---
title: "The Trojan Women · Τρῳάδες"
author: "Euripides"
translator: "Edward P. Coleridge"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/euripides-trojan-women/
cite: "Euripides, tr. Edward P. Coleridge, The Trojan Women · Τρῳάδες. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/euripides-trojan-women/"
---

# The Trojan Women · Τρῳάδες

*Euripides, tr. Edward P. Coleridge*

The women of Troy wait to be shared out among the victors.

> Greek: ed. Gilbert Murray, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0006.tlg011, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Edward P. Coleridge, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0006.tlg011.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (line numbers), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Lines 1–672](https://scriptura.si/works/euripides-trojan-women/1.md)
2. [Lines 673–1332](https://scriptura.si/works/euripides-trojan-women/2.md)

## 1. Lines 1–672

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/euripides-trojan-women/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/euripides-trojan-women/1/#p-N

[¶0] Poseidon:
From the depths of salt Aegean floods I, Poseidon, have come, where choirs of Nereids dance in a graceful maze; for since the day that Phoebus and I with exact measurement
set towers of stone about this land of Troy and ringed it round, never from my heart has passed away a kindly feeling for my Phrygian town, which now is smouldering and overthrown, a prey to Argive might. For, from his home beneath Parnassus,
Phocian Epeus, aided by the craft of Pallas, framed a horse to bear within its womb an armed army, and sent it within the battlements, a deadly statue;[from which in days to come men shall tell of the Wooden Horse, with its hidden load of warriors.]

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
Ἥκω λιπὼν Αἴγαιον ἁλμυρὸν βάθος
πόντου Ποσειδῶν, ἔνθα Νηρῄδων χοροὶ
κάλλιστον ἴχνος ἐξελίσσουσιν ποδός.
ἐξ οὗ γὰρ ἀμφὶ τήνδε Τρωικὴν χθόνα
Φοῖβός τε κἀγὼ λαΐνους πύργους πέριξ
ὀρθοῖσιν ἔθεμεν κανόσιν, οὔποτʼ ἐκ φρενῶν
εὔνοιʼ ἀπέστη τῶν ἐμῶν Φρυγῶν πόλει·
ἣ νῦν καπνοῦται καὶ πρὸς Ἀργείου δορὸς
ὄλωλε πορθηθεῖσʼ· ὁ γὰρ Παρνάσιος
Φωκεὺς Ἐπειός, μηχαναῖσι Παλλάδος
ἐγκύμονʼ ἵππον τευχέων ξυναρμόσας,
πύργων ἔπεμψεν ἐντὸς ὀλέθριον βρέτας·
[ὅθεν πρὸς ἀνδρῶν ὑστέρων κεκλήσεται]
[Δούρειος Ἵππος, κρυπτὸν ἀμπισχὼν δόρυ.]

[¶1] Groves stand forsaken and temples of the gods run down with blood, and at the altar’s very base, before the god who watched his home, Priam lies dead. While to Achaean ships great store of gold and Phrygian spoils are being conveyed,
and they who came against this town, those sons of Hellas, only wait a favoring breeze to follow in their wake, that after ten long years they may with joy behold their wives and children. Vanquished by Hera, Argive goddess, and by Athena, who helped to ruin Phrygia,
I am leaving Ilium, that famous town, and my altars; for when dreary desolation seizes on a town, the worship of the gods decays and tends to lose respect. Scamander’s banks re-echo long and loud the screams of captive maids, as they by lot receive their masters.

> Greek: ἔρημα δʼ ἄλση καὶ θεῶν ἀνάκτορα
φόνῳ καταρρεῖ· πρὸς δὲ κρηπίδων βάθροις
πέπτωκε Πρίαμος Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου θανών.
πολὺς δὲ χρυσὸς Φρύγιά τε σκυλεύματα
πρὸς ναῦς Ἀχαιῶν πέμπεται· μένουσι δὲ
πρύμνηθεν οὖρον, ὡς δεκασπόρῳ χρόνῳ
ἀλόχους τε καὶ τέκνʼ εἰσίδωσιν ἄσμενοι,
οἳ τήνδʼ ἐπεστράτευσαν Ἕλληνες πόλιν.
ἐγὼ δέ — νικῶμαι γὰρ Ἀργείας θεοῦ
Ἥρας Ἀθάνας θʼ, αἳ συνεξεῖλον Φρύγας —
λείπω τὸ κλεινὸν Ἴλιον βωμούς τʼ ἐμούς·
ἐρημία γὰρ πόλιν ὅταν λάβῃ κακή,
νοσεῖ τὰ τῶν θεῶν οὐδὲ τιμᾶσθαι θέλει.
πολλοῖς δὲ κωκυτοῖσιν αἰχμαλωτίδων
βοᾷ Σκάμανδρος δεσπότας κληρουμένων.

[¶2] Arcadia takes some, and some the people of Thessaly; others are assigned to Theseus’ sons, the Athenian chiefs. And such of the Trojan women as are not portioned out are in these tents, set apart for the leaders of the army; and with them Spartan Helen,
daughter of Tyndareus, justly counted among the captives. And if you would see that queen of misery, Hecuba, you can; for there she lies before the gates, weeping many tears for many sorrows; at Achilles’ tomb,
without her knowledge, her daughter Polyxena has died most piteously; Priam is gone, and her children too; Cassandra, whom the lord Apollo left to be a virgin, frenzied maid, has been forced by Agamemnon, in contempt of the god’s ordinance and of piety, to a dishonored wedlock.

> Greek: καὶ τὰς μὲν Ἀρκάς, τὰς δὲ Θεσσαλὸς λεὼς
εἴληχʼ Ἀθηναίων τε Θησεῖδαι πρόμοι.
ὅσαι δʼ ἄκληροι Τρῳάδων, ὑπὸ στέγαις
ταῖσδʼ εἰσί, τοῖς πρώτοισιν ἐξῃρημέναι
στρατοῦ, σὺν αὐταῖς δʼ ἡ Λάκαινα Τυνδαρὶς
Ἑλένη, νομισθεῖσʼ αἰχμάλωτος ἐνδίκως.
τὴν δʼ ἀθλίαν τήνδʼ εἴ τις εἰσορᾶν θέλει,
πάρεστιν, Ἑκάβην κειμένην πυλῶν πάρος,
δάκρυα χέουσαν πολλὰ καὶ πολλῶν ὕπερ·
ᾗ παῖς μὲν ἀμφὶ μνῆμʼ Ἀχιλλείου τάφου
λάθρα τέθνηκε τλημόνως Πολυξένη·
φροῦδος δὲ Πρίαμος καὶ τέκνʼ· ἣν δὲ παρθένον
μεθῆκʼ Ἀπόλλων δρομάδα Κασάνδραν ἄναξ,
τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τε παραλιπὼν τό τʼ εὐσεβὲς
γαμεῖ βιαίως σκότιον Ἀγαμέμνων λέχος.

[¶3] Farewell, O city once prosperous! farewell, you ramparts of polished stone! if Pallas, daughter of Zeus, had not decreed your ruin, you would be standing firmly still.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ, ὦ ποτʼ εὐτυχοῦσα, χαῖρέ μοι, πόλις
ξεστόν τε πύργωμʼ· εἴ σε μὴ διώλεσεν
Παλλὰς Διὸς παῖς, ἦσθʼ ἂν ἐν βάθροις ἔτι.

[¶4] Athena:
May I address the mighty god whom the gods revere and who to my own father is very near in blood,
laying aside our former enmity?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἔξεστι τὸν γένει μὲν ἄγχιστον πατρὸς
μέγαν τε δαίμονʼ ἐν θεοῖς τε τίμιον,
λύσασαν ἔχθραν τὴν πάρος, προσεννέπειν;

[¶5] Poseidon:
You may; for over the soul the ties of kin exert no feeble spell, great queen Athena.

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
ἔξεστιν· αἱ γὰρ συγγενεῖς ὁμιλίαι,
ἄνασσʼ Ἀθάνα, φίλτρον οὐ σμικρὸν φρενῶν.

[¶6] Athena:
For your forgiving mood my thanks! I have messages to impart affecting both yourself and me, lord.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἐπῄνεσʼ ὀργὰς ἠπίους· φέρω δὲ σοὶ
κοινοὺς ἐμαυτῇ τʼ ἐς μέσον λόγους, ἄναξ.

[¶7] Poseidon:
Do you bring fresh tidings from some god, from Zeus, or from some lesser power?

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
μῶν ἐκ θεῶν του καινὸν ἀγγελεῖς ἔπος,
ἢ Ζηνὸς ἢ καὶ δαιμόνων τινὸς πάρα;

[¶8] Athena:
From none of these; but on behalf of Troy, whose soil we tread, I have come to seek your mighty aid, to make it one with mine.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
οὔκ, ἀλλὰ Τροίας οὕνεκʼ, ἔνθα βαίνομεν,
πρὸς σὴν ἀφῖγμαι δύναμιν, ὡς κοινὴν λάβω.

[¶9] Poseidon:
What! have you laid your former hate aside
to take compassion on the town now that it is burnt to ashes?

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
ἦ πού νιν, ἔχθραν τὴν πρὶν ἐκβαλοῦσα, νῦν
ἐς οἶκτον ἦλθες πυρὶ κατῃθαλωμένης;

[¶10] Athena:
First go back to the former point; will you make common cause with me in the scheme I purpose?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἐκεῖσε πρῶτʼ ἄνελθε· κοινώσῃ λόγους
καὶ συνθελήσεις ἃν ἐγὼ πρᾶξαι θέλω;

[¶11] Poseidon:
Yes, surely; but I want to learn your wishes, whether you have come to help Achaeans or Phrygians.

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
μάλιστʼ· ἀτὰρ δὴ καὶ τὸ σὸν θέλω μαθεῖν·
πότερον Ἀχαιῶν ἦλθες οὕνεκʼ ἢ Φρυγῶν;

[¶12] Athena:
I wish to give my former foes, the Trojans, joy, and on the Achaean army impose a bitter return.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
τοὺς μὲν πρὶν ἐχθροὺς Τρῶας εὐφρᾶναι θέλω,
στρατῷ δʼ Ἀχαιῶν νόστον ἐμβαλεῖν πικρόν.

[¶13] Poseidon:
Why do you leap thus from mood to mood? Your love and hate both go too far, on whomever centred.

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
τί δʼ ὧδε πηδᾷς ἄλλοτʼ εἰς ἄλλους τρόπους
μισεῖς τε λίαν καὶ φιλεῖς ὃν ἂν τύχῃς;

[¶14] Athena:
Do you not know the insult done to me and to the shrine I love?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
οὐκ οἶσθʼ ὑβρισθεῖσάν με καὶ ναοὺς ἐμούς;

[¶15] Poseidon:
I do: when Aias dragged away Cassandra by force.

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
οἶδʼ, ἡνίκʼ Αἴας εἷλκε Κασάνδραν βίᾳ.

[¶16] Athena:
Yes, and the Achaeans did nothing, said nothing to him.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
κοὐδέν γʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἔπαθεν οὐδʼ ἤκουσʼ ὕπο.

[¶17] Poseidon:
And yet it was by your mighty aid they sacked Ilium.

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
καὶ μὴν ἔπερσάν γʼ Ἴλιον τῷ σῷ σθένει.

[¶18] Athena:
For which cause I would join with you to do them harm.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
τοιγάρ σφε σὺν σοὶ βούλομαι δρᾶσαι κακῶς.

[¶19] Poseidon:
My powers are ready at your will. What is your intent?

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
ἕτοιμʼ ἃ βούλῃ τἀπʼ ἐμοῦ. δράσεις δὲ τί;

[¶20] Athena:
I will impose on them a return that is no return.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
δύσνοστον αὐτοῖς νόστον ἐμβαλεῖν θέλω.

[¶21] Poseidon:
While they stay on shore, or as they cross the salt sea?

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
ἐν γῇ μενόντων ἢ καθʼ ἁλμυρὰν ἅλα;

[¶22] Athena:
When they have set sail from Ilium for their homes. On them will Zeus also send his rain and fearful hail,
and inky tempests from the sky; and he promises to grant me his thunder-bolts to hurl on the Achaeans and fire their ships. And you, for your part, make the Aegean strait to roar with mighty billows and whirlpools, and fill Euboea’s hollow bay with corpses,
that Achaeans may learn henceforth to reverence my temples and regard all other deities.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ὅταν πρὸς οἴκους ναυστολῶσʼ ἀπʼ Ἰλίου.
καὶ Ζεὺς μὲν ὄμβρον καὶ χάλαζαν ἄσπετον
πέμψει, δνοφώδη τʼ αἰθέρος φυσήματα·
ἐμοὶ δὲ δώσειν φησὶ πῦρ κεραύνιον,
βάλλειν Ἀχαιοὺς ναῦς τε πιμπράναι πυρί.
σὺ δʼ αὖ, τὸ σόν, παράσχες Αἴγαιον πόρον
τρικυμίαις βρέμοντα καὶ δίναις ἁλός,
πλῆσον δὲ νεκρῶν κοῖλον Εὐβοίας μυχόν,
ὡς ἂν τὸ λοιπὸν τἄμʼ ἀνάκτορʼ εὐσεβεῖν
εἰδῶσʼ Ἀχαιοί, θεούς τε τοὺς ἄλλους σέβειν.

[¶23] Poseidon:
So shall it be, for this favor needs only a few words. I will vex the broad Aegean sea; and the beach of Myconos and the reefs round Delos,
Scyros and Lemnos too, and the cliffs of Caphareus shall be strewn with many a corpse. You go to Olympus, and taking from your father’s hand his lightning bolts, keep careful watch against the hour when Argos’ army lets slip its cables.

> Greek: Ποσειδῶν:
ἔσται τάδʼ· ἡ χάρις γὰρ οὐ μακρῶν λόγων
δεῖται· ταράξω πέλαγος Αἰγαίας ἁλός.
ἀκταὶ δὲ Μυκόνου Δήλιοί τε χοιράδες
Σκῦρός τε Λῆμνός θʼ αἱ Καφήρειοί τʼ ἄκραι
πολλῶν θανόντων σώμαθʼ ἕξουσιν νεκρῶν.
ἀλλʼ ἕρπʼ Ὄλυμπον καὶ κεραυνίους βολὰς
λαβοῦσα πατρὸς ἐκ χερῶν καραδόκει,
ὅταν στράτευμʼ Ἀργεῖον ἐξιῇ κάλως.

[¶24] A fool is he who sacks the towns of men, with shrines and tombs, the dead man’s hallowed home, for at the last he makes a desert round himself and dies.

> Greek: μῶρος δὲ θνητῶν ὅστις ἐκπορθεῖ πόλεις,
ναούς τε τύμβους θʼ, ἱερὰ τῶν κεκμηκότων,
ἐρημίᾳ δοὺς αὐτὸς ὤλεθʼ ὕστερον.

[¶25] Hecuba:
Lift your head, unhappy one, from the ground; raise up your neck; this is Troy no more,
no longer am I queen in Ilium. Though fortune change, endure your lot; sail with the stream, and follow fortune’s tack, do not steer your ship of life against the tide, since chance must guide your course.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἄνα, δύσδαιμον, πεδόθεν κεφαλή·
ἐπάειρε δέρην· οὐκέτι Τροία
τάδε καὶ βασιλῆς ἐσμεν Τροίας.
μεταβαλλομένου δαίμονος ἀνέχου.
πλεῖ κατὰ πορθμόν, πλεῖ κατὰ δαίμονα,
μηδὲ προσίστω πρῷραν βιότου
πρὸς κῦμα πλέουσα τύχαισιν.

[¶26] Ah me! ah me! What else but tears is now my hapless lot, whose country, children, husband, all are lost? Ah! the high-blown pride of ancestors, humbled! how brought to nothing after all!

> Greek: αἰαῖ αἰαῖ.
τί γὰρ οὐ πάρα μοι μελέᾳ στενάχειν,
ᾗ πατρὶς ἔρρει καὶ τέκνα καὶ πόσις;
ὦ πολὺς ὄγκος συστελλόμενος
προγόνων, ὡς οὐδὲν ἄρʼ ἦσθα.

[¶27] What woe must I suppress, or what declare? [What plaintive dirge shall I awake?] Ah, woe is me! the anguish I suffer lying here stretched upon this hard pallet!

> Greek: τί με χρὴ σιγᾶν; τί δὲ μὴ σιγᾶν;
[τί δὲ θρηνῆσαι;]
δύστηνος ἐγὼ τῆς βαρυδαίμονος
ἄρθρων κλίσεως, ὡς διάκειμαι,
νῶτʼ ἐν στερροῖς λέκτροισι ταθεῖσʼ.

[¶28] O my head, my temples, my side! How I long to turn over, and lie now on this, now on that, to rest my back and spine, while ceaselessly my tearful wail ascends.

> Greek: οἴμοι κεφαλῆς, οἴμοι κροτάφων
πλευρῶν θʼ, ὥς μοι πόθος εἱλίξαι
καὶ διαδοῦναι νῶτον ἄκανθάν τʼ
εἰς ἀμφοτέρους τοίχους, μελέων
ἐπὶ τοὺς αἰεὶ δακρύων ἐλέγους.

[¶29] For even this is music to the wretched, to chant their cheerless dirge of sorrow.

> Greek: μοῦσα δὲ χαὕτη τοῖς δυστήνοις
ἄτας κελαδεῖν ἀχορεύτους.

[¶30] Hecuba:
You swift-prowed ships, rowed to sacred Ilium over the deep dark sea,
past the fair havens of Hellas, to the flute’s ill-omened music and the dulcet voice of pipes,
to the bays of Troy, alas! where you tied your hawsers, twisted handiwork from Egypt, in quest of that hateful wife of Menelaus, who brought disgrace on Castor, and on Eurotas foul reproach; who murdered
Priam, the father of fifty children; the cause why I, the unhappy Hecuba, have wrecked my life upon this disastrous strand. Oh that I should sit here, over against the tent of Agamemnon!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
πρῷραι ναῶν, ὠκείαις
Ἴλιον ἱερὰν αἳ κώπαις
διʼ ἅλα πορφυροειδέα καὶ
λιμένας Ἑλλάδος εὐόρμους
αὐλῶν παιᾶνι στυγνῷ
συρίγγων τʼ εὐφθόγγων φωνᾷ
βαίνουσαι πλεκτὰν Αἰγύπτου
παιδείαν ἐξηρτήσασθʼ,
αἰαῖ, Τροίας ἐν κόλποις
τὰν Μενελάου μετανισόμεναι
στυγνὰν ἄλοχον, Κάστορι λώβαν
τῷ τʼ Εὐρώτᾳ δυσκλείαν,
ἃ σφάζει μὲν
τὸν πεντήκοντʼ ἀροτῆρα τέκνων
Πρίαμον, ἐμέ τε μελέαν Ἑκάβαν
ἐς τάνδʼ ἐξώκειλʼ ἄταν.
ὤμοι, θάκους οἵους θάσσω,
σκηναῖς ἐφέδρους Ἀγαμεμνονίαις.

[¶31] As a slave I am led away from my home, an old woman, while from my head the hair is piteously shorn for grief. Ah! unhappy wives of those armored sons of Troy! Ah! poor maidens, luckless brides,
come weep, for Ilium is now a smouldering ruin; and I, like some mother-bird that over her fledgelings screams, will begin the strain; not the same as that
I once sang to the gods, as I leaned on Priam’s staff and beat with my foot in Phrygian time to lead the dance!

> Greek: δούλα δʼ ἄγομαι
γραῦς ἐξ οἴκων πενθήρη
κρᾶτʼ ἐκπορθηθεῖσʼ οἰκτρῶς.
ἀλλʼ ὦ τῶν χαλκεγχέων Τρώων
ἄλοχοι μέλεαι,
καὶ κοῦραι ⟨κοῦραι⟩ δύσνυμφοι,
τύφεται Ἴλιον, αἰάζωμεν.
μάτηρ δʼ ὡσεί τις πτανοῖς
ὄρνισιν, ὅπως ἐξάρξω ʼγὼ
κλαγγάν, μολπάν, οὐ τὰν αὐτὰν
οἵαν ποτὲ δὴ
σκήπτρῳ Πριάμου διερειδομένα
ποδὸς ἀρχεχόρου πληγαῖς Φρυγίους
εὐκόμποις ἐξῆρχον θεούς.

[¶32] First Semi-Chorus:
O Hecuba! why these cries, these piercing shrieks? What do your words mean? For I heard your piteous wail
echo through the building, and a pang of terror shoots through each captive Trojan’s breast, as within these walls they mourn their slavish lot.

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον Α:
Ἑκάβη, τί θροεῖς; τί δὲ θωΰσσεις;
ποῖ λόγος ἥκει; διὰ γὰρ μελάθρων
ἄιον οἴκτους οὓς οἰκτίζῃ.
διὰ δὲ στέρνων φόβος ἄισσεν
Τρῳάσιν, αἳ τῶνδʼ οἴκων εἴσω
δουλείαν αἰάζουσιν.

[¶33] Hecuba:
My child, even now at the ships of the Argives—

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ τέκνʼ, Ἀργείων πρὸς ναῦς ἤδη …

[¶34] First Semi-Chorus:
The rower’s hand is busy?

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον Α:
κινεῖται κωπήρης χείρ;

[¶35] Ah, woe is me! what is their intent? Will they really carry me away from my country in their fleet?

> Greek: οἲ ἐγώ, τί θέλουσʼ, ἦ πού μʼ ἤδη
ναυσθλώσουσιν πατρίας ἐκ γᾶς;

[¶36] Hecuba:
I do not know, though I guess our doom.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οὐκ οἶδʼ, εἰκάζω δʼ ἄταν.

