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Hecuba
Woe, woe is me! What words,
or cries, or lamentations can I utter? Ah me! for the sorrows of my closing years! for slavery too cruel to endure, to bear! Woe, woe is me! What champion do I have? Family,
155
and city—where are they? Aged Priam is no more; no more my children now. Which way am I to go, either this or that? Where shall I turn my steps? Where is any god or divine power to come to my aid?
160
Ah, Trojan maids! bringers of evil tidings! Messengers of woe! you have made an end, an utter end of me; life on earth has no more charm for me. Oh! luckless steps, lead on,
165
guide your aged mistress here to the tent. My child, daughter of a most wretched woman, come forth; listen to your mother’s voice.
170
so that you may know the hideous rumor I now hear about your life, my child.
175
Woe, woe is me! What words,
or cries, or lamentations can I utter? Ah me! for the sorrows of my closing years! for slavery too cruel to endure, to bear! Woe, woe is me! What champion do I have? Family,
155
and city—where are they? Aged Priam is no more; no more my children now. Which way am I to go, either this or that? Where shall I turn my steps? Where is any god or divine power to come to my aid?
160
Ah, Trojan maids! bringers of evil tidings! Messengers of woe! you have made an end, an utter end of me; life on earth has no more charm for me. Oh! luckless steps, lead on,
165
guide your aged mistress here to the tent. My child, daughter of a most wretched woman, come forth; listen to your mother’s voice.
170
so that you may know the hideous rumor I now hear about your life, my child.
175
Hecuba. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1891.
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