§615κόσμον τʼ ἀγείρασʼ αἰχμαλωτίδων πάρα, §616αἵ μοι πάρεδροι τῶνδʼ ἔσω σκηνωμάτων §617ναίουσιν, εἴ τις τοὺς νεωστὶ δεσπότας §618λαθοῦσʼ ἔχει τι κλέμμα τῶν αὑτῆς δόμων.
And collect ornaments from the captive women, who dwell near me, inside these tents, if any of them, escaping the notice of our recent masters, has any stolen thing from her own home.
§619ὦ σχήματʼ οἴκων, ὦ ποτʼ εὐτυχεῖς δόμοι, §620ὦ πλεῖστʼ ἔχων κάλλιστά τʼ, εὐτεκνώτατε §621Πρίαμε, γεραιά θʼ ἥδʼ ἐγὼ μήτηρ τέκνων, §622ὡς ἐς τὸ μηδὲν ἥκομεν, φρονήματος §623τοῦ πρὶν στερέντες.
Oh form of my house, oh home once happy, oh Priam, who once possessed the most and most beautiful things, most blessed in children, and I, this aged mother of children, how we have come to nothing, stripped of our former pride.
εἶτα δῆτʼ ὀγκούμεθα, §624ὃ μέν τις ἡμῶν πλουσίοις ἐν δώμασιν, §625ὃ δʼ ἐν πολίταις τίμιος κεκλημένος.
And then indeed do we puff ourselves up, one because he lives in a rich house, another because he is called honorable among the citizens?
These things are nothing otherwise than the plans of thoughts and the boasts of the tongue.
κεῖνος ὀλβιώτατος, §628ὅτῳ κατʼ ἦμαρ τυγχάνει μηδὲν κακόν.
Most blessed is he to whom from day to day no evil happens.
§629ἐμοὶ χρῆν συμφοράν, §630ἐμοὶ χρῆν πημονὰν γενέσθαι, §631Ἰδαίαν ὅτε πρῶτον ὕλαν §632Ἀλέξανδρος εἰλατίναν §633ἐτάμεθʼ, ἅλιον ἐπʼ οἶδμα ναυστολήσων §635Ἑλένας ἐπὶ λέκτρα, τὰν §636καλλίσταν ὁ χρυσοφαὴς §637Ἅλιος αὐγάζει.
For me it was destined that calamity, for me it was destined that suffering should happen, when first the Idaean forest Alexander cut down, the fir-wood, to sail over the salty wave of the sea, to the bed of Helen, whom the gold-shining Sun illumines as the most beautiful.
§639πόνοι γὰρ καὶ πόνων §640ἀνάγκαι κρείσσονες κυκλοῦνται §641κοινὸν δʼ ἐξ ἰδίας ἀνοίας §642κακὸν τᾷ Σιμουντίδι γᾷ §643ὀλέθριον ἔμολε συμφορά τʼ ἀπʼ ἄλλων.
For labors and the stronger necessities of labors surround us, and from a single man's folly, a common ruinous evil came to the land of Simois, and calamity came from others.
§644ἐκρίθη δʼ ἔρις, ἃν ἐν Ἴ- §645δᾳ κρίνει τρισσὰς μακάρων §646παῖδας ἀνὴρ βούτας, §648ἐπὶ δορὶ καὶ φόνῳ καὶ ἐμῶν μελάθρων λώβᾳ·
And the strife was judged, which on Ida a herdsman man judged among the three daughters of the blessed ones, bringing the spear, and slaughter, and the ruin of my halls.
§650στένει δὲ καί τις ἀμφὶ τὸν εὔροον Εὐρώταν §651Λάκαινα πολυδάκρυτος ἐν δόμοις κόρα, §653πολιάν τʼ ἐπὶ κρᾶτα μάτηρ §654τέκνων θανόντων §655τίθεται χέρα δρύπτεται παρειάν, §656δίαιμον ὄνυχα τιθεμένα σπαραγμοῖς.
And some Laconian maiden, shedding many tears, also groans in her house by the fair-flowing Eurotas, and a mother, for her dead children, placing her hand upon her gray head, tears her cheek, making her nail bloody with her tearings.
Women, where is Hecuba, the all-miserable, who surpasses every man and female race in evils?
οὐδεὶς στέφανον ἀνθαιρήσεται.
No one shall snatch away the crown from her.
§661τί δʼ, ὦ τάλαινα σῆς κακογλώσσου βοῆς;
Why, oh wretched one, do you make this ill-omened cry?
§662ὡς οὔποθʼ εὕδει λυπρά σου κηρύγματα.
