Odysseus It is not your death, my lady, that Achilles’ ghost has demanded of the Achaeans, but hers.
Hecuba At least then slaughter me with my child; so shall there be a double drink 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 did not need even 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 you will listen to those who are wiser than you.
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, listen to me; and you, son of Laertes, make allowance for a parent’s natural wrath. My poor mother, do not fight with our masters. Will you be thrown to the ground, be roughly thrust aside and wound your aged skin, and in unseemly fashion be torn from me by youthful arms? This you will suffer; but do not, for it is not right for you. No, my dear mother! give me your beloved hand, and let me press your cheek to mine; for never again, but now for the last time, shall I behold the dazzling sun-god’s orb. Take my last farewells now. O mother, my mother! I pass beneath the earth.
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 Yours, my daughter, is a piteous lot, and sad is mine also.
Polyxena There in Hades’ courts shall I lie apart from you.
Hecuba Ah me, what shall I do? where shall I end my life?
Polyxena Daughter of a free-born father, a slave I am to die.
Hecuba Not one of all my fifty children left!
Polyxena What message can I take for you to Hector or your aged lord?
Hecuba Tell them that of all women I am the most miserable.
Polyxena Ah! breasts and paps that fed me with sweet food!
Hecuba Oh, my daughter—your wretched, untimely fate!
Polyxena Farewell, my mother! farewell, Cassandra!
Hecuba Fare well! others do, but not your mother, no!
Polyxena You too, my brother Polydorus, in Thrace, the home of steeds!
Hecuba Yes, if he lives, which I doubt; so luckless am I in every way.
Polyxena He lives; and, when you die, he will close your eyes.
Hecuba I am dead; sorrow has forestalled death here.
Polyxena Come veil my head, Odysseus, and take me away; for now, before the fatal blow, my heart is melted by my mother’s wailing, and hers by mine. O light of day! for still I may call you by your name, though now my share in you is only the time I take to go between Achilles’ tomb and the sword.
Hecuba Alas! I faint; my limbs sink under me. O my daughter, embrace your mother, stretch out your hand, give it to me; do not leave me childless! Ah, friends! it is 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.
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