HECUBA. 145 Cho. O breeze from out the deep arising, that waftest swift galleys, ocean's coursers, across the surging main ! whither wilt thou bear me the child of sorrow ? To whose house shall I be brought, to be his slave and chattel ? to some haven in the Dorian land,^ or in Phthia, where men say Apidanus, father of fairest streams, makes fat and rich the tilth ? or to an island home, sent on a voyage of misery by oars that sweep the brine, leading a wretched existence in halls where ^ the first-created palm and the bay-tree put forth their sacred shoots for dear Latona, memorial fair of her divine travail? and there with the maids of Delos shall I hymn the golden snood and bow of Artemis their goddess ? or in the city of Pallas, the home of Athena ^ of the beauteous chariot, shall I upon her saffron robe * yoke horses to the car, embroidering them on my web in brilliant varied shades, or the race of Titans, whom Zeus the son of Cronos lays to their unending sleep with bolt of flashing flame ? Woe is me for my children ! woe for my ancestors, and my country which is falling in smouldering ruin 'mid the smoke, sacked by the Argive spear ! while I upon a foreign shore am called a slave forsooth, leaving Asia, Europe's handmaid,* and receiving in its place a deadly marriage-bower.® Tal. Where can I find Hecuba, who once was queen of Ilium, ye Trojan maidens ? Cho. There she lies near thee, Talthybius, stretched full length upon the ground, wrapt in her robe. Tal. Great Zeus ! what can I say ? that thine eye is over man ? or that we hold this false opinion all to no purpose, ^ i.e. the Peloponnesus. ^ z'.e. Delos, where Latona gave birth to Apollo. ^ 'A9avaiag, but Nauck's correction Otag i/aioutr' is extremely likely.
- j'.e. the embroidered robe presented to this goddess at the Pana-
thenaea.
- OEpdnvav, the Schol. explains the word by dovXrjv, and most copies
give Oepdiraivav.
- i.e. forced to be the mistress of some deadly foe.
II. L
