AGA. I came having heard the clamor: for Echo, the mountain's daughter, did
not sound in gentle strains through the army, causing a disturbance. But
did we not know that the Phrygian towers are fallen beneath the Grecian
spear, this tumult might have caused no little terror.
POLY. O my dearest friend (for I know thee, Agamemnon, having heard thy
voice), seest thou what I am suffering?
AGA. Ah! wretched Polymestor, who hath destroyed thee? who made thine eyes
sightless, having drowned their orbs in blood? And who hath slain these thy
children? Sure, whoe'er it was, felt the greatest rage against thee and thy
sons.
POLY. Hecuba with the female captives hath destroyed me--nay, not destroyed
me, but more than destroyed me.
AGA. What sayest thou? Hast thou done this deed, as he affirms? Hast thou,
Hecuba, dared this inconceivable act of boldness?
POLY. Ah me! what wilt thou say? Is she any where near me? Show me, tell me
where she is, that I may seize her in my hands, and tear piecemeal and
mangle her body.
AGA. What ho! what are you doing?
POLY. By the Gods I entreat thee, suffer me to lay my raging hand upon her.
AGA. Forbear. And having banished this barbarous deed from thy thoughts,
speak; that having heard both thee and her in your respective turns, I may
decide justly, in return for what thou art suffering these ills.
POLY. I will speak then. There was a certain youth, the youngest of Priam's
children, by name Polydore, the son of Hecuba; him his father Priam sent to
me from Troy to bring up in my palace, already presaging[20] the capture of
Troy. Him I put to death. But for what cause I put him to death, with what
policy and prudent forethought, now hear. I feared, lest the boy being left
an enemy to thee, should collect the scattered remnants of Troy, and again
people the city. And lest the Greeks, having discovered that one of the
sons of Priam was alive, should again direct an expedition against the
Phrygian land, and after that should harass and lay waste the plains of
Thrace; and it might fare ill with the neighbors of the Trojans, under
which misfortune, O king, we are now laboring. But Hecuba, when she had
discovered her son's death, by such treachery as this lured me hither, as
about to tell me of treasure belonging to Priam's family concealed in Troy,
and introduces me alone with my sons into the tent, that no one else might
know it. And I sat, having reclined on the centre of the couch; but many
Trojan damsels, some from the left hand, and others from the right, sat
round me, as by an intimate friend, holding in their hands the Edonian
looms, and praised these robes, looking at them in the light; but others,
beholding with admiration my Thracian spear, deprived me of my double
ornament. But as many as were mothers caressed my children in their arms in
seeming admiration, that they might be farther removed from their father,
successively handing them from one to another: and then, amidst their kind
blandishments, what think you? in an instant, snatching from somewhere
beneath their garments their daggers, they stab my children. But they
having seized me in an hostile manner held my hands and feet; and if,
wishing to succor my children, I raised my head, they held me by the hair:
but if I attempted to move my hands, I wretched could effect nothing
through the host of women. But at last, cruelty and worse than cruelty,
they perpetrated dreadful things; for having taken their clasps they pierce
and gore the wretched pupils of my eyes, then vanish in flight through the
tent. But I, having leaped out, like some exasperated beast, pursue the
blood-stained wretches, searching every wall, as the hunter, casting down,
rending. This have I suffered, while studious to advance thy interest,
Agamemnon, and having killed thine enemy. But that I may not extend my
speech to a greater length, if any one of those of ancient times hath
reviled women, or if any one doth now, or shall hereafter revile them, I
will comprise the whole when I say, that such a race neither doth the sea
nor the earth produce, but he who is always with them knows it best.
CHOR. Be not at all insolent, nor, in thy calamities, thus comprehending
the female sex, abuse them all. For of us there are many, some indeed are
envied _for their virtues_, but some are by nature in the catalogue of bad
things.
HEC. Agamemnon, it never were fitting among men that the tongue should have
greater force than actions. But if a man has acted well, well should he
speak; if on the other hand basely, his words likewise should be unsound,
and never ought he to be capable of speaking unjust things well. Perhaps
indeed they who have brought these things to a pitch of accuracy are
accounted wise, but they can not endure wise unto the end, but perish
vilely, nor has any one yet escaped this. And this in my prelude is what I
have to say to thee. Now am I going to direct my discourse to this man, and
I will answer his arguments. Thou, that assertest, that in order to rid the
Greeks of their redoubled toil, and for Agamemnon's sake that thou didst
slay my son? But, in the first place, monstrous villain, never can the race
of barbarians be friendly to the Grecians, never can this take place. But
what favor wert thou so eagerly currying? wert thou about to contract an
alliance, or was it that thou wert of kindred birth, or what pretext hadst
thou? or were they about to ravage the crops of thy country, having sailed
thither again? Whom, thinkest thou, wilt thou persuade of these things? The
gold, if thou wert willing to speak truth, the gold destroyed my son, and
thy base gains. For come, tell me this; how when Troy was prosperous, and a
tower yet girt around the city, and Priam lived, and the spear of Hector
was in its glory, why didst thou not then, if thou wert willing to lay him
under this obligation, bringing up my child, and retaining him in thy
palace, why didst thou not then slay him, or go and take him alive to the
Greeks? But when we were no longer in the light of prosperity, and the city
by its smoke showed that it was in the power of the enemy, thou slewest thy
guest who had come to thy hearth. Now hear besides how thou wilt appear
vile: thou oughtest, if thou wert the friend of the Greeks, to have given
the gold, which thou confessedst thou hast, not thine, but his,
distributing to those who were in need, and had long been strangers to
their native land. But thou, even now, hast not courage to part with it
from thy hand, but having it, thou still art keeping it close in thine
house. And yet, in bringing up my child, as it was thy duty to bring him
up, and in preserving him, thou hadst had fair honor. For in adversity
friends are most clearly proved good. But good circumstances have in every
case their friends. But if thou wert in want of money, and he in a
flourishing condition, my son had been to thee a vast treasure; but now,
thou neither hast him for thy friend, and the benefit from the gold is
gone, and thy sons are gone, and thou art--as thou art. But to thee,
Agamemnon, I say; if thou aidest this man, thou wilt appear to be doing
wrong. For thou wilt be conferring a benefit on a host, who is neither
pious, nor faithful to those to whom he ought, not holy, not just. But we
shall say that thou delightest in the bad, if thus thou actest: but I speak
no offense to my lords.
CHOR. Ah! Ah! How do good deeds ever supply to men the source of good
words!
AGA. Thankless my office to decide on others' grievances; but still I must,
for it brings disgrace on a man, having taken a thing in hand, to give it
up. But to me, be assured, thou neither appearest for my sake, nor for the
sake of the Grecians, to have killed this man thy guest, but that thou
mightest possess the gold in thy palace. But thou talkest of thy advantage,
when thou art in calamities.[21] Perhaps with you it is a slight thing to
kill your guests; but with us Grecians this thing is abhorred. How then, in
giving my decision that thou hast not injured, can I escape blame? I can
not; but as thou hast dared to do things dishonorable, endure now things
unpleasant.
POLY. Alas me! worsted, as it seems, by a woman who is a slave, I shall
submit to the vengeance of my inferiors.
AGA. Will it not then be justly, seeing thou hast acted wrong?
POLY. Alas me! wretched on account of these children and on account of my
eyes.
HEC. Thou sufferest? but what do I? Thinkest thou I suffer not for my
child?
POLY. Thou rejoicest in insulting me, O thou malicious woman.
HEC. For ought not I to rejoice on having avenged myself on thee?