Hecuba: A wretched physician, having the name but not the deeds; and your father among the dead will care for the rest.
Chorus: Strike, strike your head, giving rapid beats of the hand, alas, alas for me!
§1238ὦ φίλταται γυναῖκες
Hecuba: O dearest women!
§1239Ἑκάβη, σὰς ἔνεπε· τίνα θροεῖς αὐδάν;
Chorus: Hecuba, speak your mind; what cry do you utter?
§1240οὐκ ἦν ἄρʼ ἐν θεοῖσι πλὴν οὑμοὶ πόνοι §1241Τροία τε πόλεων ἔκκριτον μισουμένη, §1242μάτην δʼ ἐβουθυτοῦμεν.
Hecuba: There was nothing indeed among the gods except my troubles and Troy, hated pre-eminently among cities, and in vain we sacrificed bulls.
εἰ δὲ μὴ θεὸς §1243ἔστρεψε τἄνω περιβαλὼν κάτω χθονός, §1244ἀφανεῖς ἂν ὄντες οὐκ ἂν ὑμνήθημεν ἂν §1245μούσαις ἀοιδὰς δόντες ὑστέρων βροτῶν.
But if a god had not turned things upside down, casting them beneath the earth, we, being obscure, would not have been sung of, giving themes of song to the Muses of future mortals.
Go, bury the corpse in his wretched tomb; for he has such wreaths of the underworld as are fitting.
§1248δοκῶ δὲ τοῖς θανοῦσι διαφέρειν βραχύ, §1249εἰ πλουσίων τις τεύξεται κτερισμάτων· §1250κενὸν δὲ γαύρωμʼ ἐστὶ τῶν ζώντων τόδε.
And I think it matters little to the dead if one obtains rich burial gifts; for this is but a vain boast of the living.
§1251ἰὼ ἰώ·
Chorus: Alas, alas!
§1251aμελέα μήτηρ, ἣ τὰς μεγάλας
O wretched mother, who...
§1252ἐλπίδας ἐν σοὶ κατέκναψε βίου.
shattered the great hopes of her life in you.
Though greatly blessed as being born from noble fathers, you have perished by a terrible death.
§1256ἔα ἔα·
Ah, ah!
Whom do I see on these heights of Ilium, waving flaming hands with firebrands?
μέλλει Τροίᾳ §1259καινόν τι κακὸν προσέσεσθαι.
A new evil is about to come upon Troy.
§1260αὐδῶ λοχαγοῖς, οἳ τέταχθʼ ἐμπιμπράναι §1261Πριάμου τόδʼ ἄστυ, μηκέτʼ ἀργοῦσαν φλόγα §1262ἐν χειρὶ σῴζειν, ἀλλὰ πῦρ ἐνιέναι, §1263ὡς ἂν κατασκάψαντες Ἰλίου πόλιν §1264στελλώμεθʼ οἴκαδʼ ἄσμενοι Τροίας ἄπο.
Talthybius: I speak to the captains who are appointed to burn this city of Priam, no longer to keep the idle flame in your hands, but to cast fire, so that, having razed the city of Ilium, we may gladly set out homeward from Troy.
§1265ὑμεῖς δʼ, ἵνʼ αὑτὸς λόγος ἔχῃ μορφὰς δύο, §1266χωρεῖτε, Τρώων παῖδες, ὀρθίαν ὅταν §1267σάλπιγγος ἠχὼ δῶσιν ἀρχηγοὶ στρατοῦ, §1268πρὸς ναῦς Ἀχαιῶν, ὡς ἀποστέλλησθε γῆς.
And you, so that the selfsame speech may have two forms, go, daughters of Troy, when the commanders of the army sound the shrill blast of the trumpet, toward the ships of the Achaeans, so that you may depart from the land.
μεθήκουσίν σʼ Ὀδυσσέως πάρα §1271οἵδʼ, ᾧ σε δούλην κλῆρος ἐκπέμπει πάτρας.
These men have come to fetch you from Odysseus, to whom the lot sends you as a slave away from your fatherland.
§1272οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινα·
Hecuba: Alas, wretched me!
τοῦτο δὴ τὸ λοίσθιον §1273καὶ τέρμα πάντων τῶν ἐμῶν ἤδη κακῶν· §1274ἔξειμι πατρίδος, πόλις ὑφάπτεται πυρί.
