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Maid-servant
entering excitedly, attended by bearers bringing in a covered corpse
Oh! ladies, where is Hecuba, our queen of sorrow, who conquers all in tribulation, men and women both alike? [660] No one shall dispute the crown with her. Chorus Leader
What now, unhappy one with your cry of misery? Your evil tidings never seem to rest. Maid-servant
It is to Hecuba I bring my bitter news; no easy task is it for mortal lips to speak smooth words in sorrow. Chorus Leader
[665] Look, she is coming even now from the shelter of the tent, appearing just in time to hear you speak.Hecuba comes out of the tent. Maid-servant
O mistress, most hapless beyond all words of mine to tell; you are ruined, you no longer exist, though you are alive; of children, husband, city bereft; hopelessly undone! Hecuba
[670] This is no news but insult; I have heard it all before. But why have you come, bringing here to me the corpse of Polyxena, on whose burial Achaea's army was reported to be busily engaged? Maid-servant
She knows nothing, but mourns [675] Polyxena, not grasping her new sorrows. Hecuba
Ah! woe is me! you are surely not bringing here frenzied Cassandra, the prophetic maid? Maid-servant
You speak of the living; but the dead you do not weep is here.Uncovering the corpse Mark well the body now laid bare; [680] is not this a sight to fill you with wonder, and upset your hopes?
Euripides. The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 1. Hecuba, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
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