	1456
A God’s fixed will; we grieve but stand apart.
Else, but for fear of the Great Father’s blame,
Never had I to such extreme of shame
Bowed me, be sure, as here to stand and see	1460
Slain him I loved best of mortality!
Thy fault, O King, its ignorance sunders wide
From very wickedness; and she who died
By death the more disarmed thee, making dumb	1464
The voice of question. And the storm has come
Most bitterly of all on thee! Yet I
Have mine own sorrow, too. When good men die,
There is no joy in heaven, albeit our ire	1468
On child and house of the evil falls like fire. [A throng is seen approaching; HIPPOLYTUS enters, supported by his attendants.

CHORUS Lo, it is he! The bright young head
Yet upright there!
Ah, the torn flesh and the blood-stained hair;	1472
Alas for the kindred’s trouble!
It falls as fire from a God’s hand sped,
Two deaths, and mourning double.

HIPPOLYTUS Ah, pain, pain, pain!	1476
O unrighteous curse! O unrighteous sire!
No hope.—My head is stabbed with fire,
And a leaping spasm about my brain.
Stay, let me rest. I can no more.	1480
O fell, fell steeds that my own hand fed,
Have ye maimed me and slain, that loved me of yore?
—Soft there, ye thralls! No trembling hands
As ye lift me, now!—Who is that that stands	1484
At the right?—Now firm, and with measured tread,
Lift one accursèd and stricken sore
By a father’s sinning.

Thou, Zeus, dost see me? Yea, it is I;	1488
The proud and pure, the server of God,
The white and shining in sanctity!
To a visible death, to an open sod,
I walk my ways;	1492
And all the labour of saintly days
Lost, lost, without meaning!

Ah God, it crawls
This agony, over me!	1496
Let be, ye thralls!
Come, Death, and cover me:
Come, O thou Healer blest

But a little more,	1500
And my soul is clear,
And the anguish o’er!
Oh, a spear, a spear!
To rend my soul to its rest!	1504

Oh, strange, false Curse! Was there some blood-stained head,
Some father of my line, unpunishèd,
Whose guilt lived in his kin,
And passed, and slept, till after this long day	1508
It lights…. Oh, why on me? Me, far away
And innocent of sin?

O words that cannot save!
When will this breathing end in that last deep	1512
Pain that is painlessness? ’Tis sleep I crave.
When wilt thou bring me sleep,
Thou dark and midnight magic of the grave!

ARTEMIS Sore-stricken man, bethink thee in this stress,	1516
Thou dost but die for thine own nobleness.

HIPPOLYTUS Ah!
O breath of heavenly fragrance! Though my pain
Burns, I can feel thee and find rest again.	1520
The Goddess Artemis is with me here.

ARTEMIS With thee and loving thee, poor sufferer!

HIPPOLYTUS Dost see me, Mistress, nearing my last sleep?

ARTEMIS Aye, and would weep for thee, if Gods could weep.	1524

HIPPOLYTUS Who now shall hunt with thee or hold thy quiver?

ARTEMIS He dies; but my love cleaves to him for ever.

HIPPOLYTUS Who guide thy chariot, keep thy shrine-flowers fresh?

ARTEMIS The accursed Cyprian caught him in her mesh!	1528

HIPPOLYTUS The Cyprian? Now I see it!—Aye, ’twas she.

ARTEMIS She missed her worship, loathed thy chastity!

HIPPOLYTUS Three lives by her one hand! ’Tis all clear now.

ARTEMIS Yea, three; thy father and his Queen and thou.	1532

HIPPOLYTUS My father; yea, he too is pitiable!

ARTEMIS A plotting Goddess tripped him, and he fell.

HIPPOLYTUS Father, where art thou?… Oh, thou sufferest sore!

THESEUS Even unto death, child, There is joy no more.	1536

HIPPOLYTUS I pity thee in this coil; aye, more than me.

THESEUS Would I could lie there dead instead of thee!

HIPPOLYTUS Oh, bitter bounty of Poseidon’s love!

THESEUS Would God my lips had never breathed thereof!	1540

HIPPOLYTUS (gently) Nay, thine own rage had slain me then, some wise!

THESEUS A lying spirit had made blind mine eyes!

HIPPOLYTUS Ah me!
Would that a mortal’s curse could reach to God!	1544

ARTEMIS Let be! For not, though deep beneath the sod
Thou liest, not unrequited nor unsung
Shall this fell stroke, from Cypris’ rancour sprung,
Quell thee, mine own, the saintly and the true!	1548
My hand shall win its vengeance through and through,
Piercing with flawless shaft what heart soe’er
Of all men living is most dear to Her.
Yea, and to thee, for this sore travail’s sake,	1552
Honours most high in Trozên will I make;
For yokeless maids before their bridal night
Shall shear for thee their tresses; and a rite
Of honouring tears be thine in ceaseless store;	1556
And virgin’s thoughts in music evermore
Turn toward thee, and praise thee in the Song
Of Phædra’s far-famed love and thy great wrong.
O seed of ancient Aegeus, bend thee now	1560
And clasp thy son. Aye, hold and fear not thou!
Not knowingly hart thou slain him; and man’s way,
When Gods send error, needs must fall astray.
And thou, Hippolytus, shrink not from the King,	1564
Thy father. Thou wast born to hear this thing.
Farewell! I may not watch man’s fleeting breath,
Nor strain mine eyes with the effluence of death.
And sure that Terror now is very near. [The cloud slowly rises and floats away.	1568

HIPPOLYTUS Farewell, farewell, most Blessèd! Lift thee clear
Of soiling men! Thou wilt not grieve in heaven
For my long love!… Father, thou art forgiven.
It was Her will. I am not wrath with thee….	1572
I have obeyed Her all my days!…
Ah me,
The dark is drawing down upon mine eyes;
It hath me!… Father!… Hold me! Help me rise!	1576

THESEUS (supporting him in his arms) Ah, woe! How dost thou torture me, my son!

HIPPOLYTUS I see the Great Gates opening. I am gone.

THESEUS Gone? And my hand red-reeking from this thing!

HIPPOLYTUS Nay, nay; thou art assoiled of man slaying.	1580

THESEUS Thou leav’st me clear of murder? Sayst thou so?

HIPPOLYTUS Yea, by the Virgin of the Stainless Bow!

THESEUS Dear Son! Ah, now I see thy nobleness

HIPPOLYTUS Pray that a true-born child may fill my place.	1584

THESEUS Ah me, thy righteous and god-fearing heart!

HIPPOLYTUS Farewell;
A long farewell, dear Father, ere we part! [THESEUS bends down and embraces him passionately.

THESEUS Not yet!—O hope and bear while thou hast breath!	1588

HIPPOLYTUS Lo, I have borne my burden. This is death….
Quick, Father; lay the mantle on my face. [THESEUS covers his face with a mantle and rises.

THESEUS Ye bounds of Pallas and of Pelops’ race,
What greatness have ye lost!	1592
Woe, woe is me!
Thou Cyprian, long shall I remember thee!

CHORUS On all this folk, both low and high,
A grief hath fallen beyond men’s fears.	1596
There cometh a throbbing of many tears,
A sound as of waters falling.
For when great men die,
A mighty name and a bitter cry	1600
Rise up from a nation calling. [They move into the Castle, carrying the body of HIPPOLYTUS.

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