HECUBA. 151 thou dost not weep is here. [ Uncovering the corpse?^ Mark well the body now laid bare ; is not this a sight to fill thee with wonder, and upset thy hopes ? Hec. Ah me ! 'tis the corpse of my son Polydore I behold, whom he of Thrace was keeping safe for me in his halls. Alas ! this is the end of all ; my life is o'er. O my son, my son, alas for thee ! a frantic strain I now begin ; thy fate I learnt, a moment gone, from some foul fiend.^ Maid. What ! so thou knewest thy son's fate, poor lady. Hec. I cannot, cannot credit this fresh sight I see. Woe succeeds to woe ; time will never cease henceforth to bring me groans and tears." Cho. Alas ! poor lady, our sufferings are cruel indeed. Hec. O my son, child of a luckless mother, what was the manner of thy death? what lays thee dead at my feet ? Who did the deed ? Maid. I know not. On the sea-shore I found him. Hec. Cast up on the smooth sand, or thrown there after the murderous blow ? Maid. The waves had washed him ashore. Hec. Alas ! alas I I read aright the vision I saw in my sleep, nor did the phantom dusky-winged escape my ken, even the vision I saw concerning my son, who is now no more within the bright sunshine. Cho. Who slew him then ? Can thy dream-lore ^ tell us that? Hec. Twas my own familiar friend, the knight of Thrace, with whom his aged sire had placed the boy in hiding. Cho. O horror ! what wilt thou say ? did he slay him to get the gold ? Hec. O awful crime ! O deed without a name ! beggar- ing wonder ! impious ! intolerable ! Where are now the ^ i.e.^ in a dream. " darsvajcrof, ahixK^VToq ay^kpa i-KUsyriOti (Hermann).
