





































 Arnson Svarlien 7

Three Songs from Euripides’ Helen 
 

Translation and Commentary: Diane Arnson Svarlien 
 

 
 
I. First Stasimon 

[Strophe 1] 

Amid the trees’ deep tresses you trill your songs;     
I call to you now, in your green concert hall, 
bird of sorrow, 
O nightingale, loveliest singer, 
bard of lonely tears:       1180 
come take your place here by my side;  
as the melody melts in your golden throat, 
sing with me—we will both lament 
the struggles and woes 
of Helen, and the tearful fate of Troy’s women   1185 
when their city fell beneath Achaean spears,  
thanks to the rover who dipped his barbarian oar 
in the rushing gray waves, and came 
bringing woe to the sons of Priam— 
bringing you, Helen,      1190 
his bride from Lacedaemon  
Paris, whose marriage was poison, 
escorted by Aphrodite. 

[Antistrophe 1] 

So many Greeks were killed, in a rain of spears 
and boulders thrown through the air; their souls sank  1195 
down to Hades.  
Their wives, all alone in their bedrooms,  
cut their hair in grief. 
So many Greeks gave up their lives 
off the coast of Euboea, deceived by false   1200 
beacons set by a lone Greek boat:  
a fraudulent star 
that dashed them on the rocks of Cape Caphareus, 
smashed their ships to fragments on Aegean crags. 
This man was driven to woeful barbarian shores,   1205 
to harborless landfalls, blown  
far away from his home by the storm-winds; 
this man, Menelaus, 
brought back his prize on shipboard— 



8 Delos

she was no prize, she was trouble:    1210 
a phantom contrived by Hera.  

[Strophe 2 ] 

What is and isn’t god, and what’s in-between— 
what mortal can say? Human inquiry 
reaches its limit as soon as it finds 
the ways of the gods cannot be predicted:   1215 
they jump around crazily,  
constantly changing their course, 
bringing fortunes nobody has foreseen. 
O Helen, you’re the daughter of Zeus, 
who came to Leda as a bird.     1220 
And yet throughout Hellas they call you unjust, 
a betrayer, impious, faithless wife. 
I have never heard a single syllable 
spoken by mortals about the gods 
that I would call credible.     1225 
 

[Antistrophe 2 ] 

All you who strive for excellence, fighting wars 
with valorous spears, have you lost your minds? 
Seeking release from your struggles in death! 
If all things are settled by bloodshed and battles 
then trouble will never       1230 
be gone from the cities of men. 
Many men lie buried in Priam’s land, 
O Helen, when they could have resolved 
the trouble over you with words. 
Instead they are settled in Hades; the walls   1235 
of their town were scarred by a killing flame   
like the swift bright flame of lightning hurled by Zeus. 
And you’ve had your share of disaster, grief, 
and pitiful suffering. 
 
 
II. Second Stasimon 

 [Strophe 1] 

The gods’ mountain Mother 
once upon a time 
raced through woodlands and glades, 
waded the streams of rivers, 



 Arnson Svarlien 9

traversed the resonant salt sea waves    1380 
in longing for her daughter  
whose name may not be spoken. 
The cymbals crashed and the air rang 
with a shrill vibration 
when she had yoked wild beasts to her carriage   1385 
and rode out to uncover the theft of her daughter 
who was snatched from the circling chorus of maidens. 
Rushing right after her came the two goddesses, 
their feet swift as whirlwinds: 
Artemis with her arrows,      1390 
Athena, Fierce-Eyed, with her spear 
and battle armor. 
But Zeus, as he watched from the sky, brought about 
a fate for the girl that was very different. 

[Antistrophe 1] 

Exhausted, the Mother      1395 
who’d wandered for so long 
called a halt to her chase, 
gave up the race and lay down 
on Ida’s palisades swathed in snow 
where nymphs keep watch. In sorrow    1400 
amid the rocks and snowdrifts 
she flung herself in a thicket,   
helpless in the face of 
the underhanded theft of her daughter. 
From the fields of mankind she withdrew the rich harvest; 1405 
from the flocks she withheld the leaves and green tendrils. 
People were perishing, cities were withering, 
the altars were empty: 
no batter-cakes, no thigh-bones 
were laid on the flames for the gods.    1410 
She stopped the waters 
that once flowed in crystalline springs from the ground, 
so broken was she by her dreadful sorrow. 

