Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1894) v1.djvu/273

Rh Turning to friends the bitterest of foes,

Setting at enmity the erstwhile loving.

I am stirred to pity, Hecuba, both of thee,

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 death

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.

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.

Ah, among mortals is there no man free!

To lucre or to fortune is he slave:

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 plot

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.