HKB
was too valiant; that is why They slay thee! Other children, like to die, Might have been spared for that. But on thy head His good is turned to evil.
O thou bed And bridal; O the joining of the hand, That led me long ago to Hector's land To bear, O not a lamb for Grecian swords To slaughter, but a Prince o'er all the hordes Enthroned of wide-flung Asia.... Weepest thou? Nay, why, my little one? Thou canst not know. And Father will not come; he will not come; Not once, the great spear flashing, and the tomb Riven to set thee free! Not one of all His brethren, nor the might of Ilion's wall. How shall it be? One horrible spring ... deep, deep Down. And thy neck.... Ah God, so cometh sleep!... And none to pity thee!... Thou little thing That curlest in my arms, what sweet scents cling All round thy neck! Belovèd; can it be All nothing, that this bosom cradled thee And fostered; all the weary nights, wherethrough I watched upon thy sickness, till I grew Wasted with watching? Kiss me. This one time; Not ever again. Put up thine arms, and climb About my neck: now, kiss me, lips to lips.... O, ye have found an anguish that outstrips All tortures of the East, ye gentle Greeks! Why will ye slay this innocent, that seeks No wrong?... O Helen, Helen, thou ill tree That Tyndareus planted, who shall deem of thee As child of Zeus? O, thou hast drawn thy breath From many fathers, Madness, Hate, red Death, And every rotting poison of the sky! Zeus knows thee not, thou vampire, draining dry. Greece and the world! God hate thee and destroy, That with those beautiful eyes hast blasted Troy, And made the far-famed plains a waste withal. Quick! take him: drag him: cast him from the wall, If cast ye will! Tear him, ye beasts, be swift! God hath undone me, and I cannot lift One hand, one hand, to save my child from death.... O, hide my head for shame: fling me beneath Your galleys' benches!...
[She swoons: then half-rising.
Quick: I must begone To the bridal.... I have lost my child, my own!
[The Soldiers close round her.
LEADER.
O Troy ill-starred; for one strange woman, one Abhorrèd kiss, how are thine hosts undone!
TALTHYBIUS (bending over ANDROMACHE and gradually taking the Child from her).
Come, Child: let be that clasp of love Outwearied! Walk thy ways with me, Up to the crested tower, above Thy father's wall.... Where they decree Thy soul shall perish.--Hold him: hold!-- Would God some other man might ply These charges, one of duller mould, And nearer to the iron than I!
HECUBA.
O Child, they rob us of our own, Child of my Mighty One outworn: Ours, ours thou art!--Can aught be done Of deeds, can aught of pain be borne, To aid thee?--Lo, this beaten head, This bleeding bosom! These I spread As gifts to thee. I can thus much. Woe, woe for Troy, and woe for thee! What fall yet lacketh, ere we touch The last dead deep of misery?
[The Child, who has started back from TALTHYBIUS, is taken up by one of the Soldiers and borne back towards the city, while* ANDROMACHE *is set again on the Chariot and driven off towards the ships. TALTHYBIUS goes with the Child.
CHORUS.
[Strophe I.