Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/377

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⁠[To Andromache.]
Why dost thou start, and tremble? Of a truth
Thy son is dead, for so hast thou declared.
Andromache: Oh, that I had just cause of dread. But now,
My old habitual fear instinctive starts;
The mind ofttimes forgets a well-conned woe.
Ulysses: ⁠Now since thy boy hath shunned the sacrifice
That to the walls was due, and hath escaped 635
By grace of better fate, our priest declares
That only can our homeward way be won
If Hector's ashes, scattered o'er the waves,
Appease the sea, and this his sepulcher
Be leveled with the ground. Since Hector's son
Has failed to pay the debt he owed to fate, 640
Then Hector's sacred dust must be despoiled.
Andromache [aside]: Ah me, a double fear distracts my soul!
Here calls my son, and here my husband's dust.
Which shall prevail? Attest, ye heartless gods,
And ye, my husband's shades, true deities: 645
Naught else, O Hector, pleased me in my son,
Save only thee; then may he still survive
To bring thine image back to life and me.—
Shall then my husband's ashes be defiled?
Shall I permit his bones to be the sport
Of waves, and lie unburied in the sea?
Oh, rather, let my only son be slain!— 650
And canst thou, mother, see thy helpless child
To awful death given up? Canst thou behold
His body whirling from the battlements?
I can, I shall endure and suffer this,
Provided only, by his death appeased,
The victor's hand shall spare my Hector's bones.—
But he can suffer yet, while kindly fate 655
Hath placed his sire beyond the reach of harm.
Why dost thou hesitate? Thou must decide
Whom thou wilt designate for punishment.
What doubts harass thy troubled soul? No more
Is Hector here.—Oh, say not so; I feel
He is both here and there. But sure am I