 [Strophe 2] 

When Deo had put an end to banquets 
for the gods and the race of men    1415 
Zeus tried to soothe the hateful rage 
of the Mother; he spoke 
to the Graces and Muses: 
“Go, relieve the grieving 
Goddess of her anger      1420 



10 Delos

over her stolen maiden 
by wailing in your wildest voice, 
by singing as you dance.” 
The earthy voice of bronze 
and drums made of stretched hide    1425 
were first taken up by the loveliest deity,  
Cypris; at last, then, the Goddess 
laughed as she grasped in her hands 
the resonant aulos 
and took some delight in its wild, wailing voice.   1430 

[Antistrophe 2] 

It wasn’t correct, it wasn’t holy 
what you did in that inner space. 
You have incurred the fearsome wrath 
of the Mother, my child, 
by neglecting her worship.     1435 
There’s tremendous power  
in wearing dappled fawn-skin, 
weaving a crown of ivy 
around a sacred fennel stalk, 
and whirling overhead      1440 
the circling bullroarer; 
in hair flying freely 
at revels for Bromius, and in the festivals 
lasting all night for the Goddess. 
When the moon rode overhead,     1445 
her chariot climbing 
the sky, you exulted in beauty alone. 
 
 
III. Third Stasimon 

[Strophe 1] 

Swift Phoenician ship, O craft of Sidon, 
the waves of Nereus rush to embrace you 
O leader of dances      1535 
as the circling dolphins respond to your song 
in lovely array when the wind has died down 
and Galaneia 
the pale-eyed daughter of Pontus, speaks these words: 
“Let your sails hang down; there is no more breeze.  1540 
Take the oars up in your hands 
O sailors, sailors, send 
Helen home, to reach the pleasant harbor, 



 Arnson Svarlien 11

the shores she left long ago, 
the city that Perseus founded.”     1545 

 [Antistrophe 1] 

There beside the waters of the river 
or by the temple of Pallas, at long last 
the festival dances 
and Leucippus’s daughters will welcome her home, 
perhaps at the revels that gladden the night   1550 
for Hyacinthus 
whom Phoebus once, when the discus left his hand, 
killed—the endless wheel made a fatal strike. 
Then the son of Zeus decreed 
for the Laconians       1555 
cattle-sacrifice, a day of feasting. 
There Helen will find her child,  
her calf still at home, still unmarried. 

 [Strophe 2] 

If I had wings I would go flying through the aether 
where Libyan birds soar high above in formation,   1560 
keeping time with the syrinx-song of their leader, 
who guides them beyond 
the wintery storms 
and calls out as he glides over lands with no rainfall 
and fields rich with fruit.      1565 
O long-necked flyers, 
companions of racing clouds, 
set your course by the Pleiades, fly straight 
through the night, past Orion. 
Touch down by Eurotas, tell them the news:   1570 
Menelaus destroyed the Dardanian town, 
and he’s on his way back home. 

 [Antistrophe 2] 

Sons of Tyndareos, who dwell beneath the brilliance 
of whirling stars in the sky, come leap through the aether 
on your steeds, come and be the saviors of Helen:  1575 
ride over the pale  
salt waves of the sea, 
ride above the blue swells and the rushing gray breakers, 
and bring gentle winds 
from Zeus to sailors.      1580 
Come rescue your sister now  



12 Delos

from the charge of barbarian marriage 
that began with the conflict 
on Ida, though Helen never set foot 
on the shoreline of Troy, and she never laid eyes   1585 
on the towers that Phoebus built. 
 
From Euripides: Ion, Helen, Orestes, translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien,  
© 2016 Hackett Publishing Co. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. 
 
 
Commentary:  
 

Euripides composed his play Helen in 412 BCE; he was in his late 
sixties, and had been producing plays in Athens for more than four decades. 
Late in his career, Euripides’ work became freer and more experimental, with 
fantastic plots, musical innovations, and greater metrical variety and flexibility. 
Greek tragedies were composed entirely in verse (spoken or chanted) and 
song. The Chorus sang and danced to the accompaniment of the aulos, a 
double-reed pipe whose piercing sound is often compared to an oboe’s. The 
aulos-player, the only performer who appeared without a mask, also served as 
a kind of conductor to the Chorus.  

