thee to take care of some treasures, with which I came
out of the city.

POLY. Where are they then? Hast thou them hidden beneath thy robes?

HEC. Amidst a heap of spoils they are preserved in this tent.

POLY. But where? These are the naval encampments of the Grecians.

HEC. The habitations of the captive women are private.

POLY. And is all secure within, and untenanted by men?

HEC. Not one of the Greeks is within, but we women only. But come into the
tent, for the Greeks are desirous of loosing the sheets of their vessels
homeward from Troy; so that, having done every thing that thou oughtest,
thou mayest go with thy children to that place where thou hast given my son
to dwell.

CHOR. Not yet hast thou suffered, but peradventure thou wilt suffer
vengeance; as a man falling headlong into the gulf where no harbor is,
shalt thou be hurled from thy dear heart, having lost thy life;[18] for
where the rites of hospitality coincide[19] with justice, and with the
Gods, _on the villain who dares to violate these_ destructive, destructive
indeed impends the evil. But thy hopes will deceive thee, which thou
entertainedst from this journey, which has brought thee, thou wretched man,
to the deadly mansions of Pluto; but thou shalt quit thy life by no
warrior's hand.

POLYMESTOR, HECUBA, SEMICHORUS.

POLY. Oh me! I wretch am deprived of the sight of mine eyes.

SEMI. Heard ye the shriek of the man of Thrace, my friends?

POLY. Oh me; there again--Oh my children, thy miserable butchery!

SEMI. My friends, some strange ills have been perpetrated within the tents.

POLY. But for all your nimble feet, ye never can escape me, for by my blows
will I burst open the recesses of these tents.

SEMI. Behold, he uses violently the weapon of his heavy hand. Will ye that
we fall on; since the instant calls on us to be present with assistance to
Hecuba and the Trojan dames?

HEC. Dash on, spare nothing, break down the gates, for thou never shalt
replace the clear sight in those pupils, nor shalt thou behold alive those
children which I have slain.

SEMI. What! hast thou vanquished the Thracian? and hast thou got the
mastery over this host, my mistress? and hast thou done such deeds, as thou
sayest?

HEC. Thou wilt see him quickly before the house, blind, with blind
wandering steps approaching, and the bodies of his two children, whom I
have slain with these most valiant Trojan women; but he has felt my
vengeance; but he is c