No; your words will declare it. Hecuba O you who are as dear to me as you now are, there are— Polymestor What is it that I and my children must learn? Hecuba Ancient vaults filled full of gold by Priam’s ancestors. Polymestor Is it this you would tell your son? Hecuba Certainly, through you; for you are a righteous man. Polymestor What need then of these children’s presence? Hecuba It is better they should know it, in case of your death. Polymestor Well said; it is also the wiser way. Hecuba Then do you know where the shrine of Trojan Athena is? Polymestor Is the gold there? what is there to mark it? Hecuba A black rock rising above the ground. Polymestor Is there anything else you want to tell me about the place? Hecuba I wish to keep safe the treasure I brought from Troy . Polymestor Where can it be? inside your dress, or have you hidden it? Hecuba It is safe among a heap of spoils within these tents. Polymestor Where? This is the station built by the Achaeans to surround their fleet. Hecuba The captive women have huts of their own. Polymestor It is safe to enter? are there no men about? Hecuba There are no Achaeans within; we women are alone. Enter then the tent, for the Argives are eager to set sail from Troy for home; and, when you have accomplished all that you must do, you shall return with your children to the place where you have lodged my son. Hecuba leads Polymestor and his children into the tent. Chorus Not yet have you paid the penalty, but perhaps you will. Chorus Like one who slips and falls into the surge with no haven near, so shall you lose your own life for the life you have taken. For where liability to justice coincides with heaven’s law; there is ruin full of death and doom. Your hopes of this journey shall cheat you, for it has led you, unhappy wretch! to the halls of death; and to no warrior’s hand shall you resign your life. Polymestor within the tent O horror! I am blinded of the light of my eyes, ah me! Chorus Leader Did you hear, friends, that Thracian’s cry of woe? Polymestor within O horror! horror! my children! 0 the cruel blow. Chorus Leader Friends, there is strange mischief afoot in yo. Polymestor within No, you shall never escape for all your hurried flight; for with a blow I will burst open the inmost recesses of this building.