Eksodos
THRACIAN.
’Tis not foul wrong wrought on us by a friend.
LEADER.
Good charioteer of that ill-fortuned king,
Suspect us not. ’Tis Greeks have done this thing.
805
But yonder Hector comes. He hath been shown
The foul deed, and thy sorrows are his own.
HECTOR.
Ye workers of amazement! Have your eyes
No sight? Ye watch and let these Argive spies
Pass—and our friends are butchered in their sleep—P. 46, 11. 810-830. Hector and the Guard.]—There is intentional colour here—the impulsive half-barbaric rage of Hector, the oriental grovelling of the Guard, and of course the quick return to courteous self-mastery with which Hector receives the taunts of the wounded man.
810
And then pass back unwounded, laughing deep
Amid the galleys at the news they bring
Of Trojan sluggards and the fool their king?
Great God, ye never baulked them as they came,
Nor smote them as they went!
Of this but thou? Thou wast the watcher set
To guard this host till morn. I tell thee yet
815
For this deed—I have sworn by Zeus our Lord !—
The scourge of torment or the headsman’s sword
Awaits thee. Else, be Hector in your thought
Writ down a babbler and a man of nought.
