Rhesus   

didst pledge away to Hellenes us thy barbarian brethren, for ill the
help thou gavest. Yet 'twas I with this strong arm that raised thee
from thy paltry princedom to high lordship over Thrace, that day I
fell upon the Thracian chieftains face to face around Pangaeus in
Paeonia's land and broke their serried ranks, and gave their people
up to thee with the yoke upon their necks; but thou hast trampled
on this great favour done thee, and comest with laggard step to give
thine aid when friends are in distress. While they, whom no natural
tic of kin constrains, have long been here, and some are dead and
in their graves beneath the heaped-up cairn, no mean proof of loyalty
to the city, and others in harness clad and mounted on their cars,
with steadfast soul endure the icy blast and parching heat of the
sun, not pledging one another, as thou art wont, in long deep draughts
on couches soft. This is the charge I bring against thee and utter
to thy face, that thou mayst know how frank is Hector's tongue.
RHESUS I too am such another as thyself; straight to the point I
cut my way; no shuffling nature mine. My heart was wrung with sorer
anguish than ever thine was at my absence from this land; I fumed
and chafed, but Scythian folk, whose borders march with mine, made
war on me on the very eve of my departure for Ilium; already had I
reached the strand of the Euxine sea, there to transport my Thracian
army. Then did my spear pour out o'er Scythia's soil great drops of
bloody rain, and Thrace too shared in the mingled slaughter. This
then was what did chance to keep me from coming to the land of Troy
and joining thy standard. But soon as I had conquered these and taken
their children as hostages and appointed the yearly tribute they should
pay my house, I crossed the firth, and lo! am here; on foot I traversed
all thy borders that remained to pass, not as thou in thy jeers at
those carousals of my countrymen hintest, nor sleeping soft in gilded
palaces, but amid the frozen hurricanes that vex the Thracian main
and the Paeonian shores, learning as I lay awake what suffering is,
this soldier's cloak-my only wrap. True my coming hath tarried, but
yet am I in time; ten long years already hast thou been at the fray,
and naught accomplished yet; day in, day out, thou riskest all in
this game of war with Argives. While I will be content once to see
the sungod rise, and sack yon towers and fall upon their anchored
fleet and slay the Achaeans; and on the morrow home from Ilium will
I go, at one stroke ending all thy toil. Let none of you lay hand
to spear to lift it, for I, for all my late arrival, will with my
lance make utter havoc of those vaunting Achaeans.
CHORUS Joy, joy! sweet champion sent by Zeus! Only may Zeus, throned
on high, keep jealousy, resistless foe, from thee for thy presumptuous
words! Yon fleet of ships from Argos sent, never brought, nor formerly
nor now, among all its warriors a braver than thee; how I wonder will
Achilles, how will Aias stand the onset of thy spear? Oh! to live
to see that happy day, my prince, that thou mayest wreak vengeance
on them, gripping thy lance in thy deathdealing hand!
RHESUS Such exploits am I ready to achieve to atone for my long absence;
(with due submission to Nemesis I say this;) then when we have cleared
this city of its foes and thou hast chosen out firstfruits for the
gods, I fain would march with thee against the Argives' country and
coming thither, lay Hellas waste with war, that they in turn may know
the taste of ill.
HECTOR If thou couldst rid the city of this present curse and restore
it to its old security, sure I should feel deep gratitude towards
heaven. But as for sacking Argos and the pasture-lands of Hellas,
as thou sayest, 'tis no easy task.
RHESUS Avow they not that hither came the choicest chiefs of Hellas?
HECTOR Aye, and I scorn them not; enough have I to do in driving
them away.
RHESUS Well, if we slay these, our task is fully done.
HECTOR Leave not the present need, nor look to distant schemes.
RHESUS Thou art, it seems, content to suffer tamely and make no return.
HECTOR I rule an empire wide enough, e'en though I here abide. But