or to an island home, sent on a voyage of misery by oars that sweep
the brine, leading a wretched existence in halls where the first-created
palm and the bay-tree put forth their sacred shoots for dear Latona,
memorial fair of her divine travail? and there with the maids of Delos
shall I hymn the golden snood and bow of Artemis their goddess?
(strophe 2)
Or in the city of Pallas, the home of Athena of the beauteous chariot,
shall I upon her saffron robe yoke horses to the car, embroidering
them on my web in brilliant varied shades, or the race of Titans,
whom Zeus the son of Cronos lays to their unending sleep with bolt
of flashing flame?
(antistrophe 2)
Woe is me for my children! woe for my ancestors, and my country which
is falling in smouldering ruin 'mid the smoke, sacked by the Argive
spear! while I upon a foreign shore am called a slave for-sooth, leaving
Asia, Europe's handmaid, and receiving in its place deadly marriage-bower.
(The herald, Talthybius, enters.)
Talthybius: Where can I find Hecuba, who once was queen of Ilium,
ye Trojan maidens?
Studies
