The Trojan Women [2]
our doom. SEMI-CHORUS I O misery! woe to us Trojan dames, soon to hear the order given, "Come forth from the house; the Argives are preparing to return." HECUBA Oh! 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 thee, ill-fated Troy, thy sun is set; and woe to thy unhappy children, quick and dead alike, who are leaving thee behind! SEMI-CHORUS II With trembling step, alas! I leave this tent of Agamemnon to learn of thee, my royal mistress, whether the Argives have resolved to take my wretched life, whether the sailors at the prow are making ready to ply their oars. HECUBA My child, a fearful dread seized on my wakeful heart and sent me hither. SEMI-CHORUS II Hath a herald from the Danai already come? To whom am I, poor captive, given as a slave? HECUBA Thou art not far from being allotted now. SEMI-CHORUS II Woe worth the day! What Argive or Phthiotian chief will bear me far from Troy, alas! unto his home, or haply to some island fastness? HECUBA Ah me! ah me! Whose slave shall I become in my old age? in what far clime? a poor old drone, the wretched copy of a corpse, set to keep the gate or tend their children, I who once held royal rank in Troy. CHORUS Woe, woe is thee! What piteous dirge wilt thou devise to mourn the outrage done thee? No more through Ida's looms shall I-ply the shuttle to and fro. I look my last and latest on my children's bodies; henceforth shall I endure surpassing misery; it may be as the unwilling bride of some Hellene (perish the night and fortune that brings me to this!); it may be as a wretched slave I from Peirene's sacred fount shall draw their store of water. Oh be it ours to come to Theseus' famous realm, a land of joy! Never, never let me see Eurotas' swirling tide, hateful home of Helen, there to meet and be the slave of Menelaus, whose hand laid Troyland waste! Yon holy land by Peneus fed, nestling in all its beauty at Olympus' foot, is said, so have I heard, to be a very granary of wealth and teeming fruitage; next to the sacred soil of Theseus, I could wish to reach that land. They tell me too Hephaestus' home, beneath the shadow of Aetna, fronting Phoenicia, the mother of Sicilian hills, is famous for the crowns it gives to worth. Or may I find a home on that shore which lieth very nigh Ionia's sea, a land by Crathis watered, lovely stream, that dyes the hair an auburn tint, feeding with its holy waves and making glad therewith the home of heroes good and true. But mark! a herald from the host of Danai, with store of fresh proclamations, comes hasting hither. What is his errand? what saith he? List, for we are slaves to Dorian lords henceforth.
Enter TALTHYBIUS.
TALTHYBIUS Hecuba, thou knowest me from my many journeys to and fro as herald 'twixt the Achaean host and Troy; no stranger I to thee, lady, even aforetime, I Talthybius, now sent with a fresh message. HECUBA Ah, kind friends, 'tis come! what I so long have dreaded. TALTHYBIUS The lot has decided your fates already, if that was what you feared. HECUBA Ah me! What city didst thou say, Thessalian, Phthian, or Cadmean? TALTHYBIUS Each warrior took his prize in turn; ye were not all at once assigned. HECUBA To whom hath the lot assigned us severally? Which of us Trojan dames doth a happy fortune await? TALTHYBIUS I know, but ask thy questions separately, not all at once. HECUBA Then tell me, whose prize is my daughter, hapless Cassandra? TALTHYBIUS King Agamemnon hath chosen her out for himself. HECUBA To be the slave-girl of his Spartan wife? Ah me! TALTHYBIUS Nay, to share with him his stealthy love. HECUBA What! Phoebus' virgin-priestess, to whom the god with golden locks granted the boon of maidenhood? TALTHYBIUS The dart of love hath pierced his heart, love for the frenzied maid. HECUBA Daughter, cast from thee the sacred keys, and from thy body tear the holy wreaths
Enter TALTHYBIUS.
TALTHYBIUS Hecuba, thou knowest me from my many journeys to and fro as herald 'twixt the Achaean host and Troy; no stranger I to thee, lady, even aforetime, I Talthybius, now sent with a fresh message. HECUBA Ah, kind friends, 'tis come! what I so long have dreaded. TALTHYBIUS The lot has decided your fates already, if that was what you feared. HECUBA Ah me! What city didst thou say, Thessalian, Phthian, or Cadmean? TALTHYBIUS Each warrior took his prize in turn; ye were not all at once assigned. HECUBA To whom hath the lot assigned us severally? Which of us Trojan dames doth a happy fortune await? TALTHYBIUS I know, but ask thy questions separately, not all at once. HECUBA Then tell me, whose prize is my daughter, hapless Cassandra? TALTHYBIUS King Agamemnon hath chosen her out for himself. HECUBA To be the slave-girl of his Spartan wife? Ah me! TALTHYBIUS Nay, to share with him his stealthy love. HECUBA What! Phoebus' virgin-priestess, to whom the god with golden locks granted the boon of maidenhood? TALTHYBIUS The dart of love hath pierced his heart, love for the frenzied maid. HECUBA Daughter, cast from thee the sacred keys, and from thy body tear the holy wreaths