O Troy ill-starred; for one strange woman, one
Abhorred kiss, how are thine hosts undone!
Talthybius (bending over Andromache and gradually taking the Child from her).
Come, Child: let be that clasp of love
Outwearied! Walk thy ways with me,
Up to the crested tower, above
Thy father's wall.... Where they decree
Thy soul shall perish. -- Hold him: hold! --
Would God some other man might ply
These charges, one of duller mould,
And nearer to the iron than I!
Hecuba
O Child, they rob us of our own,
Child of my Mighty One outworn:
Ours, ours thou art! -- Can aught be done
Of deeds, can aught of pain be borne,
To aid thee? -- Lo, this beaten head,
This bleeding bosom! These I spread
As gifts to thee. I can thus much.
Woe, woe for Troy, and woe for thee!
What fall yet lacketh, ere we touch
The last dead deep of misery?
[The Child, who has started back from Talthybius, is taken up by one of the Soldiers and borne back towards the city, while Andromache is set again on the Chariot and driven off towards the ships. Talthybius goes with the Child.
Studies
