CHORUS: The fiercest anger of all, the most incurable
is that which rages in the place of dearest love.[ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: Δεινή τις ὀργὴ καὶ δυσίατος πέλει,
ὅταν φίλοι φίλοισι συμβάλωσ᾽ ἔριν.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 520ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]
(Source)
Of the estrangement Jason and Medea. Some translations say this line is given by the chorus leader, not the chorus as a whole.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:How sharp their wrath, how hard to be appeas'd
When friends with friends begin the cruel strife.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]When friends with friends at variance kindle strife,
Fierce is their anger and immedicable.
[tr. Potter (1814)]Terrible is that anger, and to assuage
Most difficult, when friends with friends join battle.
[tr. Webster (1868)]There is a something terrible and past all cure, when quarrels arise 'twixt those who are near and dear.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]Dreadful is that anger and irremediable, when friends with friends kindle strife.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Awful is wrath, and past all balm of healing,
When they that once loved clash in feud of hate.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]Dire and beyond all healing is the hate
When hearts that loved are turned to enmity.
[tr. Murray (1906)]It is a strange form of anger, difficult to cure, when two friends turn upon each other in hatred.
[tr. Warner (1944)]A terrible thing is temper and knows no cure
When dear ones wrangle and fall to fighting each other.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]Terrible and hard to heal is the wrath that comes when kin join in conflict with kin.
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]Terrible is the anger and almost beyond cure, when strife severs those whom love once joined.
[tr. Davie (1996)]Friend against friend! An anger most implacable!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]Anger is frightening and hard to remedy
when loved ones join in strife with loved ones.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]When members of a family fight like this,
rage pushes them beyond all compromise.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]It is a deinē anger and past all cure, whenever philoi fall to strife [eris] with philoi.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
Quotations about:
kin
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Sometimes I wondered if it even mattered whether our communion cups were filled with consecrated wine or draft beer, as long as we bent over them long enough to recognize each other as kin.
Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
Learning to Walk in the Dark, ch. 2 (2014)
(Source)