 
The most formally elaborate songs were the choral odes, or stasima. 

These were written in pairs of stanzas—strophes and antistrophes—that 
matched each other rhythmically. The metrical repetition from strophe to 
antistrophe was reinforced by the melody and by the Chorus’ dance 
movements. Using a traditional technique of Greek choral poetry, Euripides 
often places sound-echoes or strategic thematic repetitions in the same 
metrical spot in strophe and antistrophe; for example, in the First Stasimon, 
Euripides closes each of the first two stanzas with a rhythmically-matching 
phrase that points to the agency of a goddess: “escorted by Aphrodite” at the 
end of strophe 1, “a phantom contrived by Hera” at the end of antistrophe 1. In 
the Second Stasimon, Euripides places the word “Mother” (for the goddess 
Demeter) in matching spots in both pairs of stanzas (at the beginning of 
strophe and antistrophe 1, and the fourth line of strophe and antistrophe 2), 
and the phrase “the Goddess” in the same metrical spot in strophe and 
antistrophe 2 (the fourth line from the end of each). In the Third Stasimon, the 
word “dances” (chorois in Greek) appears in the same spot in strophe and 
antistrophe 1. 

 
Euripides’ Helen departs from the usual account of the Trojan War 

and takes as its premise the alternative story that the real Helen of Sparta 
never went to Troy; in order to sabotage Aphrodite’s promise to the Trojan 
Paris that he could have Helen, the goddess Hera made a phantom Helen and 
gave the phantom to Paris. The real Helen was whisked away by Hermes to 
Egypt, where she has been all this time; Greeks and Trojans fought for ten 
years over the phantom. Menelaus finds Helen in Egypt on his way home from 
Troy; after some confusion, husband and wife have a joyful reunion. Helen 
can’t simply go home with Menelaus, though, because the king of Egypt is 
pursuing Helen and planning to marry her, and he will kill any Greek who sets 
foot on his shores. So Helen and Menelaus come up with a clever plan to steal 
a ship and escape, and at the end of the play they are sailing safely home to 



 Arnson Svarlien 13

Greece together, escorted by Helen’s brothers, the heavenly twins Castor and 
Polydeuces (“Sons of Tyndareos”). 

 
The songs of Helen refer to music and dance repeatedly. The First 

Stasimon begins with the Chorus calling on the nightingale to sing a sorrowful 
song with them as they recall the pointless deaths of the Trojan War. The 
Second Stasimon tells the story of Demeter (here called Deo) searching for her 
abducted daughter. Zeus sends her consolation in the form of ecstatic music, 
of the type associated with rituals of the eastern mother-goddess Cybele and 
of Dionysus (Bromius). The ode seems to end with a reproach of Helen, but 
the Greek text is corrupt at both the beginning and the end of the second 
antistrophe, and the meaning is uncertain. In the Third Stasimon the Chorus 
sings joyfully of Helen and Menelaus’ escape: dolphins dance around them as 
they sail home; music and dance will greet them when they return home to 
Sparta; birds sing high overhead. 
 
  



14 Delos

Greek Text: 
 
I. First Stasimon 

[Strophe 1] 

 
σὲ τὰν ἐναύλοις ὑπὸ δενδροκόμοις  
μουσεῖα καὶ θάκους ἐνί-  
ζουσαν ἀναβοάσω,  
σὲ τὰν ἀοιδοτάταν ὄρνιθα μελῳδὸν   
ἀηδόνα δακρυόεσσαν,       1110 
ἔλθ᾽ ὦ διὰ ξουθᾶν  
γενύων ἐλελιζομένα  
θρήνων ἐμοὶ ξυνεργός,  
Ἑλένας μελέας πόνους  
τὸν Ἰλιάδων τ᾽ ἀει-  
δούσᾳ δακρυόεντα πότμον      1115 
Ἀχαιῶν ὑπὸ λόγχαις:  
ὅτ᾽ ἔδραμε ῥόθια πολιὰ βαρβάρῳ πλάτᾳ  
ὃς ἔμολεν ἔμολε μέλεα Πριαμίδαις ἄγων  
Λακεδαίμονος ἄπο λέχεα  
σέθεν, ὦ Ἑλένα, Πάρις αἰνόγαμος     1120 
πομπαῖσιν Ἀφροδίτας. 
 