[¶37] First Semi-Chorus:
O misery!

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον Α:
ἰὼ ἰώ.

[¶38] woe to us Trojan women, soon to hear of our troubles: “Come out of the house, the Argives are preparing to return”.

> Greek: μέλεαι μόχθων ἐπακουσόμεναι
Τρῳάδες, ἔξω κομίζεσθʼ οἴκων·
στέλλουσʼ Ἀργεῖοι νόστον.

[¶39] Hecuba:
Oh! please do not bid the
wild Cassandra leave her chamber, the frantic prophetess, for Argives to insult, nor to my griefs add yet another. Woe to you, ill-fated Troy, Troy, your sun is set; and woe to your unhappy children, living and dead alike,
who are leaving you behind!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
αἶ, αἶ.
μή νύν μοι τὰν
ἐκβακχεύουσαν Κασάνδραν,
αἰσχύναν Ἀργείοισιν,
πέμψητʼ ἔξω,
μαινάδʼ, ἐπʼ ἄλγει δʼ ἀλγυνθῶ.
ἰώ.
Τροία Τροία δύστανʼ, ἔρρεις,
δύστανοι δʼ οἵ σʼ ἐκλείποντες
καὶ ζῶντες καὶ δμαθέντες.

[¶40] Second Semi-Chorus:
With trembling step, alas! I leave this tent of Agamemnon to learn of you, my royal mistress, whether the Argives have resolved to take my wretched life, or
whether the sailors at the prow are making ready to ply their oars.

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον Β:
οἴμοι. τρομερὰ σκηνὰς ἔλιπον
τάσδʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἐπακουσομένα,
βασίλεια, σέθεν· μή με κτείνειν
δόξʼ Ἀργείων κεῖται μελέαν;
ἢ κατὰ πρύμνας ἤδη ναῦται
στέλλονται κινεῖν κώπας;

[¶41] Hecuba:
My child, your wakeful heart!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ τέκνον, ὀρθρεύου σὰν ψυχάν.

[¶42] Second Semi-Chorus:
I have come, stricken with terror. Has a herald from the Danaids already arrived?

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον Β:
ἐκπληχθεῖσʼ ἦλθον φρίκᾳ.
ἤδη τις ἔβα Δαναῶν κῆρυξ;

[¶43] To whom am I, poor captive, given as a slave?

> Greek: τῷ πρόσκειμαι δούλα τλάμων;

[¶44] Hecuba:
You are not far from being allotted now.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἐγγύς που κεῖσαι κλήρου.

[¶45] Second Semi-Chorus:
Alas! What man of Argos or Phthia will bear me in sorrow far from Troy, to his home, or to some island fastness?

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον Β:
ἰὼ ἰώ.
τίς μʼ Ἀργείων ἢ Φθιωτᾶν
ἢ νησαίαν μʼ ἄξει χώραν
δύστανον πόρσω Τροίας;

[¶46] Hecuba:
Ah! ah! Whose slave shall I become in my old age? in what land? a poor old drone, the wretched copy of a corpse, alas! set to keep the gate
or tend their children, I who once held royal rank in Troy.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
φεῦ φεῦ.
τῷ δʼ ἁ τλάμων
ποῦ πᾷ γαίας δουλεύσω γραῦς,
ὡς κηφήν, ἁ δειλαία,
νεκροῦ μορφά,
νεκύων ἀμενηνὸν ἄγαλμα,
αἰαῖ
τὰν παρὰ προθύροις φυλακὰν κατέχουσʼ
ἢ παίδων θρέπτειρʼ, ἃ Τροίας
ἀρχαγοὺς εἶχον τιμάς;

[¶47] Chorus:
Alas, alas! What piteous dirge will you devise to mourn the outrage done you? No more through Ida’s looms
shall I ply the shuttle to and fro. I look my last on my children’s bodies, my last; I shall endure surpassing misery, it may be as the unwilling bride of some Hellene (perish the night and fortune that brings me to this!);
it may be as a wretched slave from Peirene’s sacred fount I shall draw their store of water. Oh! may it be ours to come to Theseus’ famous realm, a land of joy.

> Greek: Χορός:
αἰαῖ αἰαῖ, ποίοις δʼ οἴκτοις
τὰν σὰν λύμαν ἐξαιάζεις;
οὐκ Ἰδαίοις ἱστοῖς κερκίδα
δινεύουσʼ ἐξαλλάξω.
νέατον τεκέων σώματα λεύσσω,
νέατον …
μόχθους ἕξω κρείσσους,
ἢ λέκτροις πλαθεῖσʼ Ἑλλάνων …
ʽἑ̓́ρροι νὺξ αὕτα καὶ δαίμων.ʼ
ἢ Πειρήνας ὑδρευσομένα
πρόσπολος οἰκτρὰ σεμνῶν ὑδάτων.
τὰν κλεινὰν εἴθʼ ἔλθοιμεν
Θησέως εὐδαίμονα χώραν.

[¶48] Never, never let me see Eurotas’ swirling tide, hateful home of Helen, there to meet and be the slave of Menelaus, whose hand laid Troy waste!

> Greek: μὴ γὰρ δὴ δίναν γʼ Εὐρώτα,
τὰν ἐχθίσταν θεράπναν Ἑλένας,
ἔνθʼ ἀντάσω Μενέλᾳ δούλα,
τῷ τᾶς Τροίας πορθητᾷ.

[¶49] Chorus:
That holy land by Peneus fed,
nestling in all its beauty at Olympus’ foot, is said, so have I heard, to be a very granary of wealth and teeming fruitfulness; next to the sacred soil of Theseus, I could wish to reach that land.

> Greek: Χορός:
τὰν Πηνειοῦ σεμνὰν χώραν,
κρηπῖδʼ Οὐλύμπου καλλίσταν,
ὄλβῳ βρίθειν φάμαν ἤκουσʼ
εὐθαλεῖ τʼ εὐκαρπείᾳ·
τάδε δεύτερά μοι μετὰ τὰν ἱερὰν
Θησέως ζαθέαν ἐλθεῖν χώραν.

[¶50] They tell me too Hephaestus’ home, beneath the shadow of Aetna, fronting Phoenicia, the mother of Sicilian hills, is famous for the crowns it gives to valor. Or may I find a home on that shore which lies very near
Ionia’s sea, a land watered by Crathis, lovely stream, that dyes the hair an auburn tint, feeding with its holy waves and making glad the home of heroes.

> Greek: καὶ τὰν Αἰτναίαν Ἡφαίστου
Φοινίκας ἀντήρη χώραν,
Σικελῶν ὀρέων ματέρʼ, ἀκούω
καρύσσεσθαι στεφάνοις ἀρετᾶς.
τάν τʼ ἀγχιστεύουσαν γᾶν
Ἰονίῳ ναύται πόντῳ,
ἃν ὑγραίνει καλλιστεύων
ὁ ξανθὰν χαίταν πυρσαίνων
Κρᾶθις ζαθέαις πηγαῖσι τρέφων
εὔανδρόν τʼ ὀλβίζων γᾶν.

[¶51] Chorus Leader:
But see! a herald from the army of Danaids, with a store of fresh proclamations, comes hastening here. What is his errand? What does he say? For we are indeed slaves now to Dorian lords.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ μὴν Δαναῶν ὅδʼ ἀπὸ στρατιᾶς
κῆρυξ, νεοχμῶν μύθων ταμίας,
στείχει ταχύπουν ἴχνος ἐξανύων.
τί φέρει; τί λέγει; δοῦλαι γὰρ δὴ
Δωρίδος ἐσμὲν χθονὸς ἤδη.

[¶52] Talthybius:
Hecuba, you know me from my many journeys to and fro as herald between the Achaean army and Troy; I was no stranger to you, lady, even before: I, Talthybius, now sent with a fresh message.
In the following lines, Talthybius makes spoken responses to Hecuba’s sung questions.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
Ἑκάβη, πυκνὰς γὰρ οἶσθά μʼ ἐς Τροίαν ὁδοὺς
ἐλθόντα κήρυκʼ ἐξ Ἀχαιικοῦ στρατοῦ,
ἐγνωσμένος δὲ καὶ πάροιθέ σοι, γύναι,
Ταλθύβιος ἥκω καινὸν ἀγγελῶν λόγον.

[¶53] Hecuba:
Ah, kind friends, it has come! what I so long have dreaded.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
⟨αἰαῖ,⟩ τόδε
τόδε, φίλαι Τρῳάδες, ὃ φόβος ἦν πάλαι.

[¶54] Talthybius:
The lot has decided your fates already, if that was what you feared.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ἤδη κεκλήρωσθʼ, εἰ τόδʼ ἦν ὑμῖν φόβος.

[¶55] Hecuba:
Ah me! What city did you say, Thessalian, Phthian, or Cadmean?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
αἰαῖ, τίνʼ ἢ
Θεσσαλίας πόλιν ἢ
Φθιάδος εἶπας ἢ Καδμείας χθονός;

[¶56] Talthybius:
Each warrior took his prize in turn; you were not all at once assigned.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
κατʼ ἄνδρʼ ἑκάστη κοὐχ ὁμοῦ λελόγχατε.

[¶57] Hecuba:
To whom has the lot assigned us severally? Which of us Trojan women
does a happy fortune await?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τίνʼ ἄρα τίς ἔλαχε; τίνα πότμος εὐτυχὴς
Ἰλιάδων μένει;

[¶58] Talthybius:
I know, but ask your questions separately, not all at once.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
οἶδʼ· ἀλλʼ ἕκαστα πυνθάνου, μὴ πάνθʼ ὁμοῦ.

[¶59] Hecuba:
Then tell me, whose prize is my daughter, hapless Cassandra?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τοὐμὸν τίς ἆρʼ
ἔλαχε τέκος, ἔνεπε, τλάμονα Κασάνδραν;

[¶60] Talthybius:
King Agamemnon has chosen her out for himself.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ἐξαίρετόν νιν ἔλαβεν Ἀγαμέμνων ἄναξ.

[¶61] Hecuba:
To be the slave-girl of his Spartan wife? Ah me!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἦ τᾷ Λακεδαιμονίᾳ νύμφᾳ
δούλαν; ἰώ μοί μοι.

[¶62] Talthybius:
No, to share with him his stealthy love.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
οὔκ, ἀλλὰ λέκτρων σκότια νυμφευτήρια.

[¶63] Hecuba:
What! Phoebus’ virgin-priestess, to whom the god with golden locks granted the gift of maidenhood?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἦ τὰν τοῦ Φοίβου παρθένον, ᾇ γέρας ὁ
χρυσοκόμας ἔδωκʼ ἄλεκτρον ζόαν;

[¶64] Talthybius:
The dart of love has pierced his heart, love for the frenzied maid.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ἔρως ἐτόξευσʼ αὐτὸν ἐνθέου κόρης.

[¶65] Hecuba:
Daughter, cast from you the sacred keys, and from your body tear the holy wreaths that drape you in their folds.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ῥῖπτε, τέκνον, ζαθέους κλῇ-
δας καὶ ἀπὸ χροὸς ἐνδυ-
τῶν στεφέων ἱεροὺς στολμούς.

[¶66] Talthybius:
Why! is it not an honor that she should win our monarch’s love?

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
οὐ γὰρ μέγʼ αὐτῇ βασιλικῶν λέκτρων τυχεῖν;

[¶67] Hecuba:
What have you done to her whom recently you took from me, my child?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τί δʼ ὃ νεοχμὸν ἀπʼ ἐμέθεν ἐλάβετε τέκος, ποῦ μοι;

[¶68] Talthybius:
Do you mean Polyxena, or whom do you inquire about?

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
Πολυξένην ἔλεξας, ἢ τίνʼ ἱστορεῖς;

[¶69] Hecuba:
Yes, that one; to whom has the lot assigned her?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ταύταν· τῷ πάλος ἔζευξεν;

[¶70] Talthybius:
To minister at Achilles’ tomb has been appointed her.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
τύμβῳ τέτακται προσπολεῖν Ἀχιλλέως.

[¶71] Hecuba:
Woe is me! I the mother of a dead man’s slave! What custom, what ordinance is this among Hellenes, friend?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὤμοι ἐγώ· τάφῳ πρόσπολον ἐτεκόμαν.
ἀτὰρ τίς ὅδʼ ἢ νόμος ἢ τί
θέσμιον, ὦ φίλος, Ἑλλάνων;

[¶72] Talthybius:
Count your daughter happy; it is well with her.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
εὐδαιμόνιζε παῖδα σήν· ἔχει καλῶς.

[¶73] Hecuba:
What wild words are these? Please tell me, is she still alive?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τί τόδʼ ἔλακες; ἆρά μοι ἀέλιον λεύσσει;

[¶74] Talthybius:
Her fate is one that sets her free from trouble.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ἔχει πότμος νιν, ὥστʼ ἀπηλλάχθαι πόνων.

[¶75] Hecuba:
And what of the wife of Hector skilled in arms, sad Andromache? declare her fate.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τί δʼ ἁ τοῦ χαλκεομήστορος Ἕκτορος δάμαρ,
Ἀνδρομάχα τάλαινα, τίνʼ ἔχει τύχαν;

[¶76] Talthybius:
She too was a chosen prize; Achilles’ son took her.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
καὶ τήνδʼ Ἀχιλλέως ἔλαβε παῖς ἐξαίρετον.

[¶77] Hecuba:
As for me
whose hair is white with age, who need to hold a staff to be to me a third foot, whose servant am I to be?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἐγὼ δὲ τῷ
πρόσπολος ἁ τριτοβάμονος χερὶ
δευομένα βάκτρου γεραιῷ κάρᾳ;

[¶78] Talthybius:
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, has taken you to be his slave.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
Ἰθάκης Ὀδυσσεὺς ἔλαχʼ ἄναξ δούλην σʼ ἔχειν.

[¶79] Hecuba:
Oh, oh! Now smite the close-shorn head!
tear your cheeks with your nails! Ah me! I have fallen as a slave to a treacherous foe I hate, a monster of lawlessness,
one that by his double tongue has turned against us all that once was friendly in his camp, changing this for that and that for this again. Oh weep for me, you Trojan women! Lost and ill-fated!
Ah woe! a victim to a most unhappy lot!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἒ ἔ.
ἄρασσε κρᾶτα κούριμον,
ἕλκʼ ὀνύχεσσι δίπτυχον παρειάν.
ἰώ μοί μοι.
μυσαρῷ δολίῳ λέλογχα φωτὶ δουλεύειν,
πολεμίῳ δίκας, παρανόμῳ δάκει,
ὃς πάντα τἀκεῖθεν ἐνθάδ⟨ε στρέφει, τὰ δʼ⟩
ἀντίπαλʼ αὖθις ἐκεῖσε διπτύχῳ γλώσσᾳ
φίλα τὰ πρότερʼ ἄφιλα τιθέμενος πάντων.
γοᾶσθʼ, ὦ Τρῳάδες, με.
βέβακα δύσποτμος. [οἴχομαι] ἁ
τάλαινα, δυστυχεστάτῳ
προσέπεσον κλήρῳ.

[¶80] Chorus Leader:
Your fate, royal mistress, now you know; but for me, what Helene or Achaean is master of my destiny?

> Greek: Χορός:
τὸ μὲν σὸν οἶσθα, πότνια, τὰς δʼ ἐμὰς τύχας
τίς ἆρʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἢ τίς Ἑλλήνων ἔχει;

[¶81] Talthybius:
Go, servants, and bring Cassandra forth to me here
at once, that I may place her in our captain’s hands, and then conduct to the rest of the chiefs the captives each has had assigned. Ha! what is the blaze of torches there within? What are they doing? Are they firing the chambers,
because they must leave this land and be carried away to Argos? Are they setting themselves aflame in their longing for death? Truly the free bear their troubles in cases like this with a stiff neck. Open up! lest their deed, which suits them well
but finds small favor with the Achaeans, bring blame on me.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ἴτʼ, ἐκκομίζειν δεῦρο Κασάνδραν χρεὼν
ὅσον τάχιστα, δμῶες, ὡς στρατηλάτῃ
ἐς χεῖρα δούς νιν, εἶτα τὰς εἰληγμένας
καὶ τοῖσιν ἄλλοις αἰχμαλωτίδων ἄγω.
ἔα· τί πεύκης ἔνδον αἴθεται σέλας;
πιμπρᾶσιν — ἢ τί δρῶσι — Τρῳάδες μυχούς,
ὡς ἐξάγεσθαι τῆσδε μέλλουσαι χθονὸς
πρὸς Ἄργος, αὑτῶν τʼ ἐκπυροῦσι σώματα
θανεῖν θέλουσαι; κάρτα τοι τοὐλεύθερον
ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις δυσλόφως φέρει κακά.
ἄνοιγʼ ἄνοιγε, μὴ τὸ ταῖσδε πρόσφορον
ἐχθρὸν δʼ Ἀχαιοῖς εἰς ἔμʼ αἰτίαν βάλῃ.

[¶82] Hecuba:
It is not that they are setting anything ablaze, but my child Cassandra, frenzied maid, comes rushing wildly here.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐ πιμπρᾶσιν, ἀλλὰ παῖς ἐμὴ
μαινὰς θοάζει δεῦρο Κασάνδρα δρόμῳ.

[¶83] Cassandra:
Bring the light, uplift and show its flame! I am doing the god’s service, see! see! making his shrine to glow with tapers bright.

> Greek: Κασάνδρα:
Ἄνεχε· πάρεχε.
φῶς φέρʼ, ὤ· σέβω· φλέγω — ἰδού, ἰδού —
λαμπάσι τόδʼ ἱερόν.

[¶84] O Hymen, lord of marriage! blessed is the bridegroom; blessed am I also, soon to wed a princely lord in Argos. Hail Hymen, lord of marriage!

> Greek: ὦ Ὑμέναιʼ ἄναξ·
μακάριος ὁ γαμέτας·
μακαρία δʼ ἐγὼ βασιλικοῖς λέκτροις
κατʼ Ἄργος ἁ γαμουμένα.
Ὑμήν, ὦ Ὑμέναιʼ ἄναξ.

[¶85] Since you, my mother, are busied with tears and lamentations in your mourning for my father’s death and for our country dear, I at my own nuptials
am making this torch to blaze and show its light, giving to you, O Hymen, giving, O Hecate, a light, at the maiden’s wedding, as the custom is.

> Greek: ἐπεὶ σύ, μᾶτερ, ἐπὶ δάκρυσι καὶ
γόοισι τὸν θανόντα πατέρα πατρίδα τε
φίλαν καταστένουσʼ ἔχεις,
ἐγὼ δʼ ἐπὶ γάμοις ἐμοῖς
ἀναφλέγω πυρὸς φῶς
ἐς αὐγάν, ἐς αἴγλαν,
διδοῦσʼ, ὦ Ὑμέναιε, σοί,
διδοῦσʼ, ὦ Ἑκάτα, φάος,
παρθένων ἐπὶ λέκτροις
ᾇ νόμος ἔχει.

[¶86] Nimbly lift the foot; lead the dance on high, with cries of joy, as if to greet my father’s happy fate. The dance is sacred. Come, Phoebus, now, for it is in your temple
among your bay-trees that I minister. Hail Hymen, god of marriage! Hymen, hail! Dance, mother, and laugh! link your steps with me, and circle in the delightful measure, now here, now there.

> Greek: πάλλε πόδα.
αἰθέριον ἄναγε χορόν· εὐἅν, εὐοἵ·
ὡς ἐπὶ πατρὸς ἐμοῦ
μακαριωτάταις
τύχαις· ὁ χορὸς ὅσιος.
ἄγε σύ, Φοῖβε, νῦν· κατὰ σὸν ἐν δάφναις
ἀνάκτορον θυηπολῶ,
Ὑμήν, ὦ Ὑμέναιʼ, Ὑμήν.
χόρευε, μᾶτερ, ἀναγέλασον·
ἕλισσε τᾷδʼ ἐκεῖσε μετʼ ἐμέθεν ποδῶν
φέρουσα φιλτάταν βάσιν.

[¶87] Salute the bride on her wedding-day with hymns and cries of joy. Come, you maids of Phrygia in fair raiment, sing my marriage
with the husband fate ordains that I should wed.

> Greek: βοάσαθʼ Ὑμέναιον, ὤ,
μακαρίαις ἀοιδαῖς
ἰαχαῖς τε νύμφαν.
ἴτʼ, ὦ καλλίπεπλοι Φρυγῶν
κόραι, μέλπετʼ ἐμῶν γάμων
τὸν πεπρωμένον εὐνᾷ
πόσιν ἐμέθεν.

[¶88] Chorus Leader:
Hold the frantic maiden, royal mistress, lest with nimble foot she rush to the Argive army.

> Greek: Χορός:
βασίλεια, βακχεύουσαν οὐ λήψῃ κόρην,
μὴ κοῦφον αἴρῃ βῆμʼ ἐς Ἀργείων στρατόν;

[¶89] Hecuba:
You god of fire, it is yours to light the bridal torch for men, but piteous is the flame you kindle here,
beyond my blackest expectation. Ah, my child! how little did I ever dream that such would be your marriage, a captive, and of Argos too! Give up the torch to me; you do not bear its blaze aright in your wild frantic course, nor have your afflictions left you in your sober senses,
but still you are as frantic as before. Take in those torches, Trojan friends, and for her wedding madrigals weep your tears instead.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
Ἥφαιστε, δᾳδουχεῖς μὲν ἐν γάμοις βροτῶν,
ἀτὰρ λυγράν γε τήνδʼ ἀναιθύσσεις φλόγα
ἔξω τε μεγάλων ἐλπίδων.
οἴμοι, τέκνον,
ὡς οὐχ ὑπʼ αἰχμῆς ⟨σʼ⟩ οὐδʼ ὑπʼ Ἀργείου δορὸς
γάμους γαμεῖσθαι τούσδʼ ἐδόξαζόν ποτε.
παράδος ἐμοὶ φῶς· οὐ γὰρ ὀρθὰ πυρφορεῖς
μαινὰς θοάζουσʼ, οὐδέ σʼ αἱ τύχαι, τέκνον,
ἐσωφρονήκασʼ, ἀλλʼ ἔτʼ ἐν ταὐτῷ μένεις.
ἐσφέρετε πεύκας, δάκρυά τʼ ἀνταλλάξατε
τοῖς τῆσδε μέλεσι, Τρῳάδες, γαμηλίοις.