This indeed is the last and the limit of all my woes now; I depart from my fatherland; the city is set on fire.
But, O aged foot, hasten, though with difficulty, so that I may bid farewell to this wretched city.
O Troy, that once breathed great things among barbarians, soon you will be stripped of your glorious name.
They are burning you, and leading us away already from the land as slaves.
ἰὼ θεοί.
O gods!
καὶ τί τοὺς θεοὺς καλῶ;
And why do I call upon the gods?
§1281καὶ πρὶν γὰρ οὐκ ἤκουσαν ἀνακαλούμενοι.
For even before they did not hear when called upon.
Come, let us run into the fire; for it is most glorious for me to die along with this burning fatherland.
§1284ἐνθουσιᾷς, δύστηνε, τοῖς σαυτῆς κακοῖς.
Talthybius: You are maddened, wretched woman, by your own misfortunes.
But lead her away, do not spare her; for we must deliver her into his hand and send her as his prize.
§1287ὀττοτοτοτοτοῖ.
Hecuba: Ottototototoi!
§1288Κρόνιε, πρύτανι Φρύγιε, γενέτα §1289πάτερ, ἀνάξια τᾶς Δαρδάνου §1290γονᾶς τάδʼ οἷα πάσχομεν δέδορκας;
Son of Cronus, Phrygian ruler, fatherly progenitor, do you see these things, how unworthy of Dardanus' race are these things we suffer?
Chorus: He sees, but the great city, destroyed, is no longer a city; Troy exists no more.
§1294ὀττοτοτοτοτοῖ.
Hecuba: Ottototototoi!
Ilium shines, and the chambers of Pergamus are consumed with fire, both the city and the heights of the walls.
And like some smoke with heavenly wing, the land, falling by the spear, is destroyed.
The raging halls are overrun with fire, and with the hostile spear.
§1302ἰὼ γᾶ τρόφιμε τῶν ἐμῶν τέκνων.
Hecuba: O earth, nourisher of my children!
§1303ἓ ἕ.
Chorus: Ah, ah!
§1303aὦ τέκνα, κλύετε, μάθετε ματρὸς αὐδάν.
Hecuba: O children, hear, recognize your mother's voice.
§1304ἰαλέμῳ τοὺς θανόντας ἀπύεις.
Chorus: You call upon the dead with a lament.
Hecuba: Indeed, placing my aged limbs upon the ground, and beating the earth with both hands.
Chorus: In succession to you, I place my knee on the ground, calling my wretched husband from below.
§1310ἀγόμεθα φερόμεθʼ
Hecuba: We are led away, we are carried off!
§1310bἄλγος ἄλγος βοᾷς.
Chorus: You cry out pain, pain!
§1311δούλειον ὑπὸ μέλαθρον.
Hecuba: Under a slave's roof.
§1311bἐκ πάτρας γʼ ἐμᾶς.
Chorus: Away from my fatherland.
§1312ἰώ.
Alas!
Hecuba: Priam, Priam, you indeed, having perished, unburied, friendless, are ignorant of our ruin.
For dark death has covered your eyes, pious death through impious slaughter.
§1318τὰν φόνιον ἔχετε φλόγα δορός τε λόγχαν.
you hold the murderous flame and the spear of war.
§1319τάχʼ ἐς φίλαν γᾶν πεσεῖσθʼ ἀνώνυμοι.
Soon you will fall anonymous into the dear land.
And dust, like smoke with a wing to the ether, will make my home invisible to me.
And the name of the land will pass into obscurity; and in different ways different things are gone; and no longer is wretched Troy.
§1325ἐμάθετʼ, ἐκλύετε;
Hecuba: Did you perceive? Did you hear?
§1325bΠεργάμων γε κτύπον.
Chorus: The crash of Pergamus, indeed.
Hecuba: A shaking, a total shaking will submerge the entire city.
§1327ἰώ·
Alas!
O trembling limbs, bear my steps; go forward, wretched one, to the day of a life of slavery.
§1331ἰὼ τάλαινα πόλις·
Chorus: Alas, wretched city!
ὅμως δὲ §1332πρόφερε πόδα σὸν ἐπὶ πλάτας Ἀχαιῶν.
But nevertheless, move your foot forward toward the oars of the Achaeans.