HECUBA. 147 the tomb to see thy daughter offered ; and the son of Achilles took Polyxena by the hand and set her on the top of the mound, while I stood near; and a chosen band of young Achaeans followed to hold thy child and prevent her struggling. Then did Achilles' son take in his hands a brimming cup of gold and poured ^ an offering to his dead sire, making a sign to me to proclaim silence throughout the Achaean host. So I stood at his side and in their midst proclaimed, " Silence, ye Achaeans ! hushed be the people all ! peace ! be still ! " Therewith I hushed the host. Then spake he, " Son of Peleus, father mine, accept the offering I pour thee to appease thy spirit, strong to raise the dead ; and come to drink the black blood of a virgin pure, which I and the host are offering thee ; oh ! be propitious to us ; grant that we may loose our prows and the cables of our ships, and, meeting with a prosperous voyage from IHum, all to our country come." So he ; and all the army echoed his prayer. Then seizing his golden sword by the hilt he drew it from its scabbard, signing the while to the picked young Argive warriors to hold the maid. But she, when she was ware thereof, uttered her voice and said ; " O Argives, who have sacked my city ! of my free will I die ; let none lay hand on me ; for bravely will I yield my neck. Leave me free, I do beseech ; so slay me, that death may find me free ; for to be called a slave amongst the dead fills my royal heart with shame." Thereat the people shouted their applause, and king Agamemnon bade the young men loose the maid. [So they set her free, as soon as they heard this last command from him whose might was over all.]^ And she, hearing her captors' words took her robe and tore it open from the shoulder to the waist, displaying a breast and bosom fair as a statue's ; then sinking on her knee, one vord she spake more piteous than all the rest, "Young ' tppei x«'P'> for which Dindorf gives k^eppaive. ' These two lines are rejected by most editors as an interpolation.
