fogoly [ otthon, felejtős, polc, képek ]

Dec 28, 2025

First Stasimon (Soph. Ant. 332-375) in 12 couplets

"Couplets" is in quotes because most aren't strictly metrical and their lengths vary. Some of the original's twists of emphasis and contrast don't survive translation, so I chose lines that work in English over lines that track the Greek word-for-word. It reads more like a poetic impression than a literal translation — and overall, I like how it turned out.

The text is from Mark Griffith's Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics edition (1999).

πολλὰ τὰ δεινὰ κοὐδὲν ἀνθρώπου δεινότερον πέλει.
τοῦτο καὶ πολιοῦ πέραν πόντου χειμερίῳ νότῳ
χωρεῖ, περιβρυχίοισιν
περῶν ὑπ᾽ οἴδμασιν.
θεῶν τε τὰν ὑπερτάταν, Γᾶν
ἄφθιτον, ἀκαμάταν, ἀποτρύεται
ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων ἔτος εἰς ἔτος
ἱππείῳ γένει πολεύων.

κουφονόων τε φῦλον ὀρνίθων ἀμφιβαλὼν ἄγει
καὶ θηρῶν ἀγρίων ἔθνη πόντου τ᾽ εἰναλίαν φύσιν
σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις,
περιφραδὴς ἀνήρ:
κρατεῖ δὲ μηχαναῖς ἀγραύλου
θηρὸς ὀρεσσιβάτα, λασιαύχενά θ᾽
ἵππον ὀχμάζεται ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν
οὔρειόν τ᾽ ἀκμῆτα ταῦρον.

καὶ φθέγμα καὶ ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα καὶ ἀστυνόμους
ὀργὰς ἐδιδάξατο καὶ δυσαύλων
πάγων ὑπαίθρεια καὶ δύσομβρα φεύγειν βέλη
παντοπόρος: ἄπορος ἐπ᾽ οὐδὲν ἔρχεται
τὸ μέλλον: Ἅιδα μόνον φεῦξιν οὐκ ἐπάξεται:
νόσων δ᾽ ἀμηχάνων φυγὰς ξυμπέφρασται.

σοφόν τι τὸ μηχανόεν τέχνας ὑπὲρ ἐλπίδ᾽ ἔχων
τοτὲ μὲν κακόν, ἄλλοτ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἐσθλὸν ἕρπει,
νόμους γεραίρων χθονὸς θεῶν τ᾽ ἔνορκον δίκαν,
ὑψίπολις: ἄπολις ὅτῳ τὸ μὴ καλὸν
ξύνεστι τόλμας χάριν. μήτ᾽ ἐμοὶ παρέστιος
γένοιτο μήτ᾽ ἴσον φρονῶν ὃς τάδ᾽ ἔρδει.

1. Many things are wondrous but none more strange than man,
   he terrifies and strikes awe in all that he may plan.
2. He travels along the south wind, engulfed in roaring waves,
   with the storm behind his back, the ashen sea he sails.
3. Undecaying Earth — most eminent of Gods,
   year by year, untiring, with his mules, he plows.
4. Ropes in with a net, air-headed tribe of birds,
   snares the beasts with the same folds — catches marine herds.
5. He reigns over the cattle who like dwelling on the field,
   tireless highland oxen yoked with shag-necked steeds unheeled.
6. All-resourceful in his ways, self-taught, he came to talk,
   think soaring thoughts, and bend his moods to fit a civic walk.
7. Having learned to flee indoors from frost and the cold darts,
   when he's faced with what's to come, he is helpless in no arts.
8. From death alone he won't escape — he can't invent a way,
   though dire disease he's learned to cure and always keep at bay.
9. Armed with this craft: inventiveness, both cunning and sublime,
   inches towards the good today, to bad some other time.
10. Who honors justice sworn to Gods, and keeps the laws of land,
    he walks among the men revered, his city proud will stand.
11. Should he ever dare beyond, and stray away from good,
    his attitude will cast him from the city he once stood.
12. A man like that? I pray for him, so he may never share
    a thought of mine — nor sit beside my household fire's glare.