Part 7 (2/2)

HECUBA.

I see G.o.d's hand, that buildeth a great crown For littleness, and hath cast the mighty down.

ANDROMACHE.

I and my babe are driven among the droves Of plundered cattle. O, when fortune moves So swift, the high heart like a slave beats low.

HECUBA.

'Tis fearful to be helpless. Men but now Have taken Ca.s.sandra, and I strove in vain.

ANDROMACHE.

Ah, woe is me; hath Ajax come again?

But other evil yet is at thy gate.

HECUBA.

Nay, Daughter, beyond number, beyond weight My evils are! Doom raceth against doom.

ANDROMACHE.

Polyxena across Achilles' tomb Lies slain, a gift flung to the dreamless dead.

HECUBA.

My sorrow!... 'Tis but what Talthybius said: So plain a riddle, and I read it not.

ANDROMACHE.

I saw her lie, and stayed this chariot; And raiment wrapt on her dead limbs, and beat My breast for her.

HECUBA (_to herself_).

O the foul sin of it!

The wickedness! My child. My child! Again I cry to thee. How cruelly art thou slain!

ANDROMACHE.

She hath died her death, and howso dark it be, Her death is sweeter than my misery.

HECUBA.

Death cannot be what Life is, Child; the cup Of Death is empty, and Life hath always hope.

ANDROMACHE.

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