Oh! mother, mother, why do you call so loud? what news is it you have proclaimed, scaring me, like a cowering bird, from my chamber by this alarm? Hecuba Alas, my daughter! Polyxena Why this ominous address? it means sorrow for me. Hecuba Woe for your life! Polyxena Tell it, hide it no longer. Ah mother! how I dread, I dread the import of your loud laments. Hecuba Ah my daughter! a luckless mother’s child! Polyxena Why do you tell me this? Hecuba The Argives with one consent are eager for your sacrifice to the son of Peleus at his tomb.