Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/385

Rh And now must I still further harm inflict Upon the prostrate Trojans: 'tis my part To feign Polyxena, the royal maid, Is bid to be our Grecian Pyrrhus' wife, And deck her in the garb of Grecian brides. So by my artful words shall she be snared, And by my craft shall Paris' sister fall. But let her be deceived; 'tis better so; To die without the shrinking fear of death Is joy indeed. But why dost thou delay Thy bidden task? If aught of sin there be, 'Tis his who doth command thee to the deed. [To Polyxena.] O maiden, born of Priam's noble stock, The gods begin to look upon thy house In kinder mood, and even now prepare To grant thee happy marriage; such a mate As neither Troy herself in all her power Nor royal Priam could have found for thee. For lo, the flower of the Pelasgian lords, Whose sway Thessalia's far-extending plains Acknowledge, seeks thy hand in lawful wedlock. Great Tethys waits to claim thee for her own, And Thetis, whose majestic deity Doth rule the swelling sea, and all the nymphs Who dwell within its depths. As Pyrrhus' bride Thou shalt be called the child of Peleus old, And Nereus the divine. Then change the garb Of thy captivity for festal robes, And straight forget that thou wast e'er a slave. Thy wild, disheveled locks confine; permit That I, with skilful hands, adorn thy head. This chance, mayhap, shall place thee on a throne More lofty far than ever Priam saw. The captive's lot full oft a blessing proves. Andromache: This was the one thing lacking to our woes— That they should bid us smile when we would weep. See there! Our city lies in smouldering heaps;