Euripides' HIPPOLYTUS Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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61 pages - You are on Page 38

Leader of the Chorus: My prince, 'tis not to thee alone such sorrows
come; thou hast lost a noble wife, but so have many others.

Theseus: (chanting) Fain would I go hide me 'neath earth's blackest
depth, to dwell in darkness with the dead in misery, now that I am
reft of thy dear presence! for thou hast slain me than thyself e'en
more. Who can tell me what caused the fatal stroke that reached thy
heart, dear wife? Will no one tell me what befell? doth my palace
all in vain give shelter to a herd of menials? Woe, woe for thee,
my wife! sorrows past speech, past bearing, I behold within my house;
myself ruined man, my home a solitude, my children orphans!

Chorus: (chanting) Gone and left us hast thou, fondest wife and noblest
of all women 'neath the sun's bright eye or night's star-lit radiance.
Poor house, what sorrows are thy portion now! My eyes are wet with
streams of tears to see thy fate; but the ill that is to follow has
long with terror filled me.

Theseus: Ha! what means this letter? clasped in her dear hand it hath
some strange tale to tell. Hath she, poor lady, as a last request,
written her bidding as to my marriage and her children? Take heart,
poor ghost; no wife henceforth shall wed thy Theseus or invade his
house. Ah! how yon en ring affects my sight! Come, I will unfold the
sealed packet and read her letter's message to me.

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