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Hecuba
Ah me! it is the corpse of my son Polydorus I behold, whom the Thracian man was keeping safe for me in his halls. Alas! this is the end of all; my life is over.
chanting O my son, my son,
alas! I now begin the laments, a frantic strain I learned just now from some avenging fiend.
685
Ah me! it is the corpse of my son Polydorus I behold, whom the Thracian man was keeping safe for me in his halls. Alas! this is the end of all; my life is over.
chanting O my son, my son,
alas! I now begin the laments, a frantic strain I learned just now from some avenging fiend.
685
Maid-servant
What! so you knew your son’s fate, poor lady?
What! so you knew your son’s fate, poor lady?
Hecuba
I cannot, cannot credit this fresh sight I see.
chanting
One woe succeeds to another; no day will ever pass without groans and tears.
690
I cannot, cannot credit this fresh sight I see.
One woe succeeds to another; no day will ever pass without groans and tears.
690
Chorus Leader
Alas! poor lady, our sufferings are cruel indeed.
Alas! poor lady, our sufferings are cruel indeed.
Hecuba
chanting
O my son, child of a luckless mother,
what was the manner of your death? by what fate do you lie here? by whose hands?
695
O my son, child of a luckless mother,
what was the manner of your death? by what fate do you lie here? by whose hands?
695
Maid-servant
I do not know. I found him on the sea-shore.
I do not know. I found him on the sea-shore.
Hecuba
chanting
Cast up on the smooth sand, or thrown there
after the murderous blow?
700
Cast up on the smooth sand, or thrown there
after the murderous blow?
700
Maid-servant
The waves had washed him ashore.
The waves had washed him ashore.
Hecuba
chanting
Alas! alas! I now know the vision I saw in my sleep; the dusky-winged phantom
did not escape me, the vision I saw of you, my son, now no more within the bright sunshine.
705
Alas! alas! I now know the vision I saw in my sleep; the dusky-winged phantom
did not escape me, the vision I saw of you, my son, now no more within the bright sunshine.
705
Chorus Leader
Who slew him then? Can your dream-lore tell us that?
Who slew him then? Can your dream-lore tell us that?
Hecuba
chanting
It was my own familiar friend, the knight of
Thrace
, with whom his aged father had placed the boy in hiding.
710
It was my own familiar friend, the knight of
Thrace
, with whom his aged father had placed the boy in hiding.
710
Chorus Leader
O horror! what will you say? did he slay him to get the gold?
O horror! what will you say? did he slay him to get the gold?
Hecuba
chanting
O dreadful crime! O deed without a name! beyond wonder!
impious! intolerable! Where are the laws between guest and host? Accursed of men! how have you mangled his flesh, slashing the poor child’s limbs
715
with ruthless sword, lost to all sense of pity!
720
O dreadful crime! O deed without a name! beyond wonder!
impious! intolerable! Where are the laws between guest and host? Accursed of men! how have you mangled his flesh, slashing the poor child’s limbs
715
with ruthless sword, lost to all sense of pity!
720
Hecuba. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1891.
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