Tuesday, May 06, 2025
The Greatest Misfortune
Euripides, Phoenician Women 388-393 (tr. Edward P. Coleridge):
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Jocasta
What is it, to be deprived of one's country? Is it a great evil?
Polyneices
The greatest; harder to bear than tell.
Jocasta
What is it like? What annoys the exile?
Polyneices
One thing most of all; he cannot speak his mind.
Jocasta
This is a slave's lot you speak of, not to say what one thinks.
Polyneices
The follies of the rulers must be borne.
Ἰοκάστη
τί τὸ στέρεσθαι πατρίδος; ἦ κακὸν μέγα;
Πολυνείκης
μέγιστον· ἔργῳ δ᾽ ἐστὶ μεῖζον ἢ λόγῳ.
Ἰοκάστη
τίς ὁ τρόπος αὐτοῦ; τί φυγάσιν τὸ δυσχερές; 390
Πολυνείκης
ἓν μὲν μέγιστον, οὐκ ἔχει παρρησίαν.
Ἰοκάστη
δούλου τόδ᾽ εἶπας, μὴ λέγειν ἅ τις φρονεῖ.
Πολυνείκης
τὰς τῶν κρατούντων ἀμαθίας φέρειν χρεών.