[Antistrophe 1] 

 
πολλοὶ δ᾽ Ἀχαιῶν δορὶ καὶ πετρίναις  
ῥιπαῖσιν ἐκπνεύσαντες Ἅι-  
δαν μέλεον ἔχουσιν,  
ταλαινᾶν ἀλόχων κείραντες ἔθειραν:  
ἄνυμφα δὲ μέλαθρα κεῖται:      1125 
πολλοὺς δὲ πυρσεύσας  
φλογερὸν σέλας ἀμφιρύτον  
Εὔβοιαν εἷλ᾽ Ἀχαιῶν  
μονόκωπος ἀνήρ πέτραις  
Καφηρίσιν ἐμβαλὼν  
Αἰγαίαις ἐνάλοις δόλιον       1130 
ἀκταῖς ἀστέρα λάμψας.  
ἀλίμενα δ᾽ ὅρια μέλεα βαρβάρου στολᾶς   
τοτ᾽ ἔσυτο πατρίδος ἀποπρὸ χειμάτων πνοᾷ  
γέρας, οὐ γέρας ἀλλ᾽ ἔριν,  
Δαναῶν Μενέλας ἐπὶ ναυσὶν ἄγων,     1135 
εἴδωλον ἱερὸν Ἥρας. 
 



 Arnson Svarlien 15

[Strophe 2] 

 
ὅ τι θεὸς ἢ μὴ θεὸς ἢ τὸ μέσον,  
τίς φησ᾽ ἐρευνήσας βροτῶν;  
μακρότατον πέρας ηὗρεν  
ὃς τὰ θεῶν ἐσορᾷ       1140 
δεῦρο καὶ αὖθις ἐκεῖσε  
καὶ πάλιν ἀντιλόγοις  
πηδῶντ᾽ ἀνελπίστοις τύχαις.  
σὺ Διὸς ἔφυς, ὦ Ἑλένα, θυγάτηρ:  
πτανὸς γὰρ ἐν κόλποις σε Λή-      1145 
δας ἐτέκνωσε πατήρ.  
κᾆτ᾽ ἰαχήθης καθ᾽ Ἑλλανίαν  
προδότις ἄπιστος ἄδικος ἄθεος: οὐδ᾽ ἔχω  
ὅ τι σαφὲς, ὅ τι ποτ᾽ ἐν βροτοῖς τῶν θεῶν 
ἔπος ἀλαθὲς εὕρω.      1150 
 

[Antistrophe 2] 

 
ἄφρονες ὅσοι τὰς ἀρετὰς πολέμῳ  
λόγχαισί τ᾽ ἀλκαίου δορὸς  
κτᾶσθ, ἀμαθῶς θανάτῳ πόνους καταλυόμενοι. 
εἰ γὰρ ἅμιλλα κρινεῖ νιν  
αἵματος, οὔποτ᾽ ἔρις       1155 
λείψει κατ᾽ ἀνθρώπων πόλεις:  
ᾇ Πριαμίδος γᾶς ἔλαχον θαλάμους,  
ἐξὸν διορθῶσαι λόγοις  
σὰν ἔριν, ὦ Ἑλένα.       1160 
νῦν δ᾽ οἳ μὲν Ἅιδᾳ μέλονται κάτω,  
τείχεα δὲ φλογμὸς ὥστε Διός ἐπέσυτο φλόξ,  
ἐπὶ δὲ πάθεα πάθεσι φέρεις ἀθλία 
συμφοραῖς ἐλεινοῖς.  
 
