HECUBA [12]
tent. POLYMESTOR (to his Attendants) Retire; this desert spot is safe enough. (The guards go out; to HECUBA) Thou art my friend, and this Achaean host is well-disposed to me. But thou must tell me how prosperity is to succour its unlucky friends; for ready am I to do so. HECUBA First tell me of the child Polydorus, whom thou art keeping in thy halls, received from me and his father; is he yet alive? The rest will I ask thee after that. POLYMESTOR Yes, thou still hast a share in fortune there. HECUBA Well said, dear friend! how worthy of thee! POLYMESTOR What next wouldst learn of me? HECUBA Hath he any recollection of me his mother? POLYMESTOR Aye, he was longing to steal away hither to thee. HECUBA Is the gold safe, which he brought with him from Troy? POLYMESTOR Safe under lock and key in my halls. HECUBA There keep it, but covet not thy neighbour's goods. POLYMESTOR Not I; God grant me luck of what I have, lady! HECUBA Dost know what I wish to say to thee and thy children? POLYMESTOR Not yet; thy words maybe will declare it. HECUBA May it grow as dear to thee as thou now art to me! POLYMESTOR What is it that I and my children are to learn? HECUBA There be ancient vaults filled full of gold by Priam's line. POLYMESTOR Is it this thou wouldst tell thy son? HECUBA Yes, by thy lips, for thou art a righteous man. POLYMESTOR What need then of these children's presence? HECUBA 'Tis better they should know it, in case of thy death. POLYMESTOR. True; 'tis also the wiser way. HECUBA Well, dost thou know where stands the shrine of Trojan Athena? POLYMESTOR Is the gold there? what is there to mark it? HECUBA A black rock rising above the ground. POLYMESTOR Is there aught else thou wouldst tell me about the place? HECUBA I wish to keep safe the treasure I brought from Troy. POLYMESTOR Where can it be? inside thy dress, or hast thou it hidden? HECUBA 'Tis safe amid a heap of spoils within these tents. POLYMESTOR Where? This is the station built by the Achaeans to surround their fleet. HECUBA The captive women have huts of their own. POLYMESTOR It is safe to enter? are there no men about? HECUBA There are no Achaeans within; we are alone. Enter then the tent, for the Argives are eager to set sail from Troy for home; and, when thou hast accomplished all that is appointed thee, thou shalt return with thy children to that bourn where thou hast lodged my son.
(HECUBA leads POLYMESTOR and his children into the tent.)
CHORUS (chanting) Not yet hast thou paid the penalty, but maybe thou yet wilt; like one who slips and falls into the surge with no haven near, so shalt thou lose thy own life for the life thou hast taken. For where the rights of justice and the law of heaven are one, there is ruin fraught with death and doom. Thy hopes of this journey shall cheat thee, for it hath led thee, unhappy wretch! to the halls of death; and to no warrior's hand shalt thou resign thy life. POLYMESTOR (within the tent) O horror! I am blinded of the light of my eyes, ah me! LEADER OF THE CHORUS Heard ye, friends, that Thracian's cry of woe? POLYMESTOR (within) O horror! horror! my children! O the cruel blow. LEADER Friends, new ills are brought to pass in yonder tent. POLYMESTOR (within) Nay, ye shall never escape for all your hurried flight; for with my fist will I burst open the inmost recesses of this hall. LEADER Hark! how he launches ponderous blows! Shall we force an entry? The crisis calls on us to aid Hecuba and the Trojan women.
(HECUBA enters, calling back into the tent.)
HECUBA Strike on, spare not, burst the doors! thou shalt ne'er replace bright vision in thy eyes nor ever see thy children, whom I have slain, alive again. LEADER What! hast thou foiled the Thracian, and is the stranger in thy power, mistress mine? is all thy threat now brought to pass? HECUBA A moment,
(HECUBA leads POLYMESTOR and his children into the tent.)
CHORUS (chanting) Not yet hast thou paid the penalty, but maybe thou yet wilt; like one who slips and falls into the surge with no haven near, so shalt thou lose thy own life for the life thou hast taken. For where the rights of justice and the law of heaven are one, there is ruin fraught with death and doom. Thy hopes of this journey shall cheat thee, for it hath led thee, unhappy wretch! to the halls of death; and to no warrior's hand shalt thou resign thy life. POLYMESTOR (within the tent) O horror! I am blinded of the light of my eyes, ah me! LEADER OF THE CHORUS Heard ye, friends, that Thracian's cry of woe? POLYMESTOR (within) O horror! horror! my children! O the cruel blow. LEADER Friends, new ills are brought to pass in yonder tent. POLYMESTOR (within) Nay, ye shall never escape for all your hurried flight; for with my fist will I burst open the inmost recesses of this hall. LEADER Hark! how he launches ponderous blows! Shall we force an entry? The crisis calls on us to aid Hecuba and the Trojan women.
(HECUBA enters, calling back into the tent.)
HECUBA Strike on, spare not, burst the doors! thou shalt ne'er replace bright vision in thy eyes nor ever see thy children, whom I have slain, alive again. LEADER What! hast thou foiled the Thracian, and is the stranger in thy power, mistress mine? is all thy threat now brought to pass? HECUBA A moment,