Euripides

“ My hapless mother tarrieth, haled from Troy.
And all the Achaians idle with their ships⁠35
Sit on the beaches of this Thracian land.
For Peleus' son above his tomb appeared,
And all the Hellenic host Achilles stayed,
Even as they homeward aimed the brine-dipt oar,
And claimed for his Polyxena my sister,⁠40
For sacrifice and honour to his tomb;
Yea, and shall win, nor of his hero-friends
Giftless shall be. And Fate is leading on
Unto her death my sister on this day. ”

“ Arise, ill-starred, and from the earth uplift
Thy body and thine head all snow-besprent.⁠500
Hecuba.
Ha, who art thou that lettest not my frame
Rest?—why disturb my grief, whoe'er thou be?
Talthybius.
Talthybius I, the Danaans' minister,
Of Agamemnon sent, O queen, for thee.
Hecuba.
Friend, friend, art come because the Achaians will⁠505
To slay me too?—How sweet thy tidings were!
Haste we—make speed—O ancient, lead me on.
Talthybius.
Lady, that thou mayst bury thy dead child
I come in quest of thee; and sent am I
Of Atreus' two sons and the Achaian folk.⁠510
Hecuba. ”

“ HECUBA.
The phantom of Polydorus appears hovering over the tent
of Agamemnon.
Polydorus.
I come from vaults of death, from gates of darkness,
Where from the Gods aloof doth Hades dwell,
Polydorus, born of Hecuba, Kisseus' child,
And Priam, who, when peril girt the town
Of Phrygians, by the spear of Greece to fall,⁠5
In fear from Troyland privily sent me forth
To Polymestor's halls, his Thracian friend,
Lord of the fair tilth-lands of Chersonese,
Who with the spear rules that horse-loving folk. ”

“ Wretch! wreaked on thee are ills intolerable:
Foul deeds thou didst, and awful penalty
A God hath laid on thee with heavy hand.
Polymestor.
What ho! spear-brandishers, nation arrayed in warrior's weed!
Thracians possessed of the War-god, lords of the gallant steed!⁠1090
⁠What ho, ye Achaians!—Atreus' seed!
⁠Rescue! Rescue! I raise the cry.
⁠O come, in the name of the Gods draw nigh!
Hears any man?—wherefore delay?—will no man help me nor heed?
⁠Of women undone, destroyed, am I—
⁠The women of Troy's captivity.
Horrors are wrought on me—horrors! Woe for the felon deed! ”

“ Thine impious guest should taste for this thy vengeance,
So means were found thy cause to speed, while I
Seem not unto the host to plot this death⁠855
For Thracia's king for thy Kassandra's sake.
For herein is mine heart disquieted:—
This very man the host account their friend,
The dead their foe: that dear he is to thee
Is nought to them, nor part have these in him.⁠860
Wherefore take thought: in me thou hast one fain
To share thy toil, and swift to lend thee aid,
But slow to face the Achaians' murmurings.
Hecuba.
Ah, among mortals is there no man free! ”

“ Thou, draw nigh our Thracian guest,⁠890
Say, "Hecuba, late Queen of Ilium,
Calls thee on thy behoof no less than hers,
Thy sons withal; for these must also hear
Her words." The burial of Polyxena
Late-slaughtered, Agamemnon, thou delay:⁠895
So sister joined with brother in one flame,
A mother's double grief, shall be entombed.
Agamemnon.
So shall it be: yet, might the host but sail,
No power had I to grant this grace to thee:
But, seeing God sends no fair-following winds,⁠900
Needs must we tarry watching idle sails. ”

“ The Achaians will to slay Polyxena⁠220
Thy child, upon Achilles' grave-mound's height.
Me they appoint to usher thitherward
And bring the maid: the president and priest
Of sacrifice Achilles' son shall be.
Know'st thou thy part then?—be not torn away⁠225
Perforce, nor brave me to the strife of hands;
But know thy might, thine imminence of ills.
Wise is it even mid ills to hearken reason.
Hecuba.
Woe! A sore trial is at hand, meseems,
Burdened with groanings, and fulfilled of tears.⁠230
I died not there where well might I have died ”

“ But even to keep that gold within thine halls.⁠1245
In this ill plight thou speak'st to serve thine ends.
Haply with you guest-murder is as nought,
But to us which be Greeks foul shame is this.
How can I uncondemned adjudge thee guiltless?
I cannot. Forasmuch as thou hast dared⁠1250
To do foul deeds, even drain thy bitter cup.
Polymestor.
Woe's me!—by a woman-slave o'ercome, meseems,
'Neath vengeance of the viler must I bow!
Hecuba.
Is it not just, if thou hast vileness wrought?
Polymestor.
Woe for my babes and for mine eyes!—ah wretch!⁠1255
Hecuba. ”

