And of Achaea's too. Ah! 'tis a tale of grievous misery!
HELEN
How long is it since the city was sacked?
TEUCER
Nigh seven fruitful seasons have come and gone.
HELEN
And how much longer did ye abide in Troy?
TEUCER
Many a weary month, till through ten full years the moon had held her course.
HELEN
And did ye capture that Spartan dame?
TEUCER
Menelaus caught her by the hair, and was for dragging her away.
HELEN
Didst thou thyself behold that unhappy one? or art thou speaking from hearsay?
TEUCER
As plain as I now see thee, I then saw her.
HELEN
Consider whether ye were but indulging an idle fancy sent by heaven.
TEUCER
Bethink thee of some other topic; no more of her!
HELEN
Are you so sure this fancy was reliable?
TEUCER
With these eyes I saw her face to face, if so be I see thee now.
HELEN
Hath Menelaus reached his home by this time with his wife?
TEUCER
No; he is neither in Argos, nor yet by the streams of Eurotas.
HELEN
Ah me! here is evil news for those to whom thou art telling it.
TEUCER
'Tis said he disappeared with his wife.
HELEN
Did not all the Argives make the passage together?
TEUCER
Yes: but a tempest scattered them in every direction.
HELEN
In what quarter of the broad ocean?
TEUCER
They were crossing the Aegean in mid channel.
HELEN
And after that, doth no man know of Menelaus' arrival?
TEUCER
No; none; but through Hellas is he reported to be dead.
HELEN
Then am I lost. Is the daughter of Thestius alive?
TEUCER
Dost speak of Leda? She is dead; aye, dead and gone.
HELEN
Was it Helen's shame that caused her death?
TEUCER
Aye, 'tis said she tied the noose about her noble neck.
HELEN
Are the sons of Tyndareus still alive or not?
TEUCER
Dead, and yet alive: 'tis a double story.
HELEN
Which is the more credible report? Woe is me for my sorrows!
TEUCER
Men say that they are gods in the likeness of stars.
HELEN
That is happy news; but what is the other rumour?
TEUCER
That they by self-inflicted wounds gave up the ghost because of their sister's shame. But enough of such talk! I have no wish to multiply my griefs. The reason of my coming to this royal palace was a wish to see that famous prophetess Theonoe. Do thou the means afford, that I from her may obtain an oracle how I shall steer a favourable course to the sea-girt shores of Cyprus; for there Apollo hath declared my home shall be, giving to it the name of Salamis, my island home, in honour of that fatherland across the main.
HELEN
That shall the voyage itself explain, sir stranger; but do thou leave these shores and fly, ere the son of Proteus, the ruler of this land, catch sight of thee. Now is he away with his trusty hounds tracking his savage quarry to the death; for every stranger that he catcheth from the land of Hellas doth he slay. His reason never ask to know; my lips are sealed; for what could word of mine avail thee?
TEUCER
Lady, thy words are fair. Heaven grant thee a fair requital for this kindness! For though in form thou dost resemble Helen, thy soul is not like hers, nay, very different. Perdition seize her! May she never reach the streams of Eurotas! But thine be joy for evermore, lady!
(TEUCER departs. The CHORUS OF CAPTIVE GREEK WOMEN enter. They sing responsively with HELEN.)HELENAh me! what piteous dirge shall I strive to utter, now that I am beginning my strain of bitter lamentation? What Muse shall Iapproach with tears or songs of death or woe? Ah me! ye Sirens, Earth's virgin daughters, winged maids, come, oh! come to aid my mourning, bringing with you the Libyan flute or pipe, to waft to Persephone's ear a tearful plaint, the echo of my sorrow, with grief for grief, and mournful chant for chant, with songs of death and doom to match my lamentation, that in return she may receive from me, besides my tears, dirges for the departed dead beneath her gloomy roof!
CHORUS
Beside the deep-blue water I chanced to be hanging purple robes along the tendrils green and on the sprouting reeds, to dry them in the sun-god's golden blaze, when lo! I heard a sound of woe, a mournful wail, the voice of one crying aloud in her anguish; yea, such a cry of woe as Naiad nymph might send ringing o'er the hills, while to her cry the depths of rocky grots re-echo her screams at the violence of Pan.
HELEN
Woe! woe! ye maids of Hellas, booty of barbarian sailors! one hath come, an Achaean mariner, bringing fresh tears to me, the news of Ilium's overthrow, how that it is left to the mercy of the foeman's flame, and all for me the murderess, or for my name with sorrow fraught. While for anguish at my deed of shame, hath Leda sought her death by hanging; and on the deep, to weary wandering doomed my lord hath met his end; and Castor and his brother, twin glory of their native land, are vanished from men's sight, leaving the plains that shook to their galloping steeds, and the course beside reed-fringed Eurotas, where those youthful athletes strove.
CHORUS
Ah, misery! Alas! for thy grievous destiny! Woe for thy sad lot, lady! Ah! 'twas a day of sorrow meted out for thee when Zeus came glancing through the sky on snowy pinions like a swan and won thy mother's heart. What evil is not thine? Is there a grief in life that thou hast not endured? Thy mother is dead; the two dear sons of Zeus have perished miserably, and thou art severed from thy country's sight, while through the towns of men a rumour runs, consigning thee, my honoured mistress, to a barbarian's bed; and 'mid the ocean waves thy lord hath lost his life, and never, never more shalt thou fill with joy thy father's halls or Athena's temple of the "Brazen House."HELENAh! who was that Phrygian, who was he, that felled that pine with sorrow fraught for Ilium, and for those that came from Hellas?
