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.
155
Hecuba
My child, even now at the ships of the Argives—
First Semi-Chorus
1
The rower’s hand is busy?
160
Ah, woe is me! what is their intent? Will they really carry me away from my country in their fleet?
Hecuba
I do not know, though I guess our doom.
First Semi-Chorus
O misery!
woe to us Trojan women, soon to hear of our troubles:
Come out of the house, the Argives are preparing to return.
165
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,
170
who are leaving you behind!
175
The Trojan Women. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.