POLY. Is the gold there! but what is the mark?
HEC. A black rock rising above the earth.
POLY. Hast any thing further to tell me of what is there?
HEC. No, but I wish thee to take care of some treasures, with which I came
out of the city.
POLY. Where are they then? Hast thou them hidden beneath thy robes?
HEC. Amidst a heap of spoils they are preserved in this tent.
POLY. But where? These are the naval encampments of the Grecians.
HEC. The habitations of the captive women are private.
POLY. And is all secure within, and untenanted by men?
HEC. Not one of the Greeks is within, but we women only. But come into the
tent, for the Greeks are desirous of loosing the sheets of their vessels
homeward from Troy; so that, having done every thing that thou oughtest,
thou mayest go with thy children to that place where thou hast given my son
to dwell.
CHOR. Not yet hast thou suffered, but peradventure thou wilt suffer
vengeance; as a man falling headlong into the gulf where no harbor is,
shalt thou be hurled from thy dear heart, having lost thy life;[18] for
where the rites of hospitality coincide[19] with justice, and with the
Gods, _on the villain who dares to violate these_ destructive, destructive
indeed impends the evil. But thy hopes will deceive thee, which thou
entertainedst from this journey, which has brought thee, thou wretched man,
to the deadly mansions of Pluto; but thou shalt quit thy life by no
warrior's hand.