章节正文
there to meet and be the slave of Menelaus, whose hand laid Troyland
waste! Yon holy land by Peneus fed, nestling in all its beauty at
Olympus' foot, is said, so have I heard, to be a very granary of
wealth and teeming fruitage; next to the sacred soil of Theseus, I
could wish to reach that land. They tell me too Hephaestus' home,
beneath the shadow of Aetna, fronting Phoenicia, the mother of
Sicilian hills, is famous for the crowns it gives to worth. Or may I
find a home on that shore which lieth very nigh Ionia's sea, a land by
Crathis watered, lovely stream, that dyes the hair an auburn tint,
feeding with its holy waves and making glad therewith the home of
heroes good and true.
But mark! a herald from the host of Danai, with store of fresh
proclamations, comes hasting hither. What is his errand? what saith
he? List, for we are slaves to Dorian lords henceforth.
Enter TALTHYBIUS.
TALTHYBIUS
Hecuba, thou knowest me from my many journeys to and fro as herald
'twixt the Achaean host and Troy; no stranger I to thee, lady, even
aforetime, I Talthybius, now sent with a fresh message.
HECUBA
Ah, kind friends, 'tis come! what I so long have dreaded.
TALTHYBIUS
The lot has decided your fates already, if that was what you
feared.
HECUBA
Ah me! What city didst thou say, Thessalian, Phthian, or Cadmean?
TALTHYBIUS
Each warrior took his prize in turn; ye were not all at once
assigned.
HECUBA
To whom hath the lot assigned us severally? Which of us Trojan
dames doth a happy fortune await?
TALTHYBIUS
I know, but ask thy questions separately, not all at once.
HECUBA
Then tell me, whose prize is my daughter, hapless Cassandra?
TALTHYBIUS
King Agamemnon hath chosen her out for himself.
HECUBA
To be the slave-girl of his Spartan wife? Ah me!
TALTHYBIUS
Nay, to share with him his stealthy love.
HECUBA
What! Phoebus' virgin-priestess, to whom the god with golden locks
granted the boon of maidenhood?
TALTHYBIUS
The dart of love hath pierced his heart, love for the frenzied
maid.
HECUBA
Daughter, cast from thee the sacred keys, and from thy body tear
the holy wreaths that drape thee in their folds.
TALTHYBIUS
Why! is it not an honour high that she should win our monarch's
love?
HECUBA
What have ye done to her whom late ye took from me-my child?
TALTHYBIUS
Dost mean Polyxena, or whom dost thou inquire about?
HECUBA
To whom hath the lot assigned her?
TALTHYBIUS
To minister at Achilles' tomb hath been appointed her.
HECUBA
Woe is me! I the mother of a dead man's slave! What custom, what
ordinance is this amongst Hellenes, good sir?
TALTHYBIUS
Count thy daughter happy: 'tis well with her.
HECUBA
What wild words are these? say, is she still alive?
TALTHYBIUS
Her fate is one that sets her free from trouble.
HECUBA
And what of mail-clad Hector's wife, sad Andromache? declare her
fate.
TALTHYBIUS
She too was a chosen prize; Achilles' son did take her.
HECUBA
As for me whose hair is white with age, who need to hold a staff
to be to me a third foot, whose servant am I to be?
TALTHYBIUS
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hath taken thee to be his slave.
HECUBA
O God! Now smite the close-shorn head! tear your cheeks with
your nails. God help me! I have fallen as a slave to a treacherous foe
I hate, a monster of lawlessness, one that by his double tongue hath
turned against us all that once was friendly in his camp, changing
this for that and that for this again. Oh weep for me, ye Trojan
dames! Undone! undone and lost! ah woel a victim to a most unhappy
lot!
CHORUS
Thy fate, royal mistress, now thou knowest; but for me, what
Hellene or Achaean is master of my destiny?
