Greece and the world! G.o.d hate thee and destroy, That with those beautiful eyes hast blasted Troy, And made the far-famed plains a waste withal.

Quick! take him: drag him: cast him from the wall, If cast ye will! Tear him, ye beasts, be swift!

G.o.d hath undone me, and I cannot lift One hand, one hand, to save my child from death....

O, hide my head for shame: fling me beneath Your galleys' benches!...

[_She swoons: then half-rising._

Quick: I must begone To the bridal.... I have lost my child, my own!

[_The Soldiers close round her._

LEADER.

O Troy ill-starred; for one strange woman, one Abhorred kiss, how are thine hosts undone!

TALTHYBIUS (_bending over_ ANDROMACHE _and gradually taking the Child from her_).

Come, Child: let be that clasp of love Outwearied! Walk thy ways with me, Up to the crested tower, above Thy father's wall.... Where they decree Thy soul shall perish.--Hold him: hold!-- Would G.o.d some other man might ply These charges, one of duller mould, And nearer to the iron than I!

HECUBA.

O Child, they rob us of our own, Child of my Mighty One outworn: Ours, ours thou art!--Can aught be done Of deeds, can aught of pain be borne, To aid thee?--Lo, this beaten head, This bleeding bosom! These I spread As gifts to thee. I can thus much.

Woe, woe for Troy, and woe for thee!

What fall yet lacketh, ere we touch The last dead deep of misery?

[_The Child, who has started back from_ TALTHYBIUS, _is taken up by one of the Soldiers and borne back towards the city, while_ ANDROMACHE _is set again on the Chariot and driven off towards the ships._ TALTHYBIUS _goes with the Child._

CHORUS.

[_Strophe I._

In Salamis, filled with the foaming[34]

Of billows and murmur of bees, Old Telamon stayed from his roaming, Long ago, on a throne of the seas; Looking out on the hills olive-laden, Enchanted, where first from the earth The grey-gleaming fruit of the Maiden Athena had birth; A soft grey crown for a city Beloved a City of Light: Yet he rested not there, nor had pity, But went forth in his might, Where Heracles wandered, the lonely Bow-bearer, and lent him his hands For the wrecking of one land only, Of Ilion, Ilion only, Most hated of lands!

[_Antistrophe_ I.

Of the bravest of h.e.l.las he made him A ship-folk, in wrath for the Steeds, And sailed the wide waters, and stayed him At last amid Simos' reeds; And the oars beat slow in the river, And the long ropes held in the strand, And he felt for his bow and his quiver, The wrath of his hand.

And the old king died; and the towers That Phoebus had builded did fall, And his wrath, as a flame that devours, Ran red over all; And the fields and the woodlands lay blasted, Long ago. Yea, twice hath the Sire Uplifted his hand and downcast it On the wall of the Dardan, downcast it As a sword and as fire.

[Strophe 2.

In vain, all in vain, O thou 'mid the wine-jars golden That movest in delicate joy, Ganymedes, child of Troy, The lips of the Highest drain The cup in thine hand upholden: And thy mother, thy mother that bore thee, Is wasted with fire and torn; And the voice of her sh.o.r.es is heard, Wild, as the voice of a bird, For lovers and children before thee Crying, and mothers outworn.

And the pools of thy bathing[35] are perished, And the wind-strewn ways of thy feet: Yet thy face as aforetime is cherished Of Zeus, and the breath of it sweet; Yea, the beauty of Calm is upon it In houses at rest and afar.

But thy land, He hath wrecked and o'erthrown it In the wailing of war.

[_Antistrophe_ 2.

O Love, ancient Love, Of old to the Dardan given; Love of the Lords of the Sky; How didst thou lift us high In Ilion, yea, and above All cities, as wed with heaven!

For Zeus--O leave it unspoken: But alas for the love of the Morn; Morn of the milk-white wing, The gentle, the earth-loving, That shineth on battlements broken In Troy, and a people forlorn!

And, lo, in her bowers t.i.thonus, Our brother, yet sleeps as of old: O, she too hath loved us and known us, And the Steeds of her star, flashing gold, Stooped hither and bore him above us; Then blessed we the G.o.ds in our joy.

But all that made them to love us Hath perished from Troy.

[_As the song ceases, the King_ MENELAUS _enters, richly armed and followed by a bodyguard of Soldiers. He is a prey to violent and conflicting emotions._

MENELAUS[36].

How bright the face of heaven, and how sweet The air this day, that layeth at my feet The woman that I.... Nay: 'twas not for her I came. 'Twas for the man, the cozener And thief, that ate with me and stole away My bride. But Paris lieth, this long day, By G.o.d's grace, under the horse-hoofs of the Greek, And round him all his land. And now I seek....

Curse her! I scarce can speak the name she bears, That was my wife. Here with the prisoners They keep her, in these huts, among the hordes Of numbered slaves.--The host whose labouring swords Won her, have given her up to me, to fill My pleasure; perchance kill her, or not kill, But lead her home.--Methinks I have foregone The slaying of Helen here in Ilion....

Over the long seas I will bear her back, And there, there, cast her out to whatso wrack Of angry death they may devise, who know Their dearest dead for her in Ilion.--Ho!

Ye soldiers! Up into the chambers where She croucheth! Grip the long blood-reeking hair, And drag her to mine eyes ... [_Controlling himself_.

And when there come Fair breezes, my long ships shall bear her home.

[_The Soldiers go to force open the door of the second hut on the left_.

HECUBA.

Thou deep Base of the World[37], and thou high Throne Above the World, whoe'er thou art, unknown And hard of surmise, Chain of Things that be, Or Reason of our Reason; G.o.d, to thee I lift my praise, seeing the silent road That bringeth justice ere the end be trod To all that breathes and dies.

MENELAUS (_turning_).

Ha! who is there That prayeth heaven, and in so strange a prayer?

HECUBA.

I bless thee, Menelaus, I bless thee, If thou wilt slay her! Only fear to see Her visage, lest she snare thee and thou fall!

She snareth strong men's eyes; she snareth tall Cities; and fire from out her eateth up Houses. Such magic hath she, as a cup Of death!... Do I not know her? Yea, and thou, And these that lie around, do they not know?

[_The Soldiers return from the hut and stand aside to let_ HELEN _pa.s.s between them. She comes through them, gentle and unafraid; there is no disorder in her raiment_.

HELEN.

King Menelaus, thy first deed might make A woman fear. Into my chamber brake Thine armed men, and lead me wrathfully.

Methinks, almost, I know thou hatest me.

Yet I would ask thee, what decree is gone Forth for my life or death?

MENELAUS (_struggling with his emotion_).

There was not one That scrupled for thee. All, all with one will Gave thee to me, whom thou hast wronged, to kill!

HELEN.

And is it granted that I speak, or no, In answer to them ere I die, to show I die most wronged and innocent?

MENELAUS.

I seek To kill thee, woman; not to hear thee speak!

HECUBA.