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Chorus Leader
Hecuba, do you see Andromache advancing here on a foreign chariot?
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,
570
with which Achilles’ son will deck the shrines of Phthia on his return from
Troy
?
575
Hecuba, do you see Andromache advancing here on a foreign chariot?
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,
570
with which Achilles’ son will deck the shrines of Phthia on his return from
Troy
?
575
Andromache
My Achaean masters are leading me away.
My Achaean masters are leading me away.
Hecuba
Ah me!
Ah me!
Andromache
Why do you in note of woe utter the dirge that is mine?
Why do you in note of woe utter the dirge that is mine?
Hecuba
Alas—
Alas—
Andromache
For these sorrows—
For these sorrows—
Hecuba
O Zeus—
580
O Zeus—
580
Andromache
And for this calamity.
And for this calamity.
Hecuba
O my children!
O my children!
Andromache
Our day is past.
Our day is past.
Hecuba
Joy is gone,
Troy
is gone.
Joy is gone,
Troy
is gone.
Andromache
Unhappy!
Unhappy!
Hecuba
For my gallant sons
For my gallant sons
Andromache
Alas!
Alas!
Hecuba
Alas indeed, for my
Alas indeed, for my
Andromache
Misery!
585
Misery!
585
Hecuba
Piteous the fate
Piteous the fate
Andromache
Of our city,
Of our city,
Hecuba
Smouldering in the smoke.
Smouldering in the smoke.
Andromache
Come to me, my husband, come to me!
Come to me, my husband, come to me!
Hecuba
Ah, hapless wife! you call on my son who lies in the tomb.
Ah, hapless wife! you call on my son who lies in the tomb.
Andromache
Your wife’s defender!
590
Your wife’s defender!
590
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!
Oh, you, who before made the Achaeans grieve, eldest of the sons I bore to Priam, take me to your rest in Hades’ halls!
Andromache
These great griefs—
595
These great griefs—
595
Hecuba
Unhappy one, bitter these woes to bear.
Unhappy one, bitter these woes to bear.
Andromache
Our city ruined—
Our city ruined—
Hecuba
And sorrow to sorrow added.
And sorrow to sorrow added.
Andromache
and
Troy
has come to slavery’s yoke.
600
and
Troy
has come to slavery’s yoke.
600
Hecuba
O my country, O unhappy land—
O my country, O unhappy land—
Andromache
I weep for you now left behind.
I weep for you now left behind.
Hecuba
Now do you behold your piteous end.
Now do you behold your piteous end.
Andromache
And you, my house, where I gave birth.
And you, my house, where I gave birth.
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.
605
608
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.
605
Chorus Leader
What sweet relief to sufferers it is to weep, to mourn, lament, and chant the dirge that tells of grief!
What sweet relief to sufferers it is to weep, to mourn, lament, and chant the dirge that tells of grief!
Andromache
Do you see this, mother of that man, Hector, who once laid low in battle many a son of
Argos
?
610
Do you see this, mother of that man, Hector, who once laid low in battle many a son of
Argos
?
610
Hecuba
I see that it is heaven’s way to exalt what men accounted nothing, and ruin what they most esteemed.
I see that it is heaven’s way to exalt what men accounted nothing, and ruin what they most esteemed.
Andromache
Hence with my child as booty am I borne; the noble
are brought to slavery—a bitter change.
615
Hence with my child as booty am I borne; the noble
are brought to slavery—a bitter change.
615
Hecuba
This is necessity’s grim law; it was just now that Cassandra was torn with brutal violence from my arms.
This is necessity’s grim law; it was just now that Cassandra was torn with brutal violence from my arms.
Andromache
Alas, alas! it seems a second Aias has appeared to wrong your daughter; but there are other ills for you.
Alas, alas! it seems a second Aias has appeared to wrong your daughter; but there are other ills for you.
Hecuba
Yes, beyond all count or measure are my sorrows; evil vies with evil in the struggle to be first.
620
Yes, beyond all count or measure are my sorrows; evil vies with evil in the struggle to be first.
620
Andromache
Your daughter Polyxena is dead, slain at
Achilles
’ tomb, an offering to his lifeless corpse.
Your daughter Polyxena is dead, slain at
Achilles
’ tomb, an offering to his lifeless corpse.