“ Than man may bear, should flee his wretched life.
Enter Agamemnon.
Agamemnon.
Hearing a shout I came; for in no whispers
The mountain-rock's child Echo through the host⁠1110
Cried, waking tumult. Knew we not the towers
Of Phrygia by the spear of Greeks had fallen,
No little panic had this clangour roused.
Polymestor.
Dear friend—for, Agamemnon, 'tis thy voice,
I hear and know—see'st thou what I endure?⁠1115
Agamemnon.
Ha, wretched Polymestor, who hath marred thee?,
Who dashed with blood thine eyes, and blinded thee?—,
Slew these thy sons? ”

“ Daughters of Troy—O ye heralds of ruin, ye heralds of ruin!—
⁠What profits my life any more, whom your words have undone, have undone?
Now unto yonder pavilion, to tell to my child her undoing,⁠170
⁠Lead, O ye wretchedest feet, lead ye the eld-stricken one!
O daughter, O child of a mother most wretched, forth faring, forth faring,
⁠Come from the tent, O hearken the voice of thy mother's word,
To the end thou mayst know what a rumour of awful despairing, despairing,
⁠Concerning the life of thee, my beloved, but now have I heard!
Enter Polyxena.
Polyxena. ”

“ Myself mid shame a spear-thrall ruin-sped;—
Yon smoke o'er Troy upsoaring in my sight!
Yet—yet—'twere unavailing plea perchance
To cast Love's shield before me—yet be it said:⁠825
Lo, at thy very side my child is couched,
Kassandra, whom the Phrygians called the Inspired:—
Those nights of love, hath their memorial perished?
Or for the lovingkindness of the couch
What thank shall my child have, or I for her?⁠830
For of the darkness and the night's love-spells
Cometh on men the chiefest claim for thank.
Hearken now, hearken: seest thou this dead boy? ”

“ Hecuba.
If me, his mother, he remembereth?
Polymestor.
Yea—fain had come to thee in secret hither.
Hecuba.
Is the gold safe, wherewith from Troy he came?
Polymestor.
Safe—warded in mine halls in any wise.⁠995
Hecuba.
Safe keep it: covet not thy neighbours' goods.
Polymestor.
Nay, lady: joy be mine of that I have!
Hecuba.
Know'st what I fain would tell thee and thy sons?
Polymestor.
I know not: this thy word shall signify.
Hecuba.
Be it sweet to thee as thou to me art dear!⁠1000
Polymestor. ”

“ When thou cam'st hither: soon as I returned,
At point was I to hasten forth mine home;⁠965
When lo, for this same end thine handmaid came
Telling a tale whose tidings winged mine haste.
Hecuba.
I shame to look thee in the face, who lie,
O Polymestor, in such depth of ills.
Thou sawest me in weal: shame's thrall I am,⁠970
Found in such plight wherein I am this day.
I cannot look on thee with eyes undrooped.
Yet count it not as evil-will to thee,
Polymestor; therebeside is custom's bar
That women look not in the eyes of men.⁠975
Polymestor. ”

“ And her cheeks with woe-furrows are gory,
⁠And her fingers are red.
Enter Handmaid, with bearers carrying a covered corpse.
Handmaid.
Women, O where is Hecuba, sorrow's queen,
Who passeth every man, all womankind,
In woes? No man shall take away her crown.⁠660
Chorus.
What now, O hapless voice of evil-boding?
Shall they ne'er sleep, thy publishings of grief?
Handmaid.
To Hecuba I bring this pang: mid woes
Not easily may mortal lips speak fair. ”

“ All to spare our hands the stain of the blood of bond-maid slain,
⁠Neither suffer that a voice from the ranks of them that stand
In the presence of Hell's Queen should with scoffing bitter-keen
⁠Cry, 'Thankless from the plains of Troy the Danaans have sped,⁠140
Thankless unto Danaan kin whose graves are thick therein,
⁠Who died to save their brethren—the soon -forgotten dead !'"
And Odysseus draweth near—even now shall he be here
⁠From thy breast to rend thy darling, from thine age-enfeebled grasp. ”

“ For forth of Agamemnon's tent she sets
Her feet, appalled by this my ghostly phantom.
Hecuba, dressed as a slave, and supported by fellow-captives, appears coming out of Agamemnon's tent.
Mother, who after royal halls hast seen⁠55
The day of thraldom, how thy depth of woe
Equals thine height of weal! A God bears down
The scale with olden bliss heaped, ruining thee.
[Exit.]
Hecuba.
Lead forth, O my children, the stricken in years from the tent.
⁠O lead her, upbearing the steps of your fellow-thrall⁠60
⁠Now, O ye daughters of Troy, but of old your queen. ”

“ It is a significant touch that Hecuba can imagine for the author of her sufferings no sterner retribution than even such sufferings:—"O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us." ”

“ But what return thou ow'st me, on my claim,
Hear—thou didst touch mine hand, as thou dost own,
And wrinkled cheek, low cowering at my feet.
Lo, in my turn thine hand, thy beard, I touch,⁠275
That grace of old reclaiming, now thy suppliant.
Not from mine arms tear thou my child away,
Nor slay ye her: suffice the already dead.
In her I joy, in her forget my woes.
For many a lost bliss she my solace is:⁠280
My city she, nurse, staff, guide for my feet.
Not tyrannously the strong should use their strength,
Nor they which prosper think to prosper aye. ”

