HIPP. I heard thy cry, my father, and came in haste; the thing however, for
which you are groaning, I know not; but would fain hear from you. Ha! what
is the matter? I behold thy wife, my father, a corpse: this is a thing meet
for the greatest wonder.--Her, whom I lately left, her, who beheld the
light no great time since. What ails her? In what manner died she, my
father, I would fain hear from you. Art silent? But there is no use of
silence in misfortunes; for the heart which desires to hear all things, is
found eager also in the case of ills. It is not indeed right, my father, to
conceal thy misfortunes from friends, and even more than friends.
THES. O men, who vainly go astray in many things, why then do ye teach ten
thousand arts, and contrive and invent every thing; but one thing ye do not
know, nor yet have investigated, to teach those to be wise who have no
intellect!
HIPP. A clever sophist this you speak of, who is able to compel those who
have no wisdom to be rightly wise. But (for thou art arguing too refinedly
on no suitable occasion) I fear, O father, lest thy tongue be talking at
random through thy woes.
THES. Alas! there ought to be established for men some infallible proof of
their friends, and some means of knowing their dispositions, both who is
true, and who is not a friend, and men ought all to have two voices, the
one true, the other as it chanced, that the untrue one might be convicted
by the true, and then we should not be deceived.
HIPP. Has some one then falsely accused me in your ear, and am I suffering
who am not at all guilty? I am amazed, for your words, wandering beyond the
bounds of reason, do amaze me.
THES. Alas! the mind of man, to what lengths will it go? what will be the
limit to its boldness and temerity? For if it shall increase with each
generation of man, and the successor shall be wicked a degree beyond his
predecessor, it will be necessary for the Gods to add to the earth another
land, which[34] will contain the unjust and the evil ones.--But look: ye on
this man, who being born of me hath defiled my bed, and is manifestly
convicted by the deceased of being most base.--But, since thou hast come to
this attaint, show thy face here before thy father. Dost thou forsooth
associate with the Gods, as being an extraordinary person? art thou chaste
and uncontaminated with evil? I will not believe thy boasts, attributing
(_as I must, if I do believe_) to the Gods the folly of thinking evil. Now
then vaunt, and with thy feeding on inanimate food retail your doctrines
upon men, and having Orpheus[35] for your master, revel it, reverencing the
emptiness of many letters; _which avail you not_; since you are caught.
But such sort of men I warn all to shun; for they hunt with fair-sounding
words, while they devise base things. She is dead: dost thou think this
will save thee? By this thou art most detected, O thou most vile one! For
what sort of oaths, what arguments can be more strong than what she says,
so that thou canst escape the accusation? Wilt thou say that she hated
thee, and that the bastard race is hateful forsooth to those of noble
birth? A bad housewife then of life you account her, if through hatred of
thee she lost what was most dear to her. But wilt thou say that there is
not this folly in men, but that there is in women? I myself have known
young men who were not a whit more steady than women, when Venus disturbed
the youthful mind: but their pretense of manliness protects them. Now
however, why do I thus contend against thy words, when the corse, the
surest witness, is here? Depart an exile from this land as soon as
possible. And neither go to the divine-built Athens, nor to the confines of
that land over which my sceptre rules. For if I thus suffering by thee be
vanquished, never will the Isthmian Sinis bear witness of me that I killed
him, but will say that I vainly boast. Nor will the Scironian rocks, that
dwell by the sea, confess that I am formidable to the bad.
CHOR. I know not how I can say that any of mortals is happy; for the things
that were most excellent are turned back again.