[¶90] Cassandra:
O mother, crown my head with victor’s wreaths; rejoice in my royal match; lead me
and if you find me unwilling at all, thrust me there by force; for if Loxias is indeed a prophet, Agamemnon, that famous king of the Achaeans, will find in me a bride more vexatious than Helen. For I will slay him and lay waste his home
to avenge my father’s and my brothers’ death. But let that go; I will not tell of that axe which shall sever my neck and the necks of others, or of the conflict ending in a mother’s death, which my marriage shall cause, nor of the overthrow of Atreus’ house.

> Greek: Κασάνδρα:
μῆτερ, πύκαζε κρᾶτʼ ἐμὸν νικηφόρον,
καὶ χαῖρε τοῖς ἐμοῖσι βασιλικοῖς γάμοις·
καὶ πέμπε, κἂν μὴ τἀμά σοι πρόθυμά γʼ ᾖ,
ὤθει βιαίως· εἰ γὰρ ἔστι Λοξίας,
Ἑλένης γαμεῖ με δυσχερέστερον γάμον
ὁ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν κλεινὸς Ἀγαμέμνων ἄναξ.
κτενῶ γὰρ αὐτόν, κἀντιπορθήσω δόμους
ποινὰς ἀδελφῶν καὶ πατρὸς λαβοῦσʼ ἐμοῦ …
ἀλλʼ ἄττʼ ἐάσω· πέλεκυν οὐχ ὑμνήσομεν,
ὃς ἐς τράχηλον τὸν ἐμὸν εἶσι χἁτέρων·
μητροκτόνους τʼ ἀγῶνας, οὓς οὑμοὶ γάμοι
θήσουσιν, οἴκων τʼ Ἀτρέως ἀνάστασιν.

[¶91] But I, for all my frenzy, will so far rise above my frantic fit, that I will prove this city happier far than those Achaeans, who for the sake of one woman and one passion have lost a countless army in hunting Helen.

> Greek: πόλιν δὲ δείξω τήνδε μακαριωτέραν
ἢ τοὺς Ἀχαιούς, ἔνθεος μέν, ἀλλʼ ὅμως
τοσόνδε γʼ ἔξω στήσομαι βακχευμάτων·
οἳ διὰ μίαν γυναῖκα καὶ μίαν Κύπριν,
θηρῶντες Ἑλένην, μυρίους ἀπώλεσαν.

[¶92] Their captain too, whom men call wise, has lost for what he hated most what most he prized, yielding to his brother for a woman’s sake—and she was willing and not taken by force—the joy he had of his own children in his home. For from the day that they landed upon Scamander’s strand, their doom began,
not for loss of stolen frontier nor yet for fatherland with high towers; whomever Ares took, those never saw their children again, nor were they shrouded for the tomb by hand of wife, but in a foreign land they lie. At home the case was still the same;

> Greek: ὁ δὲ στρατηγὸς ὁ σοφὸς ἐχθίστων ὕπερ
τὰ φίλτατʼ ὤλεσʼ, ἡδονὰς τὰς οἴκοθεν
τέκνων ἀδελφῷ δοὺς γυναικὸς οὕνεκα,
καὶ ταῦθʼ ἑκούσης κοὐ βίᾳ λελῃσμένης.
ἐπεὶ δʼ ἐπʼ ἀκτὰς ἤλυθον Σκαμανδρίους,
ἔθνῃσκον, οὐ γῆς ὅριʼ ἀποστερούμενοι
οὐδʼ ὑψίπυργον πατρίδʼ· οὓς δʼ Ἄρης ἕλοι,
οὐ παῖδας εἶδον, οὐ δάμαρτος ἐν χεροῖν
πέπλοις συνεστάλησαν, ἐν ξένῃ δὲ γῇ
κεῖνται. τὰ δʼ οἴκοι τοῖσδʼ ὅμοιʼ ἐγίγνετο·

[¶93] wives were dying widows, parents were left childless in their homes, having reared their sons for others, and none is left to make libations of blood upon the ground before their tombs. Truly to such praise as this their army can make an ample claim. It is better to pass by their shame in silence, nor may mine be the Muse
to tell that evil tale.

> Greek: χῆραί τʼ ἔθνῃσκον, οἳ δʼ ἄπαιδες ἐν δόμοις
ἄλλοις τέκνʼ ἐκθρέψαντες· οὐδὲ πρὸς τάφοις
ἔσθʼ ὅστις αὐτῶν αἷμα γῇ δωρήσεται.
ἦ τοῦδʼ ἐπαίνου τὸ στράτευμʼ ἐπάξιον. —
σιγᾶν ἄμεινον τᾀσχρά, μηδὲ μοῦσά μοι
γένοιτʼ ἀοιδὸς ἥτις ὑμνήσει κακά.

[¶94] But the Trojans were dying, first for their fatherland, fairest fame to win; whomever the sword took, all these found friends to bear their bodies home and were laid to rest in the embrace of their native land,
their funeral rites all duly paid by duteous hands. And all such Phrygians as escaped the warrior’s death lived always day by day with wife and children by them, joys the Achaeans had left behind. As for Hector and his griefs, hear how the case stands;

> Greek: Τρῶες δὲ πρῶτον μέν, τὸ κάλλιστον κλέος,
ὑπὲρ πάτρας ἔθνῃσκον· οὓς δʼ ἕλοι δόρυ,
νεκροί γʼ ἐς οἴκους φερόμενοι φίλων ὕπο
ἐν γῇ πατρῴᾳ περιβολὰς εἶχον χθονός,
χερσὶν περισταλέντες ὧν ἐχρῆν ὕπο·
ὅσοι δὲ μὴ θάνοιεν ἐν μάχῃ Φρυγῶν,
ἀεὶ κατʼ ἦμαρ σὺν δάμαρτι καὶ τέκνοις
ᾤκουν, Ἀχαιοῖς ὧν ἀπῆσαν ἡδοναί.
τὰ δʼ Ἕκτορός σοι λύπρʼ ἄκουσον ὡς ἔχει·

[¶95] he is dead and gone, but still his fame remains as bravest of the brave, and this was a result of the Achaeans’ coming; for had they remained at home, his worth would have gone unnoticed. And Paris married the daughter of Zeus, whereas, had he never done so, the alliance he made in his family would have been forgotten.

> Greek: δόξας ἀνὴρ ἄριστος οἴχεται θανών,
καὶ τοῦτʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἵξις ἐξεργάζεται·
εἰ δʼ ἦσαν οἴκοι, χρηστὸς ὢν ἐλάνθανεν.
Πάρις δʼ ἔγημε τὴν Διός· γήμας δὲ μή,
σιγώμενον τὸ κῆδος εἶχεν ἐν δόμοις.

[¶96] Whoever is wise should fly from making war; but if he come to this, a noble death will crown his city with glory, a coward’s end with shame. Therefore, mother, you should not pity your country or my bed, for this my marriage
will destroy those whom you and I most hate.

> Greek: φεύγειν μὲν οὖν χρὴ πόλεμον ὅστις εὖ φρονεῖ·
εἰ δʼ ἐς τόδʼ ἔλθοι, στέφανος οὐκ αἰσχρὸς πόλει
καλῶς ὀλέσθαι, μὴ καλῶς δὲ δυσκλεές.
ὧν οὕνεκʼ οὐ χρή, μῆτερ, οἰκτίρειν σε γῆν,
οὐ τἀμὰ λέκτρα· τοὺς γὰρ ἐχθίστους ἐμοὶ
καὶ σοὶ γάμοισι τοῖς ἐμοῖς διαφθερῶ.

[¶97] Chorus Leader:
How sweetly at your own sad lot you smile, chanting a strain, which, in spite of you, may prove you wrong!

> Greek: Χορός:
ὡς ἡδέως κακοῖσιν οἰκείοις γελᾷς,
μέλπεις θʼ ἃ μέλπουσʼ οὐ σαφῆ δείξεις ἴσως.

[¶98] Talthybius:
Had not Apollo turned your wits to maenad revelry, you would not for nothing have sent my chiefs
with such ominous predictions forth on their way. But, after all, these lofty minds, reputed wise, are nothing better than those that are held as nothing. For that mighty king of all Hellas, dear son of Atreus, has yielded to a passion
for this mad maiden of all others; though I am poor enough, yet would I never have chosen such a wife as this. As for you, since your senses are not whole, I give your taunts against Argos and your praise of Troy to the winds to carry away. Follow me now
to the ships to grace the wedding of our chief. And you too follow, whenever the son of Laertes demands your presence, for you will serve a mistress most discreet, as all declare who came to Ilium.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
εἰ μή σʼ Ἀπόλλων ἐξεβάκχευεν φρένας,
οὔ τἂν ἀμισθὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς στρατηλάτας
τοιαῖσδε φήμαις ἐξέπεμπες ἂν χθονός.
ἀτὰρ τὰ σεμνὰ καὶ δοκήμασιν σοφὰ
οὐδέν τι κρείσσω τῶν τὸ μηδὲν ἦν ἄρα.
ὁ γὰρ μέγιστος τῶν Πανελλήνων ἄναξ,
Ἀτρέως φίλος παῖς, τῆσδʼ ἔρωτʼ ἐξαίρετον
μαινάδος ὑπέστη· καὶ πένης μέν εἰμʼ ἐγώ,
ἀτὰρ λέχος γε τῆσδʼ ἂν οὐκ ἐκτησάμην.
καὶ σοὶ μέν — οὐ γὰρ ἀρτίας ἔχεις φρένας —
Ἀργεῖʼ ὀνείδη καὶ Φρυγῶν ἐπαινέσεις
ἀνέμοις φέρεσθαι παραδίδωμʼ· ἕπου δέ μοι
πρὸς ναῦς, καλὸν νύμφευμα τῷ στρατηλάτῃ.
σὺ δʼ, ἡνίκʼ ἄν σε Λαρτίου χρῄζῃ τόκος
ἄγειν, ἕπεσθαι· σώφρονος δʼ ἔσῃ λάτρις
γυναικός, ὥς φασʼ οἱ μολόντες Ἴλιον.

[¶99] Cassandra:
A clever fellow, this servant! Why is it heralds hold
the name they do? All men unite in hating with one common hate the attendants of kings or governments. You say my mother shall come to the halls of Odysseus? Where then are Apollo’s words, so clear to me in their interpretation, which declare
that she shall die here? What else remains, I will not taunt her with. Unhappy Odysseus, he does not know the sufferings that await him; or how these ills I and my Phrygians endure shall one day seem to him precious as gold. For beyond the ten long years spent at Troy he shall drag out other ten and then come to his country all alone...
where dreadful Charybdis lurks in a narrow channel between the rocks; past Cyclops the savage shepherd, and Ligurian Circe who turns men to swine; shipwrecked often upon the salt sea-wave; longing to eat the lotus, and the sacred cattle of the sun,
whose flesh shall utter in the days to come a human voice, bitter to Odysseus. In brief, he shall descend alive to Hades, and, though he shall escape the waters’ flood, yet shall he find a thousand troubles in his country when he arrives.

> Greek: Κασάνδρα:
ἦ δεινὸς ὁ λάτρις. τί ποτʼ ἔχουσι τοὔνομα
κήρυκες, ἓν ἀπέχθημα πάγκοινον βροτοῖς,
οἱ περὶ τυράννους καὶ πόλεις ὑπηρέται;
σὺ τὴν ἐμὴν φῂς μητέρʼ εἰς Ὀδυσσέως
ἥξειν μέλαθρα; ποῦ δʼ Ἀπόλλωνος λόγοι,
οἵ φασιν αὐτὴν εἰς ἔμʼ ἡρμηνευμένοι
αὐτοῦ θανεῖσθαι; … τἄλλα δʼ οὐκ ὀνειδιῶ.
δύστηνος, οὐκ οἶδʼ οἷά νιν μένει παθεῖν·
ὡς χρυσὸς αὐτῷ τἀμὰ καὶ Φρυγῶν κακὰ
δόξει ποτʼ εἶναι. δέκα γὰρ ἐκπλήσας ἔτη
πρὸς τοῖσιν ἐνθάδʼ, ἵξεται μόνος πάτραν
…
οὗ δὴ στενὸν δίαυλον ᾤκισται πέτρας
δεινὴ Χάρυβδις, ὠμοβρώς τʼ ὀρειβάτης
Κύκλωψ, Λιγυστίς θʼ ἡ συῶν μορφώτρια
Κίρκη, θαλάσσης θʼ ἁλμυρᾶς ναυάγια,
λωτοῦ τʼ ἔρωτες, Ἡλίου θʼ ἁγναὶ βόες,
αἳ σάρκα φωνήεσσαν ἥσουσίν ποτε,
πικρὰν Ὀδυσσεῖ γῆρυν. ὡς δὲ συντέμω,
ζῶν εἶσʼ ἐς Ἅιδου κἀκφυγὼν λίμνης ὕδωρ
κάκʼ ἐν δόμοισι μυρίʼ εὑρήσει μολών.

[¶100] Cassandra:
Enough! why do I recount the troubles of Odysseus?

> Greek: Κασάνδρα:
ἀλλὰ γὰρ τί τοὺς Ὀδυσσέως ἐξακοντίζω πόνους;

[¶101] Lead on at once, that I may wed my husband for his home in Hades’ halls. Base you are, and basely shall you be buried, in the dead of night when day is done, you captain of that army of Danaids, who think so proudly of your fortune! Yes, and the rocky chasm with its flood of wintry waters shall give my corpse cast forth in nakedness to wild beasts to make their meal upon,
near my husband’s tomb, I, Apollo’s servant. O garlands of that god most dear to me! farewell, you mystic symbols! I here resign your feasts, my joy in days gone by. Go, I tear you from my body, that, while yet mine honor is intact, I may give them to the rushing winds to waft to you, my prince of prophecy!

> Greek: στεῖχʼ ὅπως τάχιστʼ· ἐς Ἅιδου νυμφίῳ γημώμεθα.
ἦ κακὸς κακῶς ταφήσῃ νυκτός, οὐκ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ,
ὦ δοκῶν σεμνόν τι πράσσειν, Δαναϊδῶν ἀρχηγέτα.
κἀμέ τοι νεκρὸν φάραγγες γυμνάδʼ ἐκβεβλημένην
ὕδατι χειμάρρῳ ῥέουσαι, νυμφίου πέλας τάφου,
θηρσὶ δώσουσιν δάσασθαι, τὴν Ἀπόλλωνος λάτριν.
ὦ στέφη τοῦ φιλτάτου μοι θεῶν, ἀγάλματʼ εὔια,
χαίρετʼ· ἐκλέλοιφʼ ἑορτάς, αἷς πάροιθʼ ἠγαλλόμην.
ἴτʼ ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ χρωτὸς σπαραγμοῖς, ὡς ἔτʼ οὖσʼ ἁγνὴ χρόα
δῶ θοαῖς αὔραις φέρεσθαί σοι τάδʼ, ὦ μαντεῖʼ ἄναξ.

[¶102] Where is that general’s ship? Where must I go to take my place there? Lose no further time in watching for a favoring breeze to fill your sails, doomed as you are to carry from this land one of the three avenging spirits. Fare you well, mother! dry your tears. O dear country! my brothers below the earth and my own father,
it will not be long before you shall welcome me; victory shall crown my advent among the dead, when I have overthrown the home of our destroyers, the house of the sons of Atreus.

> Greek: ποῦ σκάφος τὸ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ; ποῖ ποτʼ ἐμβαίνειν με χρή;
οὐκέτʼ ἂν φθάνοις ἂν αὔραν ἱστίοις καραδοκῶν,
ὡς μίαν τριῶν Ἐρινὺν τῆσδέ μʼ ἐξάξων χθονός.
χαῖρέ μοι, μῆτερ· δακρύσῃς μηδέν· ὦ φίλη πατρίς,
οἵ τε γῆς ἔνερθʼ ἀδελφοὶ χὡ τεκὼν ἡμᾶς πατήρ,
οὐ μακρὰν δέξεσθέ μʼ· ἥξω δʼ ἐς νεκροὺς νικηφόρος
καὶ δόμους πέρσασʼ Ἀτρειδῶν, ὧν ἀπωλόμεσθʼ ὕπο.

[¶103] Chorus Leader:
You guardians of the grey-haired Hecuba, see how your mistress is sinking speechless to the ground! Take hold of her! will you let her fall,
you worthless slaves? lift up again, from where it lies, her withered body.

> Greek: Χορός:
Ἑκάβης γεραιᾶς φύλακες, οὐ δεδόρκατε
δέσποιναν ὡς ἄναυδος ἐκτάδην πίτνει;
οὐκ ἀντιλήψεσθʼ; ἦ μεθήσετʼ, ὦ κακαί,
γραῖαν πεσοῦσαν; αἴρετʼ εἰς ὀρθὸν δέμας.

[¶104] Hecuba:
Leave me, my maidens—unwelcome service does not grow welcome—lying where I fell; my sufferings now, my troubles past, afflictions yet to come, all claim this lowly posture. Gods of heaven! small help I find in calling such allies,
yet is there something in the form of invoking heaven, whenever we fall on evil days. First I will sing of my former blessings; so shall I inspire the greater pity for my present woes. Born to royal estate and wedded to a royal lord,
I was the mother of a race of gallant sons; no mere ciphers they, but Phrygia’s chiefest pride, children such as no Trojan or Hellenic or barbarian mother ever had to boast. All these have I seen slain by the spear of Hellas,
and at their tombs have I shorn off my hair; with these my eyes I saw their father, Priam, butchered on his own hearth, and my city captured, nor did others bring this bitter news to me. The maidens I brought up
to see chosen for some marriage high, for strangers have I reared them, and seen them snatched away. Nevermore can I hope to be seen by them, nor shall my eyes behold them ever in the days to come. And last, to crown my misery,
I shall be brought to Hellas, a slave in my old age. And there the tasks that least befit the evening of my life will they impose on me, Hector’s mother, to watch their gates and keep the keys, or bake their bread, and on the ground instead of my royal bed
lay down my shrunken limbs, with tattered rags about my wasted frame, a shameful garb for those who once were prosperous. Ah, woe is me! and this is what I bear and am to bear for one woman’s marriage!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἐᾶτέ μʼ — οὔτοι φίλα τὰ μὴ φίλʼ, ὦ κόραι —
κεῖσθαι πεσοῦσαν· πτωμάτων γὰρ ἄξια
πάσχω τε καὶ πέπονθα κἄτι πείσομαι.
ὦ θεοί … κακοὺς μὲν ἀνακαλῶ τοὺς συμμάχους,
ὅμως δʼ ἔχει τι σχῆμα κικλήσκειν θεούς,
ὅταν τις ἡμῶν δυστυχῆ λάβῃ τύχην.
πρῶτον μὲν οὖν μοι τἀγάθʼ ἐξᾷσαι φίλον·
τοῖς γὰρ κακοῖσι πλείονʼ οἶκτον ἐμβαλῶ.
ἦμεν τύραννοι κἀς τύραννʼ ἐγημάμην,
κἀνταῦθʼ ἀριστεύοντʼ ἐγεινάμην τέκνα,
οὐκ ἀριθμὸν ἄλλως, ἀλλʼ ὑπερτάτους Φρυγῶν·
οὓς Τρῳὰς οὐδʼ Ἑλληνὶς οὐδὲ βάρβαρος
γυνὴ τεκοῦσα κομπάσειεν ἄν ποτε.
κἀκεῖνά τʼ εἶδον δορὶ πεσόνθʼ Ἑλληνικῷ
τρίχας τʼ ἐτμήθην τάσδε πρὸς τύμβοις νεκρῶν,
καὶ τὸν φυτουργὸν Πρίαμον οὐκ ἄλλων πάρα
κλύουσʼ ἔκλαυσα, τοῖσδε δʼ εἶδον ὄμμασιν
αὐτὴ κατασφαγέντʼ ἐφʼ ἑρκείῳ πυρᾷ,
πόλιν θʼ ἁλοῦσαν. ἃς δʼ ἔθρεψα παρθένους
ἐς ἀξίωμα νυμφίων ἐξαίρετον,
ἄλλοισι θρέψασʼ ἐκ χερῶν ἀφῃρέθην.
κοὔτʼ ἐξ ἐκείνων ἐλπὶς ὡς ὀφθήσομαι,
αὐτή τʼ ἐκείνας οὐκέτʼ ὄψομαί ποτε.
τὸ λοίσθιον δέ, θριγκὸς ἀθλίων κακῶν,
δούλη γυνὴ γραῦς Ἑλλάδʼ εἰσαφίξομαι.
ἃ δʼ ἐστὶ γήρᾳ τῷδʼ ἀσυμφορώτατα,
τούτοις με προσθήσουσιν, ἢ θυρῶν λάτριν
κλῇδας φυλάσσειν, τὴν τεκοῦσαν Ἕκτορα,
ἢ σιτοποιεῖν, κἀν πέδῳ κοίτας ἔχειν
ῥυσοῖσι νώτοις, βασιλικῶν ἐκ δεμνίων,
τρυχηρὰ περὶ τρυχηρὸν εἱμένην χρόα
πέπλων λακίσματʼ, ἀδόκιμʼ ὀλβίοις ἔχειν.
οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινα, διὰ γάμον μιᾶς ἕνα
γυναικὸς οἵων ἔτυχον ὧν τε τεύξομαι.

