MEDEA
by Euripides
A rhyming English verse translation (1)
by Atanis Iliev
καὶ τὰ δοκηθέντ ̓ οὐκ ἐτελέσθη,
τῶν δ ̓ ἀδοκήτων πόρον ηὗρε θεός.
- Med. 1416–1417
LIST OF SPEAKING CHARACTERS (2)
MEDEA
NURSE
JASON
PEDAGOGUE
CREON
AEGEUS
MESSENGER
and a
CHORUS OF CORINTHIAN WOMEN
consisting of fifteen members
STAGE DESCRIPTION
The skene represents Medea’s house. Actors enter and exit from the doors of the house or one of the two wings of the stage: one leads to the Corinthian countryside (Eisodos A), and the other leads to the palace (Eisodos B). The chorus performs in the orchestra.
PROLOGUE (3)
Enter NURSE from the house. (4)
NURSE
I wish that Argo ship had never flown
To Symplegades dark (5), the Colchians' home,
And that no pine had sunk in Pelion's trees
So best oarsmen’s hands the all-golden fleece
[5] On Pelias' behalf set not to chase.
That Medea wouldn't have had to race
To the citadels of Iolcus' state,
By love for Jason hit with panic great:
Pelias' girls she'd not have made to slay
[10] Their sire– in Corinth she'd not have to stay
With her husband and children, in her flight
To those to whose land she's come, a delight,
And in all of assistance to Jason:
This being the greatest preservation–
[15] When wife to man makes no insurrection.
But now all is hate, sick is affection.
For as his seed and my lady betrays
Jason in royal marriage now lays,
Wed to the child of Creon, this land's chief.
[20] And Medea dishonoured, full of grief
Cries against his oaths, right-hand pledge recalls
Which is greatest trust, and the gods involves
From Jason to witness what she obtains.
She rests fasting, her body full of pains,
[25] Her whole time with tears she thus melts away
Since she first perceived her husband's decay,
She lifts no eye nor turns her face from floor:
But as a rock or yet an ocean roar
The consolations of her friends she hears,
[30] Save having turned her all-white neck in tears
So to herself her dear father to mourn
And so her fatherland, which she did scorn
To come with a man who now gives offence.
The wretched one has come from ache to sense
[35] What's like ancestral land not to forsake.
Yet her boys she hates– they no joy awake.
I dread lest she a new plan devises:
For heavy's her heart, it won't stand vices;
I know her well and thus I am afraid
[40] Lest through her liver she shoves a sharp blade
Or gently in halls, where made is the bed,
She slays the king and the one to be wed
And then a worse disaster comes to face.
For horrid is she: one poor in her grace
[45] The ode of triumph won't readily sing.
Enter PEDAGOGUE by Eisodos A, accompanied by the two sons of Jason and Medea.
But thus pausing their leisure her offspring
Approach, unaware of their mother's woes–
A youthful mind doesn't love to feel blows.
PEDAGOGUE (6)
Old servant from the house of my lady
[50] Why stand thou in front of gates so shady
Crying to yourself about our sorrow?
Why Medea wants you not to follow?
NURSE
Elder tender to the sons of Jason
When masters' fortune sinks to the basin
[55] Truehearted slaves ache, and so do their hearts.
As on me such woe the present imparts
That my desire longs land and sky to warn
How and why my mistress suffers such scorn.
PEDAGOGUE
So the wretched is yet to cease weeping?
NURSE
[60] I envy thee: pain just commenced creeping.
PEDAGOGUE
A moron– if meet thus to call masters:
As she knows not of recent disasters.
NURSE
What is it, elder? Don't scruple to tell.
PEDAGOGUE
Nothing: I repent for words said as well.
NURSE
[65] From peer-slave don't hide this, by your beard:
For I won't speak– if it should be revered.
PEDAGOGUE
I heard it said, pretending not to hear,
Nearing game boards, where old ones sit just near,
Around the sacred fountain of Peirene,
[70] That soon the kids in Corinth shan’t be seen
And so their mother lord Creon decrees.
This truly the tale yet I'm not at ease
If it is true: but I wish it is not.
NURSE
And would Jason face for his kids this plot
[75] Even though their mother he lately fought?
PEDAGOGUE
Old bonds lie broken for new ones he sought,
And for this house he feels no loving thought.
