THE BOOK WAS DRENCHED - OUDL Home

832 Euripides [1008-1033]
HECUBA
Well, dost thou know where stands the shrine of Trojan Athena?
POLYMESTOR
Is the gold there? what is there to mark it?
HECUBA
A black rock rising above the ground.
POLYMESTOR
Is there aught else thou wouldst tell me about the place?
HECUBA
I wish to keep safe the treasure I brought from Troy.
POLYMESTOR
Where can it be? inside thy dress, or hast thou it hidden?
HECUBA
'Tis safe amid a heap of spoils within these tents.
POLYMESTOR
Where? This is the station built by the Achaeans to surround their fleet.
HECUBA
The captive women have huts of their own.
POLYMESTOR
It is safe to enter? are there no men about?
HECUBA
There are no Achaeans within; we are alone. Enter then the tent, for
the Argives are eager to set sail from Troy for home; and, when thou hast
accomplished all that is appointed thee, thou shalt return with thy children
to that bourn where thou hast lodged my son.
(HECUBA leads POLYMESTOR and his children into the tent.)
CHORUS {chanting)
Not yet hast thou paid the penalty, but maybe thou yet wilt; like
one who slips and falls into the surge with no haven near, so shalt
thou lose thy own life for the life thou hast taken. For where the
rights of justice and the law of heaven are one, there is ruin fraught
with death and doom. Thy hopes of this journey shall cheat thee,
for it hath led thee, unhappy wretch! to the halls of death; and to no
warrior's hand shalt thou resign thy life.