X. Speak, conceal it no longer from me. I fear, I fear, my mother; why
I pray dost thou groan?

HEC. O child, child of an unhappy mother!

POLYX. Why sayest thou this?

HEC. My child, the common decree of the Greeks unites to slay thee at the
tomb of the son of Peleus.

POLYX. Alas, my mother! how are you relating unenviable ills? Tell me, tell
me, my mother.

HEC. I declare, my child, the ill-omened report, they bring word that a
decree has passed by the vote of the Greeks regarding thy life.

POLYX. O thou that hast borne affliction! O thou wretched on every side! O
mother unhappy in your life, what most hated and most unutterable calamity
has some destiny again sent against thee! This child is no longer thine; no
longer indeed shall I miserable share slavery with miserable age. For as a
mountain whelp or heifer shalt thou wretched behold me wretched torn from
thine arms, and sent down beneath the darkness of the earth a victim to
Pluto, where I shall lie bound in misery with the dead. But it is for thee
indeed, my afflicted mother, that I lament in these mournful strains, but
for my life, my wrongs, my fate, I mourn not; but death, a better lot, has
befallen me.

CHOR. But see Ulysses advances with hasty step, to declare to thee, Hecuba,
some new determination.

ULYSSES, HECUBA, POLYXENA, CHORUS.

ULYSS. Lady, I imagine that you are acquainted with the decree of the army,
and the vote which has prevailed; nevertheless, I will declare it. It has
been decreed by the Greeks to offer on the lofty mound of Achilles's tomb
thy daughter Polyxena. But they order me to conduct and convey the damsel;
but the son of Achilles is appointed to be the priest, and to preside over
the rites. Do you know then what to do? Be not dragged away by violence,
nor enter into a contest of strength with me, but acknowledge superior
force and the presence of thy ills; it is wise to have proper sentiments
even in adversity.

HEC. Alas! alas! the great trial is at hand, as it seems, of lamentations
full, nor without tears; for I have not died in the state in which I ought
to have died, nor hath Jove destroyed me, but preserves me, that I wretched
may behold other misfortunes greater than [past] misfortunes. But if it be
allowed slaves to put questions to the free, not offensive nor grating to
the feelings, it will be your part to be questioned, and ours who are
asking to attend.

ULYSS. You have permission, ask freely, I grudge not t