Stasimon 3
[Episode]
set free? that is easily done.
755
Hecuba
Not that; give me vengeance on the wicked, and I am willing to lead a life of slavery forever.
Agamemnon
Well, but why do you call me to your aid?
Hecuba
It is a matter you little know of, king.
Do you see this corpse, for whom my tears now flow?
760
Agamemnon
I do; but what is to follow, I cannot guess.
Hecuba
He was once my child; I bore him in my womb.
Agamemnon
Which of your sons is he, poor sufferer?
Hecuba
Not one of Priam’s race who fell beneath Ilium’s walls.
Agamemnon
Did you indeed have another son besides those, lady?
765
Hecuba
Yes, the one you see here, of whom it seems I have small gain.
Agamemnon
Where then was he, when his city was being destroyed?
Hecuba
His father, fearful of his death, conveyed him out of Troy.
Agamemnon
Where did he place him apart from the sons he then had?
Hecuba
In this very land, where his corpse was found.
770
Agamemnon
With Polymestor, the king of this country?
Hecuba
He was sent here in charge of gold, most bitter trust!
Agamemnon
By whom was he slain? What death overtook him?
Hecuba
By whom but this man? His Thracian host slew him.
Agamemnon
The wretch! could he have been so eager for the gold?
775
Hecuba
Just so, when he heard of the Phrygians’ disaster.
Agamemnon
Where did you find him? or did some one bring his corpse?
Hecuba
This woman, who happened upon it on the sea-shore.
Agamemnon
Was she seeking it, or bent on other tasks?
Hecuba
She had gone to fetch water from the sea to wash Polyxena.
780
Agamemnon
It seems then his host slew him and cast his body out to sea.
Hecuba
Yes, for the waves to toss, after mangling him in this way.
Agamemnon
Woe to you for your measureless troubles!
Hecuba
I am ruined; no evil now is left, Agamemnon.
Agamemnon
Ah! what woman was ever born to such mischance?
785