Hecuba
O woe is me! This is that riddle Talthybius
long ago told me, a truth obscurely uttered.
625
O woe is me! This is that riddle Talthybius
long ago told me, a truth obscurely uttered.
625
Andromache
I saw her myself; so I alighted from the chariot, and covered her corpse with a mantle, and struck upon my breast.
I saw her myself; so I alighted from the chariot, and covered her corpse with a mantle, and struck upon my breast.
Hecuba
Alas! my child, for your unhallowed sacrifice! and yet again, alas! for your shameful death!
Alas! my child, for your unhallowed sacrifice! and yet again, alas! for your shameful death!
Andromache
Her death was even as it was, and yet that death of hers was after all a happier fate than my life.
630
Her death was even as it was, and yet that death of hers was after all a happier fate than my life.
630
Hecuba
Death and life are not the same, my child; the one is annihilation, the other keeps a place for hope.
634
Death and life are not the same, my child; the one is annihilation, the other keeps a place for hope.
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
635
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.
640
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;
645
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;
650
and well I knew where I might rule him, and where it was best to yield.
655
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.
660
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,
665
will cheerfully draw the yoke; and animals have neither speech nor sense to help them, and are by nature man’s inferiors.
670
673
O my dear
Hector
, in you I found a husband amply dowered with wisdom, noble birth and fortune, a brave man and a mighty;
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,
675
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.
680
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
635
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.
640
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;
645
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;
650
and well I knew where I might rule him, and where it was best to yield.
655
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.
660
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,
665
will cheerfully draw the yoke; and animals have neither speech nor sense to help them, and are by nature man’s inferiors.
670
O my dear
Hector
, in you I found a husband amply dowered with wisdom, noble birth and fortune, a brave man and a mighty;
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,
675
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.
680
Chorus Leader
You are in the same plight as I; your lamentations
for yourself remind me of my own sad case.
685
You are in the same plight as I; your lamentations
for yourself remind me of my own sad case.
685
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,
690
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,
695
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
700
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?
705
709
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,
690
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,
695
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
700
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?
705
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—
710
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—
710
Andromache
What is it? your prelude bodes evil news.
What is it? your prelude bodes evil news.
Talthybius
It is decreed your son is—how can I tell my news?
It is decreed your son is—how can I tell my news?
Andromache
Surely not to have a different master from me?
Surely not to have a different master from me?
Talthybius
None of all
Achaea
’s chiefs shall ever lord it over him.
715
None of all
Achaea
’s chiefs shall ever lord it over him.
715
Andromache
Is it their will to leave him here, a remnant of
Phrygia
’s race?
Is it their will to leave him here, a remnant of
Phrygia
’s race?
Talthybius
I know no words to break the sorrow lightly to you.
I know no words to break the sorrow lightly to you.
Andromache
I thank you for your consideration, unless indeed you have good news to tell.
I thank you for your consideration, unless indeed you have good news to tell.
Talthybius
They mean to slay your son; there is my hateful message to you.
They mean to slay your son; there is my hateful message to you.
Andromache
Oh me! this is worse tidings than my forced marriage.
720
Oh me! this is worse tidings than my forced marriage.
720
Talthybius
So spoke Odysseus to the assembled Hellenes, and his word prevails.
So spoke Odysseus to the assembled Hellenes, and his word prevails.
Andromache
Oh, once again alas! there is no measure in the woes I bear.
Oh, once again alas! there is no measure in the woes I bear.
Talthybius
He said they should not rear so brave a father’s son.
He said they should not rear so brave a father’s son.
Andromache
May such counsels prevail about children of his!
May such counsels prevail about children of his!
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;
725
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.
730
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.
735
740
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;
725
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.
730
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.
735
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.
740
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?
745
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;
750
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;
755
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,
760
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.
765
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,
770
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!
775
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.
740
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?
745
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;
750
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;
755
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,
760
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.
765
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,
770
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!
775
Chorus Leader
Unhappy
Troy
! you have lost countless men for the sake of one woman and her hateful bed.
780
Unhappy
Troy
! you have lost countless men for the sake of one woman and her hateful bed.
780
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.
785
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.
785
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;
790
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?
795
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;
790
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?
795
The Trojan Women. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.