Euripides' HIPPOLYTUS Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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61 pages - You are on Page 51

And just as we were coming to a desert spot, a strip of sand beyond
the borders of this country, sloping right to the Saronic gulf, there
issued thence a deep rumbling sound, as it were an earthquake, fearsome
noise, and the horses reared their heads and pricked their ears, while
we were filled with wild alarm to know whence came the sound; when,
as we gazed toward the wave-beat shore, a wave tremendous we beheld
towering to the skies, so that from our view the cliffs of Sciron
vanished, for it hid the isthmus and the rock of Asclepius; then swelling
and frothing with a crest of foam, the sea discharged it toward the
beach where stood the harnessed car, and in the moment that it broke,
that mighty wall of waters, there issued from the wave a monstrous
bull, whose bellowing filled the land with fearsome echoes, a sight
too awful as it seemed to us who witnessed it. A panic seized the
horses there and then, but our master, to horses' ways quite used,
gripped in both hands his reins, and tying them to his body pulled
them backward as the sailor pulls his oar; but the horses gnashed
the forged bits between their teeth and bore him wildly on, regardless
of their master's guiding hand or rein or jointed car. And oft as
he would take the guiding rein and steer for softer ground, showed
that bull in front to turn him back again, maddening his team with
terror; but if in their frantic career they ran towards the rocks,
he would draw nigh the chariot-rail, keeping up with them, until,
suddenly dashing the wheel against a stone, he upset and wrecked the
car; then was dire confusion, axle-boxes and linchpins springing into
the air. While he, poor youth, entangled in the reins was dragged
along, bound by a stubborn knot, his poor head dashed against the
rocks, his flesh all torn, the while he cried out piteously, "Stay,
stay, my horses whom my own hand hath fed at the manger, destroy me
not utterly. O luckless curse of a father! Will no one come and save
me for all my virtue?" Now we, though much we longed to help, were
left far behind. At last, I know not how, he broke loose from the
shapely reins that bound him, a faint breath of life still in him;
but the horses disappeared, and that portentous bull, among the rocky
ground, I know not where. I am but a slave in thy house, 'tis true,
O king, yet will I never believe so monstrous a charge against thy
son's character, no! not though the whole race of womankind should
hang itself, or one should fill with writing every pine-tree tablet
grown on Ida, sure as I am of his uprightness.

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