O hear her! She must never die unheard, King Menelaus! And give me the word To speak in answer! All the wrong she wrought Away from thee, in Troy, thou knowest not.

The whole tale set together is a death Too sure; she shall not 'scape thee!

MENELAUS.

'Tis but breath And time. For thy sake, Hecuba, if she need To speak, I grant the prayer. I have no heed Nor mercy--let her know it well--for her!

HELEN.

It may be that, how false or true soe'er Thou deem me, I shall win no word from thee.

So sore thou holdest me thine enemy.

Yet I will take what words I think thy heart Holdeth of anger: and in even part Set my wrong and thy wrong, and all that fell.

[_Pointing to_ HECUBA.

She cometh first, who bare the seed and well Of springing sorrow, when to life she brought Paris: and that old King, who quenched not Quick in the spark, ere yet he woke to slay, The fire-brand's image[38].--But enough: a day Came, and this Paris judged beneath the trees Three Crowns of Life[39], three diverse G.o.ddesses.

The gift of Pallas was of War, to lead His East in conquering battles, and make bleed The hearths of h.e.l.las. Hera held a Throne-- If majesties he craved--to reign alone From Phrygia to the last realm of the West.

And Cypris, if he deemed her loveliest, Beyond all heaven, made dreams about my face And for her grace gave me. And, lo! her grace Was judged the fairest, and she stood above Those twain.--Thus was I loved, and thus my love Hath holpen h.e.l.las. No fierce Eastern crown Is o'er your lands, no spear hath cast them down.

O, it was well for h.e.l.las! But for me Most ill; caught up and sold across the sea For this my beauty; yea, dishonoured For that which else had been about my head A crown of honour.... Ah, I see thy thought; The first plain deed, 'tis that I answer not, How in the dark out of thy house I fled....

There came the Seed of Fire, this woman's seed; Came--O, a G.o.ddess great walked with him then-- This Alexander, Breaker-down-of-Men, This Paris[40], Strength-is-with-him; whom thou, whom-- O false and light of heart--thou in thy room Didst leave, and spreadest sail for Cretan seas, Far, far from me!... And yet, how strange it is!

I ask not thee; I ask my own sad thought, What was there in my heart, that I forgot My home and land and all I loved, to fly With a strange man? Surely it was not I, But Cypris, there! Lay thou thy rod on her, And be more high than Zeus and bitterer, Who o'er all other spirits hath his throne, But knows her chain must bind him. My wrong done Hath its own pardon....

One word yet thou hast, Methinks, of righteous seeming. When at last The earth for Paris oped and all was o'er, And her strange magic bound my feet no more, Why kept I still his house, why fled not I To the Argive ships?... Ah, how I strove to fly!

The old Gate-Warden[41] could have told thee all, My husband, and the watchers from the wall; It was not once they took me, with the rope Tied, and this body swung in the air, to grope Its way toward thee, from that dim battlement.

Ah, husband still, how shall thy hand be bent To slay me? Nay, if Right be come at last, What shalt thou bring but comfort for pains past, And harbour for a woman storm-driven: A woman borne away by violent men: And this one birthright of my beauty, this That might have been my glory, lo, it is A stamp that G.o.d hath burned, of slavery!

Alas! and if thou cravest still to be As one set above G.o.ds, inviolate, 'Tis but a fruitless longing holds thee yet.

LEADER.

O Queen, think of thy children and thy land, And break her spell! The sweet soft speech, the hand And heart so fell: it maketh me afraid.

HECUBA.

Meseems her G.o.ddesses first cry mine aid Against these lying lips!... Not Hera, nay, Nor virgin Pallas deem I such low clay, To barter their own folk, Argos and brave Athens, to be trod down, the Phrygian's slave, All for vain glory and a shepherd's prize On Ida! Wherefore should great Hera's eyes So hunger to be fair? She doth not use To seek for other loves, being wed with Zeus.

And maiden Pallas ... did some strange G.o.d's face Beguile her, that she craved for loveliness, Who chose from G.o.d one virgin gift above All gifts, and fleeth from the lips of love?

Ah, deck not out thine own heart's evil springs By making spirits of heaven as brutish things And cruel. The wise may hear thee, and guess all!

And Cypris must take ship-fantastical!