NURSE
Then we're finished, if new ruin shall be brought
To old trouble, with which we are still fraught.
PEDAGOGUE
[80] But you at least, keep quiet and say naught,
For this to know our mistress never ought.
NURSE (7)
Children, hear what your sire yearns to allot?
Since he is my master: let him not rot!
Yet to wrong his brood is surely his blot.
PEDAGOGUE
[85] Which mortal differs? Do you just now hear,
That self-love comes before those one holds dear,
Some justly so, yet others serving gain,
This bed-fond father's love for them is vain.
NURSE
Children, all will be well, now go inside. (8)
[90] But you try to keep them furthest aside
And don't bring them near their mother's vexed sigh.
For I have lately seen her bullish eye
On them, contriving so, and she won't end
Her wrath, I know, lest one is forced to bend...
[95] At least be this not a friend, but a foe.
MEDEA [from within]
Oh, I am wretched and all left is woe,
Oh my my, shall I flee to death below?
NURSE
This is it, dear youths: your mother's tears flow
Straight from her heart, and so her bitter rage.
[100] Hasten quickly into the house offstage
And don't dare come into her field of sight,
nor approach near her, but avoid her spite
of her obstinate mind so predisposed
and of her wild nature that this imposed.
[105] Go on now, withdraw with swiftness inside. (9)
Condensing from the start that vapor tide
Will soon with even greater wrath ignite;
What will her soul thus bitten by such plight
Try to accomplish with such a large spleen
[110] And when her obstinance has been so keen?
Exeunt PEDAGOGUE with the two children into the house.
MEDEA
Ah, I've mournfully suffered such events
I've met woes worthy of unbound laments.
Accursed children of a hated mother,
Let you perish with your house and father.
NURSE
[115] Oh my my, oh how sorrowful I am.
But for a father's offence why blame them?
Why do you hate your offspring? Oh, woe's me,
Lest the children suffer because of thee.
How terrorful are the tyrants' designs
[120] And how with much power, with few confines
They find it hard their anger to subside.
It's best in moderation to abide
And for me at least to safely grow old
If not to have a life of pomp and gold.
[125] For mortals to speak by name of restraint,
And to desire it is wisest and quaint;
While for one's fortune to be in excess
Is never fitting for a man to bless,
Since when the gods, a house, come to despise
A greater fortune brings still greater vice.
Footnotes:
(1) The ultimate idea behind my translation was for it to be done in heroic couplets, i.e., rhyming pairs of iambic pentameters, in imitation of Pope’s Homer and Dryden’s Virgil. The end result differs in a couple of ways. First, the meter is quite loose which is largely my fault and a future direction for improvement. Second, the Greek text often contains various arias or dialogue bits whose verse count is odd. When this occurred, the last three lines in my translation rhyme with the obvious exception of single lines without a good candidate for pairage. The translation uses the Greek text of the Oxford Classical Texts (OCT) edition and matches the number of lines found there.
(2) Medea was played by the first actor (πρωταγωνιστής), the Nurse and Jason were played by the second actor (δευτεραγωνιστής), and the other four characters were played by the third actor (τριταγωνιστής). The characters are given in that order (followed by the chorus) and not in order of appearance. There were also ‘mutes’, actors playing non-speaking roles, such as Medea’s children: Mermerus and Pheres.
(3) Lines 1-130 inclusive (out of 1419 total), the part of the play before the entrance of the chorus;
(4) Stage directions adapted from the Loeb Classical Library edition of Medea (Euripides I).
(5) The translation preserves the punctuation observed in the OCT’s version of Medea.
(6) I have decided to translate the Greek ΠΑΙΔΑΓΩΓΟΣ as PEDAGOGUE even though the usual ‘tutor’ is way closer in meaning to the the actual sense of the Greek word. My reasoning rests mostly on the fact that despite its contemporary connotation, ‘pedagogue’ is still an English word, and originally meant what it means in Greek. Thus, by using it, I hope to bring some attention to its etymology. The word continues to resemble its Greek origin in meaning in several languages to this day.
(7) The first line is addressed to the children while the next two are spoken to herself.
(8) The lines that follow are addressed to the PEDAGOGUE.
(9) After this line, she addresses the PEDAGOGUE.