TALTHYBIUS
Ho, servants! haste and bring Cassandra forth to me here, that I
may place her our captain's hands, and then conduct to the rest of the
chiefs the captives each hath had assigned. Ha what is the blaze of
torches there within? What do these Trojan dames? Are they firing
the chambers, because they must leave this land and be carried away to
Argos? Are they setting themselves aflame in their longing for
death? Of a truth the free bear their troubles in cases like this with
a stiff neck. Ho, there! open! lest their deed, which suits them
well but finds small favour with the Achaeans, bring blame on me.
HECUBA
'Tis not that they are setting aught ablaze, but my child
Cassandra, frenzied maid, comes rushing wildly hither.
Enter CASSANDRA carrying torches
CASSANDRA
Bring the light, uplift and show its flame! I am doing the god's
service, see! I making his shrine to glow with tapers bright. O Hymen,
king of marriage! blest is the bridegroom; blest am I also, the maiden
soon to wed a princely lord in Argos. Hail Hymen, king of marriage!
Since thou, my mother, art ever busied with tears and lamentations
in thy mourning for my father's death and for our country dear, I at
my own nuptials am making this torch to blaze and show its light, in
thy honour, O Hymen, king of marriage! Grant thy light too, Hecate, at
the maiden's wedding, as the custom is. Nimbly lift the foot aloft,
lead on the dance, with cries of joy, as if to greet my father's happy
fate. To dance I hold a sacred duty; come, Phoebus, lead the way,
for 'tis in thy temple mid thy bay-trees that I minister. Hail
Hymen, god of marriage! Hymen, hail! Come, mother mine, and join the
dance, link thy steps with me, and circle in the gladsome measure, now
here, now there. Salute the bride on her wedding-day with hymns and
cries of joy. Come, ye maids of Phrygia in raiment fair, sing my
marriage with the husband fate ordains that I should wed.
CHORUS
Hold the franticmaiden, royal mistress mine, lest with nimble
foot she rush to the Argive army.
HECUBA
Thou god of fire,'tis thine to light the bridal torch for men, but
piteous is the flame thou kindlest here, beyond my blackest bodings.
Ah, my child! how little did I ever dream that such would be thy
marriage, a captive, and of Argos tool Give up the torch to me; thou
dost not bear its blaze aright in thy wild frantic course, nor have
thy afflictions left thee in thy sober senses, but still art thou as
frantic as before. Take in those torches, Trojan friends, and for
her wedding madrigals weep your tears instead.
CASSANDRA
O mother, crown my head with victor's wreaths; rejoice in my royal
match; lead me to my lord; nay, if thou find me loth at all, thrust me
there by force; for if Loxias be indeed a prophet, Agamemnon, that
famous king of the Achaeans, will find in me a bride more fraught with
woe to him than Helen. For I will slay him and lay waste his home to
avenge my father's and my bretheren's death. But of the deed itself
I will not speak; nor will I tell of that axe which shall sever my
neck and the necks of others, or of the conflictending in a
mother's death, which my marriage shall cause, nor of the overthrow of
Atreus' house; but I, for all my frenzy, will so far rise above my
frantic fit, that I will prove this city happier far than those
Achaeans, who for the sake of one woman and one man's love of her have
lost a countless host in seeking Helen. Their captain too, whom men
call wise, hath lost for what he hated most what most he prized,
yielding to his brother for a woman's sake-and she a willing prize
whom no man forced-the joy he had of his own children in his home. For
from the day that they did land upon Scamander's strand, their doom
began, not for loss of stolenfrontier nor yet for fatherland with
frowning towers; whomso Ares slew, those never saw their babes
again, nor were they shrouded for the tomb by hand of wife, but in a
foreign land they lie. At home the case was still the same; wives were
dying widows, parents were left childless in their homes, having
reared their sons for others, and none is left to make libations of
blood upon the ground before their tombs. Truly to such praise as this
their host can make an ample claim. Tis better to pass their shame
in silence by, nor be mine the Muse to tell that evil tale. But the
Trojans were dying, first for their fatherland, fairest fame to win;
whomso the sword laid low, all these found friends to bear their
bodies home and were laid to rest in the bosom of their native land,
their funeral rites all duly paid by duteous hands. And all such
Phrygians as escaped the warrior's death lived ever day by day with
wife and children by them-joys the Achaeans had left behind. As for
Hector and his griefs, prithee hear how stands the case; he is dead
and gone, but still his fame remains as bravest of the brave, and this
was a result of the Achaeans' coming; for had they remained at home,
his worth would have gone unnoticed. So too with Paris, he married the
daughter of Zeus, whereas, had he never done so, the alliance he
made in his family would have been forgotten. Whoso is wise should fly
from making war; but if he be brought to this pass, a noble death will
crown his city with glory, a coward's end with shame. Wherefore,
mother mine, thou shouldst not pity thy country or my spousal, for
this my marriage will destroy those whom thou and I most hate.