Sail with my son and enter at the gate To seek thee! Had she willed it, she had sate At peace in heaven, and wafted thee, and all Amyclae with thee, under Ilion's wall.

My son was pa.s.sing beautiful, beyond His peers; and thine own heart, that saw and conned His face, became a spirit enchanting thee.

For all wild things that in mortality Have being, are Aphrodite; and the name She bears in heaven is born and writ of them.

Thou sawest him in gold and orient vest Shining, and lo, a fire about thy breast Leapt! Thou hadst fed upon such little things, Pacing thy ways in Argos. But now wings Were come! Once free from Sparta, and there rolled The Ilian glory, like broad streams of gold, To steep thine arms and splash the towers! How small, How cold that day was Menelaus' hall!

Enough of that. It was by force my son Took thee, thou sayst, and striving.... Yet not one In Sparta knew! No cry, no sudden prayer Rang from thy rooms that night.... Castor was there To hear thee, and his brother: both true men, Not yet among the stars! And after, when Thou camest here to Troy, and in thy track Argos and all its anguish and the rack Of war--Ah G.o.d!--perchance men told thee 'Now The Greek prevails in battle': then wouldst thou Praise Menelaus, that my son might smart, Striving with that old image in a heart Uncertain still. Then Troy had victories: And this Greek was as naught! Alway thine eyes Watched Fortune's eyes, to follow hot where she Led first. Thou wouldst not follow Honesty.

Thy secret ropes, thy body swung to fall Far, like a desperate prisoner, from the wall!

Who found thee so? When wast thou taken? Nay, Hadst thou no surer rope, no sudden way Of the sword, that any woman honest-souled Had sought long since, loving her lord of old?

Often and often did I charge thee; 'Go, My daughter; go thy ways. My sons will know New loves. I will give aid, and steal thee past The Argive watch. O give us peace at last, Us and our foes!' But out thy spirit cried As at a bitter word. Thou hadst thy pride In Alexander's house, and O, 'twas sweet To hold proud Easterns bowing at thy feet.

They were great things to thee!... And comest thou now Forth, and hast decked thy bosom and thy brow, And breathest with thy lord the same blue air, Thou evil heart? Low, low, with ravaged hair, Rent raiment, and flesh shuddering, and within-- O shame at last, not glory for thy sin; So face him if thou canst!... Lo, I have done.

Be true, O King; let h.e.l.las bear her crown Of Justice. Slay this woman, and upraise The law for evermore: she that betrays Her husband's bed, let her be judged and die.

LEADER.

Be strong, O King; give judgment worthily For thee and thy great house. Shake off thy long Reproach; not weak, but iron against the wrong!

MENELAUS.

Thy thought doth walk with mine in one intent.

'Tis sure; her heart was willing, when she went Forth to a stranger's bed. And all her fair Tale of enchantment, 'tis a thing of air!...

[_Turning furiously upon_ HELEN.

Out, woman! There be those that seek thee yet With stones! Go, meet them. So shall thy long debt Be paid at last. And ere this night is o'er Thy dead face shall dishonour me no more!

HELEN (_kneeling before him and embracing him_).

Behold, mine arms are wreathed about thy knees; Lay not upon my head the phantasies Of Heaven. Remember all, and slay me not!

HECUBA.

Remember them she murdered, them that fought Beside thee, and their children! Hear that prayer!

MENELAUS.

Peace, aged woman, peace! 'Tis not for her; She is as naught to me.

(_To the Soldiers_) ... March on before, Ye ministers, and tend her to the sh.o.r.e ...

And have some chambered galley set for her, Where she may sail the seas.

HECUBA.

If thou be there, I charge thee, let not her set foot therein!

MENELAUS.

How? Shall the ship go heavier for her sin?

HECUBA.

A lover once, will alway love again.

MENELAUS.

If that he loved be evil, he will fain Hate it!... Howbeit, thy pleasure shall be done.

Some other ship shall bear her, not mine own....

Thou counsellest very well.... And when we come To Argos, then ... O then some pitiless doom Well-earned, black as her heart! One that shall bind Once for all time the law on womankind Of faithfulness!... 'Twill be no easy thing, G.o.d knoweth. But the thought thereof shall fling A chill on the dreams of women, though they be Wilder of wing and loathed more than she!

[_Exit, following_ HELEN, _who is escorted by the Soldiers_.

CHORUS[42].

_Some Women_.