[¶105] O my daughter, O Cassandra! whom gods have summoned to their frenzied train, how cruel the lot that ends your virgin days! And you, Polyxena! my child of sorrow, where, oh! where are you? None of all the many sons and daughters I have born comes to aid a wretched mother.

> Greek: ὦ τέκνον, ὦ σύμβακχε Κασάνδρα θεοῖς,
οἵαις ἔλυσας συμφοραῖς ἅγνευμα σόν.
σύ τʼ, ὦ τάλαινα, ποῦ ποτʼ εἶ, Πολυξένη;
ὡς οὔτε μʼ ἄρσην οὔτε θήλεια σπορὰ
πολλῶν γενομένων τὴν τάλαιναν ὠφελεῖ.

[¶106] Why then raise me up? What hope is left us? Guide me, who before trod so daintily the streets of Troy, but now am a slave, to a bed upon the ground, near some rocky ridge, that from there I may cast myself down and perish, after I have wasted my body with weeping.
Of all the prosperous crowd, count none a happy man before he die.

> Greek: τί δῆτά μʼ ὀρθοῦτʼ; ἐλπίδων ποίων ὕπο;
ἄγετε τὸν ἁβρὸν δήποτʼ ἐν Τροίᾳ πόδα,
νῦν δʼ ὄντα δοῦλον, στιβάδα πρὸς χαμαιπετῆ
πέτρινά τε κρήδεμνʼ, ὡς πεσοῦσʼ ἀποφθαρῶ
δακρύοις καταξανθεῖσα. τῶν δʼ εὐδαιμόνων
μηδένα νομίζετʼ εὐτυχεῖν, πρὶν ἂν θάνῃ.

[¶107] Chorus:
Sing me, Muse, a tale of Troy, a funeral dirge in strains unheard as yet, with tears;

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀμφί μοι Ἴλιον, ὦ
Μοῦσα, καινῶν ὕμνων
ἄεισον ἐν δακρύοις ᾠδὰν ἐπικήδειον·

[¶108] for now I will uplift for Troy a piteous chant, telling how I met my doom and fell a wretched captive to the Argives by reason of a four-footed beast that moved on wheels, when Achaea’s sons left at our.gates that horse,
loud rumbling to the sky, with its trappings of gold and its freight of warriors; and our people cried out as they stood upon the rocky citadel, “Up now, you whose toil is over,”
“and drag this sacred image to the shrine of the Zeus-born maiden, goddess of our Ilium!” Forth from his house came every youth and every grey-head too; and with songs of joy
they took the fatal snare within.
Chorus:
Then hastened all the race of Phrygia to the gates, to make the goddess a present of an Argive band ambushed in the polished mountain-pine,
Dardania’s ruin, a welcome gift to be to her, the virgin queen of deathless steeds; and with nooses of cord they dragged it, as it had been a ship’s dark hull, to the stone-built
temple of the goddess Pallas, and set it on that floor so soon to drink our country’s blood. But, as they labored and made merry, came on the pitchy night; loud the Libyan flute was sounding,
and Phrygian songs awoke, while maidens beat the ground with airy foot, uplifting their glad song; and in the halls a blaze of torchlight shed its flickering shadows
on sleeping eyes.

> Greek: νῦν γὰρ μέλος ἐς Τροίαν ἰαχήσω,
τετραβάμονος ὡς ὑπʼ ἀπήνας
Ἀργείων ὀλόμαν τάλαινα δοριάλωτος,
ὅτʼ ἔλιπον ἵππον οὐράνια
βρέμοντα χρυσεοφάλαρον ἔνο-
πλον ἐν πύλαις Ἀχαιοί·
ἀνὰ δʼ ἐβόασεν λεὼς
Τρῳάδος ἀπὸ πέτρας σταθείς·
Ἴτʼ, ὦ πεπαυμένοι πόνων,
τόδʼ ἱερὸν ἀνάγετε ξόανον
Ἰλιάδι Διογενεῖ κόρᾳ.
τίς οὐκ ἔβα νεανίδων,
τίς οὐ γεραιὸς ἐκ δόμων;
κεχαρμένοι δʼ ἀοιδαῖς
δόλιον ἔσχον ἄταν.
Χορός:
πᾶσα δὲ γέννα Φρυγῶν
πρὸς πύλας ὡρμάθη,
πεύκᾳ ἐν οὐρεΐᾳ ξεστὸν λόχον Ἀργείων
καὶ Δαρδανίας ἄταν θέᾳ δώσων,
χάριν ἄζυγος ἀμβροτοπώλου·
κλωστοῦ δʼ ἀμφιβόλοις λίνοιο ναὸς ὡσεὶ
σκάφος κελαινόν, εἰς ἕδρανα
λάινα δάπεδά τε φόνια πατρί-
δι Παλλάδος θέσαν θεᾶς.
ἐπὶ δὲ πόνῳ καὶ χαρᾷ
νύχιον ἐπεὶ κνέφας παρῆν,
Λίβυς τε λωτὸς ἐκτύπει
Φρύγιά τε μέλεα, παρθένοι δʼ
ἀέριον ἀνὰ κρότον ποδῶν
βοὰν ἔμελπον εὔφρονʼ, ἐν
δόμοις δὲ παμφαὲς σέλας
πυρὸς μέλαιναν αἴγλαν
⟨ἄκος⟩ ἔδωκεν ὕπνῳ.

[¶109] Chorus:
In that hour around the house I was singing as I danced to that maiden of the hills, the child of Zeus;
when there rang along the town a cry of death which filled the homes of Troy, and babies in terror clung about their mothers’ skirts,
as forth from their ambush came the warrior-band, the handiwork of maiden Pallas. Soon the altars ran with Phrygian blood, and desolation reigned over every bed where young men lay beheaded,
a glorious crown for Hellas won, for her, the nurse of youth, but for our Phrygian fatherland a bitter grief.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἐγὼ δὲ τὰν ὀρεστέραν
τότʼ ἀμφὶ μέλαθρα παρθένον
Διὸς κόραν ἐμελπόμαν
χοροῖσι· φοινία δʼ ἀνὰ
πτόλιν βοὰ κατεῖχε Περ-
γάμων ἕδρας· βρέφη δὲ φίλι-
α περὶ πέπλους ἔβαλλε μα-
τρὶ χεῖρας ἐπτοημένας·
λόχου δʼ ἐξέβαινʼ Ἄρης,
κόρας ἔργα Παλλάδος.
σφαγαὶ δʼ ἀμφιβώμιοι
Φρυγῶν, ἔν τε δεμνίοις
καράτομος ἐρημία
νεανίδων στέφανον ἔφερεν
Ἑλλάδι κουροτρόφον,
Φρυγῶν πατρίδι πένθη.

[¶110] Chorus Leader:
Hecuba, do you see Andromache advancing here on a foreign chariot?

> Greek: Χορός:
Ἑκάβη, λεύσσεις τήνδʼ Ἀνδρομάχην
ξενικοῖς ἐπʼ ὄχοις πορθμευομένην;

[¶111] and with her, clasped to her throbbing breast, is her dear Astyanax, Hector’s child. Where are you being carried, unhappy wife, mounted on that chariot, side by side with Hector’s brazen arms and Phrygian spoils of war,
with which Achilles’ son will deck the shrines of Phthia on his return from Troy?

> Greek: παρὰ δʼ εἰρεσίᾳ μαστῶν ἕπεται
φίλος Ἀστυάναξ, Ἕκτορος ἶνις.
ποῖ ποτʼ ἀπήνης νώτοισι φέρῃ,
δύστανε γύναι, πάρεδρος χαλκέοις
Ἕκτορος ὅπλοις σκύλοις τε Φρυγῶν
δοριθηράτοις,
οἷσιν Ἀχιλλέως παῖς Φθιώτας
στέψει ναοὺς ἀπὸ Τροίας;

[¶112] Andromache:
My Achaean masters are leading me away.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
Ἀχαιοὶ δεσπόται μʼ ἄγουσιν.

[¶113] Hecuba:
Ah me!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οἴμοι.

[¶114] Andromache:
Why do you in note of woe utter the dirge that is mine?

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
τί παιᾶνʼ ἐμὸν στενάζεις;

[¶115] Hecuba:
Alas—

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
αἰαῖ —

[¶116] Andromache:
For these sorrows—

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
τῶνδʼ ἀλγέων —

[¶117] Hecuba:
O Zeus—

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ Ζεῦ —

[¶118] Andromache:
And for this calamity.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
καὶ συμφορᾶς.

[¶119] Hecuba:
O my children!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τέκεα,

[¶120] Andromache:
Our day is past.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
πρίν ποτʼ ἦμεν.

[¶121] Hecuba:
Joy is gone, Troy is gone.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
βέβακʼ ὄλβος, βέβακε Τροία

[¶122] Andromache:
Unhappy!

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
τλάμων.

[¶123] Hecuba:
For my gallant sons

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἐμῶν τʼ εὐγένεια παίδων.

[¶124] Andromache:
Alas!

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
φεῦ φεῦ.

[¶125] Hecuba:
Alas indeed, for my

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
φεῦ δῆτʼ ἐμῶν

[¶126] Andromache:
Misery!

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
κακῶν.

[¶127] Hecuba:
Piteous the fate

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οἰκτρὰ τύχα

[¶128] Andromache:
Of our city,

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
πόλεος,

[¶129] Hecuba:
Smouldering in the smoke.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἃ καπνοῦται.

[¶130] Andromache:
Come to me, my husband, come to me!

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
μόλοις, ὦ πόσις, μοι —

[¶131] Hecuba:
Ah, hapless wife! you call on my son who lies in the tomb.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
βοᾷς τὸν παρʼ Ἅιδᾳ
παῖδʼ ἐμόν, ὦ μελέα.

[¶132] Andromache:
Your wife’s defender!

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
σᾶς δάμαρτος ἄλκαρ.

[¶133] Hecuba:
Oh, you, who before made the Achaeans grieve, eldest of the sons I bore to Priam, take me to your rest in Hades’ halls!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
σύ τʼ, ὦ λῦμʼ Ἀχαιῶν,
τέκνων δέσποθʼ ἁμῶν,
πρεσβυγενὲς Πρίαμε,
κοίμισαί μʼ ἐς Ἅιδου.

[¶134] Andromache:
These great griefs—

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
οἵδε πόθοι μεγάλοι …

[¶135] Hecuba:
Unhappy one, bitter these woes to bear.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
σχετλία, τάδε πάσχομεν ἄλγη.

[¶136] Andromache:
Our city ruined—

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
οἰχομένας πόλεως …

[¶137] Hecuba:
And sorrow to sorrow added.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἐπὶ δʼ ἄλγεσιν ἄλγεα κεῖται.

[¶138] Andromache:
Through the will of angry heaven, since the day that son of yours escaped death, he that for a hated bride brought destruction on the Trojan citadel. There lie the gory corpses of the slain by the shrine of Pallas for vultures to carry off;
and Troy has come to slavery’s yoke.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
δυσφροσύναισι θεῶν, ὅτε σὸς γόνος ἔκφυγεν Ἅιδαν,
ὃς λεχέων στυγερῶν χάριν ὤλεσε
πέργαμα Τροίας· αἱματόεντα δὲ
θεᾷ παρὰ Παλλάδι σώματα νεκρῶν
γυψὶ φέρειν τέταται· ζυγὰ δʼ ἤνυσε
δούλια Τροίᾳ.

[¶139] Hecuba:
O my country, O unhappy land—

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ πατρίς, ὦ μελέα …

[¶140] Andromache:
I weep for you now left behind.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
καταλειπομέναν σε δακρύω,

[¶141] Hecuba:
Now do you behold your piteous end.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
νῦν τέλος οἰκτρὸν ὁρᾷς.

[¶142] Andromache:
And you, my house, where I gave birth.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
καὶ ἐμὸν δόμον ἔνθʼ ἐλοχεύθην.

[¶143] Hecuba:
O my children! bereft of her city as your mother is, she now is losing you. Oh, what mourning and what sorrow!...
oh, what endless streams of tears in our houses! The dead alone forget their griefs [and never shed a tear].

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ τέκνʼ, ἐρημόπολις μάτηρ ἀπολείπεται ὑμῶν,
οἷος ἰάλεμος, οἷά τε πένθη
…
δάκρυά τʼ ἐκ δακρύων καταλείβεται
ἁμετέροισι δόμοις· ὁ θανὼν δʼ ἐπι-
λάθεται ἀλγέων [ἀδάκρυτος].

[¶144] Chorus Leader:
What sweet relief to sufferers it is to weep, to mourn, lament, and chant the dirge that tells of grief!

> Greek: Χορός:
ὡς ἡδὺ δάκρυα τοῖς κακῶς πεπραγόσι
θρήνων τʼ ὀδυρμοὶ μοῦσά θʼ ἣ λύπας ἔχει.

[¶145] Andromache:
Do you see this, mother of that man, Hector, who once laid low in battle many a son of Argos?

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
ὦ μῆτερ ἀνδρός, ὅς ποτʼ Ἀργείων δορὶ
πλείστους διώλεσʼ, Ἕκτορος, τάδʼ εἰσορᾷς;

[¶146] Hecuba:
I see that it is heaven’s way to exalt what men accounted nothing, and ruin what they most esteemed.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὁρῶ τὰ τῶν θεῶν, ὡς τὰ μὲν πυργοῦσʼ ἄνω
τὸ μηδὲν ὄντα, τὰ δὲ δοκοῦντʼ ἀπώλεσαν.

[¶147] Andromache:
Hence with my child as booty am I borne; the noble
are brought to slavery—a bitter change.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
ἀγόμεθα λεία σὺν τέκνῳ· τὸ δʼ εὐγενὲς
ἐς δοῦλον ἥκει, μεταβολὰς τοσάσδʼ ἔχον.

[¶148] Hecuba:
This is necessity’s grim law; it was just now that Cassandra was torn with brutal violence from my arms.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης δεινόν· ἄρτι κἀπʼ ἐμοῦ
βέβηκʼ ἀποσπασθεῖσα Κασάνδρα βίᾳ.

[¶149] Andromache:
Alas, alas! it seems a second Aias has appeared to wrong your daughter; but there are other ills for you.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
φεῦ φεῦ·
ἄλλος τις Αἴας, ὡς ἔοικε, δεύτερος
παιδὸς πέφηνε σῆς. νοσεῖς δὲ χἅτερα.

[¶150] Hecuba:
Yes, beyond all count or measure are my sorrows; evil vies with evil in the struggle to be first.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὧν γʼ οὔτε μέτρον οὔτʼ ἀριθμός ἐστί μοι·
κακῷ κακὸν γὰρ εἰς ἅμιλλαν ἔρχεται.

[¶151] Andromache:
Your daughter Polyxena is dead, slain at Achilles’ tomb, an offering to his lifeless corpse.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
τέθνηκέ σοι παῖς πρὸς τάφῳ Πολυξένη
σφαγεῖσʼ Ἀχιλλέως, δῶρον ἀψύχῳ νεκρῷ.

[¶152] Hecuba:
O woe is me! This is that riddle Talthybius
long ago told me, a truth obscurely uttered.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινα. τοῦτʼ ἐκεῖνʼ ὅ μοι πάλαι
Ταλθύβιος αἴνιγμʼ οὐ σαφῶς εἶπεν σαφές.

[¶153] Andromache:
I saw her myself; so I alighted from the chariot, and covered her corpse with a mantle, and struck upon my breast.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
εἶδόν νιν αὐτή, κἀποβᾶσα τῶνδʼ ὄχων
ἔκρυψα πέπλοις κἀπεκοψάμην νεκρόν.

[¶154] Hecuba:
Alas! my child, for your unhallowed sacrifice! and yet again, alas! for your shameful death!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
αἰαῖ, τέκνον, σῶν ἀνοσίων προσφαγμάτων·
αἰαῖ μάλʼ αὖθις, ὡς κακῶς διόλλυσαι.

[¶155] Andromache:
Her death was even as it was, and yet that death of hers was after all a happier fate than my life.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
ὄλωλεν ὡς ὄλωλεν· ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἐμοῦ
ζώσης γʼ ὄλωλεν εὐτυχεστέρῳ πότμῳ.

[¶156] Hecuba:
Death and life are not the same, my child; the one is annihilation, the other keeps a place for hope.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οὐ ταὐτόν, ὦ παῖ, τῷ βλέπειν τὸ κατθανεῖν·
τὸ μὲν γὰρ οὐδέν, τῷ δʼ ἔνεισιν ἐλπίδες.

[¶157] Andromache:
Hear, O mother of children! give ear to what I urge so well,
that I may cheer my drooping spirit. It is all one, I say, never to have been born and to be dead, and better far is death than life with misery. For the dead feel no sorrow any more and know no grief; but he who has known prosperity and has fallen on evil days
feels his spirit straying from the scene of former joys. Now that child of yours is dead as though she never had seen the light, and little she knows of her calamity; whereas I, who aimed at a fair repute, though I won a higher lot than most, yet missed my luck in life.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
ὦ μῆτερ, ὦ τεκοῦσα, κάλλιστον λόγον
ἄκουσον, ὥς σοι τέρψιν ἐμβαλῶ φρενί.
τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι τῷ θανεῖν ἴσον λέγω,
τοῦ ζῆν δὲ λυπρῶς κρεῖσσόν ἐστι κατθανεῖν.
ἀλγεῖ γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν ᾐσθημένος·
ὁ δʼ εὐτυχήσας ἐς τὸ δυστυχὲς πεσὼν
ψυχὴν ἀλᾶται τῆς πάροιθʼ εὐπραξίας.
κείνη δʼ, ὁμοίως ὥσπερ οὐκ ἰδοῦσα φῶς,
τέθνηκε κοὐδὲν οἶδε τῶν αὑτῆς κακῶν.
ἐγὼ δὲ τοξεύσασα τῆς εὐδοξίας
λαχοῦσα πλεῖον τῆς τύχης ἡμάρτανον.

[¶158] For all that stamps the wife a woman chaste, I strove to do in Hector’s home. In the first place, whether there is a slur upon a woman, or whether there is not, the very fact of her not staying at home brings in its train an evil name;
therefore I gave up any longing to do so, and stayed within my house; nor would I admit indoors the clever gossip women love, but conscious of a heart that told an honest tale I was content. And ever would I keep a silent tongue and modest eye before my husband;
and well I knew where I might rule him, and where it was best to yield.

> Greek: ἃ γὰρ γυναιξὶ σώφρονʼ ἔσθʼ ηὑρημένα,
ταῦτʼ ἐξεμόχθουν Ἕκτορος κατὰ στέγας.
πρῶτον μέν, ἔνθα — κἂν προσῇ κἂν μὴ προσῇ
ψόγος γυναιξίν — αὐτὸ τοῦτʼ ἐφέλκεται
κακῶς ἀκούειν, ἥτις οὐκ ἔνδον μένει,
τούτου παρεῖσα πόθον ἔμιμνον ἐν δόμοις·
ἔσω τε μελάθρων κομψὰ θηλειῶν ἔπη
οὐκ εἰσεφρούμην, τὸν δὲ νοῦν διδάσκαλον
οἴκοθεν ἔχουσα χρηστὸν ἐξήρκουν ἐμοί.
γλώσσης τε σιγὴν ὄμμα θʼ ἥσυχον πόσει
παρεῖχον· ᾔδη δʼ ἁμὲ χρῆν νικᾶν πόσιν,
κείνῳ τε νίκην ὧν ἐχρῆν παριέναι.

[¶159] Report of this has reached the Achaean army, and proved my ruin; for when I was taken captive, Achilles’ son would have me
as his wife, and I must serve in the house of murderers. And if I set aside my love for Hector, and open my heart to this new lord, I shall appear a traitress to the dead, while, if I hate him, I shall incur my master’s displeasure.

> Greek: καὶ τῶνδε κληδὼν ἐς στράτευμʼ Ἀχαιϊκὸν
ἐλθοῦσʼ ἀπώλεσέν μʼ· ἐπεὶ γὰρ ᾑρέθην,
Ἀχιλλέως με παῖς ἐβουλήθη λαβεῖν
δάμαρτα· δουλεύσω δʼ ἐν αὐθεντῶν δόμοις.
κεἰ μὲν παρώσασʼ Ἕκτορος φίλον κάρα
πρὸς τὸν παρόντα πόσιν ἀναπτύξω φρένα,
κακὴ φανοῦμαι τῷ θανόντι· τόνδε δʼ αὖ
στυγοῦσʼ ἐμαυτῆς δεσπόταις μισήσομαι.

[¶160] And yet they say a single night removes a woman’s dislike for her husband; I despise the woman who, when she has lost her former husband, transfers her love by marrying another. Not even the horse, if parted from her stablemate,
will cheerfully draw the yoke; and animals have neither speech nor sense to help them, and are by nature man’s inferiors.

> Greek: καίτοι λέγουσιν ὡς μίʼ εὐφρόνη χαλᾷ
τὸ δυσμενὲς γυναικὸς εἰς ἀνδρὸς λέχος·
ἀπέπτυσʼ αὐτήν, ἥτις ἄνδρα τὸν πάρος
καινοῖσι λέκτροις ἀποβαλοῦσʼ ἄλλον φιλεῖ.
ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ πῶλος ἥτις ἂν διαζυγῇ
τῆς συντραφείσης, ῥᾳδίως ἕλξει ζυγόν.
καίτοι τὸ θηριῶδες ἄφθογγόν τʼ ἔφυ
ξυνέσει τʼ ἄχρηστον τῇ φύσει τε λείπεται.