 
II. Second Stasimon 

 [Strophe 1] 

 
Ὀρεία ποτὲ δρομάδι κώ-  
λῳ μάτηρ θεῶν ἐσύθη ἀν᾽  
ὑλάεντα νάπη  
ποτάμιόν τε χεῦμ᾽ ὑδάτων  
βαρύβρομόν τε κῦμ᾽ ἅλιον      1305 



16 Delos

πόθῳ τᾶς ἀποιχομένας  
ἀρρήτου κούρας.  
κρόταλα δὲ βρόμια διαπρύσιον  
ἱέντα κέλαδον ἀνεβόα,  
θηρῶν ὅτε ζυγίους       1310 
ζευξάσᾳ θεᾷ σατίνας  
τὰν ἁρπασθεῖσαν κυκλίων  
χορῶν ἔξω παρθενίων  
μετὰ κούραν, ἀελλόποδες,  
ἃ μὲν τόξοις Ἄρτεμις, ἃ δ᾽      1315 
ἔγχει Γοργῶπις πάνοπλος,  
συνείποντο. Ζεὺς δ᾽ ἑδράνων  
αὐγάζων ἐξ οὐρανίων  
ἄλλαν μοῖραν ἔκραινε. 
 

[Antistrophe 1] 

 
δρομαῖον δ᾽ ὅτε πολυπλάνη-  
τον μάτηρ ἔπαυσε πόνον,      1320 
μαστεύουσα † πόνους †  
θυγατρὸς ἁρπαγὰς δολίους,  
χιονοθρέμμονάς γ᾽ ἐπέρασ᾽  
Ἰδαιᾶν Νυμφᾶν σκοπιάς:  
ῥίπτει τ᾽ ἐν πένθει       1325 
πέτρινα κατὰ δρία πολυνιφέα:  
βροτοῖσι δ᾽ ἄχλοα πεδία γᾶς  
οὐ καρπίζουσ᾽ ἀρότοις  
λαῶν δὲ φθείρει γενεάν:  
ποίμναις δ᾽ οὐχ ἵει θαλερὰς      1330 
βοσκὰς εὐφύλλων ἑλίκων,  
πόλεων δ᾽ ἀπέλειπε βίος:  
οὐδ᾽ ἦσαν θεῶν θυσίαι,  
βωμοῖς δ᾽ ἄφλεκτοι πέλανοι:  
πηγὰς δ᾽ ἀμπαύει δροσερὰς      1335 
λευκῶν ἐκβάλλειν ὑδάτων  
πένθει παιδὸς ἀλάστῳ. 
 

[Strophe 2] 

 
ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἔπαυσ᾽ εἰλαπίνας  
θεοῖς βροτείῳ τε γένει,  
Ζεὺς μειλίσσων στυγίους  
Ματρὸς ὀργὰς ἐνέπει:       1340 



 Arnson Svarlien 17

βᾶτε, σεμναὶ Χάριτες,  
ἴτε, τᾷ περὶ παρθένῳ  
Δηοῖ θυμωσαμένᾳ  
λύπαν ἐξαλλάξατ᾽ ἀλαλᾷ,  
Μοῦσαί θ᾽ ὕμνοισι χορῶν.      1345 
χαλκοῦ δ᾽ αὐδὰν χθονίαν  
τύπανά τ᾽ ἔλαβε βυρσοτενῆ  
καλλίστα τότε πρῶτα μακά-  
ρων Κύπρις: γέλασέν δε θεὰ  
δέξατό τ᾽ ἐς χέρας       1350 
βαρύβρομον αὐλὸν  
τερφθεῖσ᾽ ἀλαλαγμῷ. 
 

[Antistrophe 2] 

 
† ὧν οὐ θέμις σ᾽ οὔθ᾽ ὁσία  
ἐπύρωσας ἐν θαλάμοις, † 
μῆνιν δ᾽ ἔσχες μεγάλας       1355 
Ματρός, ὦ παῖ, θυσίας  
οὐ σεβίζουσα θεᾶς.  
μέγα τοι δύναται νεβρῶν  
παμποίκιλοι στολίδες  
κισσοῦ τε στεφθεῖσα χλόα      1360 
νάρθηκας εἰς ἱερούς,  
ῥόμβου θ᾽ εἱλισσομένα  
κύκλιος ἔνοσις αἰθερία,  
βακχεύουσά τ᾽ ἔθειρα Βρομί  
ῳ καὶ παννυχίδες θεᾶς.       1365 
† εὖ δέ νιν ἄμασιν  
ὑπέρβαλε σελάνα †  
μορφᾷ μόνον ηὔχεις. 
 
