Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/209
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THE DAUGHTERS OF TROY.
153
Hecuba.
O child, O son of mine ill-starred son,
Unrighteously reft thy life is gone
From thy mother and me! What life shall I live?
What do for thee, hapless one? All we can give
Are smitings of heads, and on breasts blows rained:
These only be ours! Woe's me for our town 790
And for thee! What scathe is of us unattained?
What lack we to hold us from fell destruction's nethermost hell—
From the swift plunge down?
Chorus.
(Str. 1)
O Telamon, king of the land where the wing of the bee flits aye round Salamis' shore,—
Who didst make thee a home in the isle with the foam of the sea ringed round and the surges' roar,
Which over the tide looketh up to the pride of the hallowèd heights whose ridge first bore, 800
At Athena's hest, in the lordship-test, the olive grey,
A crown heaven-high, whose radiancy bright Athens to bind her brows hath ta'en,—
Brother-chief didst thou go with the lord of the bow, with the son of Alkmena, over the main[1]
O Telamon, king of the land where the wing of the bee flits aye round Salamis' shore,—
Who didst make thee a home in the isle with the foam of the sea ringed round and the surges' roar,
Which over the tide looketh up to the pride of the hallowèd heights whose ridge first bore, 800
At Athena's hest, in the lordship-test, the olive grey,
A crown heaven-high, whose radiancy bright Athens to bind her brows hath ta'en,—
Brother-chief didst thou go with the lord of the bow, with the son of Alkmena, over the main[1]
- ↑ Ganymede, son of King Laomedon, was caught up from earth to be cupbearer of Zeus, who gave to his father, in recompense, a team of immortal chariot-steeds. When the land was wasted by a dragon, the king promised these horses to Herakles, if he would slay it, but withheld the reward when the task was performed. So Herakles sailed against Troy with a host gathered from Hellas, and destroyed it.