MEDEA: Now let things take their course. What use is life to me?
I have no land, no home, no refuge from despair.[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ἴτω: τί μοι ζῆν κέρδος; οὔτε μοι πατρὶς
οὔτ᾽ οἶκος ἔστιν οὔτ᾽ ἀποστροφὴ κακῶν.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 798ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]
(Source)
Though she has just been offered refuge in Athens by King Ægeus; perhaps because that contradiction, note that some more recent translators (Davie, Ewans) leave out these lines as interpolations.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:Can life be any gain
To me who have no country left, no home,
No place of refuge?
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]Go to: hath life
A blessing yet for me? I have no country,
I have no house, no refuge from my ills.
[tr. Potter (1814)]Well, be it as it must be.
What good for me to live? No home for me,
Nor fatherland, nor refuge from my woes.
[tr. Webster (1868)]Enough! What gain is life to me? I have no country, home, or refuge left.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]Let things take their course; what gain is it to me to live longer? I have neither country, nor house, nor refuge from my ills.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Let all go: what is life to me? Nor country
Nor home have I, nor refuge from mine ills.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]Let it come!
What profits life to me? I have no home,
No country now, nor shield from any wrong.
[tr. Murray (1906)]What good is life? I have no land,
No home, no shelter for my misery.
[tr. Lucas, ed. Higham (1938)]So it must happen. What profit have I in life?
I have no land, no home, no refuge from my pain.
[tr. Warner (1944)]So -- what profit for me in living? who have
No country, no home, no shelter from misfortune.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]Let that be as it will. What do I gain by living? I have no fatherland, no house, and no means to turn aside misfortune.
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]What is the point of living?
There is no land, no home, nor any means to escape my suffering. Miserable wretch!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]Let it pass. What good is life to me? I have no homeland,
I have no home as a refuge from evils.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]So be it. What good does life hold for me now?
I have no father, no home, no refuge.
[tr. Johnston (2008), l. 948ff]So be it. What gain for me to stay alive? I have no fatherland, no home, no escape from disaster.
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]What do I gain from living? I have no country,
no home, no relief from my misfortune.
[ed. Yeroulanos (2016)]So be it! What profit [kerdos] is life to me? I have no country, home [oikos], or refuge left from evils [kaka].
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
Quotations about:
homelessness
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