1 50 EURIPIDES. [L. 636-7 1 5 bride on whom the sun-god turns his golden eye. For here begin neth trouble's cycle, and, worse than that, relentless fate; and from one man's folly came a universal curse, bringing death to the land of Simois, with trouble from an alien shore.^ The strife the shepherd decided on Ida 'twixt three daughters of the blessed gods, brought as its result war and bloodshed and the ruin of my home ; and many a Spartan maiden too is weeping bitter tears in her halls on the banks of fair Eurotas, and many a mother whose sons are slain, is smiting her hoary head and tearing her cheeks, making her nails red in the furrowed gash. Maid. {Entering excitedly^ attended by bearers bringing in a covered corpse?^ Oh ! where, ladies, is Hecuba, our queen of sorrow, who far surpasses all in tribulation, men and women both alike ? None shall wrest the crown from her. Cho. What now, thou wretched bird of boding note ? Thy evil tidings never seem to rest. Maid. 'Tis to Hecuba I bring my bitter news ; no easy task is it for mortal lips to speak smooth words in sorrow's hour. Cho. Lo ! she is coming even now from the shelter of the tent, appearing just in time to hear thee speak. Maid. Alas for thee ! most hapless queen, ruined beyond all words of mine to tell ; robbed of the light of life ; of children, husband, city reft ; hopelessly undone ! Hec. This is no news but insult ; I have heard it all before. But why art thou come, bringing hither to me the corpse of Polyxena, on whose burial Achaea's host was reported to be busily engaged ? Maid, {aside.) She Httle knows what I have to tell, but mourns Polyxena, not grasping her new sorrows. Hec. Ah ! woe is me ! thou art not surely bringing hither mad Cassandra, the prophetic maid ? Maid. She Hves, of whom thou speakest ; but the dead ^ svfi<popd T utt' dWmv. Weil conjectures trvfupopd re ra/uwv.