## 2. Lines 673–1332

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/euripides-trojan-women/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/euripides-trojan-women/2/#p-N

[¶0] O my dear Hector, in you I found a husband amply dowered with wisdom, noble birth and fortune, a brave man and a mighty;

> Greek: σὲ δʼ, ὦ φίλʼ Ἕκτορ, εἶχον ἄνδρʼ ἀρκοῦντά μοι
ξυνέσει γένει πλούτῳ τε κἀνδρείᾳ μέγαν·

[¶1] while you took from my father’s house a spotless bride, yourself the first to make this maiden wife. But now death has claimed you, and I am soon to sail to Hellas, a captive doomed to wear the yoke of slavery. Has not then the dead Polyxena,
for whom you wail, less evil to bear than I? I have not so much as hope, the last resource of every human heart, nor do I beguile myself with dreams of future bliss, the very thought of which is sweet.

> Greek: ἀκήρατον δέ μʼ ἐκ πατρὸς λαβὼν δόμων
πρῶτος τὸ παρθένειον ἐζεύξω λέχος.
καὶ νῦν ὄλωλας μὲν σύ, ναυσθλοῦμαι δʼ ἐγὼ
πρὸς Ἑλλάδʼ αἰχμάλωτος ἐς δοῦλον ζυγόν.
ἆρʼ οὐκ ἐλάσσω τῶν ἐμῶν ἔχειν κακῶν
Πολυξένης ὄλεθρος, ἣν καταστένεις;
ἐμοὶ γὰρ οὐδʼ ὃ πᾶσι λείπεται βροτοῖς
ξύνεστιν ἐλπίς, οὐδὲ κλέπτομαι φρένας
πράξειν τι κεδνόν· ἡδὺ δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ δοκεῖν.

[¶2] Chorus Leader:
You are in the same plight as I; your lamentations
for yourself remind me of my own sad case.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἐς ταὐτὸν ἥκεις συμφορᾶς· θρηνοῦσα δὲ
τὸ σὸν διδάσκεις μʼ ἔνθα πημάτων κυρῶ.

[¶3] Hecuba:
I never yet have set foot on a ship’s deck, though I have seen such things in pictures and know of them from hearsay. Now sailors, if there comes a storm of moderate force, are all eagerness to save themselves by toil;
one stands at the tiller, another sets himself to work the sheets, a third meanwhile is baling out the ship; but if tempestuous waves arise to overwhelm them, they yield to fortune and commit themselves to the driving billows. Even so I, by reason of my countless troubles,
am speechless and forbear to say a word; for this surge of misery from the gods is too strong for me. Cease, my darling child, to speak of Hector’s fate; no tears of yours can save him; honor your present master,
offering your sweet nature as the bait to win him. If you do this, you will cheer your friends as well as yourself and you shalt rear my Hector’s child to lend stout aid to Ilium, that so your children in the aftertime
may build her up again, and our city yet be established. But our talk must take a different turn; who is this Achaean servant I see coming here again, sent to tell us of some new design?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
αὐτὴ μὲν οὔπω ναὸς εἰσέβην σκάφος,
γραφῇ δʼ ἰδοῦσα καὶ κλύουσʼ ἐπίσταμαι.
ναύταις γὰρ ἢν μὲν μέτριος ᾖ χειμὼν φέρειν,
προθυμίαν ἔχουσι σωθῆναι πόνων,
ὁ μὲν παρʼ οἴαχʼ, ὁ δʼ ἐπὶ λαίφεσιν βεβώς,
ὁ δʼ ἄντλον εἴργων ναός· ἢν δʼ ὑπερβάλῃ
πολὺς ταραχθεὶς πόντος, ἐνδόντες τύχῃ
παρεῖσαν αὑτοὺς κυμάτων δρομήμασιν.
οὕτω δὲ κἀγὼ πόλλʼ ἔχουσα πήματα
ἄφθογγός εἰμι καὶ παρεῖσʼ ἐῶ στόμα·
νικᾷ γὰρ οὑκ θεῶν με δύστηνος κλύδων.
ἀλλʼ, ὦ φίλη παῖ, τὰς μὲν Ἕκτορος τύχας
ἔασον· οὐ μὴ δάκρυά νιν σώσῃ τὰ σά·
τίμα δὲ τὸν παρόντα δεσπότην σέθεν,
φίλον διδοῦσα δέλεαρ ἀνδρὶ σῶν τρόπων.
κἂν δρᾷς τάδʼ, ἐς τὸ κοινὸν εὐφρανεῖς φίλους
καὶ παῖδα τόνδε παιδὸς ἐκθρέψειας ἂν
Τροίᾳ μέγιστον ὠφέλημʼ, ἵνʼ — εἴ ποτε —
ἐκ σοῦ γενόμενοι παῖδες Ἴλιον πάλιν
κατοικίσειαν, καὶ πόλις γένοιτʼ ἔτι.
ἀλλʼ ἐκ λόγου γὰρ ἄλλος ἐκβαίνει λόγος,
τίνʼ αὖ δέδορκα τόνδʼ Ἀχαιϊκὸν λάτριν
στείχοντα καινῶν ἄγγελον βουλευμάτων;

[¶4] Talthybius:
You that once were the wife of Hector, bravest of the Phrygians,
do not hate me, for I am not a willing messenger. The Danaids and sons of Pelops both command—

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
Φρυγῶν ἀρίστου πρίν ποθʼ Ἕκτορος δάμαρ,
μή με στυγήσῃς· οὐχ ἑκὼν γὰρ ἀγγελῶ.
Δαναῶν δὲ κοινὰ Πελοπιδῶν τʼ ἀγγέλματα …

[¶5] Andromache:
What is it? your prelude bodes evil news.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
τί δʼ ἔστιν; ὥς μοι φροιμίων ἄρχῃ κακῶν.

[¶6] Talthybius:
It is decreed your son is—how can I tell my news?

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ἔδοξε τόνδε παῖδα … πῶς εἴπω λόγον;

[¶7] Andromache:
Surely not to have a different master from me?

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
μῶν οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν δεσπότην ἡμῖν ἔχειν;

[¶8] Talthybius:
None of all Achaea’s chiefs shall ever lord it over him.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
οὐδεὶς Ἀχαιῶν τοῦδε δεσπόσει ποτέ.

[¶9] Andromache:
Is it their will to leave him here, a remnant of Phrygia’s race?

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
ἀλλʼ ἐνθάδʼ αὐτοῦ λείψανον Φρυγῶν λιπεῖν;

[¶10] Talthybius:
I know no words to break the sorrow lightly to you.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως σοι ῥᾳδίως εἴπω κακά.

[¶11] Andromache:
I thank you for your consideration, unless indeed you have good news to tell.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
ἐπῄνεσʼ αἰδῶ, πλὴν ἐὰν λέγῃς καλά.

[¶12] Talthybius:
They mean to slay your son; there is my hateful message to you.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
κτενοῦσι σὸν παῖδʼ, ὡς πύθῃ κακὸν μέγα.

[¶13] Andromache:
Oh me! this is worse tidings than my forced marriage.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
οἴμοι, γάμων τόδʼ ὡς κλύω μεῖζον κακόν.

[¶14] Talthybius:
So spoke Odysseus to the assembled Hellenes, and his word prevails.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
νικᾷ δʼ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἐν Πανέλλησιν λέγων …

[¶15] Andromache:
Oh, once again alas! there is no measure in the woes I bear.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
αἰαῖ μάλʼ· οὐ γὰρ μέτρια πάσχομεν κακά.

[¶16] Talthybius:
He said they should not rear so brave a father’s son.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
λέξας ἀρίστου παῖδα μὴ τρέφειν πατρὸς …

[¶17] Andromache:
May such counsels prevail about children of his!

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
τοιαῦτα νικήσειε τῶν αὑτοῦ πέρι.

[¶18] Talthybius:
He must be thrown from Troy’s battlements. Let it be so, and you will show more wisdom; do not cling to him, but bear your sorrows with heroic heart, nor in your weakness think that you are strong. For nowhere do you have any help; consider this you must;

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ῥῖψαι δὲ πύργων δεῖν σφε Τρωικῶν ἄπο.
ἀλλʼ ὣς γενέσθω, καὶ σοφωτέρα φανῇ·
μήτʼ ἀντέχου τοῦδʼ, εὐγενῶς δʼ ἄλγει κακοῖς,
μήτε σθένουσα μηδὲν ἰσχύειν δόκει.
ἔχεις γὰρ ἀλκὴν οὐδαμῇ. σκοπεῖν δὲ χρή·

[¶19] your husband and your city are no more, so you are in our power, and I alone am match enough for one woman; therefore I would not see you bent on strife, or any course to bring you shame or hate, nor would I hear you rashly curse the Achaeans.

> Greek: πόλις τʼ ὄλωλε καὶ πόσις, κρατῇ δὲ σύ,
ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸς γυναῖκα μάρνασθαι μίαν
οἷοί τε. τούτων οὕνεκʼ οὐ μάχης ἐρᾶν
οὐδʼ αἰσχρὸν οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἐπίφθονόν σε δρᾶν,
οὐδʼ αὖ σʼ Ἀχαιοῖς βούλομαι ῥίπτειν ἀράς.

[¶20] For if you say anything to anger the army, this child will find no burial nor pity either. But if you hold your peace and with composure take your fate, you will not leave his corpse unburied, and you yourself will find more favor with the Achaeans.

> Greek: εἰ γάρ τι λέξεις ὧν χολώσεται στρατός,
οὔτʼ ἂν ταφείη παῖς ὅδʼ οὔτʼ οἴκτου τύχοι.
σιγῶσα δʼ εὖ τε τὰς τύχας κεκτημένη
τὸν τοῦδε νεκρὸν οὐκ ἄθαπτον ἂν λίποις
αὐτή τʼ Ἀχαιῶν πρευμενεστέρων τύχοις.

[¶21] Andromache:
My dearest! my own sweet child and priceless treasure! your death the foe demands, and you must leave your wretched mother. That which saves the lives of others, proves your destruction—your father’s nobility; to you your father’s valiancy has proved no gift.

> Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη:
ὦ φίλτατʼ, ὦ περισσὰ τιμηθεὶς τέκνον,
θανῇ πρὸς ἐχθρῶν μητέρʼ ἀθλίαν λιπών,
ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς δέ σʼ εὐγένειʼ ἀποκτενεῖ,
ἣ τοῖσιν ἄλλοις γίγνεται σωτηρία,
τὸ δʼ ἐσθλὸν οὐκ ἐς καιρὸν ἦλθε σοὶ πατρός.

[¶22] O my unlucky bed and marriage, that brought me once to Hector’s home, hoping to be the mother of a son that should rule over Asia’s fruitful fields instead of serving as a victim to the Danaids! Do you weep, my child? do you know your hapless fate?

> Greek: ὦ λέκτρα τἀμὰ δυστυχῆ τε καὶ γάμοι,
οἷς ἦλθον ἐς μέλαθρον Ἕκτορός ποτε,
οὐ σφάγιον υἱὸν Δαναΐδαις τέξουσʼ ἐμόν,
ἀλλʼ ὡς τύραννον Ἀσιάδος πολυσπόρου.
ὦ παῖ, δακρύεις· αἰσθάνῃ κακῶν σέθεν;

[¶23] Why clutch me with your hands and to my garment cling, nestling like a tender chick beneath my wing? Hector will not rise from the earth and come gripping his famous spear to bring you salvation; no kinsman of your father appears, nor might of Phrygian hosts;

> Greek: τί μου δέδραξαι χερσὶ κἀντέχῃ πέπλων,
νεοσσὸς ὡσεὶ πτέρυγας ἐσπίτνων ἐμάς;
οὐκ εἶσιν Ἕκτωρ κλεινὸν ἁρπάσας δόρυ
γῆς ἐξανελθὼν σοὶ φέρων σωτηρίαν,
οὐ συγγένεια πατρός, οὐκ ἰσχὺς Φρυγῶν·

[¶24] one dreadful headlong leap from the dizzy height and you will dash out your life with none to pity you! Oh to clasp your tender limbs, a mother’s fondest joy! Oh to breathe your fragrant breath! In vain it seems these breasts did suckle you, wrapped in your swaddling-clothes;
all for nothing I used to toil and wear myself away! Kiss your mother now for the last time, nestle to her that bore you, twine your arms about my neck and join your lips to mine! O you Hellenes, cunning to devise new forms of cruelty,
why slay this child who never wronged any? You daughter of Tyndareus, you are no child of Zeus, but I say you were born of many a father, first of some evil demon, next of Envy, then of Murder and of Death, and every horror that the earth breeds.

> Greek: λυγρὸν δὲ πήδημʼ ἐς τράχηλον ὑψόθεν
πεσὼν ἀνοίκτως, πνεῦμʼ ἀπορρήξεις σέθεν.
ὦ νέον ὑπαγκάλισμα μητρὶ φίλτατον,
ὦ χρωτὸς ἡδὺ πνεῦμα· διὰ κενῆς ἄρα
ἐν σπαργάνοις σε μαστὸς ἐξέθρεψʼ ὅδε,
μάτην δʼ ἐμόχθουν καὶ κατεξάνθην πόνοις.
νῦν — οὔποτʼ αὖθις — μητέρʼ ἀσπάζου σέθεν,
πρόσπιτνε τὴν τεκοῦσαν, ἀμφὶ δʼ ὠλένας
ἕλισσʼ ἐμοῖς νώτοισι καὶ στόμʼ ἅρμοσον.
ὦ βάρβαρʼ ἐξευρόντες Ἕλληνες κακά,
τί τόνδε παῖδα κτείνετʼ οὐδὲν αἴτιον;
ὦ Τυνδάρειον ἔρνος, οὔποτʼ εἶ Διός,
πολλῶν δὲ πατέρων φημί σʼ ἐκπεφυκέναι,
Ἀλάστορος μὲν πρῶτον, εἶτα δὲ Φθόνου,
Φόνου τε Θανάτου θʼ ὅσα τε γῆ τρέφει κακά.

[¶25] That Zeus was never father of yours I boldly do assert, bane as you have been to many a Hellene and barbarian too. Destruction catch you! Those fair eyes of yours have brought a shameful ruin on the fields of glorious Troy. Take the child and bear him hence, hurl him down if you wish,
then feast upon his flesh! It is the gods’ will we perish, and I cannot ward the deadly stroke from my child. Hide me and my misery; cast me into the ship’s hold; for it is to a fair wedding I am going, now that I have lost my child!

> Greek: οὐ γάρ ποτʼ αὐχῶ Ζῆνά γʼ ἐκφῦσαί σʼ ἐγώ,
πολλοῖσι κῆρα βαρβάροις Ἕλλησί τε.
ὄλοιο· καλλίστων γὰρ ὀμμάτων ἄπο
αἰσχρῶς τὰ κλεινὰ πεδίʼ ἀπώλεσας Φρυγῶν.
⟨ἀλλʼ⟩ ἄγετε φέρετε ῥίπτετʼ, εἰ ῥίπτειν δοκεῖ·
δαίνυσθε τοῦδε σάρκας. ἔκ τε γὰρ θεῶν
διολλύμεσθα, παιδί τʼ οὐ δυναίμεθʼ ἂν
θάνατον ἀρῆξαι. κρύπτετʼ ἄθλιον δέμας
καὶ ῥίπτετʼ ἐς ναῦς· ἐπὶ καλὸν γὰρ ἔρχομαι
ὑμέναιον, ἀπολέσασα τοὐμαυτῆς τέκνον.

[¶26] Chorus Leader:
Unhappy Troy! you have lost countless men for the sake of one woman and her hateful bed.

> Greek: Χορός:
τάλαινα Τροία, μυρίους ἀπώλεσας
μιᾶς γυναικὸς καὶ λέχους στυγνοῦ χάριν.

[¶27] Talthybius:
Come, child, leave fond embracing of your woeful mother, and mount the high coronal of your ancestral towers,
there to draw your parting breath, as is ordained. Take him away. His should the duty be to do such herald’s work, whose heart knows no pity and who loves ruthlessness more than my soul does. Exeunt Andromache and Talthybius with Astyanax.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ἄγε παῖ, φίλιον πρόσπτυγμα μεθεὶς
μητρὸς μογερᾶς, βαῖνε πατρῴων
πύργων ἐπʼ ἄκρας στεφάνας, ὅθι σοι
πνεῦμα μεθεῖναι ψῆφος ἐκράνθη.
λαμβάνετʼ αὐτόν. τὰ δὲ τοιάδε χρὴ
κηρυκεύειν, ὅστις ἄνοικτος
καὶ ἀναιδείᾳ τῆς ἡμετέρας
γνώμης μᾶλλον φίλος ἐστίν.

[¶28] Hecuba:
O child, son of my hapless boy, an unjust fate robs me and your mother of your life. How is it with me? What can I do for you, luckless one? For you I strike upon my head and beat my breast, my only gift;

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ τέκνον, ὦ παῖ παιδὸς μογεροῦ,
συλώμεθα σὴν ψυχὴν ἀδίκως
μήτηρ κἀγώ. τί πάθω; τί σʼ ἐγώ,
δύσμορε, δράσω; τάδε σοι δίδομεν
πλήγματα κρατὸς στέρνων τε κόπους·

[¶29] for that is in my power. Woe for my city! woe for you! What sorrow do we not have? What is wanting now to our utter and immediate ruin?

> Greek: τῶνδε γὰρ ἄρχομεν. οἲ ʼγὼ πόλεως,
οἴμοι δὲ σέθεν· τί γὰρ οὐκ ἔχομεν;
τίνος ἐνδέομεν μὴ οὐ πανσυδίᾳ
χωρεῖν ὀλέθρου διὰ παντός;

[¶30] Chorus:
O Telamon, King of Salamis, the feeding-ground of bees,
who have your home in a seagirt isle that lies near the holy hills where first Athena made the grey olive branch to appear, a crown for heavenly heads and a glory to happy Athens, you came, you came in knightly brotherhood
with that great archer, Alcmena’s son, to sack our city Ilium, in days gone by, [on your advent from Hellas];

> Greek: Χορός:
μελισσοτρόφου Σαλαμῖνος ὦ βασιλεῦ Τελαμών,
νάσου περικύμονος οἰκήσας ἕδραν
τᾶς ἐπικεκλιμένας ὄχθοις ἱεροῖς, ἵνʼ ἐλαίας
πρῶτον ἔδειξε κλάδον γλαυκᾶς Ἀθάνα,
οὐράνιον στέφανον λιπαραῖσί ⟨τε⟩ κόσμον Ἀθήναις,
ἔβας ἔβας τῷ τοξοφόρῳ συναρι-
στεύων ἅμʼ Ἀλκμήνας γόνῳ
Ἴλιον Ἴλιον ἐκπέρσων πόλιν
ἁμετέραν τὸ πάροιθεν [ὅτʼ ἔβας ἀφʼ Ἑλλάδος]·

[¶31] Chorus:
When he led the chosen flower of Hellas, vexed
for the steeds, and at the fair stream of Simois he stayed his sea-borne ship and fastened cables to the stern, and forth from the ship he took the bow his hand could deftly shoot, to be the doom of Laomedon; and with the ruddy breath of fire
he wasted the masonry squared by Phoebus’ line and chisel, and sacked the land of Troy; so twice in two attacks has the blood-stained spear destroyed Dardania’s walls.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὅθʼ Ἑλλάδος ἄγαγε πρῶτον ἄνθος ἀτυζόμενος
πώλων, Σιμόεντι δʼ ἐπʼ εὐρείτᾳ πλάταν
ἔσχασε ποντοπόρον καὶ ναύδετʼ ἀνήψατο πρυμνᾶν
καὶ χερὸς εὐστοχίαν ἐξεῖλε ναῶν,
Λαομέδοντι φόνον· κανόνων δὲ τυκίσματα Φοίβου
… πυρὸς φοίνικι πνοᾷ καθελὼν
Τροίας ἐπόρθησε χθόνα.
δὶς δὲ δυοῖν πιτύλοιν τείχη περὶ
Δαρδανίας [φοινία] κατέλυσεν [αἰχμά.]

[¶32] Chorus:
In vain, it seems, you Phrygian boy pacing with dainty step among your golden chalices, do you fill high the cup of Zeus, a lovely service;

> Greek: Χορός:
μάταν ἄρʼ, ὦ χρυσέαις ἐν οἰνοχόαις ἁβρὰ βαίνων,
Λαομεδόντιε παῖ,
Ζηνὸς ἔχεις κυλίκων πλήρωμα, καλλίσταν λατρείαν·

[¶33] the land of your birth is being consumed by fire. The shore re-echoes to our cries; and, as a bird bewails its young,
so we bewail our husbands or our children, or our old mothers. The dew-fed springs where you bathed, the course where you trained,
are now no more; but you beside the throne of Zeus are sitting with a calm, sweet smile upon your fair young face, while the spear of Hellas has destroyed the land of Priam.

> Greek: ἁ δέ σε γειναμένα πυρὶ δαίεται·
ἠιόνες δʼ ἅλιαι
ἴακχον οἰωνὸς οἷ-
ον τεκέων ὕπερ βοᾷ,
ᾇ μὲν εὐνάτορας, ᾇ δὲ παῖδας,
ᾇ δὲ ματέρας γεραιάς.
τὰ δὲ σὰ δροσόεντα λουτρὰ
γυμνασίων τε δρόμοι
βεβᾶσι, σὺ δὲ πρόσωπα νεα-
ρὰ χάρισι παρὰ Διὸς θρόνοις
καλλιγάλανα τρέφεις· Πριάμοιο δὲ γαῖαν
Ἑλλὰς ὤλεσʼ αἰχμά.

