τί γάρ με δεῖ ζῆν; ᾗ πατὴρ μὲν ἦν ἄναξ/Φρυγῶν ἁπάντων· τοῦτό μοι πρῶτον βίου·/ἔπειτ’ ἐθρέφθην ἐλπίδων καλῶν ὕπο/βασιλεῦσι νύμφη, ζῆλον οὐ σμικρὸν γάμων/ἔχουσ’, ὅτου δῶμ’ ἑστίαν τ’ ἀφίξομαι·/δέσποινα δ’ ἡ δύστηνος Ἰδαίαισιν ἦ/γυναιξὶ, παρθένοις τ’ ἀπόβλεπτος μέτα,/ἴση θεοῖσι πλὴν τὸ κατθανεῖν μόνον·/νῦν δ’ εἰμὶ δούλη. πρῶτα μέν με τοὔνομα/θανεῖν ἐρᾶν τίθησιν οὐκ εἰωθὸς ὄν·/ἔπειτ’ ἴσως ἂν δεσποτῶν ὠμῶν φρένας/τύχοιμ’ ἄν, ὅστις ἀργύρου μ’ ὠνήσεται,/τὴν Ἕκτορός τε χἁτέρων πολλῶν κάσιν,/προσθεὶς δ’ ἀνάγκην σιτοποιὸν ἐν δόμοις,/σαίρειν τε δῶμα κερκίσιν τ’ ἐφεστάναι/λυπρὰν ἄγουσαν ἡμέραν μ’ ἀναγκάσει·/λέχη δὲ τἀμὰ δοῦλος ὠνητός ποθεν/χρανεῖ, τυράννων πρόσθεν ἠξιωμένα./οὐ δῆτ’· ἀφίημ’ ὀμμάτων ἐλευθέρων/φέγγος τόδ’, ᾍδῃ προστιθεῖσ’ ἐμὸν δέμας.
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Why should I go on living? I whose father was lord of all the Phrygians? This was the most important thing in life for me. Then I was nursed on fair hopes to be a bride for kings, the center of fierce jealousy among suitors, to see whose home I would make my own; and over each woman of Ida I was queen, ah me! a maiden marked amid women and girls, equal to the gods, save for death alone. But now I am a slave. That name first makes me long for death, so strange it sounds; and then maybe my lot might give me to some savage master, one that would buy me for money—me, the sister of Hektor and many other princes—who would make me knead his bread within his halls, or sweep his house or set me working at the loom, leading a life of misery; while some slave, bought I know not whence, will defile my bed, once deemed worthy of royalty. No, never! {121|122} Here I close my eyes upon the light, free as yet, and I consign my body to Hades.
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