Why should I prolong my days? I whose sire was king of all the Phrygians?-my chiefest pride in life, Then was I nursed on fair fond hopes to be a bride for kings, the centre of keen jealousy amongst suitors, to see whose home I would make my own; and o'er each dame of Ida I was queen; ah me! a maiden marked amid her fellows, equal to a goddess, save for death alone, but now slave! That name first makes me long for death, so strange it sounds; and then maybe my lot might give me to some savage master, one that would buy me for money,-me the sister of Hector and many another chief,-who would make me knead him bread within his halls, or sweep his house or set me working at the loom, leading a life of misery; while some slave, bought I know not whence, will taint my maiden charms, once deemed worthy of royalty. No, never! Here I close my eyes upon the light, free as yet, and dedicate myself to Hades. Lead me hence, Odysseus, and do thy worst, for I see naught within my reach to make me hope or expect with any confidence that I am ever again to be happy. Mother mine! seek not to hinder me by word or deed, but join in my wish for death ere I meet with shameful treatment undeserved. For whoso is not used to taste of sorrow's cup, though he bears it, yet it galls him when he puts his neck within the yoke; far happier would he be dead than alive, for life of honour reft is toil and trouble.
LEADER
A wondrous mark, most clearly stamped, doth noble birth imprint on men, and the name goeth still further where it is deserved.
HECUBA
A noble speech, my daughter! but there is sorrow linked with its noble sentiments.
Odysseus, if ye must pleasure the son of Peleus, and avoid reproach, slay not this maid, but lead me to Achilles' pyre and torture me unsparingly: 'twas I that bore Paris, whose fatal shaft laid low the son of Thetis.
ODYSSEUS
'Tis not thy death, old dame, Achilles' wraith hath demanded of the Achaeans, but hers.
HECUBA
At least then slaughter me with my child; so shall there be a double draught of blood for the earth and the dead that claims this sacrifice.
ODYSSEUS
The maiden's death suffices; no need to add a second to the first;would we needed not e'en this!
HECUBA
Die with my daughter I must and will.
ODYSSEUS
How so? I did not know I had a master.
HECUBA
I will cling to her like ivy to an oak.
ODYSSEUS
Not if thou wilt hearken to those who are wiser than thyself.
HECUBA
Be sure I will never willingly relinquish my child.
ODYSSEUS
Well, be equally sure I will never go away and leave her here.
POLYXENA
Mother, hearken to me; and thou, son of Laertes, make allowance for a parent's natural wrath. My poor mother, fight not with our masters. Wilt thou be thrown down, be roughly thrust aside and wound thy aged skin, and in unseemly wise be torn from me by youthful arms? This wilt thou suffer; do not so, for 'tis not right for thee.
Nay, dear mother mine give me thy hand beloved, and let me press thy cheek to mine; for never, nevermore, but now for the last time shall Ibehold the dazzling sun-god's orb. My last farewells now take! Omother, mother mine! beneath the earth I pass.
HECUBA
O my daughter, I am still to live and be a slave.
POLYXENA
Unwedded I depart, never having tasted the married joys that were my due!
HECUBA
Thine, my daughter, is a piteous lot, and sad is mine also.
POLYXENA
There in Hades' courts shall I be laid apart from thee.
HECUBA
Ah me, what shall I do? where shall I end my life?
POLYXENA
Daughter of a free-born sire, a slave I am to die.
HECUBA
Not one of all my fifty children left!
POLYXENA
What message can I take for thee to Hector or thy aged lord?
HECUBA
Tell them that of all women I am the most miserable.
POLYXENA
Ah! bosom and breasts that fed me with sweet food!
HECUBA
Woe is thee, my child, for this untimely fate!
POLYXENA
Farewell, my mother! farewell, Cassandra!
HECUBA
"Fare well!" others do, but not thy mother, no!
POLYXENA
Thou too, my brother Polydorus, who art in Thrace, the home of steeds!
HECUBA
Aye, if he lives, which much I doubt; so luckless am I every way.
POLYXENA
Oh yes, he lives; and, when thou diest, he will close thine eyes.
HECUBA
I am dead; sorrow has forestalled death here.
POLYXENA
Come veil my head, Odysseus, and take me hence; for now, ere falls the fatal blow, my heart is melted by my mother's wailing, and hers no less by mine. O light of day! for still may I call thee by thy name, though now my share in thee is but the time I take to go 'twixt this and the sword at Achilles' tomb.
(ODYSSEUS and his attendants lead POLYXENA away.)HECUBAWoe is me! I faint; my limbs sink under me. O my daughter, embrace thy mother, stretch out thy hand, give it me again; leave me not childless! Ah, friends! 'tis my death-blow. Oh! to see that Spartan woman, Helen, sister of the sons of Zeus, in such a plight; for her bright eyes have caused the shameful fall of Troy's once prosperous town.
(HECUBA sinks fainting to the ground.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
O breeze from out the deep arising, that waftest swift galleys, ocean's coursers, across the surging main! whither wilt thou bear me the child of sorrow? To whose house shall I be brought, to be his slave and chattel? to some haven in the Dorian land, or in Phthia, where men say Apidanus, father of fairest streams, makes fat and rich the tilth?
antistrophe 1
or to an island home, sent on a voyage of misery by oars that sweep the brine, leading a wretched existence in halls where the first-created palm and the bay-tree put forth their sacred shoots for dear Latona, memorial fair of her divine travail? and there with the maids of Delos shall I hymn the golden snood and bow of Artemis their goddess?
strophe 2
Or in the city of Pallas, the home of Athena of the beauteous chariot, shall I upon her saffron robe yoke horses to the car, embroidering them on my web in brilliant varied shades, or the race of Titans, whom Zeus the son of Cronos lays to their unending sleep with bolt of flashing flame?
antistrophe 2
