Hecuba

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.

  1. is not this a sight to fill you with wonder, and upset your hopes?
Hecuba
  1. Ah me! it is the corpse of my son Polydorus I behold, whom the Thracian man was keeping safe for me in his halls. Alas! this is the end of all; my life is over. chanting O my son, my son,
  2. alas! I now begin the laments, a frantic strain I learned just now from some avenging fiend.
Maid-servant
  1. What! so you knew your son’s fate, poor lady?
Hecuba
  1. I cannot, cannot credit this fresh sight I see.
  2. One woe succeeds to another; no day will ever pass without groans and tears.
Chorus Leader
  1. Alas! poor lady, our sufferings are cruel indeed.
Hecuba
  1. O my son, child of a luckless mother,
  2. what was the manner of your death? by what fate do you lie here? by whose hands?
Maid-servant
  1. I do not know. I found him on the sea-shore.