less wretched than thou art, and brides bereft of the noblest husbands,
whose ashes this land of Troy conceals. Endure this. But we, if we
injudiciously determine to honor the brave man, shall incur the charge of
folly. But you barbarians neither consider your friends as friends, nor do
you hold up to admiration those who have died honorably; thus shall Greece
be prosperous, but you shall experience fortune corresponding to your
counsels.

CHOR. Alas! alas! how wretched is the state of slavery, and to endure
indignities compelled by superior force! (Note [B].)

HEC. O daughter, my words respecting thy death are vanished in the air, set
forth in vain; but thou, if thou hast greater powers [of persuasion] than
thy mother, use all thy influence, uttering every note as the throat of the
nightingale, that thou mayest not be deprived of life. But fall before the
knees of Ulysses in all the eloquence of grief, and persuade him; thou hast
a pretext, for he also hath children; so that he may be inclined to pity
thy fortune.

POLYX. I see, Ulysses, that thou art hiding thy hand beneath thy robe, and
turnest thy face away, that I may not touch thy beard. Be not afraid; thou
hast avoided my suppliant Jove; for I will follow thee both on account of
fate, and even wishing to die; but if I were not willing, I should appear
base, and too fond of life. For wherefore should I live, whose father was
monarch of all the Trojans; this my dawn of life. Then was I nurtured under
fair hope, a bride for princes, having no small competition for my hand, to
whose palace and hearth I should come. But I, wretched now, was mistress
among the Trojan women, and conspicuous in the train of virgins, equal to
goddesses, death only excepted. But now I am a slave; first of all the very
name, not being familiar, persuades me to love death. Then perhaps I might