“ When Troy was taken by the Greeks, Hecuba, the wife of Priam, and her daughters, Kassandra the prophetess, and Polyxena, with the other women of Troy, were made slaves, being portioned among the victors, so that Kassandra became the concubine of Agamemnon. But Polydorus, the youngest of Priam's sons, had long ere this been sent, with much treasure of gold, for safe keeping to his father's friend, Polymestor king of Thrace, so that his mother had one consolation of hope amidst her afflictions. ”

“ Agamemnon.
Where found'st thou him?—or who hath brought thy dead?
Hecuba.
She there: upon the strand she chanced on him.
Agamemnon.
Seeking him, or on other task employed?
Hecuba.
Sea-brine she sought to lave Polyxena.⁠780
Agamemnon.
So then this guest-friend slew and cast him forth.
Hecuba.
Yea, on the sea to drift, his flesh thus hacked.
Agamemnon.
O woe is thee for thine unmeasured pains!
Hecuba.
'Tis death—there is no deeper depth of woe.
Agamemnon.
Alas, was woman e'er so fortune-crost?⁠785
Hecuba. ”

“ It shall mock thee, thy wayfaring's hope; to the Unseen Land,
⁠To the place of the dead hath it drawn thee, O wretch undone!
⁠By the hand not of warriors, thou hero, shalt thou be slain.
Polymestor (within) .
Ah, I am blinded of mine eyes' light—wretch!⁠1035
Chorus.
Heard ye the yell of yonder Thracian, friends?
Polymestor (within) .
Ah me, my children!—ah the awful murder!
Chorus.
Friends, strange grim work is wrought in yonder tent.
Polymestor (within) .
Surely by swift feet shall ye not escape!
My blows shall rive this dwelling's inmost parts!⁠1040
Chorus. ”

“ Now the King was fervent there that thy daughter they should spare,
⁠For that Agamemnon loveth thy prophet-bacchanal.
But the sons of Theseus twain, [1] Athens' scions, for thy bane
⁠Pleaded both, yet for the victim did their vote at variance fall.
"Ye cannot choose but crown with the life-blood streaming down
⁠Achilles' grave!" they clamoured—"and, for this Kassandra's bed,
Shall any dare prefer to Achilles' prowess her—⁠130
⁠A concubine, a bondslave?—It shall never be!" they said. ”

“ Thou slew'st the guest that came unto thine hearth.
Nay more, hear now how thou art villain proved:
Thou oughtest, if thou wert the Achaians' friend,
Have brought the gold thou dar'st not call thine own,
But for him held in trust, to these impoverished⁠1220
And long time exiled from their fatherland.
But thou not yet canst ope thine heart to unclose
Thy grip; thy miser-clutch keeps it at home.
Yet hadst thou, as behoved thee, reared my son
And saved alive, thine had been fair renown.⁠1225
For in adversity the good are friends
Most true: prosperity hath friends unsought. ”

“ My friend art thou, well-willed to me this host
Achaian. Now behoves thee to declare
Wherein the prosperous must render help
To friends afflicted: lo, prepared am I.⁠985
Hecuba.
First, of the son whom in thine halls thou hast,
Polydorus, of mine hands, and of his sire's—
Liveth he?—I will ask thee then the rest.
Polymestor.
Surely: as touching him thy lot is fair.
Hecuba.
Dear friend, how well thou speak'st and worthy thee!⁠990
Polymestor. ”

“ And he claimeth a guerdon of honour, the spilling of blood,
⁠And a woe-stricken Trojan maiden's doom.
O Gods, I am suppliant before you!—in any wise turn,
⁠I implore you,
⁠This fate from the child of my womb!
Enter Chorus of Trojan Captive Women.
Chorus.
I have hasted hitherward ; the pavilions of my lord,⁠100
⁠O my queen, have I forsaken, in the which I sojourn here,
Whom the lot hath doomed to fall unto a king, a thrall
⁠From Ilium chased, the quarry of Achaian hunters' spear,—
Not for lightening of thy pain ”

“ And now king Polymestor, lusting for the gold, and fearing no vengeance of man, slew his ward, the lad Polydorus, and flung his body into the sea, so that it was in process of time cast up by the waves on the shore whereby was the camp of the Greeks, and was brought to Hecuba. And herein are told the sorrow of Hecuba and her revenge.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
Phantom of Polydorus, son of Priam King of Troy, and Hecuba. ”

“ Polymestor.
Where?—where?—beneath thy raiment, or in hiding?
Hecuba.
In yon tents, safe beneath a heap of spoils.
Polymestor.
Safe?—there?—Achaian ships empale us round.⁠1015
Hecuba.
Inviolate are the captive women's tents.
Polymestor.
Within is all safe? Be they void of men?
Hecuba.
Within is no Achaian, only we.
Enter the tents,—for fain the Argives are
To unmoor the ships for homeward flight from Troy,—⁠1020
That, all well done, thou mayst with thy sons fare
To where thou gav'st a home unto my child.
Hecuba and Polymestor with Children enter the tent. ”