For your painful announcements never seem to sleep.
I bring this grief to Hecuba; and in evils it is not easy for mortals to speak well-omened words.
And indeed she happens to be coming out of the tents, and she appears in good time for your words.
§667ὦ παντάλαινα κἄτι μᾶλλον ἢ λέγω, §668δέσποινʼ, ὄλωλας κοὐκέτʼ εἶ, βλέπουσα φῶς, §669ἄπαις ἄνανδρος ἄπολις ἐξεφθαρμένη.
Oh all-miserable and even more than I can say, mistress, you are ruined and no longer exist, though looking upon the light, childless, husbandless, cityless, utterly destroyed.
§670οὐ καινὸν εἶπας, εἰδόσιν δʼ ὠνείδισας.
You have said nothing new, but reproached those who already know.
§671ἀτὰρ τί νεκρὸν τόνδε μοι Πολυξένης §672ἥκεις κομίζουσʼ, ἧς ἀπηγγέλθη τάφος §673πάντων Ἀχαιῶν διὰ χερὸς σπουδὴν ἔχειν;
But why do you come bringing this corpse of Polyxena to me, whose burial was reported to be held in haste by the hands of all the Achaeans?
She knows nothing, but she laments for Polyxena to me, and does not touch upon the new sufferings.
§676οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινα·
Oh wretched me!
μῶν τὸ βακχεῖον κάρα §677τῆς θεσπιῳδοῦ δεῦρο Κασάνδρας φέρεις;
Are you bringing here the Bacchic head of the prophetic Cassandra?
§678ζῶσαν λέλακας, τὸν θανόντα δʼ οὐ στένεις §679τόνδʼ· ἀλλʼ ἄθρησον σῶμα γυμνωθὲν νεκροῦ, §680εἴ σοι φανεῖται θαῦμα καὶ παρʼ ἐλπίδας.
You speak of the living, but you do not lament for the dead this one; but behold the stripped body of the corpse, if it will appear to you a wonder and beyond expectation.
Alas, indeed I see my dead child, Polydorus, whom the Thracian man was keeping safe for me in his house.
§683ἀπωλόμην δύστηνος, οὐκέτʼ εἰμὶ δή.
I am ruined, wretched one, I no longer exist indeed.
Oh child, child, alas, I begin my wailings, the Bacchic song from the avenging spirit, which I have newly learned.
§688ἔγνως γὰρ ἄτην παιδός, ὦ δύστηνε σύ;
Did you then recognize the ruin of your child, oh wretched one?
§689ἄπιστʼ ἄπιστα, καινὰ καινὰ δέρκομαι.
Unbelievable, unbelievable, new, new things I behold.
Other evils happen after other evils; and never will a day without groans and without tears hold me back.
§693δείνʼ, ὦ τάλαινα, δεινὰ πάσχομεν κακά.
Terrible, oh wretched one, terrible evils we suffer.
Oh child, child of a wretched mother, by what fate did you die, in what doom do you lie?
§697πρὸς τίνος ἀνθρώπων;
By which of men?
§698οὐκ οἶδʼ· ἐπʼ ἀκταῖς νιν κυρῶ θαλασσίαις §699ἔκβλητον, ἢ πέσημα φοινίου δορός, §700ἐν ψαμάθῳ λευρᾷ;
I do not know; I found him on the sea shores, cast out, or the fall of a bloody spear, on the smooth sand.
§701πόντου νιν ἐξήνεγκε πελάγιος κλύδων.
The sea wave of the deep cast him out.
§702ὤμοι, αἰαῖ, ἔμαθον ἔνυπνον ὀμμάτων §704ἐμῶν ὄψιν· οὔ με παρέβα §705φάσμα μελανόπτερον, τὰν ἐσεῖδον ἀμφὶ σέ, §706ὦ τέκνον, οὐκέτʼ ὄντα Διὸς ἐν φάει.
Alas, alas, I understood the dream vision of my eyes; it did not pass me by, the black-winged phantom, which I saw concerning you, oh child, who are no longer in the light of Zeus.
§709τίς γάρ νιν ἔκτεινʼ;
For who killed him?
οἶσθʼ ὀνειρόφρων φράσαι;
Do you know, as a interpreter of dreams, to tell?
My, my guest-friend, the Thracian horseman, where his old father had placed him, hiding him.
§713οἴμοι, τί λέξεις;
Alas, what will you say?
χρυσὸν ὡς ἔχοι κτανών;
Did he kill him to have the gold?
Unspeakable, unnamable, beyond wonders, unholy and intolerable.
ποῦ δίκα ξένων;
Where is the justice of guest-friends?