HIPP. Father, thy rage indeed, and the commotion of thy mind is terrible;
this thing, however, though it have fair arguments, if any one unravel it,
is not fair. But I am unadorned with phrase to speak to the multitude, but
to speak to my equals and to a few, more expert: but this also has
consistency in it; for those, who are of no account among the wise, are
more fitted to speak before the rabble. But yet it is necessary for me,
since this calamity has come, to unloose my tongue. But first will I begin
to speak from that point where first you attacked, as though you would
destroy, and as though I should not answer again. Dost thou behold this
light and this earth? In these there is not a man more chaste than me, not
even though thou deny it. For, first indeed, I know to reverence the Gods,
and to have such friends as attempt not to be unjust, but those, to whom
there is modesty, so that neither they give utterance to evil thoughts, nor
minister in return base services to those who use their friendship: nor am
I the derider of my associates, O father, but the same man to my friends
when they are not present, and when I am with them. But of one thing by
which thou thinkest to crush me, I am pure;[36] for to this day my body is
undefiled by the couch of love; and I know not the deed except hearing of
it by report, and seeing it in a picture, nor even am I forward to look at
these things, having a virgin mind. And perhaps my modesty persuades you
not. Behooves it thee then to show in what manner I lost it. Did this
woman's person excel in beauty all women? Or did I hope to rule over thine
house, having thy bridal bed as carrying dowry with it? I must in that case
have been a fool, and not at all in my senses. But did I do it as though to
reign were pleasant to the modest? By no means indeed is it, except
monarchy have destroyed the minds of men who are pleased with her. But I
would wish indeed to be first victor in the Grecian games, but second in
the state ever to be happy with the most excellent friends. For thus is it
possible to be well circumstanced: but the absence of the danger gives
greater joy than dominion. One of my arguments has not been spoken, but the
rest you are in possession of: for, if I had a witness such as myself am,
and were she alive during my contention, you would know the evil ones,
searching them by their works. But now I swear by Jove, the guardian of
oaths,[37] and by the plain of the earth, that never touched I thy bridal
bed, nor ever wished it, nor conceived the thought. Else may I perish
inglorious, without a name, and may neither sea nor earth receive the flesh
of me when dead, if I be a wicked man. But whether or no she have destroyed
her life through fear, I know not: for it is not lawful for me to speak
further. Cautious[38] she was, though she could not be chaste; but I, who
could be, had the power to no good purpose.
CHOR. Thou hast said sufficient to rebut the charge, in offering the oaths
by the Gods, no slight proof.
THES. Is not this man then an enchanter and a juggler, who trusts that he
will overcome my mind by his goodness of disposition, after he has
dishonored his father?
HIPP. I too very much wonder at this conduct of yours, my father; for if
you were my son, and I your father, I should slay you, and not punish you
by banishment, if you had dared to defile my wife.
THES. How fitly hast thou said this! yet thou shalt not so die, as thou
hast laid down this law for thyself; for a quick grave is easiest to the
miserable man; but wandering an exile from thy country's land to foreign
realms, thou shalt drag out a life of bitterness; for this is the reward
for the impious man.
HIPP. Ah me! what wilt thou do? wilt thou not even await time as evidence
against me, but wilt thou banish me from the land?
THES. Ay, beyond the ocean, and the place of Atlas,[39] if any way I could,
so much do I hate thee.
HIPP. Without having even examined oath, or proof, or the sayings of the
seers, wilt thou cast me uncondemned from out the land?
THES. This letter here, that waiteth no seer's observations,[40] accuses
thee faithfully; but to the birds that flit above my head I bid a long
farewell.
HIPP. O Gods, wherefore then do I not ope my mouth, who am destroyed by you
whom I worship?--And yet not so--for thus I should not altogether persuade
those whom I ought, but should be violating to no purpose the oaths which I
have sworn.
THES. Alas me! how thy sanctity kills me! Wilt not thou go as quick as
possible from thy country's land?
HIPP. Whither then shall I unhappy turn me; what stranger's mansion shall I
enter, banished on this charge?
THES. His, who delights to entertain defilers of women, and those who dwell
with[41] evil deeds.
HIPP. Alas! alas! this goes to my heart, and almost makes me weep: if
indeed I appear vile, and seem so to thee.
THES. Then oughtest thou to have groaned, and owned the guilt before, when
thou daredst to wrong thy father's wife.
HIPP. O mansions, would that ye could utter me a voice, and bear witness
whether I be a vile man!
THES. Dost fly to dumb witnesses? this deed, though it speak not, clearly
proves thee vile.
HIPP. Alas! would that I could look upon myself standing opposite, to that
degree do I weep for the evils which I suffer!
THES. Thou hast accustomed thyself much more to regard thyself, than to be
a just man, and to do what is righteous to thy parents.
HIPP. O unhappy mother! O wretched natal hour! may none of my friends ever
be illegitimate.
THES. Servants, will ye not drag him out? did you not hear me long ago
pronounce him banished!
HIPP. Any one of them shall touch me to his cost however; but thou thyself,
if it be thy desire, thrust me out from the land.
THES. I will do this, unless thou wilt obey my words, for no pity for thy
banishment comes over me.
HIPP. It is fixed, as it seems; alas, wretch that I am! since I know these
things indeed, but know not how to say them. O most dear to me of deities,
daughter of Latona, thou that assortest with me, huntest with me, we shall
then indeed be banished illustrious Athens: but farewell O city, and land
of Erectheus. O plain of Trœzene, how many things hast thou to employ the
happy youth! Farewell! for I address thee, beholding thee for the last
time--Come youths of this land my companions, bid me farewell, and conduct
me from the land, for never shall you see a man more chaste, even though I
seem not to my father.