No; your words will declare it.HecubaO you who are as dear to me as you now are, there are—PolymestorWhat is it that I and my children must learn?HecubaAncient vaults filled full of gold by Priam’s ancestors.PolymestorIs it this you would tell your son?HecubaCertainly, through you; for you are a righteous man.PolymestorWhat need then of these children’s presence?HecubaIt is better they should know it, in case of your death.PolymestorWell said; it is also the wiser way.HecubaThen do you know where the shrine of Trojan Athena is?PolymestorIs the gold there? what is there to mark it?HecubaA black rock rising above the ground.PolymestorIs there anything else you want to tell me about the place?HecubaI wish to keep safe the treasure I brought from Troy.PolymestorWhere can it be? inside your dress, or have you hidden it?HecubaIt is safe among a heap of spoils within these tents.PolymestorWhere? This is the station built by the Achaeans to surround their fleet.HecubaThe captive women have huts of their own.PolymestorIt is safe to enter? are there no men about?HecubaThere 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. ChorusNot yet have you paid the penalty, but perhaps you will.

ChorusLike 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.Polymestorwithin the tentO horror! I am blinded of the light of my eyes, ah me!Chorus LeaderDid you hear, friends, that Thracian’s cry of woe?PolymestorwithinO horror! horror! my children! 0 the cruel blow.Chorus LeaderFriends, there is strange mischief afoot in yo.PolymestorwithinNo, you shall never escape for all your hurried flight;for with a blow I will burst open the inmost recesses of this building.