 
III. Third Stasimon 

 [Strophe 1] 

 
Φοίνισσα Σιδωνιὰς ὦ  
ταχεῖα κώπα, ῥοθίοισι μάτηρ  
εἰρεσία φίλα,  
χοραγὲ τῶν καλλιχόρων  
δελφίνων, ὅταν αὔραις       1455 
πέλαγος ἀνήνεμον ᾖ,  
γλαυκὰ δὲ Πόντου θυγάτηρ  



18 Delos

Γαλάνεια τάδ᾽ εἴπῃ:  
κατὰ μὲν ἱστία πετάσατ᾽ αὔ-  
ρας λιπόντες εἰναλίας,       1460 
λάβετε δ᾽ εἰλατίνας πλάτας,  
ὦ ναῦται, ναῦται,  
πέμποντες εὐλιμένους  
Περσείων οἴκων Ἑλέναν ἐπ᾽ ἀκτάς. 
 

[Antistrophe 1] 

 
ἦ που κόρας ἂν ποταμοῦ      1465 
παρ᾽ οἶδμα Λευκιππίδας ἢ πρὸ ναοῦ  
Παλλάδος ἂν λάβοι  
χρόνῳ ξυνελθοῦσα χοροῖς  
ἢ κώμοις Ὑακίνθου  
νύχιον ἐς εὐφροσύναν,       1470 
ὃν ἐξαμιλλησάμενος  
τροχῷ τέρμονα δίσκου  
ἔκανε Φοῖβος, τᾷ Λακαί-  
νᾳ γᾷ βούθυτον ἁμέραν  
ὁ Διὸς εἶπε σέβειν γόνος:      1475 
μόσχον θ᾽ ἃν † λίποιτ᾽ οἴκοις † 
ἇς οὔπω πεῦκαι πρὸ γάμων ἔλαμψαν. 
 

[Strophe 2] 

 
δι᾽ ἀιθέρος εἴθε ποτανοὶ  
γενοίμεθ᾽ ὅπᾳ Λιβύας  
οἰωνοὶ στοχάδες       1480 
ὄμβρον λιποῦσαι χειμέριον  
νίσονται πρεσβυτάτου  
σύριγγι πειθόμεναι  
ποιμένος, ὃς ἄβροχα πεδία καρποφόρα τε γᾶς    1485 
ἐπιπετόμενος ἰαχεῖ.  
ὦ πταναὶ δολιχαύχενες,  
σύννομοι νεφέων δρόμου,  
βᾶτε Πλειάδας ὑπὸ μέσας  
Ὠρίωνά τ᾽ ἐννύχιον:       1490 
καρύξατ᾽ ἀγγελίαν,  
Εὐρώταν ἐφεζόμεναι,  
Μενέλεως ὅτι Δαρδάνου  
πόλιν ἑλὼν δόμον ἥξει. 
 



 Arnson Svarlien 19

[Antistrophe 2] 

 
μόλοιτέ ποθ᾽ ἵππιον οἶμον      1495 
δι᾽ αἰθέρος ἱέμενοι  
παῖδες Τυνδαρίδαι,  
λαμπρῶν ἄστρων ὑπ᾽ ἀέλλαισιν:  
οἳ ναίετ᾽ οὐράνιοι,  
σωτῆρε τᾶς Ἑλένας,       1500 
γλαυκὸν ἔπιτ᾽ οἶδμα κυανόχροά τε κυμάτων  
ῥόθια πολιὰ θαλάσσας,  
ναύταις εὐαεῖς ἀνέμων  
πέμποντες Διόθεν πνοάς:      1505 
δύσκλειαν δ᾽ ἀπὸ συγγόνου  
βάλετε βαρβάρων λεχέων,  
ἃν Ἰδαίων ἐρίδων  
ποιναθεῖσ᾽ ἐκτήσατο, γᾶν  
οὐκ ἐλθοῦσά ποτ᾽ Ἰλίου       1510 
Φοιβείους ἐπὶ πύργους.  




