§875τὰ δʼ ἄλλα — θάρσει — πάντʼ ἐγὼ θήσω καλῶς.
Hecuba: As for the rest — be of good courage — I will arrange everything well.
§876πῶς οὖν;
Agamemnon: How then?
τί δράσεις;
What will you do?
Will you, taking a sword in your old hand, kill the barbarian man, or by poisons, or by some help?
§879τίς σοι ξυνέσται χείρ;
Who will be a hand to stand with you?
πόθεν κτήσῃ φίλους;
Whence will you get friends?
§880στέγαι κεκεύθασʼ αἵδε Τρῳάδων ὄχλον.
Hecuba: These tents hide a crowd of Trojan women.
§881τὰς αἰχμαλώτους εἶπας, Ἑλλήνων ἄγραν;
Agamemnon: Do you mean the captives, the prey of the Greeks?
§882σὺν ταῖσδε τὸν ἐμὸν φονέα τιμωρήσομαι.
Hecuba: With these women I will take vengeance on my murderer.
§883καὶ πῶς γυναιξὶν ἀρσένων ἔσται κράτος;
Agamemnon: And how shall there be mastery for women over men?
§884δεινὸν τὸ πλῆθος σὺν δόλῳ τε δύσμαχον.
Hecuba: A crowd is a terrible thing, and with guile, hard to fight.
§885δεινόν· τὸ μέντοι θῆλυ μέμφομαι γένος.
Agamemnon: Terrible indeed; yet I find fault with the female race.
§886τί δʼ;
Hecuba: What?
οὐ γυναῖκες εἷλον Αἰγύπτου τέκνα §887καὶ Λῆμνον ἄρδην ἀρσένων ἐξῴκισαν;
Did not women destroy the children of Aegyptus, and utterly depopulate Lemnos of males?
§888ἀλλʼ ὣς γενέσθω· τόνδε μὲν μέθες λόγον, §889πέμψον δέ μοι τήνδʼ ἀσφαλῶς διὰ στρατοῦ §890γυναῖκα.
But let it be so; dismiss this talk, and send this woman safely through the army for me.
— καὶ σὺ Θρῃκὶ πλαθεῖσα ξένῳ §891λέξον· Καλεῖ σʼ ἄνασσα δή ποτʼ Ἰλίου §892Ἑκάβη, σὸν οὐκ ἔλασσον ἢ κείνης χρέος, §893καὶ παῖδας· ὡς δεῖ καὶ τέκνʼ εἰδέναι λόγους §894τοὺς ἐξ ἐκείνης. — τὸν δὲ τῆς νεοσφαγοῦς §895Πολυξένης ἐπίσχες, Ἀγάμεμνον, τάφον, §896ὡς τώδʼ ἀδελφὼ πλησίον μιᾷ φλογί, §897δισσὴ μέριμνα μητρί, κρυφθῆτον χθονί.
And you, coming near to our Thracian guest, say: "Hecuba, once queen of Ilium, calls you, for your sake no less than her own, and your children; for your children too must know the words from her." And you, Agamemnon, delay the burial of the newly slain Polyxena, so that these two siblings, close to each other, in a single flame, a double care to their mother, may be buried in the earth.
§898ἔσται τάδʼ οὕτω· καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὲν ἦν στρατῷ §899πλοῦς, οὐκ ἂν εἶχον τήνδε σοι δοῦναι χάριν· §900νῦν δʼ, οὐ γὰρ ἵησʼ οὐρίους πνοὰς θεός, §901μένειν ἀνάγκη πλοῦν ὁρῶντʼ ἐς ἥσυχον.
Agamemnon: It shall be so; for indeed if there were a voyage for the army, I would not have been able to grant you this favor; but now, for the god does not send favorable winds, it is necessary to wait, looking towards a calm voyage.
§902γένοιτο δʼ εὖ πως· πᾶσι γὰρ κοινὸν τόδε, §903ἰδίᾳ θʼ ἑκάστῳ καὶ πόλει, τὸν μὲν κακὸν §904κακόν τι πάσχειν, τὸν δὲ χρηστὸν εὐτυχεῖν.
May it turn out well; for this is common to all, both to each individually and to the city, that the bad man suffers some evil, and the good man prospers.
§905σὺ μέν, ὦ πατρὶς Ἰλιάς, §906τῶν ἀπορθήτων πόλις οὐκέτι λέξῃ· §907τοῖον Ἑλλάνων νέφος ἀμφί σε κρύπτει §909δορὶ δὴ δορὶ πέρσαν.
Chorus: You indeed, my Trojan fatherland, will no longer be called one of the unravaged cities; such a cloud of Greeks covers you, destroying you with the spear, indeed with the spear.
§910ἀπὸ δὲ στεφάναν κέκαρ- §911σαι πύργων, κατὰ δʼ αἰθάλου §912κηλῖδʼ οἰκτροτάταν κέχρω- §913σαι· τάλαινʼ, §913bοὐκέτι σʼ ἐμβατεύσω.
You have been shorn of your crown of towers, and you have been stained with the most piteous smudge of soot; wretched me, I shall no longer tread upon you.
§914μεσονύκτιος ὠλλύμαν, §915ἦμος ἐκ δείπνων ὕπνος ἡδὺς ἐπʼ ὄσσοις §916σκίδναται, μολπᾶν δʼ ἄπο καὶ χοροποιῶν §918θυσιᾶν καταλύσας §919πόσις ἐν θαλάμοις ἔκει- §920το, ξυστὸν δʼ ἐπὶ πασσάλῳ, §921ναύταν οὐκέθʼ ὁρῶν ὅμι- §922λον Τροίαν §922bἸλιάδʼ ἐμβεβῶτα.
At midnight I was destroyed, when after feasts sweet sleep is scattered over the eyes, and ceasing from songs and choral sacrifices, my husband lay in the bedchambers, his spear on the peg, no longer seeing the sailor crowd having trodden upon Trojan Ilium.
§923ἐγὼ δὲ πλόκαμον ἀναδέτοις §924μίτραισιν ἐρρυθμιζόμαν §925χρυσέων ἐνόπτρων λεύσ- §926σουσʼ ἀτέρμονας εἰς αὐγάς, §927ἐπιδέμνιος ὡς πέσοιμʼ ἐς εὐνάν.
And I was arranging my hair in bound tresses with headbands, looking into the endless rays of a golden mirror, so that I might fall upon the bedcoverings into bed.
§928ἀνὰ δὲ κέλαδος ἔμολε πόλιν· §929κέλευσμα δʼ ἦν κατʼ ἄστυ Τροί- §930ας τόδʼ· Ὦ §930aπαῖδες Ἑλλάνων, πότε δὴ πότε τὰν §931Ἰλιάδα σκοπιὰν §932πέρσαντες ἥξετʼ οἴκους; §933λέχη δὲ φίλια μονόπεπλος §934λιποῦσα, Δωρὶς ὡς κόρα, §935σεμνὰν προσίζουσʼ οὐκ §936ἤνυσʼ Ἄρτεμιν ἁ τλάμων· §937ἄγομαι δὲ θανόντʼ ἰδοῦσʼ ἀκοίταν §938τὸν ἐμὸν ἅλιον ἐπὶ πέλαγος, §939πόλιν τʼ ἀποσκοποῦσʼ, ἐπεὶ §940νόστιμον §940aναῦς ἐκίνησεν πόδα καί μʼ ἀπὸ γᾶς §941ὥρισεν Ἰλιάδος· §942τάλαινʼ, ἀπεῖπον ἄλγει, §943τὰν τοῖν Διοσκούροιν Ἑλέναν κάσιν §944Ἰδαῖόν τε βούταν §945αἰνόπαριν κατάρᾳ §946διδοῦσʼ, ἐπεί με γᾶς ἐκ §947πατρῴας ἀπώλεσεν §948ἐξῴκισέν τʼ οἴκων γάμος, οὐ γάμος ἀλλʼ ἀ- §949λάστορός τις οἰζύς· §950ἃν μήτε πέλαγος ἅλιον ἀπαγάγοι πάλιν, §951μήτε πα- §952τρῷον ἵκοιτʼ ἐς οἶκον.
But a clamor went through the city, and this was the command through the town of Troy: "O children of the Greeks, when indeed, when, having destroyed the Iliad watchtower, will you come to your homes?" Leaving my dear bed in a single robe, like a Dorian girl, crouching near the sacred Artemis, I did not achieve success, wretched me; and I am led away, having seen my husband dead, to the salty sea, looking back at the city, when the ship moved its return foot and separated me from the Trojan land; wretched me, I fainted with grief, cursing Helen, the sister of the Dioscuri, and the Idaean shepherd evil-Paris, since their marriage, which was no marriage but some fury's curse, destroyed me from my fatherland and exiled me from my home; may the salty sea never bring her back, nor may she reach her father's house.
§953ὦ φίλτατʼ ἀνδρῶν Πρίαμε, φιλτάτη δὲ σύ, §954Ἑκάβη, δακρύω σʼ εἰσορῶν πόλιν τε σὴν §955τήν τʼ ἀρτίως θανοῦσαν ἔκγονον σέθεν.
Polymestor: O Priam, dearest of men, and you, dearest Hecuba, I weep looking at you and your city, and your daughter recently dead.
Alas; there is nothing trustworthy, neither good reputation, nor indeed that he who fares well will not fare badly.
§958φύρουσι δʼ αὐτοὶ θεοὶ πάλιν τε καὶ πρόσω §959ταραγμὸν ἐντιθέντες, ὡς ἀγνωσίᾳ §960σέβωμεν αὐτούς.
The gods themselves confuse things, turning them back and forth, putting disorder in, so that through ignorance we may worship them.
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν τί δεῖ §961θρηνεῖν, προκόπτοντʼ οὐδὲν ἐς πρόσθεν κακῶν;
But why must we lament these things, making no progress ahead of evils?
§962σὺ δʼ, εἴ τι μέμφῃ τῆς ἐμῆς ἀπουσίας, §963σχές· τυγχάνω γὰρ ἐν μέσοις Θρῄκης ὅροις §964ἀπών, ὅτʼ ἦλθες δεῦρʼ· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἀφικόμην, §965ἤδη πόδʼ ἔξω δωμάτων αἴροντί μοι §966ἐς ταὐτὸν ἥδε συμπίτνει δμωὶς σέθεν
But you, if you find any fault with my absence, hold back; for I happened to be away in the middle of the borders of Thrace when you came here; but since I arrived, as I was already lifting my foot out of the house, this handmaid of yours met me at the same place.