Odysseus.
I call to mind: mid peril grim I fell.
Hecuba.
And to my knees didst cling, wast lowly then?245
Odysseus.
With grasp of death closed on thy robes mine hand.
Hecuba.
Ay, and what saidst thou—thou my bondman then?
Odysseus.
Words—words full many found I, death to 'scape.
Hecuba.
I saved thee—saved thee,—sent thee forth the land?
Odysseus.
Ay, thanks to thee, I see the sun's light now.250
Hecuba.
Art thou not caitiff proved then by these plots,
Who wast by me so dealt with as thou sayest,
Yet dost us nought good, but thine utmost ill?
A thankless spawn, all ye that grasp at honour
By babbling to the mob!—let me not know you,255
Who injure friends, and nothing reck thereof,
So ye may something say to please the rabble!
What crafty wiliness imagined ye
This, on my child to pass your murder-vote?
Was't duty drew them on to human slaughter260
