The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I | Page 6

any god or
deity to succor me? O Trojan dames, bearers of evil tidings, bearers of
woe, you have destroyed me utterly, you have destroyed me. Life in the
light is no more desirable! O wretched foot, lead, lead an aged woman
to this tent! O child, daughter of the most afflicted mother, come forth,
come forth from the tent, hear thy mother's voice, that thou mayest
know what a report I hear that concerns thy life.
HECUBA, POLYXENA, CHORUS.
POLYX. O mother, why dost thou call! proclaiming what new
affliction hast thou frighted me from the tent, as some bird from its nest,
with this alarm?
HEC. Alas! my child!
POLYX. Why address me in words of ill omen? This is an evil prelude.
HEC. Alas! for thy life.
POLYX. Speak, conceal it no longer from me. I fear, I fear, my mother;
why I pray dost thou groan?
HEC. O child, child of an unhappy mother!
POLYX. Why sayest thou this?
HEC. My child, the common decree of the Greeks unites to slay thee at
the tomb of the son of Peleus.
POLYX. Alas, my mother! how are you relating unenviable ills? Tell
me, tell me, my mother.

HEC. I declare, my child, the ill-omened report, they bring word that a
decree has passed by the vote of the Greeks regarding thy life.
POLYX. O thou that hast borne affliction! O thou wretched on every
side! O mother unhappy in your life, what most hated and most
unutterable calamity has some destiny again sent against thee! This
child is no longer thine; no longer indeed shall I miserable share
slavery with miserable age. For as a mountain whelp or heifer shalt
thou wretched behold me wretched torn from thine arms, and sent
down beneath the darkness of the earth a victim to Pluto, where I shall
lie bound in misery with the dead. But it is for thee indeed, my afflicted
mother, that I lament in these mournful strains, but for my life, my
wrongs, my fate, I mourn not; but death, a better lot, has befallen me.
CHOR. But see Ulysses advances with hasty step, to declare to thee,
Hecuba, some new determination.
ULYSSES, HECUBA, POLYXENA, CHORUS.
ULYSS. Lady, I imagine that you are acquainted with the decree of the
army, and the vote which has prevailed; nevertheless, I will declare it.
It has been decreed by the Greeks to offer on the lofty mound of
Achilles's tomb thy daughter Polyxena. But they order me to conduct
and convey the damsel; but the son of Achilles is appointed to be the
priest, and to preside over the rites. Do you know then what to do? Be
not dragged away by violence, nor enter into a contest of strength with
me, but acknowledge superior force and the presence of thy ills; it is
wise to have proper sentiments even in adversity.
HEC. Alas! alas! the great trial is at hand, as it seems, of lamentations
full, nor without tears; for I have not died in the state in which I ought
to have died, nor hath Jove destroyed me, but preserves me, that I
wretched may behold other misfortunes greater than [past] misfortunes.
But if it be allowed slaves to put questions to the free, not offensive nor
grating to the feelings, it will be your part to be questioned, and ours
who are asking to attend.
ULYSS. You have permission, ask freely, I grudge not the time.

HEC. Dost thou remember when thou camest a spy on Troy, disfigured
by a vile dress, and from thine eyes drops caused by the fear of death
bedewed thy beard?
ULYSS. I remember well; for it made no slight impression on my
heart.
HEC. But Helen knew thee, and told me alone.
ULYSS. I remember the great danger I encountered.
HEC. And didst thou embrace my knees in thy humility?
ULYSS. So that my hand was numbered[7] through fear on thy
garments.
HEC. What then didst thou say, being then my slave?
ULYSS. Many arguments that I invented to save me from death.
HEC. Did I preserve thee then, and conduct thee safe from the land?
ULYSS. Yes, so that I now behold the light of the sun.
HEC. Art thou not then convicted of baseness by this conduct, who hast
received benefits from me such as thou acknowledgest thou hast, and
doest us no good in return, but evil, as far as in thee lies? Thankless is
your race, as many of you as court honor from oratory before the
populace; be ye not known to me, who care not to injure your friends,
provided you say what is gratifying to the people. But plotting what
dark design have they determined upon a decree of death against my
child? Did fate