CHORUS
How sweetly at thy own sad lot thou smilest, chanting a strain,
which, spite of thee, may prove thee wrong!
TALTHYBIUS
Had not Apollo turned thy wits astray, thou shouldst not for
nothing have sent my chiefs with such ominous predictions forth on
their way. But, after all, these lofty minds, reputed wise, are
nothing better than those that are held as naught. For that mighty
king of all Hellas, own son of Atreus, has yielded to a passion for
this mad maiden of all others; though I am poor enough, yet would I
ne'er have chosen such a wife as this. As for thee, since thy senses
are not whole, I give thy taunts 'gainst Argos and thy praise of
Troy to the winds to carry away. Follow me now to the ships to grace
the wedding of our chief. And thou too follow, whensoe'er the son of
Laertes demands thy presence, for thou wilt serve a mistress most
discreet, as all declare who came to Ilium.
CASSANDRA
A clever fellow this menial! Why is it heralds hold the name
they do? All men unite in hating with one common hate the servants who
attend on kings or governments. Thou sayest my mother shall come to
the halls of Odysseus; where then be Apollo's words, so clear to me in
their interpretation, which declare that here she shall die? What else
waste! Yon holy land by Peneus fed, nestling in all its beauty at
Olympus' foot, is said, so have I heard, to be a very granary of
wealth and teeming fruitage; next to the sacred soil of Theseus, I
could wish to reach that land. They tell me too Hephaestus' home,
beneath the shadow of Aetna, fronting Phoenicia, the mother of
Sicilian hills, is famous for the crowns it gives to worth. Or may I
find a home on that shore which lieth very nigh Ionia's sea, a land by
Crathis watered, lovely stream, that dyes the hair an auburn tint,
feeding with its holy waves and making glad therewith the home of
heroes good and true.
But mark! a herald from the host of Danai, with store of fresh
proclamations, comes hasting hither. What is his errand? what saith
he? List, for we are slaves to Dorian lords henceforth.
Enter TALTHYBIUS.
TALTHYBIUS
Hecuba, thou knowest me from my many journeys to and fro as herald
'twixt the Achaean host and Troy; no stranger I to thee, lady, even
aforetime, I Talthybius, now sent with a fresh message.
HECUBA
Ah, kind friends, 'tis come! what I so long have dreaded.
TALTHYBIUS
The lot has decided your fates already, if that was what you
feared.
HECUBA
Ah me! What city didst thou say, Thessalian, Phthian, or Cadmean?
TALTHYBIUS
Each warrior took his prize in turn; ye were not all at once
assigned.
HECUBA
To whom hath the lot assigned us severally? Which of us Trojan
dames doth a happy fortune await?
TALTHYBIUS
I know, but ask thy questions separately, not all at once.
HECUBA
Then tell me, whose prize is my daughter, hapless Cassandra?
TALTHYBIUS
King Agamemnon hath chosen her out for himself.
HECUBA
To be the slave-girl of his Spartan wife? Ah me!
TALTHYBIUS
Nay, to share with him his stealthy love.
HECUBA
What! Phoebus' virgin-priestess, to whom the god with golden locks
granted the boon of maidenhood?
TALTHYBIUS
The dart of love hath pierced his heart, love for the frenzied
maid.
