Hippolytos' Vow of Chastity, Euripides Hipp. 58-113

Hippolytos’ Vow of Chastity

Name:  Euripides Date:     484 – 407 BCE Region:     Athens [modern Greece] Citation:     Hippolytos 73 – 87

HIPPOLYTOS: Greetings, gorgeous one,
Most beautiful of all maidens who dwell in heaven,
Artemis, the most beautiful maiden of all!
I bring you this garland
Woven with wildflowers
Gathered in a faraway field,
Where no shepherd ever steered his grazing flocks,
Where no farmer ever plowed or reaped;
Where only meandering bees fluttered on soft wings

Over the fertile brush in springtime's bloom,
Which Chastity tends with waters collected from river-born dew.
The only ones permitted to pluck these blooms
Are those who swarm around Abstinence,
Whose inborn nature guides them
In a complete and perfect life of chastity.
Let this place be closed off from raunchy ones.
And you, Lady, dear to me,
My companion, take this offering from my right hand
And place it upon your golden brow.
Of all mortals, you alone honor me
That I may spend time together with you,
That I speak together with you,
That I hear your voice,
Though I see not your face.
I beg you, guide the course of my life,
Let me remain on my accustomed path.

Ἱππόλυτος: σοὶ τόνδε πλεκτὸν στέφανον ἐξ ἀκηράτου λειμῶνος, ὦ δέσποινα, κοσμήσας φέρω, ἔνθ᾽ οὔτε ποιμὴν ἀξιοῖ φέρβειν βοτὰ οὔτ᾽ ἦλθέ πω σίδηρος, ἀλλ᾽ ἀκήρατον μέλισσα λειμῶν᾽ ἠρινὸν διέρχεται, Αἰδὼς δὲ ποταμίαισι κηπεύει δρόσοις, ὅσοις διδακτὸν μηδὲν ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῇ φύσει τὸ σωφρονεῖν εἴληχεν εἰς τὰ πάντ᾽ ἀεί, τούτοις δρέπεσθαι, τοῖς κακοῖσι δ᾽ οὐ θέμις.

HIP. Salve o formosissima, Cunctarum quae caelo degunt Artemi formosissima virginum,... Tibi hanc coronam Diva contextam fero e florido intactoque prato, numquam ubi immissa pastor pecora pavit, falce nec fuere secta gramina: ast apes vagae, per verna solum tempora, herbas fertileis alis pererrant mollibus; fluviatili rore pudor irrigat. Facessat o procul ex disciplina hausta indoles, natura quos ad recta ducit, usque quos stipat pudor nativus; his fas hinc sit herbas carpere: praeclusus at sit aditus omnis improbis:

ἀλλ᾽, ὦ φίλη δέσποινα, χρυσέας κόμης ἀνάδημα δέξαι χειρὸς εὐσεβοῦς ἄπο. μόνῳ γάρ ἐστι τοῦτ᾽ ἐμοὶ γέρας βροτῶν: σοὶ καὶ ξύνειμι καὶ λόγοις ἀμείβομαι, κλύων μὲν αὐδὴν, ὄμμα δ᾽ οὐχ ὁρῶν τὸ σόν. τέλος δὲ κάμψαιμ᾽ ὥσπερ ἠρξάμην βίου.

tuque Domina, mihi cara, amica a dextera munus profectum vertici impone aureo.  Soli hic mihi mortalium datus est honor, ut verser una, unaque tecum colloquar, vocem audiam, faciem tamen non conspicer: vitae meae tu, quaeso, curriculum rege, quemque institi liceat manere tramite. Translated into Latin by Georg Rataller

Euripides [484 – 407 BCE, Athens modern Greece] is considered one of the best tragedians of the ancient Mediterranean world. Although he wrote nearly a hundred Greek tragedies, only a handful have survived to the present day.