Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/47

Dropped from her brow,—the wreath, the woven band,
The net, the veil which golden Venus gave
That day when crested Hector wedded her,
Dowered with large gifts, and led her from her home,
Eëtion's palace. Round her in a throng 580
Her sisters of the house of Priam pressed,
And gently raised her in that deathlike swoon.
But when she breathed again, and to its seat
The conscious mind returned, as in their arms
She lay, with sobs and broken speech she said: 585
"Hector,— Ο wretched me!— we both were born
To sorrow: thou at Troy, in Priam's house,
And I at Thebè in Eëtion's halls,
By woody Placos. From a little child
He reared me there,—unhappy he, and I 590
Unhappy! Ο that I had ne'er been born!
Thou goest down to Hades and the depths
Of earth, and leavest me in thine abode,
AVidowed, and never to be comforted.
Thy son, a speechless babe, to whom we two 595
Gave being,—hapless parents!—cannot have
Thy loving guardianship now thou art dead,
Nor be a joy to thee. Though he survive
The cruel warfare which the sons of Greece
Are waging, hard and evil yet will be 600
His lot hereafter; others will remove
His landmarks and will make his fields their own.
The day in which a boy is fatherless
Makes him companionless; with downcast eyes
He wanders, and his cheeks are stained with tears. 605
Unfed he goes where sit his father's friends,
And plucks one by the cloak, and by the robe
Another. One who pities him shall give