Antiopa Euripidis

Hyginus, Fabulae, Fabula 8.

Previous fabula: Antiopa (Fabula 7). This page is Fabula 8 only. It is headed, in Latin, EADEM EVRIPIDIS [quam scribit Ennius] — “The same (story) of Euripides [which Ennius writes]”; “Antiopa Euripidis” is the conventional title used here for the page and index, not a translation of that heading. Latin and English are given paragraph by paragraph, so each paragraph can be checked against the other. Further fabulae are added as they are finished; see the Hyginus index.

1

Nyctei regis in Boeotia fuit filia Antiopa; eius formae bonitate Iuppiter adductus grauidam fecit.

Antiopa was the daughter of Nycteus, king in Boeotia; Jupiter, drawn by the beauty of her form, made her pregnant.

2

quam pater cum punire uellet propter stuprum minitans periculum, Antiopa effugit. casu in eodem loco quo illa peruenerat Epaphus Sicyonius stabat; is mulierem aduectam domo matrimonio suo iunxit.

When her father wanted to punish her for the dishonour, threatening her with danger, Antiopa fled. By chance Epaphus of Sicyon was standing in the same place to which she had come; he joined to himself in marriage the woman brought from home.

3

id Nycteus aegre ferens, cum moreretur Lyco fratri suo per obtestationem mandat, cui tum regnum relinquebat, ne impune Antiopa ferret; huius post mortem Lycus Sicyonem uenit; interfecto Epapho Antiopam uinctam adduxit in Cithaeronem; parit geminos et reliquit, quos pastor educauit, Zetum et Amphionem nominauit.

Nycteus, taking this badly, when he was dying charged his brother Lycus, to whom he was then leaving the kingdom, with a solemn plea that Antiopa should not get away with it; after Nycteus's death Lycus came to Sicyon; Epaphus having been killed, he led Antiopa, bound, to Cithaeron; she bore twins and left them, and a shepherd brought them up and named them Zethus and Amphion.

4

Antiopa Dirce uxori Lyci data erat in cruciatum; ea occasione nacta fugae se mandauit; deuenit ad filios suos, ex quibus Zetus existimans fugitiuam non recepit. in eundem locum Dirce per bacchationem Liberi illuc delata est; ibi Antiopam repertam ad mortem extrahebat.

Antiopa had been given to Dirce, Lycus's wife, to be tortured; having got this opportunity, she entrusted herself to flight; she came to her sons, of whom Zethus, thinking her a runaway, did not receive her. Dirce, carried to the same place in the course of Liber's Bacchic rites, was dragging Antiopa, found there, off to death.

5

sed ab educatore pastore adulescentes certiores facti eam esse matrem suam, celeriter consecuti matrem eripuerunt, Dircen ad taurum crinibus religatam necant.

But the young men, informed by the shepherd who had brought them up that she was their mother, quickly followed, rescued their mother, and killed Dirce, bound by her hair to a bull.

6

Lycum cum occidere uellent, uetuit eos Mercurius, et simul iussit Lycum concedere regnum Amphioni.

When they wanted to kill Lycus, Mercury forbade them, and at the same time ordered Lycus to yield the kingdom to Amphion.

Notes

The heading is EADEM EVRIPIDIS [quam scribit Ennius] — “The same (story) of Euripides [which Ennius writes]”. The Ennius clause is bracketed in Packhum. The page title “Antiopa Euripidis” is conventional, not the heading's translation.
Paragraph 2, stuprum: rendered “dishonour”, as in Fabula 7: illicit intercourse / dishonour, not necessarily force, especially here where Antiopa is the one punished.
Paragraph 2, domo: ablative, “from home”, not domum, “to home”. The draft's “brought to his home” was therefore wrong, and the translation now reads “the woman brought from home”, joined to Epaphus in marriage. The supplied text and Packhum both read domo.
Paragraph 3, reliquit: she bore twins and left them, that is, abandoned them; a shepherd brought them up.
Paragraph 4, cruciatum: “to be tortured”, not merely “for torment”. Ea occasione nacta is “having got this opportunity”, with the demonstrative kept. Zethus thinks Antiopa a runaway (fugitiuam) and does not receive her; the recognition comes only in paragraph 5, from the shepherd.
Paragraph 5, crinibus religatam: Dirce is bound by her hair to the bull, against Fabula 7's bound to the bull (deligatam) without the hair detail. The distinction is kept.
Supplements in Packhum: Boeo<t>ia (paragraph 1), Nyct<e>us (paragraph 3 only; Nyctei in paragraph 1 is unsupplemented), S<i>c<y>onem and C<i>th<ae>ronem (paragraph 3). Sicyonius in paragraph 2 is unsupplemented in Packhum. The draft Latin gives the full forms without brackets, flagged here.
Edition check, still open: this Latin text has not yet been checked against a printed critical edition; the points above were checked against the Packhum online text.

Next fabula: Niobe (Fabula 9). Corrections are welcome via the contact form; please say which paragraph you mean.