Stasimon 5
[Episode]
And first of Thrace in war; yea, far and near
MUSE.
Through thine own hills thy bloody chariot passed,
Thy battered helm flashed, and I had no fear;
Only to Troy I charged thee not to go:
I knew the fated end: but Hector’s cry,
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Borne overseas by embassies of woe,
Called thee to battle for thy friends and die.
And thou, Athena—nothing was the deed
Odysseus wrought this night nor Diomede—
’Tis thine, all thine; dream not thy cruel hand
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Is hid from me! Yet ever on thy land
The Muse hath smiled; we gave it praise above
All cities, yea, fulfilled it with our love.
The light of thy great Mysteries was shed
By Orpheus, very cousin of this dead
Whom thou hast slain; and thine high citizen
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Musaeus, wisest of the tribes of men,
We and Apollo guided all his way:
For which long love behold the gift ye pay!
I wreathe him in my arms; I wail his wrong
Alone, and ask no other mourner’s song.
LEADER.
Hector, thou hearest. We were guiltless here,P. 52, l. 950. These short speeches between Hector and the Leader of the Guard make a jarring note in the midst of the Muse’s lament. Perhaps it would not be so if we knew how the play was produced, but at present this seems like one of several marks of comparative crudity in technique which mark the play, amid all its daring and inventiveness.
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And falsely spake that Thracian charioteer.
HECTOR.
Always I knew it. Had we any need
Of seers to tell this was Odysseus’ deed?
For me, what could I else, when I beheld
The hosts of Argos camped upon this field,
What but with prayers and heralds bid my friend
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Come forth and fight for Ilion ere the end?
He owed me that.—Yet, now my friend is slain,