[¶34] Chorus:
Ah! Love, Love, who once sought these Dardanian halls, deep-seated in the hearts of heavenly gods, how high you made Troy to tower in those days,
allying her with deities! But I will cease to urge reproaches against Zeus; for white-winged dawn, whose light is dear to man,
turned a baleful eye upon our land and watched the ruin of our citadel, though she had within her bridal bower a husband to give her children, from this land,
whom once a chariot of gold spangled stars caught up and carried there, great source of hope to his native country; but all the love the gods once had for Troy is passed away.

> Greek: Χορός:
Ἔρως Ἔρως, ὃς τὰ Δαρδάνεια μέλαθρά ποτʼ ἦλθες
οὐρανίδαισι μέλων,
ὡς τότε μὲν μεγάλως Τροίαν ἐπύργωσας, θεοῖσι
κῆδος ἀναψάμενος. τὸ μὲν οὖν Διὸς
οὐκέτʼ ὄνειδος ἐρῶ·
τὸ τᾶς δὲ λευκοπτέρου
φίλιον Ἁμέρας βροτοῖς
φέγγος ὀλοὸν εἶδε γαῖαν,
εἶδε περγάμων ὄλεθρον,
τεκνοποιὸν ἔχουσα τᾶσδε
γᾶς πόσιν ἐν θαλάμοις,
ὃν ἀστέρων τέθριππος ἔλα-
βε χρύσεος ὄχος ἀναρπάσας,
ἐλπίδα γᾷ πατρίᾳ μεγάλαν· τὰ θεῶν δὲ
φίλτρα φροῦδα Τροίᾳ.

[¶35] Menelaus:
Hail! you radiant flare of the sun, by whose fair light I now shall capture her that was my wife, Helen; for I am that Menelaus, who has toiled so hard, I and Achaea’s army. I came to Troy, not so much as men suppose
for, the sake of a woman, but to punish the man who from my house stole my wife, traitor to my hospitality. But he, by the gods’ will, has paid the penalty, ruined, and his country too, by the spear of Hellas. And I have come to bear that wretched woman away—wife I have no mind
to call her, though she once was mine—for now she is one among the other Trojan women who share these tents as captives. For they, the very men who who toiled to take her with the spear, have granted to me to slay her,
or, if I will, to spare and carry back with me to Argos. Now my purpose is not to put her to death in Troy, but to carry her to Hellas in my sea-borne ship, and then surrender her to death, a recompense to all whose friends were slain in Ilium.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ὦ καλλιφεγγὲς ἡλίου σέλας τόδε,
ἐν ᾧ δάμαρτα τὴν ἐμὴν χειρώσομαι
Ἑλένην· ὁ γὰρ δὴ πολλὰ μοχθήσας ἐγὼ
Μενέλαός εἰμι καὶ στράτευμʼ Ἀχαιϊκόν.
ἦλθον δὲ Τροίαν οὐχ ὅσον δοκοῦσί με
γυναικὸς οὕνεκʼ, ἀλλʼ ἐπʼ ἄνδρʼ ὃς ἐξ ἐμῶν
δόμων δάμαρτα ξεναπάτης ἐλῄσατο.
κεῖνος μὲν οὖν δέδωκε σὺν θεοῖς δίκην
αὐτός τε καὶ γῆ δορὶ πεσοῦσʼ Ἑλληνικῷ.
ἥκω δὲ τὴν τάλαιναν — οὐ γὰρ ἡδέως
ὄνομα δάμαρτος ἥ ποτʼ ἦν ἐμὴ λέγω —
ἄξων· δόμοις γὰρ τοῖσδʼ ἐν αἰχμαλωτικοῖς
κατηρίθμηται Τρῳάδων ἄλλων μέτα.
οἵπερ γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐξεμόχθησαν δορί,
κτανεῖν ἐμοί νιν ἔδοσαν, εἴτε μὴ κτανὼν
θέλοιμʼ ἄγεσθαι πάλιν ἐς Ἀργείαν χθόνα.
ἐμοὶ δʼ ἔδοξε τὸν μὲν ἐν Τροίᾳ μόρον
Ἑλένης ἐᾶσαι, ναυπόρῳ δʼ ἄγειν πλάτῃ
Ἑλληνίδʼ ἐς γῆν κᾆτʼ ἐκεῖ δοῦναι κτανεῖν,
ποινὰς ὅσοις τεθνᾶσʼ ἐν Ἰλίῳ φίλοι.

[¶36] Ho! my servants, enter the tent, and drag her out to me by her hair foul with murder; and when a favoring breeze shall blow, to Hellas will we convey her.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ εἶα χωρεῖτʼ ἐς δόμους, ὀπάονες,
κομίζετʼ αὐτὴν τῆς μιαιφονωτάτης
κόμης ἐπισπάσαντες· οὔριοι δʼ ὅταν
πνοαὶ μόλωσι, πέμψομέν νιν Ἑλλάδα.

[¶37] Hecuba:
O you that do support the earth and rest thereupon,
whoever you are, a riddle past our knowledge! Zeus, owhether you are natural necessity, or man’s intellect, to you I pray; for, though you tread over a noiseless path, all your dealings with mankind are guided by justice.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ γῆς ὄχημα κἀπὶ γῆς ἔχων ἕδραν,
ὅστις ποτʼ εἶ σύ, δυστόπαστος εἰδέναι,
Ζεύς, εἴτʼ ἀνάγκη φύσεος εἴτε νοῦς βροτῶν,
προσηυξάμην σε· πάντα γὰρ διʼ ἀψόφου
βαίνων κελεύθου κατὰ δίκην τὰ θνήτʼ ἄγεις.

[¶38] Menelaus:
What is this? Strange the prayer you offer to the gods!

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
τί δʼ ἔστιν; εὐχὰς ὡς ἐκαίνισας θεῶν.

[¶39] Hecuba:
I thank you, Menelaus, if you will slay that wife of yours. Yet shun the sight of her, lest she strike you with longing. For she ensnares the eyes of men, overthrows their towns, and burns their houses, so potent are her witcheries! Well I know her; so do you and those her victims too.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
αἰνῶ σε, Μενέλαʼ, εἰ κτενεῖς δάμαρτα σήν.
ὁρᾶν δὲ τήνδε φεῦγε, μή σʼ ἕλῃ πόθῳ.
αἱρεῖ γὰρ ἀνδρῶν ὄμματʼ, ἐξαιρεῖ πόλεις,
πίμπρησιν οἴκους· ὧδʼ ἔχει κηλήματα.
ἐγώ νιν οἶδα, καὶ σύ, χοἱ πεπονθότες.

[¶40] Helen:
Menelaus! this prelude well may fill me with alarm; for I am taken with violence by your servants’ hands and brought before these tents. Still, though I am sure you hate me, yet I want to inquire
what you and Hellas have decided about my life.

> Greek: Ἑλένη:
Μενέλαε, φροίμιον μὲν ἄξιον φόβου
τόδʼ ἐστίν· ἐν γὰρ χερσὶ προσπόλων σέθεν
βίᾳ πρὸ τῶνδε δωμάτων ἐκπέμπομαι.
ἀτὰρ σχεδὸν μὲν οἶδά σοι μισουμένη,
ὅμως δʼ ἐρέσθαι βούλομαι· γνῶμαι τίνες
Ἕλλησι καὶ σοὶ τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς πέρι;

[¶41] Menelaus:
To judge your case required no great exactness; the army with one consent, that army whom you wronged, handed you over to me to die.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
οὐκ εἰς ἀκριβὲς ἦλθες, ἀλλʼ ἅπας στρατὸς
κτανεῖν ἐμοί σʼ ἔδωκεν, ὅνπερ ἠδίκεις.

[¶42] Helen:
May I answer this decision, proving that my death, if I am to die, will be unjust?

> Greek: Ἑλένη:
ἔξεστιν οὖν πρὸς ταῦτʼ ἀμείψασθαι λόγῳ,
ὡς οὐ δικαίως, ἢν θάνω, θανούμεθα;

[¶43] Menelaus:
I came not to argue, but to slay you.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
οὐκ ἐς λόγους ἐλήλυθʼ, ἀλλά σε κτενῶν.

[¶44] Hecuba:
Hear her, Menelaus; let her not die for want of that, and let me answer her again, for you know nothing of her villainies in Troy; and the whole case, if summed up,
will insure her death against all chance of an escape.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἄκουσον αὐτῆς, μὴ θάνῃ τοῦδʼ ἐνδεής,
Μενέλαε, καὶ δὸς τοὺς ἐναντίους λόγους
ἡμῖν κατʼ αὐτῆς· τῶν γὰρ ἐν Τροίᾳ κακῶν
οὐδὲν κάτοισθα. συντεθεὶς δʼ ὁ πᾶς λόγος
κτενεῖ νιν οὕτως ὥστε μηδαμοῦ φυγεῖν.

[¶45] Menelaus:
This gift needs leisure; still, if she wishes to speak, she may. Yet I will grant her this because of your words, that she may hear them, and not for her own sake.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
σχολῆς τὸ δῶρον· εἰ δὲ βούλεται λέγειν,
ἔξεστι. τῶν σῶν δʼ οὕνεχʼ — ὡς μάθῃ — λόγων
δώσω τόδʼ αὐτῇ· τῆσδε δʼ οὐ δώσω χάριν.

[¶46] Helen:
Perhaps you will not answer me, from counting me a foe,
whether my words seem good or ill. Yet I will put my charges and yours over against each other, and then reply to the accusations I suppose you will advance against me. First, then, that woman was the author of these troubles
by giving birth to Paris; next, old Priam ruined Troy and me, because he did not slay his child Alexander, baleful semblance of a fire-brand, long ago. Hear what followed. This man was to judge the claims of three rival goddesses;

> Greek: Ἑλένη:
ἴσως με, κἂν εὖ κἂν κακῶς δόξω λέγειν,
οὐκ ἀνταμείψῃ πολεμίαν ἡγούμενος.
ἐγὼ δʼ, ἅ σʼ οἶμαι διὰ λόγων ἰόντʼ ἐμοῦ
κατηγορήσειν, ἀντιθεῖσʼ ἀμείψομαι
τοῖς σοῖσι τἀμὰ καὶ τὰ σʼ αἰτιάματα.
πρῶτον μὲν ἀρχὰς ἔτεκεν ἥδε τῶν κακῶν,
Πάριν τεκοῦσα· δεύτερον δʼ ἀπώλεσε
Τροίαν τε κἄμʼ ὁ πρέσβυς οὐ κτανὼν βρέφος,
δαλοῦ πικρὸν μίμημʼ, Ἀλέξανδρόν ποτε.
ἐνθένδε τἀπίλοιπʼ ἄκουσον ὡς ἔχει.
ἔκρινε τρισσὸν ζεῦγος ὅδε τριῶν θεῶν·

[¶47] so Pallas offered him command of all the Phrygians, and the destruction of Hellas; Hera promised he should spread his dominion over Asia, and the utmost bounds of Europe, if he would decide for her; but Cypris spoke in rapture of my loveliness,
and promised him this gift, if she should have the preference over those two for beauty. Now mark the inference I deduce from this; Cypris won the day over the goddesses, and thus far has my marriage proved of benefit to Hellas, that you are not subject to barbarian rule, neither vanquished in the strife, nor yet by tyrants crushed.

> Greek: καὶ Παλλάδος μὲν ἦν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ δόσις
Φρυξὶ στρατηγοῦνθʼ Ἑλλάδʼ ἐξανιστάναι,
Ἥρα δʼ ὑπέσχετʼ Ἀσιάδʼ Εὐρώπης θʼ ὅρους
τυραννίδʼ ἕξειν, εἴ σφε κρίνειεν Πάρις·
Κύπρις δὲ τοὐμὸν εἶδος ἐκπαγλουμένη
δώσειν ὑπέσχετʼ, εἰ θεὰς ὑπερδράμοι
κάλλει. τὸν ἔνθεν δʼ ὡς ἔχει σκέψαι λόγον·
νικᾷ Κύπρις θεάς, καὶ τοσόνδʼ οὑμοὶ γάμοι
ὤνησαν Ἑλλάδʼ· οὐ κρατεῖσθʼ ἐκ βαρβάρων,
οὔτʼ ἐς δόρυ σταθέντες, οὐ τυραννίδι.

[¶48] What Hellas gained, was ruin to me, sold for my beauty, and now I am reproached for that which should have set a crown upon my head. But you will say I am silent on the real matter at hand, how it was I started forth and left your house by stealth.

> Greek: ἃ δʼ εὐτύχησεν Ἑλλάς, ὠλόμην ἐγὼ
εὐμορφίᾳ πραθεῖσα, κὠνειδίζομαι
ἐξ ὧν ἐχρῆν με στέφανον ἐπὶ κάρᾳ λαβεῖν.
οὔπω με φήσεις αὐτὰ τἀν ποσὶν λέγειν,
ὅπως ἀφώρμησʼ ἐκ δόμων τῶν σῶν λάθρα.

[¶49] With no small goddess at his side he came, my evil genius, call him Alexander or Paris, as you will; and you, villain, left him behind in your house, and sailed away from Sparta to the land of Crete.

> Greek: ἦλθʼ οὐχὶ μικρὰν θεὸν ἔχων αὑτοῦ μέτα
ὁ τῆσδʼ ἀλάστωρ, εἴτʼ Ἀλέξανδρον θέλεις
ὀνόματι προσφωνεῖν νιν εἴτε καὶ Πάριν·
ὅν, ὦ κάκιστε, σοῖσιν ἐν δόμοις λιπὼν
Σπάρτης ἀπῆρας νηὶ Κρησίαν χθόνα.

[¶50] Enough of this! For all that followed I must question myself, not you; what thought led me to follow the stranger from your house, traitress to my country and my home? Punish the goddess, show yourself more mighty even than Zeus, who, though he lords it over the other gods,
is her slave; therefore I may well be pardoned. Still, from this you might draw a specious argument against me; when Paris died, and earth concealed his corpse, I should have left his house and sought the Argive fleet, since my marriage was no longer in the hands of gods.

> Greek: εἶἑν.
οὐ σέ, ἀλλʼ ἐμαυτὴν τοὐπὶ τῷδʼ ἐρήσομαι·
τί δὴ φρονοῦσά γʼ ἐκ δόμων ἅμʼ ἑσπόμην
ξένῳ, προδοῦσα πατρίδα καὶ δόμους ἐμούς;
τὴν θεὸν κόλαζε καὶ Διὸς κρείσσων γενοῦ,
ὃς τῶν μὲν ἄλλων δαιμόνων ἔχει κράτος,
κείνης δὲ δοῦλός ἐστι· συγγνώμη δʼ ἐμοί.
ἔνθεν δʼ ἔχοις ἂν εἰς ἔμʼ εὐπρεπῆ λόγον·
ἐπεὶ θανὼν γῆς ἦλθʼ Ἀλέξανδρος μυχούς,
χρῆν μʼ, ἡνίκʼ οὐκ ἦν θεοπόνητά μου λέχη,
λιποῦσαν οἴκους ναῦς ἐπʼ Ἀργείων μολεῖν.

[¶51] That was what I was eager to do; and the warders on the towers and watchmen on the walls can bear me witness, for often they found me seeking to let myself down stealthily by cords from the battlements [but there was that new husband, Deiphobus, that carried me off ]
[by force to be his wife against the will of Troy]. How then, my lord, could I be justly put to death... by you, with any show of right, seeing that he wedded me against my will, and those my other natural gifts have served a bitter slavery, instead of leading on to triumph? If it is your will indeed
to master gods, that very wish displays your folly.

> Greek: ἔσπευδον αὐτὸ τοῦτο· μάρτυρες δέ μοι
πύργων πυλωροὶ κἀπὸ τειχέων σκοποί,
οἳ πολλάκις μʼ ἐφηῦρον ἐξ ἐπάλξεων
πλεκταῖσιν ἐς γῆν σῶμα κλέπτουσαν τόδε.
[βίᾳ δʼ ὁ καινός μʼ οὗτος ἁρπάσας πόσις]
[Δηίφοβος ἄλοχον εἶχεν ἀκόντων Φρυγῶν.]
πῶς οὖν ἔτʼ ἂν θνῄσκοιμʼ ἂν ἐνδίκως, πόσι,
…
πρὸς σοῦ δικαίως, ἣν ὁ μὲν βίᾳ γαμεῖ,
τὰ δʼ οἴκοθεν κεῖνʼ ἀντὶ νικητηρίων
πικρῶς ἐδούλευσʼ; εἰ δὲ τῶν θεῶν κρατεῖν
βούλῃ, τὸ χρῄζειν ἀμαθές ἐστί σου τόδε.

[¶52] Chorus Leader:
O my royal mistress, defend your children’s and your country’s cause, bringing to nothing her persuasive arguments, for she pleads well in spite of all her villainy; this is monstrous!

> Greek: Χορός:
βασίλειʼ, ἄμυνον σοῖς τέκνοισι καὶ πάτρᾳ
πειθὼ διαφθείρουσα τῆσδʼ, ἐπεὶ λέγει
καλῶς κακοῦργος οὖσα· δεινὸν οὖν τόδε.

[¶53] Hecuba:
First I will take up the cause of those goddesses,
and prove how she perverts the truth. For I can never believe that Hera or the maiden Pallas would have been guilty of such folly, the one to sell her Argos to barbarians, or that Pallas ever would make her Athens subject to the Phrygians,
coming as they did in mere wanton sport to Ida to contest the palm of beauty. For why should goddess Hera set her heart so much on such a prize? Was it to win a nobler lord than Zeus? or was Athena hunting down among the gods a husband,
she who in her dislike of marriage won from her father the gift of remaining unwed? Do not seek to impute folly to the goddesses, in the attempt to adorn your own sin; never will you persuade the wise. Next you have said—what well may make men jeer—that Cypris came with my son to the house of Menelaus.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ταῖς θεαῖσι πρῶτα σύμμαχος γενήσομαι
καὶ τήνδε δείξω μὴ λέγουσαν ἔνδικα.
ἐγὼ γὰρ Ἥραν παρθένον τε Παλλάδα
οὐκ ἐς τοσοῦτον ἀμαθίας ἐλθεῖν δοκῶ,
ὥσθʼ ἣ μὲν Ἄργος βαρβάροις ἀπημπόλα,
Παλλὰς δʼ Ἀθήνας Φρυξὶ δουλεύειν ποτέ,
εἰ παιδιαῖσι καὶ χλιδῇ μορφῆς πέρι
ἦλθον πρὸς Ἴδην. τοῦ γὰρ οὕνεκʼ ἂν θεὰ
Ἥρα τοσοῦτον ἔσχʼ ἔρωτα καλλονῆς;
πότερον ἀμείνονʼ ὡς λάβῃ Διὸς πόσιν;
ἢ γάμον Ἀθηνᾶ θεῶν τίνος θηρωμένη —
ἣ παρθενείαν πατρὸς ἐξῃτήσατο,
φεύγουσα λέκτρα; μὴ ἀμαθεῖς ποίει θεὰς
τὸ σὸν κακὸν κοσμοῦσα, μὴ οὐ πείσῃς σοφούς.
Κύπριν δʼ ἔλεξας — ταῦτα γὰρ γέλως πολύς —
ἐλθεῖν ἐμῷ ξὺν παιδὶ Μενέλεω δόμους.

[¶54] Could she not have stayed quietly in heaven and brought you and Amyclae as well to Ilium?

> Greek: οὐκ ἂν μένουσʼ ἂν ἥσυχός σʼ ἐν οὐρανῷ
αὐταῖς Ἀμύκλαις ἤγαγεν πρὸς Ἴλιον;

[¶55] No! my son was exceedingly handsome, and when you saw him your mind straight became your Aphrodite; for every folly that men commit, they lay upon this goddess,
and rightly does her name begin the word for “senselessness”; so when you caught sight of him in gorgeous foreign clothes, ablaze with gold, your senses utterly forsook you. Yes, for in Argos you had moved in simple state, but, once free of Sparta,
it was your hope to deluge by your lavish outlay Phrygia’s town, that flowed with gold; nor was the palace of Menelaus rich enough for your luxury to riot in.

> Greek: ἦν οὑμὸς υἱὸς κάλλος ἐκπρεπέστατος,
ὁ σὸς δʼ ἰδών νιν νοῦς ἐποιήθη Κύπρις·
τὰ μῶρα γὰρ πάντʼ ἐστὶν Ἀφροδίτη βροτοῖς,
καὶ τοὔνομʼ ὀρθῶς ἀφροσύνης ἄρχει θεᾶς.
ὃν εἰσιδοῦσα βαρβάροις ἐσθήμασι
χρυσῷ τε λαμπρὸν ἐξεμαργώθης φρένας.
ἐν μὲν γὰρ Ἄργει μίκρʼ ἔχουσʼ ἀνεστρέφου,
Σπάρτης δʼ ἀπαλλαχθεῖσα τὴν Φρυγῶν πόλιν
χρυσῷ ῥέουσαν ἤλπισας κατακλύσειν
δαπάναισιν· οὐδʼ ἦν ἱκανά σοι τὰ Μενέλεω
μέλαθρα ταῖς σαῖς ἐγκαθυβρίζειν τρυφαῖς.