HECUBA
Daughter, cast from thee the sacred keys, and from thy body tear
the holy wreaths that drape thee in their folds.
TALTHYBIUS
Why! is it not an honour high that she should win our monarch's
love?
HECUBA
What have ye done to her whom late ye took from me-my child?
TALTHYBIUS
Dost mean Polyxena, or whom dost thou inquire about?
HECUBA
To whom hath the lot assigned her?
TALTHYBIUS
To minister at Achilles' tomb hath been appointed her.
HECUBA
Woe is me! I the mother of a dead man's slave! What custom, what
ordinance is this amongst Hellenes, good sir?
TALTHYBIUS
Count thy daughter happy: 'tis well with her.
HECUBA
What wild words are these? say, is she still alive?
TALTHYBIUS
Her fate is one that sets her free from trouble.
HECUBA
And what of mail-clad Hector's wife, sad Andromache? declare her
fate.
TALTHYBIUS
She too was a chosen prize; Achilles' son did take her.
HECUBA
As for me whose hair is white with age, who need to hold a staff
to be to me a third foot, whose servant am I to be?
TALTHYBIUS
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hath taken thee to be his slave.
HECUBA
O God! Now smite the close-shorn head! tear your cheeks with
your nails. God help me! I have fallen as a slave to a treacherous foe
I hate, a monster of lawlessness, one that by his double tongue hath
turned against us all that once was friendly in his camp, changing
this for that and that for this again. Oh weep for me, ye Trojan
dames! Undone! undone and lost! ah woel a victim to a most unhappy
lot!
CHORUS
Thy fate, royal mistress, now thou knowest; but for me, what
Hellene or Achaean is master of my destiny?
TALTHYBIUS
Ho, servants! haste and bring Cassandra forth to me here, that I
may place her our captain's hands, and then conduct to the rest of the
chiefs the captives each hath had assigned. Ha what is the blaze of
torches there within? What do these Trojan dames? Are they firing
the chambers, because they must leave this land and be carried away to
Argos? Are they setting themselves aflame in their longing for
death? Of a truth the free bear their troubles in cases like this with
a stiff neck. Ho, there! open! lest their deed, which suits them
well but finds small favour with the Achaeans, bring blame on me.
HECUBA
'Tis not that they are setting aught ablaze, but my child
Cassandra, frenzied maid, comes rushing wildly hither.
Enter CASSANDRA carrying torches
CASSANDRA
Bring the light, uplift and show its flame! I am doing the god's
service, see! I making his shrine to glow with tapers bright. O Hymen,
king of marriage! blest is the bridegroom; blest am I also, the maiden
soon to wed a princely lord in Argos. Hail Hymen, king of marriage!
Since thou, my mother, art ever busied with tears and lamentations
in thy mourning for my father's death and for our country dear, I at
my own nuptials am making this torch to blaze and show its light, in
thy honour, O Hymen, king of marriage! Grant thy light too, Hecate, at
the maiden's wedding, as the custom is. Nimbly lift the foot aloft,
lead on the dance, with cries of joy, as if to greet my father's happy
fate. To dance I hold a sacred duty; come, Phoebus, lead the way,
for 'tis in thy temple mid thy bay-trees that I minister. Hail
Hymen, god of marriage! Hymen, hail! Come, mother mine, and join the
dance, link thy steps with me, and circle in the gladsome measure, now
here, now there. Salute the bride on her wedding-day with hymns and
cries of joy. Come, ye maids of Phrygia in raiment fair, sing my
marriage with the husband fate ordains that I should wed.
CHORUS
Hold the franticmaiden, royal mistress mine, lest with nimble
foot she rush to the Argive army.
HECUBA
Thou god of fire,'tis thine to light the bridal torch for men, but
piteous is the flame thou kindlest here, beyond my blackest bodings.
Ah, my child! how little did I ever dream that such would be thy
marriage, a captive, and of Argos tool Give up the torch to me; thou
dost not bear its blaze aright in thy wild frantic course, nor have
thy afflictions left thee in thy sober senses, but still art thou as
frantic as before. Take in those torches, Trojan friends, and for
her wedding madrigals weep your tears instead.
