Bibliotheca Polyglotta

230 τὴν δ᾽ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα:
‘ξεῖν᾽, ἐπεὶ ἂρ δὴ ταῦτά μ᾽ ἀνείρεαι ἠδὲ μεταλλᾷς,
μέλλεν μέν ποτε οἶκος ὅδ᾽ ἀφνειὸς καὶ ἀμύμων
ἔμμεναι, ὄφρ᾽ ἔτι κεῖνος ἀνὴρ ἐπιδήμιος ἦεν:

Huic autem thelemacus scientificus contra allocutus
Amice postquam iam de his me interrogas atque scitaris
videbatur quondam domus illa diues et irrprehensibiles
Esse donec adhuc ille vir praesens erat

Friend, since you ask, said he, take the whole story.
260  This house was rich, my father being here,

[230] Then wise Telemachus answered her:
“Stranger, since indeed thou dost ask and question me of this,
our house once bade fair to be rich and honorable,
so long as that man was still among his people.

νῦν δ᾽ ἑτέρως ἐβόλοντο θεοὶ κακὰ μητιόωντες,
235 οἳ κεῖνον μὲν ἄιστον ἐποίησαν περὶ πάντων
ἀνθρώπων, ἐπεὶ οὔ κε θανόντι περ ὧδ᾽ ἀκαχοίμην,
εἰ μετὰ οἷς ἑτάροισι δάμη Τρώων ἐνὶ δήμῳ,
ἠὲ φίλων ἐν χερσίν, ἐπεὶ πόλεμον τολύπευσεν.

Nunc autem alter voluerunt dei mala consulentes
Qui illum certe inapparabilem fererent ultra omnes
Homines qua non mortuo sic contrastarer
Sed cum propriis sotiis (=sociis) interfectus fuisset troianorum in loco
Vel amicorum in manibus postquam belum perfecit

But th’ unkind Gods have taken hence that glory:
For where he is, a word we cannot hear.
Less had I griev’d, if he his life had lost
With other Argive lords under Troy wall,
265  Or, the war done, ’mongst those that love him most.

But now the gods have willed otherwise in their evil devising,
[235] seeing that they have caused him to pass from sight as they have no other man.
For I should not so grieve for his death,
if he had been slain among his comrades in the land of the Trojans,
or had died in the arms of his friends, when he had wound up the skein of war.

τῷ κέν οἱ τύμβον μὲν ἐποίησαν Παναχαιοί,
240 ἠδέ κε καὶ ᾧ παιδὶ μέγα κλέος ἤρατ᾽ ὀπίσσω.
νῦν δέ μιν ἀκλειῶς ἅρπυιαι ἀνηρείψαντο:
οἴχετ᾽ ἄιστος ἄπυστος, ἐμοὶ δ᾽ ὀδύνας τε γόους τε
κάλλιπεν. οὐδέ τι κεῖνον ὀδυρόμενος στεναχίζω
οἶον, ἐπεί νύ μοι ἄλλα θεοὶ κακὰ κήδε᾽ ἔτευξαν.

Ex hoc sibi sepulturam certe fecisset iam omnes achiai
Atque et proprio filio magnam gloriam tulisset post
Nunc autem ipsum in gloriose (=ingloriose) arpie usurpaverunt
corruptum inapparabilis inexauditus · me autem dolores fletusque
Reliqtur · non autem illum flens suspire
Solum quia me alia dei mala flagella apparaverunt

Then had he had a noble funeral,
At which th’ Achæan princes would have been,
And the honour had redounded to his son.
But now, alas! devour’d by harpies keen,
270  Unheard-of and unask’d-for he is gone,
Leaving me here behind to sigh and groan.
Besides, the Gods have giv’n me other care,

Then would the whole host of the Achaeans have made him a tomb,
[240] and for his son, too, he would have won great glory in days to come.
But as it is, the spirits of the storm have swept him away and left no tidings:
he is gone out of sight, out of hearing, and for me he has left anguish and weeping;
nor do I in any wise mourn and wail for him alone,
seeing that the gods have brought upon me other sore troubles.

245 ὅσσοι γὰρ νήσοισιν ἐπικρατέουσιν ἄριστοι,
Δουλιχίῳ τε Σάμῃ τε καὶ ὑλήεντι Ζακύνθῳ,
ἠδ᾽ ὅσσοι κραναὴν Ἰθάκην κάτα κοιρανέουσιν,
τόσσοι μητέρ᾽ ἐμὴν μνῶνται, τρύχουσι δὲ οἶκον.

Quot enim insulis dominantur optimi
dulichioque samoque arbustrali Zachinto
Atque quot aspere itachie predominantur
Tot matri meae procantur consumantque domum

Bitter enough. ’Tis not for him alone
My heart is rent. There other mischiefs are.
275  How many lords within these isles do sway!
Samé, Dulichium, Ithaca, and Zant;
So many suitors duly every day
For marriage with my mother the house haunt.

[245] For all the princes who hold sway over the islands
— Dulichium and Same and wooded Zacynthus
— and those who lord it over rocky Ithaca,
all these woo my mother and lay waste my house.

... matrem procitum plurimi venerunt,

ἡ δ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἀρνεῖται στυγερὸν γάμον οὔτε τελευτὴν
250 ποιῆσαι δύναται: τοὶ δὲ φθινύθουσιν ἔδοντες
οἶκον ἐμόν: τάχα δή με διαρραίσουσι καὶ αὐτόν.’

Hec autem non abnuit odiosas nuptias non finem
facere potest · isti autem corrumpunt edentes
Domum meam cito iam me destruent et impsum

Whilst she can none put off, and will none marry,
280  They spend my corn and wine, and cattle kill,
And eating here and drinking still they tarry,
And me perhaps at last they murder will.

And she neither refuses the hateful marriage,
[250] nor is she able to make an end; but they with feasting consume my substance:
ere long they will bring me, too, to ruin.”

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