[¶56] Enough of this! My son carried you off by force, so you say; what Spartan saw this? what cry for help
did you ever raise, though Castor was still alive, a vigorous youth, and his brother also, not yet among the stars? Then when you had come to Troy, and the Argives were on your track, and the mortal combat had begun, whenever tidings came to you of
Menelaus’ prowess, you would praise him, to grieve my son, because he had so powerful a rival in his love; but if the Trojans prospered, Menelaus was nothing to you. Your eye was fixed on Fortune, and by such practice you were careful to follow in her steps, careless of virtue’s cause.

> Greek: εἶἑν· βίᾳ γὰρ παῖδα φῄς ⟨σʼ⟩ ἄγειν ἐμόν·
τίς Σπαρτιατῶν ᾔσθετʼ; ἢ ποίαν βοὴν
ἀνωλόλυξας — Κάστορος νεανίου
τοῦ συζύγου τʼ ἔτʼ ὄντος, οὐ κατʼ ἄστρα πω;
ἐπεὶ δὲ Τροίαν ἦλθες Ἀργεῖοί τέ σου
κατʼ ἴχνος, ἦν δὲ δοριπετὴς ἀγωνία,
εἰ μὲν τὰ τοῦδε κρείσσονʼ ἀγγέλλοιτό σοι,
Μενέλαον ᾔνεις, παῖς ὅπως λυποῖτʼ ἐμὸς
ἔχων ἔρωτος ἀνταγωνιστὴν μέγαν·
εἰ δʼ εὐτυχοῖεν Τρῶες, οὐδὲν ἦν ὅδε.
ἐς τὴν τύχην δʼ ὁρῶσα τοῦτʼ ἤσκεις, ὅπως
ἕποιʼ ἅμʼ αὐτῇ, τῇ ἀρετῇ δʼ οὐκ ἤθελες.

[¶57] And then you assert that you tried to let yourself down from the towers by stealth with twisted cords, as if unwilling to stay? Where were you ever found fastening the noose about your neck, or whetting the knife, as a noble wife would have done in regret for her former husband?

> Greek: κἄπειτα πλεκταῖς σῶμα σὸν κλέπτειν λέγεις
πύργων καθιεῖσʼ, ὡς μένουσʼ ἀκουσίως;
ποῦ δῆτʼ ἐλήφθης ἢ βρόχους ἀρτωμένη
ἢ φάσγανον θήγουσʼ, ἃ γενναία γυνὴ
δράσειεν ἂν ποθοῦσα τὸν πάρος πόσιν;

[¶58] And yet often I advised you saying, “Get away, daughter; my sons will take other brides, and I will belp you to steal away, and convey you to the Achaean fleet; oh, end the strife between us and Hellas!” But this was bitter to you.

> Greek: καίτοι σʼ ἐνουθέτουν γε πολλὰ πολλάκις·
Ὦ θύγατερ, ἔξελθʼ· οἱ δʼ ἐμοὶ παῖδες γάμους
ἄλλους γαμοῦσι, σὲ δʼ ἐπὶ ναῦς Ἀχαιϊκὰς
πέμψω συνεκκλέψασα· καὶ παῦσον μάχης
Ἕλληνας ἡμᾶς τε. ἀλλὰ σοὶ τόδʼ ἦν πικρόν.

[¶59] For you were wantoning in Alexander’s house, wishing to have obeisance done you by barbarians. Yes, it was a proud time for you; and now after all this you have adorned yourself, and come forth and have dared to appear under the same sky as your husband, revolting wretch!

> Greek: ἐν τοῖς Ἀλεξάνδρου γὰρ ὕβριζες δόμοις
καὶ προσκυνεῖσθαι βαρβάρων ὕπʼ ἤθελες·
μεγάλα γὰρ ἦν σοι. — κἀπὶ τοῖσδε σὸν δέμας
ἐξῆλθες ἀσκήσασα κἄβλεψας πόσει
τὸν αὐτὸν αἰθέρʼ, ὦ κατάπτυστον κάρα·

[¶60] Better if you had come in tattered raiment, cowering humbly in terror, with hair cut short, and if your feeling for your past sins were one of shame rather than effrontery. Menelaus, hear the conclusion of my argument;
crown Hellas by slaying her as she deserves, and establish this law for all other women: death to every one who betrays her husband.

> Greek: ἣν χρῆν ταπεινὴν ἐν πέπλων ἐρειπίοις,
φρίκῃ τρέμουσαν, κρᾶτʼ ἀπεσκυθισμένην
ἐλθεῖν, τὸ σῶφρον τῆς ἀναιδείας πλέον
ἔχουσαν ἐπὶ τοῖς πρόσθεν ἡμαρτημένοις.
Μενέλαʼ, ἵνʼ εἰδῇς οἷ τελευτήσω λόγον,
στεφάνωσον Ἑλλάδʼ ἀξίως τήνδε κτανὼν
σαυτοῦ, νόμον δὲ τόνδε ταῖς ἄλλαισι θὲς
γυναιξί, θνῄσκειν ἥτις ἂν προδῷ πόσιν.

[¶61] Chorus Leader:
Avenge yourself, Menelaus, on your wife, as is worthy of your home and ancestors,
clear yourself from the reproach of effeminacy at the lips of Hellas, and let your foes see your spirit.

> Greek: Χορός:
Μενέλαε, προγόνων τʼ ἀξίως δόμων τε σῶν
τεῖσαι δάμαρτα κἀφελοῦ, πρὸς Ἑλλάδος,
ψόγον τὸ θῆλύ τʼ, εὐγενὴς ἐχθροῖς φανείς.

[¶62] Menelaus:
Your thoughts coincide with mine, that she, without constraint, left my palace, and sought a stranger’s bed, and now Cypris is introduced for mere bluster. Away to those who shall stone you,
and by your speedy death requite the weary toils of the Achaeans, so that you may learn not to bring shame on me!

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ἐμοὶ σὺ συμπέπτωκας ἐς ταὐτὸν λόγου,
ἑκουσίως τήνδʼ ἐκ δόμων ἐλθεῖν ἐμῶν
ξένας ἐς εὐνάς· χἡ Κύπρις κόμπου χάριν
λόγοις ἐνεῖται. — βαῖνε λευστήρων πέλας
πόνους τʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἀπόδος ἐν μικρῷ μακροὺς
θανοῦσʼ, ἵνʼ εἰδῇς μὴ καταισχύνειν ἐμέ.

[¶63] Helen:
Oh, by your knees, I implore you, do not impute that heaven-sent affliction to me, or slay me; forgive me!

> Greek: Ἑλένη:
μή, πρός σε γονάτων, τὴν νόσον τὴν τῶν θεῶν
προσθεὶς ἐμοὶ κτάνῃς με, συγγίγνωσκε δέ.

[¶64] Hecuba:
Do not betray your allies, whose death this woman caused;

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
μηδʼ οὓς ἀπέκτεινʼ ἥδε συμμάχους προδῷς·

[¶65] on their behalf, and for my children’s sake, I entreat you.

> Greek: ἐγὼ πρὸ κείνων καὶ τέκνων σε λίσσομαι.

[¶66] Menelaus:
Peace, revered lady; to her I pay no heed. I bid my servants take her away, aboard the ship, in which she is to sail.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
παῦσαι, γεραιά· τῆσδε δʼ οὐκ ἐφρόντισα.
λέγω δὲ προσπόλοισι πρὸς πρύμνας νεῶν
τήνδʼ ἐκκομίζειν, ἔνθα ναυστολήσεται.

[¶67] Hecuba:
Oh never let her set foot within the same ship as you.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
μή νυν νεὼς σοὶ ταὐτὸν ἐσβήτω σκάφος.

[¶68] Menelaus:
Why is that? is she heavier than before?

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
τί δʼ ἔστι; μεῖζον βρῖθος ἢ πάροιθʼ ἔχει;

[¶69] Hecuba:
The one who loves once, must love always.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οὐκ ἔστʼ ἐραστὴς ὅστις οὐκ ἀεὶ φιλεῖ.

[¶70] Menelaus:
Why, that depends how those we love are minded. But your wish shall be granted; she shall not set foot upon the same ship with me; for your advice is surely sound;

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ὅπως ἂν ἐκβῇ τῶν ἐρωμένων ὁ νοῦς.
ἔσται δʼ ἃ βούλῃ· ναῦν γὰρ οὐκ ἐσβήσεται
ἐς ἥνπερ ἡμεῖς· καὶ γὰρ οὐ κακῶς λέγεις·

[¶71] and when she comes to Argos she shall die a shameful death as is her due, and impress the need of chastity on all women. No easy task; yet shall her fate strike their foolish hearts with terror, even though they are more lost to shame than she. Exit Menelaus, dragging Helen with him.

> Greek: ἐλθοῦσα δʼ Ἄργος ὥσπερ ἀξία κακῶς
κακὴ θανεῖται καὶ γυναιξὶ σωφρονεῖν
πάσαισι θήσει. ῥᾴδιον μὲν οὐ τόδε·
ὅμως δʼ ὁ τῆσδʼ ὄλεθρος ἐς φόβον βαλεῖ
τὸ μῶρον αὐτῶν, κἂν ἔτʼ ὦσʼ ἐχθίονες.

[¶72] Chorus:
So then you have delivered into Achaea’s hand, O Zeus, your shrine in Ilium and your fragrant altar, the offerings of burnt sacrifice with smoke of myrrh to heaven uprising,
and holy Pergamos, and glens of Ida tangled with the ivy’s growth, where rills of melting snow pour down their flood, a holy sun-lit land that bounds the world
and takes the god’s first rays!

> Greek: Χορός:
οὕτω δὴ τὸν ἐν Ἰλίῳ
ναὸν καὶ θυόεντα βω-
μὸν προύδωκας Ἀχαιοῖς,
ὦ Ζεῦ, καὶ πελάνων φλόγα
σμύρνης αἰθερίας τε κα-
πνὸν καὶ Πέργαμον ἱερὰν
Ἰδαῖά τʼ Ἰδαῖα κισσοφόρα νάπη
χιόνι κατάρυτα ποταμίᾳ
τέρμονα πρωτόβολόν θʼ ἁλίῳ,
τὰν καταλαμπομέναν ζαθέαν θεράπναν.

[¶73] Chorus:
Gone are your sacrifices! gone the dancer’s cheerful shout! gone the vigils of the gods as night closed in! your images of carven gold are now no more;
and Phrygia’s holy festivals, twelve times a year, at each full moon, are ended now. It is this, it is this that fills me with anxious thought whether you, lord, seated on the sky, your heavenly throne, care at all that my city is destroyed,
a prey to the furious fiery blast.

> Greek: Χορός:
φροῦδαί σοι θυσίαι χορῶν τʼ
εὔφημοι κέλαδοι κατʼ ὄρ-
φναν τε παννυχίδες θεῶν,
χρυσέων τε ξοάνων τύποι
Φρυγῶν τε ζάθεοι σελᾶ-
ναι συνδώδεκα πλήθει.
μέλει μέλει μοι τάδʼ εἰ φρονεῖς, ἄναξ,
οὐράνιον ἕδρανον ἐπιβεβὼς
αἰθέρα τε πτόλεως ὀλομένας,
ἃν πυρὸς αἰθομένα κατέλυσεν ὁρμά.

[¶74] Chorus:
Ah! my loved husband, you are a wandering spectre;
unwashed, unburied lies your corpse, while over the sea the ship sped by wings will carry me to Argos, land of steeds, where stand Cyclopian walls of stone reaching to heaven. There in the gate the children gather,
and weep their piteous lamentation; they cry, they cry: Mother, alas! torn from your sight, the Achaeans bear me away from you to their dark ship
to row me over the deep to sacred Salamis or to the hill on the Isthmus, that overlooks two seas, the seat that holds the gates of Pelops.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὦ φίλος ὦ πόσι μοι,
σὺ μὲν φθίμενος ἀλαίνεις
ἄθαπτος ἄνυδρος, ἐμὲ δὲ πόντιον σκάφος
ἀίσσον πτεροῖσι πορεύσει
ἱππόβοτον Ἄργος, ἵνα τείχεα
λάινα Κυκλώπιʼ οὐράνια νέμονται.
τέκνων δὲ πλῆθος ἐν πύλαις
δάκρυσι κατᾴορα στένει·
βοᾷ βοᾷ·
Μᾶτερ, ὤμοι, μόναν δή μʼ Ἀχαιοὶ κομί-
ζουσι σέθεν ἀπʼ ὀμμάτων
κυανέαν ἐπὶ ναῦν
εἰναλίαισι πλάταις
ἢ Σαλαμῖνʼ ἱερὰν
ἢ δίπορον κορυφὰν
Ἴσθμιον, ἔνθα πύλας
Πέλοπος ἔχουσιν ἕδραι.

[¶75] Chorus:
Oh may the sacred blazing thunderbolt of the Aegean, hurled in might, smite the ship of Menelaus full in the middle, on its way in mid-sea,
since he is carrying me away in bitter sorrow from the shores of Ilium to be a slave in Hellas, while the daughter of Zeus still keeps her golden mirrors, delight of maidens’ hearts.

> Greek: Χορός:
εἴθʼ ἀκάτου Μενέλα
μέσον πέλαγος ἰούσας,
δίπαλτον ἱερὸν ἀνὰ μέσον πλατᾶν πέσοι
Αἰγαίου κεραυνοφαὲς πῦρ,
Ἰλιόθεν ὅτε με πολύδακρυν
Ἑλλάδι λάτρευμα γᾶθεν ἐξορίζει,
χρύσεα δʼ ἔνοπτρα, παρθένων
χάριτας, ἔχουσα τυγχάνει
Διὸς κόρα·

[¶76] Never may he reach his home in Laconia or his father’s hearth and home, nor come to the town of Pitane or the temple of the goddess with the gates of bronze, having taken as his captive the one whose marriage brought disgrace on Hellas through its length and breadth and woful anguish
on the streams of Simois!
Enter Talthybius and attendants, bearing the corpse of Astyanax on Hector’s shield.

> Greek: μηδὲ γαῖάν ποτʼ ἔλθοι Λάκαιναν πατρῷ-
όν τε θάλαμον ἑστίας,
μηδὲ πόλιν Πιτάνας
χαλκόπυλόν τε θεάν,
δύσγαμον αἶσχος ἑλὼν
Ἑλλάδι τᾷ μεγάλᾳ
καὶ Σιμοεντιάσιν
μέλεα πάθεα ῥοῇσιν.

[¶77] Chorus Leader:
All me! ah me! new troubles fall on my country, to take the place of those that still are fresh! Behold,
you hapless wives of Troy, the corpse of Astyanax, whom the Danaids have cruelly slain by hurling him from the battlements.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἰὼ ἰώ,
καίνʼ ἐκ καινῶν μεταβάλλουσαι
χθονὶ συντυχίαι. λεύσσετε Τρώων
τόνδʼ Ἀστυάνακτʼ ἄλοχοι μέλεαι
νεκρόν, ὃν πύργων δίσκημα πικρὸν
Δαναοὶ κτείναντες ἔχουσιν.

[¶78] Talthybius:
Hecuba, one ship alone delays its plashing oars,
and it is soon to sail to the shores of Phthia freighted with the remnant of the spoils of Achilles’ son; for Neoptolemus is already out at sea, having heard that new calamities have befallen Peleus, for Acastus, son of Pelias, has banished him from the realm. Therefore he is gone, too quick to indulge in any delay,
and with him goes Andromache, who drew many tears from me when she set out from the land, wailing her country and crying her farewell to Hector’s tomb. And she begged her master leave to bury this poor dead child of Hector
who breathed his last when hurled from the turrets; entreating too that he would not carry this shield, the terror of the Achaeans—this shield with plates of brass with which his father would gird himself—to the home of Peleus or to the same bridal bower where she, Andromache,
the mother of this corpse, would be wed, a bitter sight to her, but let her bury the child in it instead of in a coffin of cedar or a tomb of stone, and to your hands commit the corpse that you may deck it with robes and garlands as best you can with your present means;

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
Ἑκάβη, νεὼς μὲν πίτυλος εἷς λελειμμένος
λάφυρα τἀπίλοιπʼ Ἀχιλλείου τόκου
μέλλει πρὸς ἀκτὰς ναυστολεῖν Φθιώτιδας·
αὐτὸς δʼ ἀνῆκται Νεοπτόλεμος, καινάς τινας
Πηλέως ἀκούσας συμφοράς, ὥς νιν χθονὸς
Ἄκαστος ἐκβέβληκεν, ὁ Πελίου γόνος.
οὗ θᾶσσον οὕνεκʼ, ἢ χάριν μονῆς ἔχων,
φροῦδος, μετʼ αὐτοῦ δʼ Ἀνδρομάχη, πολλῶν ἐμοὶ
δακρύων ἀγωγός, ἡνίκʼ ἐξώρμα χθονός,
πάτραν τʼ ἀναστένουσα καὶ τὸν Ἕκτορος
τύμβον προσεννέπουσα. καί σφʼ ᾐτήσατο
θάψαι νεκρὸν τόνδʼ, ὃς πεσὼν ἐκ τειχέων
ψυχὴν ἀφῆκεν Ἕκτορος τοῦ σοῦ γόνος·
φόβον τʼ Ἀχαιῶν, χαλκόνωτον ἀσπίδα
τήνδʼ, ἣν πατὴρ τοῦδʼ ἀμφὶ πλεύρʼ ἐβάλλετο,
μή νυν πορεῦσαι Πηλέως ἐφʼ ἑστίαν,
μηδʼ ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν θάλαμον, οὗ νυμφεύσεται
μήτηρ νεκροῦ τοῦδʼ Ἀνδρομάχη, λύπας ὁρᾶν,
ἀλλʼ ἀντὶ κέδρου περιβόλων τε λαΐνων
ἐν τῇδε θάψαι παῖδα· σὰς δʼ ἐς ὠλένας
δοῦναι, πέπλοισιν ὡς περιστείλῃς νεκρὸν
στεφάνοις θʼ, ὅση σοι δύναμις, ὡς ἔχει τὰ σά·

[¶79] for she is far away and her master’s haste prevented her from burying the child herself. So we, when you have decked the corpse, will heap the earth above and set upon it a spear; but do you with your best speed perform your allotted task;

> Greek: ἐπεὶ βέβηκε, καὶ τὸ δεσπότου τάχος
ἀφείλετʼ αὐτὴν παῖδα μὴ δοῦναι τάφῳ.
ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν, ὅταν σὺ κοσμήσῃς νέκυν,
γῆν τῷδʼ ἐπαμπισχόντες ἀροῦμεν δόρυ·
σὺ δʼ ὡς τάχιστα πρᾶσσε τἀπεσταλμένα.

[¶80] one toil however I have already spared you, for I crossed Scamander’s stream and bathed the corpse and cleansed its wounds. But now I will go to dig a grave for hiin, that our united efforts
shortening our task may speed our ship towards home. Exit Talthybius.

> Greek: ἑνὸς μὲν οὖν μόχθου σʼ ἀπαλλάξας ἔχω·
Σκαμανδρίους γὰρ τάσδε διαπερῶν ῥοὰς
ἔλουσα νεκρὸν κἀπένιψα τραύματα.
ἀλλʼ εἶμʼ ὀρυκτὸν τῷδʼ ἀναρρήξων τάφον,
ὡς σύντομʼ ἡμῖν τἀπʼ ἐμοῦ τε κἀπὸ σοῦ
ἐς ἓν ξυνελθόντʼ οἴκαδʼ ὁρμήσῃ πλάτην.

[¶81] Hecuba:
Place the shield upon the ground, Hector’s shield so deftly rounded, a piteous sight, a bitter grief for me to see. O you Achaeans, more reason have you to boast of your prowess than your wisdom. Why have you in terror of this child
been guilty of a murder never matched before? Did you fear that some day he would rear again the fallen walls of Troy? It seems then you were nothing after all, when, though Hector’s fortunes in the war were prosperous and he had ten thousand other arms to back him, we still were daily overmatched; and yet, now that our city is taken and every Phrygian slain,
you fear a tender child like this! I do not commend the fear of one who fears but never yet has reasoned out the cause.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
θέσθʼ ἀμφίτορνον ἀσπίδʼ Ἕκτορος πέδῳ,
λυπρὸν θέαμα κοὐ φίλον λεύσσειν ἐμοί.
ὦ μείζονʼ ὄγκον δορὸς ἔχοντες ἢ φρενῶν,
τί τόνδʼ, Ἀχαιοί, παῖδα δείσαντες φόνον
καινὸν διειργάσασθε; μὴ Τροίαν ποτὲ
πεσοῦσαν ὀρθώσειεν; οὐδὲν ἦτʼ ἄρα,
ὅθʼ Ἕκτορος μὲν εὐτυχοῦντος ἐς δόρυ
διωλλύμεσθα μυρίας τʼ ἄλλης χερός,
πόλεως δʼ ἁλούσης καὶ Φρυγῶν ἐφθαρμένων
βρέφος τοσόνδʼ ἐδείσατʼ· οὐκ αἰνῶ φόβον,
ὅστις φοβεῖται μὴ διεξελθὼν λόγῳ.
ὦ φίλταθʼ, ὥς σοι θάνατος ἦλθε δυστυχής.

[¶82] Ah! my beloved, yours is a piteous death indeed! If you had died for your city, when you had tasted of the sweets of manhood, of marriage, and of godlike power over others,
then were you blessed, if anything here is blessed. But now after one glimpse, one dream of them, you know them no more, my child, and have no joy of them, though heir to all. Ah, poor child! how sadly have your own father’s walls, those towers that Loxias reared, shorn from your head
the locks your mother fondled, and so often caressed, from which through fractured bones the face of murder grins—briefly to dismiss my shocking theme. O hands, how sweet the likeness you retain of his father, and yet you lie Iimp in your sockets before me!

