1 EURIPIDES' TROJAN WOMEN PREFACE, TRANSLATION, and ...

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What young woman did not come, Nor old man from their homes? Celebrating in song, They embraced their wily destruction. All the Phrygian people Raced to the gates To bring the well-carved horse, Made out of mountain pine, That trap from the Greeks, And death of Trojans, As a gift for the goddess unwed, Known for her immortal horses. They dragged it with knotted ropes of linen; Like the hull of a dark boat, it nosed its way Into the shrine of Pallas Athena, Onto its marble floors, Soon to run with Trojan blood. Over their toil and joy, Night’s darkness fell. While the Libyan pipe played, Phrygian songs were sung, And young girls danced away, Singing a glad song. In the houses a bright gleam of fire, 550 Shed a dark sheen on those who slept. I was singing and dancing In honour of the mountain maiden, Artemis, the daughter of Zeus, When a bloody cry arose in the city, And froze the heart of Troy. Children clung to their mother’s skirts With frightened hands. The god of war, Ares, Lurched out of his hiding place, That work of Pallas Athena. Trojans were slaughtered at their altars, And heads hacked off in bed. The destitute women were prizes, To give birth to sons for the Greeks, And shame for our country. [Hector’s wife Andromache is wheeled in on stage with her son Astyanax] 40
Hecuba, See here’s Andromache, Brought in an enemy wagon, And dear Astyanax, the child of Hector, Snuggling close to her beating heart. Where are they taking you poor woman, On this wagon loaded with spoils, Hector’s weapons and armor; Now Neoptolemus will Decorate his Phthian shrines With his Trojan loot. Hecuba My Achaean masters are hauling me away. [Keening] Andromache Hecuba Oimoi. Andromache Why do you sing my song of pain. Hecuba [Keening] Aiai. Andromache My song of suffering. Hecuba O Zeus. Andromache And sorrow. 41
Page 1 and 2: EURIPIDES’ TROJAN WOMEN PREFACE,
Page 3 and 4: Tragedy and Comedy in Athens were p
Page 5 and 6: The goddess Athene, his niece, trie
Page 7 and 8: This play was performed in 415 BC,
Page 9 and 10: This play shows us a new type of he
Page 11 and 12: Original Staging The original Athen
Page 13 and 14: Syracuse after the ill-fated Sicili
Page 15 and 16: The most popular of Euripides’ pl
Page 17 and 18: Webster, T. B. L., The Tragedies of
Page 19 and 20: CASSANDRA (ca-SAN-drah), daughter o
Page 21 and 22: SCAMANDER (sca-MAND-er), river in T
Page 23 and 24: [Troy in ruins is smoking in the ba
Page 25 and 26: Athena Did you know that the Greeks
Page 27 and 28: The prows of the ships With swift b
Page 29 and 30: Half-chorus B Has some Greek messen
Page 31 and 32: Hecuba Here it is women. The moment
Page 33 and 34: What are you saying? She’s alive,
Page 35 and 36: Where I served you as my lord. 330
Page 37 and 38: [Aside] These men in their high sta
Page 39: I was royal and I married royalty,
Page 43 and 44: Hecuba All in smoke. Andromache Oh
Page 45 and 46: Andromache We are dragged off as bo
Page 47 and 48: to Greece, a prisoner of the spear,
Page 49 and 50: Andromache May his sons also suffer
Page 51 and 52: Your life is ripped away from us, f
Page 53 and 54: She is one of the defeated slaves,
Page 55 and 56: he came, that nemesis, whether you
Page 57 and 58: Menelaus [To Hecuba] I agree with y
Page 59 and 60: And shout as they weep. A little gi
Page 61 and 62: uilt high by Loxias, have shorn fro
Page 63 and 64: Hecuba [Keening] Oimoi moi. Chorus
Page 65 and 66: Talthybius [To his soldiers] Seize
Page 67 and 68: A holy man in unholy slaughter. Hec

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