Stasimon 4
Hecuba
Hearken, my children, hear your mother’s voice.
Chorus
You are calling on the dead with voice of lamentation.
Hecuba
Yes, as I stretch my aged limbs upon the ground, and beat upon the earth with both my hands.
1305
Chorus
I follow you and kneel, invoking from the nether world my hapless husband.
Hecuba
I am being dragged and hurried away—
1310
Chorus
The sorrow, the sorrow of that cry!
1310
Hecuba
To dwell beneath a master’s roof!
Chorus
From my own country!
Hecuba
Woe is me! O Priam, Priam, slain, unburied, left without a friend, nothing do you know of my cruel fate.
Chorus
No, for over his eyes black death has drawn his pall, a pure man slain by the impure.
1315
Hecuba
Woe for the temples of the gods and for our dear city!
Hecuba
Murderous flame and enemy spear are now your lot.
Chorus
Soon will you tumble to your own loved soil, and be forgotten.
Hecuba
And the dust, mounting to heaven on wings like smoke, will rob me of the sight of my home.
1320
Chorus
The name of my country wiII pass into obscurity; all is scattered far and wide, and hapless Troy has ceased to be.
Hecuba
Did you know, did you hear?
1325
Chorus
Yes, it was the crash of the citadel.
1325
Hecuba
The shock, the shock—
Chorus
Will overwhelm our city utterly.
Hecuba
O woe is me! trembling, quaking limbs, support my footsteps! away! to face
the day that begins your slavery.
1330
Chorus
Woe for our unhappy town! And yet let us advance to the Achaean fleet.
