Hecuba.
Consent I will not to let go my child.400
Odysseus.
Nor I will hence depart and leave her here.
Polyxena.
Mother, heed me: and thou, Laertes' son,
O bear with parents which have cause to rage.
Mother, poor mother, strive not with the strong.
Wouldst thou be earthward hurled, and wound thy flesh,405
Thine agèd flesh, with violence thrust away?—
Be hustled shamefully, by young strong arms
Haled?—This shouldst thou. Nay, 'tis not worthy thee.
But mother, darling mother, give thine hand,
Thy dear, dear hand, and lay thy cheek to mine:410
Since never more, but this last time of all
Shall I behold the sun's beam and his orb.
Receive of all my greetings this the last:—
O mother—breast that bare me—I pass deathward.
Hecuba.
O daughter, I shall yet live on in bondage!415
Polyxena.
Bridegroom nor bridal!—nought of all my due!
Hecuba.
Piteous thy plight, my child, and wretched I.
