Laudator Temporis Acti

Euripides, Phoenician Women 366-370 (Polynices speaking; tr. E.P. Coleridge):

                                          And many a tear I shed by the way,
seeing after a weary while my home and the altars of the gods,
the training ground, scene of my childhood, and Dirce's founts
from which I was unjustly driven to sojourn in a strange city,
with tears ever gushing from mine eyes.

                          πολύδακρυς δ᾿ ἀφικόμην,
χρόνιος ἰδὼν μέλαθρα καὶ βωμοὺς θεῶν
γυμνάσιά θ᾿ οἷσιν ἐνετράφην Δίρκης θ᾿ ὕδωρ·
ὧν οὐ δικαίως ἀπελαθεὶς ξένην πόλιν
ναίω, δι᾿ ὄσσων νᾶμ᾿ ἔχων δακρύρροον.

369-370 del. West
370 νᾶμ᾿ Musgrave: ὄμμ᾿ vel αἵμ' codd.

Id. 631-633 (Polynices speaking):

Farewell, king Phoebus, lord of highways; farewell palace
and comrades; farewell ye statues of the gods, at which men offer sheep;
for I know not if I shall ever again address you.

καὶ σύ, Φοῖβ᾿ ἄναξ Ἀγυιεῦ, καὶ μέλαθρα, χαίρετε,
ἥλικές θ᾿ οὑμοί, θεῶν τε δεξίμηλ᾿ ἀγάλματα.
οὐ γὰρ οἶδ᾿ εἴ μοι προσειπεῖν αὖθις ἔσθ᾿ ὑμᾶς ποτε.

Mastronarde on line 631:


According to Liddell-Scott-Jones, δεξίμηλος occurs only in Euripides. Diccionario Griego–Español adds some examples from the lexicographers.

Cf. id. 406 (Jocasta speaking):

Man's dearest treasure then, it seems, is his country.

ἡ πατρίς, ὡς ἔοικε, φίλτατον βροτοῖς.