Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/223
I bathed the corpse, and cleansed the wounds thereof.
Now will I go, and dig for him a grave,
That, shortened so, thy work and mine withal,
To one end wrought, may homeward speed the oar. 1155
[Exit Talthybius.
Hecuba.
Set Hector's shield fair-rounded on the earth,
A woeful sight unsweet for me to see.
O ye who more in spears than wisdom boast,
Fearing this child, Achaians, why have ye wrought
Murder unheard-of?—lest he raise again 1160
Our fallen Troy? So then ye were but naught
When, even while Hector triumphed with the spear,
And countless hands struck with him, still we perished;
But now, Troy taken, all the Phrygians slain,
Ye dread this little child! Out on the fear 1165
Which feareth, having never reasoned why!
Ah darling, what ill death is come on thee!
Hadst thou for Troy been slain, when thou hadst known
Youth, wedlock's bliss, and godlike sovereignty,
Blest wert thou—if herein may aught be blest. 1170
But now—one glimpse, one fancy's grasp, O child,
Then, all unknown, untasted, that was thine![1]
- ↑ This passage is a great crux of commentators. Hermann's interpretation may be rendered—
"But now thy soul knows not that once it saw
And marked them: thine they were, unused of thee."
implying that only experiences, not mere hopes or expectations, formed the spirit's treasures of memory in Hades.
Others would put a comma after τε, so rendering—
"But now—far off thou hast seen and marked them, child,
Not living known nor touched thine heritage."