Was dragged and mangled, on and on, till death;
While he who had this sword as Hector's gift,[1]
Brought death upon himself by one fell leap.
Oh, did some dread Erinnys forge this sword,
And Hades, stern artificer, that belt?
I must needs own the Gods as working this,
And all things else that come to mortal men;
And he who thinks not so, why, let him have
His own thoughts if he will; I hold to these.
Chor. Be not too long, but ponder well how best1040
Thou may'st inter his body in the tomb,
And what thou now wilt say; for, lo! I see
A man, his foe, exulting, it may be,
As evil-doer at the evil done.
Teu. What man of all the host is this thou see'st?
Chor. 'Tis Menelaos, for whose sake we sailed.
Teu. I see him. Near, he is not hard to know.
Enter Menelaos, followed by a Herald, and Attendants.
Mene. Ho, there! I bid thee not to touch this corpse
With these thy hands, but leave it as it is.
Teu. And why dost thou such big words lavish here?
Mene. So think I: so thinks he who rules the host.1050
Teu. Wilt thou not say what ground thou giv'st for this?
Mene. Because we hoped to bring him from his home,
Ally and friend to all the Achæan host,
And found him than the Phrygians worser foe,
Who, plotting death to all the host at once,
Came on by night that he might slay with sword;
And were it not some God had quashed the scheme,
We should have fallen, and, in shameful plight,
By chance which now is his, had lain there dead,
- ↑ Comp. Iliad, vii. 303, xxii. 361. . . . Homer, however, makes Achilles drag the corpse of Hector at his chariot-wheels.
