Turning to friends the bitterest of foes,
Setting at enmity the erstwhile loving.
Agamemnon.
I am stirred to pity, Hecuba, both of thee,850
Thy son, thy fortune, and thy suppliant hand;
And for the Gods' and justice' sake were fain
Thine impious guest should taste for this thy vengeance,
So means were found thy cause to speed, while I
Seem not unto the host to plot this death855
For Thracia's king for thy Kassandra's sake.
For herein is mine heart disquieted:—
This very man the host account their friend,
The dead their foe: that dear he is to thee
Is nought to them, nor part have these in him.860
Wherefore take thought: in me thou hast one fain
To share thy toil, and swift to lend thee aid,
But slow to face the Achaians' murmurings.
Hecuba.
Ah, among mortals is there no man free!
To lucre or to fortune is he slave:865
The city's rabble or the laws' impeachment
Constrains him into paths his soul abhors.
But since thou fear'st, dost overrate the crowd,
Even I will set thee free from this thy dread.
Be privy thou, what ill soe'er I plot870
For my son's slayer, but share not the deed.
If tumult mid the Achaians rise, or cry
Of rescue, when the Thracian feels my vengeance,
Thou check them, not in seeming for my sake.
For all else, fear not: I will shape all well.875
