The ungovernable bull, had not tethered his ship in Crete,

That the evil man did not hide his cruel plans

Behind a handsome exterior

And stay here as a guest in our home.

For where can I take myself now?

What kind of hope can I cling to? I am lost.

Shall I make for the mountains of Ida?

But the savage sea divides, separates me

From them, swirling far and wide.

Or should I expect my father to help me?

Did I not leave him as I pursued a young man

Spattered with my brother’s blood?

Or should I console myself

With the loyalty and love of a husband,

A man who flees, bending heavy oars in the swirling sea?

Worse, I am on a lonely island, a shore with no shelter,

And no way out reveals itself on the circling waves of water.

There is no means of escape, no hope. Everything is silent.

Everything deserted; everything points to death.

But my eyes will not fall shut on me in death,

My senses will not leave my wearied body

Until I demand from the gods rich justice for my betrayal

And in my final hour pray for the loyalty of the gods.

So Eumenides, punishers and avengers of the crimes

Of men, your forehead, fringed with snaky hair,

Exposing the anger exhaled from your chest,

Here, come here, hear my complaints,

Which I am forced in my wretched helplessness

To pour from the depths of my marrow, blazing,

Blinded by mindless madness.

As these truths are born from the bottom of my heart

Please do not allow my grief to turn to dust,

But with the kind of heart Theseus had when he left me,

Goddesses, may he destroy himself and his family.’

After she poured these words from her sad breast,

Troubled, demanding punishment for wicked deeds,

The ruler of the gods

Whose authority goes unchallenged

Nodded his agreement,

At the movement of which the

Earth and choppy seas trembled

And the firmament shook its gleaming stars.

But as for Theseus, his mind gripped by murky darkness,

He released from his forgetful heart all the instructions

Which hitherto he was guarding permanently in his mind,

Nor raising the sweet signs to his sad father

Did he show that he had seen the port of Athens safely.

For they say that once, when Aegeus entrusted his son

To the winds as he left the goddess’ walls in his ship,

He embraced the young man and gave him these instructions:

‘My only son, dearer to me than life’s length,

Son, whom I am forced to send into an uncertain situation,

Returned to me only recently at the height of my old age,

Since my fate and your determined virtue snatch you

Away from me against my will, though my tired eyes are

Not yet drunk with the dear shape of my son,

I shall not send you rejoicing with a happy heart