Bellerophon

Bellerophon

Three Speeches from Euripides’ lost Bellerophon

Translated by Patrick Rourke

Introduction

Bellerophon was the Greek hero who captured Pegasus, the winged horse. When Bellerophon was an old man, his son was killed in a purposeless tragedy, and Bellerophon, his faith in the gods tested, decided to ride Pegasus up to Olympos to question the gods and their motives. On the ascent, Bellerophon was thrown, and fell to Earth, wandering, a cripple, the rest of his days. In these three speeches Bellerophon expresses his disillusion, both before and after his fall.

I.

[untranslated]

II.

A physician must await diagnosis,
follow the progress of a disease,
before he administers a remedy,
to make certain he has the proper treatment.
Some diseases are matters of the will,
and others are brought to us by the gods,
but we approach both with human treatments.

But let me make this clear: if a god
does evil, then he is not a god at all.

. . .

III.

Who would claim that there are gods in heaven?
There are none, none. If some fool repeats
all those old fables, examine them closely,
and remember my words.
I say this:
tyrants and despots break oath after oath,
march leagues to pillage whole cities,
destroy the land and property, and kill thousands,
when they do not stay at home and kill their own.
And comitting all these crimes,
they live more happily than anyone who lives
a life of quiet modesty and reverence.

I have seen small cities whose people
honor the gods in prayer and sacrifice
fall before profane conquerors with more spears.

You would believe my words, if you ever chose
to stay at home idle, left your fields fallow,
devoted your life to prayer, and starved.

The gods are only fantasies
composed of accident and fortune.

. . .