§1147ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν, ὅταν σὺ κοσμήσῃς νέκυν, §1148γῆν τῷδʼ ἐπαμπισχόντες ἀροῦμεν δόρυ· §1149σὺ δʼ ὡς τάχιστα πρᾶσσε τἀπεσταλμένα.
Talthybius: We, then, when you have adorned the corpse, having covered him with earth, will raise our spears (i.e. set sail); but do you perform what has been commanded as quickly as possible.
§1150ἑνὸς μὲν οὖν μόχθου σʼ ἀπαλλάξας ἔχω· §1151Σκαμανδρίους γὰρ τάσδε διαπερῶν ῥοὰς §1152ἔλουσα νεκρὸν κἀπένιψα τραύματα.
Indeed, I have freed you from one labor; for crossing these streams of Scamander, I washed the corpse and cleansed his wounds.
§1153ἀλλʼ εἶμʼ ὀρυκτὸν τῷδʼ ἀναρρήξων τάφον, §1154ὡς σύντομʼ ἡμῖν τἀπʼ ἐμοῦ τε κἀπὸ σοῦ §1155ἐς ἓν ξυνελθόντʼ οἴκαδʼ ὁρμήσῃ πλάτην.
But I will go to dig an excavated grave for him, so that our tasks, mine and yours, coming together into one in brief, may set the oar in motion homeward.
Hecuba: Place Hector's rounded shield upon the ground, a painful sight and one not pleasing for me to look upon.
§1158ὦ μείζονʼ ὄγκον δορὸς ἔχοντες ἢ φρενῶν, §1159τί τόνδʼ, Ἀχαιοί, παῖδα δείσαντες φόνον §1160καινὸν διειργάσασθε;
O you who possess a greater pride of the spear than of wisdom, why, Achaeans, fearing this child, have you wrought this strange murder?
μὴ Τροίαν ποτὲ §1161πεσοῦσαν ὀρθώσειεν;
Was it lest he might one day raise up fallen Troy?
οὐδὲν ἦτʼ ἄρα, §1162ὅθʼ Ἕκτορος μὲν εὐτυχοῦντος ἐς δόρυ §1163διωλλύμεσθα μυρίας τʼ ἄλλης χερός, §1164πόλεως δʼ ἁλούσης καὶ Φρυγῶν ἐφθαρμένων §1165βρέφος τοσόνδʼ ἐδείσατʼ·
Then you were nothing indeed, when, while Hector was successful in spear and we perished with ten thousand other hands, and yet, now that the city is taken and the Phrygians destroyed, you feared such a babe!
οὐκ αἰνῶ φόβον, §1166ὅστις φοβεῖται μὴ διεξελθὼν λόγῳ.
I do not praise a fear which fears without examining by reason.
§1167ὦ φίλταθʼ, ὥς σοι θάνατος ἦλθε δυστυχής.
O dearest child, how unhappily death came to you.
§1168εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἔθανες πρὸ πόλεως, ἥβης τυχὼν §1169γάμων τε καὶ τῆς ἰσοθέου τυραννίδος, §1170μακάριος ἦσθʼ ἄν, εἴ τι τῶνδε μακάριον· §1171νῦν δʼ αὔτʼ ἰδὼν μὲν γνούς τε σῇ ψυχῇ, τέκνον, §1172οὐκ οἶσθʼ, ἐχρήσω δʼ οὐδὲν ἐν δόμοις ἔχων.
For if you had died on behalf of the city, having attained youth, and marriage, and godlike kingship, you would have been blessed, if any of these things is blessed; but now, though you saw them and recognized them in your soul, my child, you do not know them, and you enjoyed none of them though having them in your home.
§1173δύστηνε, κρατὸς ὥς σʼ ἔκειρεν ἀθλίως §1174τείχη πατρῷα, Λοξίου πυργώματα, §1175ὃν πόλλʼ ἐκήπευσʼ ἡ τεκοῦσα βόστρυχον §1176φιλήμασίν τʼ ἔδωκεν, ἔνθεν ἐκγελᾷ §1177ὀστέων ῥαγέντων φόνος, ἵνʼ αἰσχρὰ μὴ λέγω.
Wretched child, how miserably your ancestral walls, the towers of Loxias, sheared your head, whose curls your mother so often tended like a garden and gave kisses to, from which now, from the broken bones, the blood laughs out—not to speak of shameful things.
O hands, how sweet a resemblance to your father you possess, yet you lie before me loose at the joints.
§1180ὦ πολλὰ κόμπους ἐκβαλὸν φίλον στόμα, §1181ὄλωλας, ἐψεύσω μʼ, ὅτʼ ἐσπίπτων πέπλους, §1182Ὦ μῆτερ, ηὔδας, ἦ πολύν σοι βοστρύχων §1183πλόκαμον κεροῦμαι, πρὸς τάφον θʼ ὁμηλίκων §1184κώμους ἀπάξω, φίλα διδοὺς προσφθέγματα. §1185σὺ δʼ οὐκ ἔμʼ, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ σὲ τὸν νεώτερον, §1186γραῦς ἄπολις ἄτεκνος, ἄθλιον θάπτω νεκρόν.
O dear mouth, which used to utter so many boasts, you are dead, and you deceived me, when, falling upon my robes, you would say: 'O mother,' you cried, 'surely I will cut off a thick lock of my hair for you, and to your tomb I will lead companies of my peers, giving you loving greetings.' But you do not bury me, but I bury you, the younger one, I, an old woman without a city, childless, burying a wretched corpse.