> Greek: εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἔθανες πρὸ πόλεως, ἥβης τυχὼν
γάμων τε καὶ τῆς ἰσοθέου τυραννίδος,
μακάριος ἦσθʼ ἄν, εἴ τι τῶνδε μακάριον·
νῦν δʼ αὔτʼ ἰδὼν μὲν γνούς τε σῇ ψυχῇ, τέκνον,
οὐκ οἶσθʼ, ἐχρήσω δʼ οὐδὲν ἐν δόμοις ἔχων.
δύστηνε, κρατὸς ὥς σʼ ἔκειρεν ἀθλίως
τείχη πατρῷα, Λοξίου πυργώματα,
ὃν πόλλʼ ἐκήπευσʼ ἡ τεκοῦσα βόστρυχον
φιλήμασίν τʼ ἔδωκεν, ἔνθεν ἐκγελᾷ
ὀστέων ῥαγέντων φόνος, ἵνʼ αἰσχρὰ μὴ λέγω.
ὦ χεῖρες, ὡς εἰκοὺς μὲν ἡδείας πατρὸς
κέκτησθʼ, ἐν ἄρθροις δʼ ἔκλυτοι πρόκεισθέ μοι.

[¶83] Dear mouth, so often full of words of pride, death has closed you, and you have not kept the promise you made, when nestling in my robe, “Ah, mother, many a lock of my hair I will cut off for you, and to your tomb will lead my troops of friends, taking a fond farewell of you.”

> Greek: ὦ πολλὰ κόμπους ἐκβαλὸν φίλον στόμα,
ὄλωλας, ἐψεύσω μʼ, ὅτʼ ἐσπίπτων πέπλους,
Ὦ μῆτερ, ηὔδας, ἦ πολύν σοι βοστρύχων
πλόκαμον κεροῦμαι, πρὸς τάφον θʼ ὁμηλίκων
κώμους ἀπάξω, φίλα διδοὺς προσφθέγματα.

[¶84] But now I am not to be buried by you, but you, the younger one, a wretched corpse, are buried by me, on whom old age has come with loss of home and children. Ah me, those kisses numberless, the nurture that I gave to you, those sleepless nights—they all are lost! What shall the bard inscribe upon your tomb about you?

> Greek: σὺ δʼ οὐκ ἔμʼ, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ σὲ τὸν νεώτερον,
γραῦς ἄπολις ἄτεκνος, ἄθλιον θάπτω νεκρόν.
οἴμοι, τὰ πόλλʼ ἀσπάσμαθʼ αἵ τʼ ἐμαὶ τροφαὶ
ὕπνοι τʼ ἐκεῖνοι φροῦδά μοι. τί καί ποτε
γράψειεν ἄν σε μουσοποιὸς ἐν τάφῳ;

[¶85] Argives once for fear of him slew this child? Foul shame should that inscription be to Hellas. O child, though you have no part in all your father’s wealth, yet shall you have his brazen shield in which to find a tomb. Ah! shield that kept safe the comely arm of Hector,
now have you lost your valiant keeper! How fair upon your handle lies his imprint, and on the rim that circles around are marks of sweat, that trickled often from Hector’s brow as he pressed it against his beard in battle’s stress.

> Greek: Τὸν παῖδα τόνδʼ ἔκτειναν Ἀργεῖοί ποτε
δείσαντες; — αἰσχρὸν τοὐπίγραμμά γʼ Ἑλλάδι.
ἀλλʼ οὖν πατρῴων οὐ λαχὼν ἕξεις ὅμως
ἐν ᾗ ταφήσῃ χαλκόνωτον ἰτέαν.
ὦ καλλίπηχυν Ἕκτορος βραχίονα
σῴζουσʼ, ἄριστον φύλακʼ ἀπώλεσας σέθεν.
ὡς ἡδὺς ἐν πόρπακι σῷ κεῖται τύπος
ἴτυός τʼ ἐν εὐτόρνοισι περιδρόμοις ἱδρώς,
ὃν ἐκ μετώπου πολλάκις πόνους ἔχων
ἔσταζεν Ἕκτωρ προστιθεὶς γενειάδι.

[¶86] Come, bring forth, from such store as you have, adornment for the hapless dead, for fortune gives no chance now for lovely offerings; yet of such as I possess, you shall receive these gifts. He is a foolish mortal who thinks his luck secure and so rejoices; for fortune, like a madman in her moods,
springs towards this man, then towards that; and no one ever experiences the same unchanging luck.

> Greek: φέρετε, κομίζετʼ ἀθλίῳ κόσμον νεκρῷ
ἐκ τῶν παρόντων· οὐ γὰρ ἐς κάλλος τύχας
δαίμων δίδωσιν· ὧν δʼ ἔχω, λήψῃ τάδε.
θνητῶν δὲ μῶρος ὅστις εὖ πράσσειν δοκῶν
βέβαια χαίρει· τοῖς τρόποις γὰρ αἱ τύχαι,
ἔμπληκτος ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλοσε
πηδῶσι, κοὐδεὶς αὐτὸς εὐτυχεῖ ποτε.

[¶87] Chorus Leader:
Look! all is ready and they are bringing at your bidding from the spoils of Troy adornment to put upon the dead.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ μὴν πρόχειρον αἵδε σοι σκυλευμάτων
Φρυγίων φέρουσι κόσμον ἐξάπτειν νεκρῷ.

[¶88] Hecuba:
Ah! my child, it is not as victor over your comrades
with horse or bow—customs Troy esteems, without pursuing them to excess—that Hector’s mother decks you now with ornaments from the store that once was yours, though now Helen, whom the gods abhor, has bereft you of your own, yes, and robbed you
of your life and caused your house to perish root and branch.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ τέκνον, οὐχ ἵπποισι νικήσαντά σε
οὐδʼ ἥλικας τόξοισιν, οὓς Φρύγες νόμους
τιμῶσιν, οὐκ ἐς πλησμονὰς θηρωμένη,
μήτηρ πατρός σοι προστίθησʼ ἀγάλματα
τῶν σῶν ποτʼ ὄντων· νῦν δέ σʼ ἡ θεοστυγὴς
ἀφείλεθʼ Ἑλένη, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ψυχὴν σέθεν
ἔκτεινε καὶ πάντʼ οἶκον ἐξαπώλεσεν.

[¶89] Chorus:
Woe! thrice woe! my heart is touched, and you the cause, my mighty prince in days now passed!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἒ ἔ, φρενῶν
ἔθιγες ἔθιγες· ὦ μέγας ἐμοί ποτʼ ἂν
ἀνάκτωρ πόλεως.

[¶90] Hecuba:
About your body now I swathe this Phrygian robe of honor, which should have clad you on your marriage-day,
wedded to the noblest of Asia’s daughters. You too, dear shield of Hector, victorious parent of countless triumphs past, accept your crown, for though you share the dead child’s tomb, death cannot touch you; for you merit honors far beyond those arms
that the crafty villain Odysseus won.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἃ δʼ ἐν γάμοισι χρῆν σε προσθέσθαι χροῒ
Ἀσιατίδων γήμαντα τὴν ὑπερτάτην,
Φρύγια πέπλων ἀγάλματʼ ἐξάπτω χροός.
σύ τʼ, ὦ ποτʼ οὖσα καλλίνικε, μυρίων
μῆτερ τροπαίων, Ἕκτορος φίλον σάκος,
στεφανοῦ· θανῇ γὰρ οὐ θανοῦσα σὺν νεκρῷ·
ἐπεὶ σὲ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ τοῦ σοφοῦ
κακοῦ τʼ Ὀδυσσέως ἄξιον τιμᾶν ὅπλα.

[¶91] Chorus:
Alas! alas! you, O child, shall earth take to her breast, a cause for bitter weeping. Mourn, you mother!

> Greek: Χορός:
αἰαῖ αἰαῖ· πικρὸν ὄδυρμα …
γαῖά σʼ ὦ τέκνον δέξεται.
στέναζε, μᾶτερ,

[¶92] Hecuba:
Alas!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
αἰαῖ.

[¶93] Chorus:
Wail for the dead.

> Greek: Χορός:
νεκρῶν ἴακχον.

[¶94] Hecuba:
Woe is me!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οἴμοι [μοι].

[¶95] Chorus:
Woe indeed for your unending sorrow!

> Greek: Χορός:
οἴμοι δῆτα σῶν ἀλάστων κακῶν.

[¶96] Hecuba:
Your wounds in part I will bind up with bandages, a wretched healer in name alone, without reality; but for the rest your father must look to that among the dead.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τελαμῶσιν ἕλκη τὰ μὲν ἐγώ σʼ ἰάσομαι,
τλήμων ἰατρός, ὄνομʼ ἔχουσα, τἄργα δʼ οὔ·
τὰ δʼ ἐν νεκροῖσι φροντιεῖ πατὴρ σέθεν.

[¶97] Chorus:
Smite, oh smite upon your head with frequent blow of hand. Woe is me!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἄρασσʼ ἄρασσε κρᾶτα
πιτύλους διδοῦσα χειρός,
ἰώ μοί μοι.

[¶98] Hecuba:
My kind, good friends—

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ φίλταται γυναῖκες …

[¶99] Chorus:
Speak out, Hecuba, the word that was on your lips.

> Greek: Χορός:
Ἑκάβη, σὰς ἔνεπε· τίνα θροεῖς αὐδάν;

[¶100] Hecuba:
It seems the only things that heaven concerns itself about are my troubles and Troy hateful in their eyes above all other cities. In vain did we sacrifice to them. But if the god had not caught us in his grip and plunged us headlong beneath the earth, we should have been unheard of, and not ever sung in Muses’ songs,
furnishing to bards of after-days a subject for their minstrelsy. Go, bury now in his poor tomb the dead, wreathed all duly as befits a corpse. And yet I think it makes little difference to the dead, if they get a gorgeous funeral;

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οὐκ ἦν ἄρʼ ἐν θεοῖσι πλὴν οὑμοὶ πόνοι
Τροία τε πόλεων ἔκκριτον μισουμένη,
μάτην δʼ ἐβουθυτοῦμεν. εἰ δὲ μὴ θεὸς
ἔστρεψε τἄνω περιβαλὼν κάτω χθονός,
ἀφανεῖς ἂν ὄντες οὐκ ἂν ὑμνήθημεν ἂν
μούσαις ἀοιδὰς δόντες ὑστέρων βροτῶν.
χωρεῖτε, θάπτετʼ ἀθλίῳ τύμβῳ νεκρόν·
ἔχει γὰρ οἷα δεῖ γε νερτέρων στέφη.
δοκῶ δὲ τοῖς θανοῦσι διαφέρειν βραχύ,
εἰ πλουσίων τις τεύξεται κτερισμάτων·

[¶101] but this is a cause of idle pride to the living. The corpse is carried off to burial.

> Greek: κενὸν δὲ γαύρωμʼ ἐστὶ τῶν ζώντων τόδε.

[¶102] Chorus Leader:
Alas! for your unhappy mother, who over your corpse has closed the high hopes of her life! Born of a noble stock, counted most happy in your lot,
ah! what a tragic death is yours! Ha! who are those I see on yonder pinnacles darting to and fro with flaming torches in their hands? Some new calamity wiII soon alight on Troy.
Soldiers are seen on the battlements of Troy, torch in hand.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἰὼ ἰώ·
μελέα μήτηρ, ἣ τὰς μεγάλας
ἐλπίδας ἐν σοὶ κατέκναψε βίου.
μέγα δʼ ὀλβισθεὶς ὡς ἐκ πατέρων
ἀγαθῶν ἐγένου,
δεινῷ θανάτῳ διόλωλας.
ἔα ἔα·
τίνας Ἰλιάσιν ταῖσδʼ ἐν κορυφαῖς
λεύσσω φλογέας δαλοῖσι χέρας
διερέσσοντας; μέλλει Τροίᾳ
καινόν τι κακὸν προσέσεσθαι.

[¶103] Talthybius:
You captains whose allotted task it is to fire this town of Priam, to you I speak. No longer keep the fire-brand idle in your hands, but launch the flame, that when we have destroyed the city of Ilium we may set forth in gladness on our homeward voyage from Troy.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
αὐδῶ λοχαγοῖς, οἳ τέταχθʼ ἐμπιμπράναι
Πριάμου τόδʼ ἄστυ, μηκέτʼ ἀργοῦσαν φλόγα
ἐν χειρὶ σῴζειν, ἀλλὰ πῦρ ἐνιέναι,
ὡς ἂν κατασκάψαντες Ἰλίου πόλιν
στελλώμεθʼ οἴκαδʼ ἄσμενοι Τροίας ἄπο.

[¶104] And you, you sons of Troy, to let my orders take at once a double form—start for the Achaean ships for your departure from the land, as soon as the leaders of the army blow loud and clear upon the trumpet. And you, unhappy grey-haired lady,
follow; for here come servants from Odysseus to fetch you, for to him you are assigned by lot to be a slave far from your country.

> Greek: ὑμεῖς δʼ, ἵνʼ αὑτὸς λόγος ἔχῃ μορφὰς δύο,
χωρεῖτε, Τρώων παῖδες, ὀρθίαν ὅταν
σάλπιγγος ἠχὼ δῶσιν ἀρχηγοὶ στρατοῦ,
πρὸς ναῦς Ἀχαιῶν, ὡς ἀποστέλλησθε γῆς.
σύ τʼ, ὦ γεραιὰ δυστυχεστάτη γύναι,
ἕπου. μεθήκουσίν σʼ Ὀδυσσέως πάρα
οἵδʼ, ᾧ σε δούλην κλῆρος ἐκπέμπει πάτρας.

[¶105] Hecuba:
Ah, woe is me! This surely is the last, the utmost limit, of all my sorrows; I go forth from my land; my city is ablaze with flame.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινα· τοῦτο δὴ τὸ λοίσθιον
καὶ τέρμα πάντων τῶν ἐμῶν ἤδη κακῶν·
ἔξειμι πατρίδος, πόλις ὑφάπτεται πυρί.

[¶106] Yet, you aged foot, make one painful struggle to haste, that I may say a farewell to this wretched town. O Troy, that before had such a grand career among barbarian towns, soon will you be bereft of that splendid name. They are burning you, and leading us even now from our land
to slavery. O gods! Yet why do I call on the gods? They did not hearken ever before to our call. Come, let us rush into the flames, for to die with my country in its blazing ruin would be a noble death for me.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ, ὦ γεραιὲ πούς, ἐπίσπευσον μόλις,
ὡς ἀσπάσωμαι τὴν ταλαίπωρον πόλιν.
ὦ μεγάλα δή ποτʼ ἀμπνέουσʼ ἐν βαρβάροις
Τροία, τὸ κλεινὸν ὄνομʼ ἀφαιρήσῃ τάχα.
πιμπρᾶσί σʼ, ἡμᾶς δʼ ἐξάγουσʼ ἤδη χθονὸς
δούλας· ἰὼ θεοί. καὶ τί τοὺς θεοὺς καλῶ;
καὶ πρὶν γὰρ οὐκ ἤκουσαν ἀνακαλούμενοι.
φέρʼ ἐς πυρὰν δράμωμεν· ὡς κάλλιστά μοι
σὺν τῇδε πατρίδι κατθανεῖν πυρουμένῃ.

[¶107] Talthybius:
Your sorrows drive you frantic, poor lady.

> Greek: Ταλθύβιος:
ἐνθουσιᾷς, δύστηνε, τοῖς σαυτῆς κακοῖς.

[¶108] Go, lead her away, make no delay, for you must deliver her into the hand of Odysseus, conveying to him his prize.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ ἄγετε, μὴ φείδεσθʼ· Ὀδυσσέως δὲ χρὴ
ἐς χεῖρα δοῦναι τήνδε καὶ πέμπειν γέρας.

[¶109] Hecuba:
Woe! oh woe! Son of Cronos, prince of Phrygia, father of our race,
do you behold our sufferings now, unworthy of the stock of Dardanus?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὀττοτοτοτοτοῖ.
Κρόνιε, πρύτανι Φρύγιε, γενέτα
πάτερ, ἀνάξια τᾶς Δαρδάνου
γονᾶς τάδʼ οἷα πάσχομεν δέδορκας;

[¶110] Chorus:
He sees them, but our mighty city is a city no more, and Troy’s day is done.

> Greek: Χορός:
δέδορκεν, ἁ δὲ μεγαλόπολις
ἄπολις ὄλωλεν οὐδʼ ἔτʼ ἔστι Τροία.

[¶111] Hecuba:
Woe! oh woe!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὀττοτοτοτοτοῖ.

[¶112] Ilium is ablaze; the homes of Pergamos and its towering walls are now one sheet of flame.

> Greek: λέλαμπεν Ἴλιος, Περ-
γάμων τε πυρὶ καταίθεται τέραμνα
καὶ πόλις ἄκρα τε τειχέων.

[¶113] Chorus:
As the smoke soars on wings to heaven, so sinks our city to the ground before the spear.

> Greek: Χορός:
πτέρυγι δὲ καπνὸς ὥς τις οὐ-
ρανίᾳ πεσοῦσα δορὶ καταφθίνει γᾶ.

[¶114] With furious haste both fire and enemy spear devour each house.

> Greek: μαλερὰ μέλαθρα πυρὶ κατάδρομα
δαΐῳ τε λόγχᾳ.

[¶115] Hecuba:
Oh, earth, nourisher of my children!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἰὼ γᾶ τρόφιμε τῶν ἐμῶν τέκνων.

[¶116] Chorus:
Ah, ah!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἓ ἕ.

[¶117] Hecuba:
Hearken, my children, hear your mother’s voice.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ὦ τέκνα, κλύετε, μάθετε ματρὸς αὐδάν.

[¶118] Chorus:
You are calling on the dead with voice of lamentation.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἰαλέμῳ τοὺς θανόντας ἀπύεις.

[¶119] Hecuba:
Yes, as I stretch my aged limbs upon the ground, and beat upon the earth with both my hands.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
γεραιά γʼ ἐς πέδον τιθεῖσα μέλεα καὶ
χερσὶ γαῖαν κτυποῦσα δισσαῖς.

[¶120] Chorus:
I follow you and kneel, invoking from the nether world my hapless husband.

> Greek: Χορός:
διάδοχά σοι γόνυ τίθημι γαίᾳ
τοὺς ἐμοὺς καλοῦσα νέρθεν
ἀθλίους ἀκοίτας.

[¶121] Hecuba:
I am being dragged and hurried away—

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἀγόμεθα φερόμεθʼ …

[¶122] Chorus:
The sorrow, the sorrow of that cry!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἄλγος ἄλγος βοᾷς.

[¶123] Hecuba:
To dwell beneath a master’s roof!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
δούλειον ὑπὸ μέλαθρον.

[¶124] Chorus:
From my own country!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἐκ πάτρας γʼ ἐμᾶς.

[¶125] Hecuba:
Woe is me! O Priam, Priam, slain, unburied, left without a friend, nothing do you know of my cruel fate.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἰώ.
Πρίαμε Πρίαμε, σὺ μὲν ὀλόμενος
ἄταφος ἄφιλος
ἄτας ἐμᾶς ἄιστος εἶ.

[¶126] Chorus:
No, for over his eyes black death has drawn his pall, a pure man slain by the impure.

> Greek: Χορός:
μέλας γὰρ ὄσσε κατεκάλυψε
θάνατος ὅσιος ἀνοσίαις σφαγαῖσιν.

[¶127] Hecuba:
Woe for the temples of the gods and for our dear city!

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἰὼ θεῶν μέλαθρα καὶ πόλις φίλα,

[¶128] Chorus:
Ah, ah!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἓ ἕ.

[¶129] Hecuba:
Murderous flame and enemy spear are now your lot.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
τὰν φόνιον ἔχετε φλόγα δορός τε λόγχαν.

[¶130] Chorus:
Soon will you tumble to your own loved soil, and be forgotten.

> Greek: Χορός:
τάχʼ ἐς φίλαν γᾶν πεσεῖσθʼ ἀνώνυμοι.

[¶131] Hecuba:
And the dust, mounting to heaven on wings like smoke, will rob me of the sight of my home.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
κόνις δʼ ἴσα καπνῷ πτέρυγι πρὸς αἰθέρα
ᾆστον οἴκων ἐμῶν με θήσει.

[¶132] Chorus:
The name of my country wiII pass into obscurity; all is scattered far and wide, and hapless Troy has ceased to be.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὄνομα δὲ γᾶς ἀφανὲς εἶσιν· ἄλλᾳ δʼ
ἄλλο φροῦδον, οὐδʼ ἔτʼ ἔστιν
ἁ τάλαινα Τροία.

[¶133] Hecuba:
Did you know, did you hear?

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἐμάθετʼ, ἐκλύετε;

[¶134] Chorus:
Yes, it was the crash of the citadel.

> Greek: Χορός:
Περγάμων ⟨γε⟩ κτύπον.

[¶135] Hecuba:
The shock, the shock—

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἔνοσις ἅπασαν ἔνοσις …

[¶136] Chorus:
Will overwhelm our city utterly.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἐπικλύσει πόλιν.

[¶137] Hecuba:
O woe is me! trembling, quaking limbs, support my footsteps! away! to face
the day that begins your slavery.

> Greek: Ἑκάβη:
ἰώ·
τρομερὰ μέλεα, φέρετʼ ἐμὸν ἴχνος·
ἴτʼ ἐπί, τάλανα,
δούλειον ἁμέραν βίου.

[¶138] Chorus:
Woe for our unhappy town! And yet let us advance to the Achaean fleet.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἰὼ τάλαινα πόλις· ὅμως δὲ
πρόφερε πόδα σὸν ἐπὶ πλάτας Ἀχαιῶν.