O Zeus, since you are called father and wise god,1444 σπουδῇ σύναψαι = with haste assist (us).
look on us and rescue us from trouble.
As we pull our misfortunes up the steep cliff,
help us with your good will! If you touch us with just the tip of your finger,
we will arrive at the good fortune we desire.
ὦ Ζεῦ, πατήρ τε καὶ σοφὸς κλῄζῃ θεός,
βλέψον πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ μετάστησον κακῶν.
ἕλκουσι δ᾿ ἡμῖν πρὸς λέπας τὰς συμφορὰς
σπουδῇ σύναψαι· κἂν ἄκρᾳ θίγῃς χερί,
ἥξομεν ἵν᾿ ἐλθεῖν βουλόμεσθα τῆς τύχης. 1445
1441 τε] γὰρ Kirchhoff
1443 λέπας Musgrave: λύπας L
"A peculiar anthologic maze, an amusing literary chaos, a farrago of quotations, a mere olla podrida of quaintness, a pot pourri of pleasant delites, a florilegium of elegant extracts, a tangled fardel of old-world flowers of thought, a faggot of odd fancies, quips, facetiae, loosely tied" (Holbrook Jackson, Anatomy of Bibliomania) by a "laudator temporis acti," a "praiser of time past" (Horace, Ars Poetica 173).
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Saturday, September 30, 2017
Prayer to Zeus
Euripides, Helen 1441-1445 (tr. David Kovacs):