Alas, those many embraces and my nurture of you and those sleeps are gone from me.
τί καί ποτε §1189γράψειεν ἄν σε μουσοποιὸς ἐν τάφῳ;
And what, indeed, would a poet write for you upon your tomb?
'This child the Argives once killed because they feared him'?—an inscription shameful indeed for Greece.
But yet, though you did not obtain your father's inheritance, you will nevertheless have the bronze-backed shield of willow in which you will be buried.
O you (shield) who used to preserve the beautiful arm of Hector, you have lost your best guardian.
§1196ὡς ἡδὺς ἐν πόρπακι σῷ κεῖται τύπος §1197ἴτυός τʼ ἐν εὐτόρνοισι περιδρόμοις ἱδρώς, §1198ὃν ἐκ μετώπου πολλάκις πόνους ἔχων §1199ἔσταζεν Ἕκτωρ προστιθεὶς γενειάδι.
How sweet is the imprint that lies upon your handle, and the sweat upon the well-turned rims of your border, which Hector, often in the midst of labors, would drip from his forehead as he pressed you against his chin.
§1200φέρετε, κομίζετʼ ἀθλίῳ κόσμον νεκρῷ §1201ἐκ τῶν παρόντων· οὐ γὰρ ἐς κάλλος τύχας §1202δαίμων δίδωσιν· ὧν δʼ ἔχω, λήψῃ τάδε.
Bring, fetch adornment for the wretched corpse from what we have; for the divinity does not grant us fortunes leading to splendor; but of what I have, you shall receive these.
§1203θνητῶν δὲ μῶρος ὅστις εὖ πράσσειν δοκῶν §1204βέβαια χαίρει· τοῖς τρόποις γὰρ αἱ τύχαι, §1205ἔμπληκτος ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλοσε §1206πηδῶσι, κοὐδεὶς αὐτὸς εὐτυχεῖ ποτε.
And foolish is that mortal who, thinking himself to be doing well, rejoices as if his fortune were secure; for fortunes, like a madman, leap now here, now there, and no one is ever continuously happy.
Chorus: And look, here they bring for you from the Phrygian spoils adornments to fasten upon the corpse.
§1209ὦ τέκνον, οὐχ ἵπποισι νικήσαντά σε §1210οὐδʼ ἥλικας τόξοισιν, οὓς Φρύγες νόμους §1211τιμῶσιν, οὐκ ἐς πλησμονὰς θηρωμένη, §1212μήτηρ πατρός σοι προστίθησʼ ἀγάλματα §1213τῶν σῶν ποτʼ ὄντων· νῦν δέ σʼ ἡ θεοστυγὴς §1214ἀφείλεθʼ Ἑλένη, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ψυχὴν σέθεν §1215ἔκτεινε καὶ πάντʼ οἶκον ἐξαπώλεσεν.
Hecuba: O child, not because you conquered in chariot-racing nor because you surpassed your peers in archery—customs which the Phrygians honor—nor hunting to excess, does your father's mother place upon you these adornments from what once was yours; but now the god-detested Helen has robbed you, and moreover has slain your soul and utterly destroyed your entire house.
§1216ἒ ἔ, φρενῶν
Chorus: Ah, ah!
§1217ἔθιγες ἔθιγες·
You have touched, you have touched our hearts!
ὦ μέγας ἐμοί ποτʼ ἂν §1217aἀνάκτωρ πόλεως.
O you who would have been for me one day a great ruler of our city.
§1218ἃ δʼ ἐν γάμοισι χρῆν σε προσθέσθαι χροῒ §1219Ἀσιατίδων γήμαντα τὴν ὑπερτάτην, §1220Φρύγια πέπλων ἀγάλματʼ ἐξάπτω χροός.
Hecuba: And those Phrygian adornments of robes which you ought to have put upon your body at your wedding, having married the noblest of Asian brides, I now fasten upon your flesh.
§1221σύ τʼ, ὦ ποτʼ οὖσα καλλίνικε, μυρίων §1222μῆτερ τροπαίων, Ἕκτορος φίλον σάκος, §1223στεφανοῦ· θανῇ γὰρ οὐ θανοῦσα σὺν νεκρῷ· §1224ἐπεὶ σὲ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ τοῦ σοφοῦ §1225κακοῦ τʼ Ὀδυσσέως ἄξιον τιμᾶν ὅπλα.
And you, O once gloriously victorious, mother of ten thousand trophies, dear shield of Hector, receive your crown; for you will be laid in the grave, yet not die, with the dead child; since it is much more worthy to honor you than the arms of the clever and evil Odysseus.
§1226αἰαῖ αἰαῖ·
Chorus: Alas, alas!
πικρὸν ὄδυρμα
A bitter lamentation.
§1228γαῖά σʼ ὦ τέκνον δέξεται.
The earth, O child, will receive you.
§1229στέναζε, μᾶτερ,
Groan, O mother.
§1229bαἰαῖ.
Hecuba: Alas.
§1230νεκρῶν ἴακχον.
Chorus: A song for the dead.
§1230bοἴμοι.
Hecuba: Alas!
§1231οἴμοι δῆτα σῶν ἀλάστων κακῶν.
Chorus: Alas indeed for your unforgettable woes.
§1232τελαμῶσιν ἕλκη τὰ μὲν ἐγώ σʼ ἰάσομαι,
Hecuba: With bandages I indeed will heal some of your wounds,