| Euripidis Index |
HECUBA
With wings upon my back, or by what means?
POLYMESTOR
Thou wilt become a dog with bloodshot eyes.
HECUBA
How knowest thou of my transformation?
POLYMESTOR
Dionysus, our Thracian prophet, told me so.
HECUBA
And did he tell thee nothing of thy present trouble?
POLYMESTOR
No; else hadst thou never caught me thus by guile.
HECUBA
Shall I die or live, and so complete my life on earth?
POLYMESTOR
Die shalt thou; and to thy tomb shall be given a name-
HECUBA
Recalling my form, or what wilt thou tell me?
POLYMESTOR
"The hapless hound's grave," a mark for mariners."
HECUBA
'Tis naught to me, now that thou hast paid me forfeit.
POLYMESTOR
Further, thy daughter Cassandra must die.
HECUBA
I scorn the prophecy! I give it to thee to keep for thyself.
POLYMESTOR
Her shall the wife of Agamemnon, grim keeper of his palace, slay.
HECUBA
Never may the daughter of Tyndareus do such a frantic deed!
POLYMESTOR
And she shall slay this king as well, lifting high the axe.
AGAMEMNON
Ha! sirrah, art thou mad? art so eager to find sorrow?
POLYMESTOR
Kill me, for in Argos there awaits thee a murderous bath.
AGAMEMNON
Ho! servants, hale him from my sight
POLYMESTOR
Ha! my words gall thee?
AGAMEMNON
Stop his mouth!
POLYMESTOR
Close it now; for I have spoken.
AGAMEMNON
Haste and cast him upon some desert island, since his mouth is
full of such exceeding presumption. Go thou, unhappy Hecuba, and
bury thy two corpses; and you, Trojan women, to your masters' tents
repair, for lo! I perceive a breeze just rising to waft us home. God
grant we reach our country and find all well at home, released from
troubles here!
(POLYMESTOR is dragged away by AGAMEMNON'S guards.)
CHORUS (chanting)
Away to the harbour and the tents, my friends, to prove the
toils of slavery! for such is fate's relentless hest.
-THE END-
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