CASSANDRA
O mother, crown my head with victor's wreaths; rejoice in my royal
match; lead me to my lord; nay, if thou find me loth at all, thrust me
there by force; for if Loxias be indeed a prophet, Agamemnon, that
famous king of the Achaeans, will find in me a bride more fraught with
woe to him than Helen. For I will slay him and lay waste his home to
avenge my father's and my bretheren's death. But of the deed itself
I will not speak; nor will I tell of that axe which shall sever my
neck and the necks of others, or of the conflictending in a
mother's death, which my marriage shall cause, nor of the overthrow of
Atreus' house; but I, for all my frenzy, will so far rise above my
frantic fit, that I will prove this city happier far than those
Achaeans, who for the sake of one woman and one man's love of her have
lost a countless host in seeking Helen. Their captain too, whom men
call wise, hath lost for what he hated most what most he prized,
yielding to his brother for a woman's sake-and she a willing prize
whom no man forced-the joy he had of his own children in his home. For
from the day that they did land upon Scamander's strand, their doom
began, not for loss of stolenfrontier nor yet for fatherland with
frowning towers; whomso Ares slew, those never saw their babes
again, nor were they shrouded for the tomb by hand of wife, but in a
foreign land they lie. At home the case was still the same; wives were
dying widows, parents were left childless in their homes, having
reared their sons for others, and none is left to make libations of
blood upon the ground before their tombs. Truly to such praise as this
their host can make an ample claim. Tis better to pass their shame
in silence by, nor be mine the Muse to tell that evil tale. But the
Trojans were dying, first for their fatherland, fairest fame to win;
whomso the sword laid low, all these found friends to bear their
bodies home and were laid to rest in the bosom of their native land,
their funeral rites all duly paid by duteous hands. And all such
Phrygians as escaped the warrior's death lived ever day by day with
wife and children by them-joys the Achaeans had left behind. As for
Hector and his griefs, prithee hear how stands the case; he is dead
and gone, but still his fame remains as bravest of the brave, and this
was a result of the Achaeans' coming; for had they remained at home,
his worth would have gone unnoticed. So too with Paris, he married the
daughter of Zeus, whereas, had he never done so, the alliance he
made in his family would have been forgotten. Whoso is wise should fly
from making war; but if he be brought to this pass, a noble death will
crown his city with glory, a coward's end with shame. Wherefore,
mother mine, thou shouldst not pity thy country or my spousal, for
this my marriage will destroy those whom thou and I most hate.
CHORUS
How sweetly at thy own sad lot thou smilest, chanting a strain,
which, spite of thee, may prove thee wrong!
TALTHYBIUS
Had not Apollo turned thy wits astray, thou shouldst not for
nothing have sent my chiefs with such ominous predictions forth on
their way. But, after all, these lofty minds, reputed wise, are
nothing better than those that are held as naught. For that mighty
king of all Hellas, own son of Atreus, has yielded to a passion for
this mad maiden of all others; though I am poor enough, yet would I
ne'er have chosen such a wife as this. As for thee, since thy senses
are not whole, I give thy taunts 'gainst Argos and thy praise of
Troy to the winds to carry away. Follow me now to the ships to grace
the wedding of our chief. And thou too follow, whensoe'er the son of
Laertes demands thy presence, for thou wilt serve a mistress most
discreet, as all declare who came to Ilium.
CASSANDRA
A clever fellow this menial! Why is it heralds hold the name
they do? All men unite in hating with one common hate the servants who
attend on kings or governments. Thou sayest my mother shall come to
the halls of Odysseus; where then be Apollo's words, so clear to me in
their interpretation, which declare that here she shall die? What else
- sacred [´seikrid]
a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词) - stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
- therewith [ðɛə´wið] ad.于是，随即 (初中英语单词)
- hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
- errand [´erənd] n.差使，使命 (初中英语单词)
- warrior [´wɔriə] n.勇士，战士 (初中英语单词)
- minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
- monster [´mɔnstə] n.怪物 a.大得异常的 (初中英语单词)
- victim [´viktim] n.牺牲者；受害者 (初中英语单词)
- mistress [´mistris] n.女主人；情妇；女能手 (初中英语单词)
- mourning [´mɔ:niŋ] n.悲伤；治丧；戴孝 (初中英语单词)
- wedding [´wediŋ] n.婚礼，结婚 (初中英语单词)
- temple [´tempəl] n.庙宇；寺院；太阳穴 (初中英语单词)
- circle [´sə:kəl] n.圆圈 v.环绕；盘旋 (初中英语单词)
- measure [´meʒə] n.量度；范围 vt.测量 (初中英语单词)
- salute [sə´lu:t] n.&v.招呼；行礼；敬礼 (初中英语单词)
- maiden [´meidn] n.少女 a.未婚的 (初中英语单词)
- captive [´kæptiv] n.俘虏；捕获物 (初中英语单词)
- rejoice [ri´dʒɔis] v.(使)高兴；欢庆 (初中英语单词)
- thrust [θrʌst] v.&n.猛推；冲；刺；挤进 (初中英语单词)
- prophet [´prɔfit] n.预言家；先知；提倡者 (初中英语单词)
- conflict [´kɔnflikt, kən´flikt] n.&vi.战斗；抵触 (初中英语单词)
- willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
- stolen [´stəulən] steal 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- frontier [´frʌntiə] n.国境；边疆；边界 (初中英语单词)
- funeral [´fju:nərəl] n.葬礼，丧葬；困难 (初中英语单词)
- whereas [weər´æz] conj.鉴于；因此；而 (初中英语单词)
- alliance [ə´laiəns] n.联盟；同盟 (初中英语单词)
- apollo [ə´pɔləu] n.阿波罗 (初中英语单词)
- passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
- herald [´herəld] n.先驱；预兆 vt.预示 (高中英语单词)
- decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
- amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
- treacherous [´tretʃərəs] a.虚伪的；不忠的 (高中英语单词)
- longing [´lɔŋiŋ] n.&a.渴望(的) (高中英语单词)
- shrine [ʃrain] n.神龛；神殿；圣地 (高中英语单词)
- frantic [´fræntik] a.发狂的；急忙的 (高中英语单词)
- ending [´endiŋ] n.结尾，结局 (高中英语单词)
- overthrow [´əuvəθrəu] n.推翻；打倒 (高中英语单词)
- countless [´kauntlis] a.无数的 (高中英语单词)
- sweetly [´swi:tli] ad.甜蜜地；美妙地 (高中英语单词)
- naught [nɔ:t] n.无；零 (高中英语单词)
- interpretation [in,tə:pri´teiʃən] n.解释；翻译；表演 (高中英语单词)
- separately [´sepəritli] ad.分离地；孤独地 (英语四级单词)
- setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
- uplift [ʌp´lift, ´ʌplift] vt.提高；振奋(精神) (英语四级单词)
- bridegroom [´braidgru:m] n.新郎 (英语四级单词)
- princely [´prinsli] a.王候般的；高贵的 (英语四级单词)
- raiment [´reimənt] n.衣饰 (英语四级单词)
- bridal [´braidl] a.&n.婚礼(的) (英语四级单词)
- frenzy [´frenzi] n.&vt.(使)狂乱 (英语四级单词)
- astray [ə´strei] ad.&a.在歧途上(的) (英语四级单词)
- ominous [´ɔminəs] a.不祥的；预示的 (英语四级单词)
- auburn [´ɔ:bən] n.&a.赭色(的) (英语六级单词)
- hapless [´hæpləs] a.不幸的；倒楣的 (英语六级单词)
- undone [,ʌn´dʌn] a.未完成的，没有做的 (英语六级单词)
- phoebus [´fi:bəs] n.太阳神 (英语六级单词)
- fraught [frɔ:t] a.充满...的 (英语六级单词)
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