Dramatis Personae Ghost of Polydorus Hecuba Chorus of Captive Trojan Women Polyxena Odysseus Talthybius Maid-servant Agamemnon Polymestor, and his Children Scene: Before Agamemnon’s tent in the Greek camp upon the shore of the Thracian Chersonese. The Ghost of Polydorus appears. Ghost I have come from out of the charnel-house and gates of gloom, where Hades dwells apart from gods, I Polydorus, a son of Hecuba, the daughter of Cisseus, and of Priam. Now my father, when Phrygia ’s capital was threatened with destruction by the spear of Hellas , took alarm and conveyed me secretly from the land of Troy to Polymestor’s house, his guest-friend in Thrace , who sows these fruitful plains of Chersonese , curbing by his might a nation delighting in horses. And with me my father sent much gold by stealth, so that, if ever Ilium ’s walls should fall, his children that survived might not want for means to live. I was the youngest of Priam’s sons; and this it was that caused my secret removal from the land; for my childish arm was not able to carry weapons or to wield the spear. So long then as the bulwarks of our land stood firm, and Troy ’s battlements abode unshaken, and my brother Hector prospered in his warring, I, poor child, grew up and flourished, like some vigorous shoot, at the court of the Thracian, my father’s guest-friend. But when Troy fell and Hector lost his life and my father’s hearth was rooted up, and he himself fell butchered at the god-built altar by the hands of Achilles’ murderous son; then my father’s friend killed me, his helpless guest, for the sake of the gold, and then cast me into the swell of the sea, to keep the gold for himself in his house. And there I lie, at one time upon the strand, at another in the salt sea’s surge, drifting ever up and down upon the billows, unwept, unburied; but now I am hovering over the head of my dear mother Hecuba, a disembodied spirit, keeping my airy station these three days, ever since my poor mother came from Troy to linger here in the Chersonese . Meanwhile all the Achaeans sit idly here in their ships at the shores of Thrace ; for the son of Peleus, Achilles, appeared above his tomb and stopped the whole army of Hellas , as they were making straight for home across the sea, demanding to have my sister Polyxena offered at his tomb, and to receive his reward. And he will obtain this prize, nor will they that are his friends refuse the gift; and on this very day fate is leading my sister to her doom. So will my mother see two children dead at once, me and that ill-fated maid. For I, to win a grave, ah me! will appear among the rippling waves before her servant-maid’s feet. Yes! I have begged this from the powers below, to find a tomb and fall into my mother’s hands. So shall I have my heart’s desire; but now I will get out of the way of aged Hecuba, for here she passes on her way from the shelter of Agamemnon’s tent, terrified at my spectre. Alas! O mother, from a palace to face a life of slavery, how sad your lot, as sad as once it was blessed! Some god is now destroying you, setting this in the balance to outweigh your former bliss. The Ghost vanishes. Hecuba enters from the tent of Agamemnon, supported by her attendants, captive Trojan women. Hecuba Guide these aged steps, my servants, forth before the house; guide and support your fellow-slave, once your queen, you maids of Troy . Grasp my aged hand, take me, support me, guide me, lift me up; and I will lean upon your bent arm as on a staff and quicken my halting footsteps onwards. O dazzling light of Zeus! O gloom of night! why am I thus scared by fearful visions of the night? O lady Earth, mother of dreams that fly on sable wings! I am seeking to avert the vision of the night, the sight of horror which I learned from my dreams about my son, who is safe in Thrace , and Polyxena, my dear daughter. You gods of this land! preserve my son, the last and only anchor of my house, now settled in Thrace , the land of snow, safe in the keeping of his father’s friend. Some fresh disaster is in store, a new strain of sorrow will be added to our woe. Such ceaseless thrills of terror never wrung my heart before. Oh! where, you Trojan maidens, can I find inspired Helenus or Cassandra, that they may read me my dream? For I saw a dappled deer mangled by a wolf’s bloody fangs, torn from my knees by force, piteously. And this too filled me with fear; over the summit of his tomb appeared Achilles’ phantom, and for his prize he would have one of the luckless maids of Troy . Therefore, I implore you, divine powers, avert this horror from my daughter, from my child. The Chorus of captive Trojan women enters. Chorus Hecuba, I have hastened away to you, leaving my master’s tent, where the lot assigned and appointed me as his slave, when I was driven from the city of Ilium , hunted by Achaeans at the point of the spear; no alleviation do I bring for your sufferings; no, I have laden myself with heavy news, and am a herald of sorrow to you, lady. It is said the Achaeans have determined in full assembly to offer your daughter in sacrifice to Achilles; for you know how one day he appeared standing on his tomb in golden armor, and stayed the sea-borne ships, though they had their sails already hoisted, with this pealing cry: Where away so fast, you Danaids, leaving my tomb without its prize? A violent dispute with stormy altercation arose, and opinion was divided in the warrior army of Hellas , some being in favor of offering the sacrifice at the tomb, others dissenting. There was Agamemnon, all eagerness in your interest, because of his love for the frenzied prophetess; but the two sons of Theseus, scions of Athens , though supporting different proposals, yet agreed on the same decision, which was to crown Achilles’ tomb with fresh blood; for they said they never would set Cassandra’s bed before Achilles’ valor. Now the zeal of the rival disputants was almost equal, until that shifty, smooth-mouthed liar, the son of Laertes , whose tongue is always at the service of the mob, persuaded the army not to put aside the best of all the Danaids