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

Rh [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 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, 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: 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!— 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 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