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, and thou shalt see him before the tent, his eyes put out, with random step advancing as a blind man must; yea, and the bodies of his two children whom I with my brave daughters of Troy did slay; he hath paid me his forfeit; look where he cometh from the tent. I will withdraw out of his path and stand aloof from the hot fury of this Thracian, my deadly foe.
(POLYMESTOR rushes out. Blood is streaming from his eyes.)POLYMESTOR (chanting)Woe is me! whither can I go, where halt, or whither turn? shall crawl upon my hands like a wild four-footed beast on their track?
Which path shall I take first, this or that, eager as I am to clutch those Trojan murderesses that have destroyed me? Out upon ye, cursed daughters of Phrygia! to what corner have ye fled cowering before me? O sun-god, would thou couldst heal my bleeding orbs, ridding me of my blindness!
Ha! hush! I catch their stealthy footsteps here. Where can Idart on them and gorge me on their flesh and bones, making for myself wild beasts' meal, exacting vengeance in requital of their outrage on me? Ah, woe is me! whither am I rushing, leaving my babes unguarded for hell-hounds to mangle, to be murdered and ruthlessly cast forth upon the hills, a feast of blood for dogs? Where shall Istay or turn my steps? where rest? like a ship that lies anchored at sea, so gathering close my linen robe I rush to that chamber of death, to guard my babes.
LEADER
Woe is thee! what grievous outrage hath been wreaked on thee!
fearful penalty for thy foul deed hath the deity imposed, whoe'er he is whose hand is heavy upon thee.
POLYMESTOR (chanting)
Woe is me! Ho! my Thracian spearmen, clad in mail, a race of knights whom Ares doth inspire! Ho! Achaeans! sons of Atreus ho! to you I loudly call; come hither, in God's name come! Doth any hearken, or will no man help me? Why do ye delay? Women, captive women have destroyed me. A fearful fate is mine; ah me my hideous outrage!
Whither can I turn or go? Shall I take wings and soar aloft to the mansions of the sky, where Orion and Sirius dart from their eyes a flash as of fire, or shall I, in my misery, plunge to Hades' murky flood?
LEADER
'Tis a venial sin, when a man, suffering from evils too heavy to bear, rids himself of a wretched existence.
(AGAMEMNON and his retinue enter.)
AGAMEMNON
Hearing a cry I am come hither; for Echo, child of the mountain-rock, hath sent her voice loud-ringing through the host, causing a tumult. Had I not known that Troy's towers were levelled by the might of Hellas, this uproar had caused no slight terror.
POLYMESTOR
Best of friends! for by thy voice I know thee, Agamemnon, dost see my piteous state?
AGAMEMNON
What! hapless Polymestor, who hath stricken thee? who hath reft thine eves of sight, staining the pupils with blood? who hath slain these children? whoe'er he was, fierce must have been his wrath against thee and thy children.
POLYMESTOR
Hecuba, helped by the captive women, hath destroyed me; no! not destroyed, far worse than that.
AGAMEMNON (addressing HECUBA)
What hast thou to say? Was it thou that didst this deed, as he avers? thou, Hecuba, that hast ventured on this inconceivable daring?
POLYMESTOR
Ha! what is that? is she somewhere near? show me, tell me where, that I may grip her in my hands and rend her limb from limb, bespattering her with gore.
AGAMEMNON
Ho! madman, what wouldst thou?
POLYMESTOR
By heaven I entreat thee, let me vent on her the fury of my arm.
AGAMEMNON
Hold! banish that savage spirit from thy heart and plead thy cause, that after hearing thee and her in turn I may fairly decide what reason there is for thy present sufferings.
POLYMESTOR
I will tell my tale. There was a son of Priam, Polydorus, the youngest, a child by Hecuba, whom his father Priam sent to me from Troy to bring up in my halls, suspecting no doubt the fall of Troy.
