country, having left Asia the slave of Europe, having changed my bridal
chamber for the grave.

TALTHYBIUS, HECUBA, CHORUS.

TAL. Tell me, ye Trojan dames, where can I find Hecuba, late the queen of
Troy?

CHOR. Not far from thee, O Talthybius, she is lying stretched on the
ground, muffled in her robes.

TAL. O Jupiter, what shall I say? Shall I say that thou beholdest mortals?
or that they have to no end or purpose entertained false notions, who
suppose the existence of a race of Deities, and that fortune has the
sovereign control over men? Was not this the queen of the opulent
Phrygians? was not this the wife of the all-blest Priam? And now all her
city is overthrown by the spear, but she a captive, aged, childless, lies
on the ground defiling her ill-fated head with the dust. Alas! alas! I too
am old, but rather may death be my portion before I am involved in any such
debasing fortune; stand up, oh unhappy, raise thy side, and lift up thy
hoary head.

HEC. Let me alone: who art thou that sufferest not my body to rest? why
dost thou, whoever thou art, disturb me from my sadness?

TAL. I am here, Talthybius, the herald of the Greeks, Agamemnon having sent
me for thee, O lady.

HEC. Hast thou come then, thou dearest of men, it having been decreed by
the Greeks to slay me too upon the tomb? Thou wouldest bring dear news