University of Virginia Library

ULYSSES, HECUBA, SIGEA, Guards.
ULYSSES.
Well may the fearful blood forsake thy cheeks
At our approach. Rash queen! to perpetrate
An act, whose sole conception in the mind
Were guilt against the gods. Yet wou'd I hope
My counsel from th'uplifted arm of vengeance
Might still withdraw thee. Hear it, and obey.
Recall the princess.

HECUBA.
Hah!

ULYSSES.
Bid that bold youth
Surrender.

HECUBA.
What, pronounce my daughter's doom
With my own tongue!

ULYSSES.
Such prompt submission, queen,
Will 'vail thee more with Pyrrhus' rigid virtue
Than thrice the force of this fool-hardy boy.
Presume not she'll escape. Let not thy soul
Soar on that air-blown hope; 'twill burst, and drop thee
Deeper into despair. Nay, had she reach'd
Pæonia's palace, still she cou'd not 'scape.
Think'st thou Pyrechmes will defy the force
Of our embattled hosts? provoke their fury
To waste his kingdom's wealth? and urge Atrides
To drag her from the temple to the tomb?

HECUBA.
Hast thou a child, and can thy cruel tongue
With such keen accents wound a parent's ear?
Am I to blame if nature bids me love,
Dear as myself, the offspring of my blood?

ULYSSES.
Therefore I counsel thus. I wou'd make sound
Thy daughter's sickly life. But when wou'd passion
Hearken to reason's voice? Take thy own bent,
But tremble at th'event. Her breathless corse,
That might lie decent on the funeral pile,
May feed the famish'd vultures.

HECUBA.
Barbarous man.
But yet ye will not—butchers as ye are
Ye will not, dare not do so dire a deed,
As the good gods wou'd shudder to behold.

ULYSSES.
Thy madness does the deed, that sets at nought
Our salutary counsel; which pursued
Might end thy woes; might move the gallant Pyrrhus
To sooth his sire with a new sacrifice;
—Perhaps Eriphilus—

HECUBA.
Eriphilus!

ULYSSES.
Yes, he may bleed thy daughter's substitute.

HECUBA.
Oh horror!

ULYSSES.
Hah—

SIGEA.
For heav'n's sake, be yourself.
[Aside to Hecuba.
Beware, beware.

HECUBA.
What—murder the poor youth,
Who for my daughter's life did risk his own!
Forbid it honour!—If his youthful fire
Urg'd him too far, oh let his youth plead for him.
The passions at that season snatch the reins
From reason's feeble hand! th'impetuous blood
Then flows not with that equal temperature,
As when it holds its slow and languid course
Thro' the cold veins of age.

ULYSSES.
Death is the doom
For sacrilege.

HECUBA.
Alas I'll die to save
His noble life!

ULYSSES.
Indeed!—

HECUBA.
Yes—the strong ties
Of gratitude and friendship—

ULYSSES.
Strong indeed,
Stronger than nature's ties with thee they seem.
To save his noble life thyself wou'dst die:
Wou'dst give thy child to death;—to save a youth,
An unknown youth?—Who is he? Strange conjectures
Do open on my mind.—What is his name?
His extract, country, what?—Hah! these emotions
Now by sage Pallas, he is some vile Trojan,